Is Beaufort’s pace of development broken?
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
If it ain’t broke, why try to fix it?
That was the question raised more than once Tuesday night during the City Council’s review of the Development Code and the regulations that direct construction within the city.
While the Council has been working through the Code review for the past four months, Tuesday night’s focus was on the five-member Historic Review Board and whether a specification that allows the Historic Beaufort Foundation to recommend an appointment to the board should be removed. Currently, HBF recommends to the Council appointments to the review board but new Planning Director Curt Freese, as part of the code review, recommended removal of that “privilege.”
To put even more pressure on the change, the Greater Beaufort Chamber of Commerce has asked the Council to make sure at least one HRB member represents the business community, arguing “vibrant, successful businesses” are integral to historic preservation.
The audience of about 50 interested citizens who crammed into the Council’s smaller meeting room had been invigorated by the recent online comments made by downtown property owner Graham Trask, who speculated the city leaders’ efforts to decrease the impact of HBF on the review board was actually a political issue, a response to the non-profit entity’s opposition to the city’s approval of the large-scale three-story with a rooftop bar hotel and parking garage.
Mayor Stephen Murray disagreed with Trask’s comments and contended he was only looking for “fairness” in the review board’s make-up. His three fellow council members present were somewhat divided on the issue and agreed they would weigh in on a decision by the time the proposed code changes come to Council for a vote sometime in the fall.
In the meantime, if the argument sounds familiar – whether HBF should have a seat on the review board – it’s been going on for more than 20 years.
At one point, the Mayor asked for a show of hands from those who are unhappy with the development occurring in the city. Almost every hand shot up.
Hard to argue with that.
We are not alone
BEAUFORT – In case you thought for one minute Beaufort County public school district is the only district in South Carolina – or in the country – dealing with book bans, think again.
A recent Post And Courier story from Horry County pointed out that school district administration is using a different approach to requests for books to be restricted. Last fall they created a “restricted area” within each public school library where students have to have parental permission to check out those books.
The report went on to point out Horry County educators had only removed one book from student access in the past 20 years. Since 2022, they’ve removed 12 books and put seven more in the restricted area.
Beaufort County’s book review committees, as of last month’s meeting, have reviewed 61 of the 97 books challenged with only three of those 61 removed from shelves. The committees, made up of citizen volunteers and educators, will work through the summer to discuss the remaining 44.
The American Library Association reports the number of book titles challenged in for 2022 totaled 1,269, double the number from the year before.
Whitehall Park open to public … but not boaters
LADY’S ISLAND – Leave it to some irresponsible boater to ruin it for the rest of us.
It was probably just a matter of time before the owners of the private part of Whitehall Development at the foot of the Woods Bridge on Lady’s Island got tired of boat trailers haphazardly parked about their recently landscaped property.
The county announced this past week that property is now off limits and will be marked as such following incidents of “damage caused by illegally parked trailers.”
For the past decade it’s been obvious the 16-spaces at the public landing on Factory Creek, across Sea Island Parkway, was inadequate for the number of boaters who wanted to use the popular spot. For a long time boaters have parked their trailers along the roadside, down Meridian Road and all over the parking lot of First Federal Bank, conveniently closed on the weekend, prime time for the boaters.
Face it boaters, everyone can’t use what’s called the Whitehall Landing. Before you head out, check the county’s website, under Public Works, for a list of the 16 public boat landings in northern Beaufort County. Yes, they’re not as close to the downtown Beaufort River sandbar but there’s a better chance you’ll find parking there, and if you’re really lucky, there might be some shade.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
