1,500 housing units in the works in Port Royal including 500 at former golf course

A proposed 300-slip marina tends to dominate the development spotlight in Port Royal because of its size and prized location along Battery Creek. Disputes that have arisen with developer Safe Harbor Marinas only add to the interest. But the pace of residential housing construction across the growing town of more than 14,000 residents is raising its own concerns that reach far beyond the borders of the area’s quaint historic village.

In the immediate future, the town’s anticipated growth includes 1,552 housing units — 462 apartments, 943 townhouses and 147 single family homes that will only increase the growth pressure, according to a recent report the town gave to the Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority. Those units have been been approved or are in the process of being permitted.

Grober Hill Road

One of the development hot spots is Grober Hill Road.

At 30 Grober Hill Road, construction of 264-units Zephyr Apartments is just beginning. And more than 300 single-family houses and “accessory dwelling units,” or ADUs, are planned in a separate project called Overland Reserve that is located next door to that apartment project.

The Grober Hill Road property was once the location of the 9-hole Gifford Golf Course.

When they gathered an annual planning retreat last month to discuss goals and issues facing the community, Town Council members and staff raised concerns about the impact the additional apartments will have on the town.

Mayor Kevin Phillips, for one, said the town does not need any more large apartment complexes.

He called monthly rents being charged at some of the apartments as “insane,” noting rents of $2,000 for a one bedroom and $2,800 for a two bedroom are not uncommon. Phillips said he’s been unable to discover why rents are higher than mortgages in some cases even when complexes are not full.

“So you would think that they would lower prices to fill them, but they are not doing that,” Phillips said. “That’s an economic question I can’t find an answer to.”

Other Town Council members said they share the concerns about affordability.

The area’s wages, Councilman Jerry Ashmore said, don’t allow most people to spend $2,000 for an apartment. “I don’t know what the answer is, but we’ve got a mess,” Ashmore said.

If rent is $1,200, Councilman Darryl Owens added, you need at least $45,000 in income to make it work. But the average rent is now more like $1,500, which “is not attainable” because the median income is not $50,000.

Need for additional policing

Police Chief Alan Beach says he’s been informed by the town’s Planning Department that apartment growth alone could lead to the addition of 5,400 new residents. Preparing for that growth will be challenge he says. It’s already difficult to recruit and retain officers, he said. The department, Beach adds, needs more investigators. It’s down to two investigators who, since January, are handling 60 active cases.

“If you’ve driven down Grober Hill Road, you’ve seen that new set of apartments being built,” Beach told Council members. So that’s going to add a lot of population. There’s more to the growth that’s already been approved. They are just waiting to build.”

With additional growth occurring toward the Broad River, Beach said, he is considering adding a police substation, maybe in a store front or perhaps at one of the apartment complexes that are contributing to the population increase.

He’s also considering dividing up the town into zones and assigning officers to work those beats.

“It’s more community oriented policing,” Beach said. “But then when we lose people and the town grows, we can’t dedicated officers to that zone.”