‘We can do lots of things’: Beaufort County Council looks to balance growth, green space
A new, more diverse Beaufort County Council was sworn in Tuesday morning.
The council’s newest members — David Bartholomew, Tab Tabernik, Paula Brown and Tom Reitz, representing Districts 2, 6, 8 and 11, respectively — joining the seven returning members to face a balance between protecting land while addressing the infrastructure needs of a fast-growing county.
Joe Passiment was re-elected as chairman. He has served as chair of the council since the previous chair, Stu Rodman, resigned amid a flurry of controversies in March 2020. Lawrence McElynn was selected vice chair by a tight vote of 6-5. The five council members who voted against McElynn favored Alice Howard in the position so that both areas South and North of the Broad were represented by the council’s leadership.
Passiment laid out the council’s priorities for the coming year:
Preserving green space
On Election Day, Beaufort County passed the green space penny sales tax, which will run for two years or until $100 million is collected. The money will go toward the county buying land to protect it from encroaching development.
“We can do lots of things with that money,” Passiment said. “We’re going to collect $100 million in two years, where [The Beaufort County Rural and Critical Land Preservation Program] did it in 20 years, and they still have money left to spend.”
Rural and Critical, the county’s other tax program for protecting unspoiled land, has raised $155 million since it was first implemented in 2000.
While the county will work to protect green space, it also must address the affordable housing crisis and the need for more recreation facilities — both issues that put the county in a tough position of trying to balance growth with sustainability.
“We’re going to continue to grow, there’s no question about that,” said Passiment. “We want to preserve land, and yet we need affordable housing, which requires land.”
There’s also a need for more recreation facilities across the county, particularly north of the Broad River. Some work has already been completed with the Beaufort Tennis Courts reopening after 6 months.
“So therein lies our challenge as we go forward. How do we have that balance of green space, economic growth and maintaining all of the facilities we have?” Passiment said.
Bluffton, with its ever-growing population, is in need of ball fields. The county has identified a location for such fields, but the land is currently protected under Rural and Critical.
The swap is likely to pass under the current iteration of the council, councilman Logan Cunningham told the Island Packet in December. Former councilman Brian Flewelling, who was critical of the swap in his final days as a council member, fears the swap may backfire.
“I just think [it] sends the wrong message, and you really need to consider that carefully before they do it,” said Flewelling. “If the swap goes through, it makes me question the real intent of the program that I worked so hard to put in place,” referring to Rural and Critical.
Road improvements
In 2006 and 2018, when the county looked to pass transportation referendums, the county’s philosophy was to collect money first, only to realize it didn’t have enough once it was time to do work, Passiment said. Looking forward to a 2024 referendum, Passiment said the county will do the design work before collecting money so it can avoid falling short on project funding.
Beaufort County has a history of turning down referendums that don’t support green initiatives, but addressing transportation needs is critical, the chair said.
“All we have to do is look at Nixle. The Sheriff’s Office tells us, ‘This road is blocked. This road is closed. This accident happened,’ every single day on our major routes,” said Passiment. “So we know that there’s a problem. Everybody knows there’s a problem; the only way we’re going to fix it is to invest money.”
The county is moving ahead with work on replacing the Hilton Head bridges on U.S. 278 with a single, six-lane bridge — something that was bitterly contested by residents and leaders on Hilton Head.
The state Department of Transportation will continue to work ahead on U.S. 278 improvements, including removing acceleration lanes that bypass stop lights. Between highway construction and the upcoming bridge improvements, traffic delays will be common in 2024-25.
“Have a sense of humor,” Passiment recommended. “I mean, in the end, it’s going to be great, but there’s going to be a little pain and suffering while it’s being constructed.”
Other priorities
▪ Upgrading Hilton Head Airport.
An improved airport will not only bring in the economic benefits of more tourists but will increase the tax dollars collected from tourists for the green space penny tax and bring additional economic benefits for hotels and car rentals near the airport, the chairman said. Instead of people flying out of Savannah, Passiment hopes they’ll be able to fly out of Hilton Head, keeping the money in the state and county.
▪ Daufuskie Island Ferry improvements.
Once the county’s ferry system has permanent embarkment locations — a parcel on Helmsman Way on Hilton Head and the Melrose landing dock on Daufuskie — it will be able to tap into federal and state grants for its operation.
▪ Improved workforce housing.
To assist in the affordable housing crisis, the county, in collaboration with Jasper County and six other municipalities, created a regional housing trust fund where each member government will add yearly funds to be used as incentives to developers to build affordable housing across the southern Lowcountry. Beaufort county will add the most funding out of all the partners, pledging $3.4 million.
This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 2:52 PM.
