Smart Growth News

South Carolina

Charleston Leaders Hope Opponents Will Recognize Job Creation and Economic Benefits of Green Plan

The broad-based Green Committee, formed by Mayor Joe Riley in 2007, secured vast public input for a plan to cut the city’s carbon emissions 83 percent by 2050. However, its recommendations for mandatory stricter building codes and other smart growth practices were relaxed, with the City Council favoring voluntary steps.

The council also moved to relieve the Green Committee from advising the city on plan implementation, and is instead ready to charge a new ad hoc committee with that task. ''The directive for the Green Committee was to come up with any and all ideas,'' said Councilman Gary White, described by the editor as ''one of the most vocal skeptics'' of the city's green initiative. While the Green Committee will function as a clearinghouse of ideas, the ad hoc committee, advised by the city's sustainability staff, will focus on their impact on the business bottom line.

The committee will include the mayor, six randomly selected council members out of 12 each year, and representatives of South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), the State Ports Authority, the Metro Chambers of Commerce, and the local homebuilder group. These business representatives, the editor observes, would need only two votes from city officials to scuttle anything deemed bad for their interests.

Nevertheless, Mayor Riley and his key planning experts – Planning, Preservation and Sustainability Department Director Tim Keene and Sustainability Division Director Brian Sheehan – sound optimistic. The mayor said the ad hoc committee would offer a way toward consensus on Green Plan ideas. Director Keane promised to include several of those ideas in the imminent update of the state-required Municipal Comprehensive Plan. Its incentives for developers ready to go green might include streamlined permitting and density bonuses for areas where the city wants to boost transit and walkability. The Johns Island code and new street standards will also promote smart-growth concepts of density, transit and grid traffic patterns. ''We should make the growth we want as easy as possible,'' he stressed. ''All of that manifests itself in an environment utterly different than conventional subdivisions spreading across the landscape.''

Director Sheehan cited Taco Boy as a business already limiting its carbon emissions. ''I think we can get a long ways down that road with a voluntary program and by highlighting these practices,'' he told the editor. ''We'll walk businesses through a process that helps them save energy and reduce waste.''

With the Green Committee now focusing on outreach and advocacy, its Education Subcommittee Chair Susan Collins is looking to engage the local Tea Party in a debate, their activists denouncing the Green Plan before the City Council in February and laughing at any climate change notion. ''That's an audience we need to understand – understand who they are and how to approach them,'' she said at a recent strategy session, the attendees hoping to persuade conservatives with arguments of individual responsibility, patriotic duty and private industry opportunities.

Director Sheehan thinks the most effective argument could be money. ''There are too many people out of work not to mention the job creation and economic impact of this (green) movement,'' he said. ''It's an economic argument right now.'' And noting that the city will introduce green practice to its own operations, he pointed to the ceiling of his office in the city’s building and added, ''We're going to put a green roof on it and see how much money we save. Every building, every sidewalk, every street is a laboratory.''

Get more Green Plan details at http://www.charlestoncity.info/shared/docs/0/charlestongreenplanweb.pdf.   5/1/2010

Resource(s): www.charlestoncitypaper.com/

One Green Neighborhood in North Charleston Flourishes, Another Is 'Bullish' About Prospects

Two eco-friendly neighborhoods in North Charleston's historic Park Circle – Oak Terrace Preserve and Mixson – aim for the same core group of young, first-time, sustainability-minded buyers. However, while the first is getting through the recession well, the other started too late to share the success, according to this report in the Charleston City Paper.

In city-owned Oak Terrace – being built in phases in partnership with the Noisette Company and opened in early 2007 – sales have continued, though less quickly than anticipated before the economic slump. Sixty-one of its 62 dwellings are occupied. Ultimately, the development will boast a total of 300 single-family homes and 74 townhouses.

In Mixson, owned by a group of investors and managed by Mount Pleasant-based I'On Group before it handed sales to the online Rehava real estate store, construction began just ahead of the 2008 market collapse and only six of its 18 units were sold. The company waits for economic recovery to build the rest of the 950 planned units.

Notwithstanding the numbers, the writer finds residents in both neighborhoods equally satisfied. In Oak Terrace, parents are walking their children and dogs along manicured sidewalks, porch-to-porch banter is commonplace, and all appreciate home energy-efficiency features and low utility bills. ''I had a choice between a house built 30 years ago or a brand new house that I knew was built to EarthCraft standards, that would be energy-efficient, have good indoor air quality, and was new enough that I probably wouldn’t have any problems,'' said North Charleston-based Sustainability Institute Training Programs Director Ben Leigh, who bought an Oak Terrace home in 2007, ''so it seemed like a logical choice.''

In Mixson, a LEED-certified mixed-use neighborhood, with cobblestone alleyways winding between brightly painted townhouses, the few dwellers – mostly singles – have ''formed a tight-knit community,'' enjoying the empty land around, planning yoga sessions and cookouts at a picnic pavilion this spring. Resident Thea Anderson thinks the public may still question the ''new urbanist design'' for density, tall buildings, and no yards or garages, but she sees it as ''the smart growth of the future,'' the writer reports, telling readers just ''give Mixson some time.''   3/10/2010

Resource(s): www.charlestoncitypaper.com/

South Carolina Town Wraps Up Master Plan with Sustainable Design Conference

One of the Midlands region’s fastest-growing towns – from just 170 dwellers in 2000 and about 1,300 in 2007 to almost 3,000 now – Blythewood is completing its year-long work on a long-term Master Plan, prepared by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates (TSW) community and architecture design firm, with a Smart Growth and Sustainable Site Design Conference at the Midlands Technical College Enterprise Campus in Columbia, October 20-21, 2009.

Co-sponsored by the college, Bluffton, South Carolina-based Sustainable Site Design Conference Consultants, Inc. (SDCI), and the Municipal Association of South Carolina, the conference focuses on the national demographics shift, smart growth and new urban planning principles, sustainable development case studies and codes, financial benefits of sustainable design, low-impact development and light imprint tools and techniques, storm water engineering design and best management practices, and permeable paver installation.

The town’s ultimate goal is to preserve its traditional character, encourage proportional infill, and protect natural resources.   10/14/2009

Resource(s): http://www.masc.sc/smart-growth/Pages/default.aspx

Live-Work Catching on in Beaufort County

Outside of its few old town and downtown areas, Beaufort County has remained largely rural, with development limited mostly to subdivisions and shopping centers, but now mixed uses and work-live units are beginning ''to catch on'' in, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Marti Covington, quoting one expert who helps it happen -- Montreal, Canada-based Live Work Learn Play planning firm consultant Ryan Bloom, who moved to Beaufort's new mixed-use Habersham community two months ago to work on-site to bring in local retailers.

''People are looking to return to downtown corridors, as opposed to living in the suburbs where your entire existence is malls and strip centers,'' he said. ''There are direct correlations between the value of a residential product and proximity to walkable commercial areas. Our parents and grandparents used to know their neighbors on Main Street. That doesn't exist for hundreds of millions people today.''

Still, some caution that mixed-use or residential-over-retail plans may not work everywhere, especially in rural areas, with Bluffton's mixed-use Verdier Plantation developers bankrupted last May and local KRA architectural firm principal Michael Kronimus, hired to redesign the planned 60 apartments atop of businesses as a 120-unit hotel, saying ''if you don't have at least 200 units, you can't make a property work correctly,'' because of insufficient density.

On the other hand, former Pennsylvania residents Roseann and William Zimmer love their Habersham multi-use row building, with an apartment over their dentistry office.

''The live-work makes so much sense,'' she told the writer. ''We can see patients for emergencies, or on weekends. It's perfect.''

Other such projects, the writer observes, include the Calhoun Street Promenade in Bluffton, the planned Okatie Village in Okatie, the 19th Street development in Port Royal, and the 1600 Burnside complex in Beaufort Town Center.

Prospective Burnside buyers, expected to begin moving in June, noted Lowcountry Real Estate agent Kristen Brodie, appreciate the easy access to everything they will need.

''People seem to really like the location of these units,'' she said, ''knowing that they are positioned to be within walking distance of many shops, restaurants, government offices, hotels and more.'' -- Beaufort Gazette   4/10/2009

Resource(s): www.islandpacket.com/

Charleston-Area Realtors Launch Smart Growth Website and Advocacy Campaign

''No longer should traffic congestion and sprawl that harm our environment and deteriorating school systems be the norm,'' commented the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR) Board's legislative chair Herb Koger on its new smart-growth advocacy campaign and informational web site. ''We need to promote the creation of better-paying jobs, find solutions to road congestion, institute better land use policies, build the solidity of our educational systems and continue to advocate work force housing.''

Charleston region residents are concerned about development issues in their three-county Lowcountry, ''but it can be challenging'' to realize how it will affect local quality of life, noted CTAR government affairs director Ryan Castle, pointing out that the Preserve Our Lowcountry web site will help them both to understand the issues on their community level and to ''establish communication between citizens and the leaders who ultimately make the decisions that will impact them'' and future generations.

Asking residents to increase their participation in local and regional decision-making processes, the 4,000-member CTAR stresses on the web site that growth, ''when done properly, can showcase a region's progress and vision'' and protect its land and heritage.

''The unique history and culture of our Lowcountry is recognized across the globe -- the historic architecture of Downtown Charleston, the picturesque plantations that grace the banks on either side of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, the shrimp trawlers docked along Shem Creek and the historic beauty of Summerville,'' the CTAR says. ''Preserve Our Lowcountry is about how we grow, maintain and preserve our sense of identity, while still being an attractive and welcoming place for newcomers. If we become another Atlanta (Georgia), Norfolk (Virginia) or even Jacksonville (Florida) -- we lose the reasons why after hundreds of years, generations of families choose the Lowcountry as their home.''

CTAR campaign details and news at www.preserveourlowcountry.com. -- Charleston Regional Business Journal   2/3/2009

Resource(s): www.charlestonbusiness.com/home

Change in Beaufort Street Lane Widths Contrary to Walkability, Smart Growth

Approved by Beaufort city and county officials in 2006, the long-range Boundary Street Master Plan to turn the street into the city's economic hub still calls for bike lanes, roundabout and T-like intersections, a parallel road, and a new zoning code for adjacent development, but the width of street lanes was changed from the proposed 10.5 to 11 feet in the official plan submission to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) last March, with the department preferring to keep the lanes 12 feet wide -- a preference the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League (CCL) criticizes as contrary to walkability and smart growth.

''The biggest feature is the pedestrian-orientated design. But when those plans hit the South Carolina DOT, the really important elements get torn down,'' said CCL project manager Andrea Malloy of the envisioned street overhaul. ''People said that they wanted the character of old Beaufort reflected in the plan, where people walk and sit and shop. The Boundary Street plan is a model of smart growth and new urbanism. Upholding good plans like this one keeps the growth in an urban center and discourages a pattern of suburban sprawl that consumes a lot of space.''

With Boundary Street reconfiguration designs far from completion, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Hallie D. Martin, details of this $22 million ''transportation improvement'' project, expected to start in 2011, are still under negotiation with the state.

''The Coastal Conservation League is, in theory, saying that we are not complying (with the plan), but on the other side of the spectrum is DOT regulation,'' pointed out City Manager Scott Dadson. ''We want to get as close to the plan as we can and (have a plan) that the DOT will accept.''

City Councilman Mike Sutton confirms the city's predicament.

''It's important to slow traffic and improve business connections to give Beaufort connectivity that works for everyone,'' he told the writer. ''We have a vision, and we can have it, but we don't own the roads.''

-- Beaufort Gazette   2/2/2009

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Editorial: Stimulus Funds Must Go to Projects Supporting Change in Land Use Patterns

Unhappy that the early federal stimulus plan triggered mostly routine requests for investments in delayed shovel-ready construction projects, and that the related practical discussion is ''neither transformational, visionary nor coherent'' but all ''about pork on an epic scale,'' evidence of which he cited in a Charleston Post and Courier op-ed last month, Coastal Conservation League Executive Director Dana Beach once again called for comprehensive energy, metropolitan and land-use policy changes, warning in another op-ed column, ''We cannot afford to resurrect the same economy we had in 2007.''

That economy, he wrote, ''when just about everyone who owned anything was rich and everybody else was out of luck, was a fraud, based on wildly inflated asset values, driven by unbridled speculation, and riddled with stratospheric levels of debt designed to magnify artificial paper gains.''

He found his Charleston region particularly prone ''to the delusion that there was free money to be had and that real estate was its well-spring,'' with land prices jumping from $1,000 to between $10,000 and $20,000 per acre in about a decade.

''Almost everybody seemed to be in on the deal, from New York investors buying thousands of acres of timber land along the Ashley River, to widows from Ohio buying third-acre lots in Jasper County, to local house-flippers aiming to double their money in three months.''

Now, with the return of more realistic land values and expectations, and with Congress expected to spend $850 billion on ''the recovery'' soon, Director Beach observes, ''(w)e should take the opportunity to envision the kind of communities and the kind of country we need 50 to 100 years from now, and make the investment necessary to begin that transformation.''

First, he writes, ''we need to replace the growth model that yields ten car trips per day for every house and turns parents into chauffeurs, employees into commuters and interstates into parking lots.''

Pointing out that South Carolinians should have a choice to ride a train or bus, and walk or bike to work, he notes that Charleston leaders are seeking stimulus funds for a proposed commuter rail line between the city and Summerville, and for bike and pedestrian projects, including a walkway along the Ashley River bridge.

He also stresses the need for across-the-board energy conservation and efficiency, and for better education as crucial to national well-being.

''Land, transportation, energy and education are the opportunities and challenges of the future,'' he concludes. ''The next few months will reveal whether we still have the capacity as a country to undertake the ambitious transformation required for a secure and prosperous future, or whether we will be condemned to replay the mistakes of the past 30 years.'' -- Post and Courier   1/10/2009

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Retail, Transit Part of Developer Plan for Mixed-Use North Charleston Project

Positioning themselves for better times ahead, North Charleston city officials and a developer team of Weiser Cos. and Germany-based Weber Automotive, reports Charleston Regional Business Journal writer Ashley Fletcher Hampton, announced plans for a huge mixed-use development on Ingleside Plantation near I-26 and U.S. 78 over the next 20-25 years, breaking ground next year for a 1.2-million-square-foot shopping center, office and apartment complex, and later adding a 2.5-million-square-foot town center, with retail, more offices and housing, a hotel and a rail transit hub, with much of the whole 1800-acre wetlands-rich tract possibly turned into a park.

''Someday, we believe that rapid transit is going to be a very important thing in Charleston,'' commented Weiser Cos. president Richard Weiser on the project's phase-two drawings, which show transit-oriented development around a hub near the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Weiser Cos. vice president of business development Elliot Summey -- the son of North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey -- pointed out that the developers can make the planned town center more dense than downtown Charleston because they don't face the city's restriction on building heights.

Weber Automotive president Albert Weber, speaking in German, said his company has made its mark in the automotive world and now is trying to get at least a small place in the development world, with a project sensitive to both the environment and local tradition.

''History is very important in Europe,'' he said, his brief remarks translated by another company official. ''We think history is also important here. We will try to connect the history of that project to the future of our region.''

Mayor Summey was appreciative of the project's potential economic benefits as well as its design and land use, stressing, ''It has a grouping of what we need to create an end to urban sprawl.''

See the plans at http://crbjblog.jackhq.com/files/area_2.jpg. -- Charleston Regional Business Journal   11/13/2008

Resource(s): www.charlestonbusiness.com/home

School Impact Fees, River Protection Concerns Surround Proposed Beaufort County Development

Allowed by state law to set impact fees for roads, parks, libraries and firehouses, yet not for schools, Beaufort County, its school district and subsequently municipalities decided last year to include such fees in negotiated development agreements, but it didn't take long to puncture their hopes for voluntary receptiveness, with developers of a three-part Okatie Village complex along S.C. 170 and the Okatie River balking at a $6,000-per-home plus $2.50-per-commercial-square-foot school fee, says a Bluffton Island Packet editorial, advising county officials to hold firm on the fee amount and remember their zoning power to ''allow much more intense development'' in a rural area.

The proposed complex, with three adjacent projects called River Oaks, Osprey Point and Okatie Marsh, needs a zoning change from one home per three acres to more than four homes per acre, which would allow 1,252 homes and commercial space on 284 acres at the ''troubled'' Okatie River.

With developers touting the mixed-use complex as ''smart growth,'' the editorial says the concept ''might be smart in some areas, but it strikes us as just too much'' along the shores of a threatened water resource.

While developers and county officials have run their separate calculations on the project's financial effects, with the former expected to present their school-fee counteroffer within a week, no one ''has said much about the potential environmental impact other than a few nearby residents.''

A developer consultant warned that if the county decides against development, it will forsake revenue, but ''there are benefits to leaving the property as it is or even developing it less intensively,'' the editorial points out, stressing that ''(l)and left to nature has its own intrinsic and economic value'' as land-buying programs prove.

''Let's assess the environmental costs, too, before signing off on a developer plan that would change that area so dramatically,'' the editorial appeals. ''These things are nearly impossible to undo once done, and we simply can't afford any more mistakes.'' -- Island Packet   7/29/2008

Resource(s): www.islandpacket.com/

Beaufort Ordinance Would Set Site Limits for New Big-Box Stores, Update Street and Waterfront Setbacks

In the first of two necessary votes, the Beaufort City Council unanimously approved a big-box ordinance that bans stores of 70,000 square feet or more in the city -- except along state routes 170 and 280, which can absorb additional traffic -- and requires all large retailers to stay away from marshfront or waterfront sites and leave 50-foot setbacks from all streets, with the enacting vote on the ordinance scheduled for July 15.

At the same meeting, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Brandon Honig, the council will discuss possible restrictions on big-boxes along the stretches of both state routes within the city limits -- restrictions advised by Historic Beaufort Foundation Executive Director Evan Thompson.

The director, who pointed out that a suburban Wal-Mart proposed earlier this year and rejected by the city planning department would have covered 195,000 square feet, said the council should also consider a cap on store footprints rather than footage, to make retailers build up and help foster smart growth.

In addition, Mayor Bill Rauch suggested a ban on all chain stores and restaurants downtown, an idea criticized by some property owners though backed by their small-business counterparts.

Councilman George O'Kelley, the writer notes, agreed that limits on outside big-boxes could prevent excessive traffic and improve area aesthetics, but said downtown Beaufort's history argues for chain stores and their ban would invite discrimination lawsuits. -- Beaufort Gazette   6/25/2008

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Berkeley County May Impose Nine-Month Moratorium on Cluster Subdivisions

Against its intent, many developers used Berkeley County's clustering ordinance to maximize subdivision density by counting wetlands, rights of way and other unusable acreage as green space and leaving little or nothing for public parks and recreation, a practice the County Council's Committee on Land Use wants to end, recommending the council's approval of a nine-month moratorium on new cluster subdivisions at the next meeting April 28, which would give Planning and Zoning Director Jeff Tyndel time to rewrite and strengthen the ordinance, while preventing a surge of ill-conceived projects before that happens.

A larger than usual crowd of developers and residents watched the committee's debate before it voted 5-2 to recommend the moratorium, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Andy Paras, but they had to delay their comments until the full council meets.

Earlier, Daniel Island-based BFH Developers official Cy Goforth cautioned that a moratorium during a market crisis would hurt affordable housing and that a change in the law could force developers to purchase more land, causing sprawl and driving up homebuyer costs.

''It's just very difficult without clustering to produce affordable housing in Berkeley County,'' he observed, calling parks great, but not at the expense of affordability for young families who don't like to rent and ''who just want to have a house.''

Director Tyndall said a new ordinance would offer developers cluster density bonuses for setting aside usable green space in their subdivisions.

Right now, he noted, BFH Developers is building 74 houses on a 26-acre site, reduced in practice by eight acres of wetlands and stretches for roads and rights of way, with the project's second phase envisioning 122 homes on 43 acres, which include 10 acres of wetlands.

Residents of the adjacent Berkeley Run subdivision of large homes on 5-to-15-acre tracts near the Cooper River lost their fight against the project and remain worried that its roughly 6,000-square-foot lots, sometimes with just 10 feet between houses, will lower their property values and worsen local traffic. -- Post and Courier   4/15/2008

Resource(s): http://charleston.net/

Sustainable Development Emphasized at Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Retreat

''Sustainability is not just environmental. It's economic and social and cultural, too,'' said local architectural InFORM Studio principal Michael Guthrie at the Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corp.'s annual retreat -- he and his partner Larry Timbes, reports Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Lorena Anderson, hoping to stimulate a public and institutional push for more open space, pedestrian-friendly development, and higher densities as the city works on a 10-year update of its comprehensive plan.

''It's an effort on our part to get these various entities to come together for the good of the community,'' said Larry Timbes about the need for sustainability and smart growth. ''It's going to take both the public and private sectors working together to make it happen.''

With Downtown Redevelopment Corp. Board Chairman Bert Anderson noting that a construction slowdown gives officials an opportunity ''to do some master planning'' and use the time ''wisely,'' Michael Guthrie cited many examples of destruction of the nation's forests by the industry and their replacement by agricultural land, which is now being eaten up by suburban sprawl.

In contrast, he pointed out, cities like Portland, Oregon have become models of sustainability thanks to early protection of nearby open space and optimal use of developed land for pedestrian-friendly streets, transit systems, work-live units and urban parks.

Such changes in the Myrtle Beach area also depend on circumstances, habits and perception.

Many people, he observed, like to walk the half-mile from one end of Broadway at the Beach to the other, but will drive for 10 minutes to find a parking spot close to a store so they don't have to walk 300 feet across a parking lot. -- Sun News   3/20/2008

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

Gov. Sanford Says Home Rule Could Let Counties Link Cost of Growth With Residential Development, Demand for New Infrastructure

Pleased with protection of nearly 80,000 acres last year and $4.1 billion of investments mainly in rural areas and ''places that need them most,'' but focused in his State of the State speech on further challenges of ''a new area wherein change is necessary to survive, compete and thrive,'' Republican Governor Mark Sanford listed among goals of his forthcoming Land Use Planning Task Force the ''need to seriously address how we build schools as our population grows,'' disappointed that ''(n)eighborhood schools are allowed, but to date we have not really seen them implemented.''

With another million residents in the next two decades raising the total number to some 5.4 million and making South Carolina the 10th fastest-growing state nationwide, the governor cautioned that if the state loses its quality of life, it will lose a big part of what makes it so special, and ''a big part of what drives our economic engine.''

Keeping it special ''will require foresight, vision and action,'' he pointed out. ''It will require a multi-prong strategy.''

The state needs ''to be proactive about setting aside open land'' while it has the rare opportunity to do so, ''given the real estate market slowdown and once in a lifetime timberland sales by the big timber companies,'' the governor said, urging approval of a one-time $50 million supplement to the Conservation Land Bank.

The state also needs more options for its growth and development, he told lawmakers, stressing, ''Before we simply throw more money at roads, we need to look at the root causes of congestion, a full menu of options to better roads in our state, and the way our towns grow and connect.''

Seeing some ''great new market-based ideas'' for dealing with congestion, transportation and growth, ideas ''worthy of a careful study and policy implementation,'' Governor Sanford also called for ''another look at home rule,'' to let counties link the cost of growth with residential development and the demand for new infrastructure.

''Common sense local institutions like the Berkeley Electric Cooperative are instituting this idea with new consumers, and if we don't allow local governments some options on this front,'' he warned, ''existing consumers and businesses will be left with the tab in paying for the infrastructure necessary to accommodate the one million people coming to our state.'' In addition, he would like lawmakers to look at annexation laws, because he doesn't think ''it makes any sense to have a municipality buy a twenty foot strip down the side of a road for miles as their way of growing a town.'' -- South Carolina Office of the Governor   1/16/2008

Resource(s): http://scgovernor.com/

Spartanburg County Council Endorses ''Complete Streets'' Plan

Expecting increasingly more retail to sprout up along Highway 9 and spark more subdivisions, the Spartanburg County Council has recently endorsed the ''complete streets'' concept, under which pedestrians, bikers and transit passengers become no less important than drivers, and the state Department of Transportation's plans for widening the highway's 4.3-mile northwest stretch between Boiling Springs and Highway 292 from two to five lanes include a preliminary proposal for a ''typical section,'' with landscaped medians, two-way bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides, but officials fear the design is too costly for full implementation at once.

DOT Commissioner Hugh Atkins likes the complete-street features, reports Spartanburg Herald-Journal writer Emily Dagostino, but he feels ''it will be a long time before the road will get widened if we did the whole thing to that extent,'' because the project's earmarked $30 million can cover only about half of the costs.

County senior transportation planner Jim D'Amato agrees that improving pedestrian and biker safety and linking transportation to land use would inhibit sprawl, but he also thinks the costs would require widening in two phases, with the first launched in 2011.

Upstate Forever's Spartanburg office land-use expert Stephanie Wagner calls the ''typical section'' design, introduced by DOT assistant program manager Penny Phillips, a ''perfect example of a 'complete street,''' pointing out that its benefits warrant an early investment.

''When you're widening a road, that's just a minimal amount of extra asphalt that you're putting in,'' she stresses. ''Why not accommodate them (pedestrian and bikers) from the get-go? It's a lot cheaper to do it now, when we're already doing road projects like that, than down the road.'' -- Herald-Journal   11/25/2007

Resource(s): www.goupstate.com/

Gov. Sanford Wants Beaufort County to Scale Down Plan for Rural High School

Having eliminated minimum acreage requirements for school sites in 2003 as hurting small neighborhood schools and inducing sprawl -- the nation's first executive order of this kind -- Republican Governor Mark Sanford asked the Beaufort County Board of Education to scale down its plan for 650-student Whale Branch High School in Seabrook, pointing out that the rural area doesn't face heavy growth, that the big facility would eventually need some 250 students from places almost five miles away to fill classes, and that a smaller school would cost much less than the $30 million projected now.

Board Chairman Fred Washington Jr. promised to consider the arguments, while board member Earl Campbell remained aloof.

''I'm tired of hearing the governor talk about this school. Those kids in that community need that school,'' he stressed, mentioning the governor's private school education and refusing even to address his request.

Approved by voters in a 2000 referendum on a $120 million bond issue, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Jonathan Cribbs, construction of Whale Branch High School, first planned for 1,500 students, has been mired in politics and legal challenges, with Governor Sanford opposing the plan ever since his election in 2002.

He now believes the area needs a high school for about 400 students, a number matching the district's projected enrollment drop in the next four years.

''The consensus is we want that to be a relatively low-growth area,'' the governor said, noting that he owns 1,200 acres nearby and intends to live there after leaving office in 2010. -- Beaufort Gazette   11/17/2007

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Columbia's Neighborhoods Struggling to Balance Construction, Preservation

Some of Columbia's 90 neighborhoods struggle to balance construction and preservation, reported local WISTV broadcaster Jack Kuenzie from a recent city hall meeting, where Home Builders Association of Columbia Executive Officer Earl McLeod urged city leaders to support infill as universally considered by ''planners, builders (and) environmentalists to be smart growth,'' and where resident Susan Lake called for a code ''that has teeth in it'' to protect communities from being torn apart, house by house.

The meeting, the broadcaster said, focused on the unexpected demolition of a 78-year-old farmhouse on two and half acres in one of the city's most attractive and expensive eastern sections.

''I had no idea that it was going to be torn down,'' said its saddened neighbor Karen Johnson.

She and others, the broadcaster reported, made ''crystal clear'' that they want their interests to be heard when the city considers the newly proposed guidelines for demolition of structures and subdivision of parcels.

Developer Chris Dorsey, who helped write the guidelines, told residents, ''We're not the enemy, I promise you that. I live there. We want to be teammates.''

City leaders will address the issue again at a meeting on September 5. -- WISTV   8/21/2007

Resource(s): www.wistv.com/

Georgetown Planning Commission Racing Against Clock to Submit New Land-Use Plan

As they race to finalize and pass Georgetown County's land-use and comprehensive plans for the next 10 years, the Georgetown Planning Commission and the County Council, with their respective August 2 and 28 deadlines, are facing a resident committee's concerns over alteration of some its smart-growth recommendations by planners, who seem to be rushing the land-use draft through without enough care for details.

The land-use plan, reports Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Aliana Ramos, will determine where and how many of the county's 506,300 unincorporated acres are available for residential, commercial, industrial and recreational use.

''This document is far too important to be fixing loopholes'' later, cautioned Waccamaw Neck committee member Bert Cassels on behalf of this Waccamaw River area's 16,000 residents.

In response, Planning Commission member Brian Henry explained that since the first version of the committee's draft had been compiled mainly from e-mails and scattered papers, the staff felt the document should be cleaned up.

''I know there are some items that were removed that may give people some heartburn,'' he acknowledged, asking the committee to e-mail the missing items again to the staff and promising to review and reconsider the editing.

Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Kinard said he will attach the Waccamaw Neck committee's report to the land-use plan the commission is going to recommend to the County Council.

The committee's draft, the writer reports quoting the document, called for encouraging ''smart growth concepts to avoid sprawl and traffic congestion, limiting interim changes to the land-use plan, implementing impact fees and limiting development along the creek front.'' -- Sun News   7/10/2007

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

Gov. Sanford Says S.C. Infrastructure Improvements Should Be Aligned With Existing Growth Patterns

Instead of ''smart growth,'' Republican Governor Mark Sanford often uses the terms ''coherent growth'' or ''sustainable growth,'' but he obviously meant the same when he told the South Carolina Republican Convention in Columbia that ''(a)ligning the state's infrastructure construction policy with existing patterns of growth'' makes more sense than spending on a road between sparsely populated areas just to advance special private interests.

To curtail sprawl and ease congestion in built-up areas, reports Daniel Island News writer Bennett E. Bozarth, Governor Sanford told the GOP audience that costly transportation infrastructure improvements should reflect a ''merit-based system,'' not a ''good ole boy'' arrangement, which assigns project priority on an idiosyncratic basis, such as the location of a powerful lawmaker's ''favorite fishing hole.''

Signing the Priority Investment Act a week earlier, the writer notes, the governor said the law will ''serve as a tool for local governments to target those infrastructure dollars effectively'' as the state accommodates another million residents within 20 years.

Confident that his reelection means a reform mandate, he has been calling for public pressure on lawmakers to restructure state agencies, the writer observes, quoting him as saying the ''electorate should be energized'' to demand reform. -- Daniel Island News   5/31/2007

Resource(s): www.thedanielislandnews.com

Gov. Sanford Seeks Growth Solutions for South Carolina

Worried about ''profound quality of life issues'' caused by sprawl and traffic in North Charleston, across Columbia's suburbs and along the northwestern I-85 corridor, Republican Governor Mark Sanford told a state planning conference, moderated by New Urbanism leader and smart growth advocate Andres Duany, that he seeks ''constructive ideas that work'' and is ''struck by the lack of trust'' between developers and environmentalists and planners.

Expecting South Carolina's population to increase from 4 to 5.3 million within two decades, Governor Sanford stressed the importance of smart decisions on growth to improve the state's status in the national competition for jobs, businesses and retirees.

Although not many GOP governors ''have made growth planning a priority,'' this ''libertarian-leaning'' governor, reports Columbia State writer Jeff Wilkinson, may be willing to promote smart growth initiatives to curb sprawl and improve air and water, starting with the Priority Investment Act, now in the General Assembly.

The act would require localities to coordinate their comprehensive plans.

He is also working to reform the state Department of Transportation, make its head a Cabinet member, and put a list of transportation priorities ''in stone.''

With many of the 200 conference attendees -- developers, planners, conservationists and others -- ''dubious at best about the practicality of statewide growth controls,'' the writer reports, the governor was involved all day long, taking notes, chatting with participants, and urging all sides to join a planning dialogue.

Coastal Conservation League founder Dana Beach said, ''There is some dissonance'' between conservatives and conservationists, adding, ''But what is driving the governor on this is a moral commitment to preserving the landscape.'' -- State   3/27/2007

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

North Myrtle Beach Gives Green Light to Smart Growth Ordinance, Delays Vote on Golf Course Annexation

The North Myrtle Beach City Council gave final approval to a smart-growth ordinance that will allow construction of mixed-use buildings in the ''neighborhood-commercial'' districts and asked staff to research its possible application to all city sections, but delayed a vote on annexation and mixed-use rezoning of 313 golf course acres less than a mile from the ocean until after another public workshop on February 26.

Requested by Beachwood Golf Corp., Azalea Sands Golf Corp. and the Hartford Group LLC, reports city Sun News writer Janelle Frost, the annexation and rezoning is needed for their plan to build 2,548 single-family homes and multi-family units, a town center -- including a regional shopping mall, a hotel and offices -- and a marina and various resort facilities.

Many residents worry about the project's building height, traffic impact, and access to the beach, wondering what would happen if the landowners weren't able to fulfill their 10-year development agreement with the city.

Mayor Marilyn Hatley promised detailed discussion of all these issues at the public workshops, with the council's first vote likely on March 5. -- Sun News   2/20/2007

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

Council Looking at Columbia's Brownfields as Possible Sites for 22 Future Rail Stations

Columbia's three proposed commuter and high-speed rail lines -- northwest to Newberry, southwest to Batesburg-Leesville, and northeast to Camden, each 30 to 35 miles long -- won't be built for another two decades, reports Columbia State writer Joy L. Woodson, but the four-county Central Midlands Council of Governments (CMCOG) is already looking at some 50 brownfields as possible sites for 22 future rail stations, both to make the land productive again and to leverage rail construction funds.

''Highways, they get priority over public transportation,'' observes CMCOG's rail study committee chairman Larry Cooke, who estimates the costs for the three rail lines at about $80 million each.

By creating public-private partnerships and securing state and federal grants to redevelop brownfields, he points out, area governments could pay more easily and quickly for rail.

With the committee expecting the area's population to increase by 43 percent between 2000 and 2035, to nearly 845,000, senior transportation planner Aaron Bell says, ''Our primary goal has been to raise awareness about the potential of brownfield redevelopment, so local governments can consider this as a viable option for their communities.''

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control, the writer reports, listed more than 120 brownfields in the Columbia metro area, some in various phases of reclamation, construction or planning for redevelopment.

The problem is their actual or perceived contamination level and the need to monitor the sites and ensure cleanups.

''They may not be a health threat today -- a major health threat,'' notes environmental health manager Craig Dukes, ''but we still need to keep track of it because that compound may not be going away on its own.'' -- State   1/29/2007

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

North Myrtle Beach Zoning Amendment Would Allow Commercial and Residential Uses in Same Building

Hailed by American Institute of Certified Planners member James W. Wood at a North Myrtle Beach City Council workshop last year as best for comprehensive implementation of smart growth principles in narrowly defined areas, the city's Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoning will be amended to permit mixed uses in individual buildings, too.

''To put it simply,'' said its Zoning Administrator Paul Blust, ''the amendment allows for the property owner in an area zoned Neighborhood Commercial to have a commercial property on the first floor and a residential property on the second floor.''

Recommended by the Planning Commission and ready for a City Council vote on February 5, reports North Myrtle Beach Online writer Terry Wood, the amended NC ordinance will be more effective for easing future traffic on the coastal US 15 S stretch near Madison Street.

A developer group asked the city to annex 313 golf-course acres in that area for its Beachwood Planned Unit Development (PUD), with a proposed residential density of some 200 units per acre.

Mixed uses for land and buildings, along with other smart growth components such as sidewalks, bike paths and curbside parking, the writer notes, offer ''the potential of encouraging Beachwood residents to walk rather than drive to the beach'' and to patronize local establishments accessible on foot.

The NC district is expected to attract financial, medical, real estate, child care and other businesses, including bookstores, beauty salons and barber shops.

What's more, the Planning Commission also wants the City Council to form an ad hoc committee of the area's residents and business owners, who would work with city planners and architects, the writer adds, ''to determine if there is sufficient interest to develop this district to its fullest extent along smart growth lines.'' -- North Myrtle Beach Online   1/25/2007

Resource(s): www.northmyrtlebeachonline.com/

Traffic Safety Concerns Keep Myrtle Beach Students from Walking to Neighborhood School

The BelleGrove and The Farm subdivisions just off International Drive north of Myrtle Beach will eventually have more than 2,200 homes, but present residents agonize over letting their children walk to the Ocean Bay Elementary School on the road's other side because it has no sidewalks and no curbs, reports Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Jessica Foster, finding county and school district officials both aware of the safety problem and hampered by the lack of street improvement funds.

They promise to take action as the plans for the road extension north to S.C. 90 proceed, but area parents are frustrated by the delay, especially since local traffic has only been getting worse.

The new Ocean Bay Middle School on the road opened in December, the writer notes, and construction of an Academy for the Arts, Science and Technology nearby is to start this November, which will bring in even more cars and obstruct students' walking.

The elementary school, points out its Parent-Teacher Organization President Lisa Williams, ''is just sitting directly in front of two subdivisions that make up probably half of the student body, so that's a huge segment of your clientele that has the ability to walk.''

Leading the effort to ensure sidewalks along the road and crosswalks from the subdivisions to the school, parent Jill Dore says, ''I hate to think that we're going to have to wait for a child to be killed for something to be done.'' -- Sun News   1/3/2007

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

City Water Quality, Density Issues Are Top Concerns Over Proposed Crown Point Planned Development

As the Georgetown County Council postponed action on the highly controversial 7,058-home Crown Pointe Planned Development proposed for 5,216 acres north and west of the small city of Georgetown till December 19, reports Georgetown Times writer Asher Robinson, developer Scott Trotter has time to reconsider local objections and look at alternative plans and designs offered by the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League (SCCCL), committed to fight sprawl and advance smart growth.

The massive project worries not only area residents and officials, but also the International Paper Company (IP), which operates a Georgetown mill, generating some $200 million in local revenue, and owns a 23-mile, 25-foot wide canal that flows into the city and is its drinking water source. A three-mile stretch of the canal intersects the project's site and the developer needs to build several crossings. Setting a 50-foot ''no development'' buffer along each side of the canal, he is willing to fence the three-mile stretch and post safety warnings.

This does little to alleviate public concerns about water pollution and to ease IP worries about its potential liability exposure. At the county council's hearing, Georgetown IP Mill Manager John Grover said the company ''wants to support development,'' but also to protect itself and its future operation in the city. ''You're being forced to vote for either Crown Pointe or for IP,'' he told officials. ''A vote for Crown Pointe would make the future bleaker for IP if this goes forward.''

The developer responded that he doesn't want to create ''an undesirable situation'' for the community and IP, but noted that by denying his project, the county will lose $20 million in new infrastructure, 54 acres for a new school, and land for relocation of a hospital, for YMCA expansion, and for several public parks and recreation facilities. He added that he has a legal right to develop his property and invoked the prospect of legal action if blocked.

Having scrutinized the development plan, the Coastal Conservation League concluded, said its North Coast representative Nancy Cave, that the proposed stretched-out neighborhoods represent sprawl and poor urban design, leading to car-dependency and environmental damage. The league shares widespread concerns that development along the IP canal, with such a magnitude of impervious surface, would cause uncontrolled storm water runoff, degrade drinking water quality, and threaten the general quality of life throughout the county.

Without a developer drainage plan and a runoff study, and without a traditional neighborhood design, said Nancy Cave, there is no ''viable solution to protect the water quality of the IP canal.'' -- Georgetown Times   11/30/2006

Resource(s): www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=2081

Protests Continue Over Annexation Plans for Beaufort County Farmland

First proposed to the Beaufort City Council by owners of the McLeod and Clarendon farms in January, the annexation of their 5,000 acres a few miles northwest, to allow higher development density than permitted under current Beaufort County rules, continues to draw strong protests from residents led by the local Smart Growth Coalition and backed by the Coastal Conservation League, all worried about the potential fiscal and environmental impact and convinced the city of some 13,000 should wait at least until the Northern Beaufort County Regional Plan is completed.

The farms' owners, who originally planned over 16,000 homes -- more than three per acre -- and 4.6 million square feet of business space in the next 20-40 years, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Brandon Honig, have just presented the City Council and the Beaufort-Port Royal Joint Municipal Planning Commission with a plan scaled down to 8,935 homes -- 1.7 per acre -- and about 2 million square feet of commercial space. This still exceeds what the commission recommended in March -- to allow one home per three acres, which the county zoning permits, and to cap the commercial space at 460,000 square feet.

At the November 21 workshop, crowded by some 300 residents, Mayor Bill Rauch and Commission Chairman Dave Radford expressed mixed feelings about the scaled down proposal. They were concerned about ''the looseness of the planning'' and some inadequate road buffers. But they were also glad that the plan now offers a $1,000-per-home school impact fee, a ''smart code'' with a streamlined permitting process, and assurances that commercial construction would begin upon approval of 30 percent of the housing units and that each new subdivision would depend on a green light from the council.

The audience wasn't assuaged. Most speakers restated their opposition, with Smart Growth Coalition leader Milbrey Gnann saying the group had gathered more than 2,000 signatures under its petition to drop all annexation plans. Coalition member DeWitt Helm, who cautioned that massive development would result in higher taxes to pay for service extension and would expose the area to a possible disaster in the event of hurricane evacuation, received a standing ovation for challenging city council members to put their ''cards on the table'' regarding their stance on annexation.

A Beaufort Gazette editorial backs the opponents. They ''rightly point to the $350 million to $500 million in infrastructure necessary in southern Beaufort County because of annexation,'' the editorial says. ''Put the brakes on the annexation,'' it urges officials. ''Tell the taxpayers fully what they are buying. They want to know about rational traffic patterns, environmental and water quality protections, infrastructure costs and the impact this will have on them. That is not too much to ask, and it may even have an impact on the annexation -- or at least the density -- decision.'' -- Beaufort Gazette   11/26/2006

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Myrtle Beach Considering Streetcars in Effort to Ease Ocean Boulevard, Shopping District Congestion

Attracting some 14 million tourists a year, most of whom come and move around by car, Myrtle Beach has given up on a possible monorail because of its prohibitive costs, and is now considering a streetcar to relieve Ocean Boulevard and shopping district congestion, with URS Corporation consultant Dave Dickey, confident visitors and residents will appreciate its convenience, saying, ''Hop on the streetcar, go there, hop on it to go back.''

A full-blown monorail system, reports the Associated Press, could cost Myrtle Beach between $380 million and $512 million, but a streetcar, or trolley, is expected to be much more affordable. According to URS transportation planner Brian Piascik, its per-mile costs ranged from $24 million in Tampa, Florida to $11.5 million in Portland, Oregon to under $8.5 million in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The system would provide service every five or 10 minutes rather than every half an hour as city buses presently do. Myrtle Beach planner Jack Walker notes that the city would start with a line of three to four miles and expand it as needed later.

e want it to be discussed in a positive way,'' he says, ''so that we don't kill it by looking too visionary and having too big a price tag.'' -- Charlotte Observer   10/31/2006

Resource(s): www.charlotte.com/

North Myrtle Beach City Council Warming to Idea of Smart Growth

The wish for better development is growing along the state's oceanic Grand Strand and political will may soon catch up, with Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Janelle Frost reporting that the North Myrtle Beach City Council tabled a proposed mixed-use zoning ordinance last month, but has now asked staff to reexamine it along with other laws, swayed by Environmental Concepts LLC Planning & Governmental Affairs Director James W. Woods' presentation on smart growth.

The council, commented Mayor Marilyn Hatley, ''likes the idea of a smart-growth, front-porch community'' and will seek input from local residents and business owners, beginning with another workshop in about three weeks.

Area planners, architects and some developers, the writer notes, consider smart growth necessary for many reasons, including the need to improve public health and save open space, a conviction shared and persuasively detailed by the guest speaker. For the first time, he said, many communities have become wary of routine development, which separates commercial and residential land uses and forces peoples to drive everywhere. This worsens air pollution and poses a problem for those who lack cars or can't drive.

To make things better, communities should ensure more pedestrian-friendly roads and sidewalks, control signage, methodically plan high densities, and improve building appearances and styles. The idea of smart growth, he summed up, is to make it possible for people to go out on their porches, walk to local stores and interact with neighbors. -- Sun News   9/26/2006

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

Smart Growth Solutions Set North Myrtle Beach Resort Project Apart from Sprawl-Type Coastal Developments

In contrast to routine sprawl-type coastal development, characterized by rows of high-rises, commercial strips, massive parking lots and little open space, the 70-acre Bahama Island Resort project in North Myrtle Beach exemplifies smart growth.

Transit-oriented and pedestrian-friendly, reports North Myrtle Beach Times writer Jim Hule, it puts all uses close together, the projected 1,374-unit multifamily housing includes live-work sections with offices and stores on the ground level and residences on upper floors, many public plazas flank the boardwalk and connect greenways, and landscaped narrow parking areas augment ''the overall feel of greenery dominating concrete.''

The result of several public workshops, insistence from the Planning Commission and the City Council, and the willingness of Bahama Island Developers and Carter Architecture to incorporate these smart-growth solutions, the multi-phase project will eventually have more than 12,000 linear feet of eight-foot-wide meandering greenway and nearly 2,000 feet of boardwalks along the Intercoastal Waterway, with a large marina and a dry dock.

''The evolution of this project demonstrates how a developer and a community can partner to achieve both developer and community goals using smart growth principles,'' the writer stresses. ''All groups win.'' -- North Myrtle Beach Times   5/23/2006

Resource(s): www.northmyrtlebeachonline.com/

Beaufort Mayor's Plan to Annex 5,000 Acres for Residential Development Draws Local and State Criticism; City Council Expected to Scale Back Size of Annexation

In a low-profile but high-stake family split on land use across the marshy rural part of Port Royal Island on the state's southern coast, Beaufort Mayor Bill Rauch wants the city to annex more than 5,000 acres for a possible 16,000 homes, while his brothers-in-law, Republican Governor Mark Sanford and downtown Beaufort resident John Sanford think it rather unseemly, one advising restraint, the other helping launch the grassroots ''Support Smart Growth'' group to oppose the annexation effort.

Known for his early initiatives to curb sprawl and support small schools in urban neighborhoods, the governor said of such plans in February, ''These annexations are at odds with preserving tax efficient services in Beaufort County. We need to be a bit more reticent until those comprehensive plans are done.''

A month later, after Port Royal annexed a rural tract near the Chechessee River, the governor proposed an annexation moratorium for the county's northern section. Mayor Rauch argued for municipal control over the county's fast growth, notes Beaufort Gazette writer Jason Ryan, quoting him as saying of the reported family debate, ''I think our goals are identical. We may disagree on methods.''

His critics, including residents, conservationists, planners and the leader of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, the writer observes, have warned against the prospective development's magnitude and its impact on roads, schools, rivers and flight operations. Consequently, the Beaufort City Council, which gave preliminary approval to the annexation and development agreements in January, is likely to scale down the plans, with about 1,400 acres to be preserved.

As for now, said gubernatorial spokesman Joel Sawyer, ''the family conversation around the dinner table can be very interesting,'' adding, ''Some members of the family have very strong feelings on issues and not necessarily in the same directions.'' -- Beaufort Gazette   4/23/2006

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Plan to Install Water, Sewer Lines Under Charleston's Ashley River Could Open Door for Massive Development in Northwest Charleston Area

Inundated by complaints over a Dorchester County plan to install big water and sewer lines under the Ashley River, which would invite massive development in the forested historic district along Ashley River Road near Watson Hill and the Middleton Place landmark, west of North Charleston, the state Department of Health & Environmental Control has decided to hold a public hearing on the plan, with a Charleston Post and Courier editorial advising the County Council to heed residents' calls for growth control.

Council Chairman Skip Elliot said its members, constantly berated ''for not being proactive,'' see the water-sewer project as the most economical approach to future growth needs, but the editorial tells him, ''In this instance, 'being proactive' would be taking steps to limit development, not to open thousands of acres to urban sprawl, particularly along Dorchester County's most scenic road.''

The editorial regrets that the council dropped a widely supported proposal for area zoning restrictions, while Charleston looks to extend the Glenn McConnell Parkway northwest and North Charleston wants to annex Watson Hill, where developers will build at least 4,000 dwellings if the annexation is upheld by courts.

Quoting from a petition by Dorchester Residents for Fiscal Accountability that says the county ''doesn't need to spend tax dollars and rate-payer dollars making traffic congestion worse and destroying our quality of life,'' the editorial concludes: ''Given the intense public sentiment in support of restraining development along the Ashley River Road, council would be well advised to return to a strategy that will support the preservation of the historic district, not encourage its ruination.'' -- Post and Courier   4/11/2006

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Horry County to Work with Coastal Carolina University, Clemson University on Long-Range Smart Growth Blueprint

Its population of about 227,000 projected to reach 337,000 by 2025 and its quality of life already hurt by road congestion, water pollution and farmland loss, Horry County entered an agreement with Coastal Carolina University and Clemson University to work together on a comprehensive long-range regional blueprint for smart growth.

''We have not had an opportunity to get ahead of growth,'' said County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland. ''We want to protect our environment, we want to leave areas still rural (undeveloped), we want to retain the pristine quality of our rivers and Carolina bays.''

The signatories expect to have the 2030 smart-growth plan draft ready within two years, reports Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Kathleen Vereen Dayton, noting that the two universities will combine their research, development and public service to advance the regional economy and quality of life, focusing on education, growth modeling, community development, tourism, leadership formation, public transportation, housing and health care.

''If we act now and manage for the future,'' pointed out Coastal Carolina University Provost Pete Barr, ''we can continue to grow without that urban sprawl.'' -- Sun News   3/25/2006

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

Planners, Developers Push for Smart Growth and Zoning Reform in Horry County

With Horry County and its municipalities increasingly worried about the future of the 30-mile Grand Strand, where sprawl, congestion and sky-high home prices already take a toll on communities and threaten their tourist-based economy, planners and civic-minded developers are advocating smart growth and zoning reform, to allow more mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly projects, such as the Market Common urban village planned for the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

Myrtle Beach planning director Jack Walker told area colleagues, architects and others at a recent meeting that the base redevelopment concept reflects the city's early mid-90s vision of infill and mixed-use centers, with interlinked streets, walking and bike paths, parallel parking and streetlamps.

''You won't see people rushing into a store from their car,'' he promised ''You'll see them engaging in public life.''

That's what Dock Street Communities president Sam Burns is aiming for, reports Myrtle Beach Sun News writer Jenny Burns, noting that despite obstacles his company builds solely live-work townhouses with back-alley parking and public open space along the Strand.

''Codes and regulations make it far easier to build shelter than to build neighborhoods,'' the developer pointed out, hoping for regulatory changes to reverse the course.

A county planning commission member, LandArt Co. planning director Brent Schulz said the county is creating a new zoning category specifically for traditional neighborhood development (TND), and North Myrtle Beach planner Greg Lipscomb stressed the need to dispel the frequent misconception of smart growth as being anti-growth or anti-suburban, by explaining its focus on housing and transportation choices, equal economic opportunities, and long-term sustainability. -- Sun News   3/15/2006

Resource(s): www.myrtlebeachonline.com/

North Myrtle Beach Smart Growth Ordinance Will Bring Mixed Uses to Main Zoning Districts

Stretched narrowly for several miles of Ocean Boulevard along the Long Bay coast, the resort city of North Myrtle Beach is about to join the nation's Smart Growth communities with an ordinance that will introduce mixed uses in its main zoning districts, reports North Myrtle Beach writer Jim Hulen, expecting Mayor Marilyn Hatley, council and planning commission members and congestion-wary residents to attend a Smart Growth Panel Discussion on March 10.

A major driver for smart growth along Ocean Boulevard ''is a three-fold plan that will reduce traffic,'' said Councilman Bob Cavanaugh, explaining that hotel/motel/residential (R-4) zoning will now allow shops and services within a building with entry from the lobby, ''thus eliminating the need for cars for basic items visitors need;'' that by permitting mixed uses in resort commercial (RC) zones, ''external combinations of residential, business, retail and services can be blended into an integrated, walk-oriented destination;'' and that the city needs ''a people-friendly, reliable and low-cost bus system that links our Ocean Boulevard destinations with the rest of North Myrtle Beach attractions and restaurants.''

The writer applauds the smart growth concepts. Pointing out that the current zoning separates uses and puts a lot of local and visitor cars on the roads, the writer tells readers to expect better times.

''Imagine a North Myrtle Beach where employees live above or near places they work and can walk or bike their way to their place of employment,'' he writes. ''Imagine a North Myrtle Beach where tourists stay in hotels, motels, and rental homes and can walk to restaurants and shops.''

Encouraging readers to also imagine a Sea Mountain Highway, a Main Street and a 17th Avenue featuring street-level upscale shops topped by condos and apartments, with convenient transit, and crowds of shoppers and visitors strolling along landscaped walkways, the writer points out that these avenues would once again become ''centers of living, commerce and entertainment as they were prior to 1968 when they were separate cities.''

But now, with mixed use zoning, he observes, ''they would have the potential of becoming even larger-scale community centers.'' -- North Myrtle Beach   2/28/2006

Resource(s): www.northmyrtlebeachonline.com/

Jasper County Officials Place Trust in Smart Growth as Best Way to Manage Expected Wave of Growth

With a new Clemson University study projecting a Jasper County population jump from 30,000 to about 200,000 by 2026, with a complete reversal of today's 80-to-20- percent proportion between unincorporated and urban areas and the highest gains in Hardeeville and Ridgeland, mayors of both cities, Rodney Cannon and Ralph Tuten, place their trust in smart growth.

Speaking at the annual State of the County breakfast, where County Council Chairman George Hood told some 100 officials, planners, business leaders and residents that the situation is good, but that they should be ready for the projected massive population shift, reports Beaufort Gazette writer Michael R. Shea, Mayor Canon outlined Hardeeville growth plans, including a drainage project to manage runoff, and stressed the need for regional cooperation.

''It only makes sense to work with our neighbors,'' he stressed. ''We've even been talking to our neighbors in the South. Yes, we're even talking to Georgia.''

Mayor Tuten focused on the advantages of planning. With no planning over the past decades, Ridgeland became ''a ghost town'' a few years ago, its railroad line defunct and infrastructure in shambles, the mayor recalled. ''Buildings were empty, roofs were falling in, weeds were sprouting up,'' he said, until the city launched a recovery plan.

And now, he added, the city is proud of its ambitious public works projects, its popular streetscape with red brick sidewalks and buried power lines, its efficient water and sewer department, and the recent surge in home construction. -- Beaufort Gazette   1/27/2006

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

New Villages, Redevelopment of Blighted Neighborhoods Part of Columbia's Master Plan to Revitalize City's Northern Sector

Economically depressed and often stereotyped as a high crime area, Columbia's 4,200-acre northern sector, with 25 neighborhoods and Columbia College, can count on a better life under a just-unveiled master revitalization plan, which promises to preserve local communities, attract new retail business, enhance and create parks, and increase educational opportunities.

Worked out by FA Johnson Consulting, Inc., during nine months of close consultation with city officials and a committee of neighborhood leaders, business owners, college representatives and others, report Columbia State writers Gina Smith and Shalama C. Jackson, the plan envisions three special-motif villages, redevelopment of five blighted neighborhoods, and new trees, sidewalks, stop signs and other traffic-calming elements throughout the whole area.

An artists' village will feature street-level retail stores and galleries topped by lofts and offices, with greenway links to nearby parks and other projects. A college village will offer a pedestrian-friendly mix of new homes and shops. And a gateway village will showcase the entrances to north Columbia and the central city with more new homes and businesses.

The city, the writers note, will use zoning, building regulations and other measures against boarded-up or overgrown properties, while working with neighborhoods on historic conservation guidelines that would also require new development to reflect local values. The plan is accessible online at www.fajohnsondevelopmentgroup.com. -- The State   1/26/2006

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

Could Sprawl Backlash Have Caused Richland and Lexington County Voters to Reject $154 Million School and Recreation Bond?

In an editorial-like letter on the overwhelming rejection of a proposed $154 million bond issue for school and recreational facility construction in the Irmo-Chapin area of Richland and Lexington counties northwest of Columbia, Chapin resident Gary J. Atkinson writes to the Columbia State that the vote may reflect ''growing resentment by long-term residents of the unmanaged urban sprawl that both Lexington and Richland county councils foster.''

They ''approve major subdivisions for the benefit of deep-pocket developers with little or no thought given to the infrastructure that must sooner or later be but in place to serve them,'' he points out, calling on developers ''to bring sizable impact fees'' to the area along with their thousands of new homes.

''It is patently unfair,'' he stresses, ''to repeatedly ask long-term residents, many retired, to cover the infrastructure costs of housing developments run wild, be it for schools, roads, parks, services or all of the above.'' -- State   11/13/2005

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

Architect Outlines 178-Acre Bull Street Neighborhood Project for Downtown Columbia

''I believe in new urbanism,'' said Republican Governor Mark Sanford, summing up his view on a neo-traditional master plan for mixed-use redevelopment of the 178-acre Bull Street state hospital campus in downtown Columbia and shrugging off a question on design changes to increase profitability in these words: ''I'm not going to trade off higher quality of life for more dollars. I'll leave it to the planners to strike the balance.''

New Urbanism founder, Miami architect-planner Andres Duany, sought to ensure that balance, both social and economic, reports Columbia State writer Jeff Wilkinson, by mixing some 771,000 square feet of offices and 60,000 square feet of small shops and stores with 1,178 different type housing units -- 167 single-family homes and cottages, 285 townhouses, 561 condos and apartments, and 165 live-work units.

Some of the 10 renovated historic buildings at a civic square are targeted for a theater, gymnasium, chapel and library, and most old trees will be saved, with each one cut down replaced by three new ones. The back of the site will feature a creek and pond with a greenway park that eventually could be extended to the Three River Greenway.

''There is no rich area or poor area,'' the architect said about his project. ''No division between classes like you would see in some suburbs.''

The revamped Bull Street neighborhood, with its parks, pedestrian-friendly streets and diversified housing, the writer observes, is expected to attract a ''creative class'' of professionals, researchers and medical workers downtown, and coupled with the new University of South Carolina research campus and the revitalization of Main Street, the riverfront and other areas, to help transform Columbia's future economy.

To launch the Bull Street redevelopment as soon as possible, the architect would like preservationists to ask the City Council to consider the site's 10 old buildings immediately for the landmarks registry, hoping officials will also quickly provide more attractive tax credits for renovation.

''Developers hate uncertainty,'' he pointed out. ''They need to know if these buildings are going to be protected or not.'' Mayor Bob Cole promised to deal with the issue soon, noting, ''Anytime you have an incentive to help revitalize an historic building, it is beneficial to the city.'' -- State   5/29/2005

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

Greenville Columnist Follows Trail of Missteps from Community Classrooms to District Megaschools

When it comes to schools, ''bigger isn't better,'' partly because the notion of ''big'' has overgrown any rational school proportions, observes Greenville Daily News columnist Jeanne Brooks, pointing out that when former Harvard University president James Bryant Conant called for big schools in his 1958 book, ''The American High School Today,'' he meant 400 to 500 students, not 1,000 to 3,000, as is common today.

Writing soon after the Soviet Union shocked Americans with its first Sputnik, raising public concerns about the state of American education and technological superiority prospects, the Harvard scholar believed that to catch up, school districts had to switch from small high schools to big ones, to secure better equipment and more staff. People followed his advice, the columnist writes, and ''built big'' -- elementary and middle schools, too -- but they ''forgot the part about 400 or 500.''

But since buildings for some 2,000 kids, plus ball fields and parking, don't fit in most neighborhoods, school districts had to build them at town edges or beyond, which necessitated busing or car use, and pushed down the numbers of students walking or biking from 48 percent in 1969 to below 15 percent for walkers and to 1 percent for bikers in 2001.

With the 2003 EPA study, entitled ''Travel and Environmental Implications of School Siting,'' which showed that increased driving to distant schools worsens traffic and can ''exacerbate already serious air quality issues,'' and with other data on low financial and educational effectiveness of big schools, the columnist notes, at least 41 states have opened small schools.

''What if Greenville County had kept, maintained, renovated more neighborhood schools and built smaller new schools only where the growth was, not leaped ahead to where it wasn't yet?'' she wishfully asks. ''Might we now have a little more breathing room over air quality ratings?'' -- Greenville Daily News   5/11/2005

Resource(s): http://greenvilleonline.com/news/

Cooperation Key to 3,000-Acre Public-Private Redevelopment Project in North Charleston

Smooth four-year cooperation between North Charleston and the Noisette Co. on a $1 billion plan to redevelop the city's historic core, much of a nearby naval base and some two miles of Cooper River frontage into the 3,000-acre mixed-use Noisette neighborhood has easily withstood a brief strain over a loan, with both sides firmly committed to their smart-growth project and with its first major riverside park slated for timely completion by the Fourth of July.

The city, reports Associated Press writer Bruce Smith, objected to the company's undisclosed borrowing of $3 million for renovation of two of the best office buildings at the old base, demanding reimbursement of almost $840,000. The company is still checking whether the contract required the disclosure, but acknowledged its responsibility for better communication with city leaders, and agreed to place $500,000 in escrow and open books to outside auditors.

''There are no blueprints for the unique public-private partnership we have developed,'' said Noisette CEO John Knott. ''We are breaking new ground here and our success depends on trust,'' he added, stressing, ''This is a highly complicated, multi-layered endeavor and through it all a strong relationship with the community, city leadership and staff has been forged.''

The project, which will include 3,000 housing units in the north part of the old base, is ''a wonderful opportunity -- but every opportunity you have is going to have bumps in the road,'' pointed out Mayor Keith Summey, restating, ''The city is committed to making this area of North Charleston a landmark development for the entire world to look at.''   3/24/2005

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

Corporations Agree to Fund 90 Percent of Jasper County Land-Use and Transport Plan

As coastal areas draw ever more residents and Beaufort County development sprawls westward, Jasper County and its two cities along I-95, Ridgeland and Hardeeville, want to be ready for the impending population boom with a joint countywide land-use and transportation plan -- 90 percent of its $300,000 cost, says County Administrator Andrew Fulghum, promised to be paid by three area corporations: Palmetto Electric Cooperative, South Carolina Electric & Gas, and the new Coastal Carolina Medical Center.

Hiring Denver-based Clarion Associates and Atlanta-based Clough, Harbour & Associates for work on the plan's components, reports Hilton Head Island Packet writer Robert Sandler, officials seek ''a unified set of planning and zoning rules to help properly manage growth.''

County Council Chairman George Hood and Hardeeville City Administrator Shane Haynes call growth-management their top priority, the latter saying either residents determine the way to grow or ''it will be determined for us.''

Clough Harbour regional director King Evans says consultants will analyze the county's scenic, historic and cultural resources, expecting to ''blend the automobile'' into future development, but also to recommend mixed zoning in adjacent areas to encourage walking and biking, and minimize car use.

The writer finds the corporate sponsors glad they can pay for the planning. ''Overall, it will just enhance the economic development opportunities for the area,'' observes South Carolina Electric & Gas spokesman Robin Montgomery, because it will help county and town officials ''in a more cohesive effort when it comes to permitting and zoning.''

Palmetto Electric spokesman Jimmy Baker agrees. ''We all benefit from growth and density,'' he stresses, ''it's important to us that growth be done in the proper manner.'' -- Island Packet   2/7/2005

Resource(s): www.beaufortgazette.com/

Greenville Preparing Plan to Bring Smart Growth to the Suburbs

Aided by Upstate Forever and the Chamber of Commerce in its efforts to replicate its downtown transformation in the suburbs, Greenville -- in the state's northwestern corner -- is ''on the move,'' says Washington-based Smart Growth Leadership Institute Deputy Director Jessica Millman, with Smart Growth America (SGA) selecting the community as one of four nationwide last month to help it implement revamped development rules and show others how to curb sprawl.

Still being drafted by Clarion and Associates, reports Greenville News writer Ashley Fletcher, the new rules will be ready for public comments this spring, just in time for two visits by an SGA expert team. Noting that smart growth creates distinctive places, Greenville Mayor Knox White points out that the city has so far preserved historic downtown buildings, expanded sidewalks, and made better use of its natural resources, including the Reedy River.

The smart growth trend is catching on in Greenville County, too, stresses its planning director Jimmy Forbes. Seeing increased developer interest in neo-traditional neighborhoods, with mixed uses, smaller lots and interconnected streets, the County Council has recently passed a set of rules to ease such development. Upstate Forever director Brad Wyche says the ''same approach can apply anywhere in our region.''

Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development director Catherine Ross makes the same point. Smart growth isn't just about downtown, she observes, it's about development that boosts the local tax base, while preserving natural resources and reducing the cost of new infrastructure. Smart growth doesn't even preclude a big-box store if locally needed, she adds, providing it needs neither public funds for road and utility extensions nor tax breaks that deplete money for public schools. -- Greenville News   2/7/2005

Resource(s): http://greenvilleonline.com/

World's Largest Green Dorm Opens at USC-Columbia

The University of South Carolina's (USC-Columbia) newly opened 172,000-square-foot West Quad, the world's largest ''green dorm,'' again positions the university as the leader for the state and region on sustainable development, said USC President Andrew Sorensen, stressing that the complex ''also will be a site for faculty research on the environment and next energy and serve as a catalyst for community and statewide environmental initiatives.''

Incorporating the latest energy and conservation technology, along with recycled materials, the three four-story West Quad buildings cost just $30.9 million.

''USC has demonstrated with West Quad that designing smart, healthy buildings can be accomplished without added costs,'' pointed out complex director Dr. Gene Luna. ''Furthermore, we will be operating the complex with significantly reduced utility costs.''

According to the university's web site, West Quad uses 45 percent less energy and 20 percent less water than comparable traditional residence halls. Details at http://uscnews.sc.edu   11/5/2004

Resource(s): www.sc.edu/

Columbia Infill Redevelopment Projects Get Rave Reviews

Long known for mostly suburban shopping centers anchored by grocery stores, the Columbia-based Edens & Avant retail real estate company, under CEO Terry S. Brown since 2002, moved ''from merely growing big to growing smart,'' reports Columbia State writer Tanya Fogg Young from its new $20-million, 208,000-square-foot Shoppes at Woodhill center that replaced the blighted Woodhill Mall and brought in ''top-tier'' retailers to the old southwestern neighborhoods, quoting the CEO's promise that other such redevelopment projects to be announced in the next several months ''will change the landscape and face of retail in this city.''

Edens & Avant president and chief investment officer Jodie W. McLean says the company is also focusing its investments in dense areas near city centers in other East Coast metro areas, mentioning Atlanta, Boston and Sterling, Virginia, some 15 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

Aware that infill redevelopment is more difficult and costly than new construction on urban fringes, city officials made the company's task easier by expediting permits and facilitating contacts with the state Department of Transportation.

They also helped persuade the Target grocery chain to close its Woodhill store for 10 months and reopen as the anchor of the redeveloped center rather than move elsewhere, stresses city deputy planning and zoning director Chip Land, glad that ''(n)ot all of the growth and activity is happening out in the hinterland'' and hopeful of 1,000 new homes in the area within a few years.

In an editorial, The State calls the just-opened Shoppes at Woodhill ''a sterling example of development that reclaims blighted property, improves community aesthetics and combats urban sprawl.''

Optimistic about a pattern change, the editorial says, ''(l)ocal governments should foster more infill development,'' develop efficient plans for land reuse, and consider incentives ''to get developers to reclaim dilapidated or blighted shopping centers, big boxes and other properties in lieu of leapfrogging out into the suburbs to scarf up precious undeveloped land.'' -- State   10/5/2004

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/

Charlotte-Area Smart Growth Summit Focuses on Quality of Life Improvements

Since rapid growth around Charlotte, North Carolina, also pushes southwest to York, Chester and Lancaster counties in South Carolina, the Charlotte-based Voices & Choices of the Central Carolinas smart-growth group and the Council of Chambers of York County focused their 2004 Regional Summit on ways to improve quality of life, with consultant Vicki Taylor telling participants, ''If the public can't see value in what government is doing, they'll vote them out of office.''

Voices & Choices Executive Director Carl Gullick set the tone, reports Rock Hill Herald writer Caroline Brustad Fossi, with presentation of the group's recent ''State of the Region'' report, which examines connections between land use, transportation, air and water quality, waste management and the overall economic situation, showing how sprawl breeds traffic congestion, air pollution, long commutes and other threats to quality of life.

Ready to act in time, the officials, business leaders, education experts and other summit participants agreed the region should invest in a well-educated workforce to attract good jobs; make the public aware of the need for land-use planning and the benefits of high-density, mixed-use, transit-oriented development; improve water quality-and-supply monitoring and lobby for a bi-state Catawba River authority; and involve residents in all local and regional issues.

Chamber of commerce officials, the writer notes, intend to set up a steering committee for work on these goals. -- Herald   5/27/2004

Resource(s): www.heraldonline.com/

Surging Population Puts South Carolina at a Growth Crossroads

One of the fastest-growing Southeast states, South Carolina is facing a one-million population surge to more than 5.3 million within 25 years, a prospect which requires a change in land-use patterns from the predominant sprawl to mixed-use and higher-density development in and near established communities to take the advantage of their infrastructure, recommends the ''Growing by Choice or Chance'' study by the Urban Land Institute and the University of South Carolina's Real Estate Center.

''South Carolina is at a crossroads,'' stated study team co-chairman, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, while the other co-chairman, Lowcountry developer James Chaffin, noted that the team has already met with Republican Governor Mark Sanford and lawmakers, preparing to continue the push for change. Knowing what sprawl does, he said, ''We can't use ignorance any longer as an excuse. It really becomes negligence.''

A few years in the making with a series of local forums throughout the state, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin, the study advises a public ''visioning'' process to reach consensus on growth, cooperation among local governments, and a greater state growth-management role. Specifically, it calls for a state planning office that would report to the governor, and for an optional local real-estate sales tax to fund land preservation. S.C. Coastal Conservation League official Eric Meyer commented, ''South Carolina seems to be at a tipping point for smart growth.'' -- Post and Courier   5/5/2004

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Charleston Smart Growth Project to Get Another Chance at the Polls

If the South Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the 2002 half-cent sales tax increase to raise funds for Charleston area transit and infrastructure, the James Island Shopping Plaza, the historic McLeod Plantation and the long-vacant Cross Creek Square stores would be in the design phase of redevelopment into a smart-growth ''pedestrian paradise of retail shops, offices and housing.'' But since the court ruled that the ballot language was ''biased,'' the remake depends on another public nod for the tax this November.

The revitalization, reports Charleston Regional Business Journal writer Dennis Quick, would or will begin with an overhaul of a dangerous intersection and addition of a roundabout, to make Cross Creek Square easily and safely accessible.

That's where developers expect to launch construction of townhouses, apartments, condominiums, single-family homes, stores, restaurants and offices, with Charleston planning director Tim Keane stressing that the area's car traffic would be reduced, because residents and employees would have everything within a short walk.

He is optimistic about the November sales tax increase ballot. ''I think,'' he says, ''people have begun to realize the importance of public transportation and infrastructure improvements.'' -- Charleston Regional Business Journal   5/3/2004

Resource(s): www.charlestonbusiness.com/

Charleston Planning Commission Recommends Preserving More Older Buildings

In a move for better preservation in the Charleston area, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council once again expand the power of the Commercial Corridor Design Review Board outside the peninsular central city, to let it deny demolition of quality buildings more than 50 years old not only in a small section of the nearby West Ashley neighborhood, but also along about 40 suburban roads in a 15-mile radius.

The city's department of design, development and preservation head, Yvonne Fortenberry, estimates the expansion of the board's authority could save some 220 buildings, ranging from churches and other landmarks to fast-food restaurants and even ''big-box'' stores, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin, quoting Preservation Society of Charleston official Robert Gurley, who says, ''Charleston has always set the standard. This is an opportunity to be proactive.''

Although most of the fast-food and big-box suburban buildings never last 50 years, he and other preservationists think some may be worth saving in the future. -- Post and Courier   4/22/2004

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Gov. Sanford Endorses Community Schools in State of the State Speech

''Quality of life is many things,'' said South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford in his State of the State speech, pointing to last year's Neighborhood Schools legislation -- thanks to which ''state Department of Education restrictions were lifted and local communities are now much more empowered to incorporate new schools within the fabric of their own towns and cities'' -- but still finding ''a lot of institutional biases to build these remote mega schools that have proven themselves to be less effective as learning environments.''

Mentioning such a Beaufort County case, the governor stressed, ''Unless we want to continue this costly practice of using schools as an excuse to drag infrastructure across the countryside, all I can say is that I would encourage voters to demand schools are built in communities that reflect the size of that community.''

Turning to another land use component of the quality of life, the governor asked lawmakers to fund the Conservation Bank this year, reminding them, ''Once land is developed you never have a second chance to preserve it so that our children's children will have a glimpse of the beauty that makes our state so special.'' He also asked them to support ''the notion of Priority Investment Areas,'' and specifically legislator Ben Hagood's bill, which would help the state ''work with local communities to better target public investment and reduce sprawl in our communities.''   1/21/2004

Resource(s): www.scgovernor.com/index.asp

Court Rejects Charleston County's Sales Tax Increase for Funding Open Space and Transit Projects

The South Carolina Supreme Court invalidated the 2002 voter-approved Charleston County half-cent sales tax increase, which would raise $221 million over 25 years for parks and open space and $845 million for roads, bridges and transit, with conservationists pointing out that the tax's potential preservation benefits would have been heavily outweighed by the loss of farmland and the environmental damage triggered by development surges along the projected regional highways. They also note that last year's ballot left county officials too much leeway in future spending and expect them to bring together many interest groups to present voters with more precise referendum wording, possibly next year, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer David Quick. He quotes S.C. Coastal Conservation League executive director Dana Beach, who says ''We had some serious concerns about the level of detail we felt should have been in the ballot'' and especially about ''the lack of detail in the green space plan.'' Sierra Club's Robert Luntz Group chairwoman Christine von Kolnitz called the court ruling a ''victory for democracy,'' adding, ''You want to make sure the money isn't spent on fluff projects or a strip of green in the middle of a freeway as your green space.'' -- Post and Courier   8/26/2003

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Neighborhood Schools Get Boost from Bill Rescinding Space Requirements

In line with his first state-of-the-state speech's pledge to ''bring back smaller community-centered schools'' where no child is ignored and many live within easy walking or biking distance, Republican Governor Mark Sanford signed a neighborhood-school bill, which rescinds school acreage requirements and allows square footage waivers, at the small Moultrie Middle School in Mount Pleasant, telling guests, teachers and students -- a fourth of the latter coming on foot or bike -- that the new law ''makes sense from a learning standpoint, an economic standpoint, and it makes sense if you want to have schools that are part of a community's fabric as opposed to part of its sprawl.'' The rescinded requirements, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Allison L. Bruce, set minima of 10, 20 and 30 acres for elementary, high and high schools, respectively, plus one acre for every 100 students. Thus, notes Charleston County School Board Chairman Gregg Meyers, sufficient acreage for the new Wando High School was eventually found several miles from Wando, along Highway 17, although planners worried it would increase traffic and sprawl. But Wando Principal Lucy Beckham thinks less acreage would have curtailed students' athletic opportunities. ''As cities and communities develop, available land close to the population is not always there,'' she says, hoping school districts will avoid buying ''the least possible amount,'' because ''(t)hat's not in the best interest of students, not having adequate space for a full school program.'' On the other hand, S.C. Coastal Conservation League executive director Dana Beach hails the new law, calling it ''the perfect example of how needs as broad and diverse as education, conservation and fiscal responsibility can be advanced by a single innovative regulatory reform.'' -- Post and Courier   7/17/2003

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Charleston Planners Propose New Zoning Categories to Break Pattern of Sprawl

In an effort to break the half-century-long concentric pattern of suburban expansion through car-dependent subdivisions, shopping centers and strip malls, the Charleston Planning Commission endorsed the proposed ''gathering place'' and ''neighborhood district'' zoning categories, both pedestrian-friendly and both applicable to new projects and to site redevelopment, with planner Tim Keane saying, ''The goal is to make what we want easy.'' Under current zoning, such main-street-style commercial and residential projects are very difficult to build, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin. The new zoning wouldn't mandate them, but would greatly help developers ready for the neo-traditional concept. The ''gathering place'' commercial category would allow buildings along grid-type tree-lined streets, with on-street parking and public parks, but no set density or minimum lot sizes, to encourage development around major suburban intersections and facilitate mini-downtowns. The ''neighborhood district'' residential category would allow many of the same design features and require some retail and office space, but with varied density limits. -- Post and Courier   5/22/2003

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Demand for Pedestrian-Friendly Neighborhoods Grows

The Washington-based Urban Land Institute's 1999 study finding that people are ready to pay even $20,000 more for homes in pedestrian- friendly neighborhoods is being once again confirmed, this time in Richland County, where developer Chuck Munn sees the paved trails and other fitness amenities in his mixed-use Lake Carolina community as a key selling tool, which will help him increase the number of homes from 500 to 3,000. ''It's more expensive to build; there's more asphalt, more trees and more grass,'' he says. ''But it's becoming, nationwide, a more popular style of development.'' Part of ''smart growth'' plans considered in Richland County and elsewhere in South Carolina, pedestrian-friendly projects are still rare in this state, reports Columbia State writer Linda H. Lamb, but the combined idea of walkability and fitness is gaining traction, thanks also to new coalitions of health officials, environmentalists and other public interest advocates. University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health researcher Delores Pluto cites examples. A Sumter County Active Lifestyle coalition includes diverse groups, which map walking routes and bike paths, create a 20-mile hiking trail and ''adopt'' or clean up parks. A HeartWise group, created by the Mary Black Foundation in Spartanburg County, promotes active living in a variety of ways, including a Safe Routes to School project. The Palmetto Conservation Foundation is envisaging a 12.5-mile Palmetto Trail Spartanburg segment with both rural and urban walkways. Columbia's Three Rivers Greenway, whose newest section opened last October, will eventually become a 12-mile walking path along the Congaree, Broad and Saluda rivers. -- State   3/27/2003

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/

Land, Environmental Trust Funds in Jeopardy as South Carolina Tries to Balance State Budget

With proposed 2004 state spending $561 million lower than anticipated, South Carolina conservationists and their legislative allies oppose another cut in environmental cleanup and land protection funds -- previously reduced by $53.4 million and now targeted for $16 million more -- to help wipe out the record revenue shortfall. Columbia State writer Kenneth A. Harris quotes South Carolina Wildlife Federation president Andy Brack, who says the conservation trust funds ''are being raided and stolen and used to balance the general fund budget'' but lawmakers should ''keep their promises to South Carolinians'' and hold the money for the original purposes. State Democratic Senator Phil Leventis agrees. ''If we're taking money from these trust funds, we are not balancing the budget,'' he points out. ''We have an obligation in the future to pay these back. There is no commitment or plan to pay them back. It is deficit spending. It is creating obligations.'' -- The State   3/6/2003

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/local/

Smart Growth Critic Addresses Property Rights Seminar in Columbia

With Richland County officials holding two public meetings in one week to present advantages of the just-released Town and County plan, which seeks dense mixed-use development near public transit and promises better water quality, less traffic congestion and increased affordable housing, the South Carolina Landowners Association brought in the director of the Oregon-based Thoreau Institute, smart-growth critic Randal O'Toole, to tell its statewide Property Rights and Land Use Seminar in Columbia that most zoning could be scrapped, lower rural densities make city housing costlier and ''We are not dependent on the automobile, we are liberated by it.'' Called by landowner Kay McClanahan ''the answer to our prayers'' and asked by others how to fight the new plan, O'Toole told them, ''Emulate the other side.'' Noting that smart-growth advocates get varied interest groups, including ''public health officials to sign up for smart growth,'' he said, ''Build alliances. Make it more than just about property rights.'' Convinced that Richland County may become another Portland, OR, O'Toole repeated his frequent assertion that the metro's urban growth boundary drives up land prices and that instead of raising densities near transit, governments should charge drivers higher tolls to raise revenue for new roads. Greater Columbia Homebuilders Association director Earl McLeod thought O'Toole ''provides a very compelling argument for why what is happening in Portland is not smart.'' But Richland County deputy planning director Michael Criss pointed out that many urban experts refute O'Toole's claims. For example, a Georgia Institute of Technology study found that while Atlanta's tax rates and the number of unhealthy air days have sharply increased from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, the opposite happened in Portland, which also outpaced Atlanta in job and income growth rates.   2/13/2003

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/

Isle of Palms' House Size Caps Reflect Trend in Charleston-Area's Barrier Islands

Concerned that the spread of bigger and bigger homes from the Isle of Palms' waterfront to the residential center may destroy the character of this barrier island community, its City Council voted 7-1 for a hotly-debated ordinance that caps house size at 7,000 square feet, limits a house footprint alone or in combination with other impervious surfaces to 40 percent of a lot and requires extra side-yard setbacks for the portions of a house extending 25 feet above ground to prevent a ''boxy'' look. The sole dissenter, Councilman Dee Taylor, took the side of several property owners, arguing that the restrictions infringe on their property rights. But Mayor Mike Sottile spoke for the rest of the council and most residents, calling the ordinance fair for both sides and ''a good balance all the way around.'' As growth pressures mount across barrier islands, other communities also try to protect themselves with building restriction measures, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer David Quick. Earlier this year, Edisto Island restricted house size to 3,800 square feet and Sullivan's Island limited house footprints to 15 or 20 percent of a lot, depending on its size. Folly Beach, Kiawah Island and Pawley's Island are studying similar options. -- Post and Courier   11/27/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Charleston Reviews Impact Fees to Fund Expansion of City Services; Exemptions Offered for Affordable Housing Projects

Anticipating the Charleston metro population's jump from about 97,000 to more than 145,000 by 2015, most of this growth in the Cainhoy and West Ashley areas and on Daniel Island, the city planning commission wants to cushion the cost of expanding services through one citywide and three sectional developer impact fees, with an exemption for affordable housing projects. Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin quotes planner Tim Keane, who says growth will be paying ''for the facilities made necessary because of that growth, as opposed to spreading the cost across the entire city.'' Likely to be considered by the City Council next month, the citywide fee of $97.71 per each new housing unit would pay for additional garbage trucks, while the sectional fees of $594.24 in Cainhoy, $321.26 in West Ashley and $424.60 on Daniel Island would cover the cost of new public safety facilities, including police and fire stations. Commercial projects would be charged the new fees on a square-foot basis. The writer adds that the current impact fees currently charged by Charleston Commissioners of Public Works total about $2,500 for a new house and fund water and sewer services.   10/17/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Growth Symposium Focuses on Economics, Livability for S.C.'s Future

With South Carolina's population of just over 4 million projected to reach 5 million by 2025 and about half of the growth along the coast, South Carolina Smart Growth Initiative co-chairman Jim Chafin told a symposium in Charleston the state must find ways to accommodate the influx, while balancing ''economic vitality, environmental sensitivity and community livability.'' Sponsored by the Washington-based Urban Land Institute and the University of South Carolina's Center for Real Estate, reports Associated Press writer Bruce Smith in Charleston's The State, the symposium drew more than 170 area government and business leaders, developers and environmentalists, planners and neighborhood activists. Presenting them his estimates that the state will need 675,000 new housing units and 40 million square feet of new retail space -- with $57 billion in new infrastructure, including $29 billion for transportation and $10 billion for education, necessary by 2015 -- Clemson's Center for Real Estate Development director J. Terrence Farris said about 90 percent of the coming growth will be in the suburbs. ''The American paradox -- we hate density and we hate sprawl,'' he observed, although ''It's kind of hard to hate both.'' He pointed out that ''people want a single-family house, they want a lot, they want reasonable prices in the suburbs and they want owner-occupied,'' but urged planners to encourage urban redevelopment whenever possible, even though it's more complex than building in cornfields. -- The State   9/26/2002

Resource(s): www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/

Public Comments Invited in York County, S.C.'s Long-Range Transportation Plan

As it updates York County's long-range transportation plan to ensure its eligibility for state and federal dollars, the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study (RFATS) group is seeking public comments on everything from roads, light rail and buses to sidewalks and bike lanes, while scrutinizing traffic and congestion patterns in the context of residential and business trends and against the background of the currently revised county land-use plan, because, says county transportation planner Bjorn Hansen, ''Transportation drives growth. If it weren't for I-77, York County wouldn't be growing as much as it has.'' During recent community meetings on the land-use plan, reports Rock Hill Herald writer Caroline Brustad, residents said the area's biggest problems are traffic congestion, bad roads and insufficient public transit. Expecting 50 percent population growth, to more than 250,000 residents by 2020, officials warn that without comprehensive planning, the county's transportation problems could only worsen. -- Rock Hill Herald   9/9/2002

Resource(s): www.heraldonline.com/

Newcomers Flock to South Carolina's Scenic Waterfronts

The South Carolina population grew 15 percent over the last decade, but most newcomers settled near scenic waterfronts, boosting the numbers of people in Horry and Beaufort counties along the Atlantic coast by 40 percent and within a mile of the state's major lakes by 33 percent, with Lake Murray shores seeing a record 60-percent growth, to more than 43,000 residents. The founder of the Columbia-based Center for Carolina Living, Pat Mason, who tracks state population trends, predicts that people increasingly disenchanted with Atlantic coast development will move more and more toward lakes. ''As coastal destinations like Hilton Hill fill up and people see development in Bluffton and surrounding areas as congested,'' he says, they will ''take a look at a nice, peaceful lake'' and will ''want to be away from saltwater and hurricanes.'' Lake Murray area resident and Realtor Johnny Oswald says the local development and population boom really started in 1996, with lake lot prices increasing 10 to 15 percent a year since then. And although the lake owner, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., is building a backup dam and plans to lower the lake's level, he expects home prices to remain steady and surge again once construction is completed in the next two years.   8/20/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Charleston Officials Step Up Campaign for Tax Increase to Fund Transit After Poor Showing in Mobility Report

With the Texas Transportation Institute's (TTI) 2002 Urban Mobility Report finding the Charleston area more congested than other metro areas of its size, city officials stepped up their campaign for a half-cent sales tax increase this November, stressing that absent the extra $1.3 billion over 25 years for road upgrades, open space preservation and Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) operations, the gridlock will only worsen and the bus agency itself may go out of business. ''Without CARTA,'' warned Mayor Joseph P. Riley, ''the additional vehicular traffic on our road would be unimaginable.'' CARTA executive director Howard Chapman stressed that most of its 4 million passengers a year are commuters, many of whom might lack other means to travel and could lose their jobs if public transit was gone. Mentioning the expected influx of hundreds of thousands of new residents in the next decades, he adds that if voters want to check congestion, they should support the half-cent sales tax increase, which would let the city take the balanced transportation approach the TTI recommends. Charleston Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin quotes TTI report co-author Tim Lomax, who says new roads help slow down congestion increases, but since it seems impossible to add enough roads to keep congestion from growing, the best way to fight it is to combine road improvements with transit expansion and land-use pattern changes. -- Post and Courier   7/10/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Water and Sewer Impact Fees Approved to Cover Cost of New Growth in Aiken, S.C.

With most of the 300 Aiken homes built annually in the last five years on its southside slated for much of the $4.8 million of water and sewer system improvement by 2007, and with another $5 million in growth-related spending projected citywide, the City Council began to deal with the cost and direction of growth by approving $750 water and sewer impact fees and a 2.5 percent service charge increase, while promising incentives for business and residential projects on the northside. Augusta Chronicle South Carolina Bureau writer Josh Gelinas quotes Aiken Mayor Fred Cavanaugh, who said ''We're at the point where you have to plan for the future.'' -- The Augusta Chronicle   6/11/2002

Resource(s): http://augustachronicle.com/

York County, S.C. Republican Candidates Support Smart Growth

Both Republican candidates to a York County Council seat from the county's north-central part, just southwest of the North Carolina's fast-growing Charlotte, support smart growth, with Nadara Andrews advocating the extension of water and sewer lines throughout the county to spur the economy while controlling growth and protecting ''wetlands and green spaces,'' and Perry Johnston opposing forest clear-cutting for subdivisions and calling on residents to get more involved in the current process of revising the county's comprehensive land use plan by asking themselves what ''kind of growth do we want and where should it happen'' in the next ten years. Their campaign pronouncements overlap on many issues. Rock Hill Herald writer Caroline Brustad reports that like Andrews, Johnston favors a countywide water supply system and that both would seek a renewal of the county's one-cent sales tax for improving road maintenance and paving gravel roads, which are hard on cars and produce dust that penetrates homes and aggravates lung conditions, including asthma. The party's primary will be held June 11. -- The Herald   5/31/2002

Resource(s): www.heraldonline.com/

Johns Island Holds Onto Another Farmland Tract Through Conservation Easement

Johns Island, quickly losing its rural aura to development pushing down from Charleston, will retain another key piece of farmland and marsh under Lowcountry Open Land Trust protection, thanks to a permanent conservation easement donated by the extended family of Mary and Billy Hills, who call the build-up around them ''frightening.'' They will keep the right to subdivide their 98-acre Three Oak property into six home sites, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Lynne Langley, but exclude industrial and large-scale commercial uses. With a tract for sale near Three Oaks likely to host a shopping center, grocery store and multi-family housing, the Hills' conservation easement provides for a 100-foot buffer along an adjacent creek and a 200-foot buffer along the popular Angel Oak Road. Noting that Three Oaks includes ''significant water frontage and valuable agricultural land in an area threatened by urbanization,'' the trust's director for land protection, Allen Decker, considers the donated easement especially important due to its location near other trust properties and active farmlands reaching Charleston city limits.   5/4/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Lot Size Increase Draws Lawsuit from Charleston-Area Developer

Having recently increased the minimum lot size from 7,500 to 14,500 square feet, or a third of acre, the Dorchester County Council drew a Providence Development Partners lawsuit, claiming the council disregarded its own procedure to approve the ordinance, which caused the company the loss of a multimillion-dollar land contract for its planned Legend Oaks subdivision, with ''devastating financial losses'' yet to come. Charleston Post and Courier writer Bobbie Young reminds readers that the minimum lot-size increase was strongly supported by residents of the company's other subdivision nearby, concerned about too many area houses without sufficient open space. With the county's rapid growth blamed for traffic jams and overcrowded schools, the council is also considering a planned development ordinance, which would let developers build on even smaller lots, in exchange for setting aside green space and easing the strain on county infrastructure. As to the developer lawsuit, Council Chairman Randy Scott says, ''Anybody can sue over anything this day and time. We had to do something to slow down growth. Some developers want to keep developing and not give anything back.''   4/12/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Historic, Commercial Renovations Receive Tax Credits in South Carolina

A new South Carolina Historic Rehabilitation Incentives Act, sent by House and Senate conferees for approval by both chambers, will help revitalize urban areas by providing a 25-percent state tax credit for restoration of certified historic homes and a 10-percent credit for restoration of commercial properties. Credits, reports Charleston Post and Courier writer Warren Wise, cannot exceed $15,000 over three years nor be taken until work completion, but can be passed to shareholders and business partners in some cases. The law will apply to historic renovations completed after June 2003. The writer quotes Palmetto Conservation Foundation Assistant Director Chad Lennox, who applauds the residential credit, wishing the commercial tax break was equally high. The law ''will certainly help areas like Charleston,'' he says, seeing its real importance as an ''economic stimulus package for small towns in South Carolina.''   4/12/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Lot Size Increase Causes Heated Debate in S.C.'s Dorchester County

The Dorchester County Council heard passionate arguments against the pending increase of the minimum residential lot size to 14,500 square feet, or a third of an acre, with an expert from Ashley Engineering and Consulting of Summerville telling members that their move to larger lots ''flies in the face of smart growth'' and the county's comprehensive plan, and others cautioning them about negative effects on the so-called heirs' property. Heirs' property, explains Charleston Post and Courier writer Bobbie Young, is insufficiently documented land given mostly to former plantation slaves after the Civil War, with their descendants living on it and paying taxes without ever receiving proper deeds. A representative for heirs' land residents, Vergil Deas, told the council that they ''support controlled growth,'' but in some cases, when dozens of heirs share interest in a property, its division among them might result in smaller than one-third-acre home lots. Summerville resident Ben Coker added that the new rule also doesn't differentiate between large developers and small owners planning to divide their land among their children. Council Chairman Randy Scott promised to forward the heirs' property issue for the planning board's review.   3/19/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Charleston Entrusts Downtown Housing Renovation to HomeOwnership Center

In a search for the most able and cost-efficient management of Charleston's ''groundbreaking'' program to renovate about 200 downtown homes, the City Council entrusted it for a year to the Charleston HomeOwnership Center, which has long been involved in financing and expanding affordable housing. Quoting Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. as saying the city program should get a boost from the center's expertise, Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin reports that the council will create a committee to oversee the progress of downtown home renovation efforts. In a related move, the council passed an ordinance to prevent abandoned commercial property from blighting the city's suburbs.   3/13/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Rural Land Acquisition/Easement Fund Bill Passed in South Carolina House

By a strong 77-41 vote, the South Carolina House passed a bill that commits $9 million a year from state deed-record fees over ten years for rural land acquisition or easement purchases, with bipartisan supporters calling this voluntary measure vital to preempt sprawl, but bipartisan opponents fearing it may tempt strapped families to cash in on land hastily and waste its inheritance potential. Republican Representative Billy Witherspoon said many people living off the land ''are in financial bad shape'' and could see the bill ''as a chance to get out of debt'' by selling their farm development rights. ''When they do that,'' he added, ''they have sold their children's inheritance.'' The Legislative Black Caucus head, Democratic Representative Joe Neal, argued that the bill ''will pay wealthy people to own their property ... without giving any access to the public,'' while poor black farmers may lose their last remaining land. Pointing out that South Carolina's African Americans have lost 15 million acres since 1930, he stressed, ''We now have less than a million acres left, and we must jealously guard what little we have left.''   2/21/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/ ; www.charlotte.com/

Edisto Island Open Land Trust Doubles Membership, Accepts First Conservation Easement

Created eight years ago by six residents anticipating Lowcountry coastal development pressures, the Edisto Island Open Land Trust grew from 200 to 400 members in the past 18 months, recorded double donations, received its first grants and just accepted the first conservation easement to 28 acres near Big Neck Creek, while working on seven similar deals. Noting that the trust's part-time director Pat Martin is taking the job full time next month, Charleston Post and Courier writer Lynne Langley quotes her as saying, ''We see residential development pressure pushing in on us. We -- and all conservation groups -- need to act and act quickly'' before the growth, already filling up Edisto Beach with houses, sweeps over the whole island. Trust members, the first easement donors, lifetime resident and local historical society president Bud Skidmore, his wife Ann and son Steve, wanted both to advance the trust's preservation goals and to keep their land untouched. Ann Skidmore points out that the easement precludes all construction, logging or agriculture, while leaving the land open to nature walks, tent camping and crab fishing from the family's dock. The writer adds that the trust also owns more than 1,000 acres of land and marsh, much of it a developer gift in the island's neck area.   2/21/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

Cooperation Required for Success of Charleston County's Growth Plans

''Charleston County's urban growth boundary is a necessary tool to limit urban sprawl and protect rural areas,'' but requires cross- jurisdictional cooperation to be effective, states a Post and Courier editorial, welcoming county planners' readiness to resolve a dispute with their Mount Pleasant counterparts over a 386-acre county-backed mixed-use project just north of the town line. In a letter to County Planning Commission Chairman Mikell Scarborough, Mount Pleasant Planning Director Joel raised no objections to the project's single-family homes, but challenged other parts, especially the 53-acre commercial space, as violating both county and town comprehensive plans and ''blatantly'' inviting sprawl. In response, the county commission instructed staffers to take up the controversial issues with the town planning staff. The editorial says Mount Pleasant objections should be ''thoroughly explored,'' due to the project's ''potential effect on the town and the precedent that could be set for other areas on the rural side of the urban growth boundary.''   2/18/2002

Resource(s): www.charleston.net/

James Island, SC Sees Balanced Transportation Plan as Best Choice to Preserve Character

Aware that the standard anti-congestion practices of building and widening roads only continue "the cycle of sprawl," Charleston officials place their hopes for calming traffic and preserving local character throughout the fast-suburbanizing James Island nearby on a balanced long-term transportation plan, which will let them improve roads, expand bus routes and build park-and-ride lots, while creating a system of sidewalks and bike paths to make most of the island accessible without a car. Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin quotes Charleston traffic and transportation department director Hernan Pena, who says "alternative modes of transportation" are crucial for preserving the island's character and ensuring its residents' mobility. But much of the plan depends on funds from the state and the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority. Noting that the Charleston City Council is considering impact fees for public safety and sanitation services, the director also favors transportation impact fees like those recently enacted by Mount Pleasant.   11/26/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

Slow-Growth Residential Building Cap Upheld in South Carolina Court

Mount Pleasant officials, who imposed a six-year residential building cap last fall and got hit with four lawsuits by developers calling the growth control measure "illegal and unconstitutional," were finally vindicated by dismissal of the last two of those suits. Officials want to slow the town's annual growth rate from nine to three percent and to address urgent infrastructure needs, and Town Attorney Allen Young hails the court decision as "a total, substantial and very meaningful victory." The opposing attorney, Fred Walters, disagrees, saying his clients, developers of the Hamlin Plantation and Dunes West subdivisions, sought the dismissal without prejudice, because the economic downturn has dampened building permit demand. "If the economy turns around and there is a rush on permits," he says, "we'll be back in court."   11/9/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

For the majority of Americans now living in city and metro areas, quality of life "is shaped by the urban fabric of the country"

For the majority of Americans now living in city and metro areas, quality of life "is shaped by the urban fabric of the country," said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., addressing officials and business leaders from the Southeast who gathered at a two-day growth-management conference -- co-sponsored by his city, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the U.S. EPA -- to discuss ways to curb sprawl and form livable cities. Many speakers focused on such overlapping solutions, reports Post and Courier writer Jason Hardin, as saving green space, cleaning the environment, expanding transportation choices and providing urbanites with "decent places to live." Alarmed by the costs of post-World War II sprawl, which is threatening to overload the capacity of the water supply to absorb pollutants, the planning and research director of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, Michael Rowe, said officials want to prevent Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina from creeping along I-85, "meeting in Greenville and becoming one big mess." Others stressed the need to improve housing and overall conditions in poor city neighborhoods. North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey pointed out that low-income residents frequently pay higher utility bills due to substandard insulation of their housing. EPA official Phyllis Harris noted that they often face more environmental hazards from landfills and polluting industries, usually located nearby. But speakers also agreed, the writer adds, that "improving neighborhoods is a tricky business," since it's "not always clear when revitalization ends and gentrification -- the displacement of poorer residents by wealthier ones in attractive older neighborhoods -- begins."   10/24/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

Historic designation means tougher permitting in Charleston, SC

Despite its long cooperation with state agencies and local groups to assess the historic, cultural and recreational assets of the proposed 70,000-acre National Historic District along the Cooper River, the Berkeley County Council scolded the Historic Charleston Foundation for sending such an application to the state Department of Archives and History "behind our backs," which "has damaged the whole idea." Charleston Post and Courier writer Ron Menchaca points out that even though the historic designation wouldn't multiply regulations, it would toughen the permitting process in an area "peppered with historic sites dating from the colonial era to the early 20th century." He mentions the Strawberry Chapel, rice field dikes, historic roads, former slave dwellings and the state's three oldest plantation homes, already listed in the National Register of Historic Places.   10/2/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

Long after North Carolina and Georgia, South ...

Long after North Carolina and Georgia, South Carolina has now came up with its share of $200,000 in tri-state matching funds, to secure the same amount in federal dollars for a feasibility study of a high-speed rail line through the region. Referring to state transportation officials' reluctance to contribute the study funds, Greenville U.S. Republican Representative Jim DeMint, instrumental in securing the federal help, said "Diverting any funding from roads to rail gives them heartburn." He pointed out that "high-speed rail is real important to the Upstate," since it would help keep airline prices competitive and offer an alternative to driving. Proponents envisage a rail corridor running from Raleigh and Charlotte through Upstate to Atlanta, with a possible Charlotte-Columbia-Augusta spur.   9/5/2001

Resource(s): www.greenvilleonline.com

To allay some concerns in North Charleston ...

To allay some concerns in North Charleston and Charleston County about creating a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District for the Noisette redevelopment project and helping it with $75 million in bonds, Post and Courier writer and city councilman Kurt Taylor explains that the old and blighted part of the city meets the statutory TIF criteria, that its redevelopment doesn't require new taxes and that the Noisette Company will work for area preservation, not gentrification. With the area so neglected that no private investor would endeavor to revitalize it alone, he writes, the city, in a team effort with the company, will upgrade the infrastructure, create a waterfront park and other amenities, and replan it "for better, more productive and sustainable land use." This will increase local property values, "which means the individual wealth" of property owners "goes up" and "the normal tax appraisal process follow from there." Citing proponents' assurances that "gentrification is not an acceptable result" of the project, the writer-councilman repeats that its "unequivocal focus is the preservation of these neighborhoods by bringing value back to them." He promises that the city will do everything to avoid condemnation, which may happen only as "an unfortunate last resort," adding that he "cannot envision the scenario where the City Council would coldly take a family's house, telling them that they must go somewhere else whether they like or not." Then, he concludes, "Historic North Charleston will become a place for the world to admire. Join us."   9/5/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

Alarmed by rising land and construction costs ...

Alarmed by rising land and construction costs, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. and other officials asked builders what the city can do to expand affordable housing and the audience told them they should speed up the permitting process, identify possible infill sites and work through public-private partnerships. The mayor expressed willingness to put affordable housing projects on a fast-track, but stressed that review boards also must ascertain their design attractiveness and public appeal. Such things can't always be "fast-tracked," he said, since a difficult design problem often requires "a whole lot of little answers." He was also interested in a suggestion to create "a buyers' profile" that would set a target price range and help developers identify incentives, including reduced impact fees, they would need to build affordable housing. "Give us that profile, and let us run with it," said Palmetto Traditional Homes CEO Andy White. The mayor intends to meet again with builders, once he reviews their proposals with his staff. The meeting's initiator, Councilman Henry Fishburne, who is pushing for construction of several thousand low-cost units by 2010, said if he and others" want their children to live on the peninsula ... we've got to provide more affordable housing."   9/4/2001

Resource(s): www.charleston.net

The National Trust for Historic Preservation released ...

The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its second annual list of the Dozen Distinctive Destinations that, said Trust President Richard Moe, "typify our country's small towns, close communities, and celebrated heritage." These town and cities, he continued, "are committed to preserving their historic landmarks, maintaining their unique character, and supporting locally owned business entrepreneurs. They are not historically distinctive vacation spots -- they are also fun places for families and visitors of all ages. We can learn from their past and contribute to their future. Yeah." The list includes Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Calistoga. California; Silverton, Colorado; Madison, Indiana; Bonaparte, Iowa; Northampton, Massachusetts; Red Lodge, Montana; Las Vegas, New Mexico; Jacksonville, Oregon; Doylestown, Pennsylvania; Beaufort, South Carolina; and Staunton. Details at www.nationaltrust.org   4/16/2001

Resource(s): www.usnewswire.com

Joining anti-sprawl efforts in surrounding York County ...

Joining anti-sprawl efforts in surrounding York County, nearby Charlotte and elsewhere in both Carolinas, the Rock Hill City Council gave initial approval to a tree-preservation measure, with requirements progressively tougher the farther developers reach into undeveloped land. The measure, flexible near downtown and other developed areas, would make outer construction more costly, by requiring developers and owners of apartment or townhouse projects to replace trees or pay for them, according to distance and other multipliers. In cases of extreme ill will, the measure would exact misdemeanor fines or bar occupancy of the new buildings. Outgoing county planner Marcus Norton says developers need "to think a little harder about the way they develop." Real estate agent Joseph Huckabee of Rock Hill's Huckabee Realty agrees that most people like tree-preservation measures, but thinks that enforcement "has gone a little too far when you're leveling criminal charges." Still, Rock Hill's builder Tony Berry supports the measure, noting that the market will answer whether more people prefer cluster housing with fewer trees near downtown or larger wooded tracts further out. The city is wise wanting to influence that choice with a tree-preservation plan, he adds, saying "that's the purpose of zoning" -- to "direct the future growth in a way that's best for everybody."   1/2/2001

Resource(s): www.charlotte.com

York County Council Chairman Carl Gullick urges ...

York County Council Chairman Carl Gullick urges the region's other 12 counties, including highly urbanized Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, to deal together with the challenges of growth and the risks to the area's quality of life. He calls for regional planning to streamline transportation with a long-overdue rail system, fight air and water pollution, maximize the benefits of infrastructure investments and protect the environment.   12/1/1998

Jasper County's first comprehensive plan has sparked ...

Jasper County's first comprehensive plan has sparked little public interest, but officials expect and urge major local input into the process of fleshing out the plan with zoning and subdivision ordinances. Such ordinances will ensure the county's orderly growth by preventing Ňa continuous stream of housesÓ into rural areas, and by barring industries from non-industrial zones while attracting them to other locations with inexpensive land, a vast work force and proximity to cities.   12/1/1998

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