Feb. 16, 2021 • Volume 24, Issue 4 • Complimentary • BlufftonSun.com
WEAR A MASK!
INSIDE • Metal Detectives find historic bricks, artifacts 12A • Unique food truck serves up hot pizza in style 18A • Learn Bluffton buzzard history from George Heyward 22A • Collins Doughtie shares more stories from early days 49A • Discover Widgeon Point 50A
Help Bluffton define the town’s vision of the future By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR
Area residents will soon have an opportunity to share their ideas, concerns and desires for what the Town of Bluffton will be like 10 years from now. The town’s Comprehensive Plan, which is intended to establish a vision of the future, is due for a major rewrite, and everyone is invited to have a hand in it. “The comprehensive plan identifies what is important and – based on that – creates some goals,” said Charlotte Moore, the town’s principal planner and the plan’s project manager. “It’s more of a big picture view of the town, and from that big picture we start breaking it down into parts.” A comprehensive plan is required by the state of South Carolina, and must be updated every 10 years, with an evaluation at least every five years. The initial plan was adopted in September 2007. When it came up for review, an analysis by an independent consulting firm outlined a number of missing parts and outdated data. The
amended document was finished in 2014, and is the version town staff and Bluffton’s residents will re-work. As one example of what a comprehensive plan has meant to the town, Bluffton’s previous document determined there was a need for a law enforcement center. Subsequently, the Bluffton Police Department’s facility was built in Buckwalter Place. Moore said the vision can be anything from protecting natural resources to determining infrastructure. It also is the first step in determining how property is zoned for future land use. Heather Colin, Bluffton’s director of growth management, said the document requires an inventory of the town’s position on many subjects but starts with the same basic premise. “This is what we have. What do we want in the next 10 years? Here’s how we get there,” she said. “You look at it comprehensively in development, transportation, natural resources, popGWYNETH J. SAUNDERS ulation, housing. You can’t set zoning if you don’t know what you want your Corporal Joe Delong and K-9 Tiko chat with Capt. Joseph Babkiewicz outside the Bluffton Police
Please see PLAN on page 8A
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Department Law Enforcement Center recently, while another officer assists a citizen. The center was built as a result of studies done for the Town of Bluffton’s Comprehensive Plan.