Beaufort County appeals judge’s order to move Daufuskie ferry. Courts say it’s operating illegally
Beaufort County is continuing to battle local judicial orders to move the Daufuskie Island ferry site at Buckingham Landing, which courts have determined violates the county’s zoning laws.
Hank Amundson, special assistant to Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway, said county officials have filed an appeal to an earlier ruling by Judge Courtney Pope ordering the ferry landing be relocated by Jan. 1, 2024.
“We are taking steps to comply with the order. However, Beaufort County has filed an appeal of that order with the South Carolina Court of Appeals,” Amundson said. As of April 27, Amundson said the county has spent $22,372 contesting the Buckingham Landing residents’ lawsuit, first filed in 2021.
Pope is the second judge to issue such an order. Judge Bentley Price made a similar decision in May 2022 that required the ferry either to relocate by Sept. 5 of that year or the county to provide evidence it was “expeditiously” securing new landing areas by then.
The county is moving to condemn two parcels of land to serve as ferry embarkation points, one on Hilton Head’s Helmsman Way and the other at Daufuskie Island’s Melrose Landing. The condemnations both are being contested by the landowners, Amundson said, and the lawsuits are in the discovery phase.
Pope and Price each reached the same conclusion as the Buckingham Landing residents — the ferry operation violates provisions of the Buckingham Landing Preservation District, which requires the land be used residentially or for small-scale home businesses.
The ferry landing originally was relocated to the neighborhood in 2017 after Hurricane Matthew destroyed the previous location. Residents said that, as the temporary solution continues into its sixth year of operation, traffic and noise have continued to increase.
“The neighborhood plaintiffs have lived with the commercial ferry operations in violation of the county ordinances for more than five years,” Pope’s court order read.
“We are moving toward the relocation to the Helmsman Way location. In light of the pending court order, and our appeal, we are making contingency plans,” Amundson said. “We feel like we can make that move by Jan. 1, 2024, if it is absolutely necessary, even if all components of the long-term plan are not completed.“
The county is prepared to seek out an interim location if “unforeseen circumstances” require it, Amundson added.
