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<p><strong>Not so fast, my friends</strong><br><br><em>BEAUFORT </em>– As expected, the proposed Dunkin’ Donut shop on Lady’s Island isn’t dead as the developer of the property says he’s going to appeal. </p>
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<p>Graham Trask, during an online comment session this week with the County Council’s Natural Resources Committee, said he plans to appeal the decision last month of the county Zoning Board of Appeals which rejected his request for a variance to accommodate the proposed drive-through business.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>The ZBOA, on a 4-2 vote, felt the development on that section of the Sea Island Parkway, across from Bill’s Liquor Store and Grayco, would negatively impact traffic.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>The County Council has already given the first of three votes of approval to an ordinance change which would require drive-through businesses on major thoroughfares to have alternate entrances and exits.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Graham used his three minutes before the county committee to accuse the county planning staff of giving in to “transplanted elites” who only reflect a minority of local residents who said they felt the location was wrong for a drive-through business.&nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>Looking out for the Penn Center’s historic trees&nbsp;</strong></p>
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<p>ST. HELENA ISLAND – Just as the latest citizens advisory sales tax committee begins discussions on what projects should be funded by a proposed new sales tax, one project on the county’s “to do” list generated some press last week because it related to … tree cutting.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>During an update last week before County Council of proposed projects to be funded by past sales tax revenues, comments about the proposed sidewalk along Martin Luther King Drive, through the historic Penn Center raised red flags for some, including St. Helena Island District 3 Councilman York Glover.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Through years of planning and community meetings throughout the county, expansion of sidewalks are generally met with enthusiasm. But when the talks involved that stretch of Lowcountry highway, talks always came with the caveat, okay, but don’t even think about removing those trees.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Now with new planners, new county administrative staff and even a new County Council representative (Glover took over after Bill McBride retired in 2017), once they get to “putting pen to paper,” it’s hopeful the public message will be the same: leave those trees alone.&nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>Harris Teeter update&nbsp;</strong></p>
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<p>BEAUFORT – Could there be a glimmer of hope for the Harris Teeter aficionados who are longing for a Lady’s Island store? Maybe so.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Beaufort City Manager Bill Prokop announced last week, during a Community Associations meeting, that he’d been in contact with the Salisbury, N.C.-based grocery folks who said they were “back on track with construction to start later this year.”&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Who knows? Still could happen. For the record, the public information folks for the company still have “no comment.”&nbsp;</p>
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<p><em>Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and former reporter/editorial assistant/columnist with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today, Beaufort Today and The Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C.). She can be reached at bftbay@gmail.com. </em></p>
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