Affordable housing and growth are the biggest issues facing the region, local leaders say
Before Tuesday’s 24th annual State of the Region luncheon, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce President Bill Miles said he asked residents what issues they wanted their government leaders to talk about.
The biggest issue facing south-of-the-Broad towns Hilton Head, Bluffton and Hardeeville: how to manage growth.
About 650 business and government leaders attended the event at the Marriott Hilton Head Resort & Spa on Hilton Head Island. Keynote speaker Joe Riley talked about the growth and development he witnessed as mayor of Charleston from 1975 to 2016. The city’s population has more than doubled since 1970. During his tenure, Riley said, he oversaw the growth of the city’s park system, including the creation of Waterfront Park in 2009, and developed a slew of affordable housing options such as Gadsdenboro Park, which has senior and affordable housing.
After Riley’s speech, leaders from Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County and Hardeeville, in pre-recorded videos, spoke about their own plans for managing growth in their respective towns.
Bluffton
The shortage of affordable or attainable housing for the workforce and a 76.9 percent increase in population growth are well-known issues facing the town of Bluffton. Without affordable housing, hospitality businesses in Bluffton have struggled to maintain workers, resulting in short-staffing, longer wait times and shorter hours.
The development in Bluffton is 92 percent planned according to 2006 zoning and design standards, Mayor Lisa Sulka said, and local officials have followed suit. Sulka said about 45 percent of the master plan has been “built out.” She said the town has supported affordable housing by purchasing land for it and has focused on developing Buckwalter Place Commerce Park, building passive parks with public parking, and improving lighting and parking in Old Town Bluffton.
She also spoke about her goal of a “hands-free” South Carolina through Bluffton’s partnership with Lutzie 43, a foundation that informs young people about the dangers of distracted driving.
Sulka said after the event that she expects a “mixture of affordable rentals and affordable housing” in Bluffton in the coming year. She said people who oppose projects like Village Park Homes’ plan to build 282 homes in Bluffton’s New Riverside area are usually scared of more development near their home or uneducated about what’s actually being built.
“Affordable, workforce, attainable...whatever word you want to call it,” she said. Bluffton needs “to keep our young people here living in the town they work in.
“I’m not going to have an average age of 75,” she said. “I’m going to keep the average age of 36 alive and well.”
The median age in Bluffton in 2017 was 35.6.
Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head Island Mayor John McCann said he planned to work with the mayors of Bluffton and Hardeeville “as partners in growth.”
“The three of us can make an impact on the county and state,” he said. “Hilton Head by itself cannot stand alone.”
McCann addressed workforce housing, saying attainable homes come in three parts: transportation, housing and benefits. Only when transportation and housing are provided to the workforce will people benefit, he said.
The $240 million U.S. 278 corridor project will start in 2023, and six options for the project will be discussed over the next month. Public comments will be accepted until Oct. 18, and a final plan for the bridges will be released in fall 2020.
“No matter what we do, the people that live along 278 need to be protected,” McCann said Tuesday.
Beaufort County
Beaufort County Council Chairman Stu Rodman noted that the U.S. 278 project is two to four years away. Rodman said the council outlined 10 objectives, including such issues as attainable housing, economic development, heritage tourism, and money for the University of South Carolina-Beaufort and the Technical College of the Lowcountry.
After the event, Councilman Mike Covert said, “The affordable housing issue needs to continue to be talked about. ... There’s no quick fix for that. Either the county councils and town councils are dedicated to it and are going to make it easier to build more attainable housing, or it’s been a bunch of talk. I tend to think we’ve been serious about it, and now it’s time to do something about it.”
Hardeeville
Mayor Harry Williams described Hardeeville as the “fastest growing city in the region.” The city’s population estimate has increased 113.3 percent since 2010, gaining 3,460 people.
Williams attributed much of the growth to developments such as the East Argent project and Latitude Margaritaville Hilton Head. He said he expects Hardeeville to grow to 30,000 residents by 2030.
