Pepper Hall negotiations collapse

Comparing his struggle to get a new development off the ground to the complexity of a NASA moon landing, an Okatie property owner hinted Thursday that the courts may be the only place to decide the fate of his Pepper Hall property.

“I’ve negotiated stuff all my life, and I’ve never had this kind of response,” Robert Graves said of his interactions with Beaufort County leaders. “Man would have never got to the moon if there were always people sitting around a table telling him what he can’t do.”

The comments came Thursday after negotiations regarding the development of Pepper Hall, a large plot of land in greater Bluffton, collapsed and the county subcommittee formed to conduct those talks dissolved itself.

Graves, who owns the 133-acre parcel along U.S. 278 near the Okatie River, has tried for years to get the rural property rezoned to allow a large commercial and residential development.

He said he understand the need for zoning regulations, but, ultimately, “a man ought to be able to do with property what he wants to.”

Pepper Hall “has been sitting there long enough; it’s time to do something,” Graves said.

Beaufort County Councilman Brian Flewelling, who headed the now dissolved subcommittee, said he agrees with Graves “on one basic thing.”

“I think it’s time to do something with this property,” he said. “I think it’s past time.”

The subcommittee met with Graves and his legal team Thursday morning.

Barry Johnson, Graves’ attorney, proposed an agreement that allows the construction of up to 700,000 square feet of commercial space and 480 residential units, far more than county code currently allows in the area.

It is essentially the same proposal floated by the Graves team when the latest round of negotiations began in December.

County leaders balked then — and Thursday.

The proposed agreement “sets up such a large amount of development that is so far beyond what I think is appropriate for that area,” Flewelling said.

Neither side budged, and while conversation remained civil throughout the meeting, there was clearly frustration from both ends of the negotiating table.

“How in the world can you stand up in good faith against a property owner who wants to do the right thing?” Graves asked rhetorically.

He argued that his family has “been good stewards of the Okatie River in that area for 150 years.”

Graves also said his development proposal would provide the county with new sources of tax revenue.

With no indication that the sides were close, the subcommittee voted unanimously to dissolve itself, effectively ending negotiations for the foreseeable future.

“Clearly no development agreement is going to be reached,” Flewelling said.

That brings the Pepper Hall saga back to square one.

Late last year, Beaufort County Council formed the new subcommittee to negotiate with Graves and his attorneys.

The hope was the group could devise an agreement that permitted limited development while protecting the river and avoiding additional traffic congestion.

That move came on the heels of a prior failure to negotiate a development agreement, nearly three years of debate by the County Council over rezoning, and consideration in 2013 that the county buy Pepper Hall from Graves outright.

At the end of his remarks to the committee on Thursday, Graves said he was “tired of the legal fees.”

“But if you push me out of this (negotiating room) there’s only one place to go — somewhere where there’s fairness,” he said, hinting at the possibility that the debate will ultimately need to be settled in court.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Pepper Hall negotiations collapse."