What will former restaurant near the Hilton Head bridges become? Here are some options
A highly visible piece of waterfront property — purchased last year by the Beaufort County Council for dock access to the Daufuskie Island Ferry in greater Bluffton — might one day serve a whole new purpose.
The land, which is the site of the old Sea Trawler restaurant site near Buckingham Landing and can be seen from the bridges to Hilton Head Island, is being considered for a number of uses by council.
“We really want to open it up to the staff and the public,” Stu Rodman, chairman of county council, said last week.
Rodman’s comment came after a presentation from county attorney Tom Keaveny on possible uses for the buildings.
Those ideas include: single-family residences, a group home, a bed and breakfast, a daycare, possible maritime work through the Waddell Mariculture Center for use by the University of South Carolina Beaufort.
The problems associated with those ideas are parking and an occupancy ordinance for the property. The property would be limited to use by eight people at a time, Keaveny said.
On Friday, he said the county’s objective is to keep the Buckingham Landing community residential in nature.
“The primary issue if you lived in that community is the traffic and parking,” he said.
Ronald Broome, a leader in Buckingham Landing who shares a property line with the county’s property, said he would like to see the space used as a park or marine education facility.
“The reason for that is it creates so much traffic for our community,” he added.
The county paid $2.2 million to purchase the property, which includes two circular buildings, in late July.
Prior to that purchase, the county had been paying $10,000 a month to rent the dock on the property for the Daufuskie Island Ferry.
Vice Chairman Paul Sommerville said in August that the purchase was made to ensure a permanent location of the ferry’s port, since Hurricane Matthew destroyed its old location at Palmetto Bay Marina.
As the county continues to discuss the possibilities for the property, Keaveny said the county has given the kitchen equipment inside the buildings to the Technical College of the Lowcountry’s culinary program.
This story was originally published March 8, 2019 at 2:28 PM.
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