Port Royal targets unauthorized construction work, derelict boats and wants your input

The Town of Port Royal is moving forward with ordinances to prevent boats from being abandoned in its waters and contractors from performing unauthorized work in the town’s right-of-way.

Public hearings regarding both issues are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Town Hall, 700 Paris Ave.

In September, Port Royal shut down a fiber optic project on Paris Avenue, its main street, which it didn’t know about.

The contractor for Comcast/Xfinity, it said, had the necessary encroachment permit from the South Carolina Department of Transportation for the state-owned Ribaut Road, Willis said, but not for the town-owned Paris Avenue.

Workers were digging trenches and pulling and burying the cable in the boulevard along a roughly 10-block stretch.

To prevent a similar situation, the town is proposing to amend an ordinance regarding construction of utilities and other public works within street right-of-way.

After what happened, Mayor Joe DeVito said, “we realized things needed to be cleaned up.”

Work on the fiber optic project has yet to resume. The town, DeVito said, is working with Comcast/Xfinity on reviewing the plans, creating a franchise agreement and other issues. “It was stopped midway and we’re getting all the details straightened out,” DeVito said.

The town also will take public input on a proposed ordinance aimed at preventing boats from being abandoned and cluttering the Port of Port Royal.

It would require a permit for mooring a boat, prohibit mooring too close to public boat landings, bridges, private docks and marinas, and ban derelict or abandoned vessels. Police would be given the authority to seize and tow vessels in violation.

“It just allows us to have more information on what’s going on with the boats in our area,” DeVito said.