Beaufort has added apartments fast. Now city leaders want to slow down and take stock.
At its Tuesday, Oct. 13 meeting, which included a public hearing and first reading, City Council moved forward with a temporary moratorium on new apartment units, WTOC reported. City officials say the pause will give them time to study what more apartments mean for the city and to prepare for future growth.
The proposal started out as a six-month pause. Councilman Josh Scallate pushed to make it longer. "I would like to extend the moratorium from six months to nine months," he said.
The vote was the first of two the moratorium needs to take effect. The second vote is expected in November.
By the numbers
The growth has been striking. More than 3,000 apartment units have been built in Beaufort over the last three years, according to WTOC, compared with just over 5,000 units that were standing at the time of the last census. That's roughly a 60% jump in a short time.
City Manager Scott Marshall said the increase came a little faster than city officials had expected.
"Well, the secret's out. We've been found," Marshall said. "People like to come here for several reasons: We have great weather, we have great scenery, and we have low taxes."
But he said there's "a general concern right now that the infrastructure is not keeping up with the development."
At least one resident agreed. "Our roadways are stressed, our workforce is stressed, our schools are stressed, and fire and police departments are needing to continually hire more support," the resident told council.
What keeps moving, and what waits
The moratorium wouldn't stop everything. The city's planning commission has already approved more than 1,000 apartment units scheduled to be built over the next several years, and under the proposal, those projects can go ahead. Most new apartment proposals, however, would have to wait until the pause ends and the city finishes its review.
There are exceptions. Plans by the Beaufort-Jasper Housing Trust and Beaufort Memorial to build affordable and workforce housing would be allowed to proceed.
During the pause, city leaders plan to review the comprehensive plan and consider changes to development rules that deal with apartments.
The move has been building for a while. In his weekly report to residents before the vote, Marshall wrote that City Council and the Planning Commission held a joint meeting on multifamily development and possible changes to the city's development code. He said there appeared to be general agreement among members of both bodies that a temporary moratorium on certain apartment approvals was warranted. The consensus, he wrote, was that updating the comprehensive plan should come before codifying proposed changes to Chapter 4 of the development code.
Beaufort isn't alone. Next door, the Port Royal Town Council considered a six-month moratorium on new multifamily projects in early September, with about 1,000 housing units already planned, under construction or nearing completion within town limits, WTOC reported at the time. Port Royal's proposal, like Beaufort's, would let active projects continue while the town reviews its comprehensive plan.
Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips explained the reasoning then: "The last thing we would want is for something to get submitted during that process and then, at the end of this process, what was submitted is in complete opposition to and contradiction of what comes out [of it]."
Why it matters for Contractors
A moratorium on new approvals isn't a stop-work order. The more than 1,000 units Beaufort has already approved can still be built, so there's real apartment work ahead in the city over the next several years. What dries up is the next wave. For about nine months, new apartment proposals will mostly sit, which means fewer projects entering design and fewer bid packages down the road. The exceptions point to where work can keep flowing: affordable and workforce housing from the Beaufort-Jasper Housing Trust and Beaufort Memorial. Contractors in the Beaufort area should also watch the comprehensive plan review and code changes, because new rules could change what kinds of buildings get approved once the pause ends. If the infrastructure concerns lead to road, water or sewer upgrades, that could mean public work for civil and utility contractors.