COASTAL OBSERVER

In order to redevelop the site on Georgetown’s waterfront where a fire destroyed eight businesses in 2013, the developer wants city approval for a 75-foot-tall building.

Anything less wouldn’t make the project viable, the developer says.

The 75-foot height “may be excessive,” according to planning staff, which recommended 60 to 65 feet in response to a request from the property owners for a variance. The city’s height limit is 45 feet.

Trent Crowley, a developer who applied for the variance, said the proposed project would not work under that recommendation.

“It means we would be unable to do the current project,” he said. “It certainly will let us consider a new project.”

The city Board of Zoning Appeals was due to consider the variance request last week for the seven vacant parcels in the 700 block of Front Street, now being used as the Maritime Park. 

Crowley asked to defer the request until January, but held an impromptu forum at the board’s meeting to get feedback from residents about the proposed variance.

Crowley represents two ownership groups of the seven parcels on the 700 block of Front Street. He said the concept renderings were incomplete as the project’s lead architect came down with the flu.

“We’re not going to defer longer than that,” he said. “They’ve been rushing. They have not been able to get concept renderings the way I want to see it.”

Once a variance is deferred, it can’t be deferred again, said Clarissa Tindall, the city’s zoning administrator.

Crowley said he wanted to make the time useful despite the lack of a presentation.

“What I would like, since everyone made the time to come here, certainly open it up to the floor to the citizens and let them speak whatever they’d like to say and ask any questions that I might be able to answer tonight,” he said.

Board chairman James Cobb allowed the meeting to shift from the new business agenda item into a discussion format with those in attendance.

“This is not typical,” Cobb said. He added that he allowed Crowley to lead the discussion because the crowd is “passionate” about what happens along the waterfront.

A lack of parking spaces along the waterfront has kept the site from being redeveloped, Crowley said.

Crowley and the property owners plan to create a two-story development on Front Street with businesses on the ground floor and residential space above them. That building will match the height of existing buildings to the east of the site. 

Behind that two-story development would be a “tiered” building up to 75 feet tall for residences and a screened parking garage.

He wants to increase the maximum building height in the “core commercial” zoning district due to parking concerns. A parking garage would solve that issue, he said, and used the parking structures in Mount Pleasant as an example.

“In order to do the project we have, we’re going to need that height variance. We are actually asking for what we need,” he said.

Tindall said his proposal must be in conjunction with a first-floor commercial area that must provide two parking spaces per unit. The only way to bypass the requirement is to offer a parcel specifically for parking.

“But there are no vacant lots in the vicinity that he could utilize for this purpose,” she said. “Public parking spaces cannot be utilized to accommodate the required off-street parking or development.”

The only other solution, Crowley said, was to move nearby government offices away from Front Street to open up more parking spaces.

He said the lack of parking downtown, can’t sustain current and future businesses as is.

“It is a problem that has to be solved in order to move the needle,” Crowley said. “Georgetown is going to grow because the port and the steel mill are going to come on board. In the next five years, that place is going to explode.”

“Not in five years, no way,” said Sheldon Butts, a former city council member.

Along with redevelopment of the former state port, which is owned by Georgetown County, and the shuttered steel and paper mills, a proposal for a mixed use development in the 500 block of Front Street is also pending. A zoning change for that project was withdrawn by the developer last month.

Crowley said raising revenue for the city is another other benefit that would come out of the development.

“What I’ve been able to ascertain is the city doesn’t have the money, the county has the money. They pull the strings here,” he said. “In order to help Georgetown in the future, is you can never tax your way out of a problem. You can only raise revenues.”

Four people signed up to speak at the appeals board hearing. All but one deferred their comments until next month.

Lee Padgett shared his concerns about the height variance overpowering buildings along Front Street, especially the clock tower that stands 67 feet tall. He said placing the development at the end of Front Street would make it less likely to look like a “skyscraper.”

“We’ve got to remember that the town clock is the iconic feature of Georgetown. It is Georgetown,” Padgett said. “Nothing needs to overshadow that.”

Crowley said he wants to do something “good” for the city and his reasoning is not financially-driven. There’s a way to develop the area and retain its history, he said.

He said his ancestor owned one of the largest businesses in Georgetown, DJ Crowley’s Ice House and Grocery, which sat nearby the current Wells Fargo.

“He really cared about this city. And since I’ve been here and adopted Georgetown, I realized what he saw,” Crowley said. “There’s a window of opportunity here.”

He asked how many people in the audience  that filled the municipal courtroom would prefer to leave the site undeveloped.

“I’d rather have it empty than have a 75-foot building,” one man replied, and one woman raised her hand.

Members of the audience were hesitant to provide Crowley feedback. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t think this is appropriate,” one woman said.

“I’m trying to get feedback on what you guys want,” he said.

The audience began asking Crowley questions instead.

“If you start building up, where does it stop?” one man asked. “Everybody on Front Street is going to want to go 75 feet. You’re going to have a tunnel.”

The man said growth can happen as long as it’s outside of the Historic District.