A Green Christmas

Christmas may have come a week early in West Ashley, after City Council this week discussed creating a new waterfront park along the banks of the Ashley, a project that could tie together public access to the river and several other chunks of public land.
Charleston City Council may have voted Tuesday night to buy a 2.6-acre piece of land at the end of Bender Street in the historic black neighborhood of Ashleyville, but the idea — and the idea behind the idea — for the park predated this holiday season.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., has long been a strong proponent of preserving public access to Charleston’s waterways. In the past he has brokered development deals all over the peninsula that ensured that all people would always have a chance to enjoy the water, the rivers, the harbor.
The example of the peninsular Waterfront Park stands out, with retail, hotel, and expensive homes standing back from the water.
Now, in what may become a welcome habit, what’s good for the peninsula is proving to be good for West Ashley. Riley, in a letter recently sent to council members, writes of the need to tie together the waterfront on this side of the river and its “view-shed” by linking the new proposed park to other burgeoning parks along the Ashley.
The proposed park would be in direct sight of anyone looking due south from the deck of the Adventure at Charles Towne Landing. According to Riley’s letter, the park could include parking, and perhaps a “modest” boardwalk in time connecting other nearby parks.
Already, bids have gone out for construction of Higgins Pier Park, also in Ashleyville, that will mark the end of the bikeway with a permanent pier leading down to a floating dock.
Charleston County Parks and Recreation has taken the next piece of upriver land, Ashem Park, a former private equestrian idyll, and will develop it into a public special events venue along the riverbank.
Just up from there is venerable Charles Towne Landing, and around the corner from there, the Northbridge Park is already under construction, and will allow boaters and fisherman to have access to a wide swath of the river.
Taken together, Councilman Keith Waring says the city has moved to create a piece-by-piece vista that rivals efforts on the peninsula and recent efforts in Mt. Pleasant.
Waring, who represents part of West Ashley, said it was especially important to protect and convert to public hands the Bender Street property, bordered by Old Town Creek and the Ashley.
Unlike the surrounding hundreds of Ashleyville homes, Waring said, there was a chance its single owner could be swayed to sell to a developer who could come in and construct homes not in keeping with the nature of the surrounding historic neighborhood.
Taken in total with other recent city and civic commitments — like Riley including funding for a new West Ashley senior center in the upcoming municipal budget, an amuse bouche of a farmer’s market shed being constructed at the old Albemarle Elementary School site at the corner of Sycamore and Magnolia roads  — Waring sees his part of town on a roll.
That being said, Waring, thinks there’s a lot more that could be welcomed in West Ashley in the coming year.
To that point, we asked a host of local personalities and politicos what they would put under West Ashley’s tree, or stuff its stocking with, in the coming year. Here’s a sampling of their responses:
City Councilman Keith Waring: “We need the implementation of a comprehensive community plan to revitalize the business climate along Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Citadel Mall … We need the mall and the boulevard … Why wait until it dies to do something?”
City Councilman Aubry Alexander said he’d need a “big stocking,” because not only would he include the aforementioned redevelopment plan, which the city has already paid for a consultant’s help, but also completed senior center and “sidewalk connectivity. We don’t need bluestone with granite curbs; asphalt or concrete replacing our roadside goat paths would be wonderful!”
Local political writer Andy Brack wants a bigger Piccolo Spoleto footprint in West Ashley, especially since more of the city now lives “off” the peninsula. “Let’s make Piccolo Spoleto more accessible to ALL of Charleston,” he grinched.
County Councilwoman Colleen Condon already got to unwrap an early gift, too, having shepherded the creation of an overlay-planning district in West Ashley, knitting together the ordinance of public service district, city and county to ensure no more eyesores pop up.
That being said, Condon wants more under West Ashley’s tree, including roadway roundabouts at the intersection of highways 61 and 7, and maybe a farmer’s market or community center to pop up at the former home of Limehouse Produce on Wappoo Road.