By Scott Graber
The Island News
It appears that the initial optimism expressed by both the Town of Port Royal and Safe Harbor Marinas has evaporated as ongoing discussions have faltered, and a burgeoning disagreement has found its way to the courtroom.
On Wednesday, March 20, 2024 the Town of Port Royal filed a Petition asking that the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas grant a permanent and temporary injunction prohibiting Safe Harbor from using certain parts of its newly acquired property for “dock manufacturing.”
The Town’s petition also asked the Court to require that Safe Harbor remove all machinery, equipment and materials used for dock manufacture from the site.
In its Petition the Town alleged that the original Planned Unit Development Agreement dated August 9, 2017, and thereafter amended, allows commercial, retail, light industrial, among other uses. But the “Respondent began using the Property for the manufacture of large floating docks, an activity requiring large scale machinery and equipment …”
The Town further alleged “the public began complaining that the Dock Manufacturing use appeared industrial in nature” and subsequently a “worker on the Property became wedged between a large slab of concrete and the decking’s steel mold, materials onsite for Dock Manufacture.”
The Petition then says the worker died.
As The Island News reported at the time, George Rundell, a 21-year-old employee of Harbormasters International, was killed November 14, 2023, when he was “struck and pinned by a large steel concrete form” late in the morning at the construction site at the former Port of Port Royal located at 517 Paris Avenue.
Afterward, in the petition, the Town alleged it sent written notice to Safe Harbor saying that “Dock Manufacturing exceeds the scope of permitted light industrial use in violation of the PUD” and demanded that Safe Harbor stop its manufacturing activity and remove its equipment.
The Town’s Petition was accompanied by a letter from Town Manager Van Willis to Safe Harbor’s Carla Ferguson, dated March 20, 2024, that went into detail regarding the “Light Industry” that was contemplated by the 2017 and 2021 PUD Agreements saying, “At no point did the Town contemplate that industrial scale manufacturing and fabrication of dock facilities (especially for use in different Safe Harbor locations) would be permitted for the property.”
The letter also mentioned the existence of a “waterfront public walkway/promenade” that will extend through the Marina Village and Port Village Districts connecting to the Boardwalk.
Willis’ letter states that any “public walkway/promenade would unavoidably cross the area currently being used for Dock Manufacturing. Light Industrial uses within the permitted areas of the Property must be compatible with the public access and usage contemplated for the Property, Dock Manufacturing is wholly inconsistent with these open space requirements.”
Safe Harbor has 30 days to respond to the allegations in The Town’s petition. The Island News reached out to Safe Harbor via email and did not receive a response.
The Town’s disputes with Safe Harbor are beginning to snowball.
This expanding disagreement may also come to involve the Spanish Moss Trail’s path from Ribaut Road to the Fish Camp Restaurant.
Dean Moss, Executive Director of the Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail Association, told The Island News that his organization needs a 24-foot wide pathway; and Safe Harbor only wants to dedicate an 8-foot wide strip. Moss said The Town gave Safe Harbor a proposed Easement that detailed the route of the Trail below Ribaut Road, but that easement has not been signed.
“The South Carolina DOT was also insistent about where the proposed trail crosses Ribaut Road,” Moss said. “That location puts the bike trail atop the old rail bed as it enters Port Royal. Safe Harbor wants the Trail’s path further east of this location.”
“It is my understanding that the Town has hired an appraiser who will value the land to be taken; and that Port Royal will file a condemnation procedure in the near future,” Moss said.
And of course, there is the ongoing dispute between the Town and Safe Harbor’s preliminary determination that the Bluff Neighborhood property will be developed as a “build-to-rent” endeavor rather than a build-and-sell project.
There has not been much progress in settling that dispute, although Safe Harbor has previously said that it is not wedded to the “build-to-rent” concept.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
