Opponents outnumbered at Thursday meeting
A controversial development proposed next to Angel Oak Park on Johns Island
cleared another regulatory hurdle at a meeting Thursday evening, where
supporters of the project significantly outnumbered the handful of
opponents.
The plan for the site near the intersection of Maybank Highway and Bohicket
Road started attracting opposition last year after it was approved by
Charleston City Council. The plan approved last year allowed for up to 600
multi-family housing units and 80,000 square feet of commercial space, but
the plan approved Thursday by a city architectural review panel calls for
fewer than 300 apartments and three commercial buildings on Maybank Highway.
"I think it's a nice plan, and I like it," said Commercial Corridor Design
Review Board member Patrick Pernell, who had been critical of an earlier
version of the plan that the board rejected in April.
Opponents remain concerned about the density of the project and the
development's proximity to the famed Angel Oak, a huge live oak rumored to
be the oldest living tree in the eastern United States.
"Putting a development so close to the Angel Oak will kill it," Johns Island
activist Samantha Siegel told the board.
What they're saying - Read what more arborists are saying about the
plan
May 20 letter from James R. Skiera,
Executive Director of the International Society of Arboriculture
May 18 letter from Dr. Kim D. Coder,
professor of tree biology and health care at the University of Georgia
May 11 letter from Dr. McGraw
of Tree Connections, LLC
It was Siegel who rallied opposition to the project in August, after she
first
heard about it. By then, the development plan had been through years of
planning and many public meetings, and had been approved by Charleston's
Planning Commission and City Council.
Thousands have signed Siegel's online petition, but only Siegel and three
others spoke against the plan Thursday.
Charleston's Parks Department, planning staff and city officials have said
they are comfortable that the development will not harm the tree, and the
plan has been reviewed by at least four arborists, one of whom the city had
insisted the developer hire as a condition of the project.
Charleston Parks Department Deputy Director Matt Compton told CCDRB members
that the development is "only going to be positive" for the Angel Oak and
the city park, because the plan creates an opportunity to essentially expand
the 2-acre park into a 7-acre conservation zone created by the developer.
That would allow for moving the parking area for the park, which arborists
have said is damaging the Angel Oak because vehicles are compressing the
soil above its roots.
Also speaking in favor of the development were Johns Island activist Bill
Saunders, Sea Island Comprehensive Health Care CEO Everard Rutledge, Haut
Gap Middle School Principal Paul Padron, city Department of Housing and
Community Development Director Geona Johnson, Lowcountry Housing Trust
Director Tammie Hoy, city Zoning Board of Appeals member Keith Waring, and
several other city residents.
Previous stories
Angel Oak builders dealt setback,
published 01/23/09
Village seen as threat to oak, published 03/24/09
Former Angel Oak owner weighs in on controversy,
published 04/14/09
Protect land around oak, league says,
published 04/17/09
Many of those urging the board's approval said the apartment development
will provide much-needed affordable housing on Johns Island.
The Commercial Corridor Design Review Board, which reviews the architectural
features of buildings proposed on certain city streets, unanimously granted
conceptual approval to the latest version of the plan. They asked the
developers to address some design features, including several buildings they
though were still too massive, before returning for future approvals.
The plan will return to the board for two more rounds of approval, for
preliminary and final design.
The development has been known as Angel Oak Village, but developer Robert
DeMoura, of AOV, LLC, stopped using that name due to the controversy over
the Angel Oak. It now appears on city agendas as Sea Island PUD, because the
development involves land that was owned by Sea Island Comprehensive Health
Care, a nonprofit health care organization with neighboring property.
Tim Keane, Charleston's former planning director who now runs the design
firm handling the development, called the plan "one of those rare victories
for public planning," and said it meshed with regional development goals
developed through years of community meetings on Johns Island.
A second phase of development has been contemplated on the another 22 acres
of the property controlled by the developer.
The Coastal Conservation League, which did not take a position on the plan
reviewed Thursday, has been attempting to negotiate a public purchase of the
phase two land for conservation.
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