If you checked the front page of the Island Packet this morning, you saw our community in the news.  Sun City residents played a prominent role in persuading the Beaufort County Planning Commission to deny a zoning change request associated with a project to build student housing at the new USCB campus next door.   I'm going to give you a little background and perspective beyond what was in the Packet.

Several weeks ago, a group of residents from the Willowbrook and Palmetto Bluff neighborhoods asked Al Reuben and I for help in dealing with the potential threat to the community posed by this project.   It was very difficult to get our arms around all aspects of this project and there was a lot of confusion.   One thing was clear, however, the zoning change request was moving through the system with some speed.

In a nutshell, here is what was being proposed.   D.R. Horton, the owner of some property adjacent to the USCB campus was asking to have the zoning of that property changed from "suburban" to "urban" in order to enable construction of  high density student housing  buildings.    Horton is not going to build the housing themselves, they plan to sell the property to another developer and, yet, a third party would manage the complex.   There would be no association with the college itself.   It would be privately developed and managed and exist on private property.   There are no firm details on the configuration of the buildings, just concepts.

The Beaufort County Planning Commission met last evening and this zoning change request was on their agenda.   Approximately 50 Sun City Residents, including Al Reuben, myself, and Margaret Griffin, a Sun City resident and Beaufort County Council member,   attended.   Several individual residents spoke and expressed their concerns about the potential impact of this particular type of housing on the lifestyle they came to Sun City to enjoy.   Al Reuben spoke regarding what has been a very haphazard involvement of the Sun City residents in this process as well as the many unresolved issues about what is actually going to be built and its potential impact on the surrounding community.   He asked for more time for the community to become involved so that we could develop a coordinated position on this request.   I spoke in support of the request for adequate time and announced our intention to get the Board of Directors involved in this issue since we have reason to believe that Pulte is not going to take a position on this zoning issue on our behalf.   Neither Al nor I purported to speak on behalf of the board, although we intend to take the ussue up at our next board workshop.  Margaret Griffin spoke and said that a blanket zoning change of this type is totally inappropriate for this kind of project and a Planned Unit Development approach should be undertaken.   John Thomas of Edward Pinckney and Associates spoke at length assuring the commission and the residents that everyone involved in this development would do the right thing to protect the community although he could not answer a number of questions because no final concept will be developed until the zoning change is approved.   He also stated that Ken Hull, Vice President and General Manager for Sun City developer Pulte Homes, had been kept apprised of their plans.   No representative of the college was present to speak or answer questions.  Neither was there any representative from Pulte.

Guess what?   The residents were heard!   Despite a recommendation to approve by the county planning staff, they voted unanimously to deny the zoning change request.   Commission member and former Sun City resident Joy Guyer led the way by making the motion to deny.  In their discussions, the commission members voiced displeasure with the lack of notification given to residents.  They also were concerned that, once zoned "urban", "anything consistent with that zoning" could be built and it wouldn't have to be student housing.  Although all of them are supportive of the college, they felt that this was the wrong approach to build student housing.

We won round one but this issue isn't going to go away.  Horton still owns the property, they want to sell it, and their customer wants to build student housing.  Here are the issues:

1.  Should there be student housing at all or should USCB be strictly a "commuter campus"?  This would be a tough fight since there appears to be support among outside community leaders for some type of student housing.

2.  If student housing is going to be built, what is the mechanism to provide appropriate safeguards to protect the unique lifestyle of the adjacent community, Sun City?  Our concerns include, but are not limited to, the height of the buildings, the nature of the buffer between this development and our neighborhoods, and provision for security and policing of this unique housing development.  If a Planned Unit Development zoning approach is taken, there must be legally binding provisions to protect the interests of adjacent communities such as ours.

In closing, let me say that you have just seen the power of an organized and vocal community.  This zoning change was "wired" for approval.  A group of determined residents got it stopped.  It's a good example of of what can be accomplished when concerned residents bring issues to their resident board members and then work together for the good of the community. 

As the community both inside and outside the gates grows and develops, other issues, including zoning issues regarding nearby property, are sure to come up and our interests must be protected. Let's not lose sight of the power of the people.