Below is the agenda for the upcoming meeting of Beaufort’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) at City Hall-Council Chambers, Monday, August 9, at 5:30 p.m. The ZBOA will decide whether or not to grant a Special Exception to allow a massive three-story “big box” apartment building, see rendering above, on the corner of Charles and Port Republic Streets in Beaufort’s historic downtown commercial district as the prelude to two more massive structures: a huge convention hotel and a huge parking garage. In toto these will convert downtown Beaufort into a Convention Center composed of three huge buildings with all existing stores being satellites, similar to shopping malls all across America with several large anchor structures, many smaller shops, and a parking garage. The uniqueness of historic downtown Beaufort, which has existed for more than 300 years, will be destroyed, replaced by the homogenized mediocrity that characterizes strip shopping centers and retail malls all across modern America.

The Beaufort Tribune calls on all interested citizens to attend this meeting and MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN IN OPPOSITION.

Click here for all 35 pages of the agenda package (takes a long time to load). Continue reading →

The City of Beaufort claims “vested rights” as its defense against the lawsuit brought to stop the massive downtown projects proposed by 303 Associates. Click here to read City’s entire Answer.

Editor’s note: The following was published yesterday in the Sunday edition of The Beaufort Gazette/The Island Packet. The Beaufort Tribune is pleased to publish this same article today.

“Other Motives”

These two words, “Other Motives,” were utilized by the new mayor of the City of Beaufort, Stephen Murray, as quoted in Karl Puckett’s May 14th, 2021, article in the Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet, to describe the “intentions” of Will Cook and Graham Trask in alerting the National Park Service to the current threat facing the Beaufort Historic District, which was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1973, as well as the newly-created Reconstruction Era National Historical Park that is located within the Beaufort Historic District.

Mr. Murray, as you did not elucidate on our “other motives”, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify them for our fellow Beaufortonians. We also invite you to clarify what you meant by “other motives,” as we are quite sure that Mr. Puckett and the Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet, along with other notable local media outlets such as the Beaufort Tribune and The Island News, would appreciate an opportunity to print your feedback.

Our motives are: Continue reading →

Below are notices and agendas for important upcoming City Council and Historic District Review Board meetings. The Beaufort Tribune calls on all interested citizens to attend these meetings and MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN. Click on items below for agendas.

Tuesday, May 25, 5:00 p.m. City Council Work Session to interview applicants for Historic District Review Board. VERY IMPORTANT – See who is being considered as a new member of the Historic District Review Board.

Tuesday, May 25, 7:00 p.m. City Council Regular Meeting

Wednesday, May 16, 2:00 p.m. Historic District Review Board

303 Associates LLC, the local development company owned by Callawassie Island resident Dick Stewart, and his Beaufort Inn LLC have filed their Answer with Exhibits to the lawsuit brought by West Street Farms LLC and Mix Farms LLC, owned by Beaufort native Graham Bowen Trask. These defendants claim they are grandfathered under the City’s former zoning code and that they have certain “vested rights” that entitle them to go forward with their projects.

The lawsuit was also brought against the City of Beaufort, whose Answer is still being awaited after the City obtained a one-month extension to reply.

The lawsuit is an effort to stop the proposed massive hotel, parking garage, and apartment building projects in the historic downtown commercial district for allegedly violating the City Code and its required procedures for approval. Already a result has been the intervention of the National Park Service into the fray by notifying the City of its intention to review the potential threats to the National Landmark District posed by the projects.

Click here to view the Answer.

Click here to view the Exhibits.

Proposes comprehensive Integrity and Condition Study of Beaufort’s National Historic Landmark District

The United States National Park Service (NPS) yesterday notified Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray and City Manager Bill Prokop that the NPS proposes to conduct a comprehensive Integrity and Condition Study to “document the district and highlight positive preservation actions as well as items that may require attention”. This action is in response to reports to the NPS of threats to the historic integrity of the Continue reading →

The City of Beaufort and 303 Associates, the largest owner of commercial properties in Beaufort’s nine-square-block historic downtown core commercial district, were sued today in the Court of Common Pleas by two downtown property owners, West Street Farms, LLC, and Mix Farms, LLC, for alleged violations of the City Code involving three alleged “Large Footprint Buildings” that 303 Associates proposes to construct in the area: a large hotel, a large apartment building, and a large parking garage. Continue reading →

Above: Scale model of proposed 72-room hotel in proportional comparison to some of the existing neighboring buildings. This is one of five major projects proposed by 303 Associates, a local development company, in various stages of review and purported approval by the City of Beaufort in the Port Republic Street area of the nine-block downtown historic core commercial district. According to reports, the hotel will be “a hotel in the Marriott family of hotels”. Continue reading →