More homes on the way?
A proposal to make public sewer service available for up to 1,250 homes in rural areas of Johns Island has infuriated conservationists and residents who believe the plan would bring more development to the island.
Supporters of the plan say it would limit growth.
The skirmish over sewer service is the latest in a series of disputes over planning, zoning and infrastructure on Johns Island.
The area where sewer service could become available includes a section that was at the center of a heated debate in 2003, when Charleston County Council enlarged the urban growth boundary line on Johns Island, only to move it back the following year.
"Sewer allows for much more intense development of land," said Nancy Vincent of the Coastal Conservation League. "Our question is, who are the big developers pulling the strings in the background?"
The League says the proposed agreement between Charleston Water System and St. Johns Water Co. amounts to an expansion of the urban growth boundary line, the point where the county and the city of Charleston agree that intense development should stop.
"I understand the League's concerns, but we're not trying to move the boundary line," said Mark Cline, senior director of design and construction for Charleston Water System (formerly the Commissioners of Public Works).
Cline and Ron Mitchum, executive director of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, said that planning and zoning rules will regulate growth. Both said the sewer agreement would limit potential growth.
"It puts a finite number (of sewer taps) there, and says this is all there's going to be," said Cline.
Currently, Charleston Water System is permitted to serve only those properties on Johns Island that are within the Charleston city limits. St. Johns Water Co. provides water service beyond the city limits but has no sewer system.
An agreement signed by both water systems calls for changing the Charleston utility's permit, which would require the Council of Government's approval.
Under the agreement, Charleston Water System could provide sewer service to any property on the "urban" side of the urban growth boundary line, and would make enough sewer service for 1,250 homes available on the rural side.
Developers on the rural side of the line would have to connect to the sewer system at their expense, and St. Johns Water Co. would get to allocate the 1,250 taps.
Cline and Mitchum said St. Johns asked for the sewer capacity, but several of the utility's board members said Wednesday that they were unaware of such a request. The agreement with Charleston Water System was signed May 25 by St. Johns General Manager Ava Robichaux and board Chairman Norman Pulliam.
Robichaux was unavailable for comment, and Pulliam said Wednesday that he would not answer any questions.
St. Johns board member Thomas Legare said he just learned of the plan this week. Legare said the board had decided that St. Johns should not enter the sewage treatment business, but said he had no knowledge of asking Charleston Water System to provide capacity in rural areas.
Legare is one of three St. Johns board members who were elected in November after taking leading roles in an effort to block the utility from installing a 30-inch waterline from James Island to the Betsy Kerrison Parkway, which opponents said would hasten development of the area.
The utility agreed to build a 24-inch line instead, ending several lawsuits.
"Everyone I have talked to is upset about the idea of providing sewer outside of the urban growth boundary," Legare said.
Mitchum said that allowing a limited amount of sewerage outside of the boundary line would accommodate developments that are already well into the county approval process.
Mitchum cited 590-unit Brickman Farms, a development proposed on several hundred acres off Fickling Hill, as an example. The project has been reviewed by the county, but approval hinges upon sewer service. The Conservation League has not opposed the development because the county's "rural" zoning allows for that many homes on such a large tract.
Mitchum said the developer, a company registered by Charles Huff of Special Properties, has submitted a plan to build a private sewage treatment system, but that public sewer service would be preferable. Small, private treatment plants are frowned upon by COG and the Conservation League because of concerns about long-term maintenance and upkeep.
The Conservation League wants the plan for Johns Island sewerage to specify developments that would be served, rather than setting a number and leaving it up to St. Johns to decide who gets service.
The plan depends upon action by the COG. A hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday at the COG offices, 1362 McMillan Ave., North Charleston. Mitchum said a second hearing will be scheduled at a later date, on Johns Island.
Charleston Water System currently has 1,200 sewer customers on Johns Island, and estimates it would eventually have 11,600 if the agreement is approved, mostly on the urban side of the growth boundary line. The 4.7 million gallons of daily sewage those customers could produce would be piped to the utility's Plum Island treatment plant.
The rest of the Johns Island would continue to have no public sewer service.
Jane Lareau of the Conservation League said she doubts the proposed limit on sewer service in the rural area would last.
"Once a sewer line gets put into the ground, all bets are off," she said.
