Charleston real estate committee approves Low Line access easement, quitclaim deed, industrial park amendment and three annexations

CHARLESTON — The City of Charleston Committee on Real Estate unanimously approved several land-use items March 24, including a surface easement to provide public pedestrian and bicycle access to the planned Low Line Linear Park, authorization for the mayor to execute a quitclaim deed conveying about 40 feet of Shepherd Street right-of-way, an amendment to include a brewery property in the Joint County Industrial Park, and three single-family residential annexations.

The easement and deed are connected to a multi-party memorandum of understanding from February 2019. City staff said the easement would be granted on property owned by LC Line Street Phase 1 LLC and would allow people to travel from Meeting Street across that private parcel to reach the future Low Line Linear Park. "This easement ... would allow access, for pedestrians in the general public, and bicyclists to go from Meeting Street across their property to access the linear park," said Miss Dinwiddie, a city staff member presenting the item. Under the 02/2019 MOU, the city will accept the easement only after the property owner completes specified improvements, which staff listed as street lighting, a walking path or sidewalk, irrigation, topsoil, seeding and utilities.

Staff said the property owner will remain responsible for landscaping and subsurface maintenance, while the city would be responsible for streetlight maintenance and surface maintenance of the sidewalk or walking path. Committee members approved the form of the easement document so it will be ready for the mayor to sign once those improvements are complete.

Relatedly, the committee approved a quitclaim deed conveying an approximately 40-foot portion of the Shepherd Street right-of-way to the same entity. Miss Dinwiddie told the committee that the city must abandon that western portion of the right-of-way under the 2019 MOU and that the right-of-way abandonment process has been started; she said a public hearing on the abandonment is expected next month.

The committee also approved a county-led request to add a brewery property to the Joint County Industrial Park. Amy Wharton, a city staff member, said the applicant (recorded in the meeting as Beer Baron LLC; the record also contains the spelling Beer Barrett LLC) is expanding operations on Johns Island and that adding the parcel to the industrial park is expected to create 33 new jobs and bring the city an estimated $662,000 over a 20-year term. "33 new jobs, and they're expecting it will bring the city $662,000 over the 20 year term," Wharton said.

Finally, committee members approved three annexations — one each in Districts 7, 11 and 2 — that staff described as single-family residential. Miss Connor, a city staff member, confirmed the annexations are for single-family homes; the items were presented and approved together.

All votes at the March 24 meeting were taken by voice and recorded by the chair as unanimous "ayes." The record does not include a roll-call tally or named mover/second for each motion; committee action minutes reflect approval by voice vote.

The committee concluded its agenda during an approximately 11-minute public meeting. Staff thanked committee members and said additional hearings and follow-up steps (including the right-of-way abandonment public hearing) remain on the calendar.