Property rights, infrastructure development hot issues

By SARAH G. MCC. MOISE
Staff Writer

Dorchester County’s quality of life and school districts have been a driving force in the growth the county has experienced.

“When you look at Dorchester County and our proximity to the coast, rivers, lakes, at the lower end of the county’s school district—we are an area that people want to live in, raise a family, and educate their children,” says District 2 Councilman and Chair Chris Murphy.

From 1990 to 2004, the southeastern part of Dorchester County’s population has grown 27%, according to information released at a recent Charleston Area Transportation Study meeting.

However, with this growth comes congestion and controversy. To relieve some of the immediate difficulties, the county’s citizens recently approved a one-cent sales tax for improving road infrastructure. County Council has also adopted a planned unit development ordinance, which helps control development by giving it some control in shaping the developments that are springing up throughout the county.

Much of the controversy comes with the development of the historic and pristine area along Highway 61 and the Ashley River corridor. The council is considering restricting development in that area.

Proposed zoning restrictions

New zoning restrictions and a special designation is proposed in Dorchester County for the historic district that runs down Highway 61 along the Ashley River corridor. The area is known for its historic plantation properties, pristine riverfront and undeveloped land, recently sold to developers by MeadWestvaco, a packaging and specialty paper provider with facilities in Summerville and North Charleston. This proposed “historical overlay district” would create an ordinance to limit growth in that area by zoning one house per eight acres, or R-8 zoning, instead of the usual three or four houses per acre.

“The county is trying to limit growth or have low density in that area,” says Larry Hargett, District 4 councilman. “The zoning would limit growth, reduce traffic and reduce the necessity to have county services, such as water and roads; houses would have their own septic systems.”

But District 7 Councilman Skip Elliott is deeply concerned that allowing state or county government to dictate how personal assets can be used may have detrimental affects on the way citizens live and enjoy life.

“The council had passed certain land use restrictions that I thought were an infringement on people’s properties rights,” he says. “R-8 is too restrictive, and the boundaries of the district are too far reaching.”

An ad hoc committee was appointed by the council in late February to try to reach a consensus on the boundaries and uses of the historic corridor. The committee is also looking into grandfathering the rules for small landowners, whose developmental impact would not have as dramatic an affect on schools and roads.

“The ad hoc committee gets people to talk, neighbor to neighbor,” explains Mike Murphree, District 6 councilman. “When the landowner is sitting across the table, the land is no longer an inanimate object. It’s somebody’s livelihood, home, heritage, family inheritance, 401K plan. It puts a different light on it.”

Road limitations

Adding to the growth restriction is traffic limitations put on Highway 61. At present, the South Carolina Department of Transportation has set a limit allowing only an additional 700 cars on the road. This means developments like 6,600-acre Watson Hill could only construct new homes that would not exceed the capacity of the highway. The county’s proposed ordinance, in its present form, would limit the number of houses on the tract to about 800, which is well below the planned 4,500 homes.

One solution to this that would allow the development to occur is the continuation of the Glenn McConnell Parkway.

“Over the next seven years, some of the major arterials in the lower part of the county will expand to handle traffic,” says Elliott. “You solve the developer’s problem by building the Glenn McConnell Parkway to take the pressure off of Highway 61.”

This solution has alarmed some residents, who have long relied on inadequate roadways as a barrier to new construction and are concerned that large developments could destroy what is a relatively pristine historical corridor.

“The people who are fighting the building of the Glenn McConnell are the ones who don’t want Highway 61 overcrowded,” says Elliott. “If you don’t want Highway 61 impacted or the Glen McConnell Parkway, then you don’t want growth.”

Elliott challenges the relative hypocrisy of such attitudes, saying, “When an economic development package is presented to council, it’s always voted (unanimously) in favor. Well, economic development means jobs, and jobs mean people. People have to have a place to live. The best way to stop growth is stop economic development, but no one wants to do that.”

One-cent sales tax and roads

To help ease the current burden on its roads, Dorchester County proposed a one-cent sales tax referendum for road improvements, which was approved.

Projects on the drawing board are widening Bacons Bridge Road and Dorchester Road, from Oakbrook to Highway 17-A, to four lanes. Orangeburg Road and Highways 78 and 178 will also be widened, and the Berlin J. Myers Parkway will be completed to its termination point on 17-A. Additionally, more than 200 dirt roads are designated for paving. The county will start collecting the new tax May 1. The tax is projected to generate around $125 million.

These improvements should alleviate traffic pressures and improve the chances of the Watson Hill development, which include plans for up to 4,500 houses around a golf course, a luxury hotel and a preserve of nearly 4,000 acres.

Planned unit development

Another solution to the historic overlay issue could be requiring all developers within the proper, established boundaries to develop land as a Planned Unit Development. Normally a house built in Dorchester County requires 14,500 feet or about a third of an acre. A PUD allows developers to decrease lot size provided they set aside land for community conveniences, such as grocery stores, gas stations, schools, fire or police stations.

“A PUD gives county council a lot of say as to what goes into that development,” espouses Elliott. “A developer can build on a smaller lot size but has to set aside green space and certain amenities to take care of the people living there. We have a development agreement with them, so if they change their plan, they have to come back and renegotiate.”

The county is promoting PUDs in other areas as well. “We’re doing smart growth, where we plan with the developers how many properties will be permitted in a given subdivision,” explains Hargett. “We look at a whole series of factors; the biggest is infrastructure—roads, sewer, water and county services. How much can we deliver to a given area? From a cost standpoint, does the development makes sense or not?”

Hargett says the county has seen good cooperation with developers and is trying to communicate and ease them through the governmental permitting process.

Economic development changes

Much of the growth that is occurring is situated in the lower end of Dorchester County, and the county’s efforts have been focused on landing mid-size companies with 50 to 100 employees that don’t tax sewer and water capacity.

The county’s economic development department was responsible for $95 million in economic development in 2004, creating 384 new jobs. Some of those companies were ECMD Inc., International Transloaders LLC and Fruit of the Loom in Jedburg; Preferred Providers for La France fire engines and Easy Trade LLC packaged vegetables in Summerville; and St. George opened its doors to Road King Trailers and Signature Homes.

However, lack of a sewer and water corridor has been the limiting factor for economic and residential development in the upper part of the county. But that may soon change.

District 5 councilman Richard Rosebrock is spearheading the county’s efforts to gain infrastructure along the I-95 corridor in upper Dorchester. “Dorchester County is part of the Lake Marion Regional Water System, which will bring economic development down the I-95 corridor.”

He says that although St. George was initially to sign contracts committing to buy 100% of their water from Lake Marion Water Authority, it acquiesced after Berkeley County and a collaborative of half a dozen counties north of Lake Marion both signed a contract for 2.5 million gallons a day.

St. George also broke ground in January on its new water treatment plant in Santee. “We are analyzing purchasing easements in the first phase; St. George was one of the first cities to go into that,” says Rosebrock. The first phase cost $60 million, and Congressman Jim Clyburn is committed to furnishing the remaining $150 million to complete the project.

With fresh options for development, Hargett is championing a new form of economic development for the upper region of the county—a new concept called an “inland port.”

“We have a railroad track that runs from North Charleston through Summerville into St. George, and it comes close to the I-95 and I-26 intersection,” says Hargett. “Containers could be loaded on rail by ship from Charleston and taken to an inland port, where the containers could be offloaded from train to trucks.”

One of biggest benefits would be getting truck traffic off of I-26 and roads in North Charleston and Summerville. Hargett says the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments is advocating the concept, and Dorchester is collaborating with Orangeburg and Berkeley counties. Charleston County is involved, but those three counties are leading the charge.

Economic development comes with a price. The council is discussing whether to set aside money in the next fiscal year to fund an in-depth study regarding development and its cost and effects.

“I would like to know what development is costing the county: the cost of services for sewer, water, police and fire protection, our school system and our roads,” says Murphy. “How to we accommodate the need to grow, while balancing the problems that come with growth—such as increased traffic and school population—and providing government services for the increase in population?”

Sarah Moise is a staff writer for the Business Journal.

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