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A bumpy road
Battle continues over development along scenic highway
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
When it comes to tourism, the S.C. Highway 61 corridor is perhaps the most visited part of the Charleston area aside from the downtown historic district.
Much-photographed for its canopies of Spanish moss-hung live oaks, Highway 61 is home to the “Big Three” Ashley River plantations: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Middleton Place and Drayton Hall. The state’s oldest church building, Old Saint Andrews Parish Church, also lies along this former Indian path, and the Ashley River flows parallel to the highway from its headwaters near Summerville in Dorchester County.
However, where tourists see plantations, developers see opportunity.
Dorchester County is the state’s fastest-growing county, with a population of 112,500 in 2005 compared with 96,900 in 1990. Land values along Highway 61, midway between Charleston and Summerville, are far higher for residential development than for farming and demand for housing in the Lowcountry isn’t shrinking.
Can the area sustain the history and natural beauty that secure tourist dollars while opening the door to economic growth and residential development?
Dorchester County has been debating the issue and will set the stage for future development along Highway 61 when an ordinance that would limit high-density development on thousands of acres of land in the area goes up for a third and final reading May 7.
The proposed Ashley River Historic Overlay District would require lots to be at least four acres in the heart of the district, and would allow only one unit per three acres between the highway and the river, where land parcels are smaller.
The first two readings have passed, most recently with a 5-2 vote March 5.
“We call it a super majority vote,” said Dorchester County Council Chairman Larry Hargett. “There’s a great interest in preserving that area from over-development and high-density development. We don’t mind a little development. One house per every three or four acres is low-density.”
The county has been debating the ordinance for two years. Not everyone thinks development limitations along Highway 61 would be a wise move for Dorchester County, especially for landowners in the area.
“Their land values are going to be decreased,” said Phillip Ford, executive vice president of the Charleston Home Builders Association. “The land is probably 40 to 50 percent wetlands, so it already has a built-in density restriction. If you’ve got 1,000 acres and you want to build a subdivision, 40 to 50 percent of it is unbuildable because of wetlands. Throw in on top of that that the county wants to reduce that even further and they’re further eroding the property values of those landowners.”
Ford said he thinks the area’s reputation as a pristine, historic and archeologically significant area has been somewhat exaggerated, because much of the land targeted for development has been used in the past for tree farming.
“Nobody wants to destroy or ruin the plantations. Those are a symbol of Charleston and our history,” Ford said. “But when you restrict development you end up creating more sprawl and development elsewhere because you still have to fulfill that demand. It ends up costing the taxpayer because you’re having to put in more streets and infrastructure and so forth. Builders don’t just build houses to build houses. Typically they build to meet demand.”
Dorchester County’s planning director, Harold Leamond, said the overlay district was proposed for the Highway 61 area because of its uniqueness.
“It’s a state scenic highway and a federally designated scenic highway, so there was a feeling that we would like to preserve it and we don’t want to see the road overwhelmed by too many cars,” Leamond said. “Council felt that this is such an important part of Summerville, let’s preserve at least this one small part.”
A fervor of support for the overlay district has grown in the wake of large-scale development plans proposed for the area, particularly for Watson Hill, a community that would have nearly 5,000 homes, plus golf, tennis and other amenities. The 6,670-acre Watson Hill Tract was purchased for $34 million in 2004 by developer Richard Lam.
Summerville and North Charleston are currently challenging each other in court over annexation rights to the property. If North Charleston wins, officials are expected to approve the plan, but its scale would not be approved as part of Summerville’s Ashley River Historic Overlay District.
“The infrastructure is not there to support that type of development,” Leamond said. “My concern as a planner is that we would put 4,500 homes on a two-lane road with no hope of any relief in the foreseeable future and no water and sewer, either.”
Megan Desrosiers, program director for the Coastal Conservation League, said the zoning under the proposed overlay district would allow for developments such as equestrian facilities.
“The overlay district is intended to promote development of that sort. It’s not intended to stop all development,” Desrosiers said. “It allows one unit per four acres, which is more than what the Charleston side of (Highway) 61 allows.”
Desrosiers was surprised by Watson Hill’s recent request to fill in 138 acres of wetlands on the property, which would be the largest parcel of wetlands ever filled for a residential development in the Lowcountry if approved, she said.
“Nobody expected the developer to do that, because their filling of the 138 acres is based on the premise that they would be permitted to build 4,995 units,” Desrosiers said.
The annexation lawsuit has been in court for a year and Leamond said it is probably a third of the way through the litigation process.
George McDaniel, executive director of Drayton Hall, said that if Watson Hill were annexed into North Charleston, the plantation would fight the development as it seeks permits along the way.
“Everything we can do in the arsenal that’s available to the public, we’ll be using in our campaign against Watson Hill for a development of that scale,” McDaniel said.
Drayton Hall, which is one of the few pre-Revolutionary War private homes in the United States that still exists in close to original condition, is in Charleston County, just four miles east of the Dorchester County line.
The plantation has about 55,000 visitors annually and offers on-site education programs for about 10,000 Lowcountry students.
“You can imagine the impact just on the school programs if we had traffic jams, not to mention the impact on our regular visitation,” McDaniel said.
He said he hopes the proposed overlay ordinance will send a signal to North Charleston that high-density development is not wanted in the area, even if North Charleston winds up with the Watson Hill property.
County Council Chairman Hargett said Dorchester County has made a bold statement in drafting the ordinance.
“We think they’re going to have a fight on their hands if they have high-density development,” Hargett said. “Highway 61 is a scenic state road and a federal scenic byway. It is actually the oldest recorded highway still in use in the nation. They’re going to have the state and federal government after them.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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