Beaufort parking garage, Port Royal roads pitched for sales-tax money

A Beaufort parking garage, Port Royal roads, adult learning centers and a cooking school are among the projects taxpayers could be asked to fund in the fall.

A Beaufort County panel considering projects for a possible penny sales tax continued to hear pitches Tuesday. The city of Beaufort, town of Port Royal, USC Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcountry presented projects, and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office updated an earlier request.

The Beaufort County Capital Projects Sales Tax Commission is undergoing a months-long process of evaluating proposals and deciding which to add to the ballot in November. Beaufort County voters would then decide on whether to raise the sales tax by 1 percent for four years to pay for the projects.

Here are the projects presented to the commission Tuesday:

City of Beaufort

▪ $14 million for downtown parking garage: The city wants 450 parking spaces to help offset problems cited in several studies throughout the years. The city is ready to select a consultant and hopes to have a site for public review within a year.

▪ $4.75 million for Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and Beaufort Downtown Marina improvements: The bulk of the money would go to reinforce Waterfront Park infrastructure and upgrade and expand the capacity of the marina. “We’ve lost some of the shine,” city manager Bill Prokop

▪ $1.7 million for park improvements: Almost $1 million would go to build an industrial building to draw business to a currently vacant Beaufort Commerce Park and for incentives for building owners to outfit properties for small-business needs. Other requests are for restroom upgrades in city parks and a pavilion and garden in Southside Park.

Port Royal

▪ Almost $6.7 million for infrastructure and improvements related to port property development: The projects include a new road along the port property, a waterfront promenade, a park at the end of Paris Avenue, stormwater work, smaller parks and trees. Some of the estimates might be low, town manager Van Willis said, but a special tax district created to capture tax proceeds from the eventual sale of the port property can help offset future costs.

▪ $2.8 million to resurface roads and build sidewalks: The town owns all of its roads south of Ribaut Road — about 9.5 miles — and doesn’t anticipate a significant money source to finish the work, Willis told commissioners. The areas around schools and parks would be priorities for sidewalks.

Technical College of the Lowcountry

▪ $11.62 million for new culinary school on New River campus: The 26,000 square-foot facility would include teaching kitchens, classrooms a dining room and offices. The presentation Tuesday included a parade of area hospitality professionals touting the need for the new school.

▪ $2.5 million for health sciences expansion and Moor Hall renovation: Renovation of the almost 80-year-old Moor Hall would allow school to move administrative offices into the building. This would free up 10,000 square feet of space for health sciences, school officials said.

USC Beaufort

▪ $12 million for new buildings in Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island for adult learning programs: The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offers low-cost continuing-education classes for adults, many of them retirees. Current facilities are at capacity, USCB officials said. The Bluffton campus would be a $6 million project with a 300-seat auditorium, classrooms, offices and a demonstration kitchen.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff P.J. Tanner told the commission he had cut $3 million from his earlier $11.5 million request by reducing the number of new radios mounted in vehicles. The existing “hard-mount” radios still have two years remaining on the warranty. Of the more than 600 mounted radios first requested, Tanner is asking for 93 to be used by fire trucks and ambulances.

The Sheriff’s Office’s requests also include handheld radios, computers, a helicopter camera and searchlight and traffic management equipment.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Beaufort parking garage, Port Royal roads pitched for sales-tax money."