Possible master plan would help guide future of Lady’s Island

Does Lady’s Island need another bridge?

Fewer housing developments?

New-look intersections?

There are many considerations in creating a comprehensive plan for Lady’s Island, a northern Beaufort County planning committee said Friday. Beaufort County sought input from the committee to move forward with an island-wide plan.

While other plans for Lady’s Island have been created in the past, this one would be more comprehensive, county long-range planner Rob Merchant said.

“We don’t see this as throwing everything out and starting new,” he said. “We see this as building off what’s already been done.”

The plan would consider the results of a recent traffic study along Sea Island Parkway and an upcoming meeting of consultants, conservationists and citizens to talk about the community’s future.

The traffic study will be the subject of a meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 at Lady’s Island Middle School. The Coastal Conservation League and grassroots Sea Island Corridor Coalition will meet at Lady’s Island Elementary School on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.

The county is considering a request for qualifications to hire a consultant to help create the Lady’s Island plan, Merchant said, a process that could take a few months.

The county sought the endorsement and some direction for the plan from the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan Implementation Committee on Friday. Merchant noted the plan would have to be a joint effort by the city, county and public.

Representatives from Port Royal said planners should also consider the effect on the town’s traffic. The intersection at Ribaut Road and Lady’s Island Drive is overloaded at peak times, County Councilwoman Alice Howard and committee member Joe DeVito noted.

Among the goals Merchant noted:

▪ Figure out how much room Lady’s Island has to grow.

▪ Refine lane-use plans to manage the amount, location and configuration of future growth.

▪ Look at policies and projects to help create a walkable development in the area known as Village Center, at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway, Sams Point Road and Lady’s Island Drive.

▪ Include a plan for roads, parks, public safety and schools.

The planning committee — a group of elected and planning officials — raised a number of issues to consider.

Beaufort County Councilman Brian Flewelling suggested revisiting the possible need for a third bridge. Previous ideas for the so-called northern bypass had the bridge connecting from northern Lady’s Island to north of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort or at Boundary Street in downtown Beaufort.

But state transportation officials about a decade ago decided traffic counts didn’t warrant the cost of the project.

A key for a long-range plan will be managing how many people are living on Lady’s Island, Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said. Commercial growth and traffic are driven by the residential growth, he said, and housing growth outpaced a plan to create a walkable village feel at the island’s key intersection.

Flewelling suggested the city annex residential property on Lady’s Island if it wants to control the housing growth.

Beaufort County Councilman Paul Sommerville, who represents Lady’s Island, said the island currently has about 5,600 homes and that current zoning allows for about twice as many more. The number of homes could be maxed out in 25 years, he said.

“If we’re going to be smart, we need to plan for 200 units a year,” he said.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Possible master plan would help guide future of Lady’s Island."