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Council approves easements for South Island PSD after tree‑mitigation plan presented
Summary
Council approved on second and final reading easements to the South Island Public Service District for utility relocation, after staff presented a tree‑removal list of 23 trees and a mitigation plan proposing 14 live‑oak replacements plus buffer plantings; council voted 7–0 to adopt the ordinance.
The Hilton Head Island Town Council voted unanimously on Feb. 4 to approve easements granting the South Island Public Service District (PSD) access to town property for utility relocation, after staff presented a required tree‑removal and mitigation plan.
Assistant Town Manager Sean Cohen summarized the PSD project and displayed a plan showing 23 trees slated for removal in the work area. Cohen said PSD and staff examined construction techniques and concluded that open trenching would be less impactful to isolated trees than long boring runs in the constrained work zone. Staff presented a mitigation plan that calls for planting 14 live oaks at four‑inch caliper and 10 feet tall at the time of planting, plus understory and buffer plantings along project edges.
Council members asked specific questions about which sentinel live oaks would be removed, the size difference between removed and replacement trees, and the timing for replanting. Cohen said the permit has not yet been approved; PSD representatives at the meeting said the work is expected to occur several months after permits are issued and that replanting would occur following construction.
Outcome: Councilmember (speaker 4) moved and the council approved second and final reading of the easement ordinance to allow the PSD utility relocation project; the vote was recorded as 7–0.
What to expect: Staff said mitigation planting sizes are larger than the town’s standard (the town is requiring 4‑inch caliper specimens and 10 feet tall and is doubling replacement caliper compared with the base code), but acknowledged live oaks will take years to mature and that understory buffers will help screen the corridor in the interim.
