County Council considered the Town's proposal for a pocket park at Camp and Folly last Tuesday. The Town requested that the County lease the parcel for $1 per year for 5 years with three (or two) renewals.
The vote was 5 to 4 against.
Voting in favor were Chairman Rawl, and Councilmen Qualey, Sass and Schweers. (These were the same four who voted in favor at the Finance Committee meeting.)
Voting against were members of Council Darby, Johnson, Moody, Pryor and Summey. (Darby had abstained at the Finance Committee and Summey had been absent.)
Everyone at the public hearing spoke in favor. Thank you to Betsy La Force, Katie Zimmerman, Lauren Gelatly, and Margaret Fabri.
There was also work behind the scenes. Thank you to Mayor Tecklenburg, who wrote County Council in support and thank you to City Councilwoman Carol Jackson who put that together. James Island's state Representative Peter McCoy lobbied hard for a fifth vote. (I had five votes counted in our favor going into the meeting, but it didn't work out that way.)
And, of course, thank you to the four members of Council who voted in favor, including James Island's Councilman, Joe Qualey.
Where do we go from here?
At the meeting, Councilman Pryor and Summey mentioned using Greenbelt funds to make this happen. Councilman Pryor asked to put the issue on the agenda for the next meeting. I believe Councilman Summey is committed to finding Greenbelt funds to help pay for the project.
So, I am cautiously optimistic.
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