Developer and Jasper County Council agree to advance PDD while DOT, county and developer finalize traffic mitigation

Jasper Telare LLC is seeking planned development district (PDD) designation and a development agreement from Jasper County for a 30‑acre commercial project at the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 and Speedway Boulevard (Highway 315). At a March 16 workshop, county staff, developer representatives and traffic engineers discussed traffic impacts, safety mitigations and next steps for final design and DOT approval.

Lisa, a county planning staff member, told the council the project's traffic impact study (TIS, revised Nov. 18, 2025) forecasts about 1,322 new vehicle trips per day, including 180 trips during the AM peak (139 inbound, 41 outbound) and 179 trips in the PM peak (42 inbound, 137 outbound). The TIS recommended installing turn‑storage lanes and appropriate tapers and acceleration/deceleration lanes on U.S. 17 and Highway 315. "Traffic's been the main correct issue all along," Lisa said, summarizing staff concerns and the focus of the workshop.

Staff said South Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) initially agreed to attend but later declined and instead supplied written comments. Josh Johnson, DOT's traffic engineer, told the county by email that DOT is "amenable" to turnaround or bulb options in concept but will require final design and field verification on exact locations, widening conditions and wetland impacts before approving a specific layout.

Developer consultants presented two principal concept families. One would retain full access on U.S. 17 with an acceleration/storage lane on the southbound approach designed to hold multiple large tractor‑trailers (engineers described three WB67 vehicles as the design reference) plus a 200‑ft storage bay and taper. The alternative would limit access on Highway 315 to right‑in/right‑out and provide a bulb or median U‑turn farther from the interchange to let right‑turning traffic reverse direction safely. Travis, a consulting engineer for the developer, characterized the acceleration lane as "the safer option" and noted the developer agreed to limit 315 access to right‑in/right‑out.

Engineers emphasized tradeoffs between driver behavior and geometric constraints. One traffic engineer explained that reducing conflict points — for example converting direct lefts into a "right to go left" sequence — reduces driver decision load and improves safety. Council members pressed engineers about storage‑lane length and how trucks would maneuver. Vice Chair Ziller and other members questioned whether a 200‑ft storage lane would be adequate as traffic volumes increase; one council member suggested the lane might need to be lengthened to 300 ft in the future to avoid trucks blocking U.S. 17.

County staff and the developer said the development agreement will avoid locking a single sketch into the contract. Instead, the agreement would require the developer to design and build traffic mitigations that are either consistent with the TIS or with county recommendations and that must be approved by DOT and the county as part of the final site plan. "We will make a final determination on what is the safest entrance and exit from the site based on the site plan," staff said, explaining that final geometry will be approved after iterative design work with DOT.

The county also confirmed utilities: the site is served by the Bufort Jasper Water Sewer Authority, and a letter of intent is included in the PDD materials. Developers and county counsel are exchanging redline comments on the draft development agreement; staff asked the council to allow the PDD and development agreement to move forward with concept‑level language that preserves the county's final site‑plan approval.

Council members signaled general support for advancing the PDD/DA to the May 4 meeting with non‑binding, collaborative language that allows DOT and county engineers to finalize the design. The workshop closed with a procedural motion to adjourn.

What happens next: staff and the developer will continue design coordination with DOT and return a final site plan and any revised development‑agreement language to the council for formal approval once DOT has reviewed the final traffic geometry.

Direct quotations in this story come from the workshop transcript and the county's staff presentation.