Letter: Find middle ground on Hilton Head National
Is there no middle ground regarding the proposed development of the 300-acre Hilton Head National golf course site?
Is there a case to be made for Beaufort County to purchase the property? What a wonderful park it would make. It could be argued that the county’s infrastructure investment for the proposed development could rival that of an outright purchase.
No one would argue that the course’s owner doesn’t deserve to unload a failing business and sell the real estate. However, the extent to which he seems to want to turn his fortune around is excessive. Could the owner be using the shocking scale of his proposal as leverage? Maybe he would be satisfied to sell for a fair return on his investment.
If the county can’t go so far as to purchase the entire property, could both sides be happy with a compromise? Perhaps the county could approve a much smaller development and purchase the remainder.
I believe there’s middle ground here if the stakeholders are willing to be creative.
Janie Parker
Bluffton
This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Letter: Find middle ground on Hilton Head National."