Folly Road Corridor Overlay District Resoluation

Town Council unanimously approved the following resolution.   It was sent to all members of Charleston County Council before last week's vote to amend the Folly Road Overlay District to make the Residential areas Neighborhood Commercial.

Memorial Day Observance

American Legion Post 147 will be holding a Memorial Day service on Monday, May 26, 2014 at 11 AM.   The Post is located at 968 Folly Road on James Island.   They will provide lunch after the services.   Please come help honor those who have given their lives for our freedom.

Camp Road Sidewalk News

One of my key priorities is the completion of our sidewalk network on our primary and secondary roads.

Since the Town was reincorporated in 2012, we have completed a conceptual study for a sidewalk along Camp Road from Fort Johnson to the end of our jurisdiction on Mellichamp Drive.   We are working on the project in phases.   The first segment, from Fort Johnson to Dills Bluff, is slated to begin construction soon.   The Town just funded the design work for phase 2, between Dills Bluff and Secessionville Road.

The Town held discussions with the City of Charleston, including with members of City Council, at the James Island Intergovernmental Council meeting, regarding extending the project through City jurisdiction which includes the segment from Bishop Gadsden and on to Riverland Drive.   The City and Town agreed in concept.   While the Town offered to provide an ample match of Town funds to help complete the entire project with Transportation sales tax funds, the City of Charleston has no funds for matches for sidewalk construction at this time.

However, the City of Charleston made the construction of a sidewalk along Camp Road from Folly Road to Riverland Drive a high priority request for 1/2 Cent Sales Tax Transportation funds.   The Town sent a letter of support for that request, pointing out that it was part of a larger project to complete the sidewalk from Fort Johnson to Riverland.    If that is not approved, we will continue to work with the City of Charleston to complete phase 3 of the greater project.

New Location for the JIPSD?

The JIPSD Budget Workshop on May 6 also included a presentation by local architect firm Liollio regarding a feasibility study to move all JIPSD operations from the existing Signal Point Road facility to a new campus on Dills Bluff Road.   This is the large wooded area behind the shopping center where Town Hall is located.

The budget calls for spending $621,000 next year for design work.   The actual construction is to be nearly $6.3 million.   They plan to partly fund this by selling the existing Signal Point Road facility for nearly $900,000.   However, from their budget it appears that most of this will be funded by borrowing.

The Signal Point Road Facility has the JIPSD administrative offices, including the Commissioner's meeting room.  There are also parking and repair facilities for garbage trucks as well as the facilities for the storage and repair of waste water trucks and equipment.   

At the meeting, Commissioner McMillan asked whether the zoning of the JIPSD's property on Dills Bluff Road is consistent with these uses.   The current facility on Signal Point Road is in an area zoned for Industrial purposes.    The Commissioners were told that while part of the parcel is zoned commercial, most of it is zoned residential.   The representatives from Liollio said that one of the first steps if the Commissioners choose to go forward would be to approach the Town of James Island to discuss zoning.  Commissioner Waring said that she was sure that getting a change in zoning would be easy.

Immediately behind the shopping center, lies a parcel belonging to the JIPSD that is a bit more than one acre. It is zoned Community Commercial.   Government office buildings are allowed in Community Commercial districts.   Further down Dills Bluff and adjacent to the back of the Whitehouse Plantation neighborhood is about five acres zoned residential.   Nothing currently at Signal Point Road can be placed in that area without a rezoning.   The James Island Planning Commission would make a recommendation regarding any rezoning.  There would be a public hearing, and Town Council would have two readings (votes) on an ordinance changing the zoning of one or both parcels.

Another interesting element of the presentation is that the proposed facility on Dills Bluff might include 3,000 square feet of extra office space to lease out.   Commissioner Waring asked about what type of businesses would be in this leased area.   JIPSD Administrator Wise said that they were planning to lease it to "other government entities on James Island."   I am not sure exactly what government entities they have in mind.   While Commissioner Brown-Crouch has suggested to me in general terms that we should have a joint facility shared by the JIPSD and the Town, and I have said I am open to the idea, the Town has heard nothing specific from JIPSD Chairman David Engelman, Administrator Robert Wise, or Liollio.  Perhaps they plan to lease the office space to the City of Charleston.

What do you think?   Should the JIPSD spend nearly $7 million to move from Signal Point Road to Dills Bluff Road?  Should the Town rezone the property on Dills Bluff Road from residential to industrial?   Is a more modest project, moving only the administrative offices and meeting room more reasonable?   If they do intend a shared facility with the Town, should the JIPSD discuss the matter with us?   (We had a joint Town Council/JIPSD Commissioner meeting last month, but the Commissioners didn't bring this up.) 

Please let the Commissioners know.    They are having a public hearing on the budget on June 9th.  Next year's budget includes over $600,000 for this project and then more than $6 million the next year.

Once a Week Garbage Service: JIPSD News.

I attended the JIPSD budget workshop on May 6.   The JIPSD staff presented their budget and the Commissioners discussed the proposal.

The JIPSD provides fire protection service and solid waste collection service for the Town.  They charge us 51 mils in operating property tax and 3 mils for debt service.   It adds up to a little more than $2.8 million per year.

This is a good bit less than what those in the City of Charleston pay, approximately 80 mils, but it is a good bit more than the millage of Folly Beach or the Town of Mount Pleasant.

Are we in the Town getting good value for our money?

Perhaps the biggest news from the workshop is that staff  proposed that garbage service be cut back to once a week.    They didn't propose this for the 2014-2015 budget year, but for the following year.   They estimate that they will save $370,000 per year.   On the other hand, they plan to borrow $600,000 to buy large garbage cans for everyone and more to refit the garbage trucks to pick up the large cans.

If they plan to cut back our service, how much will they cut back our taxes?

I'm sure you know the answer.  No tax cut was proposed.   It didn't cross their minds.

As the Commissioners went back and forth, I thought no one would even mention the taxpayers and voters.

What do we think?  Don't the Commissioners work for us?

Finally, Commissioner Brown-Crouch mentioned the citizens.   And then, Commissioner Platt spoke up.    He pointed out that many James Islanders appreciate the twice a week service.

I often hear the same.   Many James Islanders point to the better service as a reason for supporting the Town and remaining in the JIPSD rather than annexing into the City of Charleston.

And we continue to see efforts by the City of Charleston to annex on James Island.   The City of Charleston will be holding a meeting at the Sons of Elijah Hall on Battery Island on  May 19.  Sussan Chavis, who is managing Anna Johnson's reelection campaign, has invited the City of Charleston to speak to residents from Sol Legare, Grimball, Battery Island, and Scott Hill about annexing into the City.

The JIPSD had a first reading on their budget last Monday, May 12.   Oddly enough, they voted on it before they had a public hearing!  They scheduled the public hearing for their June 9 meeting.   Is that to be their second and final vote on the budget?   (The Town held our public hearing before our first reading in April and completed the budget process with a second and final reading at our May meeting last Thursday.)

What do you think?   You should let the Commissioners know.   Make plans to attend their public hearing on June 9.   Or contact the Commissioners.

My question is, "If you are going to cut our services, how much will you cut our taxes?"

Hurricane Expo Tomorrow at James Island Lowes

James Island – Folly Beach

Community Emergency Response Team

7^th Annual Hurricane Expo

9am to 1 pm on May 17, 2014

James Island Lowes

Come learn what you need to do before, during and after the storm. Talk to first responders and see their equipment. Learn what agencies can help you prepare and learn about ways you can help yourself, your neighbors and your community. Free give aways and plenty of fun for everyone! Bring the Kids and get Prepared!

More on the Folly Road Overlay District

County Council passed Anna Johnson's amendment to make Folly Road between Raphael Drive and Battery Island Drive Neighborhood Commercial.   Liz Singleton, former Chairman of the James Island Planning Commission and resident of the Grimball community said that the people who turned out were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping keeping the area residential.

I found Charleston County's version of the existing Folly Road Overlay District online.   As I had explained before, it was passed by County Council less than a month after the Town's incorporation referendum on June 20, 2006.  

The Town began operation about six weeks after County passed this overlay, on August 30, 2006.   Relations between the new Town and Charleston County were not good, and all county services were cut off immediately.  

The Town then reestablished the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning and Land Use Regulation Ordinance that had applied in the Town in 2004.   There was no Folly Road Overlay District in the Town's Ordinance either in 2004 or from 2006 to 2011.  As I explained before, the Town's zoning of the area between Rafael Lane and Battery Island Drive was consistent with the current base zoning.   Most of it was single family residential, with a density of three units per acre.   Nine parcels were Community Commercial.

What does the text of the County's Folly Road Overlay District actually say?    I found it on the County's Website.    Here is all of Chapter 5 of the County's Zoning and Land Use Regulation Ordinance.   There are a number of different overlay districts.   I copied the Folly Road section here.  (It starts at the bottom of the first page.)    I could see nowhere that it states that any part of the Overlay was to be rezoned to Commercial Transitional.   (I expect the County will update their online version soon.)

What about the map?   There is also a map on the County website.   I copied what was there. Here it is:

Notice that there is nothing about zoning districts.  Also, the colors are a bit off, since the Town is the light gray and the City is the darker gray and the key has them reversed.   The proposed neighborhood preservation area is shown as being in the Town.   If you look at the maps associated with the other overlay districts, they are all color-coded for zoning.

At the Public Hearing Tuesday night, something like the following map was presented:

I received this map from Charleston County Planning by email (Thanks!)  However, this version of the map, unlike the one presented at the meeting, includes the building outlines from 2012.    It also shows all of the area to be zoned Commerical Transitional.   Clearly, it was not prepared back in 2006.   Oddly, the version presented at the meeting didn't include the buildings from 2012.   

Perhaps this is the 2006 version?   Or did it just leave off the distracting 2012 building outlines?

The most interesting map was one that included the 2006 version of the entire Folly Road Overlay District.   I didn't receive a copy of that one from Charleston County planning.   This is a photo I took of the map that was at the meeting.

That is a bit hard to read.  Here is a closeup:

One interesting aspect of the map is that what is now the "South Village" portion of the overlay in the Town, which is mostly zoned office residential, was apparently rezoned by the 2006 overlay to Commercial Transitional as well.    I am very surprised that this rezoning in 2006 occurred with no outcry from the residents on Bradford Avenue.   (Of course, I find it hard to believe that what were then past and future Town Council members, Parris Williams and Cubby Wilder, would have remained silent if they had known about such a mass commercial rezoning between Rafael Lane and Battery Island Road.)

While this map shows the Town as unincorporated, it was clearly constructed sometime after 2012, because the City of Charleston is shown as having  jurisdiction over parcels that it only annexed in the spring of 2012, right before the Town was reincorporated for the fourth (and final) time.

When exactly was this map prepared?   

Why does the map currently included on the website as part of the County's Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance show no new zoning, and then just recently we have maps showing areas in the Town and in the unincorporated area zoned as Commercial Transitional?    Did County Council make this decision in 2006?   

While the text of the Overlay is pretty uncontroversial and says nothing about new zoning, rezoning these areas to Commercial Transitional would have been very controversial.   

Does anyone remember public meetings?    Did anyone go to the public hearing?   Think back..2006.   The James Island Alliance for Self-Government was campaigning for a yes vote on the referendum... We won.... Campaign for Mayor and Council....    

Public hearings to rezone Folly Road from Residential to Commercial Transitional?   Maybe no one cared because they figured the Town would soon have jurisdiction over all of the territory.

Or was the decision to zone most of the overlay Commercial Transitional made more recently?  When?  And by whom?  And why?

Of course, what difference would it have made?   We now see how County Council responds to the local community.   The new overlay district passed by Council makes the entire area neighborhood commercial.