Details regarding the Port of Port Royal redevelopment are still being worked out after the S.C. State Ports Authority revised plans approved by the town. Port Royal officials had hoped that the plans could be settled by next week.

The Town Council held back-to-back meetings Wednesday night, one a public hearing, the other to pass on first reading the development agreement for the 51 acres that will be a mix of residential and commercial projects. The agreement and zoning plan for the property must be completed and the property sold to developers by Dec. 31, according to a 2004 state law.

The meetings were the first input the public had on the proposed development agreement. Town lawyers revealed some details, but town officials cautioned that it is still a work in process. The latest version will be posted today on the town's Web site, portroyal.org.

Mark Baker, a planner with Wood and Partners of Hilton Head Island, which helped create the plan, said Ports Authority officials rejected the town's Redevelopment Commission recommendation that the marina be limited to 150 slips. The authority proposed it contain 250 within the same stretch of Battery Creek shoreline that the commission recommended, Baker said. More slips are needed to make it economically feasible, he said.

"To reduce it significantly would have a significant economic impact on the property and its development potential," he said.

The Ports Authority also protested the commission's recommendation to nix a 300-foot pier extension at the south of the property for large vessels. The ability to port large yachts and other vessels is important economically for marinas, Baker said.

In the proposed residential neighborhood to the north of the property, the Ports Authority also reduced a requirement for six access points to a waterfront promenade to four, Baker said. To require six would be "over-stipulation," he said. The width of the access points was scaled down from 25 feet to 10 feet.

The Town Council briefly discussed what kind of review process they wanted construction projects to undergo and agreed the town should hire an outside architectural firm or architect to be the primary reviewer. It designated the town's Design Review Board to resolve any disputes.

Councilman Vernon DeLoach was the only council member to vote against the first reading of the development agreement, urging the council not to rush the process and saying he felt the document was too preliminary.

The development agreement is up for a second public hearing and second reading Wednesday, along with the development's zoning plan.