Last Thursday, a meeting took place in City Hall that could be an important first step in recasting West Ashley’s future. Or it could be the first step in creating a draft study report that ends up “collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.”
It all depends on whom you talk to.
City Councilmen Perry Keith Waring, Aubry Alexander, and Bill Moody met with Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Director of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability for the city Tim Keane, city planning division director Christopher Morgan, and other staffers, to see what could be done to turn back the tide of vacating businesses in West Ashley, sprucing up the area’s gateways, and nailing down a new senior center for the community.
Alexander, representing Dist. 9, exited the meeting thrilled by the work the city staff had lain out in an early draft plan of a West Ashley Economic Development Strategy.
Moody, representing Dist. 11, said he came in expecting more work to have already been done.
The multi-year strategy would guide the city through an analysis of West Ashley — an analysis of commercial nodes and corridors, like the Citadel Mall and the Avondale retail hub — and then create a series of recommendations to reverse some of the area’s recent economic downturns.
Moody, who is the past president of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and who has been a consultant on other projects, said that infrastructure and retail improvements in communities like North Charleston and Mt. Pleasant have hit hard the economic landscape along West Ashley’s main economic corridor, Sam Rittenberg Boulevard.
“The last thing we need is to commission a study and a report, and not do anything with it, and let it gather dust on a bookshelf somewhere,” said Moody.
Morgan said that the next step would be to hire a consultant, which hasn’t been identified yet, and put together a package of salient background information for the consultant.
“To my knowledge, nothing like this has been attempted by the city during my tenure,” said Morgan. “In the past, the city has done studies and produced reports on smaller areas, like the Ashley Bridge District or the Old Charles Towne District. But, then again, we’re not talking about a huge amount of time.”
Alexander said that infrastructure improvements, like traffic softening in the Avondale Point area, as well as new parks, like the ones about to go out for bid once again at Northbridge and Higgins Pier, could go along way into attracting more business investment here.
Moody’s not so sure. “It’s going to take a lot more than cutting the grass and doing cosmetic touch-up work,” he said. “There’s something much deeper going on here.”
Moody and Alexander share the city’s concern about the continuing isolation of shopping areas along Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and the perceived decline of Citadel Mall.
“We got to get it looking new again over here, and exciting; we’ve got to find out what we need,” said Moody. “Do we have too much retail or not enough retail? What do we need to really hum?”
Alexander seemed more appeased that the mayor was more committed to building a senior citizen center in West Ashley. Past efforts have been unsuccessful, even one that included donated land from Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital off of Glenn McConnell Parkway.
Alexander said that the city has committed to re-engage with the hospital group and that nearly $2.5 million has been identified between city and county coffers to jumpstart what could become a $6-7 million project.
Alexander has worried that the city would ignore West Ashley’s larger senior population in favor of expanding an existing facility in James Island. “I can tell you I was quite pleased when I walked out of the meeting,” said Alexander, who added that there was a remaining issue that planners and politicians will have to deal with.
Money. How to pay for all the things West Ashley “deserves.”
Morgan’s city planning office hasn’t been working on the senior center issue, but said he’d heard those numbers bandied about at the Thursday meeting.
“Mt. Pleasant transformed itself over the past few years via the half-cent sales tax,” said Alexander. “To do everything we want is going to take money. County Councilmember Elliot Summey has been throwing out there the idea of increasing that to a full cent.”
Alexander said there might be three City Councilman in support of the increase, depending on what comes back in the plan from City Hall.
A first step has been taken. Whether it was in the right direction remains to be seen.

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