Orthodontist near Mount Pleasant, SC

MOUNT PLEASANT — Town Council took the first step toward implementing a new 1 percent fee on all eligible local retail sales to drive tourism and development at Patriots Point.

The surcharge would essentially act as a new tax on many retail purchases, aside from groceries and other exempt categories.

The town held a special meeting Dec. 2 for a first reading on the tourism development fee as well as the proposal to rezone and rename the area known as the Waterfront Gateway District to Patriots Annex. The vote to move the proposal forward passed unanimously and no objections were raised.

Mayor Will Haynie said the fee will be instrumental in funding the National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership conference center and more than $100 million in public infrastructure improvements at Patriots Point. Those additions will include a new town-owned, 1,000-space parking garage, an expansion of the waterfront boardwalk, the re-turfing of the town's soccer fields and improvements to the College of Charleston's soccer stadium.

Haynie said the proposed fee is a "means of funding and building infrastructure to turn Patriots Point into the national destination that it was intended to be."

For municipalities to enact such as fee, they must be located in a county where revenue from the state accommodations tax​ totals at least $14 million annually and have an established visitors bureau. The tax is imposed specifically for tourism development and advertisement, but it allows for a portion of the tax to be used for property tax rebates for residents after two years have passed.

Town Administrator Eric DeMoura estimates that initially, on average, residents would see an estimated $35 rebate on their property tax bills.

"The key difference is municipalities can use sales tax money more broadly, but the tourism development fee is limited to promote tourism and hospitality," DeMoura said.

Haynie sees the fee as a win-win because citizens get a rebate on their property taxes and the town can capture more tourism dollars.

Myrtle Beach is the only South Carolina town that charges the tourism development fee, which has been in place since 2009, according to the state Department of Revenue's website.

It won't happen overnight. The fee proposal needs a second reading and, if approved, the town estimates the soonest it could be implemented is in late spring of 2025.

The town expects a return of more than $204 million in the first 10 years the tax is imposed. In that time, the designated partner organizations are expected to see $167.4 million. About $30 million is slated for the town capital project fund and more than $7.4 million will be reimbursed as a property tax rebate for Mount Pleasant owner-occupied homes.

Members from the National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership, Explore Charleston, the College of Charleston, Patriots Point Development Authority and Charleston Battery spoke in favor for the fee and the planned development agreement.

Public parking and waterfront access are reoccurring concerns but officials believe it can be solved with the fee.

The historic Navy warships at Patriots Point and the 318,000 visitors that come to tour them each year help deliver nearly $205 million in annual economic activity, according to a study by the University of South Carolina. And the figure is expected to nearly double as the $500 million mixed-use Patriots Annex development is completed at the waterfront visitor attraction over the next two decades.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – The Town of Mount Pleasant announced a major update to the Patriots Point project on Monday.

The town’s council approved of the first reading for two ordinances regarding the Patriots Point District, which is expected to bring millions in revenue. The first one is a tourism development fee, which will eventually give back a rebate and provide amenities for residents. The second is amendment for the Patriots Point Planned Development district.

“Part of the reason for this is the timing, to get the center for leadership completed,” Will Haynie, mayor of Mount Pleasant, said. “Part of the reason is that they are getting ready to break ground on Patriots Annex, which we did not vote on, that was voted on three councils ago and was entitled. Now is the time to have that center for leadership and infrastructure done.”

General James Livingston, a Medal of Honor recipient, added to how far the Patriots Point project has come.

“This journey has been a remarkable journey and we saw it become a really key crossroad today,” Livingston said. “Just to emphasize how wonderful this community is and how patriotic it is. I listen to the comments about what the future looks like. It couldn’t be better.”

The mayor also said it was “one of the biggest days in history” for the town, as it will be able to move forward on the district. This particular project includes covering the rest of the funding for the Medal of Honor leadership facility and recreational park. It is expected to bring renovations to the College of Charleston and Charleston Battery facilities, as well as a parking garage, a conference center, and a boardwalk.

However, the town council must go through a second reading of these ordinances before it can become law. Haynie expressed his excitement about the area going forward.

“Whether we like it or not, tourism is here, and now ours is going to be branded in patriotism and the Medal of Honor,” Haynie said. “I can’t think of a better win-win for the Town of Mount Pleasant.”

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Published: Dec. 19, 2024 at 1:50 AM PST|

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - As both the safety and mobility of cyclists and pedestrians continue to be an issue, the Town of Mount Pleasant is taking action to make the roads safer for all users.

Two major projects in the Town of Mount Pleasant have just been approved and will improve safety and accessibility for nonmotorized road users in the area.

The Town has received approval for a shared-use path on the Isle of Palms Connector, as well as a significant project on Coleman Boulevard that would include the addition of new bike lanes and a new signal system for cyclists.

The Town received about $1.2 million in funding for the Coleman Boulevard project and a little under $500,000 for the IOP Connector project.

On the IOP Connector, town leaders plan to remove the sidewalk on the north side and replace it with a shared use path that will lead to the connector bridge itself, which will be a part of the Mount Pleasant Way, a series of multi-use paths throughout the town for the safety of pedestrians. They plan to separate cyclists and pedestrians with a 12-foot multi-use path and install lighting.

The Coleman Boulevard bike lanes project is something that no other municipality in the state has anything even remotely like, according to James Aton, the deputy director of capital projects and transportation department for the town.

They plan to not only complete the last remaining gap of bike lanes along the entirety of Coleman Boulevard, but to add nine signal heads with technology that actually will sense a cyclist in the bike lane approaching an intersection.

This will work similarly to the countdown signals for pedestrians, except cyclists will not have to press a button and there will be a traffic light specifically for cyclists. The thermal cameras that already exist in the intersections for motorized vehicles will sense a cyclist coming and turn all the lights in the intersection red for the motorized vehicles. It will give the cyclist their own green light for approximately five seconds, allowing the cyclist to proceed with the utmost safety.

In addition to the new signals, this funding covered the last unfunded segment of Coleman Boulevard. Leaders have been working to install over 2,300 feet of dedicated bike lanes, separating cyclists, pedestrians and motorists from Chuck Dawley Boulevard all the way to Patriots Point. This will cover the last area needed. This is something that town leaders have been working toward all year.

Aton says that they are very excited to get these projects going and he shared what his hope is for the future of these projects.

“The funding, of course, itself was for nonmotorized pedestrian, bicycle uses,” he says. “In line with our safety action plan, both of these segments and projects will work to improve mobility and safety in the Town and hopefully tie to other existing sections in the future.”

Aton says that both projects will require some design plans and permitting which should take about 12-18 months to complete. Once they can get started, he anticipates that it should take about 12 months for them to get the work completed on each of these projects so it will be about another two years before these projects come to fruition.

Aton says that they are looking forward to being able to prioritize their pedestrians and cyclists in the community as there is a big need for it. He says they are happy that other government organizations, like the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments and the South Carolina Department of Transportation felt the same way and chose to back these projects.

“We’re very excited about these two, nonmotorized infrastructure pieces. Happy that the COG thought they were worth funding. We certainly do and we look forward to getting the design process started and implemented to improve the safety of our nonmotorized users in the town,” Aton says.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

|Updated: Dec. 9, 2024 at 7:10 PM EST

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie publicly apologized Monday for the controversy surrounding a proposed sales tax increase for a major project currently underway.

At a council meeting last week, members unanimously approved the first reading of a tourism development fee relating to the Patriots Point development.

At a press conference on Monday, Haynie said the proposed retail fee for the project sparked major outcry among residents and because of the public disapproval, the tax will be dropped.

“As a leader of the Town of Mount Pleasant, I come before you today to take full responsibility for the shortcomings and the bad optics of the rollout of the plan the town is considering for the Patriots Point district, and to ask for your forgiveness. I’m also announcing that the controversial funding mechanism, the 1% retail sales tax, will not be considered, and that idea will be dropped completely, including any discussion about a referendum since that tax will not be used regardless,” Haynie said.

Haynie asked Mount Pleasant citizens and council for a little extra grace at Monday’s press conference after he shared that one of his parents was recently hospitalized.

“My sister and I had to make the difficult decision to move both parents from their home of 55 years to a memory care residence here in Mount Pleasant. I am still involved in those adjustments on a daily basis. It was an urgent situation, and I trust that those families who have been through this will understand how all-encompassing it is. I don’t claim to have any superpowers. There are many things I would have handled differently, communicating and in the lead up to last week’s council meeting under normal circumstances,” he said.

According to the project’s overview plan, the proposed fee would have implemented a local tax on retail items, which would have helped boost the local economy.

“It is a unique blessing to have the opportunity for the Town of Mount Pleasant to be Patriot Point hosts. This is why our long-standing comprehensive plan and our economic development strategic plan direct us to make it a thriving area for its economic benefit and for that of the town. All of the town council share this vision, and that is why we are working on it. Our responsibility remains to ensure adequate infrastructure for resiliency, traffic, safety and our work on that continues,” Haynie said.

Haynie took full responsibility for his shortcomings but reassured citizens that their disapproval had been heard.

Residents upset claim the proposal completely bypassed the usual review process and went directly to the council for their approval.

Town of Mount Pleasant Councilman John Iacofano posted to Facebook saying, “While I appreciate and can support the vision behind this initiative, I am deeply concerned about the lack of transparency, the absence of stakeholder involvement, and the potential tax burden this project would place on our community. This project proposes taxing visitors and citizens of Mount Pleasant, creating one of the highest sales tax rates in the state while relinquishing control to the CVB.”

Haynie added that any ideas or discussions of a referendum are now out of the question.

“We cannot drag something as big as Patriots Point or the Medal of Honor into a local referendum because those things are controversial and get nasty, and there won’t be a referendum because there won’t be a tax,” he said.

Haynie said since the tax has been taken off the table, there are certain improvements that no longer have funding.

“The other things will find a way, and I’m sure some of the things, probably the conference center, will probably not happen,” Haynie said.

Some of the estimated revenue collected from the tax increase was going to be used for building the National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership, a project the town has already contributed $3 million towards.

The project features a 50,000-square-foot leadership facility, recreational park, renovations to Charleston Battery soccer stadium, a new 1,000-space parking garage, conference center, new public boardwalk, paved roads and signage enhancements.

Haynie said the state has given $5 million towards the National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership Center.

Haynie said the council’s next step is to work backward, and their efforts to redevelop Patriots Point will proceed with better ideas.

The next town council meeting is on Dec. 10.

Haynie said since the retail tax idea is dropped, there’s no need for citizens to attend the meeting and blame the council.

“Citizens do not need to come Tuesday night and blame council. They don’t need to demand a referendum. There’ll be no 1% tax, and council is not responsible for this. I am. I’m the leader of Mount Pleasant,” he said.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Dec. 4, 2024 at 7:45 PM PST|

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Mount Pleasant’s commercial design review board met on Wednesday night and discussed the designs of a potential new office building.

This building is proposed to be located on Midtown Avenue across from MUSC Midtown in Mount Pleasant and off Hungryneck Boulevard. It is planned to sit between two developments that got final approval by the board back in October called Gather Mount Pleasant and Crooked Hammock.

Gather Mount Pleasant will be a food, entertainment and public gathering space and Crooked Hammock will be a brewery.

One of the co-developers, Mack Cross, said that this 10,000-square-foot, 2-story office building would be the third component of their Midtown project. He said they would bring the final designs back to the commercial design review board in January.

“We don’t know who the end user is going to be now, but it’s going to be a really cool place to work, so we’re optimistic that there will be some interest there,” Cross said.

Developers say, although each project has a different ownership structure, they are all working together to develop the Midtown project.

Located directly behind where the projects are expected to be built is a residential community called Midtown Townhomes.

When Gather Mount Pleasant and Crooked Hammock got final approval at the commercial design review board meeting in October many residents of the townhomes came out to voice concerns about an entrance and exit point for vehicles located on Fortier Drive which many said is essentially a driveway for them. They expressed concerns about safety and congestion with the access point being on that road.

One resident said he believed the community would support this development if they found an alternative access point. However, town officials assured residents they examined various places to put this access point but that this was the best spot.

On Monday, Midtown Townhomes HPR Owners Association filed an appeal petition as a result of the final design review of the Gather Mount Pleasant and Crooked Hammock projects getting approved.

The Gather Mount Pleasant property is owned by Gather Mtp, LLC, and the Crooked Hammock and proposed office building properties are owned by Live Oaks Mtp, LLC.

Legal documents state the development plans for the brewery on the Live Oaks property have two access points, one on Hungryneck Boulevard and the other from the Gather Mount Pleasant property on Fortier Drive.

The documents state pedestrian and vehicle traffic would travel Hancock Street and Fortier Drive, the association’s private driveways, before crossing the Gather Mount Pleasant property onto the Live Oaks property.

Legal documents also state that the Gather Mount Pleasant property has easement rights over Fortier Drive and Hancock Street for ingress and egress as well as parking in designated spots, but the Live Oaks property does not have these easement rights. Documents also state the planned access to the Live Oaks property from Fortier Drive and Hancock Street is in violation of the terms of the easement agreement and prohibited.

Legal documents state the overburdening use of Fortier Drive and Hancock Street raises safety and traffic concerns.

They also state that the Midtown Townhomes HPR Owners Association is requesting that the decision made by the commercial design review board on final designs reverse their decision on the Gather Mount Pleasant and Live Oaks properties.

Mack Cross responded to the concerns of residents.

“We’re going to be a sensitive neighbor and there is a lot that we can control in how the business operates that will keep their concerns and their interests in mind and so we’re going to do all that we can to mitigate the impact of our commercial project on their properties and their community,” Cross said.

Live 5 reached out to the attorney for the Midtown Townhomes HPR Owners Association and they said they do not comment on ongoing litigation matters.

Live 5 also reached out to the Town of Mount Pleasant and they said they would not be providing a comment at this time since this involves an active appeal.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.