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FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2017
WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Lady’s Island annexation all part of the master plan By Lisa Allen
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Beaufort City annexed 67 parcels on Lady’s Island last week. The City Council voted to absorb Secession Golf Club and its residential cottages. As allowed under state law, the city also took the opportunity to add parcels along Sea Island Parkway to smooth out city boundaries, including Butler Marine, the Fillin’ Station and Zippy Lube. They were in the
county while Grayco, Walgreens and Publix were in the city. Annexation is a central part of the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan that dates back nearly 10 years. The regional plan, in effect, is a long-term divvying up of areas of growth in Northern Beaufort County. The county, the city and the towns of Port Royal and Yemassee decided the best course of action was to map out areas where growth
would be encouraged in order to protect rural and environmentally sensitive areas where they didn’t want growth. The growth areas would eventually become part of the municipalities while more rural uses would remain under county jurisdiction. The plan also had to work around the Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) surrounding Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Ever since the plan was adopted in Au-
gust 2007, whenever a property owner or developer in a growth area wants to “upzone,” meaning change a zoning up the scale away from a rural designation, they are encouraged to consider annexation, said Libby Anderson, planning director for the city of Beaufort. “If you’re in the growth area and you want to upzone, the county says you should annex See PLAN page A8
First Street open for business
Staff reports
First Street from Hogarth to Palmetto is now open for traffic after a major paving and sidewalk improvement project that is part of Beaufort’s Boundary Street corridor construction. Opening this loop provides residents and shoppers with access to both the traffic signal at Hogarth Street and Boundary as well as the new signal at Polk Street and Boundary beside Walgreens. The improvements include on-street parking and sidewalks. In coming months, First Street will be extended behind Chick-Fil-A to the new traffic signal at S.C. 170 and Boundary Street. First Street will cross Boundary and become Robert Smalls Parkway, also known as S.C. 170. Crews still have additional work to do on First Street, including a final paving course and re-striping of the roadway and parking, but opening it fully to residents and shoppers is an important part of the Boundary Street Improvement Project. The Boundary Street Improvement Project is just over 1 mile long and is a $32 million project jointly funded by the city, county, S.C. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The work is on budget and on schedule for completion in early 2018. The project includes: • Realigning the intersection of S.C. 170 and Boundary Street to make it safer and to
First Street in Beaufort has been part of the Boundary Street corridor construction project. Here, work was being done recently to pave the street and adding on-street parking and sidewalks. That work is now done and First Street is open to traffic.
help traffic flow more smoothly. • Retrofitting, re-investing and redeveloping neglected areas of the corridor. • Creating commercial/retail nodes. • Providing alternate ways for people to reach commercial/retail including bike and
walking paths, improving efficiency. • Expanding the Spanish Moss Trail in partnership with Beaufort County. Throughout the Boundary Street construction zone, speed limits are reduced to 35 mph and are enforced.
Drivers are urged to use extra caution as construction crews have been working on both sides of the road. For more information about the Boundary Street work, visit www.boundarystreetupdate.com.
Beaufort moves forward with cultural district plans Staff reports
The city of Beaufort is upping the ante in promoting and developing a cultural district. Carol Lauvray, president of the Beaufort History Museum, and Deborah Johnson have been added by the Beaufort City Council to round out its Cultural District Advisory Board. Johnson will be the city administration’s liaison. The advisory board’s vision is that by 2020 Beaufort’s downtown will be a recognized and valued cultural district, actively sought out and utilized by artists, mer-
chants, residents and tourists. This concentrated area of diverse cultural venues, activities, and experiences will energize economic growth and improve the quality of life for Beaufort’s community and visitors. Working together the board will seek to foster more support for the arts, and celebrate and strengthen local culture and the newly established cultural district. “It’s great that the Beaufort City Council tackled this final appointment early in the year, and now we are at full strength to approach our
A LOOK BACK History will come alive at the Arsenal in Beaufort with a Civil War re-enactment. PAGE B1
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“There’s a lot of work to be done. We have so many opportunities here in Beaufort to boost the arts’ role in the lives of area residents and make us an arts destination for visitors.” Bonnie Hargrove, chairperson of the advisory board and director of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts work with passion and determination,” said Bonnie Hargrove, chairperson of the advisory board and director of the USCB arts center..
SAVING LIVES The Palmetto Animal League kicked off its 1,000 Lives Worth Saving event. PAGE B3
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“There’s a lot of work to be done. We have so many opportunities here in Beaufort to boost the arts’ role in the lives of area residents
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and make us an arts destination for visitors,” she said. Megan Meyer, of the Santa Elena History Center, said, “Our group brings together history and the arts in an amazing way, with a common goal of sharing all our wonderful resources with our local community and visitors. I think our job really is to teach and offer more exposure to what makes Beaufort such an incredible place.” The goals are to increase tourism; foster a supportive environment for arts and cultural development; and strengthen local culture.