Rethink Folly Road

     The print edition of the Post and Courier had a rather alarming headline regarding Rethink Folly Road.   "Bumpy Road to Progress, Effort to Transform Folly Road faces Delays, Lack of Clear Plan."   The online headline was also troubling, "It just isn't safe." 

      Lack of a clear plan?  Rethink Folly Road is a plan.   The problem is money.   Implementing the entire plan would cost tens of millions of dollars.  There has never been any notion that this money would suddenly materialize and all of the plan would be implemented right away.   Rather, Rethink Folly Road will be implemented gradually and only with approval by the four local governments on the Island.

The article suggests that formation of the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee has been a hold up.   The Committee has no money and local governments have been moving forward with the plan--step-by-step.  The Rethink Folly Road Staff, which is made up of planning professionals from the four local governments and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, has been meeting regularly.

The Town hired an engineering firm to develop specific plans for sidewalks and parking improvements from Eugene Gibbs to Ellis Creek.    The Rethink Folly Road Staff unanimously endorsed the Town's application for a grant from the COG to fund construction.

Another element of Rethink Folly Road is improvements in public transportation.   The Town will be funding a bus shelter at the corner of Folly and Camp and a bus pull off was added to the County's Folly and Camp intersection improvement project.   The Town is also helping to fund landscaping at Camp and Folly.

Meanwhile, the City of Charleston included bike and pedestrian improvements on Folly Road as part of its list of priorities for the 1/2 cent sales tax.  After the referendum passed, representatives from the Town, the City, and Charleston County met at Town Hall and agreed to pursue sidewalks between Camp Road and George Griffith Drive.   Charleston County Transportation has already begun work on design.

Communication with the COG suggested that combining both the 1/2 sales tax and Town projects into a single project between Ellis Creek and Grimball Road would be more likely to be successful in obtaining a larger amount of COG funding.   The Town agreed and the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee endorsed combining the projects at its September meeting.  The Steering Committee also recommended improved crossings at  Folly and both Camp and Eugene Gibbs.  James Island Town Council approved funding for the crosswalks at its September meeting.  While creating an inclusive Steering Committee is useful and was accomplished in September, it has never been an impediment to progress by the Rethink Folly Road staff or the four local governments.

The article also confused Rethink Folly Road with the Folly Road Overlay.   Rethink Folly Road is a transportation plan while the Folly Road Overlay is a zoning ordinance.   The Folly Road Overlay was passed by the Town of James Island, the City of Folly Beach and Charleston County in 2014, but not by the City of Charleston.   Last spring, Mayor Tecklenburg expressed interest in having the City of Charleston adopt the Folly Road Overlay with some modifications.   The City's proposals have been discussed by a committee made up of planning professionals from the Town, the City of Charleston, the City of Folly Beach and the County, but not the COG.   The proposal is to be presented to the James Island Intergovernmental Council in October, not the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee.   I believe that the City of Charleston will adopt some version of the Folly Road Overlay before the moratorium expires in November. 

Any delay in a recommendation from the City Planning Commission to the City of Charleston Council regarding the Folly Road Overlay does not limit or interfere with work on Rethink Folly Road.  The Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee has no role as either a decision making or recommending body regarding zoning ordinances such as the Folly Road Overlay.