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Growing pains: County, town review managed growth
By Lindsay Street
Staff Writer
Like others in the Dorchester and Charleston counties’ regional business community, Phillip Ford sees passage of proposed managed-growth ordinances as a devastating blow to economic development.
“It’s pretty much bad news, not only for the construction industry, but for the economic viability for the county,” said Ford, executive vice president of the Charleston Trident Home Builders’ Association. “We feel like this is basically going to shut down growth. The builders are going to leave and not come back. Industry isn’t going to come. It’s not a scare tactic or anything. It’s an absolute reality.”
Dorchester County and the town of Summerville councils are proposing adequate public facilities ordinances to manage residential growth in the county. The draft ordinances would halt new residential development if developers do not invest in water, sewage or schools needed to handle their developments’ growth.
Those who favor the ordinances contend they will create a balance between residential and industrial growth in the county and in the town.
County Councilman Jamie Feltner has said existing residential demands on schools, roads, sewer and water have already thrown the county out of balance, and adopting the ordinance is the only way to keep the county from being pushed further into debt by paying for new infrastructure.
Municipal Association of South Carolina executive director Howard Duvall agreed.
“If you have inadequate infrastructure already, to allow for more rapid development is just going to exacerbate the problem,” he said. “If you don’t control the growth, you kill the goose that lays the golden egg, and that is quality of life.”
While citizens in Summerville and Dorchester County have yet to weigh in on the two proposed ordinances, business community members and others are balking.
Robbie Robbins, Greater Summerville Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce public policy chairman, echoed Ford’s concerns. If adopted, the ordinances in the town and county could negatively affect Dorchester County’s economy, Robbins said.
County Council has been split with four in favor of the ordinance and three opposed. Councilman Mike Murphree, joined by Chairman Larry Hargett and Chris Murphy, opposes the ordinance and said it could increase current residents’ taxes, raising Dorchester County’s cost of living.
Middle- to low-income residents may find it more difficult to live in the county, Murphree said. With an exodus of available employees, new businesses may not come to Dorchester County, he added. “You’re going to head toward what you got in Mount Pleasant,” Murphree said, referring to a paucity of affordable housing and an increase in commuters.
But an economic development official in the Upstate is skeptical that an adequate-facilities ordinance would negatively affect the business community.
“There should be a nominal impact on the business community,” said Mark Farris, director of economic development for York County.
The effect would be minimal since industry often does not consider whether a community has ample affordable housing when deciding to locate there, he said.
In July, prior to the County Council’s second reading on the ordinance at its regular meeting, Ford and members of the home builders’ association met with the county and town councils to discuss possible implications of the ordinance for the county.
“It’s almost like Mr. Feltner is trying to cut off the number-one employer in the county and that’s construction,” Ford said in early August. “The main thing we’ve seen is, taxes have gone through the roof and prices of homes have gone up (in counties and towns with adequate-facilities ordinances).”
In addition to a hike in property taxes, residents also may see a rise in water and sewer rates, Murphree said. Currently, 98% of the county’s bond debt for water and sewer is paid by residents and 2% is paid by business, he said.
Opponents of the ordinances also said the councils should not act to adopt them until the county’s and town’s comprehensive growth studies are completed and a plan for residential and industrial growth is outlined. In 2006, Dorchester County commissioned a $190,000 comprehensive plan to study and plan for growth that will be released in October. The
Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments is working on a plan for the town of Summerville, due out around the same time as the county’s.
“We ought to have an in-depth analysis of what we are going to do to manage (growth) here and I thought that was what we were going to do with COG and a comprehensive plan,” Robbins said.
Although opponents of the ordinance have said they would like to wait for comprehensive plans for the region, passing an adequate-facilities ordinance prior to receiving the plan may not cause the county to be at odds, said Duvall.
An adequate-facilities ordinance is much like a standard development agreement for residential developers in an area, and a comprehensive plan shows how much an area can grow and what is needed for that growth. The ordinance complements the comprehensive plan since they are not tied together, he said.
At the Aug. 20 County Council meeting, the Dorchester County chamber will ask the county and the town to slow down and carefully review the ordinances before making any decisions, Robbins said.
“It is far too important to be moving at warp speed,” he said. “The economy in Dorchester County, whether they like it or not, is built around the home building industry. You just don’t run out and do something that could potentially turn that upside down without studying it.”
Lindsay Street is an editorial assistant with the Business Journal. E-mail her at lstreet@charlestonbusiness.com.
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