By Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com
Published April 21, 2009

A railroad-related amendment to a Senate bill has drawn fire from North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, who said it could undermine the positive gains and revitalization efforts made by the state’s third-largest city in recent years.

In an unabridged online posting, Summey took issue with an amendment proposed by Berkeley County Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, that would take the recommendations of a statewide rail study and turn them into law.

Specifically, a consultant working for the state offered several options for dual rail access for CSX and Norfolk Southern to property in North Charleston. One option, which Merrill is apparently supporting, disregards a previous agreement that rail wouldn’t be developed on the northern end of the former Navy base, where the Noisette Co. is planning a mixed-use neighborhood. Ignoring that agreement amounts to a taking, Summey said in his posting.

North Charleston was never contacted about the rail study, which was a project of the S.C. Department of Commerce. Summey said overlooking the previous agreement between the state and North Charleston isn’t acceptable, especially when his city has gone from a reputation for smokestacks to a reputation for a “renaissance” — including high-end residential, retail, high-tech companies and a place for arts to thrive.

“They didn’t contact us, and you know they tried to put it on us to be honest with you. We don’t take it lightly to say the least,” Summey said in an interview this morning with the Daily Journal. “If you look in the Park Circle area, how we’ve instilled value in those properties, it’s just ludicrous to think they could walk in and try to take it away from us. We’ve worked so hard at it.”

Summey said he hasn’t specifically talked to Merrill about the issue, but Merrill and others in state government have been made aware of the city’s displeasure.

Merrill wasn’t available for comment Tuesday morning. Summey said Merrill and others were given a letter spelling out the city’s position on expansion of rail access.

Merrill’s amendment is to S.351, a bill aimed at restructuring the S.C. State Ports Authority board.

North Charleston has good legal standing to fight an attempt to overturn the previous agreement, Summey said, but the next step depends on what happens with the legislation. He said plans exist that will work, if lawmakers will only look at them.

“For years, North Charleston has borne the costs of the tri-county area’s economic needs,” Summey wrote on North Charleston’s blog. “We’ve hosted the airport. We’ve had the port. We’ve had the Navy. We’ve had the container yards. We’ve had the factories. But patiently, persistently and sometimes quietly, North Charleston has come into its own and begun to create for itself a different future.”