South Carolina Dot

I-526 project not dead yet

Charleston County backtracked on its opposition to the Mark Clark Expressway project Tuesday night in order to avoid having to pay back $11.6 million in state funding.

County Council voted 5-4 to rescind a decision to not build Interstate 526 over Johns and James islands, but the future of the project remains unclear.

Colleen Condon, Dickie Schweers, Joe Qualey and Herb Sass were opposed to changing last month's "no-build" vote.

The county violated its agreement with the S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank and the South Carolina Department of Transportation when it decided not to build the road, the bank said.

For that reason, the bank board voted Thursday that the county had 60 days to repay the funds.

The situation meant the county would have to lay off employees or cut services to balance the budget, council Chairman Teddie Pryor said.

The $11.6 million was spent on environmental studies, engineering and land acquisition for I-526. Some $6 million went to acquiring property for the road rights of way.

The county wants to negotiate a new agreement with the bank and SCDOT that will allow it more flexibility in deciding what kind of road to build, Pryor said.

He favors a smaller version of the project costing about $200 million. It would begin at Savannah Highway and go to Maybank Highway.

The bank approved $420 million for a seven-mile four-lane road over the islands from Savannah Highway to the James Island connector.

Councilman Elliott Summey said the county will negotiate new terms with the bank that will allow it to reopen the public comment process for the project.

"Now we can really get a feel for what everybody wants," he said.

At five public hearings last fall, comment was overwhelmingly against the highway. Summey said 1,033 people said they don't want the extension. But he noted there is a "silent majority" that favors the road.

The default would damage the county's credit as it seeks to borrow funds for other road work, Pryor said.

Prior to the vote, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said the I-526 project is essential. Otherwise, by 2035, traffic in West Ashley and on the islands will be a nightmare, he said.

Fears that the highway will lead to rampant growth on rural Johns Island are unfounded, he said, because development can be controlled through planning and zoning.

Completion of I-526 over the islands is essential for safe hurricane evacuation, he said.

Weekly Legislative Update from Rep. Tom Young

The House of Representatives is in session for 2011.  I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Real Estate Point of Sale Tax Reform Bill :  Last Thursday, the House passed the same change to the point of sale tax law that the House passed in 2009.  (That bill stalled in the Senate.)  The bill passed by the House (1) eliminates reassessment at the time of the sale and uses the current property tax valuation as the taxable value going forward until the next countywide reassessment period; (2) increases the taxable value to the fair market value (ATI value) during countywide reassessment; and (3) requires that the 15% Constitutional cap applies to the fair market value in future reassessment programs unless a sale or other assessable transfer of interest has occurred.  Many view this as also a jobs bill. A recent study by economists hired by the South Carolina Association of Realtors showed that repealing the Point of Sale provision will create up to 35,000 jobs and create a $4.2 billion total impact on economic activity in our state.  I voted in favor of the bill.  It now goes to the Senate.

Amazon.com Sales Tax Exemption :  Another effort to pass the Amazon special sales tax exemption may come before the House this week.  As reported in this column two weeks ago, the House voted on April 27 not to give Amazon its special sales tax exemption that it has requested from the state.  At that time, the House voted not to give the exemption by a vote of 47-71.  I was in the 71.  After the defeat of the exemption, some people said that the state will lose economic development investment.  Since the vote on April 27, the Department of Commerce has announced more than $700 Million in new investments creating 5,300 jobs in South Carolina.  As of now, I plan to vote the same way as I did before on this issue.  To see a recap of why I voted that way on April 27, please go here .

High Visibility Road Signs in Aiken :  As reported here last Monday, since the beginning of April, I received numerous complaints about the large yellow signs put up by the SC DOT in Aiken in the downtown historic district.  Many of those complaints came from elected city officials; downtown business owners; downtown residents; and others in Aiken.  During several discussions with SC DOT, DOT officials told me that (1) they had talked with the City before putting the signs up in downtown Aiken and (2) the signs are possibly more than is needed for downtown and designed to be effective in less urban areas than downtown Aiken.  DOT requested a list of the locations about which I received complaints.  I sent that list of 9 locations to the DOT with a request that the current signs at those locations be removed.  This past Friday, DOT informed me that DOT and City officials will meet soon to address the problems with the signs in downtown. Contrary to some media coverage, I of the signs in Aiken.  I also did not act based on feedback from one constituent.  I simply requested removal of the signs from 9 locations in the historic district after hearing from dozens of people for several weeks and after hearing that the DOT did not speak with our City officials at all before doing this.  There are always lessons to be learned from these types of issues.  Going forward, I have asked  DOT to communicate with the City before implementing similar projects.  I am confident that the DOT and the City will reach a resolution that both respects Aiken’s downtown and meets the DOT’s goals in implementing the sign project.

Stream stability and scour at highway bridges, water resources engineering : compendium of stream stability and scour papers presented at conferences sponsored by the Water Resources Engineering (Hydraulics) Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, conferences were held at Nashville, Tennessee, July 29-August 2, 1991 ... Memphis, Tennessee, August 3-5, 1998

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