COUNCIL CHAMBER
Regular Meeting
February 25, 2014
The fifty-first meeting of the City Council of Charleston was held this date convening at 5:00 p.m. in City Hall.
A notice of this meeting and an agenda were mailed to the news media February 19, 2014 and appeared in The Post and Courier February 23, 2014 and are made available on the City’s website. PRESENT (13)
The Honorable Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Mayor
Councilmember White District 1 Councilmember Waring District 7 Councilmember Williams District 2 Councilmember Seekings District 8 Councilmember Lewis District 3 Councilmember Alexander District 9 Councilmember Mitchell District 4 Councilmember Riegel- arrived at 5:08 p.m. District 10 Councilmember Wagner District 5 Councilmember Moody District 11 Councilmember Gregorie District 6 Councilmember Wilson District 12
Mayor Riley called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
The Clerk called the roll.
Mayor Riley said, “I will now call on Councilmember Marvin Wagner to open our meeting with an invocation and then lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.”
The meeting was opened with an invocation provided by Councilmember Wagner.
Councilmember Wagner then led City Council in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
Mayor Riley said, “It’s a pleasure to welcome all of you to this City Council meeting in your historic City Hall. This is the second oldest City Hall in America that is still used for this purpose. New York is the only older one, and we’re proud of it. I know on behalf of City Council, we are pleased to welcome all of you here. We are also very pleased to begin our meeting with a briefing from Jim Newsome. Jim, as all you may know, is the Executive Director of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, and under his leadership, the Ports Authority has grown in volume and has grown fiscally. The Charleston Harbor Deepening Study has begun and has the commitment of the State and Federal government to move forward with that important infrastructure. The North Charleston Container Terminal construction has gotten underway, and many other progressive measures that were done to the benefit of our community, economically, as well as to the State of South Carolina. Jim, it’s a pleasure to have you with us tonight.”
Mr. Newsome said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley. Good evening to the members of City Council. Thanks for allowing me a brief moment to make a presentation on the good work that the Global Ocean Shipping Industry and the Port have done in terms of air emission reductions. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 2
If you look at the Port, we have done two air emission inventories, one in 2005, one in 2011, and we’re committed to do another air emission inventory in 2017. This covers a comprehensive range of our activities as a port. We’ve invested about $16 million in the last decade in repowers, electrification, truck replacement and new fuel standards for trains and trucks, and that doesn’t count the investment in the new inland port in Greer, South Carolina whereby we have converted a substantial quantity of truck traffic in this State to rail. We’re doing air monitoring at Wando and will at the Navy Base terminal. We also will commit to you tonight to do comprehensive air monitoring on the Union Pier footprint, as well. The good news is that the Global Shipping Industry, through the implementation of national and international standards, has consistently achieved air emission reductions. Truck emissions have reduced by 60 percent, and ship emissions will have reduced by 50 percent by 2015. So, this is a substantial effort that’s been made.
Shipping is a global industry that responds to global regulation. It’s not practical to have different regulations in every port and locality. The major global response to air emissions is in MARPOL Annex VI. That’s done by the International Maritime Organization. It was adopted by the U.S. in 2010 at the recommendation of the container shipping lines, and at the recommendation of several environmental organizations. It provides for a North American Emission Control Area (ECA). What is an Emission Control Area? It’s basically the use of lower sulfur fuel that had been used before. So, the original standard of sulfur fuel was about 3.7 percent. The 2012 ECA reduced the sulfur content to one percent, and by 2015 in August, it will be reduced to 0.1 percent. Then, consequent to that, the ship’s engines will be on new construction in 2011 and will reduce NOx emission by 15 to 20 percent, and as a new ship construction in 2016, it will be an 80 percent reduction. So, both result in a huge drop in criteria pollutants across the board. I have a quote here from a very active organization in collaboration with shipping called the Environmental Defense Fund. They actually wrote the EPA right before the adoption, and said they should adopt these eco-standards. They said the eco-standards provide ‘the strongest clean air standards available under international law,’ and they went on to cite how they would slash pollution and, ultimately, save lives.
This is a chart (referring to the electronic presentation) that we have created, which shows the criteria of pollutants in our port for cargo and cruise ships. A total of slightly under 2,000 ships are in our harbor. The blue is bunker fuel under the old standard. Ultimately, the green is under the lowest standard of 0.1 percent sulfur fuel. What you see is what was intended, basically, an almost total elimination of sulfur dioxide, a significant reduction of particulate matter pollution achieved in this harbor, and really globally, as an example. This is a chart; it’s actually not our chart. It was a chart used in the submission by the plaintiffs in the Administrative Law Court case concerning the new Cruise Terminal. What it actually shows you is that, on the measures of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, on sulfur dioxide, actually, the 0.1 percent eco-standard that the Carnival Fantasy has now adopted from December of 2013. They adopted that ahead of the required time and in an arrangement they made with the Environmental Protection Agency. This 0.1 percent standard is more effective in reducing sulfur dioxide than even shore power, basically. It shows a related reduction in particulate matter, not so much activity in the NOx and the carbon monoxide, again, the NOx is to be addressed subsequently through new engine standards. So, this is a powerful chart. If you look at Union Pier, and if you look at the anchor point of 2010, which is when we had both cargo and cruise operations on Union Pier, you will recall that we had the BMW loading operation there, and we started the home port of the Carnival Fantasy. When you compare that time in 2010 to today with the 0.1 percent fuel in the Carnival Fantasy, we have more than a 50 percent reduction in criteria pollutants on Union Pier. Again, as shown in the earlier chart, I think both the cruise City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 3
opponents and us agree that the 0.1 percent fuel standard now in place on the Carnival Fantasy is superior to shore power in terms of sulfur dioxide reduction.”
Councilmember Riegel arrived in the Chamber at 5:08 p.m.
Mr. Newsome continued, “This is a picture of what I just showed you. Again, the 2010 activities, about 240 tons of criteria pollutants, and then the 2015 activities, which are really today, actually, because Carnival did implement this standard as from December of 2013, so it’s reduction to about 120 tons of criteria pollutants. If you look at the context of the total Charleston County emissions footprint, the passenger vessel Carnival Fantasy is a really very small part of the emissions footprint of this community. It’s less than 0.1 percent of the total criteria pollutant emissions. The sulfur emission control area does not deal significantly with NOx. NOx, I might add, are effectively disbursed by the prevailing offshore winds. As you know, NOx turns into ozone after some period of time. The whole State is in compliance with ozone attainment, with the exception of York County I think you’ll find. Again, the 2011 and 2016 MARPOL engine standards will begin addressing NOx reduction on new buildings and new ships that are being built. I might add that Charleston County is overall in attainment on all national ambient air quality standards, even before the above steps. I would submit to you again that the shipping industry, although not a huge part of the Charleston County emission footprint, I think the overall shipping import industry is less than 5 percent, but has made a significant contribution to air emission reduction. All data actually shows, if you look at the measurements by DHEC as agreed with the EPA, that air quality over the last few years has actually improved in Charleston County. It’s not declined. Again, anything that we are going to commit today to do, monitoring efforts on the Union Pier footprint, and between ourselves and DHEC and the EPA, the monitoring efforts we do will fill any perceived gaps in the data. So, this will be a data driven analysis. We won’t have to speculate as to what the circumstances are.
I might add, just as an aside for the members of Council, that we’ve had an air monitor on the Wando Terminal for some time. I’m sure you’ll realize that it’s one of the largest container terminals in the United States. It’s a very active terminal, over 5,000 truck moves a day. That monitor has never exceeded the health standard on NOx or any other criteria pollutant due to port activity. Again, we have said to the community and would like to reiterate here, that the new terminal that we will build on the north end of Union Pier will be able to accommodate shore power should it be required, should there be a reason to implement that once constructed. You might also note that American ports that have shore power are really almost totally motivated by non-attainment of EPA ambient air quality standards, basically. So, the global standard for emission reduction is MARPOL Annex VI. When that’s not effective, then comes new measures such as shore power in significant non-attainment areas. I might also add that there are a lot of technical challenges. There are a lot of cost over-runs. There have been significant public subsidies. One can estimate that a shore power installation in a port like Charleston could easily cost $20 million in terms of an investment. Again, emission reductions, I covered some of these points. We’ve invested $16 million. Our rail business is up by 50 percent, which is a conversion of truck to rail which is environmentally efficient. We have clean construction and no idling policies. We have a clean truck program. We have replaced about 92 pre-1994 trucks with cleaner trucks. Then, we are a steering committee member in the Environmental Defense Fund and EPA Port Metrics effort. So, there’s an active effort among the EPA, among environmental organizations that are involved in the port community and paying attention to air emissions, in addition to the global IMO standards.
In summary, we believe that we’ve been very active and that the global shipping industry is very active in air emissions reduction. MARPOL Annex VI, as adopted in 2006 in the ECA, is City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 4 an effective approach to emissions reduction, and I showed you there, more effective on some measures even than shore power. Air quality is improving in the Charleston area, and again, the Union Pier Plan and the reduction in cargo activity on Union Pier has significantly reduced the criteria pollutant emissions on the Union Pier footprint. It’s important for shipping to have consistent national and international standards. Ships are mobile assets. They move from port to port. They need one sort of standard. There’s really no data that the cruise ships create a health issue in Charleston, and I think what we have said is we need a flexible approach, considering all potential technologies to reduce emissions over time. We plan to work with DHEC to install an investigatory air monitor at the Union Pier Terminal. I think that we are very proud of the history of successful emission reductions and very proud of what the shipping industry has done to improve air quality, really in all ports and globally. So, with that, that’s my presentation.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Newsome. Thank you for the fine presentation, and thank you for the wonderful leadership you’ve given the Ports Authority.”
There was applause in the Chamber.
-- INSERT PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE –
-- INSERT PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT –
Mayor Riley said, “Next, we have public hearings, and Tim Keane is the Director of our Department of Planning, Preservation, and Sustainability, and I’ll ask him to present these. The first is the matter of property located at Main Street and Burger Street in the Ashleyville West Ashley section of our City, Council District 3.”
Mr. Keane said, “Thank you, Mayor. Members of Council, we’ve got several zoning- related public hearings tonight, these having to do with issues around land use in the City of Charleston. This first one in Ashleyville is rezoning a property. It’s a 0.6 acre property, a request for rezoning. This is going to be a residential rezoning from one Single-Family Residential zone to another, from SR-2 to SR-4 to allow slightly smaller lots. We’re recommending this. It’s an area of the City where you have quite a diversity of house sizes and lots and those kinds of things. We think this is an appropriate way to kind of infill in this location. So, we’re recommending it, and the Planning Commission recommended in favor of this also.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Would any citizen like to be heard on the zoning at Ashleyville? If somebody wants to be heard, they’ve got to come downstairs. We’ll take time for you to come down, but we the microphones. You’ve got to come use the microphone. Is this on the Ashleyville matter?”
1. Anthony G. Bryant said (from the balcony) “I wanted to comment regarding zoning matters.”
The Clerk said, “You have to use the microphone so you that you can be heard. It’s getting televised.”
Mayor Riley said, “Would anyone else like to be heard?”
Councilmember Waring said, “Mr. Mayor.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 5
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Waring.
Councilmember Waring said, “I’m going to need to abstain from this issue.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir. Okay. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to speak on this issue or something else.”
The Clerk said, “He didn’t say.”
Mr. Keane said, “He’s coming.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Do you want to be heard on the Ashleyville property?”
Mr. Bryant said, “All three of them.”
Mayor Riley said, “All three? There’s just one on Ashleyville.”
Councilmember Williams was excused from the Chamber at 5:18 p.m.
Mr. Bryant said, “Exactly. The question before us is a Planning issue. The question is, in every zoning we’re doing, since last week with the amendment, for 7,000 acres. Without an actual opinion from the Justice Department regarding whether or not after that amendment approved tonight, will all zonings impact voting districts? When you do zonings and entitlements, you have to take that in 2020 to the Justice Department regarding the increase in densities. That doesn’t exist, and I called the Justice Department regarding infill development and also large tracts of land. They said that wouldn’t qualify the evolution of the vote. That’s my position regarding all zonings tonight.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to be heard on the Ashleyville property?”
Mr. Bryant said, “For the record, Anthony G. Bryant, 2123 Courtland Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina, 29403. Susan B. Gerson, Assistant Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office of the United States Attorney’s office, request number 201325810 says basically ‘profiled.’”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Is there any further discussion on E-1?”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Alexander.
Councilmember Alexander said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think all of us, and if we have not had the opportunity to see what’s going on over in Maryville and Ashleyville, I know they’ve partnered with the news organization. They had a great organizational meeting for Stand Up Charleston about two weeks ago. These are folks that are engaged in their community. This area that we’re looking at was somewhat of a blighted area, and it was purchased by some folks to allow for rehabbing, adding single-family residences into this neighborhood. This is a great success story of a small community that is engaged in their community. I just want to recognize them for their efforts, and also thank the local media for their support for this neighborhood.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 6
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, and thank you for mentioning that. I add congratulations to Chief Mullen, whose leadership was essential in this, the Police Department, and the College of Charleston, who assisted in the survey.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Lewis.
Councilmember Lewis said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. This property is in my district, and I have been discussing it with the neighborhood organizations. Several times it’s been to the Planning Commission for approval, and it will help enhance that area and will provide some affordable housing for first-time homebuyers who would like to be homebuyers and live in this particular area. So, I certainly will support this.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Is there any further discussion?”
The Clerk said, “We need a motion.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “I move that we approve it.”
Councilmember White seconded the motion.
On a motion of Councilmember Lewis, seconded by Councilmember White, City Council voted to give first reading to the following bill:
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that property located at Main Street and Burger Street (Ashleyville-West Ashley) (0.676 acre) (TMS# 418-11-00-034) (Council District 3), be rezoned from Single-Family Residential (SR-2) classification to Single- Family Residential (SR-4) classification.
Councilmember Waring abstained from voting on the item and completed a Conflict of Interest Form which is on file in the Office of the Clerk of Council. Councilmember Williams was not present for the vote.
Mayor Riley said, “Next is the ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance relative to 465 Meeting Street and adjacent properties.”
Mr. Keane said, “Mayor, if I could, if it’s okay with City Council, I’d like to take E-2 and E- 3 together. They relate to the same property and development. This has to do with the beginning of the redevelopment on the Evening Post Publishing properties. You might have read about this, and they have decided to call this Courier Square, so I will refer to this probably, during this presentation, as Courier Square Phase I. To enable Phase I of Courier Square, we need a couple of things. One is a rezoning of the property, and that’s the first item on your agenda. It’s proposed to be rezoned from Light Industrial and General Business, which it is right now, to Mixed-Use Workforce Housing. So, here’s the Zoning Map that’s in your packages that we took to the Planning Commission, and they recommended, again from GB and LI to Mixed- Use Workforce Housing. This is the property as it exists today (referring to the electronic presentation), surface parking and gravel parking lot. The last use I remember of the corner was on the Watkins Truck Terminal. The plan here is for having an office building, and I’ll show it to you later, fronting on Meeting Street. Then, behind the office building, there’s a new apartment building that would front the backside of the Norfolk Southern rail corridor and Columbus Street. So, in order to enable that set of uses, they’re requesting this rezoning. As is always the case in City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 7
the things that we do, this is from the Downtown Plan. I’ll just mention, of course the Meeting and King Corridor in the Downtown Plan is where it was suggesting we have the highest intensity and densest kind of Mixed-Use Development, as has traditionally been the case in Charleston. I want to mention that, of course, it’s not a choice between something and nothing as usually is the case with us. It’s a choice between something and something else. Currently, the zoning that’s there permits 450,000 square feet of office and commercial space. It has been discussed before that this could be a location for big-box retail, for instance, or some kind of combination of retail and office. You could do that today. You could do that kind of square footage without changing any zoning. So, we’re recommending the rezoning to you tonight, and the Planning Commission did also.”
Councilmember Williams returned to the Chamber at 5:23 p.m.
Mr. Keane continued, “Also with regard to height, I want to have a little bit of a conversation with you about this. As you know, we’re very protective of heights on the Peninsula, and we’ve had a tradition of being careful about these things. We have a set of height districts within our Historic Districts that are designed to ensure that we maintain the skyline that we have of Charleston, and we’re protective of the scale of Charleston. While that is true, we are also getting quite a bit of concern today about the quality of the architecture that’s being produced in terms of what’s happening at the sidewalk level and also what’s happening at the roof level. We’re getting a lot of flat roof buildings that max out the site right to the back of the sidewalk, right to the top of the height that’s permitted, and it’s a monotonous kind of scale that we’re getting from the districts that we had. So, because of the great work that they’ve done for Courier Square Phase II and Phase I in terms of design, we’ve tried to find a new way of thinking about the Height Districts that we could apply just to this property to enable higher quality architecture, and maybe this could be a model for other properties. So this map shows, it’s from our City Plan, and it’s identifying, again, along the main axis of downtown, the Peninsula, between King and Meeting where we’ve envisioned we would try to encourage more density and mixed-use because these are locations that are always going to be better for public transit and their location to where you can walk and bike to more things. These locations are between King and Meeting at Line Street, Huger Street, at Morrison Drive and Mount Pleasant Street, and then one location up in the Neck Area. Also, in the mid-2000’s we did this update or new Preservation Plan for the City. One thing that the Preservation Plan did is it classified the Peninsula in this way. It kind of identified where you’ve got stable neighborhood conditions that you have to be protective of within our neighborhoods where it is infill development, renovation going on, but we have a solid neighborhood pattern. Then in purple here (referring to the electronic presentation) it identified what it called transitional areas, places where you’ve got opportunity for redevelopment, whether it’s surface parking lots, low-density suburban, commercial kinds of uses, or whatever, these purple locations were these transitional areas. The Preservation Plan said in these transitional areas, this is where you should be locating, again, nodes of mixed-use, higher density. Again, places again where it’s always going to be better from a public transit standpoint because you’re in the center, and it’s close to things that people need to walk to. So, these are the places that we should be finding ways to enable more density in downtown.
What we did, again, we took the transitional areas as identified in the Preservation Plan and kind of overlaid them with centers that we have identified in the City Plan and said ‘okay, if you’re within one of these centers, and you’re identified as transitional, we should be looking in these locations to try and enable slightly more development.’ It’s got to be done in a quality way. We’ve got to figure out mechanisms for getting better quality architecture in the City, but these are places where we want them. If the Peninsula is to grow, and we hope it will continue to City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 8 grow, as the region grows, we’ve got to find the right places to enable that growth to happen. So, these purple areas are within those centers, and they’re transitional. We’re most concerned tonight about the intersection of Columbus and Meeting Street, and you know what’s there. We have a suburban grocery store. We have this surface parking. We have the Post and Courier operation, which is a 1950’s, 1960’s era building that won’t be there forever. We’ve got the U- Haul. Those are all kind of low-density, suburban uses, transitional areas, as identified in the Preservation Plan. So, we don’t want to just say ‘okay, let’s just allow more height here.’ We wanted to come up with a new height district just to apply to this one property, and I’m going to propose a change in this name to just the Urban Street District. These numbers don’t mean as much anymore, and I think they’re a little confusing, and I can get into that if you’d like. So, we’ll just call it the Urban Street District. A slight change to the map, the map in the packet, and we talked about this at the Planning Commission, and the intention was not for this height district to go all the way to Line Street. It actually doesn’t get to Line Street. You’ll see on this map, it’s a lot in from Line Street before you get to this height district, but this boundary indicates where you’d have the new height district. Here again, is the property (referring to the electronic presentation). This new height district is intended to get better sidewalk conditions and also better architecture to enable them. So, here’s how we do that. Number one, in order to apply for this district, you’ve got to be willing to give us more sidewalk at the street level. This is an area of the City where you know we have some relatively narrow sidewalks, given the intensity of use here. This is an example. This is at Spring and Meeting Street where we have a new apartment building, and it’s just too narrow here. An additional three feet would make a big difference in this location. The first thing is, you’ve got to give us three more feet of sidewalk. Now, you say ‘it’s only three feet at the grade,’ but remember, it’s three feet, then up 55 feet. That’s a significant amount of square footage that you’re giving up, very valuable square footage right at the sidewalk. You’ve got to be willing to do that.
Number two, we want the ground floor to have active use in it. A good urban street, like Charleston has so many of, let’s just take King Street where you’ve got lots of doors, you’ve got active use retail, office, residential, whatever it is. We want to try to avoid this wall situation, and this building does have access at the ground level, a couple of them, but this isn’t the kind of rhythm of urban activity that we want, I think, in this area. So, this district says you have to have at least 75 percent of that ground floor area for active use. If you do those things, then we give you, again, this district says along Meeting Street, you have to maintain the four story max. This is the design of Courier Square Phase I. You’ll see here that they have a four story height along Meeting Street, and that would be required in this district, but if you do things and, provided you step back, you can get one additional floor back to 100 feet from Meeting Street, and then you can go up taller. This thing of stepping back and then going up in the middle of the site is also something that we’ve been doing in this town for a while, at least since the 80’s, to try to keep a more pedestrian scale at the street level and have the height kind of in the middle of the box. That would be required here, so you get that, and then beyond the height, you are allowed to do architectural features like these towers they have here on the corner, or in the back, they have a clock tower in the apartment building. You can do architectural features that go beyond the maximum height, again, if it’s approved by BAR, and those can only be a small percentage of the overall site. The towers don’t make any economic sense. They’re trying to create a good building here, so, we want to encourage that. That’s the proposal, to change the height to this new district. We’re only applying it to this location. We think that this district would be good in other places, but someone would have to be willing to do these things: give us more sidewalk, have the active street level, and design something more than a box. Not everybody’s willing to do that. We hope this will be successful, and others will want to use it, but for now, we’re only proposing to apply it at this one location at Columbus and Meeting Street. That’s my presentation.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 9
Mayor Riley asked, “Would any citizen like to be heard on both ordinances, E-2 and E- 3? Yes, sir. Just identify yourself. Even when we know each other well, it helps the Clerk to transcribe the minutes later.”
1. John Barnwell said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley and members of Council. My name is John Barnwell, and I’m CEO of Evening Post Industries. First of all, I’d like to thank Mayor Riley and the members of the City’s Planning staff for all of the support and guidance that they have provided us since we started planning this project almost two years ago. The RFP that we submitted in 2012 received upwards of 30 responses, ranging from local, regional, and national developers. So, after we spent the time to narrow the field and go through an extensive interview process, we came away with an outstanding development team comprised of Lincoln Harris, which is a leading developer of office and retail properties, and Greystar, which is a nationally recognized and leading apartment developer. They, in turn, hired LS3P, which has an intimate knowledge of the City of Charleston. They further engaged the architectural firm of Robert A.M. Stern, which is internationally recognized for its design capabilities. So, with that team in place and the preliminary plans having been drawn, we then had the benefit of the City Planning staff to come back in and lead several community meetings with our neighbors, with interested citizens, community groups, and the preservation groups, all with the intent of gaining as much feedback, and their opinions and recommendations relative to our plans. The end result of what we are proposing, we believe that we have been mindful to what we learned from the community. We also believe that our plans fit within the City’s overall preservation plan and the vision for the thoughtful redevelopment of this property, which upon completion, will represent a gateway to our City. Finally, the team we have in place plans to use the quality of materials and craftsmanship that, together with the attractive development plan, we think will stand the test of time and, furthermore, be something that everybody in this room can be proud of for years and years. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to be heard? Yes, sir.”
2. Anthony G. Bryant said, “Do you get two minutes, three minutes? Anthony G. Bryant, 2123 Courtland Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina, 29403. By the way, I served on the Board of Zoning Appeals for Charleston County from 1999 to 2006, so I have a land use background. The question before us with these particular plans, again, is why now? Why now? In 2002, I was on the front page of the Post and Courier regarding the College of Charleston Arena. The same people who supported the initiative then, support it now. Why now? The numbers of people on the Peninsula, between 16 percent of our young people, 18 to 24, have no skill sets whatsoever in the Peninsula of Charleston. Why now? Because the time’s right. The time’s right. So, I want to be on the record to say that this particular plan reflects this institution’s position regarding us as a community. Why now? After 200 years of being in this City, this institution is going to continue to disrespect our community’s effort in trying to keep ourselves in our homes. Our rates are too high, FEMA’s too high. We’ve got nothing but all kinds of high costs in this community. My mother’s a senior citizen in Charleston and retired, paying $400 to $500 for her taxes, paying all this money for all this development you’re talking about. It’s not going to benefit anybody but them at the end of the day. I want to be on the record for that. The 2020 Census will reflect that these conscious seats given in 1974 will be gone. They will be gone. These seats are 14th Amendment Section 1 and 2 seats. This institution definitely has never been afforded Section 102. So, we want to put that in front of you because in 2020, I will file my complaint regarding these particular zonings from the Daniel Island piece, to this piece, and all the other pieces you’ve done. It’s an arrangement, not a plan.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 10
Mayor Riley asked, “Would anyone else like to be heard on these zoning matters? Yes, sir.”
3. Mohammed Idris said, “Mayor Riley, City Council, ladies and gentlemen, Mohammed Idris. When I look at what the City is doing to the poor and, I hope, you who are looking at this on TV hear this, these people are not working to help the poor. As Pope Francis is saying, these people who are in power are working against helping the poor. We do not have any representation on City Council among the African-Americans, but one that I know. Everyone else is only for the money, for the money. They come under disguise with these zonings and these high buildings. I’ve been coming here for twenty years, and the best Councilman we had for the poor was Kwadjo Campbell, and they locked him up, and they tried to lock me up also. These plans do not reflect the will of the poor. The poor are being tricked out of their property across this country, across this City, and especially here in Charleston, South Carolina. We move people out, saying the land was contaminated. Now, we’re bringing in gambling ships? Now, that’s really going to be contaminated. That contaminates the moral life of our youth, the future, and etcetera. We come under the disguise of a blighted area. Well, I’m here to tell you that history is best qualified to reward all research. When we had our businesses in this City before Mayor Riley became Mayor, we had hotels, motels all up and down Cannon Street, Spring Street, and we had a community that respected everyone, white, black, and it made no difference, and that was under Jim Crowism. Everybody came in. They came in with this urban renewal, and they’re acting just like the children of Israel who were arguing against Moses after Moses led them out of Egypt. They said, ‘we’ve got nothing out here, but desert, nothing but desert. We need this, or we need that.’ So, Moses said, ‘Go back to Egypt,’ and that’s what we do when we vote for these things. It looks like we want to go back to Egypt because we had a blighted home, a building, but we had love and affection, and we were working on it. If the Mayor would call the people on the Eastside to have a meeting like this bicycle walk meeting here, like he got on the telephone and had the staff that we pay to have these people come in here for this vote, if he had called the East Side, I guarantee you they wouldn’t be putting a hotel on Meeting Street now. They wouldn’t be doing that, but they didn’t do that for the masses of the people. They gave these crooked preachers that we have among ourselves money to keep the masses of African-Americans quiet while they take over the City, and they’re planning to push the poor way on the other side of Mt. Pleasant Street. So, we say to you, we know you’re going to vote because you’ve done had the meeting before the meeting. This all here is a charade. This is just going through the act right here that we’re going through right now, and I’ll say again, but God is the Judge. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to be heard? Hearing none, then we have before us both ordinances E-2 and E-3 for Council’s consideration.”
The Clerk said, “I think I had a motion of Councilmember Seekings and Councilmember Alexander early on.”
Mayor Riley asked, “For both?”
The Clerk said, “Yes.”
Mayor Riley announced the order of speakers as Councilmember Alexander followed by Councilmember Mitchell.
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 11
Councilmember Alexander said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and this is for Tim. Is Tim still here? There he is. Sorry, Councilmember Williams is a little taller than former Councilmember Hallman, so I didn’t see you back there. In a previous presentation, when we were talking about height changes, one of the requests that I had made was to be able, and you did address the skyline, but to be able to visually see an elevation from either west of the Peninsula or east of the Peninsula to be able to look across and see what those elevations were. So, in future presentations, particularly when we’re going to 80 feet, 100 feet, I think that illustration of the skyline would be beneficial to all of us to get some sense of scale as to what actually is happening to the skyline of the City. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Mitchell.
Councilmember Mitchell said, “My colleague, Councilmember Lewis, said the same thing I was going to mention, but also, when this first came about, we had the meeting with the staff and developers of the Post and Courier, and I asked them at that time to do this in phases. I also asked them to also visit the neighborhood association, the Eastside, which they did, and to go to the community, which they did. So, at that time, I was satisfied. When I came back from the meeting, I said, ‘now we’re not going to do all of this development at one time. Let’s do it in phases,’ and they committed, and they’re doing it in phases, which they are starting on Meeting Street. So, I am satisfied to that fact, too. The only thing I was saying to them is that, as I mentioned about the height district part, we don’t want buildings going up and down all over the place, like a river with the ocean going up and down. I mentioned that to Tim before with another project that we had on Reid Street, and this is the only problem I see. I want to make sure that if we hold this height limit, can it be changed back to 100, because we had it down to 80, 50 then to 80. I don’t want to see a Rocky Mountain going through the City of Charleston. So, this is my only dilemma, Tim. In this district, all the development that’s happening is in the district I represent, all of it, most of it in the Peninsula. I want to try to hold the skyline, but I want to make sure that it is going to be done properly, it’s going to be done correctly, and that we’re not going to infringe on the community, or hurt the community that is there. We have to always be conscious of that, too. That’s my only dilemma, even with the proposed hotel that’s going to be on Meeting and Huger Street. I think that’s also going to be 100 feet, whenever it comes back, and if it ever gets approved. I don’t know. If we can hold that skyline and hold it there so that we can see that everything is going to be almost on the same level, then I think it would make good sense for us to do that. So, I don’t have a problem with it.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir, Councilmember Mitchell. Is there any further discussion?”
Councilmember Waring said, “Just one question.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Waring.
Councilmember Waring said, “Mr. Keane, just some clarification. You said we’re going to get wider sidewalks. Maybe I missed it. How wide will it be on Meeting Street?”
Mr. Keane said, “It will be three more feet wide, so it will be as wide as 15 feet in there.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 12
Councilmember Waring said, “Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Is there any further discussion?”
On a motion of Councilmember Seekings, seconded by Councilmember Alexander, City Council voted unanimously to give the following ordinances first reading:
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that 465 Meeting Street, 124 Columbus Street, 33 Line Street and two other properties without addresses (Peninsula) (2.80 acres) (TMS #459-05-03-115, 116, 118, 124 and 133) (Council District 4), be rezoned from General Business and Light Industrial (GB and LI) classification to Mixed-Use Workforce Housing (MU-2/WH) classification.
An ordinance to amend chapter 54 of the code of the City of Charleston (Zoning Ordinance) by adding a new Old City Height District, 100/30 – Urban Street, and changing the Zone Map, which is part thereof, so that certain properties, including those bearing the following Charleston County Tax Map Numbers, as indicated, to wit: TMS# 459-05-03-115 (a portion of), 118, 124, and 133, which includes 465 Meeting St, 124 Columbus St and two other properties without addresses, be rezoned to Old City Height District 100/30 – Urban Street from Old City Height Districts 80/30 and 55/30. (AS AMENDED)
Mayor Riley said, “Next is the matter of 1525 Joan Street, A & B in Avondale.”
Mr. Keane said, “These last three are zoning items from recent annexations that were made in January, and this one is at 1525 Joan Street in Avondale. Then, we have 213 Tall Oak Avenue in Ashley Forest in West Ashley, and we have property on Cooper Judge Lane on James Island also recently annexed, zoning for those. So, if you have questions about any of those three, we can take them together if you’d like.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Would any citizen like to be heard? Yes, sir.”
1. Mohammed Idris said, “Mayor, City Council, ladies and gentlemen, Mohammed Idris. Again, I’m speaking basically to the people who are looking at this report on the TV that is taking it to them, and we thank them for that. We thank Councilman Gregorie for bringing the television in here, too, so that people can see what is going on in City Council. My message to you all, the poor in this City, along with Pope Francis, who’s a very great man doing a wonderful job, as a man of God. If all the poor people in Charleston, South Carolina would stop working for three days, what will happen to the economy of this great City? If we who are poor want to be included in the wealth of this historical City and not just be statues, we must come up with a strategy that will enable us to be included in how the wealth of this City is accumulated and shared equally. We the poor, who helped make this a great City, want to know how much of the stimulus money came to the Mayor Joseph P. Riley administration. Our City is being run by a group of plutocrats who must be told the same thing that was told to their predecessors by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was born to wealth, but led the charge to create a more inclusive capitalism said, ‘we know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.’ When we hear Councilmen Waring and Dudley support the money in the City at the expense of the poor, we know that we the poor people of Charleston have no real representation on the City Council, not on the Ways and Means Committee. This should awaken us to the fact that we must join Pope Francis and a host of others, to seek City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 13
inclusion and equality in the economy of this so-called Holy City that is keeping holes in the pockets of the poor people of this City. We must join the global movement that is taking place to bring about freedom, justice, and equality in the world, which includes Charleston, South Carolina. We should think about stopping working for three days, and if not, seven days, and see just what this great Holy City would do. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to be heard?”
Mayor Riley announced the order of speakers as Councilmember Moody followed by Councilmember Alexander.
Councilmember Moody said, “This piece of property, I was looking for the district on here. This says Avondale.”
Councilmember Alexander said, “It’s off of Orange Grove Road.”
Mayor Riley said, “That’s not in Avondale.”
Councilmember Moody said, “It’s off of Orange Grove Road. It’s not in Avondale. It’s over in Councilmember Alexander’s district. I’m not sure this would be in Avondale. I just wanted a clarification.”
Councilmember Alexander said, “Maybe this is a scrivener’s error. It is definitely off of Orange Grove Road.”
Councilmember Moody said, “That’s what I thought.”
Mayor Riley said, “Point well taken.”
The Clerk said, “We’ll get that information to the Planning Department.”
Mayor Riley said, “Is there any further discussion?”
The Clerk said, “We need a motion.”
Mayor Riley said, “That helps, doesn’t it? The Clerk keeps me straight sure enough, which is hard.”
On a motion of Councilmember White, seconded by Councilmember Alexander, City Council voted unanimously to approve giving first reading to the following ordinances:
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that 1525 Joan Street Units A & B (Avondale - West Ashley) (0.20 acre) (TMS #352-13-00-156) (Council District 9), annexed into the City of Charleston January 14, 2014 (#2014-005), be zoned Single and Two-Family Residential (STR) classification.
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that 213 Tall Oak Avenue (Ashley Forest - West Ashley) (0.13 acre) (TMS #418-13-00-018) (Council District 9), annexed into City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 14
the City of Charleston January 14, 2014 (#2014-006), be zoned Single-Family Residential (SR-2) classification.
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that Cooper Judge Lane (James Island) (1.9 acre) (TMS #427-00-00-077) (Council District 6), annexed into the City of Charleston January 14, 2014 (#2014-004), be zoned Single-Family Residential (SR- 1) classification.
Mayor Riley said, “Now, we have approval of City Council minutes. Is there any discussion?”
On a motion of Councilmember Mitchell, seconded by Councilmember Riegel, City Council voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the January 30, 2014 and February 11, 2014 City Council meetings.
Mayor Riley said, “Next, we have Citizen Participation Period, which is the only public hearing period we have left of the meeting. It’s obvious that we’ve got a lot of people here, and perhaps many would like to speak. Unless there is an objection by City Council, I would like to just offer people who wish to speak, and this is up to City Council, the chance to speak and ask everyone to speak as briefly as possible, and get your point across. If your point, the reason you came here, you think has been sufficiently addressed, then we will allow you to stand to be recognized, so that your presence is recognized, even if you don’t speak. I might say that anyone up in the balcony who would like to speak, if you would maybe just slowly start making your way down here because what the microphone does is not only so we can hear, but when the minutes of the meeting are transcribed, that goes into the City’s system, and it enables our Clerks to more successfully capture the comments of the meeting. Even if we know each other, if you would give your name and address, that is very helpful, as well. So, is there any objection to that process? If you’d like to be heard or if you want to say anything about the matter of the Legare Bridge or shore power or anything else, this would be the opportunity to speak. I’d like to recognize Councilmember Colleen Condon just as a fellow elected official. She was here earlier for almost two hours at the Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting, and she’s representing Charleston County Council and Chairman Pryor, so Councilmember Condon, we’re glad to have you with us. If you’d like to be heard, we welcome any comments you’d like to make.”
1. County Councilmember Colleen Condon said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley, and Councilmembers. I appreciate the opportunity to be heard on the Legare Bridge. Certainly, this is a project we’ve been working on with the City now for years under the leadership of both Mayor Riley and Councilmember Seekings. The three of us have ridden across the Legare Bridge together with many of the people in this room doing test rides. The County has committed $1.925 million to this project. We aren’t asking the City for a single dollar. We’ve already spent over $630,000. We believe that the community members in West Ashley deserve safe access to downtown via walking and cycling, and right now, while there might be other opportunities that folks are discussing long term in the future, such as maybe some great pedestrian bridge some day on the Connector (James Island Connector) in the foreseeable future, this is our only opportunity. What has been presented terrifically by your staff member, Mr. Pena, earlier this afternoon in Traffic and Transportation, discusses the concerns. I know there are more, Councilmember Wagner. I know that. We’ve talked about it, but what I ask for you to do is consider this Memorandum of Agreement, and if anything, consider tweaking it, to make sure that the final design comes back to City Council. What we’re trying to do with the City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 15
County is now work on the next steps, once we have your approval to proceed with finishing the design, and then go to DOT to do the sign-off. Then have community meetings to finalize the design, at which point, it would come back to the City for final approval before it would move forward. So, I hope you’ll give us the opportunity of addressing the concerns of our West Ashley and downtown citizens who’d like to be able to have that connectivity. I also serve as the Chairman of the Battery 2 Beach Committee. The intergovernmental working group has included staff members such as Lucas Stoltz and Robbie Somerville, and you have terrific representation from your staff on our committee. We’ve now been working and, of course, we just now put up the first Battery 2 Beach signs here in downtown Charleston. Well, you’re not going to be able to get to any beach unless we can get you off of the Peninsula. While we could go through the Ravenel Bridge, I’ve been representing with many of you West Ashley residents now for nine years, and we need to make sure that our West Ashley and James Island residents have a way to get downtown, too. So, I appreciate your consideration tonight. I would certainly be happy to answer any questions. Richard Turner, on behalf of the County staff, will stay here even after I go on to the County Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. We certainly want to do anything we can to help address some of your concerns, so we can try to address this concern for our community. Thank you, Mayor.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Riegel.
Councilmember Riegel said, “Councilmember Condon, thank you for your leadership on this issue. As you know, I represent District 10, and with the completion of walking paths and biking paths, we’ll literally be able to travel from the northern part of my district, which is close to Dorchester County, all the way down Bees Ferry, which the County has widened through your leadership, to the park, Savannah Highway, hopefully across the Legare Bridge, and to the Yorktown. I mean that is phenomenal. That is phenomenal. I know you put a lot of work and effort into it. I did get a call from Chairman Teddie Pryor today, and I’m just asking for your opinion. It was suggested that should this honored body vote ‘nay’ on moving forward on the bike path on the Legare Bridge, that there’s been a great deal of money spent, and as you mentioned, $630,000 by the County, and Chairman Pryor also suggested additional monies by the State. Now, this just isn’t planning and design and traffic studies, but also some infrastructure. I know he called Councilman Alexander also. His suggestion is that we have a City, County Memorandum of Understanding, and should this great body not move forward, the County would be looking for the City to reimburse the County of Charleston for these monies. He asked me if I would communicate that tonight and ask that. I didn’t know you were going to be here, so it’s even better that you’re here. Again, thank you for your leadership.”
Councilmember Condon said, “Indeed, Chairman Pryor has said that. He feels like we put so much time and energy into this that he would intend to put forth a motion asking for reimbursement from the City of Charleston, and that this is a City of Charleston request that was made to start this process. That is not a part of any intention I have because I like to work cooperatively with the City, but I do hope you all will consider the best ways for us to move forward. I certainly have not been a part of the many discussions you all have had and have not witnessed your discussions on changing one-lane roads to two-lane roads, which to me, as an outside observer, seems like the exact same thing we want to do here. We want to make it a safer travel to downtown. There’s the extra lane that will allow turning on Bee Street. While it slows car vehicles going across the Ashley River Bridge, that’s been a positive downtown, and I think West Ashley citizens deserve that same safety feature being offered by the County and the City. There’s safer transportation across because there are not as many lane changes, so it City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 16 will actually be better for all vehicle traffic. When you’re talking about a four second difference in time, I hope we all can put four more seconds into our daily commute to make it safer for ourselves, safer for the other vehicles, and safer for the other walkers and bikers that will now have an opportunity to ride their bike from Byrnes Down, where I live, to MUSC and the College of Charleston, and all of the other terrific opportunities and jobs we have downtown. Thank you for your time.”
Councilmember Riegel said, “Thank you, Councilmember. Thank you for your Church Creek Resolution at Church Creek Plaza. That was miraculous on your part.”
Councilmember Condon said, “You’ve got to keep working hard on it. Thank you.”
Councilmember Riegel said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. We might just take some from this side, too, so if you want to be heard, maybe start moving in that direction. Yes, ma’am.”
2. Stephanie Hunt said, “Good evening, my name’s Stephanie Hunt, 12 Pierates Cruze, and I am Chairwoman of Charleston Moves, the bicycle/pedestrian advocacy committee. On behalf of our board, I simply would like to acknowledge and thank the many, many of you and the many more who are outside the halls tonight for coming. If I could ask you to hold your sign up if you have one, so the Councilmembers have a sense of how many people have come out tonight. We also would acknowledge that many of us understand that shore power and pedal power really are two sides of the same equation, the health and wellness of this region. I would urge you, Councilmembers, to understand that the Legare Bridge opportunity tonight is not about closing off a lane. It’s about opening up the bridge, and in that spirit I simply and humbly ask that you open your minds and your hearts to the stories that people are going to share with you tonight. That’s all we can ask. In this room tonight are two people who have lost their husbands and one who has lost her father when bicycles were hit by a car. Whenever you all have the opportunity to choose the safety and the health and the wellness of this community, that’s a precious choice, and I urge you to act on that with all responsibility that’s been vested in you. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
3. Fran Clasby said, “Mayor, Councilmen, staff, thank you for having this event. My name is Fran Clasby. I live at 12 Riverside Drive, and I would consider myself a community organizer. I was the past president of Wagener Terrace for the last six years, and I’m currently on the City School Board. My incentive to come in is to speak to the fact that children aren’t being represented. As president, I gathered money for playgrounds for a recreation lane in Hampton Park, for a lane on the Cooper River Bridge, so I’m speaking to you in representation of the children that can’t cross that bridge, the mothers with strollers and baby carriages that can’t safely cross that bridge. We’ve made a lot of progress in Charleston, and this is the missing link that reunites our communities west of the Ashley with downtown. Also, speaking for children, we need shoreline power for the cruise ships. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
4. Winslow Hastie said, “Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for allowing us to speak. My name is Winslow Hastie. I represent the Historic Charleston Foundation which is located downtown at 40 East Bay Street. I’ve never heard the phrase ‘shore power, pedal City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 17 power,’ that’s sort of interesting, and I kind of like it. I’m here to speak on those two issues, the first of which is to speak out in support of Councilmember Gregorie’s resolution supporting shore power. Historic Charleston Foundation has been very involved in the analysis of the potential impacts of the cruise industry on the historic district of downtown, and we are very concerned about the potential impacts of an unregulated or unlimited cruise industry here in downtown Charleston, so we support any efforts to mitigate negative impacts of that industry on the historic district and the communities and neighborhoods adjacent to either the existing terminal or certainly the proposed new terminal. So, we are very much in support of Councilmember Gregorie’s resolution. Secondly, regarding the MOA being considered tonight between the City and South Carolina DOT, we are very much in favor of that, and the repositioning of that lane to alternative modes of transport. The Foundation’s been very involved in mobility and transportation concerns in the region, but more specifically in downtown Charleston on the Peninsula. I serve on the Peninsula Advisory Commission, on which Mayor Riley was a Co-Chair, along with the CEO of Historic Charleston, Kitty Robinson. We’ve been working very hard over the last several years on connectivity of alternative modes of transport, most specifically bicycles and pedestrians. We see this as a key linkage that is lacking right now. Obviously, we see what’s happened on the Ravenel Bridge going over to Mount Pleasant, which has been absolutely incredible. I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the volume of use that we have gotten. I think if this were to happen going over the Ashley River, we would see a commensurate level of interest and connectivity, again, not just for bicyclists commuting, but for people’s enjoyment and connecting into the City and out to the West Ashley Greenway, as well. So, we very much support both of these efforts and hope they will be passed this evening. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
A gentleman from the balcony said, “Will you allow people that are sitting and cannot stand in line for an extended period of time to be addressed alternately in some fashion if they have the voice and the lungs as people 300 years ago did? There are people that cannot stand in these lines. Occasionally, would you address somebody in the balcony?”
Mayor Riley said, “Well, the thing is we can’t hear you in the City’s system. So, if you want to be heard, you’ve got to come down and get to one of these microphones, but if you are unable to stand, just ask someone to let you sit or come in and say ‘I can’t stand.’ I’ll recognize you, but we need you to speak into that system because it goes into the City’s recording system that forms the basis of the minutes for the meeting. So, if you want to come down, and it’s hard to stand, just raise your hand, and I’ll recognize you. We’d love to have you come down. Yes, sir.”
5. Bill Eubanks said, “Thank you. Bill Eubanks, 39 Yeadon Avenue in Byrnes Down. I am the President of the Ashley Bridge District. That is a group that was formed by the City. There are eight neighborhoods that are a part of the Ashley Bridge District. We are the eight neighborhoods that are closest to the Ashley River Bridge and will be most impacted by the bicycle/pedestrian connection. For years, we have supported this, and we continue to support it. I’m here tonight speaking on behalf of that group and all the constituents that live in those neighborhoods. I’m also the Creative Director of the Urban Edge Studio. We completed the West Ashley Greenway Master Plan for the City years ago. The full potential of the West Ashley Greenway will never be realized until we’re able to get over the bridge onto the Peninsula. I also use the Crosstown every day to commute, and I’m not worried about a few extra seconds every morning. We hear a lot about how wonderful the Ravenel Bridge is, and it is great, but think about it. It’s over two and half miles, almost three miles just to get from one City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 18
end of the Ravenel Bridge to the other. From my little house in Byrnes Down, that same two and a half miles, I could be sitting in The Ordinary Restaurant, enjoying some local seafood. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Yes ma’am.”
6. Betsy Veronee Demos said, “I’m Betsy Veronee Demos. This is my husband, Demetrios. I’m a native of Charleston, and I’m speaking against the proposed traffic circle at Camp Road and Riverland Drive on James Island. I’ve been told that there’s no chance to stop this project, but I deserve for each of you to look at me before you take my land. I’m a real person, and this project will have real and permanent adverse effects. This intersection is too small to accommodate the traffic circle. SCDOT has pushed the entire burden onto homeowners and the Riverland Crossing neighborhood. SCDOT invited public comments with 27 in favor and 100 against the current design. I thank Councilmember Gregorie, who went with the engineers during the public session, requesting that the roundabout be made smaller to reduce the footprint in our yards. Councilman, I believe that Stantec and SCDOT have played us for fools; they knew all along that they wouldn’t change their plans, and I believe that they lied. Instead, I propose that a traffic light be considered, timed to favor flow, on Riverland Drive. This could be accomplished at a fraction of the cost of the roundabout. According to SCDOT, this alternate was not considered because it may not increase safety, has the potential for new rear-end collisions, and may not outweigh the potential reduction in right-angled collisions. That’s the use of the word ‘may’ twice in one statement, and that adds up to specious reasoning. Since the traffic surveys, which initiated this project, warning signs have been erected on each approach to the intersection. This should nullify the prior survey results as the underlying conditions have been changed. It would be very reasonable to request a new safety survey, as the current accident data may no longer support redesigning the intersection. If the project does proceed, the Charleston Museum’s property should not be excluded regarding their 4(f) status according to the NEPA and transportation decision making. The feasible and prudent avoidance alternative cannot be claimed if it results in severe social, economic, or environmental impacts, or causes a severe disruption to established communities. If building a road in a yard doesn’t count as a sever disruption, what does? There are already utility lines on this property. How does that affect their 4(f) status? A matter of 100 feet would make a tremendous improvement in preserving our property. Proceeding with the current design will have a significant adverse impact on my property value, impact noise and light pollution, decrease safety, and increase my utility bills due to loss of shade. I will lose significant oaks and a very personal memorial garden. My house’s foundation is likely to be compromised during construction and for years to come due to vibrations from vehicles in close proximity to my house. These are permanent effects. Look, I know that you all want to go along with what Mayor Riley wants. He’s a very powerful politician. He intimidates the heck out of me, and I know you don’t want to cross him, but you were elected to speak for the people you represent, and the people have spoken against this design. I’m just one person, and I’m asking for your help. Please say ‘no’ to this current design, request a new safety survey, request a traffic light, and insist on including the unused land of the Charleston Museum before invading homeowners’ private property. Would you want this in your yard? Thank you.”
There was applause in the Chamber.
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Let me say this. During our hearings and all, we ask you to refrain from applause. It’s like a legislative hearing, and we’re also going to ask people to keep their remarks to within two minutes. That does not mean that you have to speak City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 19
for two minutes. There will be no penalties if you speak for less than two minutes. Yes, ma’am.”
7. Donna Jacobs said, “Good evening, Mayor Riley and Councilmembers. My name is Donna Jacobs, and I live in Brynes Down. I attempted to send all the Councilmembers a letter concerning the MOA with the T. Allen Legare Bridge, and because of e-mail problems, I’m not sure if you all received them. So, I’m going to read a little bit from my letter, but what I would like to tell is, tonight I have paid ten dollars to drive my car downtown and park in a very expensive garage since 2:30 this afternoon, so that I could be a part of this process. It was a beautiful day. I would have ridden my bicycle. This connectivity is not about a few cyclists who want to go out on Saturday, which I think a lot of people think that is, or a few running enthusiasts who just want to have a longer path. This is about members of the Jewish faith who would like to walk from their homes in West Ashley to a synagogue on the Peninsula. It is about students and people who come to the College of Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina, and they need housing alternatives off of the Peninsula because it’s expensive, and they need alternative modes of transportation besides cars. It is about people who are employed on the Peninsula, live in West Ashley, and need an alternate mode of transportation because parking is at a premium, and it’s about safe travel on the bridge. I’ve lived in Byrnes Down since 1985, and I’ve worked at the Medical University since 1976, and I’ve never been able to give you one less car on that Ashley River Bridge. I guarantee you that if we make this lane open like Stephanie Hunt said, open our hearts and open our minds, we will reduce those 59,000 cars on the bridge. Thank you very much for your consideration.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
8. Andrew Common said, “Hi, my name is Andrew Common. I live at 12 Morton Avenue. It’s in Avondale. I work downtown. I commute by car and bicycle five days a week, 4:00 to 5:00, so I’m over these bridges twice a day, usually 5:00 at night. There is no safe way at all to get over these bridges. I have to go in opposing traffic. I have to go against traffic, and there’s no guard rail between the sidewalk. If I choose to ride on the sidewalk, there are pedestrians. I could injure myself and them. It’s just, I can’t say, my words aren’t going to be any better than the presentation you heard earlier, but something has to be done. Put a clean-up crew on the bridge. I’ve been riding this bridge for a year, and I have not seen one person cleaning up glass, car parts. The other day, I picked up a bag of thorns, a garbage bag full of sticks off of the bridge. I had to get off, risk my life, because I have three lanes of traffic passing me, people texting. It’s terrible, terrible. The City of Charleston, I think, was recently rated number one in the world to visit. What are you doing? Under bike-friendly cities, it’s number 29, I believe. Do something. Raise that. Get it? Just something needs to be done. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Yes, sir.”
9. Charles Karesh said, “My name is Charlie Karesh. I live on Windermere Boulevard in West Ashley. About twelve years ago, Mayor Riley, we had a group of us from the Ashley Bridge District here, you heard from some of those folks earlier, from the bike group, as well as the Jewish synagogue, Brith Sholom Beth Israel, on Rutledge Avenue. We met with Mayor Riley, Chairman, at that time, of County Council, Leon Stavrinakis, and Senator Glenn McConnell, to talk about the problems and the connectivity. Since the folks from the Ashley Bridge District have spoken, I’m going to tie in mostly from the Synagogue’s point of view. Rabbi Kivi Attar was here earlier. He had to go to a service, and so he’s not here now. He was here for the Traffic and Transportation meeting. He walks as a group of religious Orthodox Jews that live in South Windemere, on the Sabbath which is from Friday night to Saturday night. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 20
They can’t get in the car to come to our synagogue on Rutledge Avenue. They have to walk. They walk over the bridge. It’s a very dangerous walk. If you look at the picture behind Mayor Riley, there’s a wonderful family, which you can’t see, there are six people, the Netanel’s. It’s him, his wife, and six children walk over there every other week, walk down Rutledge Avenue, sometimes on a Friday night, sometimes on a Saturday. Many times, there are 20 to 30 people walking on Saturday morning to the synagogue on Rutledge Avenue. Recently, it’s become so dangerous, that we actually, and we conveyed this to Councilmember Moody, had to hire police escorts when we had that many people, just for safety. It’s that unsafe to walk over that bridge, and these people just wanted to come to the Synagogue and pray. So, it’s an important issue. It’s been going on for a long time, as you all know. We appreciate your attention to it. We’re that close to getting it resolved. We appreciate the County’s help. We appreciate the Mayor’s help, and we certainly hope you all will support the Memorandum of Understanding. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Yes, sir.”
10. Matt Moldenhauer said, “My name is Matt Moldenhauer, and I live at 1312 Raymond Way in West Ashley in Councilman Alexander’s district. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilmembers, for allowing me to speak. Coincidentally, not only do I live in West Ashley, but I also work for Charleston County Parks. We own over 10,000 acres in Charleston County, and about 3,000 of those acres reside within six miles of the end of the West Ashley Greenway. My point is that it’s not just about getting people from West Ashley to the Peninsula. It’s about getting people from the Peninsula to West Ashley. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Yes, sir, doctor.”
11. Dr. Thaddeus Bell said, “Good evening. My name is Thaddeus John Bell, and I’m a practicing physician of family medicine in North Charleston. I want to kind of take a different perspective. First of all, I’m supportive of anything that’s going to improve the health of our community. I want to make the Council aware that exercise is medicine. I want to make you aware that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. That includes Charleston, and if you increase or support anything that’s going to improve fitness, be it walking, be it biking, or anything of that sort, it’s going to improve the health of this community. So, I’d like to congratulate you, Mr. Mayor, on leading this effort, and as just one doctor who’s interested in preventative medicine, I’m in support of what you’re trying to put forward. Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, doctor. Yes, sir.”
12. Benjamin Gruber said, “Yes, my name is Benjamin Gruber. I live in Mount Pleasant, but I’m the President of the Coastal Cyclists, and we’re a recreational bicycle club here in Charleston founded in 1972. We ride all across the Lowcountry, and we ride for fun, for exercise. We support bicycling advocacy. We promote safe cycling. This bridge project would allow that to occur, and that’s going to increase the quality of life of citizens all across this great City. So, please vote yes to allow the plan for the bridge to move forward.”
13. Arthur Lawrence said, “Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Arthur Lawrence, and I represent four organizations, but first before I get into that, I would like to tell you all that Councilman Gregorie does pay attention in church. He’s pruning the tree.”
There was laughter in the Chamber.
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 21
Mr. Lawrence continued, “Two of these organizations I’m really proud of. One of them, I’m the President of the West Side Neighborhood Association, and the other is the 60+ Club. That means if you have to grow good and aged to get into 60+ Club. What we do, we walk from Charleston to Palmetto Ford and back to Charleston. On that walk, we run into people riding across the bridge on the sidewalk with bicycles, people walking, and it’s congested. So, we need another option, and the other group, we used to run. So, we need an option, and I have people and friends that live by the golf course, and they ride their bike to the bridge, and then they walk across. Then, they get on that bike again and ride it to DSS Department and do the same thing back home. So, we support this effort, the four organizations, and I’m telling you, it will be a great help to Charleston, and we signed onto this four years ago with Charleston Moves. So, we are asking you, please support the Mayor, and please support Charleston Moves with this, and support the citizens because we need this, not today, but we needed it yesterday. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Please hold your applause. Yes, sir.”
14. Tom Garrick said, “My name is Tom Garrick, and I have a house on the corner of Riverland and Camp where the discussion about the roundabout has been going on for almost a year. I’d like to thank your comments, sir, about military service. After twelve years in the Marines, I appreciate community, God, and country. So, if the community needs my house, so be it. But, if the community wants to take my backyard that I use, that I’ve used for receptions; it’s been a very nice, pleasant place; then cut the 50 feet of green space I have, and half my backyard, and put this road bed 25 feet from my bedroom window, then you guys have got to know that that budget is going to be higher than the DOT tells you. If so, I’m going to try my best to have you guys buy my house, and I’ll find another place to live if the community needs it. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am, and then you’ll be next, young man.”
15. Natalie Olson said, “My name is Natalie Olson, and I’m a land use project manager for the Coastal Conservation Leagues. Thank you for this opportunity to comment. I’d just like to speak very briefly about the Cainhoy Plantation Development. First, I would like to reiterate the comments and concerns that have been voiced over the last six months. This property is very valuable ecologically and historically. It has a pristine, long-leaf pine forest on the northern half. It is home to many endangered and threatened species, and the proposed development is in need of significant changes. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I’d like to say that if the Planned Unit Development is approved, this isn’t the end of the plan. This is the beginning of the process. So, the nature of the Planned Unit Development is that it’s supposed to be flexible. I think that it’s going to be essential, moving forward, for this government, its constituents, the stakeholders, and the community to be involved in the Cainhoy Development process and come up with the best plan possible. As a resident of the City of Charleston and as an environmental attorney and as a conservationist at heart, I look forward to working with Mayor Riley, City Council, the property owners, and all the stakeholders in planning this development as it moves forward. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Young man. We’ll get it for you.”
16. Oliver Abar said, “Thank you. My name is Oliver Abar. I live at 43 Vincent Drive in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. I’m here to say that I support the Ashley River bike lane City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 22
project because it would enable cyclists from many areas to get to downtown safely and efficiently and also give them a great view to see while traveling over to the downtown area. Thank you.”
There was applause in the Chamber.
Mayor Riley said, “That was one exception to the ‘no applause’ rule.”
There was laughter in the Chamber.
Mayor Riley continued, “That was wonderful, young man. Congratulations. Yes, ma’am.”
17. Katie Zimmerman said, “Thank you. I’m Katie Zimmerman. I’m the Director for Air, Water, and Public Health program at the Coastal Conservation League. I’m here about two issues, in addition to my colleague about Cainhoy. First, the Ashley River bike lane, I live in West Ashley. I live in Councilmember Alexander’s district, and I don’t drive, so I have the scars to prove that I’ve already been riding that bridge, and it needs a serious upgrade. So, I would ask you to really fix that and put the new lane in. More drawn out is the issue of shore power at the new cruise terminal at Union Pier. I have provided each one of you with packets of information. I’m assuming, when Mr. Newsome of the State Ports Authority talks about other technologies, that he’s referring to scrubbers per the recent Carnival announcement. So, I just wanted you to have the data and background on the comparison between scrubbers and shore power. Scrubbers certainly do reduce sulfur dioxide pollution and some particulate matter, so that’s great. They’re very well complemented by the use of shore power because shore power can then cover nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other equally serious pollutants. So, there’s no reason for them to butt heads. We can have both, and we should have both. One of the slides that Mr. Newsome showed you, he used a study that we had commissioned regarding shore power in Charleston, and I think he forgot to include the second graph when he was referring to the reduction of sulfur dioxide. In the year 2019, when SCE&G pulls its coal plants offline, and we start using a different and cleaner energy portfolio, shore power will absolutely reduce more sulfur dioxide than the use of just simply using cleaner fuel. I have to stress to you that once a cruise ship is outfitted with scrubbers and filters, you no longer have to burn the cleaner, required fuel.”
The Clerk called time.
Ms. Zimmerman said, “Thanks.”
Councilmembers Waring and Wagner were excused from the Chamber at 6:27 p.m.
Mayor Riley said, “Thanks very much. Yes, ma’am.”
18. Louise Pecevich said, “Good evening, Mayor Riley and esteemed Councilmembers, and ladies and gentlemen here in the Chamber tonight. My name is Louise Pecevich. I live at 1029 Stono River Drive in a subdivision called Riverland Crossing, which is in the James Island section of Charleston. There’s been a lot of talk tonight about safety and aesthetics and the future appearance of the City, and I’d like to kind of continue that theme by kind of talking about a subject that my neighborhood and I have been discussing with many of you here, including members of SCDOT and officials of the City, that of a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Camp Road and Riverland Drive. That subject was discussed earlier at the Traffic and Transportation meeting, which I attended. The roundabout that is proposed at this City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 23
intersection is something that will significantly change the appearance and the configuration of that intersection. Many of you in this room would probably say for the better, because as we know it is, I guess you could say, a difficult intersection; but the placement of the current design of that roundabout, as two of my neighbors have alluded to earlier, places the roadway, literally, in the backyards of some of our residents. SCDOT and other folks who have been involved with this planning process will say that this was unavoidable due to the configuration of the intersection and the interplay of the historic Dill Tracts. What I would like to mention, number one, we are, Riverland Crossing is the only subdivision that is directly affected by this construction. Now, everyone in the public is certainly going to use the roadway. Riverland Terrace will. The folks at Bishop Gadsden will, as well, but none of these people will have a roadway in their backyard. For the past year or so, we have been working diligently to try to come up with some compromises and some considerations that will protect our residents from the unavoidable and undoubtable adverse effects of this roadway that will be placed, literally, within feet. What I would like to ask quickly is that City Council seriously consider our request for adding a comment to your agreement with SCDOT guaranteeing us a substantial and protective barrier that will protect us from sound, light, and noise pollution associated with this. Thank you very much for your time.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you so much. Yes, ma’am.”
Councilmember White was excused from the Chamber at 6:29 p.m.
19. Whitney Powers said, “My name is Whitney Powers, and this is my daughter, Olive Gardner. We reside at 20 Gadsden Street. We are here to advocate for the dedication of a bike lane across the Ashley River Bridge that for our family represents the safest and most accessible means to cross the Ashley River. Three and a half of years ago we lost my husband and Olive’s father, Edwin Gardner, at Lockwood Boulevard and Montagu Street. There’s a ghost bike there that you’ve probably all seen. It stands in his memory. Many of you probably knew him, and he was quite a character about town. He was doing a great deal of research on livability, and his research underscores how having a range of transportation options is critical to a region’s future economic viability, especially in a City like Charleston where the available paths are limited by the geography of waterways that are interlaced throughout the land. Factors that contribute to livability are fast becoming the measure that people reference when choosing where to live, where to locate their businesses, and whether they will become engaging and contributing citizens in their communities. For the landscape of people here this evening, and the many others who could not be here, this bike/pedestrian lane is not a selfish quest, but a piece of a much larger portrait of Charleston’s future where all the limited number of available thoroughfares must accommodate choices of getting around, whether it is the use of public transportation, automobiles, walking or cycling. Otherwise, we will be faced with spending much more time and money undoing mistakes as the next decade unfolds, and we see our regional population tilt towards a million people. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, ma’am. Thank you both. Yes, sir.”
20. Anthony Leonard said, “Hello, my name is Anthony Leonard. I’m a resident at 10 Rosedale Drive, Charleston, SC 29407. I’m here on behalf of myself, my wife and our future child, in order to lend support to the bridge project, and also as a future physician as a student at the Medical University of South Carolina. I echo the concerns that Dr. Bell mentioned previously. Enable us as future physicians to practice what we preach when we give advice to increase physical activity. Thank you again for your time.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 24
Mayor Riley said, “You’re welcome, and congratulations. Yes, ma’am.”
21. Carrie Agnew said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Carrie Agnew, and I am here representing Charleston Communities for Cruise Control, otherwise known as C4. We are here to support Councilmember Gregorie’s resolution for shore power. We feel it’s imperative that any new cruise terminal built in this City incorporate the use of shore power. Tonight seems to be a night where everyone is concerned about health. We’ve got bike lanes. We’ve got bridges where people are trying to walk and get across. When a cruise ship is here for ten hours, it doesn’t matter where you’re going or what you’re doing. You could be sitting in your bedroom at home; you’re breathing the air. Those emissions go over a 200 mile wide area. This is just not downtown, and I understood Mr. Newsome tonight pointing out Charleston County’s air quality. Well, I would beg to differ that, specifically in the downtown, James Island, Mount Pleasant, West Ashley areas, it’s very different. I know that what I have on my porch on my ceiling fans is not what I had ten years ago. It’s also important to note that the Carnival Splendor, which was here on an emergency basis two weeks ago, has been retrofitted by Carnival to use shore power. That is because Carnival specifically noted that they anticipate more port cities having it to use. Snyder Electric has a study that shows that cruise ships that use shore power when they are at port save over $500,000 a year just for that ship alone. As Councilman Seekings pointed out in yesterday’s paper, there will be a huge need for more electric power when we redo Waterfront Park. For that reason, in addition, we need to have more electricity going towards this area. So, please support Councilman Gregorie’s resolution for all of our health, for the future health of our children, for the health of the aging population, and everybody. Thank you very much.”
Councilmembers Waring and Wagner returned to the Chamber at 6:35 p.m.
Mayor Riley said, “Yes ma’am. Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
22. Susan Farrell said, “Hello. My name is Susan Farrell. I live at 104 Battlewood Avenue in West Ashley in a neighborhood called Ashley Forest, which is right next to Avondale. I am also a professor at the College of Charleston. I live about four miles from my front door to my work place. I currently commute by bike two or three times a week. I ride over the West Ashley River Bridge on the sidewalk. I feel like I’m putting my life in danger every time I do it. I would like to echo the comments of the gentlemen earlier, who was a student who said he passed people on the bike lane, on the sidewalk. Every time I ride my bike, I pass one or two bikers, one or two walkers, so the sidewalk is congested. I think people would come, they would use the lane. It would give us a safe way for people like me. I’m a 50 year old mom. I do it. If I can do it, other people can do it and will do it. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, ma’am. Yes, sir.”
Councilmember White returned to the Chamber at 6:37 p.m.
23. Randy Pelzer said, “Hello, I’m Randy Pelzer. I live on South Battery, and I’m here primarily to speak about shore power. I am the Chair of the Charlestowne Neighborhood Association Cruise Ship Task Force. Before I address that, when I was on the Board, last year, of the Neighborhood Association, we voted to support the idea of a lane over the Ashley River Bridge being devoted to pedestrians and bikes, subject to a traffic study being done. We understand that the study has shown that this is a feasible prospect. On the issue of shore power, our Board is totally in favor of shore power at Union Pier. We have seen these various studies done, and it seems just to make sense that a ship of 2500 passengers and 1000 City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 25
crewmembers, which is basically a small town, when it’s operating power to power that air conditioning and other systems of the ships, it’s basically a big generator. If you had a generator next door to you, and a neighbor was using it for his electricity, you wouldn’t be very satisfied if he just said, ‘well, I’m going to start using premium gas instead of regular gas because that will be a little bit better for you healthwise.’ No, you would want them to use their power that they get from SCE&G like the rest of us do, which is generated in a very remote area in Cross, which is far from any residential areas. The cruise ship at Union Pier will be only 600 feet away from a large residential condominium, and there are two other condominiums within 1200 feet. There are a lot of people living all the way up the East Side that will be affected by the air pollution from this ship, so it is a significant health concern. I rely upon the South Carolina Medical Society and the Charleston Medical Society. They have told us as our doctors that this is a serious health concern, and I hope that you all will take it to heart. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
24. Hope Lanier said, “Mayor Riley, members of Council, my name is Hope Lanier. I’m the Director of External Affairs for BP in South Carolina. I appreciate the opportunity to speak about the planned zoning change for Cainhoy Plantation. BP’s Cooper River plant has been an outstanding corporate citizen in Charleston, since it started in the mid-70’s. We have 250 full- time employees, support more than 1100 total jobs in the Charleston area, and contribute significantly to the State and local tax base. The facility and its employees are involved in and support numerous local charitable and other community organizations. BP has been a good neighbor to the Cainhoy area and to the owners of Cainhoy Plantation, and we are disappointed that the developers and the project did not inform us directly of their plans. BP is not opposed to responsible development. Rather, BP welcomes the opportunity to work with the owners of Cainhoy Plantation to arrive at a mutually beneficial overall solution. In fact, given the proposed action, we are in the process of an expedited scientific review that will help us to determine most accurately what sort of buffer is necessary to help ensure the safe and compatible co-existence of BP and all of our future neighbors. Unfortunately, this is not a simple determination that can be made within the few days we’ve been given, but one that requires some additional time. We appreciate the agreement of the Tract 7 owners to defer the Tract 7 PUD, but BP has not yet had enough time to determine if a change in plans to the Tract 7 PUD is sufficient. That being the case tonight, I simply ask you, on behalf of my company and our employees, to defer the second and third reading of all of the PUD ordinances and the other associated ordinances before City Council until the first Council meeting immediately following April 1st. A decision in favor of rezoning tonight would take some options off the table, and we think it would be prudent to keep all of our options open so we can come to the best possible result for those who live and work in this community. We understand that this project is a priority and, had the developers approached BP early in the process, the request may not have been necessary, but at this point it is. We respectfully request your support as we continue to exercise necessary due diligence to ensure that our property and the proposed development will be compatible moving forward. It’s necessary to begin to arrive at a potential solution. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
25. Andy Denton said, “Thank you, Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Andy Denton of 330 Concord Street. I am the brother of Matthew Denton, who was fatally struck on Riverland Drive, cycling from Folly Beach to his home off of Riverland Drive in August of 2012. So, I’m not really here to discuss the matters of that case, but I will say that I what I want to speak about is more a personal note. We feel, as a family, that the City just failed us that day for many reasons, but I’m here to support the Legare Bridge project strictly as a public safety City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 26
matter. We’re really interested in what the City, in general, can do to protect cyclists because I feel like if you live here long enough, it seems like every six to nine months, there’s another cyclist fatality. In the short three years that I’ve lived here, there have been at least three fatalities that I’ve known of, my brother being one. So obviously, we’d like to do whatever we possibly can to make sure that we prevent future deaths. So, for me and my family, that comes in two parts, and what I’d like to try and impress upon you is that as a City, we have two responsibilities: the ability to protect our cyclists and pedestrians, but we also have responsibility, echoing the words that the Mayor used in the Committee meeting, that as a City, we do have that responsibility. So, the ability part, as a cyclist, you can put on a helmet. We can create laws that say ‘hey, you have to wear a helmet; you can wear bright colors,’ and those cyclists either will do that, and some won’t, regardless of what the laws say, but one thing that the cyclists can’t do, they can’t build the road. They can’t make that passageway and that safe passage. So, I really hope that we would take that seriously.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
26. Sam Applegate said, “Mr. Mayor, members of Council, my name is Sam Applegate. I’m with Moore and Van Allen law firm, and am here representing BP Amoco. I appreciate the opportunity very much to address you gentlemen. I’m going to refer closely to my prepared remarks, so I’ll be very concise in what I’m having to say and what I’m requesting. I want to reiterate what Hope Lanier, who just spoke with you from BP, has said, but want to strongly emphasize that BP Amoco has been an absolute model corporate citizen in our community since 1970. Its plant is located in an industrial area that has been endorsed by the existing development plan that the City has in place. Changing the zoning to allow a large residential development on a neighboring piece of property needs to be very carefully considered. Unfortunately, contrary to State law, BP has not been given the required notice of the public hearings to give it adequate opportunity to provide meaningful input. If Council goes ahead and adopts the ordinance, it is backing BP into a corner before it has the opportunity to study the matter fully. If the ordinance passes, BP will have no alternative but to pursue other options available to it. BP wants to resolve this matter, but it must be given the time to do so in a carefully responsible manner. I urge you to defer this matter for 45 days and give the company the opportunity to resolve this matter with the developers on a leveled playing field and also most importantly, allow Council to have input in the final resolution. Thank you very much for your consideration.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you so much. Yes, sir.”
27. John Thompson said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. I’m John Thompson. I live on East Bay Street, and I speak to you as a member of the Charlestowne Neighborhood Association Board and also the Coastal Conservation League Board. We’ve heard tonight that Charleston is becoming a much healthier and more active City, and I think we all salute that, and I think it’s terrific, but let’s make it as safe a City as we can. I’d like to ask each of you to imagine that your children or grandchildren are playing soccer, riding bikes or playing basketball next to 33,000 idling semis, because that’s the amount of exhaust that a single cruise ship puts out; 33,000 semis. If that were the case, I don’t think you’d be looking at a graph or whatever, you’d be looking at what the Charleston County Medical Association says, and you would be looking at what the State Medical Association says, and they’re quite unequivocal that shore power is the only way for us to go to create a safe and appropriate community. The last thing I would say is that a great City does not do the expedient thing. It does the right thing. So, thank you.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 27
There was a round of applause in the Chamber.
Mayor Riley said, “Again, we don’t allow applause during these meetings. The young man was an exception. Yes, sir. You’re next.”
28. Brent Wilkerson “Thank you, Mayor, and thank you members of the Council. I’m here today to ask you to support the renovations to the Legare Bridge and the making of a bike lane. I’m a bicycle commuter. I commute from 635 Savannah Highway. Bill Moody, I’m in your area, and I feel unsafe doing so every time I do it. It’s frightening, actually, to sprint across traffic over the 61 exit, and then again, when you get to the other side of the Crosstown to continue north. Others have made the point that it’s an accessibility issue for many people who don’t have two strong legs or are carrying extra things and would be unable to make that crossing. Finally, I want to emphasize again that it’s just very unsafe, and it’s obviously something that’s just been in a state of incompletion for a very long time. It’s difficult to see, with all of the other growth that we see in Charleston why that might be.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir.”
29. Gil Baldwin said, “Good evening, Mr. Mayor and ladies and gentlemen of City Council. My name is Gil Baldwin. I live downtown, and I am a practicing physician for 38 years in internal medicine, hematology and oncology. I want to point out that we strongly support Councilman Gregorie’s resolution for shore power, and I also want to thank Mr. Newsome and the State Ports Authority for their insightful report. However, the elephant in the room has been overlooked. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, known as tar, are not in any way affected by scrubbers. They are the most carcinogenic, cancer-causing substances known to man, including leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, lung cancer, pharyngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and recent evidence shows prostate and bladder cancer. These can be virtually eradicated by the use of onshore power. I would just encourage members of City Council to do the right thing and preserve and protect the health of everyone who visits, lives, and works in this beautiful City. I must say that our longshoremen are at the highest risk because they are the most exposed. Thank you so much.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
30. Gary Hardy said, “Good evening, Council, Mayor Riley. I’m Gary Hardy, and I live off of Orange Grove on Royal Palm Boulevard, and I’m building in Ashleyville. Thanks for the shout-out before, Aubry, where I’m presently Vice President of the neighborhood association. I’d like to encourage you all to consider adopting the Legare Bridge crossing. I perceived from this afternoon’s proceedings that there seems to be three camps among you. There seems to be those of you who are decidedly for it. There seems to be those of you who are pretty decidedly against it, and you say that it’s because there’s an alternative that we should consider, that being the James Island Connector. However, although you do profess interest in a safe crossing, I’m hearing that there’s really nothing that’s been done to determine the cost or an exact design. What we have here before us has been very clearly pointed out by all the studies to be something that has a very, very small impact on the motorists and a great safety benefit for, actually, all the motorists, as well as for the cyclists and the people who want to walk across the bridge. There’s a third camp here, and I think it is those of you who are a little bit on the fence, and I would say to you, you are the ones who will make the difference tonight in this vote. I had an uncle who was an existentialist. He said, ‘Gary, if you could have, you have.’ If you are sincere about coming up with another proposal, you’ve had the time to do this. Those who have taken the time and the interest to provide us with a clear view across the Legare City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 28
Bridge are the ones who have demonstrated their sincerity for the safety of all of these citizens. Please vote with them.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Yes, sir.”
Councilmember Wilson was excused from the Chamber at 6:52 p.m.
31. Jeremy Rutledge said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Jeremy Rutledge, and I’m the minister at Circular Church at 150 Meeting Street. I’d just like to speak briefly in support of shore power for a group that may not be well represented at our meeting tonight and from a unique perspective. Before I was lucky enough to live in Charleston, I was unlucky enough to live in a city with some of the worst air quality in the nation. Regularly on our radio stations, we would hear in the morning, if you were older or if you were younger or if you had respiratory illness, asthma, lung disease, please stay home and don’t go outside. It was a very vulnerable population and over and over, they couldn’t go outside. So, I stand to speak on behalf of that group. If you’re old enough, if you’re young enough, if you’re sick enough, you’re probably not here tonight, but what we do with shoreside power already affects people in my congregation, the youngest, the oldest, all of us who breathe what the diesel engines are putting out every time they’re here. So, I just urge the Council to support Mr. Gregorie’s resolution and also to stand with the Medical Society of Charleston and the State Medical Association and go for shoreside power, so we can protect and preserve the air for all of our citizens. Thank you.
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Councilmember Wilson returned to the Chamber at 6:54 p.m.
32. Dr. Susan Johnson said, “Thank you, Mayor and Councilmembers for allowing me to speak in support of the Legare Bridge project on behalf of MUSC. My name is Dr. Susan Johnson. I’m the Director of Health Promotion at the Medical University. My job is to protect and promote the health and well-being of over 15,000 of our employees and students, as well as the thousands of people who visit our campus and our medical center every day. Given the fact that sedentary lifestyle is surpassing tobacco use as the most significant health risk, leading to chronic disease and death, it is obviously a priority and in keeping with our mission to promote healthy lifestyles. We strongly support anything that would promote physical activity, and in May of 2011, we set out to determine what the barriers are for our community and being active, both at work and also in their private lives coming to and from the Medical University. So, we surveyed our community, and one of the questions specifically that we looked at was commuting to work or to school on a bicycle, what were those barriers. Over 500 respondents specifically said that getting across the Ashley River Bridge was preventing them from walking or biking to work. In addition to that, we have over 1200 of our employees who pay for parking in the City and over across near Harbor View Office Tower, and it is a significant burden to a lot of those folks to pay that amount every month, and 1200 of those parkers live in the districts or the zip code --”
Mayor Riley said, “29407.”
Dr. Johnson continued, “29407, thank you, Mayor, that would be directly impacted by being able to leave their cars at home and bike across, so I would encourage you to consider these statistics. This was a study that was done. I know you’ve heard a lot of personal testimony, but we have the actual numbers to support that, and I thank you. Thanks.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 29
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
33. Millie Anderson Taylor said, “Good afternoon, Mayor, Councilmen and women. My name is Millie Anderson Taylor. Professor Doretha Walker wanted me to make a statement as far as our support of the Legare Bridge. We all run, and we run with Black Girls Run. Twice, I’ve almost been run over by a bicycle, and she’s almost been hit by a car. So, it’s not a safe way for us to get out, run, and walk. It helps with obesity, as the other doctors have stated, and we have over 1700 women, and now we also have men who are running that bridge. A lot of us travel further to the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to run, but we would still like our community to be safe, and our young children. You can’t bring someone back alive once they’ve been hit or run over by a vehicle or a bicycle. It’s easier for us to prevent other health issues, but when it comes to our safety, the safety of everyone who wants to use that bridge and the community, we are asking you to please support the bike lane and the walking lane for our citizens in Charleston. I just moved back home from Miami, Florida and believe me, there are a lot of dead people in Miami from just that problem of walking and trying to ride and exercise. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, ma’am. Yes, ma’am.”
34. Alice Tellis said, “Alice Tellis. Mayor, Council, I’ve heard what was going on tonight. I heard about the Riverland Terrace circle, that you would have cars running around there, and you would listen to that noise, day and night. Just recently, I became aware that we have the carriage horses, they have to have a place to sleep at night, so the City has given them a place to sleep at Hampton Park. Well, the horses are all in this big, big carriage, and every night I hear them going around my corner to go to sleep, and every morning I hear them coming back, and they’re going to work, so I can sympathize with the Riverland Terrace people. They will have to hear the cars day and night, and they won’t have one minute’s rest. You really shouldn’t vote against that because that’s just not right for people who have homes and to have those people upset now for all this rumbling around their house. Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
35. Victor Bennett said, “Hello, my name is Victor Bennett, and I live at 260 Coming Street. In addition to public safety, as my sign says, ‘my safety is worth more than your 13 seconds,’ which is the maximum amount of time estimated that someone on the bridge will be delayed, even during rush hour. Now, in addition to public safety, public health, and also community enjoyment, I’d like to talk about the effect that this could have on the economy. I believe that a bike-friendly City will attract more educated young people, such as myself. I’m going to the College of Charleston. Also, I do bike across the bridge two to three times a week, currently on the sidewalk. In addition to attracting educated young people, it could also have the effect of giving people a lot more disposable income because they won’t have to pay for parking, gas, and even car payments. So, hopefully that will really boost the economy through local businesses, etcetera. That’s all.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
36. Nick D’Allesandro said, “Nick D’Allesandro. I live on Race Street, so I can’t say I actually ride across the West Ashley bridges very often, but when I do, it’s difficult to pass other riders. I’ve actually had somebody that was coming towards me, jump into the lane of traffic in order to avoid me. I leaned against the wall, but he still jumped into the lane of traffic in order to avoid me as I was riding, and that’s very unsafe. I want to support people like my employee, City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 30
Andrew, whom you guys heard earlier, who rides to work every day and risks his life on those bridges. I want to counter a couple of Councilman Wagner’s points from the Committee meeting. He said that he’s concerned about accidents, or he didn’t see the data on accidents for cars, and he’s concerned about the safety of cars. What about the safety of the bikes and the pedestrians who legally have to ride on a cheese-grater when you cross those bridges, if you want to ride legally, and you risk falling. The cheese-grater, I’m talking about the draw bridge. It’s extremely dangerous, especially with the dew in the morning. I’d just like to say what about the safety of the bikers and the pedestrians. There was another point, but I forgot. I’d like to say that it’s great for the City. Thanks.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
37. Susan Smythe said, “My name is Susan Smythe. I am a lawyer with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. I represent the owners of Cainhoy Plantation. I wanted to let you know that the owners have listened carefully to BP’s concerns, and as a result, they have yet unilaterally voluntarily requested the deferral of Tract 7, the PUD, and the related development agreement, in consideration of BP’s concern for more time. Tract 7 contains 1,500 acres, and when you add the buffer that already exists between the plant and the highland you have more than the adjacent buffer that surrounds the plant. We made this offer unilaterally without requiring them to relinquish their ability to bring lawsuits in hopes of changing the dynamics of the negotiations and the dialogue. We are, the owners of Cainhoy Plantation have always been good neighbors, and they will continue to be good neighbors. We ask that the other two PUDs continue. We do not know of any safety concerns at the BP plant. We do not know why additional land would be needed to protect the residents that are on Cainhoy Plantation from the BP plant, but most importantly, the reason we brought this Master Plan and developed these three PUDs is because the Berkeley County School District needs land, and they need to close quickly. They have tentatively scheduled their closing for March 14th. The community needs this high school, and needs to start construction. We ask that you proceed with those so that they can do so. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you.”
The Mayor recognized Councilmember Moody.
Councilmember Moody said, “Mayor Riley, could we get Ms. Smythe to tell us exactly which one of these items on our agenda she’s referring to by number. I don’t know if you have the agenda in front of you there, so that as we pick it up, we can address that.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, Councilmember Moody.”
Ms. Smythe said, “Number 4 is the PUD.”
Councilmember Moody asked, “Item four is the one you want to defer?”
Ms. Smythe said, “I’d like to defer that.”
Councilmember Moody said, “Until, I heard the first of April.”
Ms. Smythe replied, “No, until May.”
Councilmember Moody said, “Until first of May.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 31
Ms. Smythe said, “We want to give BP sufficient time, and not have them feel that they are under pressure.”
Councilmember Moody asked, “The date would be in May then, first of May. Thank you.”
Ms. Smythe said, “One more.”
Councilmember Moody said, “Alright.”
Ms. Smythe continued, “The development agreement that combines Tract 7 that includes Tract 7, and also Southern Timber, that one should be deferred as well. That one is number 7 it is. Thank you.”
Councilmember Moody asked, “Seven.”
Ms. Smythe replied, “Yes, number seven it is.”
Councilmember Moody said, “I just want to be sure that we were considering the right things when the time came. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
38. Jim Scarborough said, “Mayor Riley, members of the Council. Thank you for having us tonight and opening up the floor for questions and comments. My name is Jim Scarborough. I live at 37 Hasell Street downtown. I have had the chance to meet the Mayor on a few occasions. About six years ago, Mr. Mayor, you are the reason that my wife and I decided to buy a house here rather than Savannah. You made a great impression on us. You talked about a world-class City and a world-class project at the Pier, and we are counting on you for that. Since I’ve retired; I’ve been able to join a board of a large public company that probably makes, think about this, 70 percent of the shirts in the entire world. We probably make most of the underwear and socks that you folks are wearing tonight too. We also had an experience using bunker fuel. At one of our large factory campuses in Honduras, we used to burn bunker, which is called the C or #6 fuel oil, and bunker in the trade. It’s also used by the shipping industry. We have gotten away from that because of pollution and corrosive problems we had with our factories. We got tired of replacing roofs and the outside of the buildings. We’ve since converted to what is called biomass. It’s biorenewable energy that creates steam that now runs the turbines that make the electricity to run our factories. I would say, if it’s good enough for the middle of the jungle in Honduras, it’s certainly good enough for Charleston to be considerate of. Some further statistics that are kind of interesting about bunker, particularly if you think about a dirty business, and I’m going to talk about the shipping industry as it relates to dirty being using the bunker power. Think about all the cars in the world, and the pollution that they produce. Bunker fuel, just in shipping, produces 250 times more pollution than all the cars in the world. That is a stunning statistic, and something we need to be mindful of in our City here, in our quality of life in the City. My father-in-law has an expression. He always says, ‘measure twice, cut once’, so before you cut the wood, let’s make sure we have the measurements right, we understand. Thank you, Madam Clerk, for reminding me I’m out of time. I don’t want to feel like we’d make a wrong decision here because we’re out of time and we have to push through other projects. Thank you for your time.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 32
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
39. Leslie Scanlan said, “My name is Leslie Scanlan. I’m at 49 Smith Street in Harleston Village. I am here to basically speak on shore power, but I wanted to lend my voice to those in favor of the Legare Bridge project. I brought my gas mask today because I thought that I may well need to resort to it, at some point, if I stay in Charleston. I have been volunteering at a school called Sanders-Clyde, and one of the things that I’ve noticed there, is that there’s a big sign as you drop off your child, and it says ‘turn your engines off. Children breathe here’. I’m wondering why there’s a sign like that at Sanders-Clyde and there isn’t any more attention to the concept of shore power. I think the reason that I’ve brought this, I am the daughter of two parents who died of emphysema from a grand total of eight packs a day for a large portion of their lives. Having quit 30-40 years before they died didn’t make any difference; they had certainly done the damage. No one knew then that tobacco was going to present that kind of problem. Gil Baldwin has mentioned that there are particles now that we know about that are in the soot that’s released that are far worse than the things that we know about like sulfur dioxide. So, the question I have is that it seems to me that there are many more things that we could be doing other than asking these people to use scrubbers. Other cities have managed to attract ships that use shore power. We don’t want to run off the ones that we have, but at the same time it’s important to make sure we are doing the most we can to make their lives a little more meaningful here. Thank you. I appreciate your listening.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Yes, ma’am.”
40. Mary Sherman said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley, City Council. My name Mary Sherman. I’m here to support those who are here in opposition to the circle on Riverland Drive and Camp. I have two points. One, when SCDOT was presented with this problem, traffic at that intersection, an idea that would slash into the neighborhoods, and the houses of that neighborhood abutting it, was even brought forth and allowed to grow and brought to fruition, I find inconceivable. There are very many clever minds, I would think, come up with much simpler ways of controlling the traffic. I know someone did mention traffic lights as an example. My second point, I’d like to point out that not one person in favor of the traffic at Camp Road and Riverland Drive cared enough to show up tonight. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
41. Dan Kelley said, “Hello my name is Dan Kelley. I live at 14 Sothel Avenue in Brynes Down neighborhood in West Ashley. I also chair the City’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee. I’m going to speak very briefly on that. We’ve been in support of this project for a number of years and voted unanimously on it, and signed up with the Ashley Crossing coalition that Charleston spearheaded. I’d like to share just a more personal experience. I am a bicycle commuter. I moved down here to Charleston in 2007, looking for jobs at a place where I could bike to and from work. That was my intent out of college. It was a bit romantic, and a little bit maybe naive, but the Ravenel Bridge was built shortly beforehand, and that was my means of traveling, the bike facility and pedestrian facility. Living in West Ashley now, and commuting to the far end of northern Mount Pleasant, I bike to the bus stop, and take the bus the rest of the way. I don’t go too hard, taking it easy, but I have had five close calls when biking to downtown from West Ashley. A couple of near misses on Lockwood Avenue, a couple of near misses on Wesley and was actually brushed by a bus on the bridge leaving downtown while riding the sidewalk, which is illegal to do. I had to break the law to even get here tonight, but I’ve had close calls and I would prefer not to have close calls and a safer route. Thank you for your City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 33
consideration on this project. I hope it’s for the Memorandum of Understanding, our agreement.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am.”
42. Sue Schweikart said, “Hello, my name is Sue Schweikart. I live at 1212 Gilmore Road, near Charlestowne Landing. I’m here today, basically, to just support everything everyone has been saying about healthy people living in healthy communities. That’s really what we want, and one of the things, I wasn’t going to get up here because most of the items have already been covered, but I wanted to mention once again what Councilwoman Condon said about the lanes. If we are reduced to three lanes on that bridge for car travel, it will actually be safer. I really could care less if it takes longer because safety is what is important, and if it takes a little bit longer, even if it takes five minutes longer, it would be better because safety is what’s important. When I travel by car, because I’m afraid to travel by bike and being a pedestrian on that bridge. I have to shift over or go over from the far lefthand lane because that’s where I currently live in town. When I come down Highway 61, then, I go down across onto the bridge. I’m in the far left lane, but if I want to go downtown when I’m on that bridge, I have to get to the far right lane. Going across that number of different lanes of traffic is just unbelievably scary at many times of the day. I really believe that it would be safer for people driving in vehicles if there are three lanes instead of four because you will not have to shift as many lanes. It’s just a point, and I believe there will be less accidents, and it would be better for everyone. Of course it would be great for the pedestrians and everyone else. I sent something out to Council earlier today, for everyone that I had emails for, with ten points. I won’t go over all of them right now, they pretty much have been covered, but I did want to mention that. One other thing I want to mention was that ecotourism is more and more becoming popular. I believe people will stay in motels west of the Ashley that maybe don’t have the funds to stay downtown, and will take the West Ashley greenway all the way to downtown, and it will be an economic boom to West Ashley as well as to our City. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, ma’am. Yes, sir.”
43. Don Sparks said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley, and members of Council. I’m Don Sparks. I live at 191 Smith Street downtown. It was about 12 years ago, I was standing right here, you might remember that, Mr. Mayor, arguing in favor of bike/pedestrian lanes on the Cooper River Bridge. SCDOT was here and they said ‘oh, it’s a crazy idea. It will promote suicide jumpers. No one will use it. It will cost too much’. Representatives in the Upstate ridiculed the idea. They said, ‘oh that’s Charleston. Next thing you know they will want a horse and buggy lane’. Well, fortunately, the Mayor and the Council at that time came forward and did the right thing. They pressured SCDOT to do the right thing, and right now, DOT touts that nationwide. I’ve heard them. That’s great. Kennedy said, ‘victory has many fathers, defeat is an orphan’, and SCDOT remembers that quote. They tout this new bridge connection when they talk about connectivity. Being here reminds me of that film ‘Groundhog Day’. You’ve seen it, same plot pretty much, little bit different characters, protagonist, but here has left the same ending as we had in Cooper River Bridge. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
44. Tom Bradford said, “Mayor, members of City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Tom Bradford. I live at 18 State Street, a couple of blocks from here. I’m the acting Chairman of Charleston Moves. Let me start by saying, I think it’s incredibly remarkable that we’ve had 28 people speaking in favor of the Legare Bridge retrofit.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 34
Councilmember Gregorie said, “31.”
Mr. Bradford continued, “31, excuse me, 31, and the only people speaking in opposition are actually sitting here in the Council. So, let me just say that all the conversations about taking a lane, it might be better to think about opening a lane that should have been opened a long time ago. The T. Allen Legare Bridge has marginalized many of our citizens for years. It has marginalized the people who either have little choice about transportation, their budgets dictate using a bicycle, or they make the conscious choice to use a bicycle or walk for their own reasons: financial, health, or just the fact that they prefer not to drive a car. Not only have we marginalized these people, we’ve put them at bodily risk, and it’s not only the people who actually use bikes to get over the Ashley River. Who else have we marginalized? Thousands upon thousands of us who would have chosen to bike or walk, but have decided that crossing one of our bridges was too risky. The West Ashley Greenway is a great place, but it’s not all fun and games. Now that significant stretches are paved, it is being used by many, many people. It’s beginning to take its place as a meaningful part of the Savannah Highway Transportation Corridor. What makes that really true, extending it to downtown. Times are changing; it’s quite evident by what we’ve heard here tonight. A significant number of young people don’t see cars the way many of us did. Some are opting out of automobiles all together. Some of them spoke here tonight. Many of them are smart young people that we want here in Charleston, but, in the end, it doesn’t come down to just opinion. Math will have the last word.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Yes, ma’am.”
45. Pat Sullivan said, “Good evening, everybody, I’m Pat Sullivan. I’m on the Board of Charleston Moves. First of all, I have a list of 1,666 names that have signed a petition in favor of the Ashley River crossing. Who do I give it to? There you go.”
She gave the petition to the Clerk.
Someone else asked to sign it.
Ms. Sullivan continued, “Okay, 1,667 names. One of the earlier speakers mentioned babies, strollers, carriages, and walking. When we open the James Island Connector, they won’t be able to cross if it’s just for cyclists. But, I also want you to think about another group, and I’m one of them. I have a cruiser, no gears. I am not strong enough to cross the Connector. I am not strong enough to bike across the Ravenel. I walk it, but please think of people like me. I love riding my bike. I take it over to West Ashley to ride, and I would love to ride safely on the Legare Bridge. So, please add my category as one more that you take into consideration that you’re helping by doing this. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
46. Dr. Rick Reed said, “Good evening, Mayor, Councilpersons. I sent you three points that I wanted to make about shoreside power. I think what I heard tonight covers a lot of that, particularly Mr. Newsome’s talk, when he symbolized your concern about the health aspects of cruises. So, you yourselves are looking at that issue in a very important way. The other thing you’ve heard is bunker fuel. You’ve heard all of these toxins that exist. Mr. Newsome presented three of those, but I will tell you, gentlemen, there are more than 50-60. We don’t know the total number of toxins that are being emitted. I don’t care what you do to fuel, how you clean it up or what you do with it, there’s always going to be something that comes out City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 35
of that. That’s going to be harmful. So, it seems an obvious solution. Shoreside power shuts that engine off. The other aspect of this, and I mentioned this in terms of compounding, these things don’t just appear. They work with each other to create more problems. Then, you add to that all the things that we are taking in with our water, etcetera, that are only filtered by a couple of things, your liver and your lungs. So, in light of this, we have to think of a way to cut down every possible means. This is simple. It’s straightforward. It does the job.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir.”
The Clerk said, “Sir, may I have your name.”
Dr. Reed said, “Did I not say who I was? I’m Rick Reed, Orthopedic Surgeon, retired, and fitness nut.”
47. Mohammed Idris said, “Evening. Mohammed Idris. Mayor, City Council, ladies and gentlemen. I learned something here tonight by sitting. This is African-American History Month. The City just put up a statue of Denmark Vesey in Hampton Park. I’m here tonight, and I’m hearing that a horse barn for the horses to sleep is placed in Hampton Park. That’s a shame before God. That’s an insult. Now, the Jewish community would not allow that, they are powerful people; they would not allow that you put up a German in their neighborhood. They would not allow Hitler to be put up in their neighborhood. So, to put up a horse barn in a hero’s place where you put a statue, that’s just very disturbing, Mayor. Also, the gentleman who mentioned Mr. Newsome, for all of you all, just listen to his name, Newsome.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, ma’am.”
48. Judy McGalvin said, “My name is Judy McGalvin. I live at the corner of Tradd and Limehouse Streets. I’m here just to reiterate many of the fine points that were made, very strongly and succinctly about the benefits of shore power. For ten years, my husband and I were residents of Ansonborough, and while not the only reason that prompted our move, it was among a number of reasons. Over the ten years we lived in Ansonborough, we saw increasing amounts of soot accumulate. We faced the need for replacement of exterior piping and other accoutrements to our historic home because of increased air pollution and particulates in the air in Ansonborough. To our surprise, moving all the way across town and up against the Ashley River, we’ve seen over the last two years, again, a build-up of particulates and increasing amounts of particulates there. So, this is not an issue that just affects people on the Eastside, it affects all of us within the City, and we manned the brooms and things at our house, and replaced the piping to prove it. I worked in historic preservation for many years, and to maintain the historic homes, neighborhoods, and buildings of this beautiful City that attracts people from all over the world, is an expense. It’s something that needs to be done if Charleston is to maintain its place at the forefront of historic tourism and what I understand is an increasing amount of ecotourism. Doing the right thing, going above and beyond is really the way Charleston can maintain its place, and so I urge you to support this. Thank you very much.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, ma’am.”
49. Christina Dodd said, “Mr. Mayor, City Councilmembers. My name is Christina Dodd. I’m on the Board of the Historic Ansonborough Neighborhood Association, and I reside at 42 Hasell Street. So, you can imagine that I am directly impacted by the cruise industry. I directly breathe that carcinogenic air that Dr. Baldwin so aptly described. I, therefore, strongly support the resolution coming up with Councilman Dudley Gregorie. I can’t underscore that City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 36
enough. As our Mayor says, ‘we are world-class’. We are about to build a new cruise terminal. Let’s make that cruise terminal world-class. Let’s make it cutting edge. Let’s put in shore power. Let’s do the right thing. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you. Yes, ma’am.”
50. Sara Ann Murray said, “Mr. Mayor, City Council. Sara Ann Murray, 11 George Street, Ansonborough, adding my voice to the many eloquent, reasoned, and scientific comments that have been made tonight in support of shore power. Thank you, Mr. Gregorie, for the resolution.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
51. Warwick Jones said, “Warwick Jones, 71 Anson Street. Let me say first, I’m in favor of shore power, if it’s needed. I don’t think it’s necessary, and certainly not if scrubbers are added to the Fantasy. Councilmember Gregorie, you said in the Post and Courier, that the sulfur dioxide pollution of the Fantasy is equal to that of 32,000 idling tractor trailers. Whatever. Maybe it’s 40,000, you’re probably right, but not because the cruise ship emissions are polluting. It’s because the EPA mandates tractor trailers burn fuel that is virtually sulfur free. No sulfur, no sulfur dioxide. The emission of other pollutants, nitrous and carbon monoxide and particulates is probably a thousand times greater than that of the cruise ships. Your statement ignores these pollutants and is clearly misleading. The Fantasy is in port for ten hours twice a week. This represents 12% of the hours in a week, not an awful lot of time to pollute, particularly if the engines are barely idling. Councilmember Seekings, the Fantasy is not burning bunker fuel. You can check this on Weather Underground. The prevailing winds, about 70% of the time, blow away from the Peninsula, taking pollution with them. Then, there is the Supreme Court decision. It dismissed the suit of the plaintiffs. The Court said there was no evidence to support many of the plaintiffs’ claims, and one of those claims was in relation to emissions. So, who am I to believe, Councilmember Gregorie or the Supreme Court? Not a hard decision. Carnival and the SPA have been good citizens. Understandingly, they balk at spending unnecessarily. I support their moves, and I hope you do, too. Let’s wait for the results of the monitoring before moving with shore-based power. Councilmember Mitchell, you reported the same, that we need shore power to soothe the problems for some people downtown. Shore power is a way to bring the feuding sides together, you say.”
The Clerk called time.
Mr. Jones continued, “In other words, you offered expedient solutions that you hope will placate both sides. I listen to the prayers that are rendered in this Council. They ask for guidance to what is right. I’ve never heard prayers for expediency. Council should do what it thinks is right, not seek an easy compromising solution and certainly not to placate a vocal minority, which plays loose with the truth. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
52. Marc Knapp said, “Mark Knapp, 2258 Pristine View. Unfortunately, I guess most of you saw me, or haven’t seen me because I was sitting outside. I got here a little late. A couple of few quick things. The bridge, have you lost your everloving minds. You have to be kidding. I drive that bridge probably two or three times a day, rush hour, any other time hour. You close that lane, you’re going to create gridlock. I guarantee it. I’ve listened to the moronic diatribe that’s been going on in here. It is nothing but smokescreen. You’re going to create City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 37
problems. The first guy that hits that open expanded metal, and falls and gets hit by a car, who do you think they are going to start suing? You, the DOT, the poor guy that was just unlucky enough to be there, and everybody else they can get their hands on. Come on, think smart, for once. As for shore power, oh gosh, again, have you lost your everloving minds. Mr. Newsome told you what the cost was. Warwick just gave you the information of how little pollution that ship actually creates. Come on, quit kowtowing to a few and think for yourselves. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “You sneaked in on us.”
53. Diane DeAngelis, “I sneaked in because I couldn’t sit down after hearing some of this.”
Mayor Riley said, “You go right ahead.”
Ms. DeAngelis continued, “My name is Diane DeAngelis. I live on Prioleau Street, overlooking Waterfront Park, and my balcony sits right above the trees, looks at the cruise ships. Here are the cruise ships. I’ve spoken to this body before, and maybe I need to speak again about anecdotally what it’s like to live right there. Unfortunately, French Quarter residents, and Vendue Range residents don’t support these words. For all of the residents who live there and sit on the porch, I have to clean my table and my chairs twice a day if I go out in the morning and the afternoon because of the soot. I go out and I study, I’m at the College of Charleston now. I grew up in New York City. I lived in Hong Kong. I’ve lived in Tokyo, and I have never seen soot like has grown on our balcony in the ten years I’ve lived at One Vendue Range. So, I can tell you that that soot, those nitrous oxides are not an illusion. They shouldn’t just be on a chart. They are actually turning it into an unlivable balcony overlooking beautiful Waterfront Park, where the children play and the trees try to grow. That’s what we have to live with. One other thing, if I still have a few seconds about the bridge and cycling. I don’t know why people get so crazy about it. I commuted from Cupertino to Palo Alto on my bicycle for many years. I travel by bicycle and tour other countries by bicycle, and I ride all over Charleston because I think the most beautiful way to enjoy a city is on a bicycle or on foot. So, I want to say for all the people, and I’m 63, and I’ve been doing this for 40 years, it’s the best way to travel. There are a lot of people moving here from other places, and they could really enjoy this City if they can get out and around on bicycles.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much. Yes, sir.”
54. King Grant Davis said, “Yes, I’m with America’s greatest Mayor, and I’m with America’s greatest City Council. I’m with the people too. It seems like we can’t have it both ways at the same time. I sympathize with everyone, especially our citizens who were killed, and the young lady over on the Crosstown that was killed. This hurt me, but I think that if we can do this for a while until they can replace the bridge, and then put a bicycle and pedestrian lane on there. They might just have to do it temporarily. They want to save lives. I think the bridges are going to be probably replaced at some point, so we are going to work together. Whatever Council votes, the ones who vote for or against it, I’m still with them. This is a great Council. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “I think on that positive note, we will conclude this Citizens Participation Period. I would like to say that Patty Hollon is here. Mrs. Hollon did not wish to speak. She’s a widow of Dr. Mitchell Hollon, who was biking on the James Island Connector, was struck by a vehicle, and died on the 5th of July 2011. It was very brave and nice of you to come, Mrs. Hollon. Thank you very much. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 38
We now proceed to Petitions and Communications, and we have the resolutions to support shore power offered by Councilmember Gregorie.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Gregorie.
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Thank you, Mayor Riley. First, I’d like to thank Mr. Newsome for all the great work that he does in making sure that there’s an attempt to improve the air quality. I’d also like to thank him for the great job that he’s done with the economic engine of the port, which is extremely important to the citizens of this City. The resolution that I am presenting on shore power is just simply putting the people’s health first. Mayor Riley, you often talk about the best, the best Fire Department, the best Police Department. Well, we don’t need better air; we need the best air. I think that a world-class City deserves world-class livability. It is important to me not to get into the argument with regard to the facts. What I’d like to do is just through illustration talk about what this Council has done for a City that is supposed to be a green City. When a tree called ‘Angel Oak’ had problems, we needed more land to protect it. This Council voted to protect that tree called the ‘Angel Oak’. Not only did this Council move forward, the County and others moved forward to protect this tree called ‘Angel Oak’, because it was the right thing to do. When we talk about horses and the importance of the right ambient temperature, this Council goes all forward to make sure that we protect those horses. I remember, Mayor Riley and Council, that when we were having an extensive discussion on the importance of protecting our horses, there was a lady named Ms. White, from Ferguson Village, who, during Citizens Participation, said, ‘Mayor, we need a water fountain, and you guys are talking about horses’. While it is important, it’s very, very important that we do just as much for the people of the City as we do for horses and trees. Not what’s better, but what’s best. A world-class City does the best, not what’s better. So, it’s important to me to also point out that there are challenges on this Council. Mayor Riley, you remember how hard it was for us to get seven votes to create a smokefree zone around the Medical University. It just seems as though when it comes to protecting our people, many of us on Council tend not to be as committed as they are for horses and for trees, because all those measures passed unanimously. So, this shore power resolution is not anything that we have not done before. When you appointed me Chairman of the Sustainability Committee, I was honored, and this is just a part of sustainability. Since then, we have passed unanimously two resolutions, one for solar and one for wind, and all we were doing was just simply supporting any legislation that moves forward in those regards. This resolution is no different. It’s nothing more than supporting shore power, and giving whoever on the legislative body introduces legislation, the ability to say ‘yes, the City of Charleston supports shore power’. We can’t require it. We can’t require it like we can require that horses’ temperature be at a certain level for safety. Again, I don’t think that this is that much different. We are only talking about support. Now, there’s a resolution, and I think you may introduce this resolution, Mayor Riley, regarding replacing the very simple, non-political resolution that I’m putting forward. As I look at the resolution, at least to me, it appears as though it’s a resolution that should come from the Legislature, and not the City of Charleston. It is different from the resolution that I’m putting forward. I’m saying all this to say, folks, I think it was Councilman Wilson during the Traffic and Transportation meeting, who said, ‘we need to start thinking from the heart, and we need to start thinking about what is best for the citizens of this City.’ I’m not saying at all that the kinds of things that are going forward now, to improve air quality, should stop at all. All I’m saying is, as a world-class City, we need to take world-class action, and go beyond improving, but to make sure that what we put forward maximizes the health and welfare of our citizens. So, as a result, I know your standing, I’d like to introduce this resolution in support of shore power that just simply says we support it, Mayor Riley and Council. All the ‘whereases’ contained in some of the others, I just City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 39
don’t think it’s necessary. I think even if we whittle this down to just one line, the City of Charleston supports shoreside power, and with that I’d like to introduce this resolution for consideration to Council. As we consider it, let’s make sure we do same in protecting our people as we do horses and trees. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “I will second his motion.”
Mayor Riley said, “Councilmember Gregorie’s motion is seconded by Councilmember Lewis. Any discussion?”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Seekings and Councilmember Williams.
Councilmember Seekings said, “I just have a question before we start vetting this. Are you introducing just the whereas in support of the shore power or all of the prologue?”
Councilmember Gregorie replied, “You’re talking about the resolution pertaining, as written.”
Councilmember Seekings said, “Okay.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Williams.
Councilmember Williams said, “Thank you. I appreciate the hard work of both Mayor Riley and Councilman Dudley. I’m not really in favor of any resolution. I’ve heard the State Ports Authority’s presentation twice. I think they have been a responsive neighbor. I have not heard anything where the State Ports Authority says that they are not willing to equip their new terminal in shore power. I just really believe that there is a very thin line that we have to draw here. We have to let the process work. I’m wondering if this is more about the process? They’re responsible. They’re putting money in it. I’ve never heard them say that they oppose shore power. They said that the Union Pier terminal would be a part of that. The reality is that Union Pier will be where this terminal will be. That’s the reality, and if they’re a responsible neighbor, I think that we should give them the opportunity and the time to do what they said they’re doing. According to this presentation, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do, and I just have a problem with this issue of where we stand in this. This is commerce. This is about the center of the economic driver of this state. I just believe that, from my standpoint, that we do not need a resolution right now. I think we’re kind of jumping the gun, in my opinion.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Lewis.
Councilmember Lewis said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As Councilmember Gregorie alluded to, you appointed him to the Sustainability Committee. After being in that Committee, this is one of the things that he saw that needed to be done. He came forth with this resolution before you proposed any amendment, or anyone else did. A resolution is just saying that you or this Council supports something. Support what he wants to do. We don’t have the authority to tell the State Ports what to do. The State Ports Authority is under the officers of the General Assembly. They will have to appropriate the monies. This is only saying, as a Committee Chairman, that he made a recommendation of a Committee from this City Council. After he came up with his resolution, we should support him, regardless of who else has a resolution behind him. He came up with it out of his Committee, and I think that we should show him the City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 40
respect of working harder on this and support this resolution that he’s put forth, and leave it at that.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Riegel.
Councilmember Riegel said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I tell you, Councilmember Gregorie, I love you to death. I have got to get me one of those iPads. I tell you what; you speak so eloquently about the issues. I’m very impressed by the turnout tonight of the supporters of shore power. I would suggest that the supporters of the State Ports Authority, the cruise ship industry, the terrific economic engine that we have in the State Ports Authority, if they were able to turn out tonight, we couldn’t have enough room at the North Charleston Convention Center. Unfortunately, they’re probably home resting. They’re working either nightshift, or they’re getting up at the break of dawn to move material and containers across this great state in the southeast. I was, frankly, amazed to some of the statistics I heard tonight. I’ve been around the Maritime Waterfront industry for a great number of years, and one cruise ship parked at the dock with one engine running generates emissions equivalent to 30,000 18- wheelers. I tell you what, I have to see that study. I just don’t know where that even came from. Another thing is, much like my fellow colleagues on Council, we’ve asked for this, this phantom report by the Charleston County Medical Society. I have yet to see that. I assume it exists. I know many of my good friends are members of the County Medical Society, but they’re certainly making a lot of assumptions, but I don’t know that anybody’s had a chance to even review that document. I, frankly, much like Councilmember Williams, don’t feel there’s a need for any kind of resolution. The State Ports Authority has demonstrated time and time and time again that they’re a terrific corporate and community partner. They have the Lowcountry always at the top of their minds. We attended a Board meeting last week, and, frankly, South Carolina State Ports Authority Board members took a great deal of time to talk about air quality, emissions and shore power. In conclusion, my biggest problem or concern is by having a resolution, are we pinning ourselves into come kind of box or some kind of corner regarding shore power. Shore power is only one small part of the equation. Very frankly, as I stated at the State Ports Authority Board last week, the time we get through the permitting process, the legal appeals, I try to deal with all the objections. It’s going to be many, many years, and I’m willing to bet that there’s a lot of technology, a new technology out there that we haven’t even thought of that might be on the horizon. So, I frankly, like Councilmember Williams, I do not support any kind of resolution at all. I just don’t think it’s needed. They’re doing all the right things in my mind. Thank you, sir.”
Mayor Riley said, “Councilmember Wagner, Councilmember Mitchell. Oh yes, sir. I’m sorry. Councilmember Wagner, then I’ll say a few words.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “The original version that Councilmember Gregorie sent out did go through several Councilmembers. Basically, the original resolution had everybody in the world in there, and we basically said to him, ‘we have to depoliticize it’. We don’t care that the ASPCA, the Boy Scouts and this myriad of ‘whereases’ were in his original cut of this thing. I want to say that first. Then I want to ask a couple of questions here. I’m an old Navy guy; I’m a Navy veteran, Vietnam era. I rode a lot of ships, and one thing I remember very well about the ships is, if those generators were on, and we were not on shore power, if for whatever reason the generators went down and the ship was dark, we were on shore power. When they let them back off, crank them back up, whatever you want to call it, it threw clouds and clouds of emissions in the air. I have not seen studies. I do not know, except by what I have personally seen, but I’m kind of the belief, just like in your car, when it’s cold and in the morning, you’re going to see the exhaust. It’s going to take a little while to warm up, and then you become City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 41
efficient, and are no longer emitting emissions. I believe a ship is the same way. I do not have any hardcore data. I haven’t looked at it, but I have a strange feeling that latent off a cruise ship from dead cold, probably would come very close to throwing as much emissions in the air as one sitting at idle for a while. That’s just an observation on my part, something for you all to think about. I do know that when we had been at sea for a while, we couldn’t wait to get on shore power. That meant we got to leave the ship. After you’ve been out for a couple of months, it’s kind of nice to see land again. That’s just an opinion here and an observation. I’ll leave it at that.”
Mayor Riley said, “Councilmember Alexander, and then I’ll say a few words.”
Councilmember Alexander said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What the Councilmember was referring to is a cold start, and that is the process if you shut an engine down. A diesel engine, you turn it back on, you’re going to get a great plume of black smoke. If you watch the ships leave the harbor, particularly the cruise ship, they’re sitting there idling and as they get ready to leave the pier, they fire the second engine. That creates a black plume. As they move through the harbor, and I believe there are six engines, and they start firing up these engines, which are all cold starts, you continue to see black plumes leave those vessels. That’s how it works. That’s what he was referring to. We’ve seen several renditions of different resolutions. This Councilmember sent out a document that was verbatim to what the State Representatives had presented at the state level, which was approved by the House. I believe it was Ways and Means. That’s the type product if we decide to approve a product, and, what it does say in there is ‘shore power and other technologies’.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “It says ‘or’, it doesn’t say ‘and’.”
Councilmember Alexander continued, “Or, I think that’s acceptable. That’s the point. The point is that’s what State Representatives have taken to the state. The intention of this Councilmember was to support wholeheartedly their intentions. That’s when the document that this Councilmember sent out, came out, and it came directly from the verbatim, which was written by our State Representatives and passed by Ways and Means at state level.”
Mayor Riley said, “Councilmember Waring. Then, I will say a few words.”
Councilmember Waring said, “First thing I’d like to do is seriously commend Councilmember Gregorie for having this on the agenda or bringing it up to the agenda level. I think, certain, for more than a year, it’s been a conversation that’s been held maybe over lunch tables or at the water cooler, but it never got to the point of being front and center, as we say, in the public square, as it is today. There have been several resolutions, that’s no minor point as I said just now, brought in front of us. With that said, there are a couple of resolutions, as a matter of fact; Councilmember Gregorie had one, and subsequently amended it, but when you look at the nucleus of it, you look at the now and therefore on both of them, they’re really not that different. One thing that Councilmember Moody said in a sidebar yesterday was ‘why don’t we keep it simple’. I don’t want to put words in Councilmember Alexander’s mouth but, in a sense, it was kind of like ‘keep it simple, stay on point.’ I think somehow instead of having an arm wrestling contest, if we concentrate on the key component, the now and therefore, the part that we actually want to say is we support, why we can’t find common ground on that. That’s all I’m saying. Keep it simple.”
Mayor Riley said, “Let me say a couple of things. I thank Councilmember Gregorie for introducing this and getting it on the agenda and everybody for their interest. Some very nice City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 42
speakers said that shore power is pell power, and shore power is fossil fuel, smoke-producing, pollution-producing electricity, likely generated at Cross, which is where people live, and that pollution eventually comes this way. The thing about this is, I think we need to be very careful about endorsing anything that we haven’t thoroughly vetted or understood. So, shore power is fossil fuel generated power or nuclear power, which ends up a byproduct of something you have to bury somewhere. Neither is really great. The operative language in my resolution really is ‘as and when needed’. I think, obviously there’s a lot of interest and a lot of pushing for the shore power, but, respectfully the resolution offered by Councilmember Gregorie says that, therefore be it… that accomplishes the goal of installing shore side power capabilities for the planned cruise terminal. So, I take that as City Council is stating that the goal at the new cruise terminal is to install shore power. We don’t know the cost of shore power, who pays for shore power, the feasibility of shore power or any of that. My resolution would simply, if we were to do something, say ‘as and when needed.’ We don’t know when that is and what will be the measurement of that. The precatory language of my resolution was really, which I think is important, that it be done by resolution or it can be done some other way, but I think to recognize what the Ports Authority is doing and what Carnival is doing to address the sulfur dioxide, the particulate matter and all of that. I asked, if you would like or not, Tim Keane, who’s the Director of our Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability, to analyze this for me, and he can give you a brief report on that or whatever Council wants. It’s been a long meeting. I just think that, and you know there’s some thought of shoreside power, it might be $20 million. I don’t know. So, by doing this, we’re saying that the Port, the Legislature, or we, have some commitment to make that kind of capital investment. Then, the cost of it, that is the paying for it, because it isn’t free, it’s a huge amount of electricity that the cruise ship then acquires. So, I just think I would argue repeating myself that if we’re going to do anything about this, it ought to say ‘as and when needed’, and then, if you would like Tim to give a brief analysis, he is prepared to do it. So, I think in the order it was Councilmember Gregorie then Councilmember Alexander.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Mayor Riley, just for clarity, if I heard Mr. Newsome, he did say that they are preparing for that capability.”
Mayor Riley said, “He said what?”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “They are preparing for shore power capability in the new planned terminal. Just let me finish. The second thing is, we don’t have the authority, Mayor Riley, to require anything of the Ports Authority, and one would conclude that if it’s not needed, it won’t be done. I don’t have problems with the terms ‘as needed’ as you and I had on the phone, but your ‘as needed’ goes back to a lot of the ‘whereases.’ If we were to get rid of all the ‘whereases’ and go to the ‘now, therefore,’ something simple, we can say ‘we support shore power as needed.’ We support shore power.”
Mayor Riley said, “Mr. Newsome didn’t say they were preparing for shore power. He said that the new terminal would be up-fitted so that it could receive it if that ever was needed. Again, look, we know there have been lawsuits. There are lawsuits. There’s a relatively small group that is fighting the cruise ships and that business and that activity here in our community. I think that it is extremely important that nothing happens here to send any signal that we wouldn’t intend to signal. Let’s just say that if the opponents of cruise ships figure that it will cost $20 million, and somehow the City is supporting something that is going to cost $20 million, and Tim can talk about the sustainability issues, which I think if we get into it is worthwhile, but I just think that that would be a big mistake. Madam Clerk, do you want to help me on anything here?” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 43
The Clerk said, “Yes, Councilmember Alexander.”
Councilmember Alexander said, “Thank you, and for the record, Mr. Mayor, I’d like to read into the record State 88.sep. (SPA: Shore Electrical Power). This is the Bill introduced. ‘The State Ports Authority, during the construction of the newly permitted cruise facility at Union Pier Terminal, shall utilize interest earned from an infrastructure development account to facilitate the availability of shore electrical power and other air emission reduction technologies approved by national or international regulatory agencies at the new Charleston Cruise Facility.’ That’s what the Bill says. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Moody.
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir.
Councilmember Moody said, “I think when Councilmember Gregorie sent his resolution out, I was probably one of the first ones that said ‘what about all of these ‘whereases.’ Why can’t we get rid of them?’ I agree with you. I don’t know where we are in terms of how we all support the Ports Authority in their efforts. Then, your resolution came out, and you had a bunch of ‘whereases’ in it. So, like what Councilmember Waring said, I said keep it simple. What I was trying to do is, if I took your resolution, and taking what Councilmember Alexander just read to us, just forget the first page, and go back to ‘now, therefore,’ but don’t put that in. Just, ‘be it resolved by the Mayor and Councilmembers of Charleston, in City Council assembled, that City Council endorses the action taken and to be taken by the Ports Authority in maintaining and improving the air quality at the Union Pier Terminal and supports the efforts by the General Assembly to assure that funding is available for the installation of shore power at the new terminal as and when needed.’ Just leave like it that.”
Mayor Riley said, “That’s a really good idea.”
Councilmember Moody said, “We’re debating how many angels dance on the head of a pin here, and I’m ready to move on.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Make it simple.”
Mayor Riley announced the order of speakers as Councilmember Lewis followed by Councilmember Mitchell.
Councilmember Moody said, “Would it be appropriate that I move that be --.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “Councilmember Moody.”
Councilmember Moody said, “I’m sorry.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “You so eloquently read what you just said from the State Ports, but I make a motion that we defer any action on the Mayor’s resolution or his resolution until we see what the General Assembly and the State Ports Authority are going to do according to the Bill he read. I think we’re just getting into all of this ‘his resolution and his,’ and let the State Ports and the State Legislature do what they have to do. It says that they’re going to make this terminal a world-class terminal. To make it a world-class terminal, they’re going to outfit it for shore power. So, why are we digging into something, and delving into something that City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 44 we shouldn’t be into, if we feel that the State Ports and the State Legislature can do some of the same things that we just said. I think we ought to defer any action on both of these resolutions.”
Councilmember Gregorie asked, “May I react to that, Mayor Riley?”
Mayor Riley said, “Let me do this.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “There are two motions already on the floor.”
Mayor Riley said, “Let’s do this.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Two motions.”
Mayor Riley said, “Councilmember Mitchell had his hand up.”
Councilmember Mitchell said, “I was going to wait to see what Councilmember Gregorie was going to say, and then I’m going to come back and move to my good friend, colleague, Councilmember Moody.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “There is a motion on the floor, and I do think that the language that you came up with is good language. I think it should be that simple. I don’t think we should defer it at all. I think we should vote on it. So, I will, if I may, withdraw my motion, if you make your motion accordingly, please.”
Mayor Riley said, “So, Councilmember Gregorie is withdrawing his motion, and Councilmember Moody now has the floor.”
Councilmember Moody said, “Mayor, I would like to make a motion that if we take the second page that you handed out, strike the ‘now, therefore,’ and start with the ‘be it resolved,’ that we adopt the rest of that paragraph. I make that as a motion.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Second.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Is there any further discussion?”
Councilmember Riegel said, “I’m really uncomfortable voting on verbal ‘he said, she said’ stuff. I mean I’d rather have something to look at. I mean, come on guys. I’m not going to support something that’s just off the cuff. The public has the right to see our vote.”
Councilmember Waring said, “Get the Clerk to read it.”
Councilmember Gregorie asked, “Could the Clerk read the motion back? Would that help?”
Councilmember Riegel said, “It would help.”
Councilmember Mitchell said, “The motion that Councilmember Moody made a motion to.”
The Clerk said, “The motion that Councilmember Moody read is to incorporate the last paragraph of the Mayor’s resolution, and it reads, ‘Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Mayor City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 45
and Councilmembers of Charleston, in the City Council assembled, that the City Council endorses the actions taken and to be taken by the State Ports Authority in maintaining and improving the air quality at the Union Pier Terminal and supports the efforts by the General Assembly to assure that funding is available for the installation of shore power at the new passenger terminal as and when needed.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Fine. You got it?”
Mayor Riley asked, “Do we have any more discussion on this?”
The Clerk said, “We have the motion and the second. Councilmember Moody made the motion. Councilmember Gregorie seconded.”
On a motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilmember Gregorie, City Council voted to approve the proposed resolution as amended.
-- INSERT RESOLUTION –
The vote was not unanimous. Councilmembers Williams and Riegel voted nay.
Councilmember Riegel said, “You just put us in a box with shore power again.”
Mayor Riley said, “Now, we then proceed to further business here. Next, we have the Committee on Traffic and Transportation. Councilmember, Mr. Chairman Moody.”
Councilmember Moody said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have three items. I’ll bring them up one at a time. First, the Committee approved the original certificate of public conveyance for five taxis and limos, and I would put those on the floor for approval. They were approved unanimously.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Is there any discussion?”
On a motion of Councilmember Seekings, seconded by Councilmember Mitchell, City Council voted unanimously to approve Item ‘a’ of the Committee on Traffic and Transportation Report.
(Application for Original Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Certificate for Taxi Cab/Limo -- Wendy Grant, DBA Charleston Reliable Transportation (Taxi) -- All Aboard Transportation, LLC (Limo) -- M&A Transportation Service, LLC (Taxi) -- Charleston Galaxy, LLC (Limo) -- Charleston Black Car/Limousine Service and Historical Tours, LLC (Limo)
Councilmember Moody said, “The second item that required a little bit of discussion was the item ‘c’ that’s on the agenda here, the Camp Road at Riverland Drive Project Resolution between the City of Charleston and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. The presentation that was made was accepted unanimously by the Committee. We were assured by the Mayor that there would be buffering, landscaping in the center of the roundabout, and a minimum cutting of trees, and a sound barrier or wall barrier and foliage around these houses to protect them.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 46
Mayor Riley said, “Mr. Chairman, to the extent of our ability, and the DOT will be doing that, but we’ll work with them to do that, and then in the center, we will not only landscape, but keep it irrigated so it will look nice.”
Councilmember Moody said, “The Committee recommends the approval of item ‘c’ with those additional items mentioned. It will not be part of the Agreement with the DOT. The Memorandum of Agreement is their standard one, plus these items.”
Councilmember Riegel said, “I’ll move for approval of item ‘c’, I guess.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Wilson.
Councilmember Wilson said, “Just speaking briefly, Traffic and Transportation was a blast today. Boy, you guys missed a good one. At any rate, this roundabout, it is contentious, and I really, really do feel very badly for the two homeowners who are impacted. I’ve known one for many, many years. We don’t seem to have another feasible alternative. We can’t force a traffic light at that intersection. Councilmember Gregorie has been great. We’ve gotten the roundabout as small as we can possibly make it. We’ve addressed the issue of mitigation by no cutting, that sort of thing. What is the strongest possible language that we could put in? I think what the concern is, obviously, the homeowners don’t like the roundabout, but in terms of mitigating and unnecessary removal of undergrowth, trees and things like that, and an adequate sound barrier. I don’t know what constitutes an inadequate sound barrier or what might be most appropriate or what might be needed for this roundabout. I don’t know the strongest measures that we can take as a Council in dealing with SCDOT to ensure as appropriate a solution as we can come up with.”
Hernan Pena, Director of Traffic and Transportation, said, “Councilmember Wilson, I believe that the DOT will be willing to provide a letter to the City to include the issue of the shrubbery and the trees that do not need to be removed to maintain them as possible. The area would be looked at seriously for landscaping in the areas that trees are removed, and that have to be removed. When construction is completed, those trees could serve as a buffer. As the Mayor mentioned, the landscaping, the City has agreed to do that. When you’re talking about sound barriers, there’s a whole spectrum of sound barriers, and that issue has not been discussed. The funds that the SCDOT has are federal funds and are limited to the construction of the roundabout mostly and for the study and design. So, without having a full, complete analysis of sound, which I believe in this particular case, is a slow speed. It would not be creating a tremendous amount of noise. This is not an interstate. It’s 35 miles an hour. The roundabout itself is intended to reduce speed as you approach the roundabout, and as you turn. So, I believe the DOT would be willing to, in a separate letter, do the things as I indicated before, but when we’re getting into other issues, I don’t think that that has been considered by them.”
Councilmember Wilson said, “That’s the crux of the issue. What is adequate for one party is sometimes not adequate for another. I understand what you’re saying with the reduced speed of the roundabout. I think the greatest issue would be light pollution, constant headlights of cars, and things coming around.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 47
Mr. Pena said, “Councilmember Wilson, I understand there’s a fence today around the perimeter of the neighborhood, and I believe that if that fence is touched, or moved, that the DOT would have to replace that fence. I believe that fence is high enough that it would prevent any lighting from intrusion into the neighborhoods, and the DOT has committed to replacing that fencing. I think that would be in essence similar to what is there today.”
Mrs. Veronee-Demos said from the audience, “It’s the tree barrier that blocks the lights.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “I believe I was next.”
Councilmember Riegel said, “No, I was. No, I had my hand up first. Councilman Gregorie had asked an excellent question in our meeting in what would be the scale and size of the roundabout in an effort to lessen and mitigate the impact on the community. I don’t know if I heard an answer to that unless Councilman Gregorie has, but I thought it was an excellent idea. What is the smallest scale that we can get by with, and I think Councilman Wilson agreed with us.”
Mr. Pena said, “Councilmember Riegel, I have to tell you we have been working with Councilmember Gregorie for a number of months, and he has been very in tune with what’s been happening. He’s been diligently following the process and engaged and that was a very good point on his part. At his request, the consultants and the DOT went out to Mount Pleasant and looked at about six roundabouts in the Mount Pleasant area, and all of the roundabouts looked at were about the same size, none larger than what is being proposed for this intersection. One, I believe, was five feet smaller, but there was evidence of rutting. There was evidence that the roundabout was too small and was creating problems. I believe we’ve answered Councilmember Gregorie’s question that the size of the roundabout has been minimized as much as possible, with a balance of still allowing fire trucks, buses, and recreational vehicles that need to traverse through that intersection.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “If I may.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Gregorie.
Councilmember Gregorie said, “I do think that most of the issues, but there are still some issues that need to be addressed. One, there are backyards where folks will be losing footage. As a result of that, probably fencing. The current level of the fence once the roundabout is built, I don’t know how high it may be, may not be adequate in order to accommodate light, noise, and other potential nuisances. I would like to see, similar to some of the roundabouts on Rifle Range Road, where there are sound barriers, concrete barriers, and I really think that that needs to be strongly considered. The second thing is softening the center. My suggestion was that that roundabout should be like a gateway, a gateway to James Island Park, a gateway to Bishop Gadsden, a gateway to all the neighborhoods along Riverland. The way you accomplish that, yes, we can put greenery, soften it up, but I think my suggestion was that we try to do a fountain, similar to the fountain that you would find on Rifle Range Road with one of the roundabouts. It gives a very calming effect to traffic. It also gives a very calming effect to the neighborhoods that may be surrounding it. So, I’m going a little further than just putting some greenery in the center. I think that what we need to do is to make the best we can in trying to get the roundabout to be a part of the natural surroundings. So, I would like to discuss further at some point, something in addition to just greenery, something a bit more elaborate, and we definitely need to talk about this wall sound barrier.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 48
Mayor Riley said, “I will certainly, working with Mr. Pena, get our Capital Projects folks to look at some design ideas. I think it would be a very good idea to make it as handsome and appropriate in that setting as possible.”
Councilmember Gregorie asked, “Will we get a copy of the letter from DOT which will contain all of these issues, because I think what’s happening here is you have neighbors are very, very uncomfortable with not having an attachment or as a part of the MOA, all of what we’re discussing. I know it’s a matter of public record, but it would be great to have it as an addendum or part of the MOA, so that we can make sure that this will happen.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Wagner.
Councilmember Wagner said, “Yes, sir. I’m just trying to remember what we said in T&T (Traffic and Transportation) about four hours ago, maybe five hours ago, and that was we would ask DOT, as a part of our approval, to help mitigate the issues that are still out there, i.e. the lights and the noise for the homes that back Camp Road going towards the roundabout. They’re the ones that are going to have the lights shining in their bedroom. Mr. Garrick spoke to us during his comments. It’s his backyard that they’re taking. He has another issue completely. Yours is the other one?”
Mrs. Veronee-Demos said, “Yes, mine.”
Councilmember Wagner continued, “These guys have other issues that we can’t really deal with right here. What we can do, as I understand it, is simply, upon our signing off on this, ask DOT to help mitigate these outstanding two or three issues, and I think that’s what we said, is it not, gentlemen and lady?”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “I was there.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “That’s what the T&T Committee did say.”
Mayor Riley said, “That’s correct. That’s the gist of it. Yes, sir.”
Mrs. Veronee-Demos said, “You can still say ‘no’.”
Mayor Riley said, “Mr. Chairman.”
Councilmember Moody said, “I’m going to make that as a motion if we need to call for the question on that, then I’ll give you the less contentious item.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Waring.
Councilmember Waring said, “I do have a question in that we have some great suggestions that came out around Council, and certainly yours, getting our Capital Projects people involved. How do we move from, if we do vote on this tonight and it passes, to those things being action steps? In other words, it sounds great tonight, but on the other side of this, if they just, for example, Mr. Pena, if they just replaced the fence that they’d taken down with something similar. Obviously, from a sound perspective and an aesthetic perspective, something better needs to go back. Now, I don’t know what’s there. I haven’t seen it quite City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 49
frankly, so I don’t want to certainly insult the folks’ fence, but with that kind of traffic coming through, obviously something better needs to go back. When we give approval on this, how do we know that those action steps will be taken?”
Mr. Pena said, “Councilmember Waring, I believe that DOT is willing to give a letter to the City addressing some of the issues that Councilmember Wilson had mentioned, some of the issues that Councilmember Gregorie had mentioned, but I need to point out that the issue of noise barriers was not a part of the project. That’s federal money, so if noise levels would have been expected to be at a point where they would be disruptive, the federal government would have required DOT to look into that. I don’t believe there was any issue with noise. Was there any on the evaluation? I’m hearing from the DOT folks that there’s none. So, I don’t want to stand here and tell you that the DOT is going to do something about sound barriers because that was not an issue. That was not an issue that was presented in this situation. The other issues about the landscaping, the trees, the shrubbery and the City trying to do something to beautify it, I think those are things that could be provided in a letter.”
Councilmember Waring said, “Thank you, Mr. Pena.”
Mr. Pena said, “Yes, sir.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “One last question, maybe I got it wrong. I thought there was a noise study being done. I thought that there was a study being done to analyze the noise, okay? What’s the result of the study, and do the results require us to do extra barriers? I mean we can sit here, and we can chat about these ideas all night long, but we need to get something concrete to assure the neighbors that we’re very serious about what we’re talking about, and I’m getting a little uncomfortable now.”
Mr. Pena said, “Yes, sir. Mr. Gregorie, I think the best thing to do would be to allow Bret Gillis with Stantec, as you know, they are the engineers that were hired by SCDOT, to answer that question about the noise and what the situation was with that.”
Mr. Gillis said, “The Department is in the process of conducting the noise analysis, and they follow the FHWA NEPA requirements in that, so we’re talking about noise impacts, but they’re already following that NEPA process, whether the City asked them to or not. They follow those guidelines, and it looks at what are the increases in decibel levels at the receptor sites, to measure those and see, and if there are significant increases, they have to follow requirements to install noise walls. That’s part of the project.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “But the study is not complete yet, is what you’re saying.” Mr. Gillis said, “Correct, correct, but that would happen anyway.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Moody.
Councilmember Moody said, “Just as a clarification, if the decibel level is ten now before they do anything, they’re going to do whatever they need to do to keep that level at ten, is that kind of what I’m hearing, or is 11 or 12 acceptable? I’m just throwing numbers out here.”
Mr. Gillis said, “There are, I can’t quote the numbers, but the noise analysis, it requires a certain threshold of increase that cannot occur if it’s considered significant, and it is measured in decibels. I don’t have those numbers with me, but they’re like in the 80’s or 70’s range or whatever. I don’t have those numbers in front of me, but the federal requirements say if you City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 50 exceed that threshold, and it’s measured as an increase, then you have to mitigate it. So, they would have to follow that.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Wagner.
Councilmember Wagner said, “Clarification, we can come to the State and say we want you to look at mitigating this as part of our approval. You then go to the federal government, who is ultimately funding it, and say ‘hey, can we have some more money?’ They say, ‘yay, nay.’ If they say ‘no,’ you go see if you can go find the money. If you can’t find it, it comes back to the County, then over to the City and between all of us, maybe we can find some money, yes?”
Mr. Gillis said, “Yes, yes.”
Councilmember Wagner continued, “So, it is okay for us to ask you to try to mitigate this issue? Thank you.”
Councilmember Gregorie said, “Consistent with federal law.”
Councilmember Wagner and Mr. Gillis said, “Yes.”
Mayor Riley asked, “Is there any further discussion?”
On a motion of Councilmember Moody, seconded by Councilmember Riegel, City Council voted unanimously to approve item ‘c’ of the Committee on Traffic and Transportation Report.
(Camp Road at Riverland Drive Project Resolution between the City of Charleston and the South Carolina Department of Transportation
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman.”
Councilmember Moody said, “The final item is item ‘b’, the T. Allen Legare Project Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Charleston and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. This was approved by the Committee on a vote of 3-2 in favor of signing this agreement.”
Councilmember Seekings said, “Move for approval.”
Councilmember Mitchell said, “Second.
Mayor Riley asked, “Is there any discussion?”
Councilmember Moody said, “Since I spoke at the meeting, I was going to give my colleagues the opportunity to speak. As I was listening to all of the comments that have been made, I will just somewhat repeat some of the things that I said at the meeting. This thing was thrust upon our Committee in our last meeting, and it looked like this agreement was going to go through, and quite frankly, I didn’t have a lot of time to look at it until this week and get ready and read the reports and that kind of stuff, and it raised a lot of concerns in my mind. There was quite a presentation, and I don’t know if we’re going to see that again tonight, whether all the Council will see it, but you’re sitting there looking at the picture. As I said at the meeting, there City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 51
were a lot of things that were said, but there were a lot of things that were not said. One of them, for example, is this great scene of folks walking across the bridge. Where are they coming from? Where are they parking? What are they doing on this bridge? There was just some stuff like that, that this is going to be used. Is this what the bridge is going to look like? I don’t know that that’s the case or not, whether there’s going to be that many people using it, whether bikes will use it. Those were some of my questions right off the bat. Then when I started looking at the actual tract that the roads would take, say for example Highway 61 and Highway 17, with those roads, in order to get on this lane, you’ve got to get over to the Greenway at some point and come around by Windermere and go down through that and then come back, basically, to the bridge. I’m not sure that the folks are going to use that or not. There are lots of ways to get around there.”
A member in the audience spoke out of turn.
Mayor Riley said, “I’m sorry. The Citizen Participation Period is over, and we must have respect for our speakers.”
Councilmember Moody continued, “As I said from the very get-go, my district is right here, and it’s affected more than anybody’s. I think the further you get away, the more people are wondering why we’re taking this lane away. It seems to me like, just looking at the James Island Connector, we have ordered a study of $75,000 that we’re spending to look at the cycling on the James Island Expressway. I understand that is just dealing with bikes and not pedestrians, but it seems to me like, with a little bit of studying and planning, we could come off of the Greenway, and we could come off of Highway 61 or Highway 17 and get right onto that Herbert Fielding Connector, with a separate bridge or lane. They told us it was $30 to $40 million to go all the way from James Island or Folly Road to downtown. That’s only a little short part of it. If we could put a 12 foot lane over that James Island Connector, we would have a way of getting all of these people right downtown fairly easily, and I don’t even think we’ve looked at that. The thing that bothered me a little bit was this reimbursement that was mentioned. Councilmember Riegel, I guess, was the one that talked about it. We’ve got a good relationship with the County, but quite frankly, what I was told was we’ve been asking for three years to get money to fix Lockwood Drive, and we haven’t been able to get the money to do that. Now, we’re kind of getting shoved into another situation where we’ll fix that, but you’ve got to go for the bike lane. There’s something disingenuous about that, that they’re going to tell us that they’re going to take the money back. Quite frankly, they spent most of that money on doing a study on whether or not we can cantilever that bridge, and that study came back and said you can’t do it. So, I don’t know where we’ve been leading those people on. Maybe we can approve this tonight. The numbers that came out with regard to the whole item of how many people live West of the Ashley, and there’s going to be thousands, and there are going to be more bikers and pedestrians on this section of the bridge, this 200 yards or whatever it is, more than they’re on the Ravenel Bridge. You can put 200,000 or 300,000 people on this bridge to look at the underside of the James Island Bridge. I guess that’s alright. That’s not what I would want to do, but it’s just a very short span here, whereas on that bridge, quite frankly, there may be a few commuters. They never sold that Ashley River Bridge as a commuting bridge. They sold that as a recreational bridge, and it’s been used like that. If you came to this Council and said, ‘would anybody like to have a bridge across the Ashley River,’ we would say ‘yes.’ There’s nobody here that wouldn’t want that bridge, and I would be included in that. I’m just having some real struggles with taking off on something and closing this lane. I realize there are some safety issues here, but I’m willing to fight for a new bridge. I’m willing to fight to find the money to do that James Island Connector if we can get that first, but this does not meet the 25 year test, in my opinion, to just close a lane. The bridge was a three lane bridge for a while. The City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 52
Department of Transportation came in and said ‘let’s make it a four lane,’ to get the traffic moving. So, that’s what they did. Now, we’re wanting to take it back. All these numbers around are not making a lot of sense to me. I know I’m going to make some people unhappy tonight, but I feel like I’m trying to do what’s best for my constituents and the citizens. So, with that, I’ll hear the others.”
Mayor Riley said, “Let me do this. What I’d like to do is have Mr. Pena with Mr. Morgan, make the presentation that they made to the Committee, because I think it’s very important that everybody gets the facts. Then, after that, we’ll recognize people, and I will certainly want to be heard. Sir?”
Councilmember Gregorie asked, “Can we take a quick recess?”
Mayor Riley said, “Let’s take a three minute break.”
City Council recessed at 8:39 p.m.
City Council reconvened at 8:46 p.m.
Mayor Riley said, “I want to wait until all members of Council are here, and they’ll be here briefly, and then ask the Director of our Traffic and Transportation and our Planning Director to give the presentation that they gave to the Traffic and Transportation Committee. Then, I will speak on this issue and then recognize Councilmembers Wagner and Wilson.”
The Mayor waited for all Councilmembers to be seated.
Mayor Riley continued, “First of all, thank everybody for working so hard tonight, and for your patience, and thank those who are here and those who were here. So, what we’re going to do, we’ll give the presentation that was given at the Traffic and Transportation Committee, and then I will speak. Then, I’ll call on Councilmembers Wagner, Wilson, and Riegel in the order of hands that I saw. Mr. Pena.”
Mr. Pena said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of Council. Thank you for the opportunity to be before you. The issue before you tonight is a Memorandum of Agreement between Charleston County, the City of Charleston, and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Let me tell you a little bit about how we got to where we are today. Back in 2000, with the planning for a bicycle and pedestrian network in the City of Charleston through the Department of Planning, a plan for connecting the City, West Ashley, downtown, and James Island, was developed, and that plan had as a catalyst the West Ashley Greenway. The Greenway is a piece of infrastructure or a path that runs along or parallel to Savannah Highway that ends on Folly Road or Albemarle Road. The plan was to connect every path that we could possibly build to the Greenway in order to allow that connection to downtown.
So, the Mayor went to Charleston County, asking for some help in identifying funds for a study that would look at how we could get across the Ashley River Bridges. Charleston County graciously agreed to study the matter and hired consultants to do that. The consultants were hired, and they looked at the inbound bridge, the northbound bridge, or the Legare Bridge, looked at the bascule section because that’s a critical element there. You could put an appendage to the bridge, to the side is concrete, but when you get to the bascule section, or the drawbridge opening, that’s critical because that’s controlled by a weight system. That bascule section has some of the original motors, very old, very obsolete technology, and they have to City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 53 continue to balance the weight. It uses weight to help the motors elevate the bridges, elevate the leaves, or the bascule sections of the bridge. The report indicated that given the deficiency, the obsolescence of the motors and the structure, the bridge could not support a cantilever type facility for the bridge. It clearly states so here. In order to do so, it would require a complete replacement of that section of the bridge. The cost at the time was around $17 million to do so.”
Councilmember Gregorie was excused from the Chamber at 8:50 p.m.
Mr. Pena continued, “Obviously, the DOT had no money. The City had no money. The County had no money. So, the Mayor then said, ‘what do we do? When do you expect to replace the bridge, so that we could see in the foreseeable future some relief for the citizens to walk and to bike back and forth downtown to West Ashley.’ DOT said ‘it’s on a list along with another 1500 bridges. No funding has been identified. We don’t know.’ So, the question was then, how long do we wait? Do we sit here for 15, 20 years until the DOT has the funding and makes the decision that the bridge has to be either replaced or significantly rehabilitated? So, the Mayor went to County Council again, Chairman Pryor, other members of County Council, and said ‘what else can we do? Can we look at studying if one lane on the Legare Bridge could be converted on an interim basis, until the bridge in the future could be replaced to be used as a pedestrian and bicycle lane?’ Charleston County, again, graciously agreed to fund the study, a traffic study that was done in 2011. The study looked at the conditions for traffic coming in on Highway 61. There’s one lane coming into the bridge from Highway 61. There’s one lane coming in from Highway 17 because the two lanes merge before you get to the bridge, and I also looked at the two lanes coming in from Folly Road. The two lanes from Folly Road would merge into one, so you would have three lanes going into the Legare Bridge with the three receiving lanes.
The study, in summarizing it, indicates that the travel time is the critical component of reviewing and considering the conversion of this lane for pedestrian and bicycle. People relate to travel time, so they conducted travel time analysis for Wesley Drive across the bridge to Lockwood Drive in existing conditions, and then they used the models that we use for traffic analysis. This is the best information that we have, the best models that we have, and they plugged in the information, and the results, as indicated in the study, indicated an increase of about four seconds of travel time for the Highway 61 approach from Wesley Drive to Lockwood. On Highway 17, an increase of six seconds on the travel time from Wesley Drive to Lockwood. On Folly Road from Albemarle Road to Lockwood, an increase of about 13 seconds. Additionally, the study looked at speeds. Now, I’ll tell you in a little bit why this is important. We looked at the existing speeds and then the projected speeds if the lane is converted into the bicycle/pedestrian path. From Highway 61, the speed was 38 mph. This is average speed, again, from Wesley Drive to Lockwood. With the conversion, it would be 37 mph and likewise on Highway 17 from 37 to 36 mph, and Folly Road from 37 to 31 mph. So, there’s a decrease of different levels of speed.
The study looked at the traffic growth, looked at existing conditions, and the study said that converting the lane of traffic for a bicycle/pedestrian lane would work. It would be feasible. It would work. The bridge would have ample capacity for the future, so it would work, what they call near term, but it also looked at the future in 2030, and it said that by 2030, there would be conditions that we would have to pay attention to, that there would be conditions, perhaps, of congestion.”
Councilmember Gregorie returned to the Chamber at 8:54 p.m.
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 54
Mr. Pena continued, “In the middle there, between 2011 and 2030, and there have been some reports out regarding this 2020 year. Let me tell you where the 2020 year came up. The 2020 year did not come from DOT. It came from the study. It said that, at that time of the study, they believed we should be looking at it at about 2020 because it’s just a safe way to be preparing ourselves for any increases in the traffic. So, subsequently since then, we have spoken to the consultants and asked them, there was no data provided for that 2020, it was just a recommendation, if they knew then what they know now in terms of the traffic projections and the traffic growth that we have seen on this bridge, which by the way, has been flat, would they change that 2020 date, or would they keep it? They clearly indicated that it would be recommended that you look at it further, more so in the year 2026. Why? Because when the study was done, they were using the traffic growth rates from 2007, 2008 when the growth rate was higher. Therefore, it produced the 2030 year numbers higher.
The chart that I have here before you shows the historical volume data. This is from South Carolina Department of Transportation, for those bridges, both. Unfortunately, the DOT does not break down the count on both bridges. They provide a total sum for both. You can see here, 58,400, 59,000, 56,800, so on and so forth, very insignificant increases when you get to 2012, which is the last published data. There’s a drop to 56,400, but we went further, and we said let’s look and see what the CHATS model, that’s the regional model that is kept at the Council of Governments. That’s their chart to continue to look at traffic growth and see what those numbers would like for the year 2035, the best information for traffic in the region, and it showed that the projected numbers for the two bridges combined are 59,975, very comparable to the 59,000 numbers of 2008 and 2006. Then, we say, well what about with I-526? That’s plugged into the equation, and the 2006 number of 59,725. So, what I’m trying to tell you here is, that when we look at the historical pattern of growth, we don’t think this bridge is going to receive a significant amount of traffic growth in the future. We looked at the growth, and Christopher Morgan will touch on this, West Ashley in the area of Bees Ferry, Glenn McConnell, north of Bees Ferry and future development, Long Savannah. The majority of that traffic is going to be using I-526, and do you know how I know that? The SCDOT charged a consultant with looking at I-526 for the traffic analysis for the next 20 years, and it showed that that corridor between Savannah Highway and Rivers Avenue is in desperate need of widening. The recommendation was to widen that to six lanes. That went to Columbia, and the Highway Commission voted for the project to move forward because that’s where the majority of traffic is going to be, not coming through the Ashley River Bridges.”
Councilmember Waring said, “Mr. Pena.”
Mr. Pena said, “Yes, sir.”
Councilmember Waring said, “You said Savannah Highway and Rivers Avenue.”
Mr. Pena said, “I’m sorry, from Savannah Highway, I-526 going on I-526 to Rivers Avenue.”
Mayor Riley said, “I-526.”
Mr. Pena said, “That corridor is very heavy. It’s congested, and it requires widening, and there’s a project to do so. Why does it work? Why does the study say that this works? Well, it works because you add a lane of traffic. Today you have, this is the Legare Bridge, heading towards the Septima Clark Parkway (referring to the electronic presentation). This is Lockwood. This is the Bee Street ramp. Today you have three lanes, one, two, three headed towards the City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 55
Septima Clark Parkway. You have a free flow lane that goes to Lockwood, and you have one lane going to Bee Street. The critical point here is Bee Street. I don’t have to tell you about that. If you look at it in the morning, the traffic backs up in this lane. So, as this study was done, and actually after the study was completed, DOT, working with the City and the County, indicated we need to identify a concept that mitigates this issue. If this issue is mitigated in the morning hours, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., then we have a solution. So, the recommendation for the concept was to add another lane, a left turn lane about the same length as the Bee Street off-ramp to double the capacity. If you double the capacity on the Bee Street ramp, you solve the back-up situation. You make it safer because vehicles will be off of the travel path for those going to the Septima Clark. That’s why the study says that this would work.
The issue of safety has come up. Remember I mentioned to you that speeds drop, from 37 mph to 33 mph. The issue of the merge conditions where Folly would come in, Highway 61 traffic comes in, and Highway 17 comes in. You have four lanes today. If I’m coming on Highway 61, and I want to get to the far right hand lane to get to Lockwood, I’ve got to go one, two, three lane changes. If I’m on Folly Road, the farthest right lane, and I want to get to the left lane, I have to go one, two, three. There’s a lot of lane changing. Lane changes are happening at the average of 37 mph or so. With the speed reduction and the conversion of one lane to the bicycle/pedestrian lane, you have three lanes. You reduce the number of lane changes, and with the speeds, you make it safer because the weaving, as we call it, or the merging, the changing of the lanes would happen at a lower rate of speed. The safety that I mentioned of mitigating the back-up here would be a significant improvement to the conditions that we have there today. There was significant analysis that was done on the lane changing that’s in the report. There’s a table. There’s a lot that has been done.
Is this a good investment? Charleston County, at the request of the City and Mayor Riley, has spent so far $631,000 because this has been in the works since 2000. This is not something that happened a year ago. We have continued to work with Charleston County, and they have continued to provide the support. So, is this a wise investment? We think it is. By building this extra lane, you have independent utility, if in the future, the South Carolina Department of Transportation decides to remove the lane, this will stay. The path that goes from Albemarle Road, behind the Turky’s development that ties into the bridge, that wide path will remain. The least costly or the component of the project that has the least amount of cost is the barrier that will be installed on the bridge. This and the path have the highest cost. Some have mentioned that the DOT could come down in five to six years and say that you have to remove it. This is money wasted, but it’s not money wasted; it’s money well spent. So, why are we asking you to approve this today? This is a MOA that basically says this. The City of Charleston agrees to allow Charleston County to move forward with finalizing the design plans, the concepts for the construction of the path. It says that the DOT has the authority to require the City of Charleston to conduct the necessary studies to determine the conditions of the traffic on the bridge, and if the conditions are such that they don’t meet SCDOT standards, DOT has the right to request the removal of the barrier and Charleston County pay for it. Then, Charleston County will fund the construction of the project. Now, let me say something. This is one of the few times that I come before you explaining a project, and telling you that the money is there. The money is there. Charleston County Council voted already to allocate the funds, so the funds are waiting. You heard Councilmember Colleen Condon say to you, the money is there. So, I also want to say that as part of the MOA, and it says in there, that public meetings will be held, and there are some County Councilmembers that are asking for public meetings. Public meetings will be held to receive additional input on the aesthetics, on different things when the designed plans move forward. So, this is not something that will never go back to the City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 56 public. It will go back to the public. I think, Mayor, that concludes my presentation. I think Christopher Morgan has a component.”
Mayor Riley said, “If Christopher would just briefly, and then I’ll say a few words. We all could just see how, well, we all know how hard Hernan works on everything, and how hard he works on this. Christopher.”
Christopher Morgan said, “Yes, sir. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Members of Council, you have a handout, I believe, in front of you that we put out for you today that is just a quick history of some of the plans and planning that’s been involved in this project. From the 1976 Short Range Bike and Pedestrian Plan, which was one of the first bike studies in this area that identified the need on these bridges for a facility. To the 1995 CHATS and Charleston County Bike and Pedestrian Plan, which was the first complete one for our region, which identified it as one of the top three critical bridge connections that are needed. The 1997 Ashley Bridge District Plan, which brought in lots and lots of our West Ashley residents to look at what they wanted the future of their area to be, and part of that was the bike and pedestrian accessibility, and ways to connect to the bridge into downtown. Then, we have the Peninsula Traffic and Parking Study in 2000 that also cited this. Hernan has already mentioned the DOT studies. There’s one in 2002 and 2007 in this handout. Then, the West Ashley Greenway Master Plan, that the City put together to expand upon the vision for West Ashley Greenway, and get resident input, and that looked at this and said a multi-use path connection is needed for future crossing of the Ashley River Bridge. Our own Century V Comprehensive Plan talks about the need to construct this bike and ped lane. That was adopted by Council in February 2011, and finally, also the East Coast Greenway, which is a fantastic facility being planned and implemented along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida, that this bridge would be a critical component of The Arthur Ravenel Bridge is already a part of it. You can see the sign from the Greenway outside the bridge or bike pedaling, but this was viewed as part of that facility. The alliance that’s planning the East Coast Greenway is expecting it and counting on it. You all may have also seen our overall Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan for West Ashley that shows the numerous connections, the variety of facilities that are viewed. Some are in place, some are being planned, some are funded, and some we are looking for funding.
We really wanted to highlight, for you all, this overall connected separate bike and ped system that’s completely separate from the road, maybe adjacent to the road, but it’s a completely separate system. It goes all the way from Village Green down Ashley River Road off a completed bike and ped facility there on Bees Ferry along the soon to be completed lane on Bees Ferry on Glenn McConnell, where we have funding in place for a lane near to West Wildcat, through West Wildcat where its complete through the William Murray where part of it is complete. We’re missing about 200feet to connect up from William Murray to the rest of Carolina Bay, where it’s all complete. We’re missing a few hundred feet down here at Croghan’s Landing, and that to actually the West Ashley Greenway and on into Albemarle Road and the connections, I’ll show you in a minute that go to the bridge. Within a ten minute walk of this facility, 33,000 people live all through this area of West Ashley. Obviously, a lot of people are within easy proximity to this facility, and then we are going to show you how within two miles of the bridge itself, 50,000 people live. So, these are facilities that people can get to very easily. They don’t even have to use a car necessarily to get there. The study that the County has done and would fund, extends the West Ashley Greenway, which, right now ends at Albemarle Road. It crosses Albemarle Road and Croghan’s Spur. This is the Albemarle Condo building, goes past the doctor’s office. Then privately will be funded via the development of the 35 Folly apartment building. They will build the portion that goes around the back of the building to where our new City park is adjacent to the 35 Folly Building and the connector. It will go across City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 57
our new City park and then line up and get on the edge of Folly and Savannah Highway and head over to the bridge.
These are all permanent improvements that will be a huge enhancement for this area in West Ashley. Finally, we did some calculations because a lot of people, I think, had trouble figuring out how many people really use this type of facility. Already, our staff every couple of years gets out on the Cooper River Bridge, Ravenel Bridge, and does counts. The last time we did that was Thursday, September 27, 2012, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. That day, we counted 774 walkers and bikers on that weekday. We estimate, from our visual observations and folks who talk to us about the facility on that bridge, that use is much heavier on the weekends, so we’re estimating it’s probably about 1,400 on the weekends. If you start doing some math here, 774 times five days a week is 3,870. 1,400 for the weekends times two days a weekend is 2,800. That means 6670 users a week. 52 weeks a year, 346,000 or like 350,000 folks could be using it. We back that one-third of the year, saying that only one-third of the year nobody was using it because of cold, because of heat, because of rain. What we came up with is a figure about 232,000, which we think is very conservative figure for use of the Ravenel Bridge. Using a lot of the similar logic, we began factoring in with the Legare Bridge as people are much, much closer to it, that don’t want to drive to it, but can walk to it, can use it on a daily basis easily. We computed 1,000 commuters in a weekday; this is including things like the MUSC survey, which says that 500 of their employees could use such a facility if they had the opportunity to. We also computed that there would be 500 visitors or pleasure walkers a weekday, for a total of 1,500 users a day 1,500 times fire is 7,500. On the weekends, we assume 1,000 or so because of the beauty of the facility for ease and access 2,000 there, 9,500 for a full week, 52 weeks a year almost 500,000 users, backing out the one-third of the inclement weather about 330,000. What this report points to is the tremendous opportunity that’s here because people are so close to this bridge, so close to this facility that we’ve been working for almost four decades to make a reality, and that’s some of the information that I have.”
Councilmember White said, “While you have that picture there, someone brought up earlier a great point about parking. If anyone can use this for information, where is the closest parking available for anyone who wants the use this bridge for purposes of recreation?”
Mr. Morgan replied, “Well, and again because people live so much closer to it, it’s not like the Ravenel Bridge because of all the approach ramps, because of the distance it covers, it’s much harder to get to that and climb to the top. It’s much, much closer here, but I think, ultimately, if it were a demand for such facility, I think we could work to create that. It’s not envisioned that this is the type of facility that would need that kind of parking because it’s so much closer to everybody.”
Mayor Riley said, “Okay. Well, I’m going to talk for a little while.”
Laughter filled the Chamber.
Mayor Riley continued, “It isn’t going to be long. But, let me tell you something, a lot of people say to you ‘Mayor Riley, you’ve had such a great vision for the City, and all the things, and you had a wonderful vision how do you do it.’ Let me tell you what, it isn’t my vision, it’s a community vision. What I do is, doggedly pursue the vision of my citizens. Charleston Place was a result of a plan that the citizens put together, and I fought tooth and nail to make sure it happened. I did the same with the Waterfront Park, and other things. This is the communities’ vision. The 1976 CHATS Plan, the City Century V Plan: 2010, the Greenway bikeway, etcetera. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 58
Certainly the City and County intend to approve and extend the West Ashley Greenway, so it connects all of West Ashley with the Peninsula via bicycle, pedestrian lane added to the new Ashley River Bridge aka Legare Bridge. I asked the Clerk’s office just to look at when this was mentioned in recent years. Since 2008, all those tabs, are a City Council meeting where it was mentioned. How many times have we talked about this thing with regard to the Turky Burky’s property buying that and everything else? It’s been woven every West Ashley community meeting, certainly on the, south side of Savannah Highway, people asking about it. I think, Councilmember White, your question about parking, at the scale, if this was the Ravenel Bridge coming down, there would be nobody living this close to it except for the tides in the renaissance. Fifty thousand people lived within two miles of this, and some were parked at Earth Fare Drive, some will park at St. Andrews Shopping Center, and some will call and say, ‘you live at Brynes Down. Do you mind if we park in your driveway one day to go walk’ and something like that. I was determined to not fail the citizens who have been seeking this and asking for this in one way or another since 1976.
So, as Hernan told you, the impact of this to the commuter is four seconds, Highway 61, and just one lane comes in, you merge to one lane before you get on the overpass, six seconds if you’re on Savannah Highway and 13 seconds, seconds that’s just during commuter time, there are 4,156 cars during the commuter period, and that’s when it gets a little tight. With the additional lane, which is brilliant, we all know that’s where the bottleneck is. You go, and there’s just one lane and you want to go left to Lockwood and you’re waiting for people to go straight, the ones that want to go straight on Bee Street. You’re waiting for the people to turn, so you remove all of that, and it does, in fact, become safer. So, what do we get for those four seconds? Well, we get Donna Jacobs. She doesn’t own any spandex. Donna Jacobs works at the Medical University, lives in Brynes Down, what you get is Donna Jacobs car not being in that traffic. It wouldn’t have been in that traffic if we had it. The 500 cars at the Medical University said they will bike. That’s 500 cars of those 4,196 during commuter that are not competing. It will reduce traffic. The 1,000 that they predict, that I’m sure that’s correct, probably a good number of those are using parking spaces that are competitive in the Peninsula that are no longer needed. However many cars are replaced by bicycles is that much less pollution, and you know we were talking and really, for me, it was just an opportunity. Gary (White) said, he could see it coming from way, way back, but when were at the Real Estate Committee, we were talking about the new Cigar Factory. They are going to have some high tech companies, and I guarantee you that some of those young people working there will be residing West of the Ashley and will bike in and go to Huger Street and come across Morrison Drive. Then, somebody who studied cities once told me, this is an international person, that one test of a great City is a number of things that citizens can do in the public realm for free. That’s what that is. They didn’t have to buy a ticket. They didn’t have to join a club. They didn’t have to take a vacation in their own hometown, whether you live on the East Side, whether you lived in Wagener Terrace, whether you live in Gadsden Green, whether you live downtown, whether you live in Byrnes Down or whether you live in Windemere or wherever, you don’t have to buy anything. You just put on your shoes or get on your bike and go across a beautiful river safely. We heard Dr. Thad Bell talk about wellness and fitness. Something like this, and others talked about it, that groups will form, ‘Oh yeah, will you join me in the walking in the morning’, and, all of sudden, you don’t need that high blood pressure medicine anymore or your diabetes is under control because you have something going on. That’s right there for your community. Work out groups will develop.
Councilmember Moody mentioned the James Island Connector and we have studies forth coming about that being safe for biking. It will never be safe for pedestrians, and a couple of million dollars will have to be spent to make it safe even for biking. To do the appendage that City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 59
Councilmember Moody talked about might cost $20,000,000. We are not spending anything for this here, and it’s not contrived. It’s the end of this, what we’ve been talking about for years, the end of this wonderful path that brings you into the City. Then, there were some talks about waiting on another bridge for 1,500 bridges. My expectation is, just my expectation, Hernan agrees with it, that probably there will be a new bridge in the 15 to 20-year timeframe from now. The State doesn’t have the highway money and the 1,500 bridges and all of that so, what does a 15 year delay mean. It means 15 years worth of sunrises walking across the bridge or sunsets; 15 years or so of people being able to bike to work rather than take a car; 15 years of the family with kids saying, ‘You know honey, if you bike to the Medical University, we only need one car, and we can use the car expenses and start putting money aside for our child’s education. Fifteen years means 5,000,000 people not having this opportunity, and 15 years means that this is a City that isn’t willing to be great. This is what great cities are doing now. Throughout this country and around the world, we’re giving additional access to our highways. We’re making complete streets, we’re letting people walk and use bicycles to get around, in addition to their automobile.
Tomorrow, several of us are going to be at West Ashley talking at Jason’s Deli, and what I hope that tomorrow morning that I can go and talk about a great thing that is going to happen west of the Ashley. I tell you what, housing values go up with this, and people will move to these neighborhoods west of the Ashley because of this bridge access and the opportunity to have it. That positively impacts business and quality of life. With that and there are whole lot more things here that I forgot to mention to you, and I apologize for that. I most sincerely hope that we take this next step and give our citizens this, that belongs to them and they don’t have to pay anything for it.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Wagner.
Councilmember Wagner said, “We’re going to relive a bit of the T & T meeting. A gentleman said that I said something when he was up making his comments. He obviously wasn’t paying attention. When I came into this Council two weeks ago, I was ready to vote for this no questions asked. We then deferred and got to looking at it a little bit closer. We’ve had meetings with Hernan and staff. We’ve seen this now about four times, this version. I told the lovely lady sitting right there this morning that I was having problems because I didn’t see how this was going to make the commute for bicyclists West Ashley, in the short-term any better. The seconds that we’re saving, the speed limits we’re saving as it came out in T & T was from Wesley Drive into the City. Every map that we’ve seen, the lovely Legare Bridge, this is on the City side where we’re going to relieve the pressure on the City side, Peninsula side of the bridge. Since we’re only going back to Wesley Drive and we’re doing these traffic counts and we’re doing all of this, I’m saying to myself, I drive that thing, if I take a bicycle and I’m on Highway 61, on the Moreland side of Highway 61, I have go to travel across Highway 61. I have to travel across Highway 17, and I have to go either down Parrish or Wesley and, ultimately, across Folly Road. That’s not three lanes on a bicycle, you guys, that’s six, seven, eight lanes, and the bike lane does not go over those roads. You’re sitting at stop lights. You’re going with traffic or against traffic. I simply want to see all the choke points that are going to occur on West Ashley. I want to see how those people can get across those three major arteries that are coming into the new three lanes. How are we going to do that without hurting somebody, and I haven’t seen the answer. Now, that’s the first thing. The second thing, I heard in this meeting tonight, there’s nobody speaking against the bridge. This was not a public hearing that was announced that we were going to be discussing this. I have read at least 100 emails I was going to bring with me, but, of course, we were a little short on time. I do not want to see anybody injured trying to get there from here. On paper, this thing looks good. It’s coming right City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 60
through Carolina Bay. I can get on there. If I had enough energy and was about 20 years younger, I think, I could probably make it all the way here in probably a couple of hours on a bicycle, but that’s just me. But the question asked, since it wasn’t a public hearing as such, the folks that were sending me all those emails aren’t here. Those are the folks that are my constituents or mostly West Ashley constituents. Anybody still here from West Ashley? They come from the Brynes Down it’s going to be...”
Someone said, “No, I’m in Moreland.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “You’re in Moreland, so okay.”
A lady said, “I’m exactly where you’re talking about.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “Maybe you can answer my question.”
Someone said, “Mr. Pena has a plan.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “Maybe you’ve seen something I haven’t, but that doesn’t really matter because I’m not comfortable yet with it. I’m just not. I’m afraid we’re going to hurt people because it hasn’t been so fully vetted. That’s pure and simple. Councilmember Colleen Condon said, ‘maybe after we get halfway down through here, maybe we can come back to Council and see the final ultimate plan, and bring it back through Council. I’m good with that, but the problem I do really have is, I have a whole bunch of emails and I know they weren’t from Mark Knapp but, they said the same thing he did. They questioned our mental stability because the folks that are commuting from West Ashley everyday have a serious issue with traffic, serious. So, if we can see the other side of the bridge, the fact that, let’s go on down to Wesley to Parish, maybe all the way to Avondale, and see what’s going to happen to those folks that are sitting in traffic every morning, then I’d feel better. I know I would, I just don’t feel like their voices are being heard. They’ve been writing me tons of emails, I would be happy to forward you all of them if you want them.”
Mr. Pena said, “Forward them to me.”
Councilmember Wagner said, “I’d be happy to.”
Mayor Riley said, “Let me do this. Thank you.”
Councilmember Wagner continued, “Basically, I think we should have a little bit more time to vet this thing out and hear those voices. I really do.”
A man spoke out of turn from the audience.
Mayor Riley said, “Sir, let me say this. The Citizen Participation Period is concluded. Yes, sir.”
Councilmember Wagner continued, “A quick response here, everybody’s tired, everybody’s hungry.”
Mayor Riley said, “And I’m thirsty, too.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 61
Councilmember Wagner said, “Some of us have been here seven hours at this moment in time, but we spent many hours sitting here tonight listening to 100 percent of everybody else. I don’t really appreciate being interrupted when I get my five minutes to try and explain what I said three and a half hours ago, but that’s okay, I guess. I’m voting ‘no’ tonight because, as Mr. Moody said earlier, I don’t think it’s fully baked yet. Thank you, sir.”
Mayor Riley said, “Yes, sir. Thank you.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Wilson.
Councilmember Wilson said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don’t want to repeat everything that I said in Traffic and Transportation. I don’t think you all want me to repeat everything either. Just a couple of points that I did not make there that I want to make right now. First of all, regardless of the bike lane, and if the bike lane is a dismal failure, and if we have complete traffic gridlock, we have some excellent improvements that have been made that will not be taken back, especially around that Bee Street Corridor, which are very much needed. This also reiterates the need to get moving as quickly as we can on the James Island Connector at the foot of Calhoun Street because this is all going to impact that intersection, as well. Thirdly, I would like to see, with both the West Ashley side and the Peninsula side, strict law enforcement. If we have the police really watching this, because the one thing that I will say is we have a lot of good cyclists and cyclists who really do obey the law, but we have a lot of riff raff out there, and I would not hesitate to ticket them for everybody’s safety. Lastly, I think we do have to remember that regardless of the outcome of the James Island Connector, one comment was from a lady who said that she simply does not have the strength, or the power to climb the Connector on a bike, and I think that’s something that bears our consideration. We may, in the end, wind up with two paths over the Ashley River Bridge. Again, pedestrian access is limited strictly to the Ashley River Bridge. After much consideration, much, much consideration, I will be in voting in favor of this tonight.”
Mayor Riley said “Thank you, ma’am.”
Mayor Riley announced the order of speaker as Councilmember Riegel followed by Councilmember Williams.
Councilmember Riegel said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that it has been a long night, so I’ll make this quick. I did want to compliment your comment. You talked about your leadership and vision, and it’s a reflection of the community, but I also want to suggest, we have to have some awfully smart people working for us, Hernan Pena and Christopher Morgan, wherever he went. I mean I just have been amazed the last couple of weeks, looking at what they presented to us. So, along with your vision, we have some awfully smart people. We’re awfully lucky to have that. As we’ve talked, the great City of Charleston has been the number one destination point for a number of years for a lot of reasons. Every time I travel, and I get comments about being from Charleston, South Carolina, it reminds me that part of being a world-class City is really ensuring the quality of life, the opportunity to do things for free, and the health and well-being of our citizens, and Councilman Gregorie alluded to that tonight. We were talking about shore power. The completion of bike paths, it’s remarkable that you can start at the top of my district, District 10, almost at the Dorchester County line, come down the Larry D. Shirley bike path, down the widened Bees Ferry and Wildcat Boulevard, on and on, and end up all across the Ravenel Bridge at the Yorktown in Mount Pleasant. I think that is just a remarkable, remarkable thing to accomplish. Much like some of my colleagues, who are concerned about traffic congestion, the mergers, and things like that, I think I’ve finally got it that City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 62
really the congestion is not the West Ashley Bridge or the three or four lanes, it’s Bee Street, it’s Lockwood, it’s after you’ve come down, and once the County and us get that mitigated, I’m hoping that those issues will be resolved. I did want to be crystal clear on one thing. When Councilmember Colleen Condon was here, I referred to a conversation I had with Charleston County Chairman, Teddie Pryor, today, and I want to be clear on this, that was in no way viewed as a threat or disingenuous or anything like that. It was just a point of information that the City of Charleston had asked the County to do these studies, and I checked with Hernan Pena, as well, and they spent, as Colleen said, over $630,000 on this study on behalf of the City of Charleston. Now, we have a tremendous, tremendous relationship with Charleston County Council. I mean, we work so well together. It’s almost like we’re one Council. As a matter of fact, I think Charleston County Council and Charleston City Council work better together than Charleston County Council does by themselves. Someone else said that to me, but we do have a remarkable relationship, so I wanted to clear the air that that was in no way disingenuous by Teddie. Teddie’s a team player. I would urge that Council approve this plan. I’ll make the motion if that’s necessary. I do have one caveat. It does terrify me a little bit, Mr. Mayor, as you talked about spandex earlier, to have former Councilman Larry D. Shirley and myself coming down the Larry D. Shirley Bike Path in spandex.”
Mayor Riley said, “Whoa!”
Councilmember Riegel said, “Now, if that wouldn’t terrify our visitors, nothing will, but I do urge, and I do make the motion that we move forward on this. Thank you, sir.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you very much.”
The Clerk said, “There’s already a motion on the floor.”
Councilmember Riegel said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Williams.
Councilmember Williams said, “Well, for me, this boils down to one time I had an argument with my doctor, and I was talking about something I heard on TV. He said, ‘look, what you heard on TV, that’s a medical writer; I’m your doctor,’ and I’m going to take that approach tonight. When I left Hernan’s office two weeks ago, I told him ‘you really got me where I walked in here about 40 percent, and I’m about 90 something percent; let me talk to my other colleagues.’ I also asked him to show me a summary, and he sent me a summary, and for the life of me, I commend the people who are on Council and persons in this community from 1976 all the way to the present, who had the foresight to see that something like this, at some point, would be good for a world-class City. I’m not going to argue all those points. I got a call and I lost a dear friend of mine, Superintendent of United Methodist Church, Angie Simmons, today. It was a very difficult day for me. I got a call from a lady I didn’t know, and she told me who she was, and she had lost her husband on the James Island Connector. I made my decision after that because in 1964, Martin Luther King had one of the best sermons, and his sermon was ‘Why We Cannot Wait.’ I’m not going to wait tonight. I’m going to vote ‘yes,’ because we cannot wait based on the evidence, or however you want to believe it. Let’s move forward and see what we can do now and put everything else together, but tonight, I’m no longer going to wait. The person and persons who have been here under your leadership, if you saw the foresight to have this documentation, everywhere I looked, it said this is what you do. I’ve been across the country and even around the world. This is what a world-class City does, and I’m ready to vote yes.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 63
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you, sir. Is there any further discussion?”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Alexander.
Councilmember Alexander said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One thing that I wanted to make very clear is that there are several Councilmembers from West Ashley that have spent the last week, in particular, having a lot of conversations with a lot of people, traffic engineers, bridge architects, trying to get a handle on this plan, and I can tell you folks, I can stand in front of the public and say ‘I read it before I voted on it.’ This came from County Councilmember Colleen Condon. It says ‘to my dear friend Aubry.’ I spent my weekend not riding a bicycle. I had COG maps spread out over dining room tables looking at traffic counts, trying to figure out why is it so different here, and then, all of a sudden, I’ve lost 4,000 cars down here. So, I called them, and I said, ‘well, what’s going on with this?’ ‘Well, you know they may have been taking different days; there may have been something going on.’ It’s just an average for you. We really can’t pinpoint what’s going on. So, I spent my time doing that over the weekend going through this entire book. There are charts and tables, and quite honestly, being a neophyte, I really didn’t understand them, but I went to those folks that could explain it to me, what it all meant. You know, and Mr. Pena, you and I can take point per point here, and we’ve had a conversation about snapshots. What we have here, and let’s just take travel time, just for instance, if we all remember back when we were talking about I-526, everybody kept running around, there’s only 11 seconds. It’s only 11 seconds, but did the City of Charleston accept that? Well, let’s look at this closely. How does this affect regionally? We’re looking at this bridge, and are we discounting that this is part of a regional traffic plan? We’re looking at four seconds from Highway 61, but I need to answer an e-mail from somebody in Maclaura Hall, not Councilmember Shirley, that says ‘tell me what happens up here.’ Do we have those projections? If you take a log, and you put it in the stream, water starts backing up, I think, and how far does it back-up. These are the kinds of questions that this Councilmember has been asking about this project.
Mr. Pena made the comment that I think it’s 2030, 2035, we may experience some congestion on the bridge. Well, I was confused about that because I really want to understand, and I went to folks, and I said ‘well, explain to me how does this work.’ ‘Well, Councilmember, this is what happens.’ You have four lanes operating as they are today. In 2035, it’s not a little bit of congestion, it’s failure. That’s what it says on the chart. This is what happens when you add that bike/pedestrian lane. That failure period squeezes down. That’s why you’re hearing this date of 2019 and 2020. SCDOT, as we do, has written a reverter into the agreement. If I remember correctly, we wrote three reverters into the Trolley Barn. Why do you write those in there? To protect the public, to be able to look and react to the conditions that occur and make sure that the public has an opportunity to undo something that they’ve done. That’s why that’s in there. You know, I’ve heard that all of the projections that this is based on are no longer valid because we were in a period of growth. Well, pardon me while I pull this out, here’s the City’s on growth stuff right here. Let’s look at permits – up, single family homes – up, permit valuations – up, inspections – up, certificates of occupancy, people are occupying property, all up. I think what SCDOT has done is what the City is very famous for, looking at those 25, 50 year benchmarks. They perform as we have performed in the past. Now, I heard somebody from Charleston Moves say that the James Island Expressway is only being looked at for bicyclists. Well, that’s what the study directed to do. Look at it for bicyclists. Not only is it looking at it for bicyclists, it’s for experienced bicyclists. This thing is going to have so many disclosures and disclaimers and skull and cross bones on the beginning and end of it, that say ‘ride at your own risk,’ but did they ever look at the Fielding Connector and that connection. Let City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 64
me ask the question. Can it be done? In fact, I think Mayor Riley said, ‘sure, it can be done.’ It can be done, and he has the number correct. It’s about $20 million for seven tenths of a mile, but the real question here is, do we want to do the right thing for everybody, put something together that we know will be there and meet our standards, our benchmarks? This Councilmember has a lot of questions. It’s very difficult to follow. Mayor Riley makes some wonderful speeches, and I don’t have that flowery ability that he does. This Councilmember’s concerned. This Councilmember knows that in that document, there’s essentially an out clause for SCDOT as early as six years. It could be exercised, and there’s no way to gloss over that. Now, it could be 15 years, Mr. Mayor. We don’t know, but what they’re saying is, what we’re seeing, potentially what we’ve given to all of these people right here, what we’ve given to them, they may have to give up. The hue and cry is going to be tremendous. We’re already experiencing the hue and cry. I think somebody challenged Councilmember Wagner on his e- mails. These are the e-mails that this Councilmember’s getting. Somebody said, ‘why are you voting against this,’ and I will, because I think there is a better way. ‘Why are you doing this?’ I have been consistent since 2010 when this first came up, or brought to this Councilmember’s attention and earlier than that. Councilmember Condon and I, we have this little coffee hour every Thursday morning, and these are the things that we debate. We debate I-526. We debate crossing over the bridge. We debate the senior center, in fact, just to make sure these numbers are accurate, and we’re showing all of this growth. So, the senior center meeting was this morning in Grand Oaks, and literally, I almost couldn’t figure how to get out because when you used to come into Grand Oaks Boulevard, there was all this vacant space. Well, the sticks are flying up out there. It’s literally growing. Not only do we have to explain to our friends in the biking community, but we also have to explain to our constituents that will be sitting in traffic why have we done this. All this Councilmember is saying is he believes there’s a better way. What we’ve done is put all of our eggs in one basket. We haven’t seriously looked at the Connector, and we’re not seriously looking at it now for pedestrian activity. It’s just like a contractor will tell you. You tell me what you need, and I can make I happen. I think everybody has experienced that, and if we go to those that do this kind of work, this is what we need, we need a grade that people can get up on, and we can get a crossing that reflects what everyone is talking about, the Ravenel Bridge. You want to talk about a spectacular view; you’re going to get it from up there. So, with all due respect, and we always get along. Sometimes we disagree. I’ve got some questions. I have read the whole thing. I’ve gone to the experts for interpretation where I just had a weakness in knowledge, and bottom line, I think we can do better. I really think we can do better. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Waring.
Councilmember Waring said, “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilmember Alexander is correct. It’s amazing. Councilmember Bill Moody, I was looking at you while everybody was talking. The expression on your face was somewhat like maybe yours was, Mayor Riley, when you suggested putting a lane on the Ravenel Bridge, and everybody pooh-poohed that. It was a great voice, a lone voice at the time, that has put one of the greatest assets this side of the Mississippi, excellent leadership, but when we talk about all of this, what Councilmember Moody’s talking about, instead of coming to Albemarle Road and making that right to go to the Ashley River Bridge, he’s talking about making a left. In this particular case, let me say this, I believe all 12 Councilmembers support connectivity and alternative means of transportation. It is not being against bikers, being against pedestrian walkways, and you’re right, some of the greatest cities, and Rodney is too, in the country, Chicago being one certainly, most of their bridges have biking and foot pathways across them. That’s one of my favorite cities, before City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 65
winter time that is. If Councilmember Moody had a rendering like this showing the beautiful lane cantilevered across the seven tenths of a mile that it would take from let’s say the sidewalk next to the Marina, coming across the James Island Connector to the Herbert Fielding Connector, that would be very impressive, as well. We enter into the realm when you have a plan b and lack of time, and lack of presentation, of being discounted. Over 75,000 people in the City of Charleston live west of the Peninsula. What we want is better. That’s what we want. They deserve something better. They don’t deserve to have something that six years from now, the Highway Department can take away. They shouldn’t have a solution that has a reversionary clause in it, three times over. The people West Ashley have waited decades for a way across that bridge without being in jeopardy, and all the conversations tonight, with the exception of Councilmember Wagner, no one spoke about the safety of the people in the cars, no one.
Let’s narrow it down to the real area of concern. The real area of concern is quite frankly, basically, two hours out of 24 hours. We’re talking 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., Monday through Friday. We just talked about merging into three lanes like why are we going to reduce down from Highway 61 and come into two lanes on St. Andrews Boulevard, two lanes off of Highway 17, and two lanes off of Folly. You’re talking about six lanes of traffic that now merge into four during that crucial time period that’s going to now be merging into three. You’re putting, I agree, four seconds, six seconds, you save time because you’re going to have more traffic in front of you. So, to then make those lane changes, although albeit three instead of four, you’ve got more cars trying to make those lane changes. Mr. Pena, could you pull up the drawing, please that shows the lanes between where Highway 61 and Folly Road on the west side of the bridge, please, the approaching lanes. Can you pull that up because I noticed that wasn’t in your presentation. See, that’s the part, obviously we can’t see that, and that one’s not blown up, but that’s the treacherous part of the drive, when you merge in from Highway 61. You merge in from Highway 17, and you merge in from Folly Road. That’s where the lane changes are. Let me tell you, I was born and raised in West Ashley. This bridge, I believe, was built in 1952. I was born in 1955. I wish I had a dollar every time I went across that bridge. I’ve been in that traffic, carrying my kids to Buist Academy and Bishop England. I’ve been in there cutting across from the left lane and going all the way to the right and virtually everybody changes lanes before they get to where the bridge opens.
So, all the mayhem takes place between where Highway 61 merges in and before the bridge opens. That wasn’t even explained tonight. The level of accidents, let me tell you, this road, this bridge used to have three lanes, and at that time, the Department, about 20 years ago, maybe a little more. The Highway Department expanded it to four lanes to make it safer. When wrecks would occur on this bridge, very rarely a wreck would occur just in one lane. So, when you have an accident that spreads across two lanes, the effect was, and everybody West Ashley knows what this means, the bridge is stuck because you’ve got gridlock on Highway 17 and Highway 61. So, 20 years later, two censuses later, 20 years worth of growth later, we’re going to go back, to what the Highway Department said, ‘you know what, we’re going to change this from three lanes; we’re going to change this to four lanes.’ You know, and believe me, I have the highest respect for my Jewish friends and community members, but we close lanes temporarily all the time. I think we closed Hampton Park, even though we closed one lane already, we still close that every Saturday for a certain period of time. Second Sunday is one of the greatest assets we have, your leadership, staff, is Second Sunday. Who doesn’t enjoy walking down King Street without the threat of cars on Second Sunday? It’s a wonderful idea. Can this be open or closed temporarily on the weekends for all to enjoy? Certainly it can. Can this be a temporary use? We take that vision that we all marvel at the Ravenel Bridge and give that gift, if you will, to the residents and the people on the Peninsula and the 50,000 people that can walk to it, so they can walk on the James Island Connector or ride that bike to the Herbert City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 66
Fielding Connector. Can we take some of that park that’s being proposed where the Turky Towing used to be and create some parking for people to drive and walk across the bridge and go to the new hotel or the variety store and get something to eat, or walk down to the Marriott and get something to eat? If we had that picture up there, I’m sure the majority of people in here would be saying, ‘we want that,’ but the $20 million, all of a sudden, says ‘we can’t do that?’ We appropriated over $10 million for two parks last year that we already own, Colonial Lake and Gadsdenborough Park, and we’re going to let $20 million keep us from getting that 50 year test that you have so eloquently, by example by the way, exhibited to us and, quite frankly, many in the world. That James Island Connector, the cantilevering, to the Herb Fielding Connector, now that does pass the 50 year test. That does allow your grandkids and my grandkids and maybe even a great grand to enjoy that. So, the portions that Mr. Pena showed on the east side of the bridge, great. As a matter of fact, that should be done whether this walking path is done anyway. The additional lane coming down to Bee Street, excellent, and I told Mr. Pena that, but I didn’t see anything that increases the safety that would help reduce accidents on the west side of that bridge. We’re putting more cars in closer proximity to one another, and accidents aren’t going to increase. It’s just not going to happen? Of course that’s going to happen. We have accidents with four lanes. So, certainly we will have more accidents with three lanes. The crucial time period that most people that have called me, e-mailed me, is during that rush hour, and I don’t see the answer, and if drivers aren’t safe, that does not make pedestrians somewhat unsafe? So, this I think this is a temporary fix for 75,000 people, and if you say what are we working on for the permanent fix, we discount the James Island Connector saying ‘well that’s for professional cyclists.’ You, along with, I think, ten members of Council went on up to County Council and asked for the bike lane on I-526. I think it’s seven miles going from West Ashley to Johns Island, curling around back to James Island. Now, we’re not going to keep that connectivity to the James Island Connector? It would be a tremendous failure not to do that. As a matter of fact, that should be expected. So, the $20 million, that’s what’s keeping us from doing this? I think that’s the challenge that we should go out and achieve and quite frankly, if we got that, whenever that bridge is replaced, I do think we go for both, but right now, we don’t even have the vision of creating that.”
Mayor Riley recognized Councilmember Moody.
Councilmember Moody said, “I want to pick-up, I guess my final statement, I want to make two points, I want to pick-up on something both that Councilmembers Alexander and Waring said. I would challenge Hernan when he put his numbers up there, his traffic count, and you see these numbers, and unfortunately for me, I’m a friend of Aubry, and I have to read all this stuff he sends me. One of the things is this was the study that Hernan was talking about, the 2011 study, and he talks about the traffic counts. I’m just going to read a little bit. Roadway traffic counts were collected at the following locations to support the development of the vision system simulation model. Number one, was South Carolina Highway 61 ramp and US 17 northbound. Number two, US 17 northbound south merging with Folly Road. Number three, Folly Road north of Albemarle. Four is US 17 Northbound north of Bee Street and Lockwood Drive. Five is Bee Street, Lockwood Drive and offramp, and six is Bee Street, Lockwood Drive northward ramp. Now, here’s the key part. The first three locations listed above were counted 72 hours, consecutive hours, from May 10th through the 12th of 2011. The last three locations listed above were counted for a 24 period on June 14, 2011. Guess what was happening on June 14, 2011. There wasn’t any school in session. I mean, you read stuff like that, and the whole thing, the numbers just start going around in my mind trying to figure out, well is this 59 right? Why are these numbers so static or whatever, and you see something like that, and I just recoil. I don’t think anybody’s trying to deceive us.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 67
Mayor Riley said, “Why don’t you let Hernan respond to that.”
Councilmember Moody said, “I’m just using that as an example. I’m just saying with Councilmember Aubry Alexander giving us this stuff and having questions, you read that, it’s been put in front of us, and you see that kind of stuff, and you just say ‘whoa, what am I missing.’ I think the worst thing, the main reason I recoiled to this whole thing was you think back, we fought diligently to that two cent sales tax, so that we could improve our roads and greenways and everything. I’ve been a resident of West Ashley since 1968, and I look, and I see Mount Pleasant, they’ve got this beautiful road, both roads. They used half cent sales tax. They’ve got all of that connector stuff on the Isle of Palms, two cent sales tax, and when I first got elected, Mayor Riley and I spent a lot of time together trying to get I-526 because they built I-526 around there. West Ashley got nothing, and we had to fight like hell. Now, what are we getting? We’re getting to close a bridge and get a lane a couple hundred yards, and we can’t even think about doing something on the James Island Connector or doing something to improve to make West Ashley look a little bit like the 21st century. We’re going backwards, and that’s the thing that causes me to recoil and say there’s got to be a better way here. We’re getting screwed.”
Councilmember Waring said, “We can do better. We simply can do better.”
Councilmember Moody said, “That’s my comment, and I don’t really have anything else to say, but I’m going to vote against it because I just think we’ve got a better plan, and if we do it like this, we’re accepting second best, and we’re not moving forward like we should be West of the Ashley. I’m looking at these people that come up from downtown and tell us, ‘we want this bike lane,’ or they mix the port thing with the bike lane, ‘yeah we want all that.’ I mean it just makes my head roll back because they don’t use that every morning. I do, you do, the people like us that live west of the Ashley and go to work in the morning, it’s going to be an issue for us, I think. I just think we can do better, so thank you, Mr. Mayor.”
Mayor Riley said, “Sure. Hernan, why don’t you respond to that?”
Mr. Pena said, “Mr. Moody, you’re absolutely right, and that was done, we reviewed it on this date. We went back, and we checked on the numbers. Does this make a difference, and we looked at the numbers and compared them to these with and without school traffic during regular times, and there was hardly any difference. So, I just want to tell you we looked into that, but it caught your attention, and I respect that. You’re absolutely right. You see that, June 14th, and you say ‘that’s when school is out.’”
Councilmember Moody said, “When you have those little moments like that, it kind of destroys your confidence in the whole report, or at least what they’re telling you. That’s just Bill Moody. I’m sorry, and I’m not accusing anybody of trying to mislead anybody. I’m just saying that’s the way it’s done. I mean we did the same thing on Albemarle Road. We did a traffic study over there for Porter-Gaud, and they looked at the traffic on Albemarle Road in the summer when Porter-Gaud was out of school, and it just destroys the whole study. It invalidates it in some ways. Anyway, I’m sorry.”
Mayor Riley said, “Well, it’s time to vote probably.”
There was laughter in the Chamber.
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 68
Mayor Riley continued, “Let me tell you what. This isn’t second best. This is excellent. It’s wonderful. It connects with the greenway, and it can be done now. The money is there. It can be done now. It’s in furtherance of the plan, and I don’t accept the fact that the Fielding Connector is better than this, or that it’s feasible, either one, aesthetically or otherwise, but in addition to that, this is funded, and we can do it now. You know, my experience that citizens have given me is that you need to be committed to getting stuff done. You can talk about ‘well, we get $20 million for this or that,’ but you’ve got to get it done. This is something we can get done, and it will be wonderful for the citizens. The back-up and all of that, I was coming on Savannah Highway today from the doctor’s office, I told some of you, and the traffic clogged at Wesley. That’s because the I-526 completion isn’t there. That’s all the James Island, Johns Island traffic coming through, but past Wesley, it’s moving just fine. With doubling the capacity on Bee Street, the conversion of this bridge to give one lane to bikes and pedestrians will not impact traffic. If you call four seconds a traffic impact, it doesn’t do that, and we give something great for our citizens and something we can do now.”
Councilmember Waring said, “Mayor Riley. Mr. Pena, can you please show the east side of the bridge. Just take down the two presentations. I think it’s right behind the other two. You see how descriptive that is, and obviously we all understand that. Now, put that one back that shows where all the lanes, where all the transition takes place. You see, that’s a good example of what Councilmember Moody’s talking about. That does not explain it.”
Mayor Riley said, “Well, let’s let Hernan explain that.”
Councilmember Waring said, “You can’t even see it.”
Mr. Pena said, “Councilmember Waring, this is the area of the merge. This would be the area where the paths would be built, and you have the lanes of traffic already merged. Highway 61 merges from two lanes into one lane, and it comes into the bridge at once. Highway 17 has two lanes, and it merges from two to one, and it comes into this area with one lane. Folly Road is the one that has two lanes. Again to take the lane, this is the exit of the Holiday Inn. This is where you would start taking the lane of traffic from Folly Road, merge it into the three lanes. Now, you are concerned about that, and I have to tell you that remember, the South Carolina Department of Transportation has to approve the design before this is constructed. The South Carolina Department of Transportation is willing to sign on the MOA as long as they have a say on the design. They are not going to allow Charleston County to build something that they don’t feel is safe or does not meet their standards in terms of merging. You have requirements for merging, 600 feet, 300 feet. All of those issues will have to be reviewed, inspected and approved by the South Carolina Department of Transportation. They have to sign the permit to allow Charleston County to build this. So, I’m confident on the Department of Transportation’s ability, that their engineers will review this very carefully before they sign and approve the construction of this. They’re going to do something that I feel is going to be a safe project. Otherwise, I don’t think they’ll put their name to that.”
Mayor Riley said, “Is there any extra discussion?”
Councilmember Lewis said, “Call for the question, Mr. Mayor.”
Mayor Riley said, “The motion is made. Those in favor of the motion to adopt the Traffic and Transportation Committee’s report to approve the Memorandum of Agreement--”
Councilmember Lewis said, “Madam Clerk, please read the motion.” City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 69
The Clerk said, “The motion was made to approve by Councilmember Seekings and seconded by Councilmember Mitchell.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “Thank you.”
Mayor Riley said, “Those in favor of the motion, signify by raising your right hand.” The Clerk said, “I’ll call the names. The Mayor, Councilmember Williams, Councilmember Mitchell, Councilmember Lewis, Councilmember Gregorie, Councilmember Seekings, Councilmember Riegel, and Councilmember Wilson.”
Mayor Riley said, “Those opposed, like sign.”
The Clerk said, “Councilmember White, Councilmember Waring, Councilmember Alexander, Councilmember Moody, and Councilmember Wagner.”
On a motion of Councilmember Seekings, seconded by Councilmember Mitchell, City Council voted to approve Item (b) of the Committee on Traffic and Transportation Report.
(T. Allen Legare Bridge Project Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Charleston and the South Carolina Department of Transportation
The vote was not unanimous. Councilmembers White, Wagner, Waring, Alexander, and Moody voted nay.
Mayor Riley said, “Now, we still have lots of work to do here. We have the Public Works and Utilities report.”
On a motion of Councilmember Seekings, seconded by Councilmember Mitchell, City Council voted unanimously to approve the Committee on Public Works and Utilities Report.
--- INSERT PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES REPORT –
(Acceptance and Dedication of Rights-of-Way and Easements i.) Harbor Woods – acceptance of Harbortowne Road (50-foot right-of-way) and Harbor Woods Circle (50-foot right-of-way). a. Title to Real Estate b. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easement c. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easement d. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easement e. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easement f. Plat ii.) Acceptance of a portion of Federal Street (40-foot right-of-way). a. Title to Real Estate b. Affidavit c. Plat
Mayor Riley continued, “Committee on Ways and Means.”
On a motion of Councilmember Lewis, seconded by Councilmember Mitchell, City Council voted unanimously to approve the Committee on Ways and Means Report. City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 70
-- INSERT WAYS AND MEANS REPORT –
(Bids and Purchases (Office of Cultural Affairs: Approval to submit a grant application for Charleston County 2015 Accommodations Funding to Charleston County Accommodations Tax Committee in the amount of $10,000 for the 2014 MOJA Arts Festival. No City match is required. (Office of Cultural Affairs: Approval to submit a grant application for Charleston County 2015 Accommodations Funding to Charleston County Accommodations Tax Committee in the amount of $10,000 for the 2015 Piccolo Spoleto Festival. No City match is required. (Office of Cultural Affairs: Approval to submit a grant application for Charleston County 2015 Accommodations Funding to Charleston County Accommodations Tax Committee in the amount of $10,000 for the 2014 Holiday Magic in Historic Charleston. No City match is required. (Office of Cultural Affairs: Approval to apply for a renewal grant from the SC Arts Commission for general operating support for fiscal year 2015. Funds are distributed based on available funding from the state. Due to time constraints, this grant was submitted on February 18, 2014. (Mayor’s Office for Children Youth and Families: Acceptance of a grant award in the amount of $15,000 from America’s Promise Alliance. A $10,000 in-kind match is required. (Parks-Capital Projects: Approval to award a construction contract with Atkinson Pools and Spas, in the amount of $126,000 for the resurfacing of the MLK Pool. Approval of this action will institute a $138,000 project budget, of which the $126,000 construction contract will be funded. The funding source for this project is General Funds-Structural Repairs ($138,000). Because of the urgency of getting this work done while the heater was being replaced, this is an after-the- fact approval. The plaster resurfacing of the MLK Pool has been elevated to emergency repair status due to the structure leaks that yield an average of 100,000 gallons of water usage and loss per month. Furthermore, the pool resurfacing is being done in concert with the pool heater replacement to minimize additional impact on pool access. (Public Service: Approval to award a contract with B&C Utilities, Inc. in the amount of $316,663 for the repair of storm drains on Wagener Avenue. Please see the attached bid documents and Bid Tabulation. (Request authorization of the Mayor to execute the lease between the City of Charleston (Tenant) and Shoreline Partners, LLC (Landlord) for the lease of 499- A Jessen Lane for the continued use by the City of Charleston. (499-A Jessen Lane located in Wando, South Carolina) (Approval to certify that 701 East Bay Street (Cigar Factory) is an “Abandoned Textile Mill Site” for purposes of the S.C. Textile Communities Revitalization Act (701 East Bay Street) [Ordinance] (Consider the following annexations: -- 205 Collingwood Avenue (TMS# 418-13-00-070) 0.13 acre, West Ashley (District 9) (WITHDRAWN BY APPLICANT) -- 2291 Woodland Shores Road (TMS# 343-14-00-049) 2.23 acres, James Island (District 11)
First reading was given to the following bills: City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 71
An ordinance to certify the property located at 701 East Bay Street in Charleston, South Carolina (the Cigar Factory) as having been an “Abandoned Textile Mill Site” for purposes of the South Carolina Textiles Communities Revitalization Act.
An ordinance to provide for the annexation of property known as 2291 Woodland Shores Rd (2.23 acres) (TMS# 343-14-00-049), James Island, Charleston County, to the City of Charleston shown within the area annexed upon a map attached hereto and make it part of District 11.
The Clerk said, “Just for the record.”
Mayor Riley said, “If everyone could hold down the chit-chat while you exit. Madam Clerk.”
The Clerk continued, “Just for the record, the annexation on Collingwood was withdrawn, so it won’t be a part of that report.”
Mayor Riley said, “Next, we have bills up for second reading.”
The Clerk said, “K-1 through K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8, and K-9.”
Mayor Riley said, “Does anybody want K-1 through K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8, and K-9?”
On a motion of Councilmember White, seven bills (Items K-1 through K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8, and K-9) received second reading. They passed second reading on motion of Councilmember Mitchell and third reading on motion of Councilmember Mitchell. On further motion of Councilmember Riegel, the rules were suspended and the bills were immediately ratified as:
2014-23 AN ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR THE ANNEXATION OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS FIVE PROPERTIES ON CLEMENTS FERRY RD, CAINHOY RD, AND RIVERS REACH DR (738.14 ACRES) (TMS# 262-00-00-019; 263-00-02-047, 268-00-00-003, 268-00-00-004 AND 269- 00-00-018), CAINHOY, BERKELEY COUNTY, TO THE CITY OF CHARLESTON SHOWN WITHIN THE AREA ANNEXED UPON A MAP ATTACHED HERETO AND MAKE IT PART OF DISTRICT 1.
2014-24 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CHARLESTON TO ADOPT THE CAINHOY LAND & TIMBER PUD MASTER PLAN AND ZONING TEXT; TO CHANGE THE ZONE MAP, WHICH IS A PART THEREOF, BY ADDING THERETO PROPERTIES ON CLEMENTS FERRY ROAD (CAINHOY PLANTATION) (APPROXIMATELY 742.6 ACRES) (TMS# 262-00-00-019, 263-00-02- 047, 268-00-00-003, 268-00-00-004 & 269-00-00-018) AND TO ZONE SAID PROPERTIES CAINHOY LAND & TIMBER PUD MASTER PLAN AND ZONING TEXT; AND TO REZONE PROPERTY ON CLEMENTS FERRY ROAD (CAINHOY PLANTATION) (APPROXIMATELY 4910.9 ACRES) (TMS# 262-00-00-008) FROM CAINHOY (CY) ZONING CLASSIFICATION TO CAINHOY LAND & TIMBER PUD MASTER PLAN AND ZONING TEXT. (AS AMENDED)
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 72
2014-25 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CHARLESTON TO ADOPT THE CAINHOY-ST PUD MASTER PLAN AND ZONING TEXT AND BY CHANGING THE ZONE MAP, WHICH IS A PART THEREOF, TO REZONE PROPERTIES ON CLEMENTS FERRY ROAD (CAINHOY PLANTATION) (APPROXIMATELY 1860.2 ACRES) (TMS# 262-00-00-007, 269-00-00-028, 272-00-00-002) FROM CAINHOY (CY) ZONING CLASSIFICATION TO CAINHOY-ST PUD MASTER PLAN AND ZONING TEXT. (AS AMENDED)
2014-26 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF CHARLESTON CENTURY V 2010 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE, ADOPTED BY CHARLESTON CITY COUNCIL ON FEBRUARY 22, 2011, RELATED TO LAND USE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE CAINHOY PENINSULA.
2014-27 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE ON BEHALF OF THE CITY A SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT FOR CAINHOY PLANTATION- TRUST # 2 WITH CAINHOY LAND & TIMBER, LLC, A DELAWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, AS OWNER AND SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO PETER O. LAWSON-JOHNSTON AND THE MORGAN GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY OF NEW YORK, AS TRUSTEES OF THE TRUST CREATED BY ARTICLE NINTH OF THE WILL OF HARRY F. GUGGENHEIM, DECEASED (“TRUST # 2”).
2014-28 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE CITY OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, CHAPTER 31, ARTICLE IV, SECTION 93(B)(9) TO FURTHER CLARIFY THE REASONS USED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT A PUBLIC CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY SHALL BE ISSUED TO AN APPLICANT.
2014-29 AN ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR THE ANNEXATION OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS 1655 SULGRAVE ROAD (0.28 ACRE) (TMS# 354-02-00-014), WEST ASHLEY, CHARLESTON COUNTY, TO THE CITY OF CHARLESTON AND INCLUDES ALL MARSHES, PUBLIC WATERWAYS, AND PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY, SHOWN WITHIN THE AREA ANNEXED UPON A MAP ATTACHED HERETO AND MAKE IT PART OF DISTRICT 2.
Councilmember Lewis said, “Is that including the BP amendment?”
The Clerk said, “They have been taken out. K-4 and K-7 were not voted on.”
Councilmember Lewis said, “Okay. I thought that was K-4 and K-7. Thank you. K-4 and K-7 were deferred.”
The Clerk said, “Items K-4 and K-7 were taken out. They were earlier requested by the attorney for deferral.”
Mayor Riley said, “Bills up for first reading.”
City Council minutes February 25, 2013 page 73
Mayor Riley said, “Thank you.”
Councilmember Mitchell said, “L-1. Move for L-1.”
Mayor Riley said, “It’s just one?”
The Clerk said, “Yes.”
On a motion of Councilmember Mitchell, seconded by Councilmember Lewis, City Council voted unanimously to approve giving first reading to the following ordinance:
An ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston by changing the Zone Map, which is a part thereof, so that 2291 Woodland Shores Road (Stono Shores – James Island) (2.23 acres) (TMS #343-14-00-049) (Council District 11), be zoned Single-Family Residential (SR-1) classification.
Mayor Riley asked, “Is there any other business to come before this meeting of City Council?”
There being no further business presented, City Council adjourned at 10:16 p.m.
Vanessa Turner Maybank Clerk of Council