Beaufort Co. postpones decision on Daufuskie ferry after outrage, lawsuit threat
Three days after Beaufort County made clear its plan to pay a ferry company $1.3 million to continue shuttling residents and visitors to Daufuskie Island from Buckingham Landing, officials have postponed signing the contract, Council Chair Joe Passiment confirmed Thursday.
The Beaufort County Council was expected to consider the five-year, $1,295,000 ferry services contract with Haig Point Ferry Co. on Monday, but some officials pulled it from the agenda Thursday. Monday’s agenda has not yet published online.
The decision comes after numerous Buckingham Landing property owners expressed outrage at the county’s plan to continue to allow the publicly funded Daufuskie Island ferry to operate in their Bluffton neighborhood. The ferry, they said, has caused parking and traffic problems for four years, and officials promised it would be moved.
It’s also an illegal zoning use, they say.
Buckingham Landing was supposed to be a temporary spot for ferry operations after Hurricane Matthew damaged Palmetto Bay Marina on Hilton Head Island in October 2016. But, years later, a permanent solution is still unclear.
This week, the county’s public facilities committee recommended approval of the contract with Haig Point. That contract would have allowed the ferry company to continue operating out of its Buckingham Landing location. It also would have required a $1.9 million renovation project.
Prior to the meeting, 22 Buckingham Landing property owners hired an attorney who threatened to sue the county if it moved forward with the contract.
Tom Taylor, the attorney and a former County Council chair, told a reporter that the committee’s decision to recommend the contract was an “assault on the residents.”
Called Thursday, Council member and public facilities chair Stu Rodman said Thursday’s decision to postpone the vote had “nothing to do” with the lawsuit threat.
“People threaten lawsuits all the time,” he said. “That’s why we have a legal staff.”
Rodman said the council had several questions about the contract, but refused to say what questions. He said the contract will “come back in a couple weeks.”
Leanne Coulter, chair of the Daufuskie Island Council, said Thursday that she understands the concerns of Buckingham Landing residents. She said Daufuskie and Buckingham Landing need to work together to figure out a parking solution — because a new, permanent location will take years.
Council Chair Joe Passiment told a reporter that the council planned to meet with Buckingham Landing residents early next month before it decides on the contract. He said officials will discuss short-term and long-term solutions to the problems caused by the ferry.
He said the county would look at other potential spots for the ferry, as well as Buckingham Landing, based on “information we have learned.”
“I can’t let you know yet until we take a look at some other pieces of that puzzle,” he said.
But the county still plans to offer the contract to Haig Point, he said.
Asked why it’s taken more than four years to find a permanent spot for the ferry operations, Passiment said various administrators have looked at other spots, to no avail.
“It wasn’t that people just stopped looking at this,” he said. “Things changed. Now, we have to have a permanent solution. This council wants a permanent solution.”
On Monday, some on council were fearful that if the the five-year contract isn’t approved soon, Haig Point’s current month-to-month contract with the county would expire — effectively shutting down public ferry operations to Daufuskie.
Passiment, on Thursday, was adamant that’s “not going to happen.”
He said he thinks the residents of Buckingham Landing and Daufuskie Island will be happy with the county’s solution.
“We’ve got to solve this problem.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
