Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Lowcountry Lowline topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advocates urge city to fund Lowcountry Lowline; skatepark preservation assurances noted
Summary
Speakers at Charleston’s Jan. 28 meeting urged the City Council to commit TIF and other support for phase 1 of the Lowcountry Lowline and to preserve the Bridge Spot Skatepark; Friends of the Low Line and preservation groups described fundraising and land-acquisition progress.
Speakers at the Charleston City Council meeting on Jan. 28 urged the council to commit funding and continued support to advance phase 1 of the Lowcountry Lowline and asked the city to preserve the Bridge Spot Skatepark during construction.
The Lowcountry Lowline advocates said the project would provide new connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists, add public space, and deliver flood-mitigation benefits. Winslow Hasty, president and CEO of Historic Charleston Foundation, said his organization has supported the project for years, worked on acquiring the right-of-way from Norfolk Southern and helped raise funds for planning.
Ron Owens, representing Friends of the Lowcountry Lowline, said the group has raised $2,000,000 and funded creation of a conceptual master plan. "This is much more than a park," Owens said, describing the Lowline as a transportation and community asset that would link Hampton Park, the Cooper River Bridge and surrounding neighborhoods.
Katie Zimmerman, executive director of Charleston Moves, said she supports funding phase 1 and thanked council for considering the Bloomberg Asphalt Art grant application and a county planning grant called Better Northbridge (a separate agenda item). Tory Sanders of the Coastal Conservation League praised the Lowline’s flood-mitigation strategies and called the project an investment in resilience and mobility.
Multiple speakers and seven written commenters asked the city to preserve Bridge Spot Skatepark beneath I-26 during Lowline construction; several speakers said they had received direct assurances from staff that the skatepark would not be impacted in the project’s phases. Jason Wilson, a resident who said he had received direct assurances from city officials, said he would shift communications to the correct city contacts now that those assurances exist.
Public commenters said the Lowline would create space for community art, horticulture and recreation, and several noted a decade of local work to advance the project, including right-of-way acquisition and planning.
The meeting record shows public comment in support of the Lowcountry Lowline but does not record a council vote tonight that allocates TIF dollars to the project; council members later moved and approved separate agenda items including a resolution supporting Charleston County’s Better Northbridge planning application to USDOT and other routine approvals (see "Votes at a glance").
The Friends of the Lowcountry Lowline and other advocates said they will continue fundraising and community engagement to advance design and construction.
