THE LATEST

The City of Charleston has launched planning and public input efforts for their Peninsula Plan, a 10-20 year guiding vision for the peninsula. Two open houses were held in December 2023, focusing on our relationship with the waterfront. According to the City’s project page: “In addition to shaping recommendations for the Peninsula Plan, these conversations will inform a proposal for a new Waterfront Redevelopment Future Land Use District and amendment to the City’s comprehensive plan.”

Currently, Union Pier is designated as a Future Planning Area, “for which there is not a definite land use recommendation in this document, but that would be subject to further public planning activities before any development approvals would occur.” 

Additional open houses will occur in January, March and May of 2024. 

In December 2023, Charleston Moves’ application to be on the Union Pier Community Advisory Committee was approved. 

On January 5, 2024, the Union Pier Team announced upcoming community open houses on January 24 from 4-7 pm, and January 25 from 10 am – 1 pm. Time and location TBD.

DESCRIPTION

The South Carolina State Ports Authority (SCSPA) announced they are scaling back cruise ship operations by 2025, and thus, plan to redevelop ~65-acres of their Union Pier property. After multiple presentations in 2022 and 2023, it was made clear that the project was being rushed to satisfy the developer’s timeline, without regard for the considerable amount of concern shard by the public, as well as requests for revision by the City of Charleston. 

With a relaunched public-driven planning process underway (led by The Riley Center for Livable Communities), Charlestonians have another chance to shape what some of the most valuable land in the nation looks like, and who it serves. 

Charleston Moves’ position has been, and continues to be, that we expect to see a great amount of planning put toward quality and progressive people-oriented infrastructure (both connecting to and throughout the site), prioritization of public waterfront and greenspace access, and quality design that meets the standard of this rare site. We also expect a substantial amount of on-site affordable housing, thoughtful multi-modal connections with off-site affordable housing, and limited accommodations uses. 

With the opportunity to construct entirely new streets and paths, we expect world-class infrastructure for people walking, biking and rolling, connecting to not only quality bus stops and bike share stations, but also the Ashley River Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge, a future ferry dock, the planned Lowcountry Rapid Transit, the East Coast Greenway, and People Pedal Plan.

History

In 2022, following news that the SCSPA is scaling back operations by 2025, conceptual plans for redeveloping ~65 acres of the site were released for public feedback. A series of public meetings were held during the planning phase, during which much concern was raised by the community related to issues of height/scale, land use, flooding, transportation, affordable housing and historic preservation. 

In early 2023, the Port submitted a first draft of their PUD (Planned Unit Development) document, which detailed their vision for the site and request to rezone the property. We believed it fell significantly short, in that:

• no traffic study was conducted
• lanes of travel for motor vehicles were wider than typical city streets
• zero on-street bicycle infrastructure was included
• narrower-than-expected paths were proposed that could cause conflict for multiple modes
• subpar space was offered for wheelchair users

In April 2023, the Port’s redevelopment proposal was presented to the City of Charleston’s Planning Commission, as well as the City of Charleston’s Traffic & Transportation Committee and Community Development Committee.

In May 2023, the Port submitted a second draft of their PUD document to the City’s Technical Review Committee. While we appreciate that the project team added multiple streetscape options from which to choose, with improved design alternatives for biking, walking and utilizing transit, we were concerned about the circulation and protection of vulnerable road users, in addition to the overarching prioritization of motor vehicles. Here are a few of the items we suggested in our comment letter:

• the creation of a street and pathway design committee to develop specific bike/ped/transit connectivity layouts — including intersections — to ensure that designs to, from and on the site circulate vulnerable road users in a consistent, safe and enjoyable way;
• setting parking maximum limits and reducing on-street parking throughout the site;
• ensuring usable path and sidewalk space is not diminished by right-of-way encroachments;
• minimizing the overall space catered to motor vehicles.

The Committee had numerous modification requests, and ended the meeting with the directive to “revise and return.”

In June 2023, the Port presented to the City’s Planning Commission to consider and potentially vote on their requests to amend the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and approve property rezoning to a PUD as well as different height districts and a portion of the Accommodations Overlay. After a 5 hour meeting with hundreds of residents in attendance, the majority of whom spoke in opposition, no action was taken.

A week later, the SCPSA announced that they will request the City of Charleston Planning Commission defer its decision on Union Pier. Additionally, the Port will work with the The Riley Center for Livable Communities to create a new plan for the site, and the City will work to complete things like a resiliency study. Because the Port began the process of rezoning Union Pier to a PUD while the City’s Comprehensive Plan identified the site as a “Future Planning Area,” the parties say they are now taking a step back for a publicly-led planning process, working to define a new “Waterfront District” for the property.

In December 2023, the City held open houses for their Peninsula Plan that were focused on our connection with the waterfront. Union Pier is a major consideration for this effort. Like all quality of life issues facing Charlestonians, equitable mobility sits at the crossroads.