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Attorney David Tedder, who represents the McLeod and Clarendon properties, has repeatedly said the development agreements met all requests laid out by the air station, but those assertions were refuted by air station spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Kansteiner at Monday's meeting.
"It is not clear in our minds that they have met all of our concerns, though they say they have," Kansteiner said.
MCAS and the governments of Beaufort, Beaufort County and Port Royal are negotiating terms for an "airport overlay district," Kansteiner said, which would replace current standards for heights, uses and noise adaptation of buildings in the areas affected by MCAS operations.
Kansteiner said MCAS officials will meet with city staffers today to discuss the development proposals.
Protecting the air station from encroaching development has been a top priority of activists who have protested the proposed McLeod and Clarendon developments since they were brought to the Beaufort City Council in January. Other objections include claims that the developments would:
Initial plans for the developments called for 4.6 million square feet of commercial space and more than 16,000 homes to be built during the next 20 to 40 years on the combined 5,156 acres. Those plans were unanimously approved by the City Council on first reading in January.
In the face of widespread public outcry, however, the properties' owners revised the proposals, curbing development to 8,935 homes and approximately 2 million square feet of commercial space. Those plans were presented at a public workshop Nov. 21.
After that workshop the City Council sent the plans to the Planning Commission for a non-binding recommendation. The City Council later announced that it would hold its final vote on the proposals at a special meeting only two days after the Planning Commission's review.
Mayor Bill Rauch said he called the special meeting, six days ahead of the council's regularly scheduled meeting, because the council should have an opportunity to vote on the proposals before Councilman-elect Mike Sutton replaces Frank Glover on the council Dec. 12.
"What remains confusing to the air station is that (the proposals are) being pushed through prior to a final decision on the airport overlay district and the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan," Kansteiner said at the well-attended meeting.
Also being drafted is the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan, a non-binding, long-term blueprint for land use and development in the county, which the various municipalities are expected to adopt as part of their respective comprehensive plans. The plan is expected to be completed in May, according to Beaufort County Planning Director Tony Criscitiello, who also spoke at Monday's meeting.
Criscitiello said he missed the simultaneous Beaufort County Planning Commission's meeting so he could inform the Joint Municipal Planning Commission meeting that the county wants the city to hold off on the McLeod and Clarendon annexations until the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan is completed.
Criscitiello pointed out that financial and traffic analyses are being conducted as part of the regional plan, and "we should be taking advantage of the planning that goes along with the regional plan." He added that if the development agreements for McLeod and Clarendon are signed prior to the adoption of the regional plan, it will "greatly affect" the county's ability to implement that plan.
He specifically said the agreements would prevent the county from negotiating with McLeod and Clarendon on transfer-of-development-rights programs. Such programs encourage the transfer of growth from places where a community would like to see less development to places where a community would like to see more development.
Donald Smith, chairman of the Beaufort County Stormwater Management Utility Board, also wrote to the commission to express concerns about the development proposals.
"I believe the proposed agreements and plans, as currently written, are not in the best interest of the city or the surrounding community," Smith wrote.
Though the revised proposals are much improved, Smith said, "exemptions and inconsistencies still exist."
"The development agreements continue to refer to Beaufort County's 2003 (Best Management Practices) manual, exempts the developments from future setback, buffer and open space requirements, limits quality mitigation to the current level of 10 percent impervious surface and limits future stormwater regulations and ordinances to only those applied citywide," according to the letter.
The planning commission members said they had not had time to adequately review the letter before their Monday meeting.
The Joint Municipal Planning Commission is required to review development proposals before they are finalized by the City Council. The commission reviewed the proposals in March and listed 10 recommendations for McLeod and 12 recommendations for Clarendon, including drastic reductions in housing density and commercial space and the elimination of development on islands on Clarendon.
The commission voted Monday to reject the development agreements, saying its recommendations had not been met. Planning commissioners added that they would like to be included in future meetings and workshops regarding the proposals if they are not approved by the City Council on Wednesday.
Commission members also discussed tabling the proposals, which would normally prevent the Beaufort City Council from acting on them for 30 days. City Manager Scott Dadson, however, said the council would not be prevented from acting because Monday's Planning Commission review was scheduled by the City Council as a "courtesy." Because the Planning Commission review was not mandated by statute, Dadson said, tabling the matter would not prevent further action by the City Council.
