'A dangerous precedent': Daufuskie residents fear this property owner will get his way

For the second time in two years, Daufuskie Island residents are up in arms after a property owner has threatened to close off a road that cuts through his property.

Reed Dulany of Savannah owns a parcel of land on Daufuskie Island, called the Eigelberger Tract, which extends to both sides of Prospect Road.

Prospect Road, a private unpaved road located in the Bloody Point area of Daufuskie, is like most roads on the island — maintained but not owned by Beaufort County.

Since Dulany owns the portion of Prospect Road that runs through his property, he argues that he should be allowed to gate it off.

As a result of leaving his property open, Dulany has experienced "significant trespassing, theft, littering, poaching, liability and safety issues," he told The Island Packet in an email.

With abandoned and dilapidated homes and resorts littering Daufuskie Island, Dulany believes "the island's decline has deepened."

"The original concept for Daufuskie crafted in the ‘80s has proven unsustainable and illogical and has brought its fair share of crooks and shysters ...

The state of affairs is now what I would call highly unstable as evidenced by, among other things, the increasing lack of respect for private property," Dulany wrote in the email.

Beaufort County officials, on the other hand, argue that the county should have a "prescriptive easement" — a right granted to someone other than the property owner to use the property based off of its continuous use for more than 20 years — for Prospect Road.

"Although we have no written document from an owner that says we can cross the property, that road has existed for so long that the community can't even remember when they didn't use it," said Beaufort County attorney Tom Keaveny. "... The law can recognize that and issue an easement if it meets certain criteria, and we believe we have that criteria."

Since the county has documents and residents who can confirm that the road has been open and continuously used by the public for more than 20 years, Keaveny believes there is "no doubt that the county should be granted a prescriptive easement" if the matter is brought to court, he said.

At the April 23 Beaufort County Council meeting, a handful of Daufuskie residents issued statements in opposition of the road closure.

Robert Lancy Burn, 79, whose family has lived on the island for more than 100 years, said the idea of closing the road "is just ridiculous."

Burn — like Dulany — owns property on either side of Daufuskie Island’s Prospect Road, Benjies Point Road and School Road. He believes closing the road would "set a dangerous precedent."

"The county has almost no deeded roads on Daufuskie. If this goes through, then theoretically I can block off all those roads and my neighbor could do the same," Burn said. "It's like arteries in the body. If you block them off, they wont work the same."

Besides serving as a source of countless memories, the road represents a major safety feature for residents, Burn said.

"Daufuskie doesn’t have many roads, and so they’re all crucial to this island being what it is and how you get around," he said. "It (Prospect Road) gives firetrucks, EMS and law enforcement a clear shot to everyone in that area. And if he blocks it off, they won't be able to get through."

According to local residents, Prospect Road is one of the highest thoroughfares on the island and the only means for some residents to get out to paved roads in events of major storms and flooding.

Deborah Smith, a member of the Daufuskie Island Council, said closing the road could "create a serious risk to the health, safety and even lives of residents."

"It's not an insignificant issue considering that over the last two years, we've had two major storm events," Smith said.

On March 28, the Daufuskie Island Council unanimously passed a resolution in opposition of the road closure. Smith said she hopes the county would take their resolution into account and "aggressively pursue any measure to make sure the road is not closed."

Councilman Tabor Vaux, who represents Daufuskie Island residents, said he has made himself clear "as far as backing the majority of residents on Daufuskie."

"If we start closing these roads that have been open to the public for generations, where is it going to stop?" Vaux said.

This is not the first time Dulany, who is the president and CEO of Savannah-based Dulany Industries, has tried to cut off public access to his portion of Prospect Road.

In March 2016, Beaufort County Council voted to retain the road as county-maintained and rejected Dulany's first attempt to close off the roadway.

"There was a large number of vocal residents on Daufuskie that addressed concerns then and county council decided it wanted to take steps necessary to ensure the road was not closed," Keaveny said.

Dulany did not push the matter any further, so no legal action was taken at the time. But after nearly two years of inaction, Dulany has again voiced his desire to put up a gate along his property line.

In an executive session on April 23, Dulany and his lawyer met with county council, staff and administrators.

In spite of concerns from local residents, Dulany assured the county that he would not close the road while ongoing discussions between the two parties were taking place, according to Interim Beaufort county administrator Josh Gruber.

"I think his concerns are valid, as well as the residents’," Gruber said. "... The question now is can we find a solution that will meet everyone's needs or not, and that's where we're at right now."

Dulany said he has met with neighbors and the Daufuskie Island Council on multiple occasions to offer compromises to ease their concerns. He has also offered to give the county portions of two other roads he owns, as well as place his 200 acres of property into a conservation easement.

"I am still hopeful that a compromise exists, but whatever the outcome of this situation may be, the issues have now grown to a level where my family must take action to protect our property, our rights and the quiet enjoyment of our land," Dulany wrote in an email.

Although county council did not take any action of the matter at the April 23 meeting, Keaveny said there may be only one way to resolve the problem going forward.

"I do believe in the end it’ll end up in courts, unless Mr. Dulaney relents."

This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 8:24 AM with the headline "'A dangerous precedent': Daufuskie residents fear this property owner will get his way."