Growing pains raise questions

In the News

from Charleston Post and Courier 4.30.04

Growing pains raise questions
Session examines complicated issue of urban expansion

By Robert Behre

Rex Atkinson of Atkinson Pools and Spas sees both sides of the Lowcountry's struggle over growth.

On one hand, he thinks developers have "gotten a bad rap" for promoting sprawling development in rural areas.

On the other hand, "I can't hire employees who can afford to live anywhere near here," he said. "While rising property values are good, it gets to the point where we're only serving ourselves."
Atkinson was one of some 250 business leaders, environmentalists, politicians and nonprofit heads who spent nearly all of their Thursday at Charleston's Francis Marion Hotel to examine what they can do to ensure that the area's quality of life and its economic future aren't strangled by growth.

If nothing else, the daylong Planning for Prosperity conference illustrated the complexity behind the Lowcountry's rapidly expanding urban area, a phenomenon fed by government regulation, land prices, personal tastes, schools, family income and other economic and political forces.

Some of the major questions that emerged included the following:
-- Do Lowcountry residents want denser developments, or do they want to see more farms and countryside turn into neighborhoods and shopping centers?

"Americans hate sprawl, and they hate density, and they're going to fight vigorously against them," said former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, "but if you think about it, they're the only two alternatives."

-- Are local governments' regulations at fault, and should they be changed?
"It takes longer to permit a development than it takes to physically build it," developer Walt Martin said. "That's a problem."
Charleston planner Tim Keane noted that some people want to live in a city, others in the suburbs and still others in the country, "but regulations often create only suburban areas."
-- What can be done to create housing for teachers, firefighters, police and other workers that is closer to where they work?

Charleston Southern University professor Al Parish said Charleston is one of the least affordable housing markets in the Southeast, "and by some measurers, we're higher than Boston."
Parish said he didn't want to pick on Mount Pleasant but noted that its Towne Centre shopping complex could have included residences. "Did it ever occur to anyone to allow people to live over the stores?"

-- What does it mean to "plan for prosperity?"

"The definition of property varies from person to person," Berkeley County Supervisor Jim Rozier said. "Smart growth is going to be different in different areas. Smart growth is going to be different for different people."

"There are both race and class issues in these debates," noted Ken Riley, president of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422. "We're still in the South."

The greater Charleston area saw its population rise by 7.9 percent between 1995 and 2003, while the growth in its urban land was up 18 percent, according to a Trident Community Foundation study distributed at the Thursday event. The metro area takes up five times as many acres as it did in 1973.

Not surprisingly, many commutes are getting longer, as less expensive homes move to the urban fringe while many jobs remain in the urban center.

Shannon Sullivan of Centex Homes said since she has surveyed potential customers, she has seen commuting times go from 15 to 20 minutes to 45 to 60 minutes.

Still, it's unclear whether the conference changed anyone's mind.

One person who wasn't convinced that sprawl is bad was John Templeton, a businessman and co-founder of the property rights group S.C. Landowners Association.

"I still don't buy it, but I'm listening," he said.

The issue isn't going away.

On Tuesday, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and James Chaffin Jr. of Chaffin/Light Associates will discuss a new report that says how South Carolina handles its projected population increase of 1.1 million by 2025 could make the difference between whether its communities are enjoyed or merely endured.

Toward the end of Thursday's session, a few audience members asked who would take the lead in trying to address growth issues, and their questions kind of hung in the air.

As he walked out of the hotel, Atkinson said he didn't know where the leadership would come from, but "I'm just trying to be more active in some of the current groups that already exist."