DHEC sends scores of appeals over Pinckney Point project packing

State approval of the plans, granted earlier this month, allows Florida-based developer Pinckney Point to build three community docks, 30 boat lifts and a boat ramp with a boarding dock on a peninsula between the Okatie and Colleton rivers in greater Bluffton.

That approval stands after the board decided Thursday to hear none of the 20 appeals filed in opposition.

Those who filed the appeals now have 30 days to refile them with an Administrative Law Court, a state official said.

DHEC was tight-lipped beyond that.

"We cannot comment on cases that might be or are under appeal or in litigation, "said DHEC spokeswoman Clair Boatwright.

DHEC declined to say why it refused to hear the appeals or if it regularly denies hearing appeals.

The town of Bluffton, Beaufort County Council, residents and environmentalists appealed the state's approval of the docks and boat lifts. They oppose the project as a whole and say they want to protect water quality and the rural character of Pinckney Point.

The developer also filed an appeal.

It wants to build the project as initially requested with seven community docks and 70 boat lifts. State officials demanded the project be scaled back to comply with clean water regulations.

The developer could have requested 78 single -- rather than community -- docks and 178 boat lifts. Instead, the developer worked with state officials for more than a year on a plan to provide community access to the rivers. That resulted in fewer docks and lifts, according to the appeal filed by the McNair Law Firm, which is representing Pinckney Point.

In its appeal, the developer termed the permit "confusing, ambiguous and (said it) has undercut the (developer's) desire, incentive and economic ability to reduce dock proliferation at Pinckney Point."

Pinckney Point intends to build 76 homes on the peninsula, but the property has not been subdivided and there is no pending application to do so on file with Beaufort County.

Plan to build along Okatie River draws a raft of appeals and protests

Three appeals already have been filed with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control since last week's approval of the project, and at least three more appeals are expected. The project, called Pinckney Point, would include three community docks, 30 boat lifts and a boat ramp with a boarding dock under the approval granted by DHEC.

Walter Nester, an attorney for Pinckney Point, said he was aware of local resistance and plans a response.

The developer initially wanted more than twice as many docks and boat lifts, but state officials demanded the project be scaled back to comply with clean water regulations.

Opponents still believe the project is too large.

"It's too much and at the very least premature," said Weston Newton, chairman of Beaufort County Council, which plans an appeal. "We feel this is inappropriate, and I will be issuing the request for a final hearing (on the appeal) within the time frame provided by DHEC."

The deadline set by DHEC for appealing is July 24.

Bluffton Town Council also voted Tuesday to appeal the state's decision, a move that brought applause from residents who attended the council's meeting. They asked Bluffton officials to protect those parts of the river that lie within town limits even though the proposed development sits on county land.

"The Okatie and Colleton is a pristine estuary," said Mary O. Merrick, a 92-year-old resident of Pinckney Colony, a neighborhood near the proposed development. Her uncle operated an oyster factory 100 years ago on the site where one of the docks would be built.

"Anything that is introduced, such as a great number of boats and all of the emissions connected with boats, could be a factor in closing oyster beds (and) reducing the number of crabs, shrimp, fish," she said. "There are very few rivers like this left in South Carolina, and I think they should be preserved."

Merrick is a member of the Pinckney Colony Neighborhood Association, which has appealed and is represented by Bluffton attorney Roberts Vaux.

The Coastal Conservation League submitted a letter in support of the neighborhood association's appeal. The league's letter says the DHEC approval violates state regulations, which only permit one dock per lot. The property has not been subdivided, and there is no pending application with Beaufort County to do that.

The league also questions the validity of the permit granted by DHEC because it was based on an application that differs from the one originally submitted. The approved plan included maps, added in April, showing additional docks.

Those differences, the league says, weren't part of the public hearings last year.

Dan Burger, a spokesman for the state agency, said that while the proposal has been tweaked since the original application, the state won't allow the extra docks on the maps to be built.

Another appeal has been filed by Vaux on behalf of John David Pinckney, who owns land that abuts the proposed development.

DHEC would not say who filed the third appeal.

Another group -- Friends of the Rivers -- also plans an appeal. In addition, it has proposed a county ordinance to toughen dock permitting regulations for rivers classified as "Outstanding Resource Waterways." The designation means the rivers hold "exceptional recreational or ecological importance."

Both the Okatie and the Colleton rivers are classified as such waterways.

"It's an excellent idea," county administrator Gary Kubic said of the proposed ordinance. "The issue of the docks on the headwaters of the Okatie and its effects will give us the opportunity to strengthen our concerns about the environment."

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