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Sheep Island project to herd 13,000 homes on 4,500 acres
By Matthew French
Staff Writer
Crescent Resources, the real estate arm of Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Power, late last month filed an application to rezone about 4,500 acres in Berkeley County for a proposed 13,000-unit housing development, one of the largest residential communities ever proposed in the county.
The property, which Crescent would develop as The Parks of Berkeley, is bordered by Interstate 26 on the southwest, Highway 17A on the south, Sheep Island Road on the west and Highway 176 on the east. The site borders the Cane Bay Plantation site, which comprises 2,000 acres and a proposed 5,000 residential units.
If the county approves the rezoning, the land would be approved for mixed use, which would allow for a 30-year development of a planned community with residential, retail, commercial, light industrial and civic uses including neighborhood schools.
Crescent has appointed John Roach as vice president of The Parks of Berkeley LLC to oversee the project. Roach says the plans call for a mix of homes including 6,150 single-family homes, 1,480 townhouses, 3,300 multifamily homes and a “village district” with 2,350 residential units and commercial and retail space.
“The proposed land use plan would allow the county and the developer to apply smart suburban growth practices over the next three decades to create a community that meets the different land use needs of area residents,” Roach says.
Planned communities have become more popular in the region as the population density gets higher.
“Tremendous thought and consideration has been given to the infrastructure and area amenities so residents will be able to live, work, play, shop and go to school within the community,” says Kenny Seamon of Seamon Whiteside & Associates Inc., the project’s land planning and engineering firm.
County officials say the area won’t be packed with people. County supervisor Jim Rozier says as much as 50% of the neighborhood would be greenspace.
“The plans I have seen certainly
indicate that this is the type of development that would fit nicely in our plans to develop the complete community,” Rozier says. “As we develop this area, quality of life issues will certainly be addressed.”
The Parks project will seek preliminary approval from the county planning board this month, which will give the company the green light to begin designing the buildings and layout. The long process thereafter includes design approval, engineering approval, water, sewer and setbacks, Rozier says.
“This is a very long process for both Cane Bay and The Parks of Berkeley,” Rozier says. “We’re looking at a 25-to-30-year build-out.”
Rozier cautions that any approval given will hinge on a balance between residential, commercial and light industrial use so that the county can maintain its stable tax base.
“Our millage today is less than it was in 1991 and 1992, and we want to pursue business and industry so we can keep pace with that,” he says.
The Parks is not yet incorporated, and Crescent has expressed to Berkeley County that it isn’t interested in incorporating. Some residents will likely have a Summerville address and some might have one from Moncks Corner. However, given the length of time that the project will take, it is unlikely that at least one community won’t try to absorb the property.
Berkeley County recently changed the zoning rules for the county to control population density and reduced the number of homes that can be built from 10 per acre to three.
“We were very conscious about controlled growth,” Rozier says. “The Parks of Berkeley will run between 25 percent and 50 percent open space. It depends on how Crescent decides to build.”
Rozier explains that the houses per acre limit can be tweaked to provide more open space. Just because the county allows three units per acre doesn’t mean each unit will sit on its own 1/3-acre site, he says. The company can cluster the units closer together and leave the rest of the acrage open for green space.
The county planning commission will meet this week to determine preliminary approval of Crescent’s proposal.
Matthew French is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at mfrench@charlestonbusiness.com.
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