Union Pier Stakeholder Advisory Committee meets again
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The 14-member Union Pier Stakeholder Advisory Committee met once again on Monday night to continue discussions on what the future of the 70-acre property should look like.
“We’ve had a lot of engagement. We’ve been really pleased with how many people have come out to talk about what they’d like to see on Union Pier,” said Bob O’Neill, a Fellow for the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities, which is assisting with the community engagement process.
Myra Polson is one of those people. She lives right next to the project site and has done her own research into the history of the property.
Polson attended the meeting Monday and has stayed very involved with the community engagement processes since the original plans for a mixed-use neighborhood were put on pause last year due to concerns from residents.
“When somebody says to me ‘oh there’s nothing you can do about it,’ that sets me on fire. I’m going to find out what you can do about it. At least I’m going to give my best effort to it. And I feel like that we don’t need no high rise over there. We don’t need all this commercial,” Polson told News 2.
During the meeting, the committee was updated on the City of Charleston’s planning efforts as well as what the findings were from two open houses held in January.
“Probably the thing that was universal was access to the water. Public space and access to the water was universal and then after that people have a variety of different views about what should go on there, whether it ought to be active uses, whether it be residential or commercial or some mixes of the two,” O’Neill explained.
Charleston Mayor William Cogswell wrote a letter to the South Carolina Ports Authority last month with three requests. They are to choose a local ownership/development group, eliminate the cruise terminal, and establish a price for the property.
Meanwhile, there won’t be any concrete plans until after community engagement is complete.
“That’s part of the commitment we made is to try to listen to the community first and then try to develop the plan after that,” O’Neill said.
There will be an open house at the Union Pier site on March 5th where the public will be able to tour the property. Two different time slots will be available: 9 am-12 pm and 3 pm-6 pm.
