Town Council - workshop

Meeting Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 to order. I'm going to ask for a motion on the adoption of the agenda, but I'd like to move public comment, not agenda items before the workshop. So moved.

We have a first. Second.

First and second. All those in favor signify by raising your right hand. Do we have a motion to accept the agenda with the modifications?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor signify by raising your hand. So moved. 7-0. All right. So we're here today. after many years and a culmination of a lot of conversations to address traffic issues within the corridor. There's been a lot of topics of discussions, a lot of years of discussions, and I would like to see today that we come out of here with a clear understanding as to how we're moving forward so that we can move this to council in August for a resolution of support so the town staff can begin working on getting funding, working on the entire process so that we're moving forward. So thank you all for being here today. Kim, will you call the first person for the non-agenda item?

Yes. One second.

Yep.

Richard Busy.

He passes, thank you.

He passes?

Yes.

Skip Hogan, Windmill Harbor. We must be officially annexed into the town of Hilton Head. Stop the signage fraud. I've been a resident of 50 years, worked for Charles Frazier and believed in his vision. We're all here today because we failed to create a master land plan 60 to 70 years ago to protect our island into perpetuity. That failure led to overdevelopment, more traffic, losing the island lifestyle, and favorite big city living. No one person is to blame. We must accept reality, adapt, enjoy the restaurants, the shopping, the services, accept the traffic. We'd run road from I-95 to Seafind's dead end. Two choices, be happy or move away. I decided to stay. Stop kicking the can down the road. We have one bridge, 30 to 35 years behind us, recommended use. That should concern everyone. Like everything, it's about money and who pays for it. Current taxes are not enough. Raising taxes is even worse. Our recent AI $220 million budget analysis identified illegal tax use and a bloated bureaucracy to manage just about 20% of our island. We must defund millions annually to promote tourism by the chamber. Instead, use these funds for the bridge, police, safety, infrastructure. Tourism Day is driven by social media, local search, and AI for free. Our town is allowing millions of hospitality and accommodation tax funds without oversight and public accounting. 40,000 residents are paying for the impact of nearly 3 million visitors per year. I have a solution today that no one has proposed. I'm asking every official to support a tourism impact user fee or be removed from office. Google or AI tourist impact user fee. I propose a $5 per person per day fee collected at every rental checkout. If someone disagrees, they are free to vacation somewhere else. A five-night stay at $25 per visitor with 3 million visitors generates $75 million annually. This would pay for the bridges, sewage, waste, drainage, bike paths, landscaping, more police and safety. For traffic, there is no fix. It's only going to get worse. We need a mayor that should be honest about that. I am running for watchdog mayor to restore honesty, cut corruption, not ribbons. I will use AI City Doge robotics for finances and town operations. Dave Ferguson is also running for mayor, and he's a good, honest choice. That belongs to the voters. The goal is for all of us to replace our current mayor who committed criminal fraud.

Mr. Hoagland, please do not end.

We are in a crisis. We are in a taxpayer crisis. Thank you so much.

Dave Ferguson.

Good afternoon. Thanks for that segue, Skip. I'm Dave Ferguson. I am running for mayor, but that's not what I'm here for today. I live right across the street in Shipyard. I want to begin by making one thing very clear. I love the Island Jam and support it. I love seeing families enjoying music. I love seeing talented local musicians share the stage with nationally recognized artists. Events like this contribute to the quality of our life on Hilton Head, and I want them to succeed and continue. This isn't about the Island Jam. It's about how our government spends taxpayers' dollars and how those decisions are made. Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Mayor, you put on the agenda and approved another $250,000 sponsorship for the Island Jam. I believe this is the fourth consecutive year, Mr. Mayor, you put this on the agenda and the town has provided sponsorship to this for-profit business funding this event. As I listened to the discussion a couple weeks ago, I couldn't help but wonder whether the public vote was truly the point at which this decision was being made or whether the commitment had effectively already been made before it ever became before this council. You kept saying there were extenuating circumstances, but you refused to tell us what they were. You said it a few times. I encourage every resident watching today who may be watching this meeting later to visit the Island Jam website for yourself. Don't take my word for it. See who's listed. See who has identified as the presenters and partners. See that they are actually charging $1,500 for a taxpayer to play in a golf outing. See that they are still selling sponsorships for the event, but also stage sponsorships. Then ask yourself the same questions I'm asking today. Residents deserve answers. Why is the town sponsoring a private for-profit business when so many local nonprofit organizations must compete through the A-tax process for limited funding? How is the amount of 250,000 determined? How are the sponsorship dollars actually being spent? Who decides where the sponsorship dollars go? What accountability measures are in place? And after four years of sponsorship, what measurable return on investment have Hilton Head taxpayers received? These aren't political questions, they're business questions, they're stewardship questions, and they're questions every resident has a right to ask. Finally, I have a few questions about transparency. The Island Jam website lists Chaz Perry as one of this year's featured singer-songwriters, and I found it interesting that David Preston never mentioned it when he was naming the local musicians participating. If Chaz Perry is Mr. Perry, Mayor Perry's nephew, was recusal ever considered before sponsorship? Seems it would have been easy for you to recuse yourself, but you didn't. Why? The same website also identifies Island Rec as a partner. Mayor Perry, your brother Reed, serves as the vice president of the Island Rec Association Bowl. What role, if any, did Island Rec play in the sponsorship? What role, if any, did leadership play in these discussions? I'm not suggesting anyone has done anything illegal or unethical. Whether you agree with me or not, there are fair questions. Thank you, Mr. Ferguson. And fair questions and fair answers. Thank you. Thank you for cutting me off again.

Peter Christian.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, and guests and staff. Three things. First of all, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to thank you for attending our Hilton Head Plantation biking event on Saturday, which was a great success. We appreciate your support. Number two, most of you know that I represent Southern Beaufort County on the county's Green Space Committee, and you guys have been incredible in your participation in putting aside land that will not be touched and lowering density and keeping open space in this town. And you are to be complimented for it. And lastly, I want to compliment Mr. Orlando, Mr. Lanager, and Mr. Jeff Knapsinger. We had a collapse on a street we were repaving in Hilton Head Plantation, and it required immediate intention. Got in touch with your folks, and we have a resolution already moving forward, and they are to be complimented on how quickly they reacted to that. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Savannah White.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, residents. My name is Savannah White. I'm the local field representative for Congresswoman Nancy Mace. And so today in response to this meeting, just letting you know, we're here to help if you ever have hiccups with any federal agencies with permitting or just reaching out in general, if there's a federal agency that we can help connect you with, we're happy to do so, as well with our grants program. We work very closely with the town and Michelle Bunce for federal grant outreach. Also, we'll be here at least until early January, so if anybody has issues with a federal agency, whether that be getting a passport, disability, social security. We do casework on a daily basis for residents. So just sending out that message. And then Service Academy applications are open. So our Service Academy interview day is December 5th. It will be at Bastion Hall at the Citadel in Charleston. And we're holding a Service Academy day on September 19th. So if you have any students, family that has questions, my name's Savannah White, Savannah like the city. dot white like the color at mail.house.gov is my email. Happy to answer any questions. And I think that's about it. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

That's all I have for non-agenda.

Thank you. Mr. Orlando, turn it over to you.

Yes, sir. Thanks, Mayor Perry. Afternoon, Mayor and Council and members of the community. We're back. Last time we were together with you was April 28th, as we worked on the Gateway corridor master plan. I would like to just really remind us why we're here today. And it's really a continuation of project planning and to hear your continued feedback on the work itself. As a reminder, and I said this last meeting, as a reminder, Town Council directed me some months ago to advance a coordinated master planning effort for the William Hilton Gateway Corridor Project. It was provided soon after Town Council and Beaufort County coordinated efforts on the use of the 2018 transportation Beaufort County referendum proceeds, all of which went towards the eastbound bridge. And so we were left with a project plan in place and a master plan expectation to advance in this venue. Since we last met, we updated traffic projections. We refined accident data. We confirmed that no additional private property is impacted by the plan. We further reviewed and separated project components and sequencing. We had a little talk, a little discussion about what was grouped together from a priority as well as a pricing standpoint. And then of course the town council adopted the FY27 consolidated budget and programmed in the budget, Squire Pope's Spanish Wells capital program dollars, both for the intersections as well as the roads themselves. I do think it's important though that we continue to acknowledge that the Stony historic neighborhood is a critical part of this corridor and it's a large part of our discussions to date. And I think it's a good reminder with so many folks here today. It's been a primary consideration of our work. There's been some give and take and some balance between the right of way lines that we're trying to make sense of. We approach the master planning with the understanding that improvements must be handled carefully and respectfully. And I continue to say that. You'll see that the plan itself avoids right of way impacts, focuses on safety and access, adds a place based value on the neighborhood and the properties within the neighborhood and recognizes the community's cultural and historic significance. So I just want to make sure that we're hearing that to get started because this is just more than a road project. It's through a neighborhood and we're trying to balance that place-based approach, but also improve access to and from our island. So at this stage, we'll dive into the master plan. I'll quickly introduce the team. We see a few folks at the table here today. Obviously, but I just remind us, we're gonna ask town council to review and provide feedback on this master plan. And frankly, if we're ready to advance it to town council for consideration for approval. Upon approval, we know that a part of our discussion today is funding. And I think the sooner we can start formally requesting and seeking those funds, the better. There have been a few discussions about project scope, right? So from the Windmill Harbor signal through Spanish Wells to the Cross Island, and we talk a lot about Gumtree Road and Wilborn Road, we know that those projects have to be also looked at. Those projects, I look at them as projects, those intersections, those road network, you know, we make some improvements here, we've got to move on to Gumtree. We improve Gumtree, we can't do that without looking at Wilborn. And I think it's just really important that we all collectively understand that this is a much bigger solution on Hilton Head Island, not only what we're here talking about today. We have Brian Kinzelman, MKSK with us today. Brian, thank you for being back here. Dylan Turner, we had Jonathan Guy here, but Dylan Turner here with us with Kimley Horne. Donda Adam, our CI, there he is, our CIP, our Capital Project Director, Jeff Metzinger, our Engineer Director, Sean Gillen, and Sean Leininger here with me today. So at this point, I'd like to turn it over to Brian and team get into the master plan. And Mayor and Council, I'll defer to you on whether you want us to go through the whole slide deck and then questions later. We've seen this before. I think what's really important is that we also pause on what's changed since last time. We went through this quite heavily so that we're clear on how to move forward.

I think when we hit those areas where it's changed, allow for those questions to come through so we can address them at that point.

A small reminder.

A small reminder for Brian Kisselman to turn his phone off. Thank you, Mr. Town Manager, Mayor, Council, residents, staff, thanks for having us back again. As Mark had suggested, we've seen Most of this before there's been a little bit more detail added. Again, we'll point that out. Most of it is relative to traffic and transportation issues. So I will move at pace, but feel free to stop me at any time. This is what you're about to hear. Mark had mentioned what we've done. since we last met, we've updated some data, we've verified some of our earlier assumptions, and we've brought a little bit more clarity to the implementation scenario. Extents of the project, as we know, the County and DOT is responsible for the bridge projects over time from Moss Creek to and through the intersection at Windmill Harbor, Crosstree and Einrich Circle. We've subdivided this district in two pieces. One is Jenkins Island from the intersection at Windmill to the Causeway and then the Stony neighborhood from the Causeway to Jarvis Creek. The off island, the town continues to have conversations with the County and with DOT relative to that bridge project, making sure all of this works together and to reinforce some of the desires that the town has relative to that bridge project. Just as a primer, the bridge is going to be done in separate phases. Eastbound three lane bridge striped for two lanes will be the first phase. It will be outboard south of the existing bridges. And then over time, a second new bridge will be built westbound. As those bridges come online, their counterpart, their aged counterparts will be demolished. Over time, we'll end up with two three lane bridges in each direction. The objective is for us, the town of Hilton Head to define what this gateway looks like through our town and through this very, very sensitive neighborhood. Obviously the traffic moves from Moss Creek to the west all the way to the Cross Island, but as it hits Terra Firma and Jenkins and the Stony neighborhood is critical that this fits into the community. to that point with our local knowledge, how we know this town works, how we know how the community cultural and historic character of the island is, gotta make sure this isn't just another roadway project as the town manager has suggested. The corridor principles, guiding principles that have been delivered to us, the consultant team and staff from a community committee, not by the consultant team are these. And that is to fix the transportation issues relative to safety and quality of life for everybody that enters the town of Hilton Head through this corridor. Visitors, workers, residents, Two is pay specific attention to the safety and quality of life of the residences, the business, the residents, the businesses, the neighborhoods of this corridor directly impacted by the corridor, i.e. specifically the Stony neighborhood. Three is to create a gateway, not just a roadway, but a gateway that speaks to the culture, the history and the character and the elegance, one man's opinion of that that is Hilton Head Island. So again, this is more than a roadway. This is a parkway. This is not an expressway. It is a parkway and it is our gateway into the island. Lastly, it goes without saying to improve the emergency and hurricane evac routes that this new and improved roadway system would provide. DOT has certain interpretations as to what is a successful corridor. And that is one that delivers efficient, safe, multimodal connections and linking primary economic centers and residents. It has integrated multimodal performance. It has economic impact, positive economic impact, and it has good environmental stewardship. Our environment is very sensitive as we all know. Successful quarter definitions by DOT standards, efficient connections, economic vitality, safety and security, and resource protection. That isn't just natural resources, that's historic and cultural resources. So we have to serve all of those elements to reach that successful solution. That includes intersections and approaches, collision severity, crash causation, conflict point reduction, geometric continuity, and also intermodal accommodations. We need to provide for bicyclists and pedestrians in the same voice as we do automobiles and service traffic. But first, with some of the traffic metrics, I'm going to turn it over my dear colleague, who can go through some of these numbers.

Yeah, so can you guys hear me? All right, I want to make sure using this mic. Okay, thanks. So don't turn off the horn. Thanks for that, Brian. So this is SCD ot average annual daily traffic numbers. So these are based on some live count stations. And what I mean by live count station is that station is taking data every single day. in some kind of historic stations where DOT will just apply growth rates to grow numbers year over year. So I wanna point some numbers. So on 278, anywhere between 57,000 and 62,000 vehicles within our study area. Squire Pope at about 71,000 vehicles, this is per day. 7,100, not 71,000, thank you. 5,500 down here and then as we split, This is one of the interesting things about now that the Cross Island is no longer a toll road, is that it is nearly a 50-50 split in traffic, which is what this next slide shows us. So generally speaking, it's about 51-48. To me, in traffic, let's call that 50-50. And you can kind of see year over year what has happened. So Cross Island is in the yellow, orange, The 278 is kind of the magenta line here. So for a while, the 278, while Cross Island was a toll road, so William Hilton Parkway, much higher volumes, but they've really leveled out now the toll road's been removed. This is a crash map. So when Mark introduced the project, we've talked about safety, we've talked about mobility. So we're not making our decisions strictly on traffic, there's also a safety piece to these decisions that we make. So this is a heat map of the crashes just within the corridor study. And I will say that for the Elkhart, we did a study or currently working on a study that goes from Hardyville through Hilton Head all the way to the circle at Sea Pines, right? These two intersections, these two hotspots were to the highest in the entire corridor. So this isn't just an exception to the study area. It applies to all of 278, which I think is important to show you the need to help enhance safety at these two intersections. So within the hotspot, that deeper yellow, brighter yellow color that you see there means a higher incident rate. Just some crash statistics real quick. I won't go over every single one of them, but what we see here at Squire Pote and Chamberlain Drive is on nearly 50, so almost half of the crashes are from rear ends, which we would, see that in a congested corridor, which we know this area is congested coming off the Cross Island, William Hilton Parkway merges, and you get through these two intersections, they are heavily congested. So what we see is nearly 50 of them are rear ends, one fatality here, some serious injuries, but a lot of it is a non-injury crash type, Collision here, which means this is heavily congested and you have all that traffic merging very close to these two intersections. So here's kind of a diagram of what we've updated. Right? So we had 2024 traffic volumes. We've we went and recounted. So this is the process is to update some of the counts coming. on island in the morning. We have, I'm gonna speak at some generalities, maybe 2,700, 2,800 cars in the morning coming on versus 1,300 coming off island. And then in the afternoon, it's about 2,000 coming off and about 2,700, sorry, 2,000 coming on island and about 3,000 going off island. So a lot of traffic in an hour. These are returning movement counts over an hour is being processed through intersections.

Mayor, sorry, this is a new slide. So is it okay to ask questions? I'm not sure you finished with it. I'm sorry.

You want to ask questions now or I could continue on?

No, with this particular slide, I want to ask some questions. So 2025 is existing level of service. So it looks like the worst movement is from Squire Pope left or right or across. And then the 2030 level of service, is that after the improvement shown in the proposed corridor plan? That's correct. Okay. So it looks as though the biggest improvements in comparing them are coming from Square Pope right or left. And then the other movement is from Chamberlain to the right because the left and straight across were eliminated. But as to the actual intersection itself, And the other two quadrants, there's no improvement. It's just in those two quadrants that there's improvement with the change in the quarter plan.

Yeah, if we go off this, so with these being D to E, maybe in the existing, it could be E improves to D, but that's the same color shade. But what you're really improving is some of that queuing on Squire Pope that you have because we're able to cut down phasing at the signal. So what we'll have with this continuous green T shown over here in 2030, so this is five years of growth as well. So looking at that and taking that into consideration, this the on-island movement is no longer stopped. It's no longer in the signal. The off-island movement is pretty much the exact same that it is now. But the Esquire POPE is able to process more traffic, which is that change in shade here because of the less phasing at the signal. We're also reducing conflict points because we're taking out an entire direction out of the signal, which is one of the SEDOT goals. With this, though, I want to say, too, that a pedestrian bridge would be necessary to process pedestrians because we wouldn't want to have pedestrians crossing at a unsignalized crossing. So that on-island traffic now not being signalized, that would go in as an enhancement with this project.

Any other question about that same quadrant, the on-island crossing at the Scar Pope Chamberlain intersection? is that 2030 assumes more lanes compared to the current one.

So it's adding a right turn lane here, and then it does have this third lane. We looked back through that in the model. This is a mistake on the slide.

I just want to clarify that I understand about the traffic flow there and the impact. comparing 2025 to 2030 with the improvements plan, including extra lanes. Okay, thank you. I'll have a similar question about the slide when you get to the next intersection.

Thank you. And I guess my only observation that I'd like to point out, and maybe y'all can help me with this, is that the total volume coming from Chamberlain, whether they're going off Island, across, or onto Island, amounts to 44 thereabouts turns. And in the change to green in 2030, that really looks as though if we're keeping those same numbers consistent, that five cars then are moving more swiftly. I'm just trying to get a handle of the impact overall, and we'll see more about that, I'm sure, as we go along in terms of construction and cost.

Yeah, so in the model, we moved just so that there's three cars, the left and the three, we moved them to a right, and then went... turn them somewhere downstream. So same with that 10 and 29 in the PM. So it's the same volume being processed. It's just all as a right turn.

So the total number in 2025 is now consolidated in 2030. It's not just the five that we're moving. It's the whole total. Okay.

Thank you. I had questions as well. And it has to do with the circles. That's my price point, when you just look at the circles, it doesn't look like as much improvement as you would think. So it could be movement between A through C within the green. And so I think it would be helpful to know exactly what the improvement is over and above just the color because it doesn't look as impactful. And so that we can really measure how much improvement we're getting for how much we're spending. And then one of my questions is in regards to 2030, which I think you answered. is does that continuous green T include the addition of an additional lane, which is part of the proposal of having a third line.

I think our concept shows it as two lanes still going off Island. That's one I have to look back on.

And then I get. Okay, because then I would ask why it doesn't not show the third lane and what improvements are made there since that is part of the proposal.

Yeah, so the third lane, as we look at a longer term too, that is a consideration that we have. I just don't think that it's in these numbers that you see, or not numbers, but colors that you see on screen. And the model that I looked back at, it just had the two going off island, but that is a later recommendation, some of the longer term stuff that was looked at. So I think that's beyond a 2030 horizon of what we looked at.

And I had another question that isn't from a new slide that I wonder if I could make, and it has to do with the split between the traffic. Yes, because we have other numbers that show a different split 68 and 32%. And so as I reconcile that in my mind, I wonder if it's the way that they're measured. This is an average daily.

So these are average daily. So these wouldn't be taken at a one day. These are traffic counts over. Sometimes it's a week. Sometimes it's like they'll do a week in the fall. They'll do in the spring, they'll do in the summer and they'll do in the winter. and they being SEDOT take different data snaps throughout the year and then kind of compile and average out that data.

So it's seven days of the week as opposed to when we have the planning commission who just updated their data that was taking three days in July and they were weekdays. And that's that came up with the 68 and 32 split. So again, I'm just trying to reconcile. Is it because this data takes into account the whole week. So you get the tourist impacts of movement on Fridays and Saturdays. That's causing this to be more even versus the planning commission study, which is done on weekdays. I'm just trying to figure it out.

It's just different data sets and different ways of collecting the data. And so this would be averaged out over what you expect a typical day to have. And so DOT applies different factors. There's K factors, D factors, all types of different things that they apply to these data sets. And they typically update them annually. And so what we saw over the past two years based on the DOT data was very, very close to the 50-50s. And those would have been for some of the, whenever I say live, so some of them right now are counting data. There's cameras that DOT has. So it's constantly counting every single day of the week. And so that's just different data sets, different times collected to kind of average out between those.

Yeah, I might add that the counts that happened when we did the study during the summer peak time are indicative of what's going on in that particular time of year. What changes when it is this data takes into account the whole year, including the school year and the off season averaging out of the whole year.

Yes, they're different time periods. And I'm just trying to understand what the differences are. So they can both be right.

They're just different time periods. So I think we got here. I think this is the slide we're getting to next. So... Getting into now Spanish Wells and Wild Horse. So this is the highest density crashed intersection that we observed on the entirety of 278 in our study for LATs and the COG and here with this study as well. So same type of thing, we're seeing a lot of rear end crashes. So nearly half again, so 47% were rear end crashes. with like 37 being angle crashes. So angle is kind of somebody turning and getting, which leads to more severity. So you actually have more fatalities at this intersection than you did at Squire Pope. It was one versus two, but we tried to, with a vision zero that SCDOT has, you want zero fatalities at intersections. So with looking at this congested, coming off the cross island, merging with 278 straight into this intersection, this type of crash type is something we would expect to see with the rear ends here. And in the short term improvement that we have, at Spanish Wells and Wild Horse with William Hilton Parkway. We really don't expect the crashes to change characteristics because we're just doing additional laneage, but the longterm, we expect a significant reduction in crash type here. And another thing I want to point out between the continuous green T where we're taking out conflict points, We do expect crashes to go to decrease because we're moving conflict points through the intersection. Whereas this one is the same number of conflict points from the existing to short term. So it's more of a capacity increase. So this is getting to the same thing, right? So we have quite a bit of traffic in the morning coming on island and like the reverse commute going off island. So that's people coming to work, coming to school that we see and then leaving work in the afternoon and that afternoon peak. So level service existing, we see in the morning and A through C in the afternoon, there's elevated levels of service. at the intersection level so uh center here and then on wild horse we haven't elevated the morning of failing in the afternoon that we're able to get that to level service a through c in the morning to d3 with this because we're able to get more process traffic through some capacity improvements here uh with the dual left turn lanes coming off spanish wells so We'll see it here in a model in a little bit, but Spanish Wells does have a long left turn queue. If you go that route, you know it. If you look at it on aerial, there's oil marks showing we have a queuing issue for those left turns. This just adds that capacity. Then the existing driveway, based on the information we have now without impacting any wetlands, there are wetlands just off to the east side of the road. But based on the information we have now, there wouldn't be wetland impacts or permitting with it.

And mayor before he leaves that slide. This one instead of comparing 2025 to 2030 it's comparing it to do a left turn configuration, which I understand in the draft master plan. This is the short-term fix, if you will, by adding an additional turn lane coming off of Spanish Wells, left on to 278. So this one seems to have a lot more improvement than the previous intersection, if you just look at the colored circles. So if you look at two of the quadrants, the one between Wild Horse and 278, and then the one between upper right. Yeah, the two upper rights. Yeah. So those are the same. And then the two lower lefts are the same. But the keys for me is that you see double green in the middle of the intersection and then coming off of Spanish Wells, it goes from double yellow to double green. And then when you see red, that's the most important one it seems like to look at when you look at these colored circles. And that is that upper left quadrant. That's where the greatest improvement seems to occur. Although one can argue the intersection itself is the greatest improvement, but that's what I'm understanding. And again, it looks as though in the lower left, double green to double green, there's an additional lane added there. It's the same kind of question that we had in the previous slide is that this assumes an additional lane in certain locations, which might be a longer term solution. and might not be that short-term solution. So that's what we need clarity on.

Yeah, thank you. Great question and great observation. In the short term, I believe that right turn is a part of that short-term improvement as well to add additional capacity within the available right-of-way that we have. So that is an additional capacity improvement there. I will say that that through is supposed to be a left. It's not three in what we had modeled.

before you jump off of that. So I just wanna go back and make sure I heard clearly. So this is the version of the short-term work that we had seen previously. This does not impact any wetlands or any additional taking of any type of land.

Right, based on the available information we have now, we don't have survey. We're not anticipating the impact of wetlands with this.

and the upper right hand quadrant, that lower arrow actually should be a left arrow. Okay, just need to make sure I'm clear on what is going on here. That's what I needed. Thank you.

And two, so even with the continuous green tea and where we got some advice and said, we did the same thing in that upper left corner where we're able to turn red to a yellow. So we are improving some capacity there. We also need to think through some of the safety improvements there with the continuous green tea. for the conflict points and also pedestrians if we're able to do a pedestrian bridge. I do think they don't happen without each other because we do not at all want pedestrians crossing 278 without any type of protection. So another thing to consider.

So again, leveraging off what's already been said, this is short term. So where's the analysis of what this looks like

And before you leave that again to the interim,

The question in between that is I know the level of services and I you know clearly green yellow red, we can all interpret what that means, but I would like to hear a little bit more about what that means for traffic throughput obviously safety but. that is such a critical issue for so many people who live and work on the island there at Spanish Wells and William Hilton Parkway. And so I would like to hear a lot more detail about the improvement there to get those cars moving.

I think is what we should add to that, provide numbers to these. I'm going to hand it over back to Brian.

Thank you so summary of improvements and we'll go through those intersections in detail now that you've seen the travel and turning motion metrics. improve the level of service for those problem, the two problem children intersections as I call them Spanish wells and squire Pope enhance the pedestrian. and bicycle accommodations as well. We don't have the connectivity that we can and should have through the corridor. Provide streetscape improvements, which include median landscape treatment, grading, drainage, signage program, and the like. So this does speak to the notion of gateway to the town of Hilton Head. Reconfigure Squire Pope Chamberlain intersection as a continuous green T. reconfigure Wildhorse and Spanish Wells really in two tranches. One is with the baseline improvements as we just saw the metrics thereof. And secondly, to bypass and to put in the overpass connection and completely eliminate that signalized intersection. So the metrics of that look pretty doggone good because there is no longer an intersection there. Establish a Gullah Geechee Heritage Park as an expansion to the old schoolhouse park on town-owned property on the south side of 278. Construct additional eastbound lane, construct additional westbound lane. These are all incremental improvements. It's one big project, but it'll be done in bite-sized pieces. First Jenkins Island, and then I'll move eastbound from the, intersection of cross tree. Again, the new future bridge project actually in two tranches, we show both bridges, both phases of the bridges, they come and resolve themselves aligned with 278 at that intersection and through to the east side of that cross tree intersection. This supposes that we would have new mast arms, not span wire for the signal supports that continues to be a signalized intersection. Since the new bridges will utilize the geography that is the Blue Heron roadway causeway over to Hog Island, there's a new DOT provided roadway over to Hog Island. It is on the north side and it accesses off of Heinrich Circle. And again, that is all in gray. What we're suggesting is a continuation that roadway to the east and to Jenkins Road for connection back to the RV resort and to the Beaufort County property. And all of that access would then happen at that signalized intersection at Crosstree Heinrich Circle, allowing us to remove the left turn motions into and out of Jenkins Road, which is extremely dangerous. especially people pulling boats and trailers getting into and out of that roadway. So we would continue the median through that intersection as it exists at Old Wild Horse a little bit further to the east. We would have an additional eastbound lane. Again, the eastbound lane marries up with the and the laning on that bridge, DOT and the town will not disconnect that lane connection in smooth and intuitive fashion. The pedestrian improvements, bike and pedestrian improvements you can see by the yellow lines suggests that there will now be trails, multi-use trails on both sides of 278 as exists right now at the cross tree intersection. There is no crosswalk, no pedestrian or bike accommodations across 278. allowing that signal to operate more efficiently relative to vehicle movement. But it does suggest that we will have bike trail, multi-use trail that goes underneath the bridge and doubles back. So we've got a continuous safe motion for bicyclists and pedestrians and access down to a trail head and a park at the Jenkins Island Cemetery. We'll also have multi-use trail across the causeway connecting Stoney to Jenkins Island and vice versa.

I got a quick question. If you can go back to that. What's the consideration of the fusky embarkation potentially moving over here?

We've accommodated that mayor and that is- That's not my question.

That's not my question. The question is, as you're coming down eastbound on the bridge, there's gonna be a larger backup for people turning left onto Jenkins Island, both during the week and on the weekends, right? Boats and or people going to the Foskey. have y'all looked at having a larger turning, left-hand turning lane there at that light?

Yes, and that will be part of the DOT bridge project.

Okay, I just, yeah, since we haven't seen that yet, that's a concern that we don't want to start getting backed up on the bridge.

Mayor, there's a whole list of issues and we'll come to it that are coordination and dare I say requests of the county and DOT from the town of Hilton Head, that being one of them. There's also an opportunity for a different access pattern at that intersection that would be part of those conversations.

So along those lines, and I guess the fundamental question for me within this section is that the scope of the town's master plan and the authority and the funding, because I'm disappointed, to be honest with you. Today, I believe that we had sent an invitation to some county council folks to show up here so we could hear maybe some updates and at least have them listening to what we were discussing, bothers me because when we start talking about coordination, collaborations, beautiful plans that have been put into place, it's all dependent on something we have no knowledge about, haven't had no input into. And so while I sit here and I have no real issues with the good work that's been done, I don't know how reliable we can sit here and have these conversations because there's nothing to base it on. So funding is an issue, authority is an issue, update status on what's happening with the bridge design, how we would collaborate and coordinate with the county, the state on this entire area, which is not within the town limits is critical. And so I love the presentation, but I don't know how we'd have any discussion about this. Mayor, maybe you know something I don't.

No, actually I don't. But I think that what we're looking at today is what the master plan is, conceptual plan. Of course, we've got to figure a lot of that out, especially when it comes to the funding of that Jenkins Island roadway through Jenkins Island. So there are a lot of questions. I do want to say, and maybe in defense of the county, we were at a meeting this morning and they had some other meetings that were going on today, so they couldn't be there either. So I don't know what that was, but...

Yeah, Mayor, I think it was similar to when we went to the municipal association. Oh, that's right. They have a county meeting this week and that's why they were not at Suloco nor here today.

That needs to be discussed without a doubt.

Right. And so, and that's a fair reason. Didn't see that nor hear about it. So I think that communication, if we ever expect to be able to coordinate and collaborate is critical and that's missing. But having said that also, I think that one of the things that was mentioned when we started this meeting that we were looking for a recommendation to our town manager and staff to be able to move forward on things, And I don't know how you could include this section in any sort of recommendation to move forward to town council in August without having that conversation. So I think everybody needs to take that into consideration and I'm not trying to be critical, but it's a big missing fundamental piece, so.

if I could, regarding coordination and communication with our other partners in this corridor. Please know that yes, that's very important as part of this plan. We talk about it later on as we get into some of those additional considerations on the slide deck. but that is happening at the staff level. Our staff, our consultant team has been engaged at the staff level to coordinate these items. So there has been reviews with SCOD DOT. There has been reviews with Beaufort County, but that needs to continue as we move forward with this master plan.

Thank you, Sean. I appreciate that. And I would suggest that that should be part of this conversation because if staff has information that we don't, and you're asking us for a recommendation to council for a resolution, again, Communication has failed.

And then my recurring point on this, and you may mention that the fact of funding, you know, there's going to be changes with Beaufort County in regards to the property listed that they should help fund any changes to provide access to that very important piece of property.

First of all, thank you, Mr. Kensalman for pointing out pedestrian and bicyclist improvements. I think that'd be helpful. And every time you go through one of these sections to point, I'm sure you're going to do that, but I just want to echo that. And thank you. And it would also be helpful because I was looking back at the slide, the copy of the slide from April, 2026, and I didn't see any changes from then. So if there's some changes from the April, if you could point those out to us as we go along.

We'll do so. Thank you. Onto the Stoney neighborhood. Again, it starts at the causeway at the Crazy Crab and goes to Jarvis Creek. This is the roadway improvements that are suggested. You'll see first there's an additional eastbound lane that is to connect on through. What's key is the note in the upper left through both of these sections, there is no additional private property right of way taken or necessary. There's a town-owned property that we're routing. Some trails becomes more greenway than necessarily just trails. So I think that's an important fact to understand that we are not taking any private property for any of these improvements. Again, we're suggesting this continuous green T at Squire Pope and Chamberlain. I've got an enlargement of that. Those crosswalks go away across 278. Therefore it's also calling for a pedestrian bridge to move bicyclists and pedestrians from the north neighborhood to the south neighborhood. And I'll come to that in a moment as well. This also suggests that we extend Chamberlain Drive through Old School House Park all on town property until we get to a DOT maintenance property on Humane Way, make a connection to Humane Way and then to Spanish Wells. So we've got that continuous roadway system on the south side of 278. will expand the median planting through the entire corridor section this shows the long term improvement at Spanish wells, and that is the the flyover we made mentioned before the baseline improvements to the existing signalized intersection. right there, but over time, this in a future phase, this flyover bridge and its connections to Spanish Wells and Wild Horse will allow that signal to be removed, the median continued through and it will be continuous flow in both directions with north-south traffic happening overhead. We're also proposing some screen. Go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry.

No, no, it's okay. If you had more on this slide, I just didn't want to, it looked like you were going to change slides and I didn't want to miss the opportunity here. You go ahead first. Okay. Well, it's something that you've all heard before and I'll continue to say it. And I don't see any reference here to making sure that humane way is is improved so that all of the dog walking activity and things that it's used for now is provided for and it's safe. And so before I see it again, I'd like to see that that's incorporated into the improvements on humane way that are necessary.

This connection does not interfere at all with the Humane Association. It's not on their property. It's on DOT property. It makes a connection through that DOT property, which will be some negotiations with DOT and the town for acquisition or maybe trading for that property so we can make that turning motion on Humane Way. Humane Way needs to have pedestrian and bike accommodations as well. We have adjacent to this, as you can see right where the SEDOT label is essentially public park. So the humane association will have public land directly adjacent that they could use for their dog walking and pet walking and might not have to use humane way because we'll have public open space directly adjacent. So there's no impact on that, but your points well taken humane way is, as a minor roadway, I'll call it. It will need to have some improvement, certainly the intersection at Spanish Wells as well. And that's what happens in the next phase of this when we get to preliminary engineering. This is feasibility study. It is feasible to make that connection.

I'd like to ask, I think it's a good time to ask this because this is a draft, it's conceptual. It's got a lot of different phases it has to go through. So this is us saying, yes, we agree with what we're looking at. But Mark, Mr. Orlando, as the additional sections would come through after engineering, that's when the final decisions would be made. But this is really getting us to a point that we're actually moving forward with it. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Thank you.

So I just wanted to make sure that I'm clear on what you said. Yes, I see that it doesn't touch the Humane Society's property and that it goes through SCDOT. What I just want to make sure that I continually say so that it becomes part of the project is that currently Humane Way is used by volunteers to walk the dogs. And so I want to make sure that a safe the industrial pathway is created on that road so that they can continue the practice that they currently have. And so if that's part of the plan, I just need somebody to put it somewhere so I can stop worrying about it.

Two last things.

Speaking of humane way, you know, and I think it's a great idea to have this local pathway, you know, local roadway to go to, just like Main Street, you know, locals know about Main Street, so they go off on that road when 278 is busy and this can happen again for those wanting to get to Spanish Wells. My question is, Do we have to wait until the flyover is constructed to put this in and make it effective or can it be done sooner so it could become one of those short-term projects that comes earlier?

Sands, the negotiations with DOT for usage or trading of their property could happen tomorrow. There's a number of these projects as we'll get to at the phasing, we'll talk about that. There's a certain sequence because we've got a list of a certain sequence, but many of them are independent of each other can happen based on funding and political will.

Yeah, because I'm just thinking about These projects take such a long time, and so it would be great to have some quicker wins of items that could be focused on and people could see real benefit from sooner rather than later.

I know for a fact that town staff has been looking at all of that for that very reason in their budgeting process. Bryson?

Yeah, when I was looking at these, I was connecting them to the different projects, so I think it would be helpful to have information about which projects are showing on these maps. Because I went over and compared the project ones to this one. And for instance, this one on roadway improvements, I listed projects B, C, F, G, H, D, and maybe I. So I was trying to get an idea about when I look at this whole area right here for roadway improvements, which projects are we talking about? I think that helps to make a link for me between the two. So I would add that. to the title there. And then when you get to the next one on pedestrian improvements, I do the same thing.

Let me ask you that because I think that I would imagine that comes through the engineering aspects, the cost analysis, everything. So while seeing the completed scope here, I don't know if the phasing, I think that gets into the operational sides where Mark and team run that and come back with the best laid out for us.

I'm not trying to interfere with that. I'm just trying to think about the two together. And without those two together I can't get a real idea about what we're doing so that's a suggestion it helps me I can say that, because I want to know what projects we're talking about as we look at this one slide here that's.

Mayor, you touched upon it earlier. It warrants repeating. This is an engineering vernacular. This is feasibility study. This is for us as a town to decide upon that direction moving forward to advance design. We don't have all of the answers. We don't have all the details. We've estimated to the extent possible at this level, the budgets. But as we move forward from here into preliminary engineering, it's like degrees of magnification on a microscope. We keep ratcheting down closer and closer, more detail and more finitely until we get to final engineering. But all along those steps, This body and this body will have an opportunity to opine upon the phasing, some of which is based on the logic of construction and the maintenance of traffic and the maintenance of businesses. Outside of that, some of these will work independent one to the other. It's a matter of can we afford it? And is it important to the community to put one ahead of the other? As we get down to final engineering, we'll have finite geography. which may include that intersection or humane way improvement as part of Chamberlain. We'll mix and match all of those elements of a given construction phase. It'll have a finite budget, a finite design and a finite construction schedule and maintenance of traffic and all the other things that go along. So as we get to the phasing diagram, it is our best estimation and more an illustration a big project like this has to be done in bite-sized pieces. What are those bites? We're taking our best shot here, but we're gonna define how big or how small the bites are and subdividing those projects as we so fit. What we did do though is rank those in order of problem areas, vis-a-vis safety. Spanish Wells, Squire Pope are problem areas when it comes to safety. We've ranked those at the top of that. So I'm inferring that there's a sequence and there's a chronology to our phasing. But otherwise, a lot of these things can be mixed and matched, just so you know. I keep telling myself and reminding everybody that will pay me audience that this is feasibility study work. And we've got to move forward to the next phase where we'll continue to opine on all the details. Sorry, that's my disclaimer. Thank you.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, based on Mr. Kinzelman's And by no means am I trying to pull back on our dialogue, but I do feel as if as we move through the rest of these slides, which by my count at this pace, we'll be here a while. And we have a anxiously awaiting public that want to give us some opinions as well. So if we could maybe shift gears as far as our questions and commentary around more feasibility and concept versus the details, I think that would be more efficient for everybody's time. Thank you for that. Agreed.

With that, I'll keep on moving. Pedestrian improvements, as mentioned before, we've got The yellow lines, we've got trails, multi-use trails on both sides of the roadway. Since we've got the continuous green T, it's causing us to want to put in a pedestrian bike passage bridge over the roadway. So we've got interconnected pathways virtually everywhere. This is to illustrate as asked by the landowners, that we continue to maintain residential curb cuts specifically for the Stewart's North and South, which is where their driveway curb cuts are now. So we've suggested that we do not put a median in front of those homes so they can make those left-hand turns. I'm sorry. Those black arrows connote that they can make left and right turns out of their current driveways. There's no median which would preclude them from making those left-hand turns.

But Brian, as we go through these other ones, if you'll touch on those things that have changed since the last meeting, that would be helpful.

Yes, sir. There's no change here. There's the pedestrian bridge and its ramping and crossing of 278. This is the continuous green T. That's what it looks like in perspective, looking eastbound, going onto the island. And we have some diagrams here that show how that green T works.

Yes, so we caught up on this a little bit ago as we're going through this static graphics, but what this is showing is kind of how this works. So kind of going, I'll call it northbound, but really that's on island. You have off island going southbound on screen here. So this is just showing eastbound, westbound going at the same time and Chamberlain, Squire, Pope being stock controlled. When the left turn arrow, so when you're on 278 on island going to Squire Pope, the off island traffic stops, on island still going. Same here. So the right turns, they'll be able to turn basically right on red. So they'll have a light, turn right on red, on island, off island traffic still going, the left turn would be stopped. So this is with the movement from Squire Pope to go continue further on island. So turn left into a receiving lane here, which would allow vehicles to accelerate and then merge over onto 278. You'll see here too, on island never stops. And that's the whole goal. And this is that ultimate configuration of three lanes in each direction. It can be phased with some of the two lane approaches that we said. So some of the key takeaways from the continuous green tea is what, hang on one second, Ms. Becker had a quick question.

Yeah, just a simple question, I hope, with regard to how the westbound lanes and the lights there, that's part of the sequencing that can be built into an upgraded integrated light system that would not stop everyone while no one is trying to turn left. but allow for free flow unless someone is there. Does that work with that system?

Can that be done? That's a great question. So that's what the adaptive signal that the town has. Yes. So it's basically if no one is hitting the loop at Squire Pope, really Chamberlain may not even have a loop because it's a right turn only. And those on-island, off-island movements, well, off-island because on-island continues, will continue to be. So in those off-peak times, those non-school times, there'll be a lot of times that Off Island is continuously going until someone hits the loop at Squire Pope and then the signal communicates, hey, there's somebody here, let's process them.

Let's make that work, thanks.

So just some key takeaways from the green tea. So number one was that safety performance. We're reducing those conflict points at the intersection, creating a better sight distance for some of the left turns with that offset we had there. Reduce to the common crash types for angle crashes. And we have the special accommodation for the pedestrian bridge or underpass, but right now we're talking about a pedestrian bridge in what we have here in our feasibility study. We're really able to reduce the delays, especially that on-island traffic. And even off-island, we can reduce it some by being more efficient with a less phased signal. at the intersection because we're taking on entire movement. And this is a very effective three-leg intersection with heavy through traffic. There are some of these already actually on island close to Shelter Cove where you have some green tees out there. So it's not a new intersection type to the island, but good for signalization and a safety improvement here to the intersection. Um, so I want to get into what we have, uh, our, our models. So you'll see, this is a, a SIM traffic model. So what this is, is just a small snippet of something we simulate for a full hour. And then we run it multiple times, multiple simulations to average it out. And so you'll see as a small step of that average, um, uh, time. So existing conditions will look pretty much like what you see out there today, as far as the lineage goes proposed conditions here. it's gonna look a little funky. The left turn is, you have to basically create two intersections in the model to keep that on island traffic free flow. That is not how it's gonna look in the field. I wanna reiterate that. Yeah, this is more, this is a much better representation of what it looks like in the field and when this is constructed versus the model conditions that we have. These models take into account turning movement counts signal timing data arrival time, so what a peak hour factor is or how the traffic gets the intersection and a lot of different variables that are coded into the model to create the simulation so we're going to go ahead and hit the existing conditions. So this is what you're used to seeing out there today with those existing conditions. The on-island traffic has a stoplight. You'll see it stop here in just a little bit. Off-island still stopped and you have the ability to turn left from Chamberlain and through from Chamberlain to Squire Pope and vice versa. is able to turn to go through. So this is just a quick simulation, like I said, takes into account turning movement data, signal data and peaking. So there goes the stop that it goes. So that's pretty much this. We have to watch the whole one. We can go to the next video. So proposed conditions, like I said, it's gonna look a little funky here. because you have to basically to create all this free flow on island traffic, you have to separate the intersections in our model that we have. So this shows the left turns being in the signal and off island being signal. And this was talking about in the synchro, you'll see that the off island is two lane and that stacking and congestion that you see probably looks pretty familiar because that condition is not really changing in this. but you will see a dramatic increase in flow on the on island traffic. We'll see less delays here coming off Squire Pope for that left turn as well. So that's the generality of this model is that two lane for now, that queue that you see off island would be reduced with a three lane section. But this is what you see out there today basically.

I just wanna make a statement because this will be on our website, correct? I just want people to realize that the road's not gonna be moved. It's not going into any native island or land or any other businesses or anything like that. It's just because of the separation for the purpose of the description here. I just want to be on record so people are aware that the road is not being separated. That's just how we have to draw up the model. That's correct.

If I could add and just clarify, it's because the model you have to plug in won't allow the design that is preferred, correct?

It allows it, but you just have to separate the intersections. You have to separate them. So by separating, you're moving, you're artificially moving the intersection from where it would be to get the model results that we'd expect to see in the field.

And if I could just make sure we're clarifying something, you see the stacking westbound PM peak?

Yeah, I would assume based off what we're seeing, that's PM, it doesn't describe it, maybe we could put that in as a- And we have, yeah, and I think that note's important.

And I do want to remind us, while it may not be favorable for all, we have in the past addressed at a PM peak, a no left turn movement timed only during those peak hours, that would also help that green throughput westbound more. There's nothing that DOT to date has said yes to. They say enforcement is key, but I want us to remind ourselves that that is also an option that helps that peak. the benefit of our adaptive signal as well is when we see it stack, we can always flush traffic as well at a different throughput. So, Mark.

Mayor, before we leave that, if you could go back to the previous slide. Yeah, so first of all, I like the continuous green idea. Don't get me wrong about that. I think it's great. I appreciate the, explanation about the simulation model and why that looks different. But my concern all along has been access to Chamberlain coming off of Squire Pope. And especially as we build, I'll do this in a positive way, as we build the Gullah Heritage Park, folks coming from Squire Pope to try to get to that park can't go straight across to Chamberlain. So they're going to have a circuitous route. And so that's one of my concerns, access. from folks in the Stony community to be able to get to that park. And the other thing is, well, I think I've incorporated those two together. So that's my concern with this particular improvement.

And I think that makes the key of that connection to the SEDOT property, the Chamberlain Drive connection there key, because if you're now in Squire Pope, you can use Spanish Wells to access what you can't do now, but that's a part of another key component of the study.

And I don't know, I know that Mr. Kinzelman and I have gone through this exercise a couple of times and I'm going, well, okay, well, that's great. But until, unless until we build that, And folks aren't going to be able to go across there. And so because this might be an earlier improvement than that. So it's all about the phasing, but I'm still concerned about that access.

I'm going to pass it back over to Brian.

This shows that pedestrian bridge moving a little bit further to the west. Though we might not have that direct across 278 vehicle connection, we'll have a much improved bike and pedestrian connection from those north neighborhoods to the park and to the south neighborhoods. So this shows all of that pedestrian bike bridge landing on town-owned property as well. As we've talked about this in the past, that bridge is a separate architectural design exercise once we get to it. It could be a number of different expressions, but it's much more graceful than a vehicular bridge. It also happens to be in the middle of the Stony neighborhood, not on the edge of the Stony neighborhood, which is not unimportant. We don't wanna be invasive relative to the character of this neighborhood. The Spanish Wells intersection, again, Dylan went through the metrics of the baseline improvements, which is adding turning lanes, adding a little bit more pavement on the shoulders for right turn motions right off the bat. Those improvements really helped the efficiency of this intersection. It remains signalized. It remains with a pedestrian crosswalk, which by the way, The continuous green T does not have a crosswalk. It has a pedestrian bridge. Therefore, pedestrians and bicyclists are pushing a walk button to cause the signal to turn, which only slows up vehicular traffic. So that serves a couple of issues at Squire Pope. But this will make immediate improvements. Again, this could happen offline of everything else. The pedestrian improvements, you can see crosswalks and trails on both sides of the roadway. What it looks like in perspective. And then the flyover, the hybrid cloverleaf is the solution to the signalized intersection in wholesale fashion. It allows us to remove the signal and continue the planted median while we're after we build this bridge that is further to the east, it allows for that intersection to be fully functioning while we build a new bridge and permit a new bridge and then make those connections at Wild Horse and Spanish Wells utilizing a portion of those existing roads and certainly the improvements that we had made in the baseline at the signalized intersection just will no longer be signalized. So it suggests that, again, that connection of Chamberlain out to Humane Way, you can see it a little bit more detail in this scale. Also on the other side of 278, the potential for Connector through Town-Owned Property to, to, from Old Wild Horse for economic development benefit and also for some traffic movement. There's also potential for a future connection further to the east across Jarvis Creek to the North Point development should that be desired long-term. But this is, this eliminates again, signalized intersection altogether. So it is continuous flow in both directions. That's what that looks like in perspective, by the by. All right, Ms. Becker.

So with that plan, I've gotten a couple of questions from the last time this presentation was discussed and folks are worried about the impacts on wetlands on the marsh there and how close The the size of it and how it would really interfere with with some pretty special views and opportunities from coastal discovery, can you tell us a little bit about. the overall feeling there and the size of it and the impact to those areas?

I think as this moves into the next phase of design, exactly where that is located and its configuration will be studied on a per tree basis and exactly where those wetlands are. The portion of wetland that is impacted is right here. The rest of this is on terra firma and it's on town owned property. So it's also as far to the east as we could push it in this feasibility study. So it is even further removed from the Stoney neighborhood. So it is not impactful to them. Fortunately, this edge is, is wooded. It's next to a beautiful salt marsh where we have to be sensitive as to how that structure is built. Absolutely. We'll have to be permitted. Sure will be. So there's a lot of permitting and design that needs to happen. But to connect Wild Horse to Spanish Wells over the top of this is key to making all those traffic movements work efficiently.

I think that's good information. And I realize that it's yet to be fully understood, but when it is, the size and scope of it we have to be particularly careful if it does go in this area because that salt marsh is more than just, it's a salt marsh, right? It has an emotional impact. It is a, place that we need to make sure that we're protecting and visually from the side where Jarvis Creek is or other communities, we don't want them to be, or anyone, to be driving along and see urbanization, concrete roadways. That's right. All of the things that are important to us need to be protected. Some minimally invasive and the ultimate design. I know everybody knows already, but I'm more favorable of the one where we built the landscape into any type of construction that we're doing so that we minimize that type of dislocation of our natural resources out there. So just putting all these things back on the table, making sure that when we're moving forward and thinking about them, that they stay as priority items because I'll continue to look for them.

Couldn't agree more.

Thanks.

Wanna do traffic simulations here? Yep, so we got some more traffic simulations. So we'll go through the existing conditions. And really what this is going to show is what we saw a little bit. So that queue coming off Island from where the cross Island and 278 merge, we see a long queue here and then we start to build a queue here on Spanish Wells is what we see today. That's a long term. So that's where that need for the dual left turn in our short-term analysis came up. So that's that's all there really is to this one. I think we could switch over to the next. And once again, these are simulations based on volume inputs signal timing inputs peak hour inputs. This is sped up. I want to say that. This is not what you'll see. It's not a stress weight. This is in the model, you can speed up the model. And this looks like maybe four or eight times speed than what's out there. So I want to clarify that. But you see at Spanish Wells, Wild Horse, there's no delay at 278. Both sides are moving because you're no longer stopped there. And all of your movements that you were making before are able to be made through these write-in write-outs and the proposed roundabouts that we have. And once again, for our model purposes, it's exaggerated. So where that grade separation is over here, that is further out than it would be in reality. So that's showing more wetland impacts, but for our model to get the turns right and get our levels of service and queuing where we would expect it to be, we had to exaggerate that a little bit. So I wanna note that. I think I'm handing it back over to you, Brian.

For sake of time, do we want to show this animation?

I think we've seen it a thousand times. Thank you. Just so y'all know, it's the video flying down 278 across William Hilton or across the bridge through Windmill Harbor down through Spanish Well. So it's the link that's been out there for a couple of years now.

Happy to play it when we get through Q&A and it can be in the background while.

I would just suggest that at some point when it's convenient and maybe at the end that we do play it only because yes, we've seen it, but we have a lot of people who may be new to this conversation and for them, I think it'd be important.

as long as you change the music.

I didn't pick that music, Mayor, just for the record. Old Wild Horse improvements, as we suggested, this roadway is to be improved with drainage, with pedestrian and bike accommodations. as much for safety as it is for economic development. That's what it would look like in its proposed condition. The section there of all of those improvements together look like this stem to stern in plan view. Again.

I want to add one thing, Mayor. Brian, if you can go back, because we talk a lot about Chamberlain on the south side. The reason we're so focused on, go back one more slide. One more to the wild, here we go, Old Wild Horse. That on the north side of the road will become as activated as Chamberlain will most likely be on the south side. And so I have had a couple of questions over time is why is Old Wild Horse Road stacking up as a staff's recommendation so high as a priority? And it is because as we start making these improvements and we start looking at these opportunities, We believe, just based upon analysis and the professional feedback, that old Wild Horse will be used more. And I think the sooner we get on with some improvements to Chamberlain side on the south and old Wild Horse on the side, it will create that parallel road network, that outlet to and from William Hilton Parkway effectively. So I just want to make sure that's why it's stacked that way. Good point.

A reiteration of the goals. I keep looking through this lens at every turn because those are the four items that we need to satisfy through these improvements. This is a matrix that speaks to the performance. What do we get for our dollars after all of this is built? My colleague has put together a metric that shows how congestion is addressed and where the benefits are for the dollars.

Yeah, so where we mentioned earlier, so just the short-term baseline improvements to Spanish Wells. Yes, we improved those intersection operations. We saw the color change in the circles of the overall intersection. So yeah, we get a little bit of congestion relief, but to the overall corridor, it's going to feel about the same because it's just a little bit of landage. So as you get further down off island, you won't recognize as many of the changes there. But as we continue to go down, we start to see some of these improvements. So the eastbound continuous green T, that intersection, we see a significant increase in mobility by not stopping the on-island traffic. And then your corridor, you start to have less travel time as you go through the corridor as well. Additional eastbound lane, so it's reducing that congestion, that on-island congestion during the a.m. peak hour. Your delays are increased. Throughout the overall intersections, you'll see maybe a level surface grade improvement, but then you get a lot more mobility through the corridor. The flyover that we just went through at Spanish Wells and Wild Horse. Intersection delays are pretty much gone. You have a little bit of delay because you have to turn right. So you slow down, but that's minimal. Level surface A type stuff. And then the corridor, a lot of mobility encompassed with that as well. So intersection benefit to corridor benefit in both senses. Additional westbound, it's the same as the eastbound, right? So through the intersections, you may improve one level surface grade or so, but throughout that whole corridor, you're getting that mobility on and off island. And as we think of those evacuation routes and how this ties into the future bridges and all that, it's something to consider. And you'll see that in the feasibility portion and pricing portion of this. in those shorter term, the short term horizon years, and I'll say that as the next five-ish years, maybe not the most critical, but to think through and start planning for those longer term horizons is something to think through with the eastbound and westbound additional lanes.

If we could, sorry, before you leave that slide, thank you for doing this. It's very helpful, but I'm guessing that behind this is a lot of data. This is a summary of a lot of data because some of the comments have been, how are you measuring this? What are your metrics? So I think we'd have to see page after page after page of those to be able to get to this summary sheet. Is that correct? Am I understanding that?

That's correct. There's travel time, there's delay, there's queuing, there's all types of stuff that's getting us to this point. And if we were to take this to a DOT report to try to get funding or approval, ultimately these roads are DOT's roads. We would have to have all of that data. The data that is summarized in this table would need to be an appendix into a full report. That's much longer than just this slideshow itself.

Great. And the other thing I would mention is that But you showed us the heat map of those intersections, even the most accidents in the corridor from I-95 all the way to Sea Pine Circle. So by seeing operational benefits for these improvements at those intersections, I think that's key to look at, the summary of all the data.

Right. Thank you. Ms. Donner?

Yeah, I just want to make sure I understand the benefit for evacuation facilities.

routes if i heard you correctly there's really minimal impact in the short term but the real impact comes if you add the third lane right that's what i'm saying is the third lane and that just helps the evacuation routing and just as you try to pump people off the island or even if you have to reverse it's just more lanes for people to exit And then with some of this, with removing the light at Spanish Wells, you just have that little bit less of delay, but during the evacuation route, the Highway Patrol County will be operating lights at that point anyway. But yeah, that was what I was saying.

Now for the project breakdown to Councilman Bryson's point. We've broken these down a little bit further. to the notion of background data There are cost figures that my colleague behind me has put together over a hundred pages of cost data, single spaced, that is broken down into these summaries. But this suggests, this is meant to suggest that this needs to be done in bite-sized pieces. Again, what are those bite sizes? Those are all subject to further debate. However, there's a certain logic to this. We've broken those down project A to project L. This might be to project Z when we get all done and through preliminary engineering. But this gives you a sense of $126 million and how it is broken down in incremental projects over time. This is in $2,026 by the by, $2,025. So this is the first project one could argue the DOT project, the bridge and the connecting roadway back to Hog Island and the intersection at Windmill Harbor. Again, looking at the key intersections where the problems are, Spanish Wells intersection make those baseline improvements today and improve that efficiency and safety. then go to the continuous green T at Spanish Wells, the next worst intersection from a safety standpoint and make those improvements. There isn't much to this, it's laning and some medians and some signal changes. But once you take away that crosswalk it suggests that you need to build that pedestrian and bike bridge to get folks from the north side to the south side. So that's a sizable construction project. Since there's such a lead time in terms of permitting and design on the project D, which is the flyover bridge at Spanish Wells, that early on work may start immediately while we're building some of these early projects to the lady's point and set that as a priority. But that is really going to solve those safety issues at Spanish Wells over time. That's gonna have a long project lead time to it, design, construction. Good news is we can maintain the traffic flying, driving safely through here while we're building the flyover bridge. So it seems to me logical that we attack those safety issues in that some sequence that looks like that.

And we've been we've talked about this before I just want to make sure that everyone's aware of it it's my understanding that project day. does not get replaced as you move through project D and fly over that so when you're looking at those dollars which anytime i'm happy to support that moving forward, it is not money that will be wasted. it is in place and it adds to the value of the overall project when we get to, should we get to project D?

That's right.

Okay. It all builds on it.

It's utilizing that existing road, but that's there. And that's one of the benefits for that longer term.

Yeah. I just want everybody to make sure they remember that it's important, I think.

So this suggests that, again, once we put in the continuous green T, that connection of Chamberlain out to Humane Way becomes more important to Councilman Bryson's point of access to Schoolhouse Park. Schoolhouse Park as a park project, again, that could happen completely offline of these transportation issues. Same with old wild horse streetscape and drainage improvements that could happen at virtually any time. However, the interconnectedness between wild horse and the parkway is good as well. corridor pathway and landscape treatments for the line roadways, putting in the pathways, pavement markings, medians, plantings. It isn't just beautification, it's traffic management, it's... It's traffic calming. Quite frankly, our travel speeds through here regardless of the posted speed are very, very high as we all know. For the record, we're suggesting and recommending that we have a continuous 40 mile an hour posted speed limit through here. It is a parkway, it's not an interstate expressway. Project J is the Jenkins Island roadway parking park and access to the RV park. It's also the work that would happen for the right in right out of Jenkins Road. and additional eastbound lane from Windmill Harbor, essentially through to Squire Pope. That's a considerable roadway project. It is adding a new lane. It's also adding the median and the curb and drainage systems that would happen in that segment of roadway, allowing for this project L to simply be as simply he says, added on to the north side of what would be a previously constructed median. So all of these projects again, can can mix and match again, there's some logic that will be the be better through this body sometime in the future. But the total bill that build out is 2025 numbers is $126 million. So some folks have raised the issue, what about funding? Where do those dollars come from? I'm here to tell you, and Mr. Orlando can chime in, that staff is constantly looking into funding opportunities, federal, state, county, local. So this is simply a summary listing of some of the stones that they have turned over to find that funding. This does not all have to be laid at the feet of the town of Hilton Head Island. it's important for the Lowcountry and the state of South Carolina.

And if I could clarify, identify funding, not find, right? So the sooner that I have the clarity on this project, we can go seek funding from those various sources.

I'll let my colleague speak to some of the permitting. This goes specifically to some of those larger projects within this stack.

Right, so I'll hit this briefly, but if you're going through for federal funding, you typically have to go through some level of NEPA. Sometimes that is a simple memo. Sometimes it's a very in-depth document. When we look at the flyover process, that's a more in-depth NEPA process as we have some of those environmental impacts that we discussed. But some of these, if we're going after federal money, it could be a simple memo, depending on which level of NEPA we have to go through. And that's basically the steps that we'd have to go through. let's meet with the South Carolina FHWA reps, go to the public notice for intent to improve or pursue NEPA, prepare and publish an application, which has everything with NEPA has public comment periods with it. So prepare the draft, prepare that for public comment, and then we'd submit it over to the feds back for an MOU to see what those federal responsibilities be and go after that funding.

This speaks to an estimated timeline. Some of these projects are bigger. Hang on one second.

Yeah, I just had a question on that. So I understand what you're saying. When federal money, either direct or indirect, I'm not sure what indirect means. You have to go through this bigger process. Does that mean we should be very thoughtful about where we ask for federal money versus other funding sources?

In my opinion, yes. but let Mark kind of answer that as the one, Mark and Sean, but yes, in those, maybe those smaller projects, those short-term projects, look at some of the state and local funding mechanisms, but maybe for some of those larger projects that you already know you have a pretty involved process with to begin with, maybe that would make more sense, but maybe Mark or Sean can confirm. What do you say?

Regarding the indirect funding, what that means is the feds will sometimes, there are grant programs that they supply through the state DOT. And so that comes with the same strings at the state level. So it's just a pass-through. So that's the indirect funding.

And to answer your question, Ms. Turner, absolutely, can't say it any better. We have to align the project funding with the project. And that's why we've broken it down the way we've broken it down, so. Great point.

This is how that timeline works on any given project. Again, to the town manager's point, we've got to get to the point the town of Hilton Head Island decides upon this is our direction, this is our vision for this corridor moving forward. And then we've got to get into the finer grain of engineering on specific projects. But some of them obviously will move quicker than others. The bigger projects like the flyover at Spanish Wells, that may be a five, six year proposition, six or seven year proposition. Therefore, let's start that permitting and design now while we're fixing some other things. We're going to have to grow into this big project over time. It's all have complicated permitting and engineering requirements as you all know.

I'm not sure it's really the time. I'm not sure if we're going to have a conversation, but if we went back to the project funding paths on the local, I know this is an older slide, but I'd like to make sure that we are including in there the possibility that the municipalities in Beaufort County now have with regard to our own referendum, which I think is significant. Oh, it is there. Okay, there's 866. Okay, well, there's that. Good I wanted to make sure that was there, but. Also, the other question I was a couple other questions that I had as we were going through that information is with the NEPA process it that's not just for funding right that's that's has far more implications in terms of. design and build, correct?

The NEPA process can come into so many different processes when we have environmental impacts, even if it's not a federal. Now, federal process has its own thing with NEPA that you've got to do, but you also have to go through NEPA if you have some wetland impacts. It all just depends on how much. You also have to go through state environmental agencies and all that as part of that.

Okay. And then I heard the dreaded word that I'm always cautious of and would look carefully at with which was strings. I wanna make sure is that we're looking through funding that we're not getting the town wrapped up in any strings that would adversely impact us on other issues. So look really carefully at those, make sure I say that out loud. And then there was another question, which kind of goes back to what I said to begin with, with regard to funding. and that first section that is outside of the town of Hilton Head town limits and how that all interplays with this. Because all of these documents and all of this presentation and discussion just assumes that we're taking on that role and responsibility and there's a lot of missing pieces. And so I'm just gonna say it over and over until those pieces start filling in. It's a lot of money. Mark's got a question look on his face. I mean, from Winlow Harbor, the Jenkins Island piece, all of that, all of those pieces that are part of the master plan that the county should, with the $80 million that they had, take care of. So I just want to make sure that we're thinking about them and those funds for those sections and not taking that on, and not taking that on. The conversation isn't here, so it's a very shallow statement to make, but I want to make sure that we're talking to and collaborating with and finding the coordination on those roadways that are outside of the town of Hilton Hut.

I think that we've, as council, we've talked about the desire to see the county pay for that. So I don't think that that's been remiss in the conversations at all. Your point is very well taken. And I think we all agree with that, that for that section, especially to get to Hog Island. It needs to be paid for by Beaufort County, which will come to the discussions at a later date. But I think your point's well taken by all council members.

Thank you for that. And I just want to make sure that that's part of the conversation moving forward and we don't lose sight of it. That's all.

That helps, that was the questionable look because Mr. Leininger earlier said that we've been collaborating or coordinating with Beaufort County and it seemed like this was a new information statement by Shawn, it's not. We have and I do, I've met with Michael Moore last week, we talked about this project, we talked about our workshop today and we'll tell you that My recommendation for us, for you, is as we look at the Jenkins, the signal off windmill, the Jenkins Island connect, the stacked left turn, it is as long as it can get per the geometry of that bridge, I will assure that. I'm not sure if we said that loud and clear or hard direct enough, but it is. when we talk with Beaufort County and when we talk with our partners, I think it's really important that we show them what we expect and make those recommendations with all the respect before we start talking about money, we do know that our expectation for them is to improve the corridor. And that just doesn't mean post windmill eastbound east of Windmill Harbor, it's the entire section. So I do think that we have to get through a couple more slides and when and if town council is ready at some point to make a recommendation for approval, that we have a very clear recommendation section that hits on all of these issues, not just the concepts you see here, but some specificity. So I understand what you're asking Ms. Becker. I will tell you that we have been constant contact with the County on that. I think we need to be in constant contact with DOT on that. And when, and if we ever approve this plan, that will help me let them know what your formal position is and what your formal position is not.

Thank you, I appreciate that, and I know that you have been in contact with SDOT and others about some of these broad concepts, and that's all gone favorably, but the details in that are still unknown to us, and since we are making the recommendation to move forward, more detail than not would be helpful to me. As long as we're all working in that same direction and it's a clearly understood, I'm okay with that, but I'll keep saying it probably.

Absolutely. And when we bring it for resolution to council, that can definitely be part of that resolution as we move forward.

Thank you. That would be helpful.

Mr. Manager, to your point, this slide just connotes some of those points that need to be discussed with DOT and the county, not just for this corridor, but there's other opportunities around the island that DOT and the county needs to be involved with. So as suggested, we're dealing with finite beginning and end to a corridor project and then some auxiliary roadways off of that. However, staff continues to understand and work toward improvements on other projects because we've got a transportation system that goes from Off Island to Sea Pine Circle and down to Coligny Circle. We've got lots of transportation and other, challenges so these are some of those that uh again staff feel free to chime in but gumtree road that whole intersection and the um the the merging of the cross island into business uh moving off island is a challenging piece of infrastructure that's all the further i'll say about that let me drive a minute i think because you said staff brian i think you gave me an opportunity i didn't

Can I drive for a second? I appreciate Mr. Kinselman, but I wanna make sure that we hone in on a couple of things because what we're hearing and I understand what Ms. Becker is saying, and I understand some of these other questions. It's really important in addition to the concept we just looked at, I say this, and we've been talking about this a long time. There's only so many ways we can look at this. We've got a few intersections to fix. We have a capacity issue. We have an accident issue. We have a congestion issue. We have a neighborhood issue. And when we stack it all up, the way I think we all have looked at it for a long time is if we're staying within the bounds of the current right of way and respecting private properties, with a determination that we will improve the corridor with the right of way we have there's only a couple ways to look at this it's an at-grade or an elevated intersection at Spanish Wells and it's an at-grade or an elevated intersection at Squire Pope and when we try to fit it all together and we looked at the data right I wrote this down as we were going through four principles, we looked at the data, we analyzed it, we put a concept plan in place, and we're trying to phase it. We know that outside of the project limits is the bridge, which is Windmill Harbor Signal West. And we know beyond Spanish Wells, road through the cross island parkway onto our lovely island that we're concerned that we're just going to kick the congestion can and the traffic can to see pine circle or to wilborn road we know and so we want to make sure and i i was writing a note so i went back i'm not sure if brian said this or not, forgive me if it's twice, but we should hear it twice, that DOT in Beaufort County examined the continuous flow at the Windmill Harbor area, allowing for the elimination of the traffic signal routing. So that will be a recommendation will be attached to the resolution. That DOT examine restriping westbound Cross Island Parkway into two lanes and corresponding adjustments to William Hilton Parkway reducing the number of merge lanes. We know that's an issue. and that we request DOT to use pavement markings, chevrons and other signage to improve vehicle movement, right? And you see that in a lot of other places, we just don't see that here. And so I think we have to be very specific on this. And then in Alboros, but we talked about this at Strat Plan, we talked about this more at CIP workshop, but we said Gumtree Road, not just the intersection, but the whole stretch of road from the intersection all the way to the roundabout at squire pope through the school zone and past the neighborhoods that we need to improve so we punch listed this in the presentation so that it's very clear right we're not going to bore you with it but intersection improvements at william hilton bus drive Wildhorse, signal timing, operational, pathways, pets, safety, pathway lighting, mailbox locations, nothing is challenging our community, let alone the staff on trying to figure out how to get your mail in November on a 50 mile per hour street, even though it's signed for 40. But you gotta go stand on the street to get your mail. And the only way to get it is stand in the ditch or stand on the street. And we're looking at Gumtree Road. We're also looking at Squire Pope Road in that same vein. We've requested some speed reductions on these streets from DOT. And the way that works is the DOT comes in, they do a speed study. They tell us the cars are going fast and they can't reduce the speed. I think we need your help as a council in our recommendations coming out of this, that we have some absolute requests from DOT, and I'll ask our delegation to help us reduce some speed limits, not just in the school zone on the streets, because I would say the whole street's a school zone, not just the diameter of the school measurement. Main Street, we've brought to you a project. We will come back to you in the future. Main Street is a very important street. It's a parallel route to William Hilton Parkway. It takes traffic off the street, but what's missing is a safe route to school. What's missing are sidewalks and block crosswalks and some, now that we own both sides of the road, we're moving towards that. You talk to Wilborn, we know that turning left on a school day, let alone any day is a challenge. We know that the stacking is short and the only way to fix the stacking is change that geometry. And then as you turn on that street, you also have main street as that intersection and bus drive. I can confidently say and tell you publicly, I did talk and had a sidebar conversation with Dr. Rodriguez and his team last week. I went for a quick tour of the most amazing new high school. And some of the sidebar was what an amazing school, how are the intersections at bus drive and the school zones and the safe routes to school going to add value? So I think that we have to have that continuous talk or that next level talk. We talk about Palmetto Bay Road and Arrow Road. You've seen some of our intersection striping, our adaptive signals were step one, our intersection striping was step two, our pathway connectivity was step three. But as we look at Palmetto Bay Road and Arrow, signal timing, operational, pet safety improvements, we still have a few things we can do there. We know that Sea Pine Circle is on your agenda, on the town council agenda through committee to town council to put in place a funding agreement. DOT measures priorities of roads based upon a bunch of things, but the town manager math, it tells me that if there's a lot of accidents on a street, the DOT will start prioritizing it differently. Sea Pine Circle is a capacity, a congestion issue. It's also a release from Sea Pines stacking issue, especially because of the cars coming through fast on Palmetto Bay Road. We have, I believe it's $300,000 in the capital improvement program, and we have an intergovernmental agreement with Beaufort County for town council to consider, approve, so that DOT can get on with looking at that circle. But again, I'll tell you, there's only so many ways you can look at it. You can add a lane to get out, you can signalize it, you can time the signal further down Palmetto Bay Road and further down Pope to offset and allow some breathing movements. But again, we're looking at all that. So I wanna put this up there because all of this is in the approved capital improvement program, whether it's soft cost and or soft cost, as well as design bill dollars. And then the William Hilton Parkway adaptive timing, improve signal timing, assess the signal ops and coordinate with DOT. They're doing a longer range, bigger picture study on that. We've put those signals in. I'm proud to say we're the first ones to do it here. I think others are starting to look at it. We're getting ours on, is it on all fiber yet? Is that completely installed yet on black fiber? Yeah, so that's definitely helped. And we're starting to measure the results and show those results. So when we say all that, I think it's really important as we look at just the corridor, we have some strong recommendations to DOT, to Beaufort County, and then also taking our own responsibility and plugging that work into the CIP program. Mr. Alford.

Deal with the subject, Mr. Manager, that you're currently dealing with. I would like to request for consideration that you add among requests to the county is to find a way to connect the bicycle path on the west end of the bridge. You have previously indicated that the town would be able to create a bike path connection on the east end of the bridge. I would like to have consider putting a request to the county that they work on a connection on the west end of the bridge.

Yes, sir. Excuse me.

Yes, sir. We'll add that to our recommendation sheet.

Thank you.

Mr. Desmond.

Higher footsteps, man. There's elephants trying to get in the room. And... For me, I mean, there's some facts and then there's some assumptions. I mean, a year and a half ago, I started scribbling on the back of envelopes trying to convince my colleagues that we needed a greater separation and weren't having it but it looks like maybe 7-0 they're gonna they're gonna allow a grade separation at Spanish Wells and I got Brian involved in that and and he put out a good design I really appreciate what he's what he's given us but still the elephant in the room is we're not completely solving our problem and we can If I ask Brian and his team, here's a clean palette, design the best you can do from point A to point B, would he come back with this? And I'm not gonna put him on the spot because I know the answer and it's no. This would not be the design. Because we put parameters on him, the most part we have. And to release those parameters, we just have to be bold. I mean, there's seven of us, there's four of us. or three, five, two, six, one, whatever, that can release those parameters and change this design. When you eliminate light at Spanish Wells, you're now gonna have traffic at speed, whatever speed that is. I think our manager said it may be posted at 40 or 45, but they're doing 55. So if 50% of our accidents are rear ends, now you do not have, a rear end at Spanish Wells anymore, but now you have high speed traffic coming into our second highest intersection between I-95 and Seafind Circle for accidents. And now you have, in my opinion, you're gonna increase rear end accidents. And so the accidents at Squire Pope Road, I think the rear end accidents are gonna be greater than 50%. And they're gonna be probably at a much higher speed. on the opposite direction at that intersection, your continuous T, your green T, it's a great idea. And I think it's used correctly in a lot of areas, but where there's an alternative, I don't think it's a good idea here where there's an alternative. And that alternative is to eliminate that intersection. But to do that, This council has to be very bold and make some really hard decisions. I think there's a way to do it. I've talked to Brian about it. I've talked to Mark about it. I've talked to my colleagues about it. There's a way to do it, but we have to take some bold action to make it happen. I think we can, and I think there's cooperation to do that. When you go through the Stony neighborhood, there's opportunity in that Stony neighborhood for tremendous economic development. But to increase the possibility of that economic development, you need to slow down traffic. So how do you slow down traffic? Well, you put in a frontage road, and I've talked to this till my face is green. Increase the business opportunities in that area, which is great for the Stony area. increase the business opportunities off of, what's the road? Chamberlain. And I think that's a great opportunity. But also when you're coming onto the island and you have this continuous tea, this green tea, there's no longer a light at Spanish Wells, so there's not gonna be a backup at Spanish Wells anymore. So if there's not a backup at Spanish Wells for the, oncoming cars to automatically come off the throttle and slow down at Squire Pope Road because it's already backed up at Spanish Wells, you're going to have past that continuous T you're going to have full speed traffic. And not every day, maybe not every week, but you are going to have a merge accident. And when they come off that off that merge, they're going to get sideswiped or rear ended at that continuous T. Not that it's a bad idea, I just think there's a better opportunity. Then we come to your point, coming off the bridge, we have to have cooperation. I know we've talked about the county, the state, but coming off the bridge, there is absolutely no common sense for me to think that we should be getting in a left-hand deceleration lane, coming to a stoplight and turning left across that traffic. It just, it shouldn't happen because there's an alternative. And the alternative is, is we have a right-hand deceleration lane. We get off, we go underneath with the state's cooperation and go under, loop back around, go underneath the bridge. And that traffic doesn't stop. We eliminate that light. Now I know we're all here just trying to get to this concept and get it moving. And by no means do I, even if I tried, I couldn't stick my foot in the door because I think at this moment I might get it cut off. And I'm not gonna lie down on the road and stop the equipment from doing this. And so if there's not cooperation, trying to make this change now, and not looking back 10 years from now, 30, 40 years ago, I moved to this island and worked for the town. Gestion spot, the bad spot was Palmetto Dunes. Remember, you lived here. There was no Cross Island. It was Palmetto Dunes. I was elected to council and my first thing is let's put in a grade separation at Palmetto Dunes. I was the youngest by 35 years and everyone thought I had two heads. Thankfully, the Cross Island Parkway got developed and we eliminated that problem. But that traffic used to back up. a mile on island and a mile off island. And Palmetto Dunes' light was horrific and you couldn't get through. It's the same situation. What we're gonna do is we're gonna take full speed traffic and stop it at Squark Oak Road. I think there's a better solution. I think if there's a time that to happen, it's gotta be now, it's not 10 years from now. That's my two cents. Thank you. Appreciate that. But then again, like I said, I'm not going to put my foot in the door and get it cut off. You know, we're going to get what we can get.

I do want to address, you know, how you started the conversation, and that was a blank slate. We don't have a blank slate.

We don't.

And that's where the challenge lies.

We don't, but we have 90% of that slate. And I think where there's a will, there's a way. And I believe we could buy the right away, not condemn it by the right away. What is your better alternative? Well, my alternative I've stated to all of you many, many times is to eliminate both those lights, all three of the lights actually, but both of those lights, provide a frontage road coming off the Squire Pope Road that goes down in front of what would be the economic development area of Stoning and connect all the way down with Spanish Wells flyover. And one flyover. And eliminate all these lights. That still be done over time? Good, but it's gonna be more expensive, sure. But will it? You know what I mean? I'm gonna paint my house blue, but today it's, I primed it. And then you go look and the house is still primed 10 years from now, right? That's the way life is. And now's the time to act. And if you do it 10, 12, 15 years from now and say, I wish I coulda, woulda, shoulda, it's gonna be three, 400% of what it is now. Wasted all this time. You've created all these problems and you've probably lost a few lives.

And I like this conversation, it's great context. And just for the folks that are here and as a reminder to town council, Squire Pope Road for reference, Spanish Wells Road for reference, what we're talking about is trying to eliminate simply the westbound signal at the Squire Pope Light. And as we look at the green shade on this map, it is town-owned property. The blue denotes that the Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhood, CDC, has been involved. So as a point of reference, yeah, Squire Pope Road, that is what we will soon call the Old Memory Matters Building in the CDC space. We took a look at trying to squeeze that great concept in within the current right-of-way, but you can see that the non-shaded green areas are impacted. We took a look at a lot of this, and don't disagree with Mr. DeSimone. There's different ways to look at it. That's why I keep saying there's only a few handfuls of ways to look at this. A right-in, right-out at Squire Pope Road. It also causes vehicles to move around Gumtree and Squire Pope and outward onto the island in different ways. To allow also an up and down, call it a up and down flyover, very similar to what we did here. But as you try to have the off and on, those were other impacts. And then over time, a local access road, a connector road dash line in between these spaces makes a lot of sense. It's just, as we came into the room and as we've built this over time, the expectations have remained no property impacts beyond. Is somebody driving? Yeah. So something to talk about, definitely been assessed and I'll let, Mr. Kinselman and Team Wayne.

While I'm on a rant, I guess the other elephant in the room is we need to get in blood what the county's gonna do with us. And we need to get in writing or in the room together what the state's gonna allow for that light, if we can loop under that bridge or not. Otherwise, personally, I would campaign against that referendum and do our own.

Okay.

How does the rest of the council feel? Because here we are, you know, we're a long ways into the design of a project. And Steve, you know, what you have proposed in the past that I've seen, you know, it makes sense. But it goes against, in my opinion, it goes against the no taking of additional lands. And that's something that has been worked very hard on over the years.

And I'm not talking about taking, I'm talking about purchasing with cooperation. If you can't get the cooperation, I understand. We bought a lot of things for a lot of money. And I think we need to explore, is there cooperation?

Let me ask the question. You know, if we move this forward to a resolution, but within the resolution, there is a section where we address just that, you know, how to create that frontage road. So it becomes a point for us to attain over time, maybe not within the timeframe that we want to attain it, but we still have those plans in play. So, you know, if this was to be adopted next month, does it prevent us from still exploring that? Because it does work and it does alleviate a lot of the issues. And I- Absolutely, I agree with you, Mayor.

You know how things are. Yeah, I do. And we know- We have a tendency to build and move on.

Right.

Yeah, if we could agree that we need to explore that and put the roadblocks there. It's there, but we need to explore it because we can always shut that intersection down if we could get a frontage road through there in the future. So like I said, I wouldn't stick my foot in the door and get it cut off right now. And it's a great project. And I think we need to move forward. We need to think about that because that's the ultimate solution.

Mr. Brown.

if I could. So what I'm hearing from Councilor DeSimone is there's really three options that we're talking about. One is as proposed to continuous T The other is a convert, and Mr. Orlando said this, convert Squire Pope into a right in, right out that eliminates the westbound signal. And the third option is show a potential frontage road that connects Squire Pope to Old Wild Horse via mostly town-owned property should that opportunity come available in the future. through additional land acquisition. With a dashed line, as we've shown some other roadways in this area.

But we need to pursue it, not just should it become available. We need to pursue it.

We could add it as a project Z. I forget how many letters are on here. Project L. we could put it in there. And I think it's really important. I'm actually glad to have this conversation. We have to be very deliberate, but that we say out loud that it is with cooperation. Because when we inherited this project on one of my first days here, I will remind us, not all of us, my team was sitting at the table, but I sat in front yards, I saw the emotion. I saw the fear. I saw the families upset. And I saw a bunch of different colored flags in people's front yards that I didn't even know what the purple or red differential was. And folks looked over to us and said, well, we're going to widen this road through your property but go talk to the town about your zoning and your development and your impacts and i just want to not get back there so if we're going to have a conversation as your town manager i want us to be very deliberate that there if there's a solution there and there's a willing solution from all parties that that should be the space we're in

We have to remember, I mean, going through the LMO process, we had a lot of conversation about economic opportunities for the native island community represented very well in those meetings. And it was, it was a tremendous push to make sure that this has not changed. So we have opportunity here, just like opportunity there. We all remember the conversations we can develop. the economic opportunity of what we're trying to do, we may get cooperation. We may get full cooperation because, I mean, it's an asset. It's an asset for the property owners if they choose to go that route, and it's an asset for the 3 million people that move on and off this island every summer.

Mr. Brown, before I go to you for a second, I want to ask Mr. Kinselman a question. If a frontage road was able to be created between Squire Pope and Spanish Wells or Old Wild Horse, does the pedestrian bridge then become obsolete or is it still needed? It still needs to be there. And that's the point I wanna make is that what we're doing is not going to waste. So as we talk about this, I'm looking at additional transportation system improvement projects. And I will see that listed here with a dotted line or Z or whatever that may be. But it is good conversation and it does solve some issues, but it does have to be willing. So Mr. Brown.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As I was on my 5 a.m. walk this morning doing a lot of reflection, and one of the things I told myself was you were appointed to the U.S. 278 or whatever it was named, probably back in 2012, maybe. So here we are 14 years later. And I was convincing myself that during today's meeting, I was gonna hold my comments until after public comment. Obviously that's not working because I've already gotten in once before and now I hear him again. I wanna just point out an observation of the room today. And that is simply, there are no Gullah Native Islanders that reside in the Stony community here today. And no discount to Mr. Barnwell, but he doesn't live there. Look back over the last 10 plus years They would always be here. And excuse my French to be here raising hell. And I think they're not here today because there's a level of trust. It was staying true to what we said we were going to do. Oh, at the 11th hour, when they're not in the room, we're looking to switch gears. Why are we taking some steps backwards? This whole process? I would encourage us pay attention to this as well. Stuart family lost a family member last week and she was one of the ones that would come in here and make sure she made her point as to why things should not happen. God bless her soul, she's gone. No disrespect to any of us in this room, but quite frankly, the $126 million project or the 300 million project that Mr. Desimone's talking about, some of us not gonna be here. I would encourage us in the time that we are here to focus on how we can set something in motion. It's 12 years later And the town manager and the consultants have done a really good job of sort of pulling this together in bite-sized pieces for us to move forward. that's where i am um you know one of my notes here was to ask the town manager if we approve the resolution in august does that mean that we'll see some numbers in the fy 28 budget to move some of these projects along and i'm hoping the answer is yes yes thank you so I think that's, I don't want us to lose focus on all the time that we've put into this. I'd rather us get to a point where we're given direction and we're able to move with this true political will. I think Mr. Desimone's right. You probably got a majority vote with what you see in front of us. But if we shift gears, I'm not sure that that majority stays there. I don't know. Others are going to have to speak up on that, but I'm telling you that I'm not going to support it. I'm supporting where we're going now because there's a plan to move forward. And the last thing I'd add, and this was going to be my comments after public comment. So public, excuse me, you know, we, we keep talking about this relationship with our partners and I want to focus on the political will piece of that. I'm hoping that if we approve a resolution and Mr. Orlando starts to throw into a five-year CIP plan numbers to support these projects, that we get out of the way as a council. And as a staff starts to work with our partner staffs, when they run into roadblocks or major concerns, they lean on us for political will. If it's going to be more money, it's going to be right away. Let it happen then versus trying to bring another group of elected officials to the table to talk about details that To Mr. Kinsman's point, this is all conceptual. When you start throwing a survey to all of this, you got a whole nother ball of wax that you got to deal with. And in my opinion, the elected officials need to stay out of that. Come back to us when you need something. And that should be the conversation we're having with our partners along the way. But that's my two cents, Mr. Mayor, maybe three cents, I'm done.

Thank you, I appreciate that very much. I would like to open up for public comment now, and then we can come back and address other comments or questions. So Kim, if you could put a timer up, three minute timer, and then call our first speaker.

Richard Fizzi.

Good afternoon, Richard Busy, Indigo Run. This project, as you've heard, is going to cost about $126 million. Yet the 83-page report does not clearly answer a fundamental question. How much will these improvements reduce congestion and travel times with the thousands of vehicles using the corridor every day. It's not a minor detail, it's a central measure of success. You know, we saw the matrix with all the numbers and all that, but if we don't know the expected impact on travel time, it's fair to ask, what are we actually buying? What alternatives were considered? And how confident are we in the projected outcome? Why were not Cross Island links included? Why does the plan only cover one of the three westbound bottlenecks? Roughly 50% of our peak hour congestion is to and from the Cross Island Parkway, but that is not included in this plan. So what will the plan before you today accomplish? in terms of reducing travel time for the thousands of workers who are stuck in traffic day in and day out, week after week? The answer appears to be, we don't know. Back in January 25, Senator Tom Davis sent a letter to town manager Mark Orlando regarding the master plan. That was 15 months ago. Senator Davis made clear that the plan should be finalized by March 31st, 2025, 13 months ago, and yet here we are. The delay is not trivial. It's been three months since the last town council workshop on the master plan. What have we accomplished? On April 28th, he had a 60 page report. It's now 83 pages. It appears that we've wasted a lot of time, but the consultants certainly racked up a considerable number of billable hours unless they're paid by a flat fee. And perhaps the master plan will be approved before November, just in time for the mayor's reelection bid. In summary, the town is significantly behind schedule. The process has lacked transparency and the plan does not clearly demonstrate how it will improve daily traffic. And by the way, as we all know, the town doesn't even have the money to pay for this project. It's not a foundation for confidence, it's a reason for concern. And I just want to add another two cents to say to Mr. DeSimone, he's absolutely right. It's the lights. It's the lights and the speed. We heard a lot about the speed on 278 and a 40 mile an hour speed limit. Where's the enforcement? How's that going to be enforced? It's beyond me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Skip Hoagland.

Again, Annex Windmill Harbor. Mr. Kinselman, great job. To begin, I sent a FOIA for town lawyer legal fees to attend our ATax committee meeting. The town lawyer entire presentation was an embarrassment. And all she did was read from a screen, had no understanding of the issues, including the millions of illegal tax funding. And it seems we're just heading for more legal malpractice. A town attorney assisted by AI should not be billing time for legal opinions, contracts, or ordinance drafting. Mr. Hogan, please stay on topic here. AI can create and draft all for free in seconds and more comprehensive and dramatically cuts legal fees. Again, immediately defund $7 million to the chamber and negotiate a new legal DMO contract with a local ad agency or run in-house with AI for free. Note, the fraudulent chamber contract was drafted by lawyer Terry Finger, now the same law firm representing both town of Bluffton and Hilton Head. It's just more corruption. A-tax funds should be redirected for more police protection and infrastructure that benefits both tourists and local residents. Chamber DMO is not only criminal, but all tourism we need is generated for free by technology. Have anybody ever booked a hotel room on a chamber website? A.I. Doge systems will cut and lower taxes instead of increasing them. Our annual budget reduced to $100 million or less. $220 million budget to govern 20% of the island reflects a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy, even more concerning using funds illegally. We need better leadership, greater transparency, and stop illegal votes for our council that violates the law. Again, reduce taxes by adopting a tourism user fee, $5 per day will raise 75 million annually and another 7 million defunding the illegal chamber. Let 3 million tourists pay this 126 million. Towns nationwide will increase and rely on AI robotic city government systems to strengthen financial oversight and operate government more efficiently for taxpayers' hard-earned money. Again, I'm running to be an honest watchdog mayor to cut corruption, not ribbons. Dave Ferguson is also running, I feel, as a good, honest man and will also serve well as a mayor. The common goal is to remove Alan Perry, who committed criminal fraud and voted for illegal use of tax funds.

Mr. Hoagland, please, you're not, you're supposed to be on subject, sir.

I've already presented this evidence to law enforcement and I filed a lawsuit. Last, we never intended to be a mini Myrtle Beach with five pounds and a one pound bag. And no one's riding a public bus. Three million tourists pay this $176 million, Mr. Orlando, not 40,000 residents. Write that down. $5 to fee. Thank you.

So I would like to remind everybody that we... Mr. Hoagland, please stop. I'd like to remind everybody that when we have public comment on agenda items, you stay on agenda, please.

Dave Ferguson.

Dave Ferguson, Shipyard. Mr. Mayor, over the past several years, you've asked this council to study issues, hire consultants, create committees, and develop master plans. Yet when it's time to make the difficult decisions, those decisions too often get delayed, postponed, or pushed further down the road. I usually call it kicking your hand down the road. The 278 corridor is just one example. I've been paying attention to it since I believe 2018. The LMO rewrite is another. And the years long debate over the bridge and corridor showed just how difficult it has been to bring people together around a common vision. And while we wait, residents continue to sit in traffic, businesses continue to struggle due to congestion, and public safety is getting out of control. These aren't isolated issues, they're part of a pattern. Great organizations don't drift into success. They decide their way. Communities are no different. Leadership is measured by avoiding conflict. It's measured by resolving it. Mr. Mayor, I don't expect seven elected officials to agree on every issue. In fact, I hope they don't. Healthy debate is part of a good government, but I expect at the center, that person to build relationships, earn trust, find common ground and lead the council toward some decisions. That's the job, right? Unfortunately, I believe that's where you have fallen short and it's hurt our residents, our businesses and our visitors. There are only a few months remaining in your term and suddenly some of the biggest issues facing our community appear to be moving at a much faster pace than they have in years. So I have to ask why now? If these issues were important enough to deserve years of study, they deserve thoughtful decisions, not decisions driven by a calendar. Mr. DeSimone and Mr. Brown said today what I was thinking sitting back there, technically and from the heart. Residents deserve to know why consensus wasn't built sooner. Right now we don't have consensus as I listened to everybody and I can understand why. To the members of this council, I appreciate that each of you brings different experiences, different perspectives, and a sincere desire to serve our community. I urge you today not to be rushed into voting because of an election or a calendar. And honestly, after today, I would say, if you're gonna talk about a resolution, I would talk about just being resolute of sitting down with the county officials in the state, because until we know where they're gonna land on this, we're wasting everybody's time. Thank you. Thank you.

Peter Christian.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, Staff members, thanks for the opportunity. A couple of comments. I manage Hilton Head Plantation. I'm here talking about Hilton Head Plantation. I'm an employer and I'm having a rough time. I also have 10,000 property owners that get services mostly from folks off island that have to travel over the bridge to and from every day. If they forget a part, they gotta go all the way back. Some of those vendors would have been serviced Island residents anymore. So we need a solution. Council Member DeSimone would love to have a blank slate and I would love to have a blank slate too. And maybe you can look at it from the perspective of leaving the door open to fill in those voids as you plan ahead. Marco Lando mentioned Main Street. That is an extremely important corridor to the 10,000 citizens who live in Hilton Head Plantation, who have youngsters that go to that school. And making that a safe passageway needs to be a top priority. And I appreciate it being there. And Mr. Mayor, Council Member Brown, you and I were on the Planning Commission when we were talking about Main Street. And now we're finally getting to the end. To council members DeSimone's point, I mentioned that I'm on the green space committee and several of those properties on the north side of 278, I still think are being investigated by the town's council regarding purchasing those properties to make it easier if we need an additional right of way. And I know they haven't come to fruition yet, but I know they're being looked at, many of them are. And council member Brown is shaking his head, no, that's off the table now. I wasn't aware that they were off the table since we already appropriated funds for accounting funds for them and I believe they were approved. But making it safe and the gentleman behind me who runs the fire department, he is responsible and I am responsible to get 10,000 folks off this island safely and then back on when we can, God forbid, we don't have to evacuate, but many of us have been through that, I have been through that, and that is going to be a primary issue and think about it in terms of public safety. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Christopher Cliff.

Christopher Cliff, I'd just like to say congratulations to the consultants and the staff. I think the presentation, the materials have been superb, and the openness to which they've approached questions is very encouraging. And I think there are aspects of these proposals that deserve to be implemented sooner rather than later. I think one thing I've learned, if you haven't, the rest of you, that is, of the experience of dealing with the SCDOT and Beaufort County since 2018 over the bridge. They're not reliable partners. They have their own agenda and to actually compromise your proposals with a significant dependency on the SCDOT and Beaufort County is unwise in my opinion. And you should look at these proposals and identify those that you can move forward on with the minimum of their input to improve safety and reduce some of the congestion. And if you like, beautify the entrance to the island. I think it goes without saying that the traffic lights are the problem. whether it's 5.30 in the morning or 11 o'clock at night, it's the traffic lights. The bridge, 311.6 million, as everybody in this room knows, is undefined. The Beaufort County and SCDOT do not have a clue what they're going to do about the connection roads, and they've stated that openly. They have no idea what they're gonna do at Hendricks Circle and the access to Jarvis Road. They have no idea of the consequences of the studies they've recently undertaken about how deep the pylons should go, the substructure, okay? And we're talking about taking a leisure trail that's going to go the southern part of the corridor across, I believe, the front entrance to Windmill Harbor, and then to seek their permission for a underpass on the road. That's laughable. Okay, and if you want to go down that, going to have a fight with them have a fight over a solution that's going to solve the problems that are coming on growing not just deal with today's issues which is what this master plan does it's dealing with today's issues and not addressing the growing problems that anybody monitors data that can see why you're using 2024 data i don't understand i've got 2025 data And the SCDOD data, as people in Mark's staff know, is thoroughly unreliable. There are so many days missing, there are even whole months missing, okay? And anybody who looks at the data can see with the change in the traffic flows, the rate of increase going across the Cross Island Parkway is far greater than the traffic coming onto the business area. I don't know if that affects what you're thinking. Thank you very much.

That's all we have. Thank you. So other comments from council? Mr. Alfred.

I wanna go back a little bit in terms of why are we here today and what is this proposal all about? We have been hearing for years, people are very concerned and I am as well about two primary issues. First, there are too many collisions It's not safe to get through to Hilton Head Island. Second, it takes too long. Consequences of that are potentially negative for the island, for all of us. People who need employees here, who need trucks to get on the bridge, they're going to move their operations, and they already have, off the islands. tourists are going to say, I don't want to take so long to get on the island. I'll go someplace north or south of here instead. Much of that has already started. We see it already. So we know it's there. We have been dealing with this subject for years. And I think unless the public sees that the town is going to take some steps to deal with this, we are going to continue to suffer some negative consequences. The conference that the town council went to in Greenville last week, I had the pleasure of driving back on Saturday afternoon. It took me an hour longer than it took me to drive to Greenville just because of the traffic. I don't think that the public, the tourist public, the employee public, the owner public is going to be very happy about that on a continuing basis. So my view essentially is we have a plan. Let's get moving on it. The concept of having frontage roads, it may be a good one. It's gonna require taking property. It's gonna require additional funds. It's gonna require additional time. I have no objection to looking at it and considering it, but I don't want it to get in the way of our moving forward now. And in that regard, let me go to the project's overview page, in which you have listed priorities Which projects can we really start that would have an impact? If we want to have a continuous through on island, if we were to do it at Square Pope, would we need to have the flyover, for example?

I think the immediate issues are the two problem children intersections. If you put in the continuous green T at Squire Pope, it solves half that issue. It does require you put in, I think, that pedestrian bridge over to the south side. Otherwise we're going to encourage jaywalking and that's not a good idea on 278. Secondly, the short term or the baseline improvements at Squire Pope, at Spanish Wells and Wild Horse is an immediate improvement that's going to help the conditions throughout. To Councilman DeSimone's issues and San's lack of confidence with DOT as a reliable partner, I've got no basis for commenting on that. To be able to eliminate the Windmill Harbor light with that pass under, of the new bridges would get rid of one traffic light. So I think the dealing with those two intersections as we propose is a great start. Lastly, as Shawn Leininger had suggested, you may throw something at me, but you could remove the traffic lights at Squire Pope and have it right in, right out. And then we've got no traffic lights. So you have the same continuous flow that Councilman DeSimone suggests. It just has limited utility for Squire Pope. Now, people find other ways to get out. Yeah, will that impact those other ways out of Gumtree and Wild Horse? Certainly will. Maybe that's where we invest our dollars to improve those roadways so that they can absorb that capacity that isn't making those eastbound left turns onto 278 from Squire Pope. Still allows people to get off the island. If they're coming back on the island to, they can get off at that flyover bridge and find their way up Wild Horse to the back gate of Hilton Head Plantation. There's no property takes. It's actually a cheaper solution that we're proposing here. That is continuous flow. We will then have eliminated all of those traffic lights. That said, good news is we don't have people stopping and rear-ending others with the lack of, through the elimination of traffic lights. What we do have, to the gentleman's point, is people flying up and down this roadway with no law enforcement. So we can post 35, we can post 40, unless there is enforcement, It's all for naught. We still have a dangerous roadway. People are actually going to be encouraged to go faster with that elimination of lights and the smoother flow as it were. So I, again, this is a historic neighborhood. I continue to tell myself this is a historic neighborhood and traffic movement through here needs to be in civilized fashion. not just for sake of pedestrian conflicts, but just traffic noise of cars going 65 versus cars going 40. So that's a key point as well. So there's ways of skinning this cat, but I think we're gonna have to start with addressing some of the things that we can address now to Councilman DeSimone concerns of a bypass that is doable. We've looked at it. There's four properties involved on the south side of 278 that would need to be purchased. They would need to be agreeable to that, but there is no existing right of way to make that frontage road happen. I wish I were wrong, but I'm not because I've studied it. But that could happen somewhere, no pun intended, down the road. But that doesn't mean we should stand in the way of getting on with some of the improvements that we know would have some immediate impact. So I, Councilman, probably a long answer to a short question. My apologies.

You're not the only one with long answers. In terms of enforcement, excuse me. We have to deal with that generally. It is a matter under consideration right now. And I believe that once we resolve the problem of our public safety situation, which we need to do in the next few months, we will also be able to take into consideration what's gonna happen in a few years in terms of speeding on 278. So that isn't a concern to me. What is, but I don't have a clear understanding of, and I do think we should pursue the subjects that could cost less and produce better results. I agree with that and I urge that that be done. But I think the public would like to have an understanding and I would like to have an understanding is how do we get the continuous flow without some of these other changes that you just mentioned, but looking at what's in your document, we have to spend 14 million or 36 million for overpasses. That's gonna have a significant negative effect on accomplishing the result. So I'd like to see how that is gonna line up in terms of actually getting to the result.

Mr. Landau, I saw you had your mic on for a second. No, okay. Other comments? Mr. Brown.

Yeah. First of all, I wanted to just give some clarity to the comments that were made about the town purchasing additional property in Estonia. Yes, there are some... willing property owners that are looking to sell property in the Stoney area. We've gone through the process of engaging with Beaufort County with their green space funding to purchase those properties. And I want to clear this up because I've heard this rumor on the streets is that the town is looking to buy additional properties in the area so they can move forward with the bridge project and that that's what i'm shaking my head at because that is absolutely false the town is not actively pursuing properties in that area to make this project work okay if someone wants to sell their property and there's money available there will be a conversation but we are not going after folks property I think that's important for me to say out loud to everybody. The second piece, obviously I'm not as good as some of my colleagues, particularly Ms. Turner when it comes to thinking financially, but I'm thinking about this financially, okay? I mean, we can argue if SCDOT or the Federal Highway or Beaufort County are reliable partners or not, but we don't have to argue our own capacity when it comes to funding projects. Just floated a bond and now we have a conversation about should we buy property or use it in CIP? So we will be running up against our millage rate when it comes to our debt here very shortly and having to ask ourselves the question, do we stop collecting because we don't have debt or do we add more debt so that we can accomplish projects, okay? And then on top of that, we now have a new tool which is this municipality being able to offer up a potential referendum. So with all of that, I'm looking at this from the feasibility of the town doing some of this on their own, okay? And I get it, we always wanna spend somebody else's money, perfect, fine, but I'm also looking at realities. It was not very long ago where the state and the county decided to snatch away everything that was an investment from our taxpayers and move forward with just the bridge project. So I still have that bad taste in my mouth. So us owning our own fate and destiny, I think is important to this conversation. It is not like we don't have the financial tools to accomplish. So that's what I wanted to add to the conversation with an attempt to move us along. Thank you.

Yes, sir. I'm going to, I'm going to start with my conclusion and back up. Uh, first of all, I support this master plan and I'm ready to move forward. So that's my bottom line. With that being said, I do remember when the committee that Mr. Brown described about 2012 was appointed. I was at the town council meeting when that was done. And I sat through a lot of those meetings where he served on that committee and many others did. So it has been a long process. I've been open over the years to what are the best ideas, what's a better idea. There have been a lot of ideas thrown out there. And in the old spaghetti map, if we go back that far, it's like throw a bunch of spaghetti noodles against the wall and see what sticks. So I think finally we have something in this area that should stick. All along, I've been very concerned about the historic community known as Stony and protecting that. And I remember saying to folks that live in that area, I will continue to walk this road with you and to remember and to protect Stony as best I can. When we looked at the SEDOT project, we came up with what we call the Stoney Improvement Plan included in the resolution that the town council adopted. So I'm mindful of that every time we look at this area. And I'm mindful also in the draft in front of us, which says, note, no right-of-way acquisition required in Stoney Historic Neighborhood with proposed roadway improvements. Acquisition in a broad term by whatever means. And I want to stick with that with all due respect, Mr. DeSimone, if we add project Z as I think our town manager called it just in a short term, if we add that, we have to take that note out. And I don't want to do that. I want to stay with our pledge and I want to maintain the trust that my colleague, Mr. Brown talked about in the Stony community. Um, there are a lot of things in here that are beneficial to the Stony community. I'm also, and I thank Mr. Alfred for adding another proposal to communicate with SEDOT, and that is looking at the pathways on both sides of the new bridge project so we do have a flow on both sides, because I think SEDOT would be more amenable to including a pedestrian bicycle lane on a temporary basis if there's connection on both sides. Anyhow, I do appreciate all of the pedestrian improvements throughout this area because it's not just cars moving through here. It's people and people on their feet and on bicycles that we need to be mindful of. So I like all of those plans in here for improving bicyclists and pedestrian safety and also vehicular safety. Not to put that aside. The last things that I would ask is that in the additional requests for SEDOT in Beaufort County, it's on page 76 of the documents we have in front of us, that we add the 40 mile per hour request in there as well. I'm sure that's in the thought process, but it's not necessarily in here. And the last thing is thank you, Ms. Orlando, for providing us with the list of additional transportation system improvement projects And my only question is, is that a part of this plan or additional information so that when we get to the approval process, we know whether or not we're including that list. And that's my question. But other than that, I'm ready to go. Thank you to the consultants, to the town staff, to comments from the public today, to written comments we've received. I have read them all.

Thank you. So I think that those additional items are not necessarily part of the resolution moving forward, but those are additional items that will be coming forward for additional considerations.

And as I understand, some of those are already in the CIP. It may not be in the immediate budget, but in the years to come. So I think it's very helpful for us to continue to look at that list, especially as we move forward in trying to figure out funding.

I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure that if Melinda wants to jump in that she gets a chance. I know you're okay. All right. Well, there's a lot here and a few notes that I've taken that don't have answers to them. I'm going to start with saying working with SCDOT, working to to solve some of the problems that we have in the areas where additional transportation system improvements have been suggested. I wanted to thank the town manager and staff because in working together, we have had a good collaboration with solving safety and traffic issues on Folly Field Road. And I think that that's the beginning of conversations that can be fruitful in some of these other areas. And then I'll just throw in what I always do. And I know that there's an analysis being done currently, and I look forward to the results of that. But oftentimes on Helton Head, we get stammied in progress because we don't own our roads. And so both on the county level, who we're now analyzing, having discussion with, I think the continuing discussion with SCDOT might be warranted so that we're not shaking our head at how do we reduce speed limits and the like on some of these area roads that will make a tremendous quality of life difference for everyone on the island. So I know that work's ongoing. encouraged by the successes we've had, but I look forward to seeing how we can wrap those conversations into providing additional safety and quality of life results. In addition to what's on the list that was provided is, you know, we talked about this previously, the idea that the master plan doesn't go all the way to the Cross Island. it is a truly constructive criticism that we've heard over and over again. And probably we're being very short-sighted, but not, listening to that constructive criticism and trying to build something into this project to help in that regard. And if the idea, well, that's additional money, additional funding, et cetera, came to mind as a part of that discussion, I would simply point to the, and I don't have it in front of me, it was on another piece of paper, but I think it was, that that section that I keep referring to looks to pay for. Those dollars should be prioritized with issues on our own island that have direct impact to the problems that we're trying to solve, and that means that we could push forward to the Cross Island, if not perhaps even some of these additional system improvements that have been suggested, including Main Street. So I think that's a really important part of this conversation, and I'm not really sure why we're focused on other areas without having that conversation with impacts each and every one of us here every day. And I'm gonna leave that as a comment and a question for open discussion as we move along. And I'll continue as I often do, bringing up the same conversation over and over whether it's publicly or behind the scenes. I am concerned that I had heard something about bringing forward 2028 budget that would allow for some of these things that we've talked about. We've talked endlessly about ideas that can be implemented yesterday. For instance, over at Spanish Wells, that preliminary design that could help move traffic more efficiently, get the people who live off of those roads to where they need to go. get them home, get them to their kids' sporting events and all the rest in a safe manner. There's no reason in the world why we're not doing that as quickly as we can. And if that means budget amendments or shifting things around, I think we ought to, and we have a responsibility to have that conversation soon. Not sooner rather than later, but soon. So that I just wanna keep putting an emphasis on the things that priority, I heard priorities and what would you do first and how this sets up. I think that we have to truly, if there is a list of things that we're concerned about safety, traffic movement, I've heard the idea that time saved. We don't have those metrics here. We have old metrics, but there's no current metrics to refer to in terms of how any of the solutions currently being suggested solve any of that. And I think that's critically important. So that's a missing element as we're talking, but we need to set a priority. Spanish Wells is a priority that needs to be done. There's various elements that have been suggested that we need to pick and analyze them against safety, traffic, and time to make sure that we're satisfying those elements that all of this project is supposed to be about. There's many other things that are important. Do not get me wrong. But if we're talking about what elements are the most important, it's safety and traffic and time. To Mr. the Simone's point, he has brought up something that isn't new today. We've all heard it as he correctly pointed out, these conversations have been had, the suggestions have been made, the meetings have been taking place. And yet, not all of us have actually heard the end result of what has come out of that. whether it's something that's worthy of us taking the time and looking into currently this moment, or whether it's something that need to be planned for conversations had and looked at to implement down the road. I think we do everyone a disservice if we don't take advantage of the thought that has been put before us. I just now heard in more detail and would love to hear in more detail still the idea of the right in and the right out. It's a less expensive proposition. There's opportunity there as I'm hearing it. And I think that if we don't have that in front of us and i nobody likes three hour meetings or whatever meeting hour we're going on now but i think we do ourselves again a disservice if it's not brought forward for us to consider in a fair relationship to what we currently have in front of us so everyone wants this to end and it was 2017 i believe that that meeting that that committee was put together um And so 2017, we're going on nine years now of talking about this. We've come a long way. All good things happen in its own time. And I know that people wanna see something done I want to see something done too. I just want to make sure that when we all raise our hand and vote on this and move this forward, that we have fully understood the opportunities and the costs and the results that we're delivering in the end. That's really all I have to say about that. But I think there's a number of questions on the table that if not now, at some time in the very near future, I get some answers to.

Thank you, Ms. Tonner.

So there's a lot to unpack here. We've had a lot of great discussions. One of the things that I think it's important for us to acknowledge and I think we have is that this package alone does not solve all of our traffic related issues. But it focuses on one key area. And that was a decision that was made in regards to the scope and that's why we're here today. So I appreciate that we are acknowledging that there are other related issues, traffic issues. and concerns, and that is in the back of the package. And I think that's important for people to understand that although we have identified an area that we are focusing on, that all these other items need to be considered, and there needs to be conversation about when and how we prioritize those items. So they're not forgotten, they're just not our focus today. The presentation that we saw today really solves our eastbound related concerns. It does a beautiful job of making our traffic flow better. There's the opportunity at Windmill Harbor that I think we should absolutely take a look at and work with Beaufort County or whoever we need to in order to eliminate that light. but it also doesn't solve the westbound, which we talked about. It makes a slight improvement on our westbound, but doesn't solve it to the degree that we have on the eastbound side. And so that's where we get into this conversation of what do we do and when do we do that piece of it? We heard from you that there are some creative approaches that we could take that wouldn't cost a lot of money that we should talk about as an opportunity to eliminate that light, because it is going to be important to eliminate that light at some point. I understand we have talked about the frontage road, and maybe that's an opportunity for something down the road, but I don't think it's an opportunity that we want to take a look at at this time. I agree that there is that caveat on the slide that there would be no takings. And so I feel that we should live into that at this time. But in the future, there might be an opportunity to take a look at that frontage road. And what I heard was that this design can go into place and that frontage road could be added at some time in the future. And so what we are looking at today would not impact that. In regards to prioritization, you talked about what some of the short-term deliverables should be, and I align with those. Again, I also like, as we mentioned, the extension of the road to Spanish Wells. And I also think we should look at prioritizing the changes at the cross island with the additional lanes to turn left and the resulting intersection with 278 as part of that prioritization. I also wanna acknowledge that as we think about these roads and the speed limit being decreased, and people have already talked about it, that law enforcement is gonna become critical to ensure that we live into that. We have that issue today, and it's not going to go away until we have some type of presence that can help us with that. The thing that I think I'm most excited about is the financial conversation and not just because I'm a financial person, but because we have a lot of options. We have a lot of options and to the point that options where we are in control, TIF is a perfect example of an option that we can use. We would be working with other entities as well, but it's something that we can leverage. The use of a local sales tax for the town of Hilton Head through SB 866 is a new powerful tool that we haven't had in the past and would allow us to be able to drive revenue to support these projects. And I know that in the future finance meetings, we're gonna be exploring all of those options in great detail so that we understand how they can, the mechanics of them, how they can be used, how much money they could provide. And we'll have the opportunity to think about laddering these options to align with our implementation plan and in our needs. And we haven't had that opportunity in the past and I think that's pretty powerful. So the other last piece I want to say is I think Main Street, and we've heard about that, Main Street is really important, not only for the school, which I see kids on bikes and it makes me very nervous, But there are also assisted living and nursing homes in that area as well. And I see people being pushed in wheelchairs along that road to get to appointments or to go out and get some fresh air. And it is gonna be very important to get the pathways on Main Street sooner rather than later. And I think TIF has an opportunity to provide that to us. And the last piece I wanna make is I, one of the things that I'm very excited about in this proposal is all of the pathway work. Pathway, and this is a great time of year to think about it. There are so many people on bicycles now, and there are people on bicycles coming out of places that I haven't seen before. they are moving from the south side of the island to the north side of the island. And I am seeing more bicycles usage on the north side of the island. And it just goes to show you that if we build those pathways, they will come and that will provide economic opportunity as well as increase of quality of life to put those in on the north side of the island. So those are my thoughts. It's a lot to pull together and my notes are all over the place. But I appreciate the work that's been done over a period of time. Some people say we're going too fast. Some people say we're going too slow. But I think we've got the right timing on this piece of the process. It's been very thoughtful and it would, be nice to move forward with something for this section of our roadway, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Desimo. Yeah, just two minutes. As I sit here and I build this project in my head, I think what could we do start to alleviate a problem and economically? So I think that we should really push to move forward for this pedestrian walkway. Take a right in, right out at Squire Pope Road, put the dual lane in right now while the design's going on, and we'll be at three to five years of our middle. And it'll give us the opportunity to see, it'll give us a lot of data, an opportunity to see what the hardship might be on Squire Pope Road by ride in, ride out. That can be done very easily, quickly, and cheaply. And it'll also give us some data as to how do they manipulate that left turn and what it gives us and data down the road. Do they turn into Wild Horse? Do they go to Gumtree? And it'll start to give us some traffic data on those highways because we can always reverse that. But I think we're gonna find out that it's gonna be really good and we'll have one light to deal with right now if we can get a ride in and ride out at Wild Horse Road fairly quickly.

Thank you. So I wanna talk about the right in and right out real quick, because we can do that today, right? If that's the direction that is decided, you can stop the left-hand turns at the lights, right? So there's an option, even down the road, keeping the lights there. If we do, you know, whatever it is that we do, you still have that option. I wanna talk really about And we've had this conversation before, bureaucracy versus policy versus process. Policy and process center around your community and all of your people in your community and all of your residents. Policy process takes a lot of time. And we have put a lot of effort into all of this over many years. And many other people have put in a lot of time and effort into this. People have died. Steve, as you stated several times, what's it going to cost us if we wait longer? I go back to our previous town manager who lost his son. That's inexcusable. Any life is inexcusable. First of all, I'll say that because there's an election coming up that I'm pushing this through, I'm gonna tell you right now, that's not true. We've been working on this with Brian and his team and everybody else for a long time. It takes time to get the information together so we know what we're talking about. This presentation, 83 pages long, has given us that direction and has given us information that we can utilize to make a great decision. It's been tweaked over the past 15 months, more than once. So I want people to realize that when we make decisions as council, that we're acting in the best interest of our community. and that we're not doing it for ourselves. Getting tired of some of the rhetoric that's out there. I'm pushing back a little bit right now. Every single one of us loves this island and that's why we're sitting in these seats. That's why y'all are here too. But when it comes time to make a decision to move something forward, it's about what's best for all of us. and our businesses and our guests and our property owners. I've heard today a lot of great ideas and we've had great conversation. That's what we've been looking for. That's the process. Trust the process. Steve, I wish we had a blank slate. I really do. A blank slate to work with, an open canvas, but we don't. So we have to work around that. I've heard most everybody said that they're good with moving forward with this conceptual plan. That's great. That means we can actually do something and hopefully save a couple of lives. I don't think that by moving this forward in August or September, whenever that month is, I don't think it prevents us from doing some of these other things that we've talked about today. This is step one in multiple steps. We have a lot of different things to address when it comes to the roads. We've got the chaplain area that we need to address. The bike paths and the walkways there are dangerous. So there are lots of different things, and we've had conversations about those in the past. Main Street is still one that we've got to address. And I think sooner than later. So I'm pleased where this has gone today. And I think that we've made a great stride in identifying other areas for conversations. So Mr. Orlando, I want to throw it back to you real quick to see if there's something that we didn't answer, something we haven't provided for you. because I'm thinking that we've done a pretty thorough job.

Mayor Perry, thank you for that. I as well, before we leave, I do want to thank the team that's here, the staff team, the consultant team, the feedback we've heard in your patience and guidance over the years. Yeah, I've been working on this for five and a half years now direct, a little bit longer indirect. I think I have the answers I have, but I think just for clarity, as I always try to do, I try to summarize what I think I heard and maybe part as a staff, at least on what that is. I would like to also provide some clarity. I think that's important. I heard some comments, I heard some comments. I think we need clarity in this room. Absolutely. So if I could, Projects in the capital program. We'd like to see those projects in the capital program. There are projects in the capital program. I wanna say that out loud and remind us, right? What is in the capital program? Main Street, I hear whispers over on my right side. Main Street with the pathways, the safe routes to school, the mid block intersections and some of that work. We have a plan almost baked. It is not a complete street. I wouldn't even say it's a complete-ish street, but we're trying to respect the within the right of way lines of what we do on that street. And frankly, I got a little frustrated myself living close by watching some of those similar people walk home from the grocery store to and from work at nine o'clock at night. So we're gonna propose a plan in there. We'll probably fund it and keep in mind, we put that project as a priority in the referendum project list with Beaufort County. So Squire Pope Road is in the CIP. TIF money, current TIF money. Spanish Wells, CIP. Gumtree Road, CIP. We just met with the county and requested our portion of the transportation impact fees as a fund transfer through an intergovernmental agreement. The William Hilton Parkway Gateway corridor master plan remains in the CIP. And then also in there is the sea pine circle. And so we know that as you improve, as we improve this corridor, you're going to push some of the problem into the cross island, into Palmetto Bay Road, into business route, William Hilton Parkway data. We've measured it right. And I've just said, you know, time time saved over a mile and a half is negligible when you look at 40 miles per hour without signals. but instead of just trying to provide level of service a b c d e through intersections we have provided what we've looked at as a performance matrix you see time in that matrix we can provide it to you absolutely we can show that scope clarity we know that upstream and downstream impacts are important right to the bridge and through to and through i should say the cross island Let's leave it at that. Beaufort County DOT, we have met with them and if Secretary Powell is listening and his team is listening, I wanna say a professional thank you to them. Secretary Powell is a great listener. His team is a great listener and they've worked with us. I will remind us though, I think it is important when we talk about meeting with Beaufort County and understanding Beaufort County, I just want it for the room. And I think that's sometimes my hard job. We've met with them. We voted on a referendum. It was $80 million. There are joint resolutions, resolutions, joint meetings. The dollars went to the bridge. We haven't, we have not, and it's hard to professionally not take offense when I keep hearing that we've been working on this so long. We haven't been working on this that long. We have been working on this only since the county, post joint resolution, took all the dollars and put them on the bridge, which is needed. But it didn't leave dollars in the referendum corridor dollars to fix the corridor. So you directed me not that long ago. I don't feel late. I wanna tell you that. There's other people listening too. I don't feel late. I've always said I'm in a hurry to get this done right. The data we have, I believe is relevant and it's updated. We have some generalized 24, but some 25 counts. So I just want to respectfully make sure that my team is nodding their heads to say that the data that presents itself in the presentation and the data that's used for all of your analysis, is it outdated?

No, not in my opinion, professional opinion of that. Usually the Traffic Council or Turning Movement Council 2025, DOT accepts those for a year, two years down the road. And then we looked at the 2025 ADTs that SCDOT published. Some of these went, down by 100 or so, some went up by 100 or so. And those ADTs aren't used in those levels of service analysis. That's your peak hour counts that are from 2025, which are still relevant.

Thank you. There's some great discussion today on some short-term solutions, again, in our CIP. The one thing that isn't in our CIP, and I think it brought to light maybe a higher priority is Chamberlain. And so we're gonna start looking at that. And I hear that it's a priority, Ms. Becker, I hear about the Humane Society. If you look closely at the plan, it shows a pathway through there. It shows a road improvement in there. And I would say if anybody is listening, and I'm sure a lot are that really care about the Humane Society and Humane Way, you're gonna be really close to a park. You're gonna be really close to a sidewalk or a pathway to get you to that park. And there could be great opportunities. You can play pickleball and adopt a dog through it. And I think that that is an awesome opportunity too, because as we build that space, it's for the community. And we've been talking a little bit internally with that. Cross Island Westbound, I heard to improve the access off of the westbound. Speed Limit Enforcement, Squire Pope PM Peak. If we look at it, you can look at your presentation, but as we start thinking about right in, right out, you can see the numbers on there from the peak. from the peak volume, you're having about 141 p.m. and 190 p.m. turning movements off 278 onto Scarpo Pro. So those would have to go down the street and turn left. And then you're having 48 peak and 57 PM, and that's not exact every single time, but those would have to disperse now up Gumtree and maybe front gate of HHP or Gumtree, however people are finding their way around, but there's solutions there and it's somewhere, and I'm relying on Sean Leininger math, six to 8% of the road movements are impacted there, but it might be something to look at right now. The sooner I hear from town council on position, I will make it the highest priority to start seeking funding. And just for confidence, we've already started working on a TIF district internally. We will lean on our partners with that and potential partners. is Beaufort County and Beaufort County School District, safe routes to schools, bus drive, both intersections at the ends of bus drive, as well as the work with Beaufort County. So I just, I let you know that that's going to need alignment with the school district board and the Beaufort County Council, not just internally here. So we'll come forward to finance committee on that when we can. From a path forward, some clarity, I think I have it. A resolution consideration, if it passes, should it pass? funding search, project plans. And then as that comes to light, then we would see it again and closely in every single year that your town council prioritizes a project through the annual plus five year capital improvement program. And so there's so many ways, you're gonna see this again in TIF, you're gonna see this again through the fiscal year adoption. And where I think we're gonna have to have a lot of conversation with the county and with the school district, not just on the bridge, but on the TIF and the funding source. So hopefully that helps. Yep, it does.

always um so to a point that you made and I think it was a good one to make in terms of the we and the project that have been being worked on I think that it was clear to me in Clarity um that we have been conflating two different things right so when we talk about this project we often talk about it since 2017, whenever it was that we put together that committee. And so we think about the bridge. But what we're currently talking about is the master plan, which is different. And so people should take a moment distinguish that for themselves in their minds in terms of process and progress. But I also, you mentioned a lot of things and there are lots of follow-ups to be had, but one of the most important that I want to make sure that we don't leave the room without at least maybe giving guidance, I don't know, We've heard that there's an opportunity at Spanish Wells to begin a part of this. I forgot which letter it was. I think it was A. And... My question is, how soon, if we can prioritize that, because we talk about time, an extra hour for tourists to get on and what that does to our destination, etc. And all of that is very valid and very important. But we also have to think about residents. And in that area, it's the residents who suffer the most. those who are coming home from work, who have all kinds of machinations that they take to get down Spanish Wells Road to their homes or coming out. as I said before, as an example, get to a child's game over at the school, or whatever the case may be. And that solution at Spanish Wells, as I understand it, helps to solve our residents' problems. And, you know, residents first. We've all heard that before. I know I've said it. I think we all believe it. And to your point, Mayor, yes, all of the things that you prefaced your comments with, we know that. We're doing this for the betterment of this community. and for each and every resident here on the island. And it does take us a while. We'll get it right. But if we can start some of these easy fixes, in quotes, I'm all in. I'd like for all of us to give the manager that direction tonight.

Yeah, and I would say that we did because there's money, there's some money budgeted for some of this. But I think with the resolution, we can direct it then at that time.

So the resolution should be very specific in that regard.

In the current CIP, Project A has soft costs attached to it to get us to that double left turn off Jones or off of Spanish Wells Road. So it's funded. I think that's important for everybody here as we get the calls. We are aware of that traffic that's stacked up on Spanish. We know the development that has caused it past and future impacts. but that is funded as well as a few others, including the Squire-Pope intersection, continuous T, anticipating, and I wasn't spending any engineering dollars yet until you approve this, but it's funded in the budget. And that's why I encourage your direction and through the resolution.

Awesome. Thank you all. It's been a good meeting. Brian Dillon, thank you all for everything that you've put into this over the years. And thank you. All right, we're adjourned. Our pleasure.