Parking Issues will be Resolved
by a
Common Vision of Beaufort’s Downtown

With little public notice, the City Manager and two members of City Council recently called a special meeting between Mainstreet Beaufort's Parking Committee and the Historic Review Board to discuss a downtown parking garage. According to news sources, the City is trying to push through approval of a garage before Council adopts its new Preservation Plan (currently in draft form) which “may make it more difficult” to build large structures downtown.

I believe the meeting was totally inappropriate and not representative of the way the City should conduct business, but that is not my greatest concern.

The real issue is not simply the need for a parking garage; it is a vision for Beaufort.

The “process” is turned on its head; those in charge are putting the proverbial cart before the horse and, in so doing, they demonstrate a serious lack of leadership. Before we invest taxpayers’ money and possibly unnecessarily divide the community over a large, costly and inappropriate structure in the fragile Historic District, we first must create a collective vision of what we want Downtown to be. A creative and carefully crafted plan will indicate whether a garage is necessary, how large it should be and where it fits, if at all.

If one envisions Downtown remaining as it is, primarily serving visitors who dine and shop when they drop in for a few hours or a day or two, private and public parking is available, and in some cases underutilized.

Alternatively, if one sees our hometown growing from within, making room for more people to live, work and shop without getting into their cars, crossing bridges and creating more traffic congestion, then a garage might be part of the answer. Personally, I believe in “infill” development and would like to see the day when shop owners have greater opportunities to sell goods and provide services to those who live here.

History is often the best teacher, and we should re-examine the Downtown Beaufort I grew up in, which had five service stations, three automobile dealerships, three pharmacies, three hardware stores, two major grocery stores, three department stores, and three banks. We even had shrimp-boat docks where we could buy fresh seafood. Those businesses survived because they provided the goods and services that the people of Beaufort needed.

I was formerly a partner in a Downtown restaurant set “all the way back on Port Republic Street,” and we catered to local trade whom we knew would patronize our business even during uncertain times. We served Beaufort and Beaufort served us well.

If we believe creative adaptive infill is our future, we will need stores focused on residents--more offices, more hospitality, and more retail businesses. And, to ensure local patronage, we need residents living above and around the corner from these services.

But before the City Council rushes pell-mell into another poorly conceived notion, let’s work together to fashion a common vision for Downtown. Merchants, local shoppers, property owners and residents must decide what we want our enchanted Downtown to look like decades from now. If we choose infill development with more goods and services in the central city, we need to fashion a comprehensive and well-conceived plan with the guidance of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Historic Beaufort Foundation and Mainstreet Beaufort.

Using taxpayer dollars, the City commissioned an Historic Preservation Plan; it has been completed and submitted to City Council where it languishes yet. Development of infrastructure must be considered within the larger context that includes considerations for Historic preservation balanced against a dynamic thriving economy. The Council has a plan that should be thoroughly studied and adopted. The vision for Downtown’s future and the resultant changes in infrastructure and existing ordinances should then flow from this overview. Instead, we have decisions being made without a plan in place. We’ve got the cart before the horse.

I believe everyone wants a prosperous and diverse Downtown. So how do we get started? I propose we convene a “blue-ribbon” panel, including residents, property owners the Historic Beaufort Foundation, Mainstreet Beaufort, and the City to develop an “as built” model of today’s Historic District. The process must be inclusive and open to the public. This is a dynamic interface that has been used very effectively in the past—for example, it was a citizen’s panel that created a comprehensive tourism ordinance for Beaufort.

Professional urban planners with bona fides working in historically significant areas should be recruited to help create an “idealized” infill model of Downtown. This means an overlay demonstrating where buildings can be renovated for adaptive reuse and where new structures (meeting the Historic District guidelines) can be built. Such a plan would need to be presented to the Historic Review Board for conceptual approval, and while specific plans must be submitted/approved for each individual project, the “Plan” will give general direction to property owners who want to upgrade their properties or build new ones.

This process will take time; it will take critical thinking; it will take some compromise. But it is the only meaningful way to properly address crucial issues confronting our future. The “Plan” will finally answer the old question about the suitability of a parking garage in Downtown. But more importantly, it will get us all working together, pulling in the same direction to make Beaufort a better place. And that, after all, is really what “process” should be about.

William D. “Billy” Keyserling
Post Office Box 2145
Beaufort, S.C. 29901-2145
billyk@islc.net
843-521-2600