US 278 plan will force 2 Hilton Head businesses to relocate, DOT says. Which ones?
Countless times you’ve probably driven by the sign on Hilton Head Island advertising $10 psychic readings.
You’ve likely also passed the squat, white building where Willie Young has been mending chairs, cushions — any type of furniture under the sun — since 1977.
But in the coming years, those familiar sights are expected to vanish.
The S.C. Department of Transportation wants to relocate Island Psychic and Willie Young’s Upholstery & Fabrics during its proposed $290 million construction plan for the U.S. 278 corridor.
The relocations will be fiercely debated this summer, with Hilton Head preparing for a Thursday public hearing on the SCDOT’s “preferred alternative,” which would widen U.S. 278 to six lanes in the Stoney community, a historic neighborhood where generations of native islanders have raised their families.
“You can count on your hands how many businesses there are now” in Stoney, said Luana Graves Sellars, a leader in the island’s Gullah community. “Minus two, that’s just whittling away.”
The disruption of the culture and history at the base of the island’s bridges has long troubled native families and leaders in the community.
The looming U.S. 278 project, though, has added a new level of frustration to those concerns.
“It’s not beneficial at all to us,” said Tressa Govan, who owns Tressa’s Gullah Girl Boutique across the street from her uncle Young’s shop.
What does the SCDOT want to do?
Craig Winn, project manager for SCDOT, said the state would relocate Island Psychic and Willie Young’s Upholstery & Fabrics under its proposal to widen U.S. 278 and adjust various intersections in the area. No residential relocations would be required, Winn said.
“Both businesses understood,” Winn said. “They like the location, being on the frontage of 278. So, we’re trying to work with the town to find potential relocation (options).”
Winn, for example, noted that the town owns a 1.69-acre parcel of land behind Young’s business, so it’s possible that officials could find a way to simply move his shop north of where it is now, and provide better parking.
Young declined to comment, for now, on the SCDOT’s favored construction plan.
The state would compensate people for right-of-way property acquisition during the project, Winn said. A right-of-way agent would meet with them to work out the deals. Property owners would get money for their land, and renters like Young would receive moving expenses and help in finding a new place.
SCDOT expects that process to begin in early 2022, project documents show. The state wants to acquire a total of 4.8 acres in Stoney. (All of the rejected alternatives would have led to more relocations.)
Meanwhile, Sam Marks, the owner of Island Psychic who’s known as “Sampson,” in a brief phone call Tuesday said he had not heard of the state’s preferred alternative yet.
When a reporter told him about the state’s widening idea, Marks said, “I don’t see that happening, because it would be utterly ridiculous.”
Marks, who is also a renter, did not respond to follow-up phone messages.
Winn, of SCDOT, said Marks should have received a flyer in the mail advertising a Saturday meeting for the Stoney community to learn more about the project. The meeting was scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. at the Rowing and Sailing Center at Squire Pope Community Park.
Winn added that he met with Marks for about 30 minutes last year to talk about SCDOT’s plans. Winn has met with Young a few times, he said.
What’s next?
Residents are able to review the SCDOT documents online, submit written suggestions or recommendations to agency officials, attend an in-person public hearing on Thursday to discuss the preferred alternative, and set up appointments at the Island Recreation Center between Aug. 18 and Aug. 21 to learn more about the state’s proposal.
The public hearing will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the rec center at 20 Wilborn Road. People can drop by to ask questions from 2 to 6 p.m. An hour-long meeting for residents to speak out about the plan will run from 6 to 7 p.m.
Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, expects state officials to ultimately spend two to three months responding to the public’s written comments.
The SCDOT could then release an updated version of its preferred alternative with tweaks or modifications this fall, he has said.
The island’s Town Council will eventually have to decide whether it wants to approve or veto the state’s selected plan, according to SCDOT.
Some island residents have urged the council to flatly reject all of SCDOT’s initial proposals, demanding a better process for determining what will happen to the stretch of highway between Moss Creek Drive in Bluffton and Spanish Wells Road on the island.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re nowhere near the finish line at all,” said Alex Brown, who represents Ward 1 on the Town Council, in late June.
