That was then, this is now

That was then. This is now. And so much can happen in between.

 

On Daniel Island, and the greater Cainhoy peninsula, the last 20 years have been marked by one unmistakable factor – growth. 

 

Since the first residents and businesses in Daniel Island’s modern day community set down roots, it has been an era of “firsts” – and The Daniel Island News has documented many of them since the paper’s debut print edition in 2003.

 

New Schools

 

When the island’s first residents moved into their new homes in 1996, there were no schools on the island. The only public school options required driving over the Don Holt Bridge in North Charleston to Hanahan Elementary, Hanahan Middle and Hanahan High School. 

 

The Cainhoy Elementary and Middle School served the Cainhoy peninsula.

 

In 1997, Bishop England High School, a private Catholic school, relocated to Daniel Island from downtown Charleston. 

 

The Daniel Island School, the island’s first public K-8 facility, would open its doors in the fall of 2006 to welcome more than 500 students. But within a few short years, the school was already at capacity. 

 

To accommodate burgeoning growth, two new public school options – Philip Simmons Elementary and Philip Simmons Middle – would come to the Cainhoy peninsula in the fall of 2016. Philip Simmons High School opened one year later. All three facilities are located within the new Point Hope development off Clements Ferry Road and have become thriving additions to the local community. 

 

“Over the last 20 years, with the addition of Daniel Island School and the Philip Simmons’ Schools, we now have four excellent schools that are outperforming many other schools in both the State and County,” said Cainhoy peninsula resident Mac McQuillin, who serves as chair of the Berkeley County School Board. “Last year, Philip Simmons High School achieved the highest SAT/ACT average scores for seniors and had the highest graduation rate within the County while Daniel Island School outperformed the state in student achievement in nearly every category.”

 

Political Representation

 

Between 1996, when the island’s first residents moved in, and 2007, the Daniel Island and Cainhoy peninsula had representative members on Charleston and Berkeley County governmental boards, but none of them called the island home. That changed in June of 2007, when former island resident Tim Callanan was elected to serve as the District 2 representative on Berkeley County Council. He would serve for 8 years before leaving the post to become Deputy Supervisor of Finance for Berkeley County (a position he left in 2018). Josh Whitley, also a Daniel Island resident, was elected to take Callanan’s seat on council in 2015 and has served ever since. 

 

The first island resident elected to Charleston City Council was Gary White, who won the District 1 seat in 2007 and served until 2019, when he resigned to run for mayor. After White, Marie Delcioppo took over the post, followed by Boyd Gregg, who remains in the seat today.

 

In 2006, former Daniel Island Real Estate agent Dan Kingsbury became the first islander to be elected to the Berkeley County School Board. In February of 2008, island resident Doug Cooper took over the seat, serving until resigning in September of 2014. Mac McQuillin was elected to represent District 2 in November of that same year and today, nine years later, remains in the post.  

 

In addition to local governmental boards, island residents have also continued to serve on state and federal bodies as well. Former island resident Jim Merrill was the first from the community to be elected to state office, serving on the S.C. House of Representatives for House District 99 from 2001 to 2016. Nancy Mace then was elected to take over the post, followed by Rep. Mark Smith, who still holds the seat today. Mace now serves as a U.S. Congresswoman representing South Carolina’s First Congressional District and was the first island resident to be elected to a federal office. She later moved to the Isle of Palms. 

 

“The City of Charleston was founded over 350 years ago; Daniel Island has been a part of it for only 32 of those years,” stated Andrea Sullivan, president of the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association. “In a city within a state with deep, multi-generational, roots and relationships, becoming politically relevant was, and remains, critical for Daniel Island.” 

 

Voting

 

Daniel Island’s pioneering modern day residents remember a different time when it comes to casting ballots in local, state and federal elections. In the early years, they didn’t have a voting precinct on the island – or even nearby. 

 

“The first registered voters living on Daniel Island voted at Cainhoy Elementary School, as before any development began that portion of land was in the Cainhoy voting precinct,” explained Rose Brown, director of voter registration and elections for Berkeley County. “And as the island became populated, Daniel Island became a voting precinct, encasing the entire island and all areas off of Clements Ferry Road.” 

 

A later polling location for island voters was the City of Charleston Fire Department on Pinefield Drive off of Clements Ferry Road. But the road was not paved, said Brown, and voters complained of “getting bogged down” to go to the site to cast their ballots. 

 

In 2002, there were about 1,364 registered voters on Daniel Island. Voters eventually moved to what was then known as the Daniel Island Medical Center at the corner of River Landing Drive and Island Park Drive to cast their ballots. But by 2006, the polling station moved to the Daniel Island School and later, as the number of precincts on the island grew, another polling site was added at the Daniel Island Club (DIC). In 2021, the DIC site was moved to the new Daniel Island Recreation Center. Today, with four large precincts, there are close to 9,000 registered voters on Daniel Island. 

 

SC Ports Authority Land

 

Just a year before The Daniel Island News delivered its inaugural edition in October of 2003, discussions about the more than 1,300 acres of property owned by the State Ports Authority on the southern end of Daniel Island reached a fevered pitch. The SPA had proposed building a Global Gateway Port on their Daniel Island land, but local opposition was strong, particularly from residents in neighborhoods off Clements Ferry Road, where a transportation corridor to and from the new port was planned. Their collective voices, along with intervention from local legislators, resulted in the plan being scrapped. In 2002, a legislative order shifted the port’s focus from Daniel Island to the former Charleston Navy Base on the Cooper River in North Charleston, where the new Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal would officially open in March 2021. 

 

The SPA’s remaining property on the southern end of the island has long been a subject of interest to the community. Currently, about 1,000 acres are used by the SPA for active harbor dredging and about 300 acres has been set aside for planned recreational space, as well as a saltwater mitigation bank. 

 

Affordable Housing

 

Besides the proposed Global Gateway Port, another topic that generated heated discussions in the early 2000s was the island’s first affordable housing project at 305 Seven Farms Drive. After plans were announced, residents both in favor and opposed to the project weighed in, largely through the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association (DINA). Some feared the low income subsidized housing community would bring increased traffic, crime and related problems, and ultimately a loss in area property values. Affordable housing was mandated as part of a 2001 Housing Plan for the island, but concerns over the newly proposed development mounted.

 

Talks deteriorated, lawsuits were filed, and some DINA members were even accused of racial and economic prejudice. But in the end, the lawsuits were dropped and the project moved forward. 

 

A dedication for the new community was held in December of 2006, with 55 families ready to move in. Developed and managed by the Humanities Foundation, the complex would go on to win a 2010 Development of the Year Award from the South Carolina Housing and Finance Development Authority. DI Development Company President Matt Sloan told The Daniel Island News in 2017, in celebration of the project’s 10-year anniversary, that it had become an integral part of the island community.

 

“I am as proud of the success of this workforce housing community as I am of any aspect of Daniel Island,” noted Sloan. “…After the initial controversy, it’s grown into a well-received part of the community.”

 

Annexation

 

If exploratory discussions had progressed back in 2013 and 2014, Daniel Island might currently be located in Charleston County, as opposed to Berkeley County. The idea of annexation was initially floated in 1999, but the effort did not gain traction. It was reintroduced 14 years later, after the required 10% of registered voters signed a petition to begin the annexation exploration process. A commission was appointed by then Governor Nikki Haley to study the idea in more detail and public meetings were held to answer questions and gauge interest.  

 

But in the wake of rising legal and land survey costs, confusion over how school jurisdictions would be handled, and antiquated state annexation laws, the process was halted and the commission was dissolved. 

 

“It is regretful that the ill-defined state law is the primary reason that Daniel Island residents cannot get verified answers and decide for themselves which county is best for them,” wrote Jane Baker, president of the Daniel Island Property Owners Association, to the Annexation Commission in May of 2014. 

 

In their final report to the governor, commissioners noted that a key issue driving the annexation petition was the question of public schools. 

 

Tennis Stadium

 

Highlighting changes to Daniel Island over the last two decades must also include mention of the Credit One Stadium and LTP Tennis Center on Seven Farms Drive.

 

Between 2000 and 2001, the City of Charleston built the original facilities at a cost of $16 million, after luring the long running Family Circle Cup (FCC) tournament from Hilton Head to Daniel Island.  

 

“It happened because so many entities that had to come together, did – it was amazing,” said Robin Reynolds, FCC director at the time. “It was quite an achievement, and it happened because everybody wanted it to happen.”

 

Considered a “birthplace to the stars,” the annual competition attracts some of the world’s top women tennis players to the island and greater Charleston area. Since the first tournament here some 23 years ago, hundreds of thousands of spectators have turned out for the action. Concerts held at the facility throughout the year also continue to draw large crowds.

 

In 2015, the name of the tournament changed to the Volvo Car Open, after a new partnership with Volvo Car of North America was announced. And then in 2021, Charleston Tennis, LLC brought on a new title sponsor – Credit One Bank – and the event name became the Credit One Charleston Open, which continues today. In 2022, renovations and modernizations resulted in a number of upgrades and improvements, including an increase in seating from 7,500 to 11,000.