Beaufort County seeks residents’ feedback on boat landing improvements. How to weigh in
Residents who want to give their feedback on Beaufort County’s 26 boat landings and talk about what improvements they’d like to see take place over the next decade may do so in three remaining community meetings, county officials said this week in a press release.
“Our County is 38% water, and boat landings are a critical economic and recreational resource,” Neil Desai, Beaufort County director of public works, said. “Public feedback is critical to ensuring the County uses taxpayer money responsibly and where most taxpayers would like it spent.”
A comprehensive review of the boat landings was launched earlier this year as part of the county’s master improvement plan and resulted in Creech and Associates, an architecture firm in Charleston, South Carolina, being awarded the contract.
The three of five meetings still remaining, where residents can get more information from the county about the study with time allotted for questions, will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on:
- Aug. 24 at the Burton Wells Recreation Center
- Aug. 25 at the St. Helena Branch Library
- Aug. 30 at Council Chambers
Those who may not be able to make it to the meetings may still offer their feedback and comments in an online survey that has been open since July. The survey, which the county estimated takes about five minutes to complete, asks several questions, including which ramp residents use most often, how they would rate their most-used ramp, what alternative ramp they would head to if their first choice was unavailable and how many times they use Beaufort County boat landings every year.
Individual field surveys have already been carried out at some of the boat ramps, but the county is asking for resident feedback to help it improve individual ramps based on what is needed at that particular site.
In May, an agreement reached between the Town of Port Royal, Safe Harbor Marinas and Beaufort County kept the popular boat landing at the Sands Beach in Port Royal from closing ahead of the busy summer season. Under that agreement, the boat landing would be maintained by the county while the town pledged to maintain the parking lot.
In July, Beaufort County and a developer reached an agreement to keep the Melrose Landing dock on Daufuskie Island available for public use without a condemnation hearing. Beaufort County will own the dock, Melrose Landing Road and the roundabout. Then, one side of the dock would be used for ferry operations and the other would be used by Whitestone Holdings, which plans to buy the vacant Melrose Resort.
The meetings are open to the public.
This story was originally published August 21, 2022 at 9:36 AM.
