Hilton Head hurting North Forest Beach

North Forest Beach is again being molested by the Town of Hilton Head Island. Now it’s about a “compound.” Some years ago it was about the town allowing mini-hotels to be built.

The town has a set of rules for managing development. These work well when the development is on raw land (that is, no neighborhood), but are destructive when the development is in an established neighborhood. The reason is that the rules do not recognize the impact of the project on the neighborhood or the neighborhood itself.

I learned this the hard way. A nearby property owner applied for a density increase that would allow more units to be built on the property. The request was to double the allowed density, which would also be double the density of the surrounding area. My neighborhood thought this was unreasonable.

But the town staff approved the project because it was in accordance with the rules. The rules require the staff to consider many aspects of the project, but not how the project impacts a neighborhood.

You can see this same thing operating in the North Forest Beach situation. The town is talking about rules and the neighborhood is talking about a threat to the neighborhood. Today it’s about North Forest Beach. Tomorrow it could be your neighborhood.

Our town was formed to protect us from development threats from the outside. How ironic that now the threat is from the inside. The town is the threat. Good heavens.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Hilton Head hurting North Forest Beach."