Brisk growth, including 328 Beaufort apartments, raises concern about traffic and trees

Another large apartment complex is moving forward in Beaufort amid questions about the cumulative environmental and traffic impacts of a spate of housing projects planned or under construction on the western edge of the city and neighboring Port Royal.

Pointe Grande Beaufort, which is being developed by Hillpointe LLC, is the latest large housing plan to be OK’d. The 328-unit apartment complex is planned on 24 acres off Burton Hill Road between Robert Smalls Parkway and Old Salem Road, across from the Lowe’s store.

Hillpointe, based in Winter Park, Florida, and Athens, Georgia, is planning a mixed-use project featuring 14 three- and four-story apartment buildings, which would be located on 17 of the 24 acres, with the remainder set aside for green or community space. The apartments would be constructed and managed by Hillpointe, while three yet-to-be-determined commercial projects would be handled by others.

The plan, Hillpointe’s Marcus Wiedower said, is a “best-in-class” multifamily rental community that provides high-end design features. Units will include patios or decks, open layouts, dual master bedrooms, large closets, kitchen island bars, quartz countertops, stainless steel fixtures and appliances, washer and dryer hookups, digital locks, and high-quality synthetic wood flooring.

When asked how much rent would be, Wiedower said, “I’m not privy to the market study at this moment,” but he added the company is often able to charge market rates or below.

Large portions of the property will be cleared, the developer said in its application, but as much vegetation and tree cover as possible will be saved.

On Monday, members of the Beaufort-Port Royal Metropolitan Planning Commission voted 4-0 to approve a sketch plan for Pointe Grande. Remarks about the project were generally positive. The project nonetheless sparked a broader conversation about the brisk pace of new housing development along Robert Smalls Parkway from Boundary Street in Beaufort to the Broad River in Port Royal, a bustling major thoroughfare with wooded areas in its wings. There, thousands of new dwelling units are in the works or under construction.

“We’re putting a lot of density into our area,” said Michael Tomy, former chairman of the commission whose term recently expired.

Concerns about traffic

For six months, Tomy said, he had been asking for a map of the new development, which he said would better contextualize the traffic impact to major streets “which are already getting slammed.” That information, Tomy said, should be a part of the package that planning staff provides to developers.

The city needs to better understand how the developments will affect not only traffic and the environment but “the overall quality of life in these areas and these neighborhoods,” said Sue Cosner, a commission member from Beaufort.

She asked Riccardo Giani, Beaufort’s interim Community Development director, to “prepare a picture” of the development that’s already “in the funnel” and proposed projects.

“I would like to see that sooner than later,” Cosner said.

Wendy Zara of Port Royal, another Commission member, said one of the failures of traffic analysis reports is they show the impacts from only one development.

“We probably will have some pretty serious water quality and flooding issues will be my guess,” Zara said, adding the Beaufort, Port Royal and Beaufort County needed to work more closely together.

Commission members added a condition to their approval of Pointe Grand: The Design Review Board must first take a closer look at how the buildings will displace trees on the property. And, in the future, they said, they want more information about how individual projects fit into the bigger picture.

One of many developments

An estimated 3,100 housing units — apartments, townhouses and single-family homes — are planned or under construction in Beaufort and Port Royal along Robert Smalls Parkway and Battery Creek, said Jessie White of the Coastal Conservation League, which monitors local development and its impact on the environment.

And that number does not include projects planned in areas of unincorporated Beaufort County.

Taken together, White said, the projects represent a significant landscape conversion from tree cover to rooftops, roads and parking lots.

“Consider the bigger picture of impacts in this relatively confined area and what it will mean for the environment, sense of place and quality of life for the region,” White told members of the Metropolitan Planning Commission.

Site work also has begun at Beaufort Station, a 28-acre retail development at the southwest corner of Parris Island Gateway and Robert Smalls Parkway across from Walmart and Cross Creek Plaza.

Tree preservation

The Pointe Grande plan, White said, is improved from the original version. But CCL still is trying to figure out how trees will be affected by construction.

Hillpointe conducted a tree survey that identified 77 specimen landmark trees, she noted, but it is impossible to determine the location of the protected trees in relation to the proposed development without an overlay exhibit.

“Trees designated as specimen and landmark status are considered assets to the city and are therefore afforded heightened scrutiny and protection,” said White.

She noted recent impacts to Battery Creek, such as the raw sewage leak in February that led to a 21-day shellfish bed closure on the creek and the Broad River.

Giani, the interim Beaufort Community development director, said the Pointe Grand apartments have improved since they first were presented in April, and commission members agreed.

The project now includes more community and green space, a significantly larger tree protection area, the addition of a trail around a storm water detention area, traffic “cooling measures” like the narrowing of streets to slow down vehicles and better layout that improves connectivity for pedestrians and vehicles.

Hillpointe’s Wiedower said the developer is open to the possibility of also adding bicycle lanes.