JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) – The Mark Clark Extension Project has sparked conservation and debate among the Lowcountry for years, but an area less discussed in the plan would take away land from a county park.
The proposed extension on Interstate 526 would destroy 46.72 acres of the James Island County Park, including areas residents and visitors use. It would leave approximately 600 acres of the park would remain.
The Mark Clark Extension project would construct around 9.5 miles of new roadway starting from West Ashley through Johns and James Islands.
A large part of the I-526 project funding is dependent on the approval of a half-cent sales tax referendum that voters will see on the ballot next month.
If passed, the extension would take away James Island County Park’s current climbing wall, challenge, disc golf and archery courses, park headquarters building, public access to a creek, parts of the group camping area and over three acres of park wetlands.
“The James Island County Park is one of the gems of James Island,” Coastal Conservation League Communities and Transportation Project Manager Emma Berry says. “Those things will still be available with the construction of 526, but they will still be impacted. When you’re thinking about putting a four-lane interstate through part of the county park, even on the outskirts, we’re still going to have noise pollution and air pollution from that.”
Charleston Parks Director of Planning and Development Patty Newshutz says the recreation areas that would be taken away would simply be moved or replaced, except for the headquarters office and wetlands.
“We’ve known that there’s going to be some right-of-way acquisition since the inception and building of this original park; so we kind of stayed clear of that area and didn’t put any real major things into it,” Newshutz says. “We feel like the park will still look and feel the same. We’ve requested a very wide vegetative buffer between our remaining park land and the roadway. I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of visual impact.”
On top of the park’s land, the Mark Clark Extension Project would remove almost 40 acres of wetlands throughout Charleston County.
Residents would be taxed a half-cent sales tax for 25 years or until $5.4 billion is reached to be used towards road projects and improvements in the county with the top priority project being the extension of the Mark Clark Expressway.
“The viewshed is going to be impacted, and the things that are in that area of the county park are going to have to either move or just disappear completely,” Berry says. “In essence, it would be shrinking this amazing amount of green space that we have.”
Charleston County Council Vice Chairman Jenny Honeycutt says when discussing the James Island County Park losing land, it comes down to three important things: not having to relocate anyone by using the property, using a buffer area and connectivity.
“This is in the buffer area. This is not part of the park property that the public actually uses,” Honeycutt says. “So this part of the property, while it is part of the park, is really just the buffer, and it’s not going to impact park operations as much as I think people may think it will.”
The West Ashley Greenway, which would be a multi-use path for people to access, would also go through the park.
“One of the things that we feel is a benefit to us is that they will improve bicycle and pedestrian access for us,” Newshutz says. “There’s going to be all that included along the roadway, and then there’s going to be improvements that ripple down to our park.”
Despite varying opinions on the project, Charleston County residents will be voting on the half-cent sales tax referendum on Nov. 5.
Click here to read the ordinance and the ballot question.
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