Committee approves lease for Palmetto Breeze site, equipment purchase, road design change order and airport contracts

At its Sept. 16 meeting, the Beaufort County Public Facilities and Safety Committee approved a series of infrastructure and equipment actions by voice vote with no objections.

Palmetto Breeze lease: the committee recommended that the county administrator enter a lease with the Lowcountry Regional Transportation Authority (Palmetto Breeze) for county property at 316 Castle Rock Road to provide a secure bus storage and staging lot. Staff described the property as an old, unused convenience-center parcel; the nominal lease rate is $1 and the county will demo the convenience center and install a fence as an initial improvement. Motion: Mr. Glover; second: Ms. Howard. (Approved by voice, no objection.)

Excavator purchase: the committee approved purchase of a CAP 308 hydraulic excavator for $154,000, funded from the stormwater account; staff said the purchase saves about $46,000 versus alternatives and the county plans to auction the existing equipment to recoup funds. (Approved by voice, no objection.)

Ladies Island access roads — change order: staff requested authorization to add $226,000 in scope and restore $330,000 in contingency to the Davis & Floyd contract for multiple Ladies Island access-road projects (part of the 2018 sales-tax program), a total authorization of $556,000 to be paid from sales-tax funds. Added work includes sidewalks at Robin Road near Ladies Island Middle School and additional public-involvement and appraisal work; staff estimated right-of-way work would involve roughly 100 property acquisitions and said right-of-way and permitting are the primary schedule constraints (6 months to 1.5 years before construction depends on negotiations and permits). (Approved by voice, no objection.)

Airport site work and Arthurhorn parking lot: the committee approved a transfer of $800,000 between airport accounts (part of earlier ARPA allocations) and awarded the site-work contract for Beaufort Executive Airport to Gulfstream Construction (low bidder) for the first phase of a 23-hangar expansion; staff said ARPA funds do not fully cover the project and the transfer will be repaid when grant reimbursements are received. The committee also approved a Gulfstream contract for the Arthurhorn parking lot final phase (base bid $880,546.77 plus 10% contingency for a total award of $968,006). Committee discussion noted bid comparisons and that staff would not accept a cost-saving option that would dump excess spoils on-site. (Approved by voice, no objection.)

Why it matters: the approvals advance county transportation, stormwater operations, road and airport capital projects. The Ladies Island change order addresses added scope requested through public comment and school-area sidewalk needs but increases contingency and will require substantial right-of-way work before construction.

What’s next: staff will proceed with lease execution and project procurement steps, collect right-of-way appraisals and negotiations for Ladies Island projects, schedule construction start dates once permits and acquisitions are complete, and administer the airport site-work contracts and ARPA transfer per normal reimbursement processes.

Provenance: committee approvals and staff presentations (topic intro SEG 726; topic finish SEG 1267).