‘Damage is done,’ Bradley Circle feels the consequence of tourism development

A small, horseshoe-shaped neighborhood in Hilton Head would never be the same again after one local government decision in 2014.

The entire island underwent a comprehensive zoning overhaul that year. Residents say they were unaware. There was no discussion, no letter in their mail, no phone call.

There was public notice in the newspapers, but residents of Bradley Circle did not know they needed to be checking what would happen to their small, eight-units per acre neighborhood, according to Hilton Head Town Council Member Tamara Becker.

Bradley Circle would become unrecognizable.

For years, as a result of this decision, the neighborhood was zoned resort instead of residential. Instead of eight units per acre it became 16.

One resident of Bradley Circle, Kieth Sledge, calls this decision a “knee-jerk” reaction to a lull in development caused by the 2008 recession, which has major consequences affecting the neighborhood still.

However, before any of this occurred, the area was no stranger to tourism development.

Bradley Beach road, then and now

Dorothy “Dot” Law has lived on Bradley Beach Rd since 1998; her family has been in the neighborhood since the ‘50s. The neighborhood she moved into, with no more than eight to 10 houses and lots of trees, is not the one she is living in now.

When the family first bought the property, it was a second home. Most of the families in the area used it as their summer home and a closer place to go to the beach.

The area saw many vacationers, but the families who used to go were the same every year.

The first families to move to Bradley were from Savannah. Three of them were doctors who all bought the land in 1955 and sold it to their friends. Some of the friends lived in Bradley Circle, but most lived on Bradley Beach Road.

“It was a community,” Law said. “They knew each other, they were all socially connected, and they were all professionals. And these are people of color.”

The women in the neighborhood would play cards every afternoon, Law said. Children would play together and families would spend time with each other.

As time went on, the families that owned these properties have aged, and young generations of their families are less interested in the property, Law said.

“Many of the houses are rentals, you know, summer rentals, and the people come from up north and where they want to come from, and they rent weekly or monthly, or however long they choose to stay,” Law said. “So these people, you don’t get to know that well, but I’m very blessed, because… the people that are my neighbors are permanent people.”

This once close-knit community is now a lot of “part-timers,” as Law calls them.

Having many new tourists is not a new situation for this community, however.

In 2004, the neighborhood’s beloved convenience store, Driessen’s Grocery and Service Station, closed down for good, the Island Packet reported.

It was more than just a store to residents interviewed more than 20 years ago. It was a “landmark family business,” a place for neighbors to “stop and chat.”

The store was sold to MTSC, a Marriott subsidiary, and was transformed into a 195-unit timeshare.

Is Hilton Head losing its charm?

Sledge said the issues seen in the neighborhood can be traced back to the 2014 Land Management Ordinance rewrite.

“The purpose and intent of the LMO is to maintain the island character and peace and civility and and the all the things that make Hilton Head lovely place that it is,” Sledge said. “They pretty much overlooked that in 2014 LMO rewrite.”

One of the sections of purposes and intent aims to the prevent the overcrowding of land, consistent with the zoning of the area.

Sledge said he lives across from three houses that were built connected to each other. This property is listed as a single-family residence on Zillow. The rental listing on AirBnB, indicates the property has 21 beds, 11 baths and 10 bedrooms.

“Instead of looking across the marsh at a nice little three-bedroom, two-bath house on a one-acre lot that was well maintained and beautiful, we see three connected high-rise rentals that are well over the height that everything else is,” Sledge said.

Every development done on Bradley Beach has been within code, Sledge said. The problem, according to Sledge, is not with the developers or buyers, but with the ordinances that allows it.

“They let them go up to the maximum on all of them,” he said. “It does completely change character.”

The inconsistent zoning is making the island lose its charm and character, Sledge said. It makes his neighborhood like any other beach town instead, he argued.

Rapid expansion strains existing infrastructure

The neighborhood’s infastructure is not keeping up with the increased density, Sledge said.

Since the new homes were built, homeowners have to deal with low water pressure. Residents have had to install additional water pumps into their homes.

“Many times, there’s just a trickle of water,” Sledge said. “Our sewers were not built to accommodate dozens of bedrooms on an acre versus three or four bedrooms on a quarter acre.”

The zoning also loosened requirements for green space in lots, allowing a greater percentage of the surface to be paved. This has led to problems with street flooding and stormwater runoff, Sledge said.

And much like any neighborhood with quick development, parking has become an issue. Short-term rental homes in Bradley Circle can accommodate upwards of 20 guests. The area does not have enough street parking spaces, which can make getting in and out of the neighborhood difficult.

Sledge said he is particularly worried about how emergency vehicles can get in or out during the peak rental season.

Life ‘outside the gates’

Ward 4 Council Member Tamara Becker lives in Bradley Circle. The development in her neighborhood is part of the reason she ran for council.

“If there’s an opportunity to highlight the impact, the loss of quality of life, that neighbors are experiencing, I take the time to do that because it’s important,” Becker said. “I’m hoping that, little by little, we’ll get somewhere.”

The town council does not have jurisdiction over what can happen in gated communities. These communities can make their own decisions about what is and is not allowed behind their gates. Private communities such as Hilton Head Plantation and Indigo Run have banned short-term rentals.

However, only three members of the council reside outside of these communities. Becker is one of them.

“Outside the gates, and especially in Bradley Circle, we don’t have an HOA, so we don’t have any covenants that have ever been recorded,” Becker said. “So we’re completely dependent on the town and the land management ordinance, whereas if you live behind the gates in a PUD [Planned Unit Development], they are set up with covenants, and they have their own specific rules, and it’s a more protected environment.”

Sledge said there’s not much they can do to address their neighborhood’s problem. There is not much space for more development, except for maybe four more lots.

“What has been done, is what will be done,” Sledge said.

This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.