A controversial Okatie River-front development is back on the table. Where it stands
A controversial development project planned on the banks of the Okatie River may soon be undergoing some changes.
Pepper Hall, located along U.S. 278 across from Hampton Parkway, has long been a source of contention among Beaufort County elected officials and the public due to the county’s decision to enter into a public-private development agreement along the marshes of the river.
The approved development, just down the road from where another developer wants to pave over portions of the Island West golf course, will include a county-owned passive park and 76.6 acres of mixed-use commercial and residential development.
Now, more than a year and a half after the county and property owner Robert Graves entered into the agreement that allowed Graves to develop his riverfront property and required the county to pay for entrance roads to the development and the passive park, the two groups are still hammering out the details.
On Monday afternoon, Beaufort County’s natural resources committee met with a team of attorneys representing Graves to discuss creating improvement district assessments — a possible fee paid by developers on each residential home or commercial building built on the property.
The assessments would allow the county to recoup about $2.4 million of the expected $3.7 million it will cost to develop the roads in the planned development, according to the presentation from the attorneys.
In the coming weeks, Beaufort County has to decide on several items related to the Pepper Hall development:
▪ if it wants to create an improvement district to recoup some of the cost
▪ how that improvement district will be implemented
▪ if the assessments would be applied to all or some of the development
County Council Chairman Joe Passiment said he assumes council will agree to the improvement district when it comes up for a vote, because otherwise the county will have to pay the entire costs of the roads.
He said he supports an improvement district for the entire development, including residential and commercial buildings.
Monday’s meeting, in which no action was taken, was contentious at times — with council vice chair Paul Sommerville accusing the attorneys of working for the developer instead of the public.
“We don’t know what Mr. Graves is going to build there,” he said. “What is important is what Mr. Graves might build there. That’s all I care about.”
Sommerville, who says he has opposed the county’s involvement with the development since its inception, said it makes “taxpayers ... carry a huge load in order to make a development more profitable.”
On Tuesday, Sommerville said that because council “got in this horrible agreement” with Graves, it should apply an improvement district to the entire development to “save the taxpayers some dollars.”
The expected cost of the development — up to $6.1 million, according to the presentation — will be paid by both the county and Graves, with the two groups splitting the stormwater costs and the county paying for construction of the roads.
According to the presentation from the attorneys, Graves plans to build:
▪ 109 for-sale single-family homes
▪ 54 for-sale townhomes
▪ 120 for-rent townhomes
▪ 336 for-rent apartment units
▪ 100,000 sq. ft. commercial space
The 18-acre county-owned passive park on the property could be “the crown jewel of our passive parks system,” Passiment said.
“It’s right on the Okatie marsh. It’s a magnificent site,” he said. “But, the only way that park works is if we have a road to it. The only way we have a road to it is in fact we go through that development. Otherwise, we have a piece of land that is totally useless.”
The county will discuss its plans for the Pepper Hall development at the next natural resources committee and full county council meetings on Monday, Passiment said.
Those meetings will be streamed live on Facebook and on The County Channel.
