Beaufort’s Boundary Street project has another phase. Here’s what the city plans
On the heels of a $33 million project to transform a busy entryway to Beaufort, the city is laying the groundwork for a related road project in the area.
Beaufort plans to spend $200,000 to buy a 1/2-acre property at 2153 Boundary St. The deal is in anticipation of an eventual new road running parallel to Boundary Street, a commercial thoroughfare from uptown Beaufort to the Burton area which underwent major work, finished in 2018, to bury utility lines and add new pathways and center medians.
A parallel road serving as an extension of Polk Street was initially planned as part of the Boundary Street work to help alleviate traffic, and it remains an eventual priority, Mayor Billy Keyserling said. He said the road extension was set aside to focus money on Boundary Street.
“The parallel road remains part of the plan,” Keyserling said. “It remains a question of when and how it will be implemented.”
The additional road could help ease congestion on Boundary Street and provide other access points for businesses, city officials say. The project would require the city snatching up rights of way and clearing space through an area that includes gas stations, hotels and a church.
There’s no timeline for the work.
Money to buy the lot and demolish a vacant drive-through cafe will come from an existing special tax increment financing fund used initially to build the city’s municipal complex and later for the Boundary Street work. The money is restricted for uses in the Boundary Street area, and some has already been used for road work on Greenlawn Drive and other money allocated for improvements to City Hall.
If more properties became available in the area, the city might consider buying up those as well, Keyserling said.
The property the city is poised to buy could serve as an eventual entrance or exit to the new road, depending on the final design, City Manager Bill Prokop told City Council this week. It’s otherwise an attractive lot the city could sell later, he said.
A coffee shop once operated from the quirky, 375-square foot building on the land, but the building has been empty for about 10 years. The bank-owned property has been listed for $350,000.
A first City Council vote authorizing Prokop to make the deal passed unanimously Tuesday. A second and final vote is expected March 17.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Beaufort’s Boundary Street project has another phase. Here’s what the city plans."
