Regulatory, Material Delays Blamed for Shores of Asbury Delays

News Analysis/Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

When developers broke The Shores at Asbury broke ground last fall, they hoped of having at least the first phase of the development up and running by Spring.

But the proposed plans for the Hartwell Lake facility, which include the first RV Resort on the lake with treehouses, Yurts, cabin rentals, primitive camping, a waterfront grill, a landing wedding venue, and a floating water park called "The Aqua Zone,” hit a series of regulatory challenges and weather-related speed bumps that have put the project months behind in construction.   

The developers are leasing the site from Anderson County, which is subleasing the United States Army Corps of Engineers property, which brings a variety of requirements and permits changes. 

Officials say in recent weeks, the site has passed all inspections, as construction continues on the site. 

“We have had eight months of delays,” said Karen Alayne McCullough, president of Lake Hartwell Development Group, adding  she is now seeing daily progress.

Wastewater and septic tank issues, the removal of trees, lack of adequate electrical service and the lack of timely access to materials are among the key reasons for the delays, McCullough said.  

Providing basic services for the proposed resort requires meeting EPA and DHEC regulations on wastewater runoff and land disturbance, which led to delays while removing trees from the property.

The Corps foresters did an assessment of trees on the property, and determined that many of the mature Virginia Pines that had grown crown heavy, with the limbs underneath dying. Such trees posed a safety threat and were tagged for removal. Remnants from a tropical storm caused additional damage to some trees, which were also removed, according to McCullough.

Other trees needed to be removed to provide adequate space for the buildings and parking for the resort. At least 1,200 trees were removed from the property. 

The Corps contracted operations for the removal of the trees, which harvested useable timber and left behind the parts not marketable, leaving what one official called “a mess of tree limbs and tops” after the good wood was hauled away. 

The process took nine weeks and created another regulatory issue. During the cleanup and grinding of stumps, developers realized the additional work fell under the category of land disturbance, creating more regulatory issues, requiring silt fencing and other documentation to complete. This added an six more weeks of delays. 

Septic tank permits from DHEC, which have now been approved, but issues with final work by Duke Power providing adequate electricity for the proposed buildings is not expected to be completed until later this month. 

Slow shipping of materials has also created delays.

“Some of our materials have been on order for nine weeks,” McCullough said. “Anyone doing a big job knows that can be a challenging process in itself. But a lot of stuff being manufactured off site, and we hope we’ll have five buildings on site before the end of August.”

The delays and rising material prices have been costly. The original $1.4 million estimate for completing phase one of The Shores at Asbury has risen to $2.1 million, and work is still under way. 

McCullough said the process had been frustrating, but is looking forward to the completion of the lake resort.

“There has been a lot of misinformation (on this project),” said Sandra Campbell, chief ranger and natural resource program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Hartwell.  

“We approved their development plan, so if there are any issues with progress, we certainly are meeting with them to see what’s going on, to see if we can help facilitate solutions,” Campbell said. 

Campbell said federal land, leased to the county must follow certain protocols.  

“The lease dictates what they do now,” Campbell said. “If they wish to change or deviate from that, they would have to go back to the county to approve any changes.” 

Despite all the challenges, McCullough said progress on the site is ramping up and will be noticeable soon. She said complete electrical service is tentatively scheduled to be available within a week, the RV pad is close to completing and the gatehouse security done.  

“I don’t want the pubic to perceive we are not getting things done,” said McCullough. “We are doing all we can, but the final opening timetable is in God’s hands.” 

McCullough said while it is possible there will be some soft openings of some features this year, she is 100 percent certain the entire park will be finished and open by Spring of 2022.  

Anderson County Director of Economic Development Burriss Nelson said the county worked for nearly three years to obtain the lease from the Corps, and is satisfied things are progressing.

“We would like to see this be successful and keep moving forward,” said Nelson.