Town Denies One Rezoning, Tables Another

James Island Town Council voted unanimously Sept. 18 to uphold a recommendation by the town's Planning Commission to deny a rezoning request for 1052 Harbor View Road.

But it will wait for further mediation of a request by a developer to rezone other parcels in the town to light retail development.

Property owner Patrick Rozalski asked the commission Aug. 30 to change his property from residential zoning to office residential. His real estate broker, Debbie Stocker, said Rozalski had not been able to sell his home as it was now zoned, but said several attorneys and a dentist had shown interest in the property if it were to change to office residential zoning.

Many residents spoke out against the change, saying it would set a precedent for other Harbor View Road homeowners to change the zoning on their houses. The Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend council deny the rezoning.

In August, the commission also recommended that a separate rezoning request for the Five Points area in Riverland

Terrace be denied. Owner J.L. Woode LLC asked the commission to change the zoning on parcels of land that front Maybank Highway from residential to planned unit development for "light retail" establishments. Residents also spoke out against that project. Town Attorney Bo Wilson said J.L. Woode had asked for mediation about the development with its attorney, a member of the Planning Commission and Roy DeHaven, James Island planning director.

Wilson said lawyer Jonathan Yates will represent the owner.

The talks will discuss options for the owner in a closed meeting, Wilson said.

The next Planning Commission meeting following the talks will be open to the public, and the commission may make other recommendations about the property. The issue then will go before Town Council.

Councilman Leonard Blank requested that Wilson sit in on the talks. "I think legal oversight is necessary," he said.

At council's Sept. 18 meeting, one Woodland Shores resident, Margaret Hearn, asked if the town was going to buy one of the parcels to turn it into a park.

"We have not had any overture," Mayor Mary Clark said. "It has not come up. It's been mentioned, and it was thought we should purchase it, but it has not come up."

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