Charleston council approves package of rezones, including Star Gospel Mission height change and Magnolia Road request

Charleston City Council on Aug. 19 approved a package of seven public-hearing items, including a map amendment to allow a taller building for Star Gospel Mission on Meeting Street and a contested rezoning request for 835 Magnolia Road in West Ashley.

The council voted, by voice, to take items E1 through E7 together with items E1 and E2 amended; the motion carried "as amended," the mayor announced after the voice vote.

The most contested item in the package was the request to rezone 835 Magnolia Road from SR-2 (single-family residential) to CT (commercial transitional). Philip (city planning staff) said the property is adjacent to the West Ashley Bikeway and that the church owning the site seeks the CT designation to add flexibility for a future sale and relocation. Members of the Maryville-Ashleyville neighborhood opposed the rezoning: Marsha Higgins, president of the Maryville Ashleyville Neighborhood Association, said the neighborhood submitted a petition and urged council to deny the change. "Rezoned to commercial, having a business located there ... we do ask you to please do not approve that this property is rezoned from residential to commercial," Higgins said.

Representatives of the church and a neighborhood supporter urged approval. Ramon Washington, identified as pastor of 1 Word Grace Assembly Church on Magnolia Road, said the congregation has been at the site for 10 years and asked council to approve the rezoning to allow the church to relocate. Arthur McFarland, speaking on Reverend Washington's behalf, said the church seats about 200 but currently draws roughly a dozen members and has limited parking; he argued the property’s current and likely future uses would not create the traffic impacts opponents fear.

Star Gospel Mission’s request was presented as a separate rezoning: Philip said the city is the applicant to change portions of the Meeting Street parcel’s height district to allow a four‑story building. Marion Platt, speaking for Star Gospel Mission, said the application covers only a portion of 474 Meeting Street and that the expanded capacity will allow the mission to welcome women and children back onto the campus for the first time since Hurricane Hugo. "By October, you should know we will welcome the first women and children onto our campus since Hurricane Hugo struck Charleston in 1989," Platt said. Council member Mitchell spoke in support of the project’s new services for women and children, saying the mission plans to provide extended shelter and housing assistance for up to about a year to a year and a half.

Other items in the package included a city-owned rezoning on West Ashley Circle from Gathering Place (GP) to General Business (GB) to allow a planned department operations center; Philip noted the site includes wetlands and power-line constraints and that much of the lower portion will be used for stormwater management. Several small single-family annexation-related rezonings were also on the consent package.

Speakers at the public hearing were divided: neighborhood association leaders, longtime residents and property owners urged keeping Magnolia Road residential; representatives of the church and neighborhood supporters urged approval; Star Gospel Mission drew vocal support from Eastside community leaders, including an executive-board representative of the Eastside Community Development Corporation who said the organization met with the mission and supports the proposed expansion.

Councilman Mitchell highlighted the mission’s plans to provide shelter and services to women with children and described outreach and case-management efforts the mission intends to provide to help residents move into permanent housing after stays at the facility.

The planning commission had opposed the Magnolia rezoning by an 8–0 vote, Philip said during his presentation; council members nonetheless approved the overall package.

The mayor noted that item N1 (an annexation/PUD amendment off Folly Road) had been withdrawn by the applicant and therefore was not considered.

The council’s approval moves the rezoning and map-amendment items forward; specific development proposals, permit reviews and design work will follow the rezoning decisions, and individual projects must still satisfy site-plan and building-review requirements.

Votes at a glance: the council approved items E1–E7 (including the 835 Magnolia Road rezoning and the Star Gospel Mission height-district amendment) by voice vote "as amended."