Ban on ‘oversized houses’ in Hilton Head neighborhood to see council vote soon
A small but mighty group of Hilton Head residents are nearing the end of their fight against “oversized homes” in their neighborhood.
Residents of Holiday Homes, a 57-lot neighborhood near Folly Field beach, have been working with town officials to pass zoning amendments that would restrict the size of homes in their neighborhood.
A new proposal, first introduced in December, is now ready for the eyes of the Hilton Head Island Town Council.
The proposal has made it way through various town committees over the past four months. The Planning Commission approved the proposal at a Wednesday meeting, the last step needed before a Town Council vote.
The council will likely review the new proposal at its April 7 meeting, according to comments from Trey Lowe, development services program manager for the Town of Hilton Head Island. Lowe presented the item to the planning commission on Wednesday.
How did we get here?
For Holiday Homes residents, the fight has been going on since early last year, when building permits were approved for three, three-story homes on Oleander Street.
Residents attempted to stop the construction of the new homes. At a July hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals, residents argued the new houses clashed with the character of their neighborhood.
To back up their case, residents pointed to a character overlay — a special kind of zoning ordinance — that the town enacted in 2005 aimed at limiting the size and scale of homes. They also presented a decades-old restrictive covenant, filed by the founders of their neighborhood, that prohibited any homes larger than two-and-a-half stories. The document hadn’t come up in a previous title search on the property, and town officials had been unable to locate it.
Their attempts to stop the construction proved unsuccessful. The Board of Zoning Appeals sided with town officials, ruling that the new homes complied with zoning rules, and that because town officials didn’t have access to the restrictive covenant when they issued the permits, they could not rule that an error was made.
That led residents to push for an update to the neighborhood’s character overlay that would bake those restrictions into the town code.
The proposal first came before the Community Development and Public Services Committee at a Dec. 15 meeting. It will need to be approved by the Town Council upon first and second reading before taking effect.
At the Dec. 15 meeting, Edwin Ednst, a Holiday Homes resident of 35 years, argued that the updated overlay was needed as existing safeguards “have proven ineffective in preventing the construction of detrimentally oversized houses in historic island neighborhoods.”
What are the restrictions?
If approved, new rules would limit the size of new homes that get built in the neighborhood.
Homes would be capped at two-and-a-half stories and no more than 30 feet in height. Each home would be restricted to two garage parking spaces and could not exceed 3,200 square feet, among other restrictions.
Currently, there are no restrictions on number of stories or garage parking spaces in Holiday Homes, and residences are allowed to be up to 35 feet tall and 4,000 square feet.
Existing homes won’t be affected unless homeowners seek to redevelop or expand their homes, town officials previously stated.
The owner of a home that’s already larger than 3,200 square feet may not be allowed to build an addition, for example. Someone with a two-car garage may be blocked from constructing a detached garage with additional space.
If a catastrophic event, like a hurricane or a fire, destroys more than 50% of their home, homeowners may have to comply with the new restrictions when rebuilding their home, town officials previously said.
Where is Holiday Homes?
Holiday Homes is a 57-lot neighborhood nestled in the crossroads of William Hilton Parkway and Folly Field Road. It’s one of the island’s oldest single-family neighborhoods, with ranch-style homes dating back to 1957.
Some lots have since been redeveloped into three-story homes, but the majority of homes are still modest in size.
The neighborhood does not have a homeowner’s association or similar body to enforce its own restrictions on development, leaving the town as its sole source of protection.
Residents previously told The Packet they chose the neighborhood for its proximity to the beach, lack of an HOA and neighborly feel.
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 5:40 PM.
