Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Flooding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents and council members press county over slow stormwater fixes; staff outlines buyout pilot and restoration projects
Summary
Public commenters and council liaisons urged faster action on chronic flooding on Ladies Island and other neighborhoods; staff outlined a buyout pilot for repeat‑flooded parcels, a major wetlands restoration contract, and improvements to project reporting and asset tracking.
A Beaufort County resident and several council liaisons on Feb. 11 urged the Stormwater Management Utility Board to accelerate work on longstanding flooding problems while staff described concrete steps the county is taking, including an initial buyout allocation and a wetlands restoration contract.
Kurt Chapman, who identified himself as a property owner on Turtle Lane, told the board the county's official stormwater study has produced little action for nearly two years and accused representatives of a limited partnership that controls a golf-course parcel of negotiating with private developers while county staff engaged them. "It's been now close to 2 years since the official stormwater study was published...an under $100,000 fix...could have been done by the public works department," Chapman said during public comment and said he would continue to press the board until he received answers.
Board members acknowledged the concerns and said staff updates would address specific sites. Councilman Ritz and other members asked that the county produce district-based project reports so residents can see what has been done and what remains scheduled. Several speakers said brief, single-sentence maintenance notes are insufficient for constituents seeking accountability.
Staff said it has taken immediate maintenance actions in some areas, is migrating asset and condition assessments into GIS, plans to integrate CCTV videos into asset records, and will pursue a Smartsheet application for transparent project tracking. The county also reported an active on-call engineering contract with Wolpert and two additional firms to accelerate design and program management.
For neighborhoods with repeated inundation, staff described initial work to develop a buyout program. Taylor Brewer said legal counsel gave verbal guidance to begin program design and that the FY2027 budget includes a $1,500,000 line to support potential buyouts. She said buyouts would be offered on an individual application basis, evaluated with standards tied to inundation records, and need not be all-or-nothing for a given neighborhood.
Staff also announced a contract with Black & Veatch for the Arthur Horn Wetlands Restoration in Port Royal, which officials said will restore wetland function for flood relief and habitat and could eventually connect to local trails. Construction invitations were also issued for several projects including a Bay Pines pipe-upsize project and River's End work contracted to Gulfstream Construction Company.
Board members urged sharper procurement and equipment-selection practices, recommending owning-and-operating cost analyses and more modern, reliable equipment to reduce downtime. Staff said they would pursue the requested analyses and consider member input before final purchases.
The board closed public comment, recommended the FY2027 budget to council and adjourned.
