Johns Islanders vowed Tuesday to fight a major waterline proposed to be built across their island, arguing that it would prompt more development in large, rural swaths of land.
"It will allow for the development of new parts of the island that the residents of the island oppose," said islander Pat Luck. "The only people this waterline will benefit are a few large landowners and developers."
The islanders got a huge boost earlier this week from Charleston County officials who say the waterline does not comply with the county's Comprehensive Plan, an inches-thick document of zoning and planning laws designed to halt urban sprawl.
The St. Johns Water Co., the private water utility that serves Johns Island, says a new waterline is desperately needed to meet peak demands in the summer, increase water pressure in fire hydrants and provide a reliable source of potable water for island residents who are drinking potentially unhealthy water from wells.
The new waterline would cross the Stono River from James Island and stretch 12 miles along River Road to Bohicket Road. Besides serving Seabrook and a shopping center under construction near Kiawah, it would provide water to tens of thousands of homes expected to be built on Johns Island, utility officials say.
The battle is unfolding in two forums.
After a public hearing Monday, the county's Board of Zoning Appeals is expected to decide whether to allow construction of the waterline.
To some residents, the island's future hangs on the board's decision. Waterlines, roads and sewers provide for higher densities of development. They fear the line would prompt development on large rural tracts.
The zoning board's decision may serve as a pivotal moment for the future of the county's Comprehensive Plan, which aims to limit development in rural areas such as Johns, Wadmalaw and Edisto islands and around Ravenel, Hollywood and McClellanville.
Because the waterline represents the first major exception to the plan on Johns Island, the decision could set a precedent of how the plan is interpreted and enforced. Or it could provide ammunition to the plan's critics, who argue that it goes too far in regulating development.
In an analysis of the St. Johns proposal released Monday, county planners said the waterline would provide for higher densities of development, running contrary to the Comprehensive Plan's intention to keep Johns Island rural.
In a different forum, state environmental authorities would have to grant a permit to allow the waterline to cross wetlands. Though a state public hearing Tuesday focused just on the 0.5 acres of wetlands affected, Johns Islanders used the forum to attack the proposal.
Thomas Legare, whose family owns a farm across which the waterline would pass, questioned whether the island's two-lane rural roads could handle the additional traffic generated by new developments and if the waterline would pass through Civil War fortifications.
"It's very much a part of our history, and we don't like it being trampled on," he said of the Fort Trenholm site.
Ann Legare worried about the farm itself. "It's bound to tear up the crops," she said.
Ava Robichaux, manager of the water company, said that, by itself, the waterline would not lead to new development. And with the Comprehensive Plan, the county has the tool to decide what's built on the island, she said.
If the utility denies a homeowner service, Charleston Commissioners of Public Works then would have the legal authority to provide it, Robichaux said. The Charleston utility now serves several areas of the island, including a new apartment complex recently built on historic Fenwick Hall Plantation off Maybank Highway.
According to environmental documents submitted by the St. Johns Water Co., no large oaks would be damaged by the waterline.
According to utility figures, the average household customer would pay $1.50 more every month to fund the waterline, which is expected to cost about $9.7 million. For its share of water, Seabrook Island would pay more than $2 million. Utility officials have said that construction could begin this year and finish next year.
Monday's Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing on the waterline will be at 5:30 p.m. at the county Public Services Building off Leeds Avenue in North Charleston.
