(Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a story published online earlier this week.)
Charleston City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a fast-moving proposal to create a special development district that would allow the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to be exempt from some of the city’s zoning restrictions.
The project, which has reportedly been in the works for nearly a year but has not been widely discussed by the public, would allow for rapid growth and expansion in a zone around MUSC.
“A lot of tweaking and changes have been going on as a result of community input and advocacy input,” Charleston Mayor William Cogswell said at the Sept. 23 meeting.
The district overlay zone would allow MUSC to demolish 17 properties near the hospital without approval from the city’s Board of Architectural Review — though approval would still be needed for other buildings and for new construction. It would increase height limitations on new construction to up to 250 feet in some areas and remove restrictions for off-site park-and-ride facilities or garages. It also would remove restrictions on hours of operation for businesses, among other changes.
Despite the seeming victory for the university and project leaders, Cogswell called the proposal a “compromise.”
“Did MUSC get everything they want? No,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s an example of how things should work, and I appreciate everyone being willing to lean in.
“I do trust MUSC,” Cogswell added. “They have been around for 200 years, since before there were even mayors. … And they have an incredible track record of providing incredible amenities for not just the city but for the region. For this next chapter, for which I applaud their vision and ambition … I think it is our job to work with them to make that vision into a reality.”
Advocates, citizens concerned
The city received more than a dozen public comments on the proposal at the start of the Sept. 23 meeting. While many shared support for MUSC’s efforts to expand and provide higher quality care for Lowcountry patients, they also shared concerns for historic preservation, flooding, increasingly bad traffic and a growing lack of available parking in the area.
“Flooding on the peninsula worsens every year,” said Susan Lyons, a member of the Harleston Village community adjacent to the MUSC campus. “While the city and MUSC are promising that flooding will be addressed, I would have wanted to see specific plans for this as a condition for approval of the overlay district.
“Flood waters and traffic backup know no boundaries,” she added. “This project should have prioritized specific forward-looking planning for its impact on the surrounding areas. The public’s response reflects that.”
Preservation Society of Charleston President and CEO Brian Turner said the recent revisions to the proposal are steps in the right direction, but there’s more work to be done.
“Our focus has been on ensuring this zoning change results in better investments in civic infrastructure,” he told the Charleston City Paper Wednesday. “That means stormwater, drainage, transit and building rehabilitation. The revised ordinance is an important starting point, but it will be incumbent on the city and Medical University to work together with community partners to ensure these aspirations are delivered.”
City leaders hopeful for MUSC’s future
Despite the concerns from community advocates and residents, council members lauded MUSC’s commitment to remain on the peninsula for the foreseeable future.
“MUSC is facing a lot of the same challenges we all are facing on the peninsula and around the city,” council member Ross Appel said at the Sept. 23 meeting. “For MUSC specifically: major stormwater flooding issues; very difficult and I would argue antiquated, unpredictable, cumbersome zoning regulations that we have.
“And against all of those challenges, MUSC didn’t do the easy thing, which would be to bail and go to Summerville or North Charleston or somewhere else. They’ve decided to stick it out with the city of Charleston and remain on the peninsula into the next century.”
Council member Mike Seekings, who chairs the Charleston Area Regional Transit Authority (CARTA), said he is not as worried about traffic worsening in the area as some members of the community.
“Today, MUSC is the biggest customer of CARTA,” he said. “We move on and off campus every month 40,000 riders. That’s 40,000 cars that don’t come onto the peninsula.”
In fact, he added, it’s probably going to get better with time.
“If you think about this holistically, as a large campus that is going to plan across the board, it’s going to be a long time before you see anything come out of the ground, including a brand-new cancer center,” Seekings said. “Ten years from now, right through the middle of this campus, Lowcountry Rapid Transit will be up and operating — the largest and only large-scale public transit project we’ve ever seen in the state.
“We feel really comfortable that we can work with [MUSC] to take care of this.”
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