When thinking about Beaufort’s Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park or reading about Beaufort in national and local publications, words such as ‘beautiful’, ‘historic’, ‘scenic’, ‘desirable’, and ‘unique’ come up frequently. But, at the Beaufort City Council Work Session on June 11, 2024, Bill Barna from McSweeney Engineering described Beaufort’s Waterfront Park as “on its last leg”, “at the end of its service life”, and having “significant structural issues”. The Mayor, Councilmen, City Manager, and public in attendance all appeared shell-shocked by the severity of the concerns.
Beaufort’s Waterfront park was originally constructed in 1974. In its 50 year history, the structural integrity has been inspected four times. With each inspection, three of which have occurred in the last ten years, worsening deterioration and shoaling was noted. Some failing pilings were encapsulated in 2018 and 2019 as a temporary mitigation effort, but the scope of concerns has never been addressed. The most recent inspection that was the subject of the June 11th Work Session, once again reports the same concerns, except now they are more widespread and significant. When asked by Councilman Mitchell if something “catastrophic could happen”, Barna responded saying that structures of this kind are designed to fail gradually, not all at once.
The most recent inspection was requested after a “cruise ship mooring incident” (p. 7) in 2023. Multiple incidents of damage to the park’s sea wall and pilings caused by cruise ships were noted in the discussion, as well as deterioration from environmental factors and suspected quality control issues when the park was built. There was consensus among the Council and City Manager that changes need to be made to the cruise ships’ docking location and procedures, and that SC Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, and the Army Corps of Engineers need to be consulted. Multiple possibilities for mitigation that would halt deterioration for the time being were discussed. All mitigation options were projected to cost in the tens of millions and Barna consistently emphasized that mitigation efforts would only be temporary.
Beaufort Insider will continue to report on this story as it unfolds.
Shut the park down now before a huge catastrophe happens involving thousands of people, For example, the Water Festival
The person did say it would not be a catastrophic fail but rather a gradual decay. We would know if its going to collapse and be able to protect people. But if its failing, budget planning should be happening now, I think is the point.
I heard that th cruise ships will no longer stop in Beaufort.
My father in law, Charles Waller and Roger Pinckney ,my uncle and revered engineer told the city this would happen. Do it right this time.
Is the contract with Safe Harbour public? Where can I lget a copy? When the Safe Harbor contract was renewed, were the services put out to bid? Does our City/Country have bid requirements such as x amount of dollars for the contract and it is put out to bid? Do the Citizens have the right to require optional providers quotes?
Deb – here is a copy of the lease: City of Beaufort / Safe Harbor Lease 2019 There are a great deal of laws and required processes required for entering into a lease/contract such as this. It appears that the city government in 2019 did not follow most of them… and now they’re trying to figure out how to move forward.