Advocacy Alerts

Advocacy Update: City Plan Public Hearing

preservation-admin , June 6, 2021

Planning Commission Special Meeting
Wednesday, June 9 at 5:00 PM
Via Zoom
This Wednesday, the Planning Commission will hold an important public hearing on the City Plan. This is the community’s chance to review and respond to the draft City Plan, which is Charleston’s updated Comprehensive Plan that will guide land use planning, policy, and investment in the city through 2030.

The City Plan is organized into nine key “elements,” as required by state law. A good starting place for review is each section’s recommendations, which can be found on the following pages of the Plan, available at this link:

POPULATION (N/A)
NATURAL RESOURCES (p. 43)
CULTURAL RESOURCES (p. 53)
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (p. 61)
TRANSPORTATION (p. 75)
PRIORITY INVESTMENT (p. 89)
HOUSING (p. 101)
LAND USE (p. 129)
RESILIENCE & EQUITY (p. 141)

The PSC has supported a collaborative and transparent City Plan process for over a year, including hosting a virtual community engagement session with our partners at the Coastal Conservation League. We also provided detailed feedback to City Planning Staff on initial draft recommendations in April.

We are pleased that many of our specific policy recommendations have been incorporated directly into the latest draft Plan. But there is room for improvement. We call on our members and supporters to push for the following:

  • Tourism management: Affordable housing, neighborhood-serving businesses, and quality of life all depend on a comprehensive approach to tourism management. The final plan must put forward a bolder vision for a livable Charleston.
  • Economic development: The latest draft omits an initial recommendation to create an office of economic development. We urge the City to reincorporate this recommendation.
  • Shared green space: The City should bolster goals to create more public green space by requiring greater contributions from new developments.

Submit your comments or sign up to speak here or send an email to boards@charleston-sc.gov by 12:00 PM, this Wednesday, June 9. Thank you for standing with the PSC!

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