Palmetto Bluff wants to build a long-planned marina. What changes it asks from Bluffton
This story has been updated with a statement from a spokesperson for South Street Partners.
The developers of Bluffton’s sprawling Palmetto Bluff community are proposing major changes to their two-decade-old development agreement with the town — a sign that waterfront development could be in the works under the community’s new owners.
Developers are asking the town of Bluffton to revise its development agreement, concept plan and declaration of covenants with Palmetto Bluff to allow for a new on-land boat storage facility and to allow dockside fueling at the community’s “Big House” location.
Bluffton’s planning commission will consider the developers’ request at its meeting Wednesday evening.
The request has fueled concern from citizens and advisory groups who worry that South Street Partners, the new owners of Palmetto Bluff, plan to do away with agreements from years ago to increase development. Jessie White, south coast office director for the Coastal Conservation league, said the changes represent a “clear shift” in the way Palmetto Bluff was intended to be developed and will lead to larger boats along the New River.
It’s a “tipping of the scales — the first domino that would fall in really gutting the environmental commitments that were agreed upon,” she said.
South Street Partners, in a statement from a spokesperson, said its pursuit of the storage facility and dockside fueling was “continuing the previously approved agreements and hard work of the prior Palmetto Bluff team.
The developers’ request is tied to Palmetto Bluff’s plans to build a marina along the New River, called the Anson Marina, according to the documents. But developers have not submitted to the town any development plans for the marina, Kevin Icard, Bluffton’s planning and community development manager, told a reporter Tuesday.
Palmetto Bluff currently has a permit, dating back to 2005, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control that allows it to build Anson Marina with a total of 186 wet slips, planning documents show.
Because of this permit, Palmetto Bluff is already allowed to build the marina regardless of the new request, Icard said.
South Street Partners said it is not requesting from the town any “additional docks or residential density beyond what is already approved in the Development agreement...
“We are excited to continue to support the conservation minded original vision of Palmetto Bluff,” the developer’s statement said. “It is a vibrant community and enjoys the best of classic Lowcountry traditions within a majestic, beautiful, stimulating and protected environment.”
The developers’ request to the town states that, without dockside fueling, boaters at the planned marina would have to travel at least 8 miles away (to Freeport Marina) to fuel their boats.
Opposition to the proposal began this summer when, along with the request to allow fueling and storage, Palmetto Bluff requested three new water access points — including one on the environmentally sensitive Long Island and one on Doughboy Island.
After public outcry — and planning commission members’ confusion about the request at a meeting in August — the developers submitted a revised proposal. The planning commission will consider the new request, which asks only for the dockside fueling and storage facility, at its meeting Wednesday evening.
White said she hopes the removal of the water access points is a sign that the developers of Palmetto Bluff are receptive to community concerns. But, because the area is not protected by conservation easements, the only real environmental protection for Palmetto Bluff is its development agreement, she said.
And the developers are seeking to revise it.
“Palmetto bluff has held themselves out as being good environmental stewards,” she said. “A marina, we could agree, has always been part of the plan for Palmetto Bluff. But they’re asking to do things that are not allowed.
“They’re asking the town to significantly expand the footprint of that marina and, in turn, the impacts that marina will have on the environment.”
Although it’s unclear exactly what the marina will look like or include, it’s referenced throughout Palmetto Bluff’s original request to the town. Palmetto Bluff’s original development agreement refers to it as the “Big House” — where there is already an existing water access point.
If Anson Marina moves forward, it would be Palmetto Bluff’s first major development project after the property changed hands earlier this summer. South Street Partners, the owner of the company that developed Kiawah Island, and Henderson Park Capital Partners, a London-based private equity real estate company, purchased the 20,000-acre property in June.
However, Palmetto Bluff submitted the amendment request before the purchase was finalized.
A June news release about the purchase said developers “will focus on the construction of Anson Village, which will open up access to a large waterfront space and the southern Intercoastal Waterway.”
White said she plans to attend Wednesday’s meeting and, on behalf on the S.C. Coastal Conservation League, ask the planning commission to deny the request.
The S.C. Coastal Conservation League has for two decades fought Kiawah Development Partners II — purchased by South Street Partners in 2013 — over its attempts to build an exclusive resort community on Captain Sam’s Spit near Charleston. In June, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled against the development company’s latest request to build a steel sea wall that would have made it easier to build the 50-home project.
Palmetto Bluff’s request
Palmetto Bluff is asking the town of Bluffton for two revisions to its development agreement, originally signed in 1998, and accompanying amendments to its concept plan and declaration of covenants.
The first change would allow a second dry stack boat storage facility — one already exists at Wilson Landing. If approved, Palmetto Bluff plans to build the storage facility at its “Big House” (or Anson Marina) water access point along the New River.
The facility would allow boats to be stored on land and be “protected from the harsh environmental conditions in the water,” the request says.
Palmetto Bluff’s second request would allow dockside fueling at Big House. Dockside fueling is currently prohibited in the development agreement.
If approved, the amendment would be the fifth time Palmetto Bluff has successfully altered its agreement with Bluffton.
The developers’ previous request — before they changed it — would have allowed Palmetto Bluff to build two water access points on Doughboy Island and Long Island.
Because those islands have been identified in studies as being ecologically significant, White said the CCL is keeping a “close eye” on any future development plans.
What’s next?
Bluffton’s Planning Commission is expected to consider Palmetto Bluff’s request at a public hearing Wednesday at 6 p.m.
If the planning commission votes to forward the request to Town Council, it will likely go for first reading early next month, according to town documents.
Two weeks ago, Bluffton resident Jim Lawton created a petition that called on the town to deny Palmetto Bluff’s request. The petition, called “Save the New River! Stop Palmetto Bluff” has received 575 signatures as of Tuesday.
Called Tuesday, Lawton said he’s been concerned about development in Palmetto Bluff since it was annexed into the town in the 1990s.
Since then, he said he and other residents have spoken out when developers try to “renege” on their agreements from years ago.
“This is a bigger issue. It’s not only Palmetto Bluff,” he said. “It’s emblematic of how the town of Bluffton is completely in the throes of developers.”
Wednesday’s meeting, he said, “is just one more step to stop over-development.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 3:05 PM.
