By Tony Kukulich
This week, Beaufort County wrapped up the final of five meetings intended to gather public input on how its 26 public boat landings are utilized and what improvements boaters would like to see over the next 10 years.
“Our county is 38% water, and boat landings are a critical economic and recreational resource,” said Neil Desai, Beaufort County Director of Public Works. “Public feedback is critical to ensuring the county uses taxpayer money responsibly and where most taxpayers would like it spent.”
The county launched its comprehensive review of the boat landings earlier this year. Charleston-based Creech & Associates was awarded the contract to lead the review and develop a boating master plan for the county.
“The first step is to understand what we have and what condition those ramps are in,” said Michael Supino, partner at Creech and Associates. “From there we’re going to try to make a standard operations manual so the county can maintain these ramps and launches, their existing inventory.”
To support the information gathering stage of this initiative, an online survey was launched in July and will remain available until sometime in October. So far, an estimated 600 survey responses have been received. While Supino said that was an encouraging start, he hopes to have between 1,500 and 2,000 responses by the time the survey is complete.
Supino and his team also visited various boat landings and spoke directly to users. One point that came to light was that about half of the interviews were conducted with people who live outside of Beaufort County.
“A lot of people are coming to your waterways,” Supino said. “It’s pretty spectacular out there.”
Beyond recreational and commercial uses, the county boat ramps also play a role in rescuing boaters in distress, explained Eric Roberts with Fripp Island Sea Rescue.
“All of the landings in the county are critically important to the marine rescue organizations (MRO) in the area for two reasons,” Roberts said. “MROs like Fripp Island Sea Rescue and Beaufort Water Search and Rescue need to launch our boats at the landings to respond to emergencies. Second, if we’re out on the water and we have a medical case that we need to bring back and hand off to EMS, we need a dock where we can complete the transfer. It’s critical that we’re able to get on and off the water.”
The needs assessment is expected to be complete in about two weeks. An economic study will follow that will determine financial value that the boat landings support, followed by a capital financing plan that looks at how to pay for the projects identified in the needs assessment over five-, 10- and 15-year terms.
The entire project is expected to be complete and presented to the county in about six months. It will include a suggested prioritization of the projects identified in the needs assessment.
Related to the county’s boating initiative, it was announced this week that the Sands boat landing in Port Royal will close Monday, Sept. 12 to allow crews to replace the existing five floating docks with five new floating docks; install a new transition plate, and place riprap stone on the edge of the bank for stabilization. The project is expected to be complete by Friday, Sept. 30, weather permitting.
“The Sands boat landing is one of the most heavily used in the county so we know this will be an inconvenience to the regular users of the boat landing,” Desai said. “I encourage our citizens to use one of the nearby landings until the work is completed.”
The project is expected to cost $148,687. The project was put out to bid and awarded to Eastman Marine Construction of Ridgeland.
Residents are urged to complete the county’s online survey on boat landings. It can be found at https://bit.ly/3SE4kV1.
Tony Kukulich is a recent transplant to the Lowcountry. A native of Wilmington, Del., he comes to The Island News from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent seven years as a reporter and photographer for several publications. He can be reached at tony.theislandnews@gmail.com.
