‘Watershed’ moment: Workforce housing may be coming to town-owned land on Hilton Head
More than 12 acres of town-owned land near the north-end Post Office on Hilton Head Island may be used for a new workforce housing development.
The island’s Town Council on Tuesday gave staff members the OK to pursue a public-private affordable housing partnership on the site, which is located off U.S. 278 just west of the Post Office.
Ward 5 Town Council member Tom Lennox called the move a “watershed” moment for Hilton Head.
“No longer are we talking about developing the island or restricting and prohibiting the development of the island. We’re talking about redeveloping the island,” Lennox said.
Lennox added that he supports the town’s plan, but stressed that “we have to recognize that there’s going to be pushback from a large part of the community. ... There will be people squarely opposed to any development of the town land holdings.”
Details about the partnership — and what will be built — have not been finalized. The council simply gave Town Manager Marc Orlando the go-ahead to issue a request for qualifications, or RFQ, by March 31 to gauge workforce housing developers’ interest in the property.
The elected officials also supported Orlando’s idea of setting aside $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to build infrastructure for the proposed housing development and agreed that the town should establish an ad hoc housing committee to advise the council on how to set up the public-private partnership.
It’s still unknown who will serve on the ad hoc committee and when it will be launched, said Shawn Colin, senior adviser to the town manager.
The Town Council, meanwhile, took no action Tuesday on a separate proposal from Ward 3 representative David Ames to build workforce housing on a portion of the roughly 103-acre mid-island tract.
Orlando said he would gather more legal details about that property and other town-owned land before the end of March to confirm whether any of it can be used to build affordable housing.
The mid-island tract is the former Planter’s Row Golf Course. The town bought it for $5 million in 2013 and is planning to build a massive park on the site. The tract is bordered by U.S. 278, Dillon Road and Union Cemetery Road.
Details still to come on housing project
As part of the workforce housing partnership at the Post Office site, Orlando said the town could lease or sell the land to a developer.
“Those are decisions that we have to make in the future,” he said.
The town also could make a financial contribution toward the planning, engineering and architectural design of the project, expedite the site’s development plan review and permitting process, and reduce or eliminate town fees for the project, Orlando said.
The goal, he said, is to attract an experienced workforce housing developer who can set up a down payment assistance program and a high-quality homebuyer education and counseling program, among other things.
The town still needs to answer these questions, Orlando said: Does it want to lease or sell the land to a developer? Does it want to build multifamily, single family or duplex housing? What should the development’s Area Median Income range be? What should its density be?
‘What you are doing is so critical’
Hilton Head residents on Tuesday praised the town’s plan, including Sandy Gillis, executive director of the Deep Well Project, a nonprofit that assists those facing financial emergencies.
“We see people who are renewing their leases and the leases are going from $900 or $1,000 a month to $1,400 a month. Wages and raises cannot keep up with that kind of an increase,” Gillis said. “We see situations where we have 12 and 14 people living in two-bedroom apartments. We have 10 and 12 people living in single-wide mobile homes. ...
“What you are doing is so critical and so important to so many of your neighbors. We work with them at Deep Well every day, every week and some of the stories truly are heartbreaking, and they are not the American Dream. ... I am very excited to know that this council may be the council that doesn’t kick the can down the road.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
