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A 450-acre park in the heart of the tri-county

By: Mark Sanford, U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district

Our state, Charleston, and the people of the Lowcountry have a once in a lifetime opportunity: The Tri-County Waterfront Park.

When many cities in the 1960s and 1970s were tearing down the old to make way for the new, Charleston took a different path. A visionary woman by the name of Frances Edmunds, along with her friends, prevailed in their efforts to preserve rather than dismantle. And as a consequence, we have a Charleston today that’s recognized as unique and special.

Given the influx of new residents to the tri-county area, our region faces a similar challenge to the one that was met so many years ago by the likes of Edmunds. The question of today is whether we need to build on every square inch of this land or if there might be greater value in preserving and conserving open space that becomes more and more valuable as urbanization occurs.

This is particularly the case with land that you and I already own as South Carolina taxpayers: the Port Authority. In this regard, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity at the tip of Daniel Island.

The Tri-County Waterfront Park would be located on the southern tip of Daniel Island. The South Carolina Port Authority currently owns this land. | Image provided by Stantec

The Port Authority holds 1,300 acres at the southern tip of Daniel Island. They had originally proposed to build a giant container port on that land, but public outcry shut that down, and it’s now surplus property. Inevitably, much of it will be developed over time, but the question before us is whether or not it wouldn’t be wise to carve off a portion of that land for a park of scale.

I believe it would make a lot of sense to save the right quadrant of land that they own on the southern tip of Daniel Island for such a park. In this case, I, along with others, have proposed carving off just over 400 acres for what we have at this point dubbed the “Tri-County Waterfront Park.”

Let me give you a couple reasons why I think this makes sense.

First, all of the great cities of the world have parks of scale in or near their city centers.

Sydney has 1,000 acres on the water.
Stockholm has over 6,000 acres downtown also along the water.
Almost one-third of Berlin’s urban space is open space with a patchwork of parks ranging from hundreds to thousands of acres.
London has Hyde and a variety of downtown parks.
Vancouver has 1,000 acres on the water with Stanley Park.
I couldn’t have survived when I lived in New York without Central Park, which is 843 acres in the middle of town.
San Diego has 1,200 acres in town at Balboa Park.
There are 1,200 acres lined with high-rises behind it as you go up Lincoln Park in Chicago.

Many large cities have their own parks of scale | Image provided by Stantec

The list is somewhat endless, and I could go on…but I think you get the larger point which is that there’s an amazing correlation between great cities and great parks.

As you think of the ways in which North Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and the region are growing, Daniel Island will be surprisingly close to representing the center of growth. Wouldn’t it be nice to get on a water taxi from downtown Charleston, or Mt. Pleasant, or North Charleston, and arrive at Daniel Island ten minutes later to go cycling or walking without the threat of traffic or a crowd? Four hundred acres could encompass a more than 6-mile circular path for those who love cycling, plenty of space for running, soccer, frisbee, or just hanging out at water’s edge.

A map illustrating how the inside of the proposed park might look | Image provided by Stantec

And more to the point, if other great cities have a park of scale, why can’t we?

I find it fascinating that in the 1860s when the 1,017 acres that make up the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco were set aside, they recognized “the need for a spacious park similar to Central Park due to urbanization and crowding.”

Central Park in New York or the Mall in Washington, D.C. could have been made into apartments or homes years ago, and in the short run, money would have been made, but value would have been lost. Once land is developed, it rarely goes back to being open space.

What’s interesting about the southern tip of Daniel Island is that it’s not only well centered, but being on the water, it gets the prevailing summer breeze. This is a huge thing. People flock to Sullivan’s Island or Folly because of that light wind, which makes all the difference in the world on whether or not you can be outside or not for many months of our year.

Wouldn’t it be nice for a family to take a picnic basket after church to water’s edge and get that breeze?

In fact, if we’re not deliberate about getting ahead on the curve on growth, many people will be crowded out of access to the water. Think about South Florida or the New York metropolitan area, many people who grew up having access to the water no longer do.

In short, a park of scale is about maintaining the quality of life that has kept so many of us here and invited so many others to the Charleston metro area. But we have to make the choice to maintain that quality of life because, as we can see in so many urban areas across the world, that’s not the normal course of the way things go.

Second, open space adds value.

Some of the most expensive living spaces in the world are the places closest to open space in metropolitan areas. That’s true on Fifth Avenue in New York overlooking Central Park. It’s true of Millenium Park in Chicago, just as it is true of the parks in cities like London, Sydney, or Paris.

The Charleston area will see a flood of new inhabitants over the next 30 years, not to mention the next 100 years. There will be increasingly less open space, and once it is gone, it is gone forever.

Over 113,000 new homes are expected between now and 2030. This equates to about 269,000 more people and 209,176 more cars. It means the population of the tri-county will roughly mirror that of Charlotte or Jacksonville.

Open space adds value in areas with increasing congestion for all of the reasons you and I have experienced in trips to big cities. People often say that big city living is hard, but it’s in part so because of congestion and traffic and crowding.

A park of scale would be one small addition to offsetting those things that will come as the Charleston metro area grows.

It’s also important because open space and access to the water has been one of the unique qualities that has always marked Charleston. The Tri-County Waterfront Park represents an incredible opportunity in shaping the way the Charleston area will look and feel 100 years from now.

And in this, I would ask for your help. It will take a lot of us pushing in the same direction to make it happen, but I believe it’s absolutely worth doing so. If you're interested in getting involved or just have questions, you can email me at marksanford99@gmail.com or call the office at (843) 352-7572.