About
CPZADI Officers:
Our advocacy for Daufuskie Island began only as two individuals assisting Jean Newton’s grandmother’s brother, Hezekiah Hudson, Sr., clear the deed for heirs’ property on the island. During that process we became aware that Beaufort County (South Carolina) had initiated plans to build an island-wide waste facility within a Gullah neighborhood on Daufuskie Island. This neighborhood is currently encompassed by two subzones on the Daufuskie Island Zoning map—the Heritage Overly Corridor District and the Rural Gullah Heritage Subzone. (more below)
Sylvia Stukes | President
Donald W. Newton Sr. | Vice President
Pamela Simmons | Secretary
Rev. James Curtis Hudson | Treasurer
Dr. Jean Flagg Newton | Research Analyst
Jonathan Newton | Web Designer
The county decided to site the island-wide waste facility on land that abutted a 2.3-acre parcel, specifically purchased for a public park. According to records from the South Carolina Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism, the recreation parcel was purchased by Beaufort County in 1991, 13 years after promising Daufuskie Islanders a public park in 1978 (or earlier) and 13 years before deciding to develop a waste facility in the Gullah neighborhood in about 2004. When Beaufort County proposed placing the waste facility next to the designated recreation parcel, it seemed as if the county was preparing to renege on its promise all together—certainly they would not build the waste facility right next to land that would eventually be utilized for future recreation?
As our interests on the Island expanded from the park, to waste, to transportation and infrastructure development, we decided our efforts would be more effectively executed through an organization. Concurrently, Daufuskie Island was in the process of completing its 1010 Daufuskie Island Plan and Code, a central feature of which was form based code. Put simply, a form based code is a way to regulate development that controls building form first and building use second, with the purpose of achieving a particular type of “place” or build environment based on a community vision. (Part 1: What Is a Form-Based Code? – PlannersWeb)
