Council creates 21‑member Land Management Ordinance task force to vet zoning rewrite

Hilton Head Island’s Town Council on Sept. 16 adopted a resolution establishing a Land Management Ordinance (LMO) task force charged with reviewing proposed zoning and development code revisions and advising staff, the Planning Commission and council.

Staff told council the full LMO rewrite is complex and interconnected, and the task force is an industry‑standard way to assemble cross‑sector expertise and public perspectives to reduce unintended consequences before code changes reach formal hearings. The resolution as adopted sets the task force at 21 members: three council appointees, chairpersons of the Planning Commission and Design Review Board, representatives from the Gullah Geechee preservation groups, representatives of the Hilton Head‑area Chamber of Commerce, home builders and realtors, three general managers from the town’s 10 planned unit developments (PUDs), industry representatives (short‑term rental, hospitality, workforce housing), and five resident seats. The town manager and deputy manager will serve as nonvoting ex‑officio staff.

Council members and several public speakers debated the task‑force size and composition at length. Supporters said broad representation improves technical review, increases transparency and helps build consensus; critics said 21 members is unwieldy and risks further delay in a process residents regard as already extended. Staff said appointments will be made by council and that the task force will disband automatically once the LMO revisions are adopted.

Why council acted now Council and staff have been working on code amendments and discrete changes to manage growth for several years. Staff said many code improvements have already been adopted, but the comprehensive rewrite remains pending; council members who support the task force said it will help vet the draft LMO chapters and related district plans so the public and stakeholders can scrutinize them before they move through Planning Commission and back to council.

Next steps and timing Staff told council it expects to deliver a draft LMO text by the end of the calendar year and to begin public review through the task force and Planning Commission afterward. Council requested that staff begin the appointment process upon adoption and aimed to have the task force convened before year‑end; staff said the task force’s work will be chapter‑by‑chapter and that adoption of all sections will follow the ordinance change process. Several council members urged urgency and regular special meetings to avoid prolonged delay.

Proponents and concerns Public commenters and some council members argued the task force is a best practice to prevent unintended consequences similar to those they attributed to the 2014 LMO rewrite; others said residents have waited too long for code reform and favored a smaller committee to speed decisions. Staff responded that many of the seats (chairs of boards and industry representatives) will already be residents of the town and that some positions could be reduced if council chose to do so during the appointment process.

How it will affect neighborhoods and developers The task force will review draft zoning districts, development standards and an application manual staff said will accompany the LMO. Staff said early chapters and companion documents (application manual, design guidance) will be prioritized; substantive zoning‑map changes and district plans will be coordinated with the rewrite as they are drafted. Council emphasized that any final map and text changes still must follow Planning Commission review and council adoption procedures.