According to the local news agency county panel is wrestling to take any decision over the demand of homeowners in the Coffin Point community on St. Helena Island who have tried for months to have the commercial fishing village distinction removed from their residential neighborhood.
The Beaufort County Council Land Management Committee voted 5-1 to send the request to remove about 16 homes from the “commercial fishing village overlay” district back to county planning staff for review. Committee chairman Paul Sommerville told that he wanted planning staff to look over the zoning ordinance that details commercial fishing village overlays and report back to the county planning commission.
As per the planning commission there should be a new recommendation on Coffin Point to the land management committee, which will then make a recommendation to the Beaufort County Council. Sommerville also told that there is too much confusion in the ordinance about which property uses are allowed under the overlay, and whether those uses apply only to property adjacent to the water.
Ed McTeer, who wants to see the overlay district removed, opined that it’s gotten so convoluted that it’s become us against shrimpers, us against oysters. He expressed that the authority has made a commercial zone in a residential area, and homeowners want to keep this a residential area. Mark Helas, who wants to see the overlay district remain, said 15 businesses have operated from Coffin Point over the years. White Shrimp Co. and icehouse, owned by George “Corky” White, should be allowed to stay in the community, he said.
