Is years-long dispute with Safe Harbor over yet? Port Royal residents look for answers
As the new year begins, Port Royal officials are guardedly hopeful that one of the most highly anticipated and most contentious developments north of the Broad River will finally get off the ground in 2025.
The area in question is where dolphins and boats cruise Battery Creek as cars cross the Russell Bell Bridge. People walk the beach or boardwalk. Patrons of shorefront restaurants enjoy a cocktail at sunset. Safe Harbor Marinas purchased land within this classic Lowcountry setting on the water in Port Royal with promises to build a world-class marina and hundred of units of residential housing. Three years later, there’s neither.
“There has been some meetings, there have been some talks and I think we’re all cautiously optimistic,” Councilman Jerry Ashmore said. “So stay tuned. I hate to say it. But stay tuned.” The public will wait and see if there’s any real progress on the horizon.
Ashmore’s comments came at a Town Council meeting Wednesday when Tricia Fidrych, a Port Royal resident who has previously criticized Safe Harbor’s plans and called for more transparency about them, urged town officials to share what they can about the latest developments.
The outlook of Mayor Kevin Phillips, piggybacking on Ashmore’s comments, also was positive.
“We’ve all been working very hard with them,” Phillips said, “and hopefully we can give a really great update really soon.”
Later, Phillips said the two sides never completely stopped talking even as the disputes over the development played out but talks picked up at the close of 2024.
“We are negotiating with them about issues we are trying to get resolved,” Phillips said. “And we feel like we are very close to that.”
Later in Wednesday’s meeting, Town Council members went into executive session, which is closed to the public, to discuss legal issues tied to the Safe Harbor development. “Hopefully — fingers crossed — it will be our last executive session” regarding Safe Harbor, Phillips said.
Safe Harbor initially ran afoul with the residents when a partner in charge of the housing proposed rental townhouses instead of owner-occupied houses. The town was also caught off guard when Safe Harbor began constructing large portable docks on the waterfront and shipping them to marinas it owned at other locations. The noisy industrial use of the waterfront violated the town’s rules, it argued.
After talks between the two sides a year ago, both sides expressed optimism. But in March, citing the violation of zoning ordinances, the town filed court documents intended to stop Safe Harbor from manufacturing large portable docks on the site.
Town officials said Wednesday that it’s been difficult to remain silent.
“I’m excited,” Phillips said.
“But,” Ashmore added, “we’ve been excited before.”
The land, which is located in the old village part of the town, abuts Battery Creek. It was once the home of a South Carolina Ports Authority terminal. A marina-centered development that includes retail and housing and improved public access has been talked about for years.
Port Royal residents, who are fiercely protective of the town’s vision for the property, see economic and quality of life benefits in developing the land around the port, which has been vacant since 2004. Besides investment in the marina and related businesses and the housing, a public park and promenade are part of the plan as well as improved docks for shrimp boats.
Safe Harbor Marinas announced in December 2021 that it had purchased 300 acres for $20.5 million from Grey Ghost Properties. About 50 acres of the marshy area is suitable for development.
Grey Ghost, which had bought the land from the South Carolina Ports Authority for $9 million in 2017, laid the groundwork before selling to the well heeled Safe Harbor, which operates a network of marinas across the country.
The purchase set the stage for development of a 150-200-slip marina that Safe Harbor said would be a “world class” boating destination because of the deep water of the Port of Port Royal and its location between New York and Key West, possibly even attracting an occasional “megayacht.”
Safe Harbor began operating an existing 240-boat dry stack storage business and getting the site ready for development, which included demolishing the 70,000 square-foot Ports Authority shipping terminal built in 1959. It’s also been trying to secure permits for the marina. But no construction has occurred.
Information about the plans has been hard to come by since the situation ended up in a legal tangle 10 months ago.
Fidrych, the Port Royal resident, showed up at a Wednesday’s Town Council expecting an update after hearing that a meeting between town and Safe Harbor officials was planned last week. Port Royal officials emphasized that they had to be careful about what they said but “we think we are very close to something,” Phillips said.
“That’s something,” Fidrych told council members.
Timeline: Safe Harbor in Port Royal
December 2021: Safe Harbor Marinas announced it has acquired the former South Carolina State Ports Authority terminal in downtown Port Royal.
August 2023: The Beach Company unveils a plan to build more than 200 town houses and some 30 single-family homes. But the units, which will have enviable views of Battery Creek and the Bell Bridge crossing it, will be for rent, not for sale.
September 2023: Residents push back on a plan by The Beach Company that it must build 200 townhomes and some 30 single-family homes — and rent them all — in order to make a housing project along the town’s prime waterfront “pencil out.”
October 2023: Carrying signs that said “Please Care,” “Don’t Ruin Our Port” and “What Happened to the Dream,” Port Royal residents rally for changes in the port property as the Town Council discusses the issue in executive sessions.
December 2023: Port Royal sends a six-page letter to Safe Harbor Marinas demanding answers on why they’ve seen little progress in the two years since Safe Harbor purchased the property. The town also threatens breach of the development agreement if Safe Harbor keeps using the property to build docks that have nothing to do with the Port Royal redevelopment.
February 2024: Port Royal and Safe Harbor Marina officials say a Feb. 1 meeting called to air concerns about a marina-centered development on the town waterfront restarted a long-stalled dialogue.
March 2024: Citing the violation of zoning ordinances, the town filed court documents intended to stop Safe Harbor Marinas from manufacturing large portable docks on the developer’s property abutting Battery Creek, describing the use as illegal and a “dangerous activity” that’s already lead to one death and numerous public complaints. The docks being built are not intended for use in Port Royal but in other Safe Harbor facilities along the east coast.
August 2024: A potential move by Safe Harbor to switch residential developers for the housing planned on the shores of Battery Creek revises a previous path to build rentals. The old plan stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition while the new one might go a long way toward easing the tension.
January 2025: Town officials say they are cautiously optimistic the town and Safe Harbor will work out their differences.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 9:34 AM.
