BEAUFORT, S.C. — Downtown Beaufort is bracing for the next stage of a significant stormwater initiative, which will temporarily close a key access point to the city’s bustling business district.

During a public meeting on Tuesday, local shopkeepers expressed their frustrations to city officials, seeking clarity on the upcoming changes.

“It’s completely valid for downtown store owners, restaurateurs, and other business operators to be worried. This adds another layer of complexity to their challenges,” explained Scott Marshall, Beaufort’s city manager.

Amidst an already challenging economic climate, the waterfront’s temporary closure, and preparations for an all-important fourth quarter, Beaufort’s business community feels blindsided by the city’s recent announcement.

The intersection at Charles and Bay streets, a crucial entryway to the main commercial area, will be closed for an estimated five to six weeks to accommodate this critical stormwater project.

The start date is set for Nov. 13 and is planned to re-open Dec. 23.  

“I think that we all are on the same page.  We weren’t expecting this, but it’s where we are,” said Cherimie Weatherford, the owner of SugarBelle Boutique on Bay Street. “We know we’re going to take a hit and that’s I think where our frustration began. We plan for storms, we plan for political elections, we plan for all the things that we know could hinder sales and traffic. When we don’t know that they’re coming. That’s when it gets difficult.”

Business owners and city officials sat down for those tough conversations at a public meeting tonight.

Some owners said they were scared that losing business during the prime holiday season could be the end of the line for a couple of shops.

“We understand that the timing is not good on this. And we’re going to work with these businesses. We’re going to work with the community, frankly, to try to make some lemonade out of lemons,” said Marshall.

 The Charles-Craven stormwater project is federally funded and must be finished by the May deadline, or the city will lose the funding.

In the meeting tonight, it was decided that a task force would be composed of officials and owners to make sure the holiday season goes to plan, even with detours and impacts to parking and possibly tourism.

South Carolina Representative Shannon Erickson even joined the conversation, asking the South Carolin Office of Resilience, who funds the project, to push construction back.

She said she is waiting for an answer.

“If we can push the opening of that intersection back five or six weeks, even then, that helps our store owners and our business owners considerably downtown,” said Marshall.

Weatherford added that though frustrations aren’t off the table, she is not giving up.

“We have to fix problems every day. You know, we have a staffing situation, we have the waterfront, our staff can’t afford housing.  So, we are very used to fighting battles and so this will just be another one. Unfortunately,” she said.

The city reiterates that downtown will remain open during construction and they are doing everything possible to support parking access, pedestrian traffic, and businesses during the closure.