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Water controversy threatens to dry up constructions jobs
Water company, conservation league at odds about size of waterline
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Contractor Chuck Bennett, president of Charleston-based Chuck Bennett Contracting Inc., fears a sorrow-filled Christmas for his home-construction crews.
In about six months, Bennett’s workers will complete the second phase of The Villages in St. John’s Woods, a 130-acre subdivision on Johns Island. About 300 single-family houses are planned in the four-phase development. The first phase, consisting of more than 70 homes, is complete, and the second phase, about another 70 homes, is currently under construction. However, Bennett is prohibited from starting the development’s third phase unless the Coastal Conservation League and the St. John’s Water Co. Inc. resolve their waterline dispute.
St. John’s Water wants to install a 30-inch waterline to strengthen its tapped-out water system and serve The Villages in St. John’s Woods and future growth on Johns Island. The Coastal Conservation League, which sued St. John’s Water to stop the installation of the 30-inch waterline, argues that a 24-inch waterline will suffice. Without water, the third and fourth phases of The Village’s in St. John’s Woods cannot be built.
The case is being decided in the state Court of Appeals. Unless the conflict is settled, Bennett will have to layoff his workers, including direct employees, subcontractors, materials suppliers and others—more than 320 people in all. The subdivision’s two other contractors, Lone Oak Development and The Altman Group, both of whose construction crews are about as large as Bennett’s, also will be out of work. Nearly 1,000 construction personnel will be jobless.
The trickle-down
Additionally, the sales office of The Villages in St. John’s Woods will be forced to shut down, putting four additional employees out of work.
“The trickle down will be incredible,” says Bennett.
“Everybody who has anything to do with building a house will be affected,” says Gina Kozek, vice president of Lone Oak Development; everyone from painters to Port-a-Potty suppliers.
The contractors say they have no other home construction projects line up if construction on The Villages in St. John’s Woods is halted. Even a temporary halt to construction would be harmful because it would be difficult to re-mobilize workers.
“St. John’s Water Co. Inc. is also concerned about the potential loss of construction jobs on Johns Island,” says company Chairman Guy Buckner Jr. “However, since the Coastal Conservation League has the construction of the water line held up in the Court of Appeals, we cannot move forward until a decision is made by the court. The Conservation League’s legal action has halted construction of the much needed water line which will improve water pressure, enhance quality service, assure adequate fire protection and ensure personal health.”
“The fact that people will have to be laid off is unfortunate,” says Megan Terebus, land-use associate for the Conservation League. “However, the 30-inch waterline was denied by the Charleston County Board of Zoning Appeals. We at the Conservation League have always said a waterline is needed for Johns Island but not a 30-inch water line.” She adds that the Conservation League offered to settle with St. John’s Water in February 2004, but the water company refused.
The waterline controversy began in March 2003 when St. John’s Water sought approval from Charleston County to install an 11-mile, 30-inch waterline that would run from James Island, across the Stono River and onto Johns Island, extending from the Johns Island Executive Airport on River Road to the Seabrook Island border. The county denied the request, claiming the water company left a number of questions unanswered, the biggest being whether St. John’s Water examined alternatives to the 30-inch waterline, says Dan Pennick, assistant director of county planning.
However, a circuit court judge overturned the county’s decision. The Conservation League appealed the judge’s decision, saying a 30-inch waterline would spawn too much growth on Johns Island.
St. John’s Water and the Conservation League have not met to discuss the issue since 2004.
CPW supplies water?
Bennett and others wonder why the Charleston Commissioners of Public Works does not supply water for the entire Villages in St. John’s Woods subdivision. The CPW supplied water for the development’s first phase. St. John’s Water, which buys its water from the CPW, serves the second phase but lacks the capacity to serve the third and fourth phases without an additional waterline.
In an April 11 letter to Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Edwin Pearlstine, the developer of The Villages in St. John’s Woods, sided with St. John’s Water, saying the company is “definitely right” to install a 30-inch water main because it will carry 40% more water than a 24-inch water main.
“It makes no sense to install a 24-inch main when, for a very small difference in price, a 30-inch one can be installed,” wrote Pearlstine. “Not only does this make economic sense, but environmental sense to avoid having to dig a second trench for a second water main to be installed in the near future.”
No water, no sales
However, Pearlstine would like to see the water company and the Conservation League settle their differences quickly. The waterline fight is frustrating Pearlstine, who has a product consumers want—houses that start in the low $200,000 range—but he will not be able to sell unless water becomes available. And while the controversy continues, putting the remaining phases of The Villages in St. John’s Woods in limbo, interest rates could rise and cool down the currently hot real estate market.
“The real estate market is dynamic,” Pearlstine says. “I don’t know how the market will be when this thing gets settled.”
Pearlstine, a retired Anheuser-Busch distributor, purchased The Villages in St. John’s Woods tract in 1996. Construction began in 2001.
While Pearlstine is anxious for the waterline conflict to be resolved, St. John’s Water is sticking to its guns.
“The water company has provided quality drinking water for over 30 years to the residents of Johns Island,” says Ava Robichaux, general manager of St. John’s Water. “In our endeavor to continue our commitment to the people of Johns Island, the board of the water company has spent considerable time investigating the need for the 30-inch waterline and remain confident that this course of action is the appropriate route to assure that residents of the island will continue to have quality water service as well as meeting the needs projected in the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan.
“The realization of this need was not only a provision of the county’s Comprehensive Plan, but is also strongly backed by sound engineering and well-documented research that indicates without this line, water pressure, fire safety and continued quality service will all suffer,” Robichaux continues.
The Charleston County Comprehensive Plan, a guideline for the county’s growth and development adopted in 1999, calls for “the expansion of public water service areas to existing urban and suburban centers, to designated industrial and business corridors and to moderate density suburban communities adjacent to urban and suburban centers.” The plan does not mention size regulations for waterlines.
Charleston County has taken no position on the waterline dispute. “That’s an issue between the developer, the water company and the citizens,” says Jennifer Miller, director of the county’s planning department.
On April 29, state legislators in the House approved a bill requiring all municipalities to provide water and sewer service to anyone within boundaries of the municipality that requested these services. The impact of this legislation on the John’s Island water controversy remains to be seen.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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