Have something to say about new parks planned for Dorchester County? Now is the time to voice those thoughts.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued public notices seeking written comments on the permit applications for both the Ashley River and Pine Trace parks. The comment period, starting Thursday, lasts 45 days. The Corps will accept comments for 15 days; and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control will take comments the next 30 days.
Comments will determine if a public hearing is necessary and weigh overall public interest on the projects. The Corps is looking for opinions from residents, local officials and Indian Tribes to determine if any historic properties on either site have religious or cultural significance, though Corps officials said in the notices that no historic properties on the Pine Trace property will be affected by construction.
In response to public comments, the Corps will issue, modify, condition or deny the county’s permit applications.
The goal of both parks is “to meet local demand for outdoor educational and recreational opportunities” inside the county, according to the notices. It’s no secret the desire for additional countywide parks has been a longstanding issue among residents, and one that county officials let the people vote on through a bond referendum in 2016. By a vote of more than 60 percent, the people said they favored new parks and libraries.
The $43 million bond is to be split between new “quality of life” facilities: $13 million for trail enhancements and three new parks—Ashley River and Pine Trace parks and a Courthouse Park in St. George; and $30 million for two libraries—one in Summerville and one in North Charleston.
However, the plans hang in the balance as a lawsuit over the referendum remains pending. In December a judge dismissed the suit in the county’s favor; days after, plaintiffs filed a motion for the judge to reconsider the decision. The suit alleged the one referendum question on the voter ballot should have been split into two, and not doing so was illegal and challenging for voters to decide one answer on two separate issues, parks and libraries.
Ashley River Park will be an 87-acre tract situated off Bacons Bridge Road. The county purchased the land in 2012 with funds from the $5 million bond referendum voters passed in 2010. The area was initially meant for residential housing but the developer went bankrupt. As a result, the land comes furnished with a gazebo, pond and walking trails already developed from the earlier defunct project.
The notice said perpetual protection is proposed for about 5.6 acres of on-site wetlands at the property; the applicant also plans to fill in and permanently clear about 1.6 acres of freshwater wetlands, the notice said.
Once completed the park will have roads, parking areas and a multi-use path.
Pine Trace Park, off Miles Jamison Road and adjacent to Chandler Bridge Creek near Summerville, will be 300-plus acres.
Proposed park plans call for construction of an on-site road, a disc golf course, a nature trail system, dog parks and a multi-use path, according to the Corps of Engineers. The county also seeks to preserve and protect about 81 acres of wetlands and other parts of the property.
Neither project is expected to impact “any federally-endangered, threatened, or proposed species” nor destroy or adversely modify any “critical habitat” in the area, according to the Corps.
County Parks and Recreation Director Eric Davis said the Courthouse Park process didn’t require the same kind of public notice and is ready to bid out for construction as soon as a decision is reached in the ongoing lawsuit.
Submit written comments to the following address: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: Regulatory Division, 69A Hagood Avenue, Charleston, SC 29403-5107. Be sure to include the project’s public notice number: Ashley River Park (SAC-2015-00997); Pine Trace Park (SAC-2017-00991)
