City Manager's Bridge Report

Greetings, and welcome to the Bridge Report, what I intend to be a weekly update for the residents and business community of the Best Part of the Lowcountry—our historic, beautiful, and beloved City of Beaufort.

This weekly update will recap key events from the past week, provide a look ahead to the week ahead, and highlight other timely items of interest to help keep you informed—directly from the City Manager’s desk.

February 16, 2026 City Manager’s Bridge Report

We start the week in recognition of Presidents Day.  Non-emergency city operations are closed today and will re-open tomorrow.  This is the last scheduled holiday closure until Good Friday on April 3. 

Did you know that Presidents Day was originally established in 1879 to honor the birth of George Washington?  It was moved by the 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act to create three-day weekends, later becoming popularly, but not officially, known as a day to honor all presidents, particularly our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. 

That’s enough trivia for now.  Let’s get down to business, specifically the business of the city.

Highlights from last Tuesday’s City Council meeting.  Council, by Resolution, established the Downtown Advisory Board.  This body, to be appointed by City Council, will serve in an advisory capacity to Council and Staff by providing input and recommendations on downtown-related matters.  These matters will include, but are not limited to infrastructure improvements, parking management, tourism management, construction impacts, business recruitment and retention, special events, and long-range planning initiatives. The board will be made up of business operators, property owners, neighborhood representatives and other specified organizations.  The City will make an announcement soon to recruit interested applicants.

City Council also approved a Resolution adopting a Social Media Community Comment Policy.  The policy includes the following elements:

•    Clarifies the informational purpose of the City’s social media accounts.

•    Establishes reasonable standards for public comments, including civility and non-discrimination.

•    Prohibits obscene, threatening, commercial, spam, or disruptive content.

•    Affirms that public comments do not represent official City positions.

•    Authorizes the City to hide or remove comments that violate the policy, in accordance with applicable law.

•    Directs residents to alternative and more effective avenues for engagement, including direct contact with staff, email, phone communication, and public comment at meetings.

•    Establishes a formal appeals process for individuals whose comments have been hidden from public view as a result of policy enforcement.

Congratulations to Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail as we all helped to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the new trail extension to downtown via Depot Road on Thursday.  The Spanish Moss Trail was also awarded Kids In Parks National Designation, a certification in which the City is proud to be partner with the Trail.  The weather was beautiful and the crowd size exceeded all expectations—an overall great celebratory event.

In Police Department updates, the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law, through its Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Program, will convene the Carolina Crime Reduction Task Force on March 17, 2026, at the Rock Hill Police Department. The Beaufort Police Department is proud to announce that its proposal to present the Safe Living Beaufort Initiative was accepted. They will present this successful program to leaders from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who will be gathered to examine evidence-based and innovative approaches to crime reduction. This is a tremendous honor that reflects well of the City and our Police Department led by Chief Stephenie Price.

I’m very pleased to let you know that the intersection of Bay and Charles Streets was paved last Friday and should be opening today (fingers crossed).  For the latest updates on this project, please visit https://tinyurl.com/Charles-Craven.  

This is an exciting week for us because we are honored to welcome our new Assistant City Manager, Eric Claussen.  Eric is a Professional Engineer and brings with him tremendous depth of experience in infrastructure, other capital projects and public works.  He is also no stranger to the Lowcountry, having served previously as the Beaufort County Engineer.  We are fortunate to have Eric on our team.  After he catches his breath a little, we will host a social drop-in for him at City Hall so he can get to know our residents better.

Meetings this week at City Hall include our Quarterly Capital Projects Update on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., a Planning Commission meeting, an Historic Technical Review Committee (HTRC) meeting and a Technical Review Committee (TRC) meeting.

The Quarterly Capital Projects Update meeting will provide status on all current capital projects.  This meeting offers Council and the public an opportunity to gain understanding and ask clarifying questions about all of our construction projects in their various stages.

The TRC will meet on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. to consider:

•    A Change of Use request for a former gas station to be converted into “The Pink Pub” 

•    Request for the complete redevelopment of “Marsh Point,” a multi-family rental housing community.

The HTRC will meet Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. to consider:

•    602 Bladen Street (Vacant Lot) – Discussion on revised conceptual plans for new single-family dwelling with attached garage. 

•    710 Newcastle Street (Residential, non-contributing, c. 1970) – Proposal for a front addition to existing one-story frame dwelling.

•    1108 Washington Street (Residential, contributing, c. 1900) – Renovation of contributing (vacant) one-story dwelling, including partial demolition of more recent additions and overall improvements to make house habitable again. 

•    1407 Washington Street (Residential, contributing, c. 1890) – Restore and add-on to existing vacant home.

•    1009 Craven Street (Commercial, contributing, c. 1820) – Replace first-floor porch structure due to massive decay.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to convene on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. to discuss Chapter 4 of the Beaufort Development Code as part of their comprehensive review of the Code.  Chapter 4 deals with building design and infill standards.

I must also mention the 20th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF), taking place from February 17 to February 22 at the University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts. Congratulations to Ron and Rebecca Tucker for their dedication and resulting success. As a result of their vision and leadership, BIFF has grown from about 500 attendees in 2007 to over 13,000 in 2025.  It was named one of the Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by Movie Maker Magazine in 2013.  Not too shabby!

A small dusting of pollen on my truck last week tells me spring is just about here.  Though we might crave cooler weather by August, warmer days, budding trees, and green grass sound pretty good right now.  Hope you all have a pleasant and safe week here in the Best Part of the Lowcountry.

In Service,

Scott