Committee asks Port Royal to amend buy-down application before county due diligence

The Beaufort County Green Space Advisory Committee on July 17 reviewed a plan-development buy-down application from the town of Port Royal and asked the town to amend the filing before the county pursues due diligence or presents funding requests to county council.

Noah Kreps, planning director for the town of Port Royal, told the committee the town had held first reading to rezone a 3.62-acre parcel and planned to rezone the remaining PUD so the town could take ownership. “We determined that the best path forward forward would be to rezone the entire PUD,” Kreps said. He said the town intends to complete rezoning and then amend its county application to a corridor-style, fee-simple acquisition.

Committee members raised technical and procedural concerns. Tim Evans (Northern District representative) flagged a map discrepancy between total acreage and upland developable acreage; Kreps acknowledged the survey showed about 3.62 acres total with roughly 2.27 acres upland. Chair Mike McShane said the committee could not comfortably ask county council to pay for due diligence on an application the town itself planned to change: “My instincts are that we can't do that until we have the correct application yet,” he said.

Carmen Yvonne Manning, the resident representative joining virtually, said the filing as submitted sounded more like a corridor application and recommended the town present the amended application before the committee acts on due diligence. Staff and the applicant agreed to pursue rezoning and to amend the county application after the town’s process is finished.

Dylan Kidd, interim assistant county administrator, told the committee the earliest county council date for a due-diligence funding request would be Aug. 10; Kreps said the town’s final reading might fall after that date unless the town schedules a special meeting. The committee did not move the current submission forward; staff was asked to work with the town to amend the application and return the item for consideration at the committee’s next meeting on Sept. 10.

The committee also discussed appraisal mechanics if rezoning is complete before appraisal: staff said an appraisal would reflect the rezoned status and could affect the buy-down figure. No formal vote on purchasing authority or funding was taken; the item was deferred pending the corrected application and additional due diligence.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 10 a.m.