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DINA sues the city for a second time


Traffic study suit targets affordable housing project


By Adam Ferrell,

Special to The Daniel Island News

Daniel Island residents opposing the Humanities Foundation’s planned affordable apartments have filed a complaint with Berkeley County state court against the City of Charleston, regarding how it dealt with the development’s potential traffic impact.

The Daniel Island Neighborhood Association’s complaint aims to force the city either to conduct a traffic study for the site or to allow DINA to appeal the city’s approval of the development to the Charleston Planning Commission.

This latest attempt to derail the $6.9 million, 72-unit apartment complex is the second time DINA has taken the nine-month battle to state court. Last month, DINA filed an appeal with the court to undo the Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals’ unanimous denial in August of a DINA appeal. The organization had urged the board to agree that the development breaks the city zoning rules.

The two legal issues could be heard together in court within two to three months, according to attorneys for both sides.

Island resident and attorney David Cobb, who filed the complaint Oct. 5, argues that the city failed to conduct a traffic impact study that city ordinance requires for major developments on the island. DINA first tried to appeal to the Planning Commission on those grounds, but the city’s legal department blocked the request.

Tim Domin, an attorney for the city, said the approval cannot be appealed because city ordinance does not require a new traffic study. He said a 1999 traffic study of the entire island accounted for future projects such as this one.

"We have not required for-profit developers to have traffic studies for residential developments on the island, so we can’t hold non-profit developers to a higher standard," Domin said in a phone interview.

Cobb included with the complaint two documents he obtained from the city through a Freedom of Information Act request. In the documents, dated May 24 and June 7, Charleston Traffic and Transportation Department Director Hernan Pena wrote that the project "would need a traffic impact study." Cobb said that proves the city required a study, but did not conduct one.

Domin disagreed, saying the documents merely indicate some further traffic information was needed. He said the city looked at the project’s potential influence on traffic, based on industry standards, and that counted as a traffic study.

Pena was not available for comment, because the city defers all legal questions to the legal staff, according to city spokeswoman Barbara Vaughn.



Not pretty in pink: Tax-bill insert prompts citizen ire


By Tom Ratzloff,

Special to The Daniel Island News

A bright pink insert in property tax bills has some Berkeley County taxpayers seeing red, including Daniel Islanders.

With many people experiencing double-digit property tax hikes, some county council members have said the school board did not adequately consider the impact its current budget would have on taxpayers. The pink insert breaks down how the county council and school board budgets have changed respectively over the past 14 years.

While the county reduced its tax rate by 5 percent, the school district budget increased 54 percent. The slip also contained contact information for county council and school board members.

Both bodies reduced mill rates because of county reassessment. That is because the state requires a tax rollback when properties are reassessed to avoid a tax windfall. The school district reduced its mill rate from 134 to 130 while the county cut about 2.5 mills.

County Supervisor Jim Rozier said he’s receiving phone calls from people who are upset by the increases and he defends council members’ decision to include the pink insert with the tax bills.

"I don’t know what the problem is with putting the public officials’ names out there and letting them answer for their actions," Rozier said. "We made it bright pink because we didn’t want people to miss it."

School district officials defended its 2005-06 budget at last week’s regular board meeting and pointed out that county reassessment has increased property values by approximately 46 percent. That means a property assessed at $100,000 in 1999 is now valued at $146,000 a year because of the reassessment. This means taxes would jump from $459.80 to $940.06.

In addition, the district has had to absorb reduced state and federal revenue while being obligated to implement mandated programs and services.

Brantley Thomas, the district’s financial services director, said the school district experienced a total of 47 percent state-mandated salary and fringe-benefit increases during the past 14 years. It also received $11.5 million or 15.33 percent fewer state dollars during the same period.

"We were also required to implement full-day kindergarten, which increased teaching staff and facility needs," he said.

A $450 million building program accounts for 53 mills or about 80 percent of the increase experienced since 1991, Thomas noted. To illustrate the need for facilities improvement, he showed slides of old trailers that had been used for classrooms before the 1999 building referendum.

"We now have 30 new or renovated facilities throughout the school district," Thomas said. "I do not believe that anyone who has seen these urgently needed improvements to our schools would question now the wisdom of that important investment."

Rozier, however, wonders if the school district could have reined in spending by thinking outside the box when it came to new facilities. He points to Berkeley County’s new government center as an example of fiscal prudence. Located inside a former Kmart in Moncks Corner, it cost far less than a new building, he said.

"Jim Rozier didn’t do that," Rozier said. "It took a team of people who let their creative juices flow. I think that’s what needs to happen on the school board."

He said Summerville’s Pinewood Preparatory School, which is a simple concrete-block building, is an example of how to rein in costs.

"It’s a nice-looking building," Rozier said. "And it makes you wonder if you absolutely need to spend a bunch of money on bricks?"

Supt. Chester Floyd said his mission is to provide Berkeley County students with 21st-century schools.

"Is the County Supervisor recommending that we build Berkeley High School out of no bricks?" Floyd asked. "What school is he recommending? I don’t know if Daniel Island’s building code would have allowed us to put up a concrete-block school. Standing on the outside, it’s easy to be critical."


State responsibility?


Despite the recent tension, county and school officials do agree that school funding should be the responsibility of the state.

"Funding education is really a state responsibility by constitution," Rozier said. "There’s talk of an increase in sales tax to do that and it would be easier for people on difficult incomes to pay as they go."

School Board member Harriet Dangerfield agreed, saying, "The bottom line is if you have a problem with your taxes, it’s a legislative issue. Where we have a problem is people – nine elected people out of Berkeley County – sit up here and make decisions that affect your children, your community, you as individuals, your parents, anybody who has land. We know where our responsibilities are: it’s to the children."

She added, "I’ve had more than one legislator say to me, ‘Miss Dangerfield, you’re a school board member. You have the autonomy to raise taxes. We’re not raising taxes in Columbia. You want to raise taxes to build a school in your district and pay higher salaries, go right ahead.’ If you want to be frustrated and angry, then take it to those people, too, not just us."



District anticipates 29,000 more students in 20 years

By Tom Ratzloff, Special to The Daniel Island News

A Charleston Southern economist estimates that there are currently .5181 children per household in Berkeley County. With the explosive development currently underway, that number is likely to rise.

Recent estimates are that Berkeley County schools may add more than 29,000 students to its rolls in the next 20 years, according to Ken Coffey, assistant superintendent for operational services.

Coffey gave board members a peek at the future last week at their regular meeting. His office tracks residential development throughout the county in an effort to ensure that the district has adequate facilities and resources to accommodate students.

The following residential development projects would impact the Daniel Island School and Hanahan High School populations:


·

Daniel Island is expected to have 2,591 school-age students out of 5,000 households when the community is built out in 2010.


·

Westgate Way (condos) on Gateway Place in Charleston will have 1,000 units when fully completed in 2015, adding 518 more students.


·

Tanner Plantation is a Daniel-Island-sized project currently being built in Hanahan. By 2013, officials expect that the neighborhood will add 2,591 more students to school rolls.


·

Governor’s Cay (condos) will build 300 units over the next five years and add approximately 155 students.


·

Beresford Hall on Clements Ferry Road has 200 households with 104 students.


·

Beresford Creek on Clements Ferry Road has 600 households and 311 school-age students. (These numbers also affect Cainhoy Elementary/Middle School.)


·

The River Reach development on Clements Ferry Road has 72 lots with an anticipated school-age population of 37 students.


Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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