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Lowcountry growth could impact local, state politics
By Rachel Pleasant
Staff Writer
The Charleston area’s newest subdivisions—whether sketches on paper or meandering their way through the zoning and permitting processes—are in many cases so huge and sprawling that they rival some towns.
Take for instance The Parks of Berkeley, the 13,000-unit development that recently received initial approval from the Berkeley County Council. According to some estimates, 36,000 residents will live in The Parks by the time it is complete, making it bigger than the cities of Hilton Head, Goose Creek, Myrtle Beach, Aiken, Anderson and Florence were in 2004.
The Parks of Berkeley, impressive as it is, is not alone in its size and scope. Mega developments of varying sizes—be it 5,000 or 10,000 homes—are popping up across the tri-county area.
As the ground is broken, and legions of new residents move into these formerly rural areas, the political winds—particularly in Dorchester and Berkeley counties—are sure to change.
Incorporation efforts
As development pounds its way into Berkeley and Dorchester counties—and developments the size of towns are built—it is likely that new towns, complete with new town governments, will be established.
“Because if you’re not incorporated, you don’t have any legal status to oppose development,” said DuBose Kapeluck, an assistant professor of political science at The Citadel.
As a prime example, Kapeluck points to the case of the New Hope and Sheep Island communities in unincorporated Berkeley County.
The adjacent communities are working to incorporate as a new town.
“We are trying to incorporate so that we can become a municipality. We don’t believe we can count on the county,” said Carroll Cash, a New Hope resident who is serving as a spokesperson for the communities.
Since development in Berkeley County is inevitable, Cash and his fellow residents want to play a role in their own destinies and feel they’re in a better position to do that than the county, he said.
“We want to be able to say that if you build in our town, you have to help with schools. The tax burden isn’t going to fall on the residents or on future generations. That seems reasonable to us,” Cash said.
The path to incorporation is a long and arduous process, beginning with defining the boundaries of the municipality, proving that the municipality will have 300 residents per square mile and showing how the municipality plans to provide things such as trash pickup or police, Cash said.
According to state law, a potential new municipality that is within five miles of another municipality—in this case Summerville—must also petition that existing town to show it can or can not annex the area attempting to incorporate, a process that can take six months.
Cash thinks New Hope and Sheep Island are at least 12 months from incorporation, he said.
Creating competition
Should new municipalities, like the one proposed by New Hope and Sheep Island, be established, it would create increased competition among municipalities for tax dollars, said Bill Moore, a professor of political science at the College of Charleston.
“If there’s a local option sales tax, or if there’s one passed, it would mean that money is being divided by more municipalities,” Moore said. “You have to ask the question: Is it cheaper to have existing cities annex or for areas to become new cities? It would create a fragmentation.”
In addition to the new towns—and new town governments that could be created—Moore said, the development in these areas has the potential to create a major shift in the county councils.
“Each county council seat has to represent roughly the same number of people,” Moore said. “As those numbers increase, and the larger population is in the southern part of the county, there could be more chairs located in the South.”
Changing Charleston
The ripple effect from these new developments, and the jump in population that will come with them, may extend beyond the boundaries of Berkeley and Dorchester counties, changing Charleston as a city, Kapeluck said.
For one, he said, Charleston could experience an eroded tax base if residents move to Berkeley and Dorchester counties. While Charleston holds its own when it comes to cultural amenities, eventually the benefits of living in outlying areas may outweigh the positives of living close to the city.
For young families especially, Kapeluck said, the quality of schools in neighboring counties and the numerous housing options being built may be enough to draw them away.
Kapeluck likens the situation to that of James Island, which has for some time looked at incorporating as its own town.
“James Island, for all intents and purposes, is Charleston. You can be downtown in just a few minutes and enjoy all the arts and cultural events, but if James Island incorporates, you can go back and live in James Island and not have to foot the bill for any of it,” Kapeluck said.
He cautions, however, that Charleston as a city plays a pivotal role in this area—one that will survive, if not improve, as Berkeley and Dorchester develop.
“There’s this theory in urban politics dealing with edge cities,” Kapeluck said, referring to the theory touted by author Joel Garreau. “He seems to think that the wave of the future is cities that are like satellites from the main city. Eventually, people not only live in the satellites, but they also start to have their own little economy. The central city stands to benefit because it maintains its position because it gets to do what it does best.”
Applying the “edge city” theory, if people were to live and work outside of Charleston, the city would focus on what makes it unique, strengthening its stance as a destination, Kapeluck said.
“The cultural center would remain Charleston, but your more day-to-day, status quo things would be out that way,” Kapeluck said, referring to outlying counties. “But people would still come to the beaches, the art shows, the good restaurants down here, so you’d see a lot more of that.”
At the Capital
The tangible impact—the homes, the cars, the students—of these new mega developments will be felt locally, but their political effects will extend to Columbia and Washington, D.C.
As more people move into Dorchester and Berkeley counties, political boundaries will be redrawn.
Currently, Moore said, each member of the state House of Representatives represents about 33,000 people, and each state senator represents about 87,000 people. As populations of certain counties increase, it is possible that an area would receive increased representation at the state level, Moore said.
Additionally, U.S. congressional districts are also re-examined every 10 years based on the census.
As political lines shift as a result of encroaching development, so does the nature of the affected counties.
“It continues a change between Old South and New South,” Moore said, using Berkeley County as an example. “The Old South is Moncks Corner and areas to the north and west. This is the more traditional Old South.
“The Old South has a higher percentage of African Americans, typically smaller communities and, in many cases, it’s less likely to be made up of urban professionals. The people are likely to be high school graduates, not college graduates. The New South would in many cases be more white, middle to upper class and professional, managerial and business people.”
The differences between the people that represent the “Old South” and the “New South” translates to differences in voting patterns, Moore said, with members of the traditional South leaning more Democratic and the new southerners leaning more Republican.
Though it is likely that the political forces in these areas will change, and it is possible that there will be a surge in Republican allegiance as new residents move in, but only time will tell how resilient the political loyalty of new Berkeley and Dorchester county residents will be, said Jeri Cabot, an adjunct professor of political science at the College of Charleston.
“South Carolina is a state that’s now becoming a strong Republican state, and Republicans typically find less government attractive,” Cabot said. “But the environment is one of those issues that cuts both ways.”
Certain Republicans, Cabot said, are less concerned about the role of government when it comes to things like their living environment and schools.
“As people come in, they’re gong to expect schools to be of a certain caliber, and they’re going to look for the candidate who is speaking about the schools, bringing in lottery dollars, putting more money into training teachers, upgrading facilities and distributing talent,” Cabot said.
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