Charleston International wants permission to fill 79 acres of wetlands. Ask what goes there and the official answer is nothing, yet.
The state Department of Environmental Services has been reviewing a water quality certification tied to those 79 acres near International Boulevard and Michaux Parkway in North Charleston, Live 5 News reported, with public comments due Oct. 30. That certification is the state's piece of a joint review with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which handles the federal wetlands permit.
The airport's line to Live 5: this is long-term planning, a placeholder, and nothing specific is being built now.
In development terms, that's getting the hardest permission first. Wetlands permits are slow and never guaranteed. An owner who already holds one can move fast the day a tenant or a use shows up. The Post & Courier reports the authority described the filing as a way to keep its development options open.
The paper's reporting fills in the map. The wetlands make up about half of a roughly 158-acre tract along Dorchester Road, split by Michaux Parkway, mostly wooded. The airport's filing with the Corps, the paper says, describes an industrial and commercial build-out that would let it move non-aviation uses off land it needs for aviation, citing growth in tourism, population and tenants like Boeing.
The state's wildlife agency appears to have seen more than a placeholder. According to the Post & Courier, S.C. Department of Natural Resources comments, obtained through a records request, describe a master plan that includes hotels, offices, industrial buildings, retail, new roads and parking.
DNR didn't object. Its conditions, per the paper: prove no less damaging option is practical, and stop oil, metals, chemicals and dirt from washing off the site toward the Ashley River.
To offset the loss, the airport would purchase wetland mitigation bank credits and leave alone another 27.4 acres of wetlands sitting on an old phosphate mine, the paper reports.
The pushback is mostly about water. Neighbors told Live 5 they want to know what gets built and what it does to drainage. Liz Munn, co-founder of the Charleston County Tree Preservation Alliance, asked whether anyone had looked at alternatives and raised the risk of flooding nearby homes and businesses. Her group urged followers to file comments before the deadline.
The comment window has closed. What happens next is two decisions, one from the state on water quality and one from the Corps on the permit. The Corps says, per the paper, that it weighs a project's probable impacts, cumulative ones included, against the public interest.
The thing to watch is that master plan. A placeholder with hotels in it is a plan, and the public hasn't seen it yet.
Sources: Live 5 News (state review, location, comment deadline, the airport's response, Tree Preservation Alliance and neighbor concerns) and the Post & Courier (Corps filing, tract size, stated purpose, DNR comments and conditions, mitigation plan)
