Nearby community doesn’t have to OK Bluffton marketplace, music venue, commission says
A large marketplace and music venue planned along Buckwalter Parkway is one step away from final approval as some neighbors worry about the project’s impact on their community. Some say they’ve been shut out of discussions.
On Wednesday, Bluffton’s Planning Commission voted to remove requirements that Loftin-Moore, the developer of the planned May River Marketplace, provide the commission a letter of community support and submit a final development plan for the commission’s review.
Wednesday’s vote, which effectively approved the project’s preliminary development plan, allows Loftin-Moore to submit the plan — with a restaurant, shops, parking lot and music pavilion — to Bluffton’s Development Review Committee and its unified development ordinance administrator for final approval.
The development, if fully approved, will rise in a part of Bluffton bustling with new growth: near the Woodbridge neighborhood and the condos at The Reserve at Woodbridge.
The planning commission’s decision comes as many neighbors in the Woodbridge community, which would share an entrance with the marketplace, say they worry about the project’s effect on noise, traffic and drainage in their middle-class neighborhood. Some say that, because their neighborhood is technically not within the town limits, they’ve been shut out of discussions.
And, some argue, Wednesday’s meeting was evidence of that. Written public comments about the project were distributed to Planning Commission members, but not read aloud due to a “policy update,” Bluffton’s growth management coordinator said during the meeting.
Planning Commission Chair Amanda Jackson Denmark said Thursday that the town is transitioning to a new policy where public comments have to be read live by residents. The commission asked for residents to speak during the meeting, but no one was in the waiting room Wednesday night.
Kimberly Hart, a Woodbridge POA board member, said residents were “stunned” their public comments were not read during the meeting. Hart said she worries about the project’s effect on traffic along Buckwalter Parkway and the noise created from the music pavilion.
“We felt like Bluffton did stuff in the backroom without the residents knowing, and then changed the rules when it looked like it was not going a direction the developer wanted,” she said. “We would still like to see the sound study.”
After the Planning Commission met for an hour in executive session Wednesday, attorney Richardson LaBruce told the members they did not have authority to require Loftin-Moore to provide the letter of community support — a formal letter that never arrived (The Woodbridge POA president wrote a letter opposing the project).
The Planning Commission, LaBruce said, is allowed to take the concerns of property owners into consideration, but, according to S.C. law, it cannot delegate its authority to a third party (Woodbridge).
Jackson Denmark said she understands the concerns of residents, but said they should be directed to Bluffton Town Council.
“At the end of the day, the Planning Commission has to go by the law,” she said. “We’re not the ones that can stop certain things. [The developer has] the right to do these types of businesses. We can’t put in our opinion.”
The commission unanimously voted to remove the requirement, although two members said they were still concerned about the development.
Planning Commission Vice Chair Terry Hannock called the project a “neat development,” but said he was worried about the sound levels emanating from the music venue. Hannock said the commission heard conflicting statements from the developer about what types of events will be housed in the venue — whether big bands or smaller performers.
Commission member Charlie Wetmore said the project made “a couple of us nervous.” He said he wanted to make sure the project was developed how it was presented to the commission.
But, with Wednesday’s vote, changes to the project will now be left to the town’s development review committee and staff.
Woodbridge resident Leslie Natoli, who on April 1 wrote Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka and the planning commission opposing the project, said she wants to see specific plans about the music pavilion and marketplace. She said the town and developer are not willing to work with her neighborhood.
“It’s also been made clear to us that we can say what we want, but basically, it doesn’t appear to make a difference because we have no representation,” she said. “I hate to think we couldn’t compromise.”
Kimberly Hart said the residents of Woodbridge do not oppose development in the area, but some consideration should be made for the people directly affected by the project.
“The people that were supposed to look out for us didn’t show up.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
