New bonus paves way for more workforce housing on Hilton Head Island. What’s next
An incentive for developers passed by Hilton Head Island’s planning commission Wednesday could mean more affordable rental housing for the island’s vast workforce.
The proposal, which goes before the town’s Public Planning Committee next week, allows workforce housing developers to double the number of units they can offer in a given space in certain conditions. Its approval ended the stagnancy that followed the town’s creation of a workforce housing program in November.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the amended proposal, called a bonus density initiative, which was originally approved in October. In November, when town council voted to create the formal workforce housing program and allow the conversion of vacant or underutilized commercial property to market-rate or workforce housing units, the council discarded the original bonus density proposal, which would have permitted developers to double the housing density in several zoning districts so long as half the units they created were for workforce housing.
Council members expressed two main concerns with the bonus density incentive: the area of impact was too extensive, and the program would have allowed for too many market-rate housing units.
So town staff narrowed the proposal, reducing the number of acres eligible for the program by 91% to 160 and doubling the number of workforce housing units required for the developer to earn the density bonus.
Here are the new rules in the proposal
- Areas eligible for the bonus must be zoned to low- to moderate-density residential areas.
- They must consist of at least 3 acres and be located near minor arterial roads.
- They cannot be on waterfronts, near the airport, within single-family subdivisions or built in permanent multifamily developments, with the exception of mobile home parks.
- Developers can have a maximum of 12 units per acre, including what they build and what already exists on the property. This means a maximum of 1,920 units among the 160 eligible acres. At least half must be workforce housing units.
Under those criteria, only a few dozen parcels in the north and central areas of the island are eligible for the bonus.
Although the rest of the workforce housing program is part of town code, senior town planner Jayme Lopko said, developers haven’t yet taken the opportunity to convert commercial space into workforce housing on the island, in part due to the cost.
Developers can decide how much to invest in their properties for the workforce housing program and are responsible for normal development and impact fees charged by the town, Lopko said.
Hilton Head has struggled for many years to provide adequate, affordable housing for the thousands of workers that fuel its tourism economy. Many live off-island and have long commutes with unreliable transportation. Although workforce housing does exist on the island, it is extremely limited. Now, the town is overseeing a formal program with regulations and benefits developers might not otherwise have.
The bonus density proposal now goes to Town Council’s public planning committee, which meets Tuesday, before the full council receives a briefing the following week. Council is slated to vote on it in February.
“It is right to take baby steps and to see if we can get this program rolling,” planning commission chair Peter Kristian said. “We hope this program ... reveals some real action from the part of the investment public.”
