comment summary revised

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• Publié par: Mochag
• Nombre de lectures: 117
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sea Islands Parkway
Charleston County Council Public Meeting
June 19, 2008
Public Comment Summary Report

A public meeting was held Thursday, June 19, 2008 at St. Johns High School on Johns Island to
gather input on the idea of building a road, known currently as the Sea Islands Parkway, across
Johns Island, and whether or not council should pursue asking the S.C. Department of
Transportation to begin considering a toll road option.

523 people were listed on sign-in sheets although there may have been attendees who did not
sign-in. 139 comment forms were received at the meeting and 46 people provided verbal
comments directly to Charleston County Council. Citizens were also given an opportunity to
submit comments electronically through the ccroadwise.com Web site. Comments were
accepted through July 7, 2008 to be included in this summary report. 885 comments were
received through the Web site, 19 comments were received by fax, and 26 comments were
mailed directly to the Charleston County RoadWise office.

In addition to the comments generated by the questionnaire and Web site, Councilmember
Colleen Condon and the Coastal Conservation League forwarded a total of 618 hard copies of e-
mails to the Charleston County RoadWise office to be included in this summary. 290 of those e-
mails were duplicates.

In order to properly summarize all comments received and to ensure that duplicates were not
counted twice, comments were tallied by citizen not by each comment form received. For
example, if Joe Citizen sent a comment through the Web site, through the Coastal Conservation
League and also through Colleen Condon, his comments were only counted once, not three
times.

Some comment forms did not include general comments, important issues and/or selections of
preferred alternatives. Although each comment form was reviewed, some may not have
contained data that could be included in the tallies. As a result, differences in totals for the
various sections have occurred.

Answers from the questionnaire and other concerns specified by the public were tallied and the
results are shown in this report in the form of graphs. Public concerns and issues could not be
presumed through context and were tallied as they were written where possible.

“General Comments” on comment forms and verbal comments heard at the meeting were
transcribed and are included in this report as Appendix A.

Two petitions were received concerning the Sea Islands Parkway. The Coastal Conservation
League submitted a petition of 2,147 signatures opposing the Sea Islands Parkway. Concerned
Citizens for Johns and Wadmalaw Island Roads submitted a petition of 1,809 signatures in favor
of the Sea Islands Parkway. Both petitions are included in this report as Appendix B.
1
Total Percentage of Responses Received by Location
(Percentage of 1,274 Citizens)

35%
32%
30%
25%
22%
20%
15%
11%
10%
10%
8%
7%
4%5% 4%
3%
0%
Johns Island Downtown Wadmalaw James Island Kiawah Seabrook West Ashley Other in state Other out state






The chart originally found on this page has been replaced with the
chart on page 7












2 Public Concerns and/or Requests

1,274 citizens commented on the issues that most concern them. The top
five public concerns and/or requests are illustrated in the pie chart below.

Top 5 Public Concerns/Requests
Percentage of 1,274 Citizens
Ease current
traffic/congestion conditions
23%
Safety of the drivers
onJohns Island
Possible property 56%
acquisition and/or
residential displacement
18%
Protect the grand oak trees
along existing roads
Conserve the wetlands 16%
on Johns Island
17%



A chart illustrating the “other public concerns and requests” can be found on
the next page.

3 Other Public Concerns/Requests
Percentage of 1,274 Citizens
Preserve rural
characteristics of
Accessibility for Johns Island
emergency vehicles 6% High project costs
1%
4%
Timely evacuation
2%
Protect wildlife Destruction of farmlands
2% 12%
Reduce and enforce
speed limits
5%
Sychronize traffic lights Conserve cultural
4% resources
5%
Environmental impacts
6% Possible increase in
development
11%















4 939 of the citizens who submitted comments at the meeting, through the Web site, by fax or
mail commented specifically on their preference as it pertains to building the Sea Islands
Parkway, not building it, widening River Road and widening Bohicket Road. The chart below
illustrates the percentage of citizens who favor one particular option over the others.
618 e-mails were sent directly to Councilmember Colleen Condon and the Coastal Conservation
Received comment forms from meeting/Web site/mail/fax
(Percentage of 939 citizens)
80%
68%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
15%
13%
10%
4%
0%
In favor of the Sea Islands NOT in favor of the Sea Islands Widen River Road Widen Bohicket Road
Parkway Parkway
League. Of those 618 e-mails, 290 were duplicates (sent by the same person). As a result, 328
citizens’ comments were tallied when developing the chart below.

Public Comments received through CCL and Councilmember Condon
(Percentage of 328 Citizens)
100%
92%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
5% 3%
0%
NOT in favor of the Sea Islands Parkway In favor of the Sea Islands Parkway Comment received but preference unclear
5 904 citizens responded to the question of, “IF the Sea Islands Parkway is built, should it
be funded by a toll?” The results are illustrated in the chart below.


90%
80%
76%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
24%
20%
10%
0%
YES NO
IF Sea Islands Parkway is built, should it be funded by a toll?











6 The following chart replaces the chart found on the bottom of page two. When the
original votes were counted, preferences for “Widen Bohicket Road” and “Widen River
Road” were tallied as such. These comment forms were reviewed again to identify an
overall citizen preference for or against the Sea Islands Parkway if one was written. The
results are illustrated in the graph below.

Green = In Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway
Red = Not in Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway





Overall Sea Islands Parkway; For and Against by Location


300
262
250
200
165 165
150
105
100 90
73
60
50 39
29
25 22 2120 171511 9 6
0
Johns Island Downtown Wadmalaw James Island Kiawah Seabrook West Ashley Other In State Other Out
Island State










The following chart is an overall illustration of the preferences FOR or AGAINST the Sea
Islands Parkway.
7
Green = In Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway
Red = Not in Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway



Overall Sea Islands Parkway For and Against

800
689
700
600
500
445
400
300
200
100
0
In Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway NOT in Favor of the Sea Islands Parkway

















APPENDIX A
8
The comments spoken the night of the meeting were recorded. The transcription below
is verbatim where possible. If a word was inaudible or could not be understood, a
question mark (--?--) was put in its place.

Speaker 1 – William Saunders
I’m a life resident of Johns Island, and Thomas Legare who is also a life resident of Johns Island
and we represent the concerned citizens of Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island. Johns and
Wadmalaw Island do not have any elected officials on the City Council. We don’t have any
elected officials on County Council. We don’t have any elected officials on the school board. We
have school district 9 which Mr. Ravenel has taken over the power of that. The only thing that
we’ve got a chance to do right now is
I see Johns and Wadmalaw Island as I see a surrogate mother. We have to give the land. We
have to suffer through the construction of the proposed road. We have to make sure that
everything is done properly, and when the road is built that it’s going to be used just by certain
people who will have all of the scars and all of the pain and our lives here on Johns Island will
never be the same again. I am saying that this is not something that is needed for the golf
tournament, but that’s what it is about 2012. (Applause). Kiawah and Seabrook Islands and the
Beech Company has a plan for that particular tournament. It has no relationship at all