Lady’s Island Plan Unveiled to the Public
- Miles Sanders
- Dec 7, 2018
- 5 min read
A week ago on Thursday night, November 27, saw the culmination of years of effort as the Lady’s Island Plan was unveiled before a public audience. During these last couple of years the architects of the Lady’s Island Plan have repeatedly held public meetings seeking community input for the plan. Now with the passage of the penny tax the 30 million required for these projects and county projects will be raised in the next few years. The auditorium at Lady’s Island Middle was packed to capacity for the 7pm meeting. Most of the attendees were older residents of the island and surrounding areas. This moment had been long awaited by concerned residents but it might have served up more questions and doubts than meaningful answers.
Committee members took time to introduce themselves and the plan before opening the floor to public questions. The committee contains a strong selection of planning representatives such as Caroline Furman of the Beaufort County Planning Commission, Judy Alling from the Port Royal Metro Planning Commission, and Bill Harris of the City of Beaufort’s Metro Planning Commission. Local Allan Patterson represented the Lady’s Island Community Preservation Committee and Paul Butare the Lady’s Island Business Professionals Association (LIBPA); these two being the only direct representatives of Lady’s Island interests of the 10 member committee. Not to say that the school board representative, county, and city representatives don’t represent Lady’s Island. All were in attendance to present except for the representative from St. Helena.
The committee wanted to set the tone immediately by addressing citizens concerns over lack of government transparency, real or perceived. The last decade has seen Lady’s Island grow at an alarming pace with what seems to be little knowledge or input from the community. The committee has sought to address these issues by hosting the town hall style input sessions and by presenting a unified front of local governments who have been known to lock horns in the past. Together they will have to be coordinated in order to implement these projects. While unfolding the plan for the public the committee was upfront in addressing an issue weighing on so many minds. In several Beaufort City Council meetings this year council member Murray has alluded to this report envisioning over 8,000 new single and multi family residences for Lady’s Island. The Lady’s Island Plan does indeed account for over 8,700 new residences on the island. Committee members tried to allay this fear by saying that it was nowhere near a hard number and that factors will most likely mitigate it. They did not want residents to go home and envision that number as set in stone. One thing is for certain though, if unrestricted population growth on Lady’s Island continues at that pace no amount of planing will fix traffic and residents will continue to pay the price while playing catch up.
The idea of a third bridge, something that has been long whispered in Beaufort, was broached during the presentation. The Lady’s Island Plan calls for a third bridge as an absolute last resort while not knowing what the trigger will be for this last resort. The plan calls for it to be avoided at all cost but if growth continues unchecked it is seen as eventually unavoidable. Interestingly enough Chuck Newton (Lady's Island Plan Steering Committee) of the Sea Island Corridor Coalition voiced the group’s approval of a Whitehall plan that called for nearly 100 residential units at the foot of the downtown bridge in November of last year. Had the city and county not bought out half of Whitehall for a park it might have added an exponential toll on the old bridge infrastructure and traffic. Members stated that a third bridge would most likely have to be placed at the end of Brickyard, putting strain on one of the Island’s most rural communities. The plan concluded that the bridge would encourage too much growth and bring about too great an environmental cost. Stewardship is a priority of the Lady's Island Plan and it can be seen in some of the proposals. This means calling for public access to water and open spaces. In order to maintain vistas and quality of life for residents the Plan calls for an intake of former development boundaries on the island in order to maintain character.
When given the opportunity to ask questions the audience proved to be full of ample misgivings about the project’s suggestions, the actions taken by local governments, and future improvements that hadn’t been mentioned. Several people in the audience felt that the plan encroached on quiet residential neighborhoods by turning them into through-ways in order dilute the clogged Sams Point intersection. Residents of Sunset Boulevard spoke openly of their fears. David Gasque, of Gasque and Associates, Inc, voiced concern not only for the plans effects on his business but for residents of Meridian who are already strained by through traffic. A father and son who owned property on one of the proposed improvements claimed that they had never been consulted by the committee on projects that would encroach on their land. Committee members apologized while claiming all property owners being effected should have been contacted, they took down the gentlemen's information. Lady’s Island Shopping Center businesses are now in limbo not knowing whether road improvements will completely do away with the shopping center.
One man railed against the City of Beaufort for annexing land all the way out to the Frogmore Airport, saying that the root of all these troubles began there. Another gentleman held up the last development report for Lady’s Island, dated 1994, and asked if it would be another twenty odd years before the next one came out. A few individuals voiced displeasure at Lady’s Island not having its own sufficient voice in these impactful decisions while a variety of local governments took the reigns. Many of the citizens were told to direct their concerns to their local representatives. A former member of the St. Helena Preservation Committee (now disbanded) wanted to know the exact development boundaries proposed down to the street addresses. She then wanted to know if it was necessary to resurrect the St. Helena Preservation Committee, all the while being a great sport about it.
Questions dragged on longer than committee members had anticipated as they tried to reach a stopping point but the volume of hands kept the meeting going. Eventually the meeting was called without every question being fielded. Overall the tone of residents was displeased, dubious, and worried about the future of the island. Lady’s Island is a nexus for Beaufort and the Sea Islands, what happens there affects everyone living on all of these islands. The course of the Lady’s Island Plan and its implementation by various local governments must be followed closely by residents.
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