|
Berkeley County enters development agreement
By Jessica Johnson
Contributing Writer
Members of the Berkeley County Council have unanimously approved a development agreement with Crescent Resources and the Parks of Berkeley, making way for a new 13,000-home community situated on 4,500 acres between Summerville and Moncks Corner.
Although such agreements are typical with large-scale developments, Berkeley County Council members took it slowly because the county had never signed one before.
“This is the first development agreement contract we have every done. It was a little confusing to the council,” said James Rozier, Berkeley County supervisor.
Crescent Resources, the real estate arm of Duke Power in North Carolina, closed on the former MeadWestvaco timberland last year. Crescent and the Parks of Berkeley plan to develop the area into an inclusive community where residents would live, work and play. Developing the tract would take approximately 30 years; the first 15% of the development would take five years to complete.
The agreement between the county council and the developers locks today’s zoning regulations in place for the next 30 years. The agreement does not include 58 acres of the tract, which are in
Summerville.
“The developers would not be subject to zoning changes,” said Nicole Ewing, Berkeley County’s attorney. “It’s a big benefit to the developer, who can rely on the laws in effect today for the term of the contract.”
Developers would still have to obtain the usual permits and plat approvals before beginning construction. The development agreement expires in January 2036.
“It gives both sides confidence in what is going to be done in the development and what is allowed to be done in that development,” Rozier said.
Neil C. Robinson Jr., a Charleston attorney representing the developers, said the Parks of Berkeley could build the entire development with regulations in place today.
The agreement came at a price, and other developers working with the county can expect to pay similar fees.
Crescent Resources and the Parks of Berkeley agreed to pay construction fees if the county fails to implement an impact fee schedule by December 2006. The county also promised not to charge future developers any less than fees negotiated in the contract until and unless the county develops an impact fee schedule.
The page of fees the developers will pay to the county includes $1,322 for every single-family home; $1,309 to $1,802 per every 1,000 square feet of office space; and $7,022 for every gasoline pump at a convenience store.
The fees could equal $26 million paid to the county over the term of the agreement, Richardson said.
The Parks of Berkeley would receive the county’s water and sewer at the going rates, but the developer would be responsible for infrastructure within the development.
The agreement also includes a section on roadways declaring a need for a road, Sheep Island Parkway, which would intersect with Interstate 26 west of Alt. U.S. Highway 17 and the entrance of Cane Bay Plantation off of U.S. Highway 176. Developers would be responsible for building the parkway’s first two lanes through the development. However, the agreement said the county would be responsible for widening it to four lanes in the future.
William Crosby, Berkeley County council member from Goose Creek, said his questions delayed the agreement’s approval. Now that he’s been through the process, he said he wouldn’t want another large development without a similar agreement.
“It gives us something to go back to,” he said.
Future arrangements would reword portions pertaining to road construction because the county doesn’t build roads, Crosby said.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version