The statistics are staggering, the examples startling. The Charleston
area is expected to add more than 250,000 new residents over the next 30
years while some 35 different arms of local government wrestle with the
land use decisions forced by this historic growth. This year, Watson Hill
is the showdown for three municipalities and two county governments. Last
year, Carolina Park was the battleground for town vs. county vs. sewer
authority vs. council of governments. Next year .
Developers push the envelope to maximize land values; sellers welcome
profits; neighbors fear change; governments struggle to fund new roads,
water, sewer and schools; and taxpayers suffer from increased taxes,
traffic congestion and diminished quality of life.
The Byzantine patchwork of development threatens the quality of life
that has held families for generations and attracted this new generation
of Lowcountry resident. Private property rights rightfully dominate the
legal struggles.
We face new challenges in the 21st century, and we need new tools.
Under current law, local governments make their own planning and zoning
decisions and are free to ignore the plans and priorities of their
neighbors although many projects impact neighboring towns and counties.
Shouldn't we expect more?
For three years, I and others have been working on state legislation,
the Priority Investment Act, that will improve coordination and
prioritization of local governments in the comprehensive planning process.
The bill encourages local governments to coordinate with their neighbors,
as well as affected school districts, transportation agencies and other
arms of local, state and federal government that spend taxpayer dollars on
public infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewers and schools. It also
requires prioritization of how infrastructure dollars will be spent.
Better coordination and prioritization in the planning stages can bring
fractured governmental agencies together to better anticipate regional
needs and avoid border skirmishes, traffic congestion, overcrowded schools
and degraded quality of life.
First and foremost, the Priority Investment Act is about spending tax
dollars more wisely. But equally important, the act will improve
governmental land use decisions.
As in any well-run household or business, coordination and
prioritization are basic tenants of good planning. State law now requires
local governments that enact zoning ordinances to follow a comprehensive
planning process. But only in isolation. We need to add the good planning
tools of coordination and prioritization.
I join Mayor Joe Riley's renewed call for regional planning. However, I
recommend we take a bottom-up approach. Land use decisions should be made
at the most local level of government -- as close to the people as
possible. Local plans should be coordinated with other local plans to
develop regional plans.
Not all will agree and differences will remain. But the process of
coordinating and prioritizing -- of thinking beyond our own "islands" --
will encourage healthy discussion, better planning, more efficient
expenditure of tax dollars and better quality of life. Many land use
showdowns -- the zoning, permitting and annexation battles -- will be
avoided.
Help me push for this needed state legislation. Those who oppose it
fear any new limitations on development while ignoring the real public
cost in tax dollars and degraded quality of life that result from isolated
planning. They believe the legislation will slow development projects, but
better, long-term planning will actually speed daily permitting decisions.
Private property rights must be respected, but public dollars must be
spent wisely for the benefit of all.
Contact your elected officials. Use your influence, at whatever level,
to help our governments make better planning decisions so that tax dollars
are spent wisely and public infrastructure investment yields a high
quality of life for all.
"Plans are nothing; planning is everything."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
"No man is an island, entire of itself."
-- John Donne