Harborview Road Construction Schedule

Harborview Road construction should start in March 2014 and should be completed in October 2015.

The information is from Charleston County Roadwise.  The link is here.

Camp and Dills Bluff News

The sewer work at the Camp and Dills Bluff intersection is complete.   The road work should be finished next Thursday or Friday and Dills Bluff will be open again after that.   However, work on the sewers will continue down Dills Bluff over the next several weeks, with one lane being closed and flagmen directing traffic.

Happy Thanksgiving

Please take a few minutes to give thanks for all of our blessings.

Thank you for allowing me to serve as your mayor.

Camp Road is Open Through the Holiday Weekend

Camp Road opened early this morning and will remain open for the holiday weekend.    Next Monday, December 2, work will resume.   There remains work to be done on the sewer pipe and there may be further road repairs.    Hopefully, the work on the intersection will be done at night.

Dills Bluff remains closed at the northeast side of the intersection.

Town Elections to be July 29, 2014

Town Council voted unanimously for first reading of an ordinance that sets Town elections on the last Tuesday of July of even years.   Assuming it passes second and final reading at the December meeting, the Mayor and all four members of Council will be up for election on July 29, 2014.

In the incorporation election on April 24, 2012, voters chose four year terms for Mayor and Council.   However, the South Carolina Code mandates that the first term of office for all elected officials in a newly-formed municipality is two years.   The four year terms will apply in the future.

There is also a provision of the South Carolina Code that allows staggered terms to be introduced at the first election.   The Town ordinance before Council makes no provision for staggered terms.

If we had staggered terms, then in the future, each member of Council would have a four year term, but every two years, the voters would elect two members.    This benefits voters by allowing them to provide more frequent feedback to elected officials.   The other advantage of staggered terms is that there will always be at least two experienced members of Council after an election.  

Unfortunately, to have staggered terms it is necessary for two of the members of Council elected in 2014 to only have a two year term and face challengers in the 2016 elections.   The other two members of Council and the Mayor will be up for reelection in 2018.   Of course, the members of  Council elected in 2016 will have full four year terms, only coming up again in 2020.

In other election news, Council voted unanimously to request that the Charleston County Election Commission serve as the Town's Election Commission.   This was strongly advocated at the October meeting by Faye Lohr and Donna Parrish, who had served the Managers of Election for the Town's incorporation election in April 2012 and the election of Mayor and Council in July, 2012.   The Town's request now goes to Charleston County Council for its approval.

The last July of even years is a busy time for elections.   It is between the primary and general election for either Governor or President.  The Town borrows the Charleston County Election Commission's machines.   While the County Election Commission's staff understands the need to hold our election on July 29 in 2014, they suggested that we consider moving the date for future elections.    They also pointed out that the Town could save on election costs by having our elections on the same date as other municipalities.       

I plan to ask Council to revisit the election law in the Spring.   Those elected to Council in 2014 should know if two of them might have a two year term to allow for staggering.   Also, if there is going to a change in the date of future elections after July 29, 2014, both candidates and voters should know.   Please watch for further news.

P.S.  I am seeking reelection in 2014.

Intersection at Camp and Dills Bluff Closed

The Intersection of Camp and Dills Bluff is closed.   Unless we hear different, I would anticipate at least several days.

The James Island Public Service District had a contractor working on a sewer pipe last night.   They were working under a water main.   When they stopped work early this morning, it was in good shape.  However, later this morning, the water main broke.

The work site was flooded most of the day.   The water was turned off.   The water pipe should be repaired and those who have lost water service should regain it later this afternoon this evening.   Watch for news about water safety.

Unfortunately, the water from the broken water main has undermined the intersection of Camp and Dills Bluff.    It is too dangerous for vehicles to cross.

Please watch for further news.

Folly Road Overlay District Approved

Town Council voted 3 to 1 in favor of the second and final reading of the amendments to the Folly Road Overlay Zoning District last Thursday.    Councilmen Blank and Mullinax joined me in voting in favor.   Councilwoman Berry voted against.  Councilman Kernodle was absent.

The Folly Road Overlay Zoning District  is part of the Town's Zoning and Subdivision Regulation Ordinance.   The newly approved version is located in Chapter 5.  

During the public comment period last Thursday, Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Garrett Milliken spoke against Council approving the plan.   He had a series of complaints.   For example, we didn't give a power point presentation to Council and the public.  (Of course, he didn't complain when Council approved all the other 11 Chapters without power point presentations.)

However,  he seemed especially concerned that Council didn't approve the list of additional prohibited uses that had been recommended by the Planning Commission.

The way he described it was misleading.   He claimed that Council was voting to permit a variety of uses on Folly Road.   Among the uses Council was supposedly permitting were billboards and tattoo parlors.

In truth, the approved version of the Folly Road Overlay Zoning District describes the permitted uses on Folly Road.   These vary depending on the location.    In the Commercial Core, which runs from Ellis Drive to Prescott Street, and is centered at the Camp and Folly intersection, Community Commercial uses are permitted.   Here is the map.   The permitted uses in all Town zoning districts can be found in the Use Table.

In the South Village, which runs from Prescott Street to Raphael Lane, Office Residential and Neighborhood Commercial uses are permitted.     The Town's jurisdiction doesn't go all the way to Raphael Lane and stops just north of Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Billboards and tattoo parlors are not permitted on any part of Folly Road in the Town of James Island.

Why did Commissioner Milliken testify that Council was about to vote to allow billboards and tattoo parlors?

I think there are two possibilities.

One is that he was mistaken.   He believes that because Council did not approve a list of additional prohibited uses, all of those uses are somehow now permitted in the Overlay District.

I was at a meeting of the Planning Commission where the Town's Planner, Kristen Crane, explained to him and the other Commissioners that failing to add additional prohibitions in the Overlay District does not make everything permitted.    He appeared to just ignore her.  Of course, so did the rest of the Commissioners and they continued to flail around discussing this very issue.   In the end, Robin Hardin read something in the draft ordinance that stated what should have been obvious and what the Town's Planner had already explained.   Removing a use from the list of  prohibited uses doesn't make it permitted, unless it were already permitted in the underlying zone.

This is certainly very troubling.   The Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission gave mistaken testimony to Town Council.   Fortunately, Councilman Blank, the Chairman of the Town's Land Use Committee and former Chairman of the Town's Planning Commission, was there to correct Milliken's error.

However, if  Commissioner Milliken is still confused on this matter, it would lead me to question his competency to make useful recommendations to Town Council.

Unfortunately, there is a second possibility, one that is even more troubling.   Could it be that Commissioner Milliken gave false testimony before Town Council with the intention to mislead and deceive?

Incredibly, Commissioner Milliken is continuing his quixotic quest to ban gun shops from Folly Road.  In one of the more puzzling episodes of this saga,  Councilwoman Berry tried to round up votes on Council to block all of the prohibited uses.   Councilman Mullinax was pleasantly surprised, telling me how remarkable it was that a liberal Democrat like Berry would vote with a conservative Republican like himself.    He expected that the vote to remove gun shops from the list of prohibited uses would be unanimous.

I was skeptical.   I had already heard from Councilman Blank that he was told by Councilwoman Berry that he had to support her effort to ban gun shops or she would vote to allow tattoo parlors on Folly Road.   Councilman Blank refused the deal, and it seemed to me that Councilwoman Berry was carrying out her threat.   Tattoo parlors were on the list of prohibited uses.  Of course, I wasn't surprised when Councilwoman Berry cast the sole vote in October to include the entire list of prohibited uses that had been recommended by the Planning Commission, including both gun shops and tattoo parlors.  

Does Councilwoman Berry seem like someone who would come up with such a convoluted and manipulative plan?   I would hate to think so.  

Would Planning Commissioner Milliken try to manipulate Town Council to use our Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance to promote his gun control agenda?

What do you think?