Safe Harbor Marinas boss requests January face-to-face sit-down with Port Royal leaders
In the wake of concerns the town has raised about the pace and details of Safe Harbor Marina’s multi-million dollar redevelopment of the Port of Port Royal, Safe Harbor has requested a meeting to clear the air — and preferably by the end of the month.
Peter H. Clark, Safe Harbor’s Dallas, Texas-based chief development officer, made the request for an in-person meeting with Town of Port Royal officials in a Jan. 9 letter that came in response to concerns town officials previously raised about the plan to redevelop some 50 acres of more than 300 it owns on the shores of Battery Creek.
“Safe Harbor believes that an in-person meeting between the Developer and the Town will be the most efficient forum to discuss and reach prompt resolution on the Town’s remaining concerns to ensure the shared desire of successful redevelopment of the Property, and looks forward to discussing same before the end of the month,” Safe Harbor’s Clark says in the letter.
At a Town Council meeting Wednesday, officials announced they had received the letter from Safe Harbor and called it a positive development, but the full contents were not released until Thursday. In that letter, requested by the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, Clark notes that the town had requested Safe Harbor address a number of items by Jan. 12. But he added that those matters would benefit from discussion between the town’s staff, consultants and legal counsel prior to responding. Therefore, he said, Safe Harbor requests a meeting on Jan. 31 “or some other mutually agreeable time.”
Once anchored by the South Carolina Ports Authority terminal, the Port of Port Royal is sandwiched between the historic portion of the Town and Battery Creek. Safe Harbor is planning what it calls a world-class marina with ancillary businesses and hundreds of units of housing. The town also hopes to see restaurants and other businesses developed and improved access to the water via parks and a promenade. The town is working on its own port improvements, including building a new dock and seafood processing facility in a nod to its deep ties to the shrimping industry as well as extending the popular Spanish Moss trail.
Close coordination is required for each of this efforts because Safe Harbor owns property that is involved in those plans.
Frustrated by what they view as delays and a lack of information about plan specifics, on Dec. 14, the town sent a six-page correspondence to the marina operator seeking resolution to these issues, which prompted the Jan. 9 response from Safe Harbor.
One of the town’s concerns that Safe Harbor did respond to in the letter was the warehousing and use of materials by a contractor, Harbormasters International, to support the assembly of floating dock pontoons, unrelated to the Port Royal Development, for use at other Safe Harbor properties (Safe Harbor owns 80 marinas in 19 states). The town previously told Safe Harbor it considers those activities in breach of the development agreement.
But while Safe Harbor says in the letter that it agrees that light industry is not permitted in the area known as Port Village 5, it argues that those operations are contained to another area, known as Port Village 4, where it says that type of work is allowed.
The town also had requested written evidence regarding regulatory approvals for the marina and associated dock facilities. Safe Harbor says in the letter that it anticipates that those permits will be issued by the end of this month.
Safe Harbor also sent the town revisions to two deeds involved in a proposed land swap that will facilitate the town’s seafood facility construction.
A draft easement across a portion of the Safe Harbor property for the Spanish Moss Trail also was sent to the town.
As of today, the date and location for the requested in-person meeting has not been set.
This story was originally published January 12, 2024 at 11:12 AM.
