By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Some folks have spent so much time recently staring up at the trees to gasp at the latest damage done to the local trees by dear Dominion Energy, they’re noticing another related man-made blight to our landscape.
Power lines. Multitudes of them. They’re not new – well, some of them are thanks to the arrival of Sparklight which took over Hargray Communications in 2021, and its competitor Brightspeed, both of which are working to replace older lines with fiber broadband options.
All in the name of faster internet.
Take a look at those sagging wooden poles along some of the town’s major thoroughfares. Some are carrying as many as 10 power lines connecting services to people.
And now that the tree limbs have been hacked back it’s even more obvious Beaufort has a plethora of overhead power lines.
It’s reached the point that city officials are hearing the complaints. City Manager Scott Marshall, in one of his recent weekly newsletters, “The Bridge Report,” said the building codes staff is working with the utility companies and Dominion to enforce a city ordinance which requires outdated lines to, at least, be removed.
At least one of our local utilities – Verizon – is expanding its service, erecting wireless cell phone poles in several locations, such as in front of Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Dominion Energy offices on Robert Smalls Parkway.
For years, some folks have been urging city officials to push our sole-service-provider Dominion Energy, and before that, its predecessor S.C. Electric & Gas, to put lines underground.
Anyone who’s followed this debate knows there are pros and cons to underground wires. But every time the electric utility company undertakes its scheduled tree trimming, in the name of preventing outages, the cry for underground lines goes up.
It’s not impossible.
In 2014, as part of the $33 million Boundary Street renovation project, city officials worked out a deal with the utility companies – at that time, S.C. Electric & Gas, Hargray and CenturyLink – to place 35 miles of overhead lines along one mile of Boundary Street.
The bundles of wires, 24 miles of which belonged to the electric utility alone, were placed in huge underground duct banks.
The negotiations, under the guidance of then-city manager Scott Dadson, special projects coordinator Neil Pugliese and Mayor Billy Keyserling, took time.
Part of the delay was establishing whose lines were on those Dominion-owned poles since some of the utility companies were no longer in existence, … but their lines were.
Cost of the underground placement was close to $3 million, paid for by a 7 percent special franchise fee that was collected from the utility customers along that part of Boundary Street.
The redevelopment project itself was paid for by a federal grant matched by an earlier penny sales tax approved by county voters.
An agreement on the utility lines was ultimately reached and the entire Boundary Street project, which included planted medians and a reworked intersection at Robert Smalls Parkway, was finished in 2018.
No doubt, city officials these days have a big bag of “fish to fry” with the ongoing stormwater update project downtown, the future of the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, negotiations with Safe Harbor over their lease agreement of the Downtown Marina, and more improvements to the Southside Park, all big-ticket items.
BUT there is an election coming up. With two city council seats on the ballot. Maybe, just maybe, the future of overhead power lines will be an issue.
County committee hears Flock cameras moratorium request, discuss data centers
BEAUFORT — In addition to power lines multiplying all over the county, the number of Flock cameras being installed by law enforcement had reached 70.
The County Council’s Natural Resources committee last week, among other things, heard a citizen’s request for a moratorium on the Safety Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), commonly called Flock cameras because of the manufacturer.
The individual cited concerns about the invasion of privacy.
While the committee took no action on the request, another committee – Community Services and Public Safety – did ask the planners to work on zoning revision which would regulate construction of data centers which are increasingly important to the provision of wireless service for features such as the Flock cameras.
Although there has been no plans for one of the controversial centers announced in Beaufort County, neighboring Colleton County is looking at one on the outskirts of the protected ACE (Ashepoo, Combee and Edisto) river basins.
Talking about ‘planning’ not unlike watching Nero fiddle
BEAUFORT — Believe it or not, Beaufort County officials as well as those from its five municipalities spend a lot of time planning.
In these dogdays of summer, it’s time for Beaufort County and the city of Beaufort folks to pull up to the proverbial table to review and update their comprehensive master plans which are required by state law if they’re going to have legal zoning regulations.
(You know, those regulations which say things like you can’t build a landfill next to a residential community … unless you get a variance or know someone … but that’s another column.)
In June, Beaufort County planners held two public meetings to discuss the most recent update of the county’s comprehensive plan which was adopted in 2010 but designed to direct county growth until 2040.
There was an online survey for residents to review the established goals and 230 did before the Aug. 7 deadline.
The County Planning Commission will next take a look at the document and there will be more discussion before County Council, which has an election to get through, blesses it.
Across the street in the city, the municipal Planning Commission has mapped out a plan for presenting its 2021 comp plan to the public and “stakeholders,” groups like the school district, Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority, Palmetto Breeze, the Beaufort-Jasper Housing Trust, the Beaufort Housing Authority, etc.
The Commission is just finishing its two years of work to review and update its development code which still must be finalized by the City Council.
In the meantime, as we talk about planning and how we’d like to see the community look, the area keeps changing and growing.
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. The Rowland, N.C. native’s goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.