Johns Island rezoning attempt leaves owner feeling 'ambushed'

Former Judge Victor Rawl returned from a four-day vacation in Saluda to find a voice-mail message from Charleston's interim planning director Christopher Morgan saying his land on Johns Island was up for zoning review in a few days. Rawl hadn't asked City Council to rezone his property and was upset at the effort to further limit the amount of homes that could be built there. Although City Council did give initial approval Tuesday to rezone nearly 900 acres of land at the corner of River and Plow Ground roads on the island, the decision followed much discussion and apprehension among council members after some landowners, including Rawl, shared frustrations about not being asked for their consent. But state law says the council would be justified to make such a change, as long as property owners are notified and appropriate legal steps are taken, Morgan said. A few weeks ago, the Johns Island Growth Management Committee heard a proposal from two developers working with the Rawls and two other local families to build a neighborhood on two adjoining tracts totaling 462 acres across from the Charleston Executive Airport. The proposed Wooddale subdivision includes several public open spaces and sidewalks, an amenities center with pool, small retail stores and more. But Councilwoman Anne Frances Bleecker, who also leads the island's growth committee, said she thought the proposal lacked the necessary infrastructure and said Johns Island could not handle the influx in traffic. "The island isn't Mount Pleasant," Bleecker said. "They showed pictures of I'On and other I'On-like developments. ... But I was struck by how out of character the development that they proposed was for this particular area of land in this particular rural community." The city's planning staff had suggested rezoning the land as a conservation district, because it is outside the urban growth boundary, and a spurt might overwhelm the area's rural nature, Morgan said. "It would be much lower density of development being allowed on the site," Morgan said, one unit per 1.5 acres instead of 3.5 units per acre. "So that's a good bit of difference." Current zoning would allow up to 1,600 homes on the 462 acres, while conservation zoning would allow only 213. Morgan said that potentially, 3,000 houses could be built on the entire 890-acre plot, if about two-thirds of the buildable highland was developed. At the City Council meeting Tuesday, backed by Morgan's staff's recommendations, Bleecker urged the council to approve a move to rezone the area to allow considerably fewer units per acre. Despite some members' hesitation, and an initial request from Councilman Jimmy Gallant to defer the issue, City Council voted 12-1 in her favor. "This is not what Johns Island should become," Bleecker told her colleagues. Councilman James Lewis Jr. opposed the first reading. "I just can't see where the city can come in and rezone an individual's property without them petitioning the city to do so," Lewis said. Frustrated by the council's hasty move to rezone his property, and even more aggravated at receiving notice just days before the decision, Rawl said he felt "ambushed." His family partially owns the 462 acres contracted with developer Sivica Communities, based just outside of Atlanta. They had voluntarily met with the Johns Island Growth Management Committee to review its conceptual plans, he said. "The next thing I know they're changing the zoning," Rawl said. His family also owns roughly 300 acres bordered by the two adjoining tracts that would support the proposed Wooddale neighborhood. When their land was annexed into the city in 1990, Rawl said, his family settled for a slightly lower density ratio than previously allowed under the county. "The city has never tried to change that at all until we went to the city to explain the project," he said. "In other words, we don't need a zoning change or a variance to do what the contractor was requesting to do." The planning commission will review the zoning changes at its September meeting, Morgan said, and Rawl and the other landowners will be able to voice their concerns at a series of public hearings.

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