With the widening of Lady’s Island Drive and completion of the new McTeer Bridge came a very long grass median on the Lady’s Island side of the bridge.  During the construction phase, many local businesses expressed an interest in sponsoring  the landscaping of the median in a manner similar to that used for the Sams Point Road medians.
However, once the road and bridge were completed, and the size of the median was viewed from a landscaping cost perspective, it was, understandably, deemed too expensive for sponsorship by a local businesses.
Rob McFee, Beaufort County Division Director of Engineering and Infrastructure, mentioned the challenge of maintaining the landscaping of the median to Chief Bruce Kline who leads the Lady’s Island - St. Helena Fire District.  Chief Kline indicated that the firefighters of the district are very civic minded and involved in a number of community projects and might be willing to take on the median project. However, he indicated that any work performed on the median would have to be performed on the firefighters “off-duty” time since nothing of this nature can conflict with an “on duty” firefighter giving 100% to his or her normal duties.
Chief Kline posed the question of assuming the landscaping responsibility of the median (on an off duty basis) to the firefighters of the Lady’s Island - St. Helena Fire District and  received an enthusiastic positive response. A similar response of support was received from the members of the LISH Fire Commission.
LIBPA will provide appropriate signs on the median recognizing this contribution by our firefighters. In the future, if a decision is made to expand the landscaping to include more than basic maintenance of the grass in the median LIBPA will consider financial support of such a project.
A special thank you is extended to Mr. McFee for caring about the appearance of the median (it really is the responsibility of the SCDOT), Chief Kline for his leadership and each of the Lady’s Island - St. Helena firefighters for their willingness to  contribute even more (on their “off duty” days) to our community. What a great group of individuals we are privileged to have serving as members of our fire district.
Article provided by the Lady’s Island Business Professionals Association.