Approved RV Resort for Beaufort Co. may harm the environment, neighbors say
A half-mile drive off S.C. 170, a winding, rural road cuts through a thick canopy of trees.
Just as drivers round a blind corner on Callawassie Drive, a private dirt road with a grass median splits off sharply to the right. Gaston Plantation Road comes into view so fast that most drivers probably don’t even notice it’s there.
This is a rural area surrounded by forests, with a golf course and a few homes scattered across its landscape. It’s quiet. The neighbors want to keep it that way. They worry that any kind of development on this strip of land could cause a multitude of problems. They say a Beaufort County-approved RV park could do just that.
Neighbors worry that the proposed Okatie RV Resort at Callawassie Drive and Gaston Plantation Road will hurt the environment, result in traffic accidents and ruin the rural character of this area in Okatie.
On Wednesday, Beaufort County staff conceptually approved plans for the first phase of the Okatie RV Resort, which includes 105 RV spots spanning over 19 acres. Phase 2 of the project, which has not been approved, would add an additional 35 acres and bring the total number of RV spots to approximately 300. Kenneth Scott Builders submitted the RV park plans to Beaufort County in early June.
Representatives from the developers did not return calls for comment on Thursday.
The proposed RV park at 68 Callawassie Drive has drawn the ire of residents who say the project will hurt the entire community — polluting the environment, displacing wildlife, increasing traffic accidents and altering its rural aspects. Since June, nearly 2,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the development.
“I’m signing because I was born and raised here, all these developers have ruined the aspect of this county by all the developing it’s time to stop and go somewhere else,” one signer wrote on the petition’s website.
Agustin Martinez is a project manager for Roberts Construction Co., a company hired by neighbors who wanted help navigating the discussions and bureaucracy surrounding the RV park with government officials. Martinez said the company had previously done construction work in the area and is helping residents understand the zoning and permitting processes for the project.
Martinez, colleagues from work and neighbors who analyzed the plan found that the proposed RV park “directly impacts water quality in an environmentally sensitive region.” The analysis states that potential deforestation of the area hurts water quality in the Okatie River watershed — creeks, streams and rivers that have already seen rising bacteria counts.
The analysis also addressed concerns that traffic could be worse with the addition of an RV park.
“The county road access to the proposed RV park development is inadequate for the size of vehicles, turning radius of vehicles and amount of traffic proposed,” the analysis states.
On Aug. 19, AECOM, an engineering firm hired by neighbors, conducted a traffic study for the area. The study found that the distance drivers are able to see at the entrance to the proposed park on Callawassie Drive was already hindered by trees and a curve in the road and did not meet S.C. Department of Transportation requirements.
“We have a dangerous intersection at Route 170 and Callawassie Drive. Having RV’s turning in and out there on a regular basis is a terrible idea,” one of the signers of the petition wrote.
The property where the RV park is proposed is zoned Rural T2R, a designation that is intended to preserve the rural character of Beaufort County, according to the traffic study. The zoning “applies to areas that consist of sparsely settled lands in an open or cultivated state,” the county’s Community Development Code says. “It may include large lot residential, farms where animals are raised or crops are grown, parks, woodland, grasslands, trails and open space areas.”
Beaufort County staff reviewed the plans on July 10 and July 31. Now, the developers must obtain state permits that show the project has met all of the proper ordinances regarding development and stormwater before the county can give final approval.
This story was originally published August 23, 2019 at 4:50 AM.
