ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. () — No golf courses, gated communities or resort developments. That’s the deal that was made decades ago, protecting St. Helena Island.

One developer has been looking to flip the script through a property of Dalamo Road.

“We don’t believe that just because you can bring in $18 million, that you get to make new rules from rules that have been made 25-27 years ago,” Executive Director of the Penn Center Robert Adams, Ph.D., said.

The plan for the Pine Island Development is a private gated community with a golf course. Adams, along with other members of the St. Helena community, think that goes against the Cultural Protection Overlay (CPO) set in 1999.

Adams believes it also goes against the counties current goal of smart growth.

“We have to sort of manage our development and our growth here. We are overwhelmed with growth at the moment.  Our infrastructure is overwhelmed,” said Adams.

But developer, Elvio Tropeano claimed Pine Island wouldn’t interfere with the counties goal.

It’s been shaped in a manner that aligns with all of the goals of Beaufort County with responsible growth, with minimizing infrastructure stresses, with increasing tax basis while not creating additional tax stress,” Tropeano said.

Adams believes a golf resort will push St. Helena natives away from the grounds they have long protected.

But Tropeano believes the development would provide them with a resource.

“It’ll be the single largest employer on St. Helena Island.  It’ll be the single largest investment on Saint Helena Island ever.  It’ll be the development with the largest amounts of open space in all of Beaufort County,” said Tropeano.

Tropeano has submitted a map amendment request to remove the property from the protected district. He will have to take that proposal in front of the county’s planning commission. That meeting is scheduled for May 5.