City Council unhappy with company’s proposed Downtown Marina expansion
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Safe Harbor Marinas is likely not happy with the reaction that their expansion project received from Beaufort City Council members during the recent council work session.
During the March 26 work session Safe Harbor Marinas presented plans to expand the footprint and investment at the existing downtown Beaufort marina.
The proposed $27 million dollar proposed project would double the number of slips at the dock from 76 to 146, and linear dock footage would increase from 2,880 to 4,263 feet, which safe harbor says would help with tides and make it safer.
The existing dock system would be replaced with a larger floating dock system.
Safe Harbor Marinas has already invested $840,000 in the existing facilities and they want to fix, replace and expand the marina, per their understanding of the lease they signed with the City of Beaufort in 2019, to try and attract more people to come and utilize the Safe Harbor facility, bringing them into the downtown area to shop in the stores and eat in the restaurants.
Council members and members of the public who spoke during the meeting were in agreement after hearing the proposal from Safe Harbor – they are not interested in expanding the dock and want to keep any improvements contained within the current dock footprint.
All the council members agreed that they think that expanding the dock will not only obstruct the view of the water that is so important to many who live in the city, but it will change the charm and feel that makes the city of Beaufort special.
“These views that we have are something that we cannot buy. Other communities would love to have it,” Councilman Neil Lipsitz said.
He continued to say that he wants people to see the water of the Beaufort River, not just boats at the Downtown Marina.
“This time, I can’t say no,” Lipsitz said about the proposal. “I say hell no.”
Lipsitz said that Beaufort already has a shortage of parking spaces, so doubling the number of boat slips is going to compound what is already an issue for parking in downtown.
“That will put more than a crunch on our parking,” Lipsitz said.
Council member Josh Scallate agreed with Lipsitz about obstructing the views and the parking, but also stated that signing the lease was irresponsible on both sides considering the city has promised to provide parking spots for each of the slips not knowing how many slips were going to be requested and given the issues that the downtown area has historically had with parking.
Scallate also cautioned Safe Harbor regarding their relationship with the Town of Port Royal and encouraged them to mend the relationship as the City of Beaufort and Town of Port Royal are neighbors and tied to one another.
“If Safe Harbor is picking a fight with Port Royal, they are picking a fight with the City of Beaufort, as well,” Scallate said.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
