By SCOTT GRABER
BEAUFORT TODAY

It’s Tuesday morning and it’s cooler. We are delighted by the refreshing, temperate weather but we are completely baffled and totally terrified by the apparent meltdown of Wall Street.

Against this confusion and near panic we, in Beaufort, are in the midst of a mayoral race that has been uncommonly quiet. Were it not for a sprinkling of campaign signs along Ribaut Road one might not know there was a race at all. One might conclude that Beaufort was happily, bucolically, basking in the early autumn sun but for a proposed parking garage proposed for the corner of Port Republic and Scott’s streets.

City Council wants a garage; mayoral candidate and former City Councilman Billy Keyserling does not want the proposed facility. Not now, at least not yet.

The concept of a downtown garage has been kicking around for years. For years there has been a simmering, low-key debate about whether or not there was adequate parking on Bay Street and the peripheral streets that come off of Bay.

There are those, mostly merchants, who believe such a building is essential for the continued vitality of Beaufort’s downtown. And there are those who think that existing street parking is adequate for tourists seeking T-shirts, Sno-globes and tequila on Bay Street.

Council member Mike Sutton, who also is a mayoral candidate, has been particularly outspoken. He believes most business folk want a garage and the facility is necessary if Beaufort wants to convert downtown buildings to residential lofts or attract green grocers to Port Republic Street.

He thinks there may be adequate space for the current, “two-hour” tourist activity but there’s not enough space for the expansion and conversions that have been proposed.

Sutton thinks the proposed 50-foot building is too high. But he also thinks the debate needs to commence. He thinks the proposed 350-space garage will, after the developer gets his 132 spaces and the City gets 27 spaces, yield 191 spaces for merchants who will want to buy slots for themselves or their customers.

Those who criticize the plan say the proposed building is too big, that it will overwhelm the historic Verdier House. Others point to the empty spaces behind Nippy’s and across from Blackstone’s and ask, “Where is the need?” Among those who are critical is Keyserling.

Keyserling says that the council is moving too fast, that the council should convene a blue-ribbon committee to develop an “as built” model of the current historic district. Keyserling says “professional urban planners with bona fides working in historically significant areas should be recruited to help create an ‘idealized’ infill model for Downtown.” He contends the plan will finally answer the old question about the suitability of a parking garage in downtown Beaufort.

Interestingly, both men agree people should actually live on Bay and Port Republic streets. Both men agree there should be drug, hardware and grocery stores where residents could buy toothpaste, Tylenol and toilet paper.

Sutton believes these residents, living in residential lofts above Bay Street, will require dedicated parking. Keyserling is not so sure.

For the most part the parking garage debate remains civil. It’s certainly not the “papers in the Wal-Mart parking lot” stuff we’ve seen in the past.

But it also seems to be an inconsequential, unimportant side-show when one considers the “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” commentary heard on CNN, CBS and read in the Wall Street Journal. If one listens to these unsmiling, sober-talking folks it seems doubtful that there will be any banks to fund new construction or building conversions in Beaufort or anywhere else.

Scott Graber is a long-time Port Royal resident and practices law in Beaufort. He can be reached via e-mail at ssgraber@charter.net