How will Hilton Head help relocate dozens of families out of trailer park? Town weighs ideas
The town of Hilton Head Island is exploring the idea of using federal COVID-19 relief funds to help relocate dozens of families from a mid-island trailer park that’s expected to shutter.
The owner of Rollers Trailer Park, located off Marshland Road, plans to redevelop the 7.2-acre property, which borders Broad Creek, along with other land he owns off Julia and Mackerel drives.
Forty-three mobile homes are located on the properties, said senior planner Jayme Lopko during a Tuesday meeting with the island’s Town Council.
The Deep Well Project, a nonprofit that assists people facing financial emergencies, has reported that many of the trailer park residents prop up Hilton Head’s workforce, including in the housekeeping, hotel, construction, painting, landscaping and restaurant sectors of the tourism-driven economy.
“This is a big deal,” said Sandy Gillis, executive director of the nonprofit, in a previous interview.
A major displacement could force island workers to move west toward Jasper County, given Hilton Head’s shortage of affordable housing.
Lopko on Tuesday said that 19 island property owners have contacted the town to offer up their parcels as possible relocation sites, but only four of those locations seem to be viable options.
“The problem that we’re running into,” Lopko said, “is a lot of these property owners don’t have the funding to complete the infrastructure. They have to put in the vehicular access as well as connecting to water and sewer. A lot of these properties are vacant, raw land.”
Four property owners, she noted, may be able to partially or fully fund the needed infrastructure, but they are just beginning to design their projects, which will take time.
Town staff recently asked three other trailer parks on Hilton Head if they had any available space, Lopko said. None did.
The town, Lopko added, could opt to waive building permit and impact fees related to the relocation of the mobile homes — or consider using pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan to assist with new water and sewer infrastructure, among other things.
The town has broad authority on how to spend its $5.2 million in American Rescue Plan money.
Ward 1 representative Alex Brown on Tuesday asked whether any of his colleagues were interested in using the federal funds to address the issue. The Deep Well Project has estimated that it may cost up to $11,650 to relocate a mobile home.
“The last time I checked, we don’t have any affordable housing developers knocking on our door, ready to do projects,” Brown said, “and here we’re faced with close to 50 homes that have been identified as workforce housing that we could potentially lose.”
“We’ve made the commitment that we want to sustain affordable housing on Hilton Head, and here’s an opportunity for us to do it,” he said.
Mayor John McCann in response suggested that a Town Council committee take up the matter and eventually present a recommended course of action.
What’s happening at Rollers Trailer Park?
A developer, Charlotte-based DPJ Residential LLC, previously wanted to build a 164-unit apartment community on the Rollers Trailer Park parcel and nine other adjacent properties, which total about 13.7 acres.
The proposed waterfront development drew the ire of nearby Indigo Run residents. And the town’s Planning Commission in September recommended that the Town Council deny the developer’s request to rezone the 10 properties to allow for an increased density of 12 units per acre. (The land is zoned for eight units per acre.)
The developer has since withdrawn its application for the 164-unit project, Lopko said Tuesday, and is designing a new plan for a development of potentially 109 units, which is allowed under the area’s current zoning.
Lopko said the developer hopes to secure full approval for its smaller project within the next six months.
Even if that plan falls through, though, Harinderjit Singh, the owner of Rollers Trailer Park and other land in the area, has said he will redevelop his properties and no longer offer space for mobile homes, records show.
Singh has “discontinued all leases,” Lopko said, and families now are renting month to month.
Singh previously did not respond to a request for comment.
