It's Monday afternoon and its cold and wet. This afternoon I'm in my small tastefully furnished office on Carteret Street. This afternoon I'm thinking about Port Royal and its effort to reinvent itself.

Thanks to Gov. Mark Sanford, and others like Dick Stewart and Catherine Ceips, Port Royal will have an opportunity to redevelop the Ports Authority owned property. We all know the Ports Authority has been persuaded to close-down its money-losing operation in Port Royal and abandon the waterfront acreage that runs along the southwestern side of town from the Sands almost to Ribaut Road.

But the bottom line for the Ports Authority is $25 million and this differs from what the town wants out of this process.

Right at the moment Port Royal is evaluating proposals from six design firms from around the country. These proposals are responsive to Port Royal's request for a "vision" -- a plan for the best way to rebuild, remake and redevelop its waterfront.

Port Royal has asked each of these design firms to consider a list of factors that includes, of course, generating tax revenue for the town. But Port Royal has asked for something more than money. These additional considerations might be called "quality of life" considerations.

Port Royal doesn't want its quality of life diminished or overwhelmed by a solid, viewblocking row of Hilton Head-inspired condominiums. Port Royal is mostly modest houses and it doesn't want its "small cottage look" overwhelmed by monumental, high-rise architecture. It has a smaller, human scale than its antebellum neighbor, Beaufort.

Nor does Port Royal want the waterfront to be an enclave for the rich. It wants this redeveloped property to be home to some moderately incomed folk who will provide the diversity that currently exists in the town. Nobody in the town wants to wake up one morning and find new, high-priced properties forcing people into Allendale County.

Port Royal also wants open space, views of the water and, of course, access to the waterfront.

Now the State Ports Authority assures Port Royal that it will take its desires into mind when they do their "vision thing." And the Ports Authority is not doing this entirely out of good will. It knows that 11 acres of this property is zoned "limited industrial" and whatever zoning the Ports Authority eventually needs will have to go through Town Council. But rather than wait for Port Royal's ideas about use and scale, the Ports Authority has decided on residential lots and has put a high-end price tag on the property. This happened last month.

On Jan. 21, there was a subcommittee meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee. That meeting involved Representatives Larry Koon and Lewis Vaughn, as well as people from the governor's office. Also present was Bernie Groseclose who is the executive director of the Ports Authority.

At that meeting the governor's office indicated that the Port Royal property was probably worth $25 million because it could be subdivided into 50, one-acre lots averaging $500,000 each. The committee then agreed that the $25 million would be divided equally between the Ports Authority and the general fund -- each getting $12.5 million.

Actually there are only 22 acres in the complex, but what was equally unfortunate was the stated imperative that this sale should "happen this year." This rush -- apparently to get the $12.5 million into the state's coffers this year -- is not good because the town wants a vision process that may not get completed "this year."

It seems the poiliticians are just saying, "show me the money!"