Bluffton planners recommend speeding review for demolishing non‑contributing Old Town buildings

The Bluffton Planning Commission on June 24 unanimously recommended that Town Council approve amendments to the town’s Unified Development Ordinance that would let staff administratively review demolition permits for non‑contributing structures in the Old Town Bluffton Historic District.

Charlotte, a Town of Bluffton planning staff member, told the commission the change would spare applicants the full Certificate of Appropriateness route for buildings identified as non‑contributing in the town’s 2025 historic resources survey. “So the reason why we're proposing this amendment is because we want to, really expedite the timeline ... It will take a matter of days instead of potentially up to a month or 2 months,” Charlotte said.

The amendments would revise Chapter 23, Article 3, sections 3.18 (certificate of appropriateness, historic district) and 3.19 (site feature historic district permit) to allow a site feature permit to be used for removal of non‑contributing structures. Charlotte said Old Town has about 86 historic resources, 84 of which are structures, and that the 2025 survey identified contributing resources.

Commissioner Will Howard asked whether staff would apply substantive criteria or treat site feature permit reviews as more of a clerical process. Charlotte said the process is intended to be administrative but staff can request supporting materials — photos, plans or development history — from applicants if available; those materials would be optional, not mandatory.

Chairman Charlie Buckmore pressed for caution about non‑house contributing resources such as pump houses, wells and significant trees, saying he did not want an administrative process to allow such resources to be removed inadvertently. Charlotte said she would follow up with a colleague, Glenn, to confirm which non‑house resources are recorded in the survey and suggested the town might add map overlays or other protections as needed. She also noted the town has issued a request for qualifications to update the Old Town master plan and that further amendments could follow through that public process.

Commissioner Will Howard moved to recommend approval of the amendments; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Charlotte said that if the commission’s recommendation is adopted by Town Council, the item will go to council on July 14 for a public hearing and return for a second reading on August 11. The commission then adjourned.

The Planning Commission record on June 24 shows the recommendation only; final action rests with Town Council.