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James Island Reincorporation


Spartan

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"Thank you for shopping at Kmart!"

Seriously, the woman has issues. Have you read the official James Island website? She comes off as conceided to me.

She has been known to send out people to taunt the residents who annexed into Charleston and has repeatedly stated that they are traitors and not worth having in HER town on TV.
That's funny because on the James Island website she says:

It is unimportant if one is in the Town or has been annexed

to the City of Charleston. We must join together to make James Island a better place for all to live.

The Town of James Island will work toward that end.

map.gif

And is this map still accurate? Or has James Island been reduced a lot by people annexing into Charleston?

Edited by jr7777
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map.gif

And is this map still accurate? Or has James Island been reduced a lot by people annexing into Charleston?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. That is the map of the previous town of James Island. The new one (if incorporated) will likely not have those same boundaries. Currently there are no boundaries, since the town does not officially exist.

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No. That is the map of the previous town of James Island. The new one (if incorporated) will likely not have those same boundaries. Currently there are no boundaries, since the town does not officially exist.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh I know that much, i'm just asking if James Island were to incorporate again, would the borders be signifigantly reduced or would it be close to the same?

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Oh I know that much, i'm just asking if James Island were to incorporate again, would the borders be signifigantly reduced or would it be close to the same?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, I see what you mean. The answer is yes in that case. The Town will have to look similar to that, but it won't look exactly the same. The reason it looks like that is because they are annexing around the existing Charleston city limits. Basicly this town will fill in the holes that Charleston is unable to annex, resulting in this unorganized patchwork of a municipality. This is also why Charleston is scrambling to annex as much as it can before James Island can incorporate.

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It seems more and more like James Island wants desparately to be something it isnt- rural.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ding ding...you win the prize. They say they want to control development, but there are scarcely any developable parcels left. They complain about traffic on Folly Rd, but acknowledge that most of this traffic is beach traffic heading to Folly Beach, which incorporation will not correct.

I think at this point, its more about a vendetta and retribution from the 93 attempt than anything else.

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Charleston just annexed 9 more properties. The article had a few other interesting facts about this

  • The city has annexed nearly 200 properties in the past month.
  • "There are roughly 24,000 properties in the unincorporated areas of James Island"
  • James Island is conducting a feasibility study, which must be completed before the town can file with the state.
  • James Island says it has enough petition signatures.

What I would like to know is then a town incorporates, how can it incorporate 24,000 properties with 1500 signatures. Maybe its just me, but that just doesn't make sense.

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In the article link below, you can see that the people of James Island who are trying again for a 3rd town are really starting to divide the community. On top of Charleston's annexations, Folly Beach is getting too many petitions to be annexed into their city limits. As a result, Folly Beach's city limits are encroaching into the east side of James Island, even a little bit into the middle!

They're saying that Folly's expansion with the pending annexations is the largest expansion since 1973, the year it incorporated. IMO, these people requesting to be in the city of Folly Beach actually make sense. One guy is quoted as saying that what happens in Folly affects him more than in Charleston, anyway. Since Folly Beach is an established city AND is known to be a beach suburb of Charleston, I think this expansion is a good idea...as long as Folly doesn't go too far into the island. If the city does, then it'll start interfering with Charleston's jurisdictions.

Proposed annexations an edgy topic on Folly

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From what I know of Folly Beach, the FBers don't want to lose the tight control they have over there little beach. If too many James Islanders are brought into Folly, the political balance could shift. The current Folly Beach population is like 2,000 or less, so it wouldn't take that much for that to happen. That is particularly true if large vacant parcels are annexed, and then developed with a high density.

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They will probably just get enough to secure the future and to have a gateway into the city that looks how they want it to.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Keep in mind also, Folly Beach can only annex the islanders whose land is contiguous to city limits. Charleston limits already isolate some eastern parts of the island from Folly Beach.

Vic, you're absolutely correct on your observation. The people on Folly want tight control over what happens on their beach, and allowing many people on James Island into the city can shift the balance of power. There is already some property being looked at for a substantial condo complex in recently acquired land.

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Police requirements may slow down incorporation efforts

The new police requirements appear to be what is holding up the filing of the incorporation papers for James Island. The petiton signatures have been obtained according to previous reports. Hopefully the cost of the protection will raise the cost of incorporation to a level that will give James Islanders pause before voting for incorporation again. If nothing else, it gives Charleston more time to receive annexation requests from James Islanders.

This article also mentions New Hope and Sheep Island as trying to incorporate. Does anyone know where these are located? I wasn't sure if this was one or two new proposed towns. I seem to remember New Hope being in Berkeley Co., but I can't be sure. They must be pretty small, if I haven't heard of them.

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Police requirements may slow down incorporation efforts

The new police requirements appear to be what is holding up the filing of the incorporation papers for James Island.  The petiton signatures have been obtained according to previous reports.  Hopefully the cost of the protection will raise the cost of incorporation to a  level that will give James Islanders pause before voting for incorporation again.  If nothing else, it gives Charleston more time to receive annexation requests from James Islanders. 

This article also mentions New Hope and Sheep Island as trying to incorporate.  Does anyone know where these are located?  I wasn't sure if this was one or two new proposed towns.  I seem to remember New Hope being in Berkeley Co., but I can't be sure.  They must be pretty small, if I haven't heard of them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

New Hope and Sheep Island are both in Berkeley County but are squarely in the path of growth extending from Summerville. Westvaco recently sold off more than 5000 acres off of SHeep Island Rd near 176 to Crescent, LLC (the development arm of Duke Power). Talk that the site could support upwards of 16,000 homes has them scared to death that the relatively rural area will change...and they are prbably right.

New Hope is out near Jedburg. There was a zoning change request last year from a developer who wanted to build like 500 homes. THe change was ultimately defeated, but the folks in the area want to gain control over planning issues.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some more developments with James Island: the city of Charleston annexed three more James Island parcels which will bring the total amount of properties annexed by the city this summer to 199, all at the owners request. Mayor Riley has contended that the city will challenge the new town, if successfully voted on, because the new incorporation rules are unconstitutional. They are annexing properties at a fast rate because once incorporation papers have been filed, the city has to stop.

If I were making a case, I would state that the main basis for these new incorporation rules to be unjust are the fact that there is a double standard for these new "towns" and existing cities. These new town limits can jump across parcels of land already annexed by another city, but existing cities can't do that...the land has to be contiguous to city limits. Folks, this is clearly a double standard and pure hypocrisy at its best.

Charleston annexes 3 more James Island parcels

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I think the law should include a clasue for a certain amount of contiguous land, or something, that would not allow such a patchwork of a town to be created. I mean, this town won't even have a well defined and contiguous stretch of land on a main road.

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It really is; this is why I'm actually hoping that James Island will attempt to reincorporate so that the law can be struck down and repealed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't there another way to repeal the law without James Island residents attempting again? It just seems like such a waste of bureaucracy, time, effort, and money. Think of how much money the cities and state of SC could use for other projects for existing cities if they weren't trying to fight bad legislation like this.

As far as including a clause for a particular amount of contiguous land, I agree with placing it in the new law, but you know it won't be done, because town formers know it would thwart their efforts. I also believe that as part of the James Island referendum, there should be another choice: to join the city of Charleston and consolidate the island. Keep it an "either-or" issue, you know?

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