Beaufort County planning commission recommends denial of 121-acre Cherry Point rezoning over traffic and timing concerns

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. — The Beaufort County Planning Commission on Jan. 7 recommended denial of a zoning map amendment that would have rezoned 121.43 acres near Cherry Point (Okeetee Highway) from T2 Rural to T4 Neighborhood Center and T3 Neighborhood Open with a village place type overlay.

The commission’s unanimous recommendation denies the applicant’s request to rezone the tract and forwards that recommendation to county council. Commissioners and staff said persistent uncertainties about traffic impacts on S.C. Highway 170, the absence of a funded plan for off-site road improvements and the timing of needed infrastructure improvements outweighed the revisions the developer made to the plan.

Staff and traffic engineers told the commission the updated traffic impact analysis (TIA) included new 2024 counts and considered a two-phase buildout with a worst-case Phase 2 that adds a school site. Kevin Sullivan, a county transportation planner, said the county’s review showed some intersections could produce unacceptable levels of service without major off-site improvements. Dylan Turner, traffic engineer for Kimley Horn, said the study used conservative travel estimates and that "E is about a minute to a minute and a half, and F is over a minute and a half" of average vehicle delay at a signalized intersection — a scale that, he said, indicates severe delay when intersections fall to E or F.

Why it matters

Highway 170 already carries heavy traffic in the Okatie/Cherry Point corridor and multiple speakers told the commission the road’s capacity and safety are community priorities. County staff noted that a local capital-project sales-tax referendum that could have funded improvements recently failed, leaving no clear funding source for the off-site widening and intersection changes traffic engineers say would be needed to…