Park plans spark concerns

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Small charter boat operators and kayakers said Tuesday that the town's plan for a new park on Shem Creek should include them.

"There's no place to pick up passengers legally," said Richard Harris, senior captain for The Reel Deal Charters LLC. Harris said he has an informal agreement with a creek restaurant whose management allows him to use its dock. However, charter boats have to tie-up three-deep at times, he said.

The current design for the park on 48 acres includes an instructional sailing center at the end of a dock near the harbor.

"How did they get a sailing school?" Harris said.

The Mount Pleasant Town Council has yet to approve a final master plan for the $2 million project, which would include 1,080 feet of existing boardwalk and 1,328 feet of existing waterfront docks.

The park would begin on .71 of an acre of highland near Coleman Boulevard. As currently designed, it would have 34 parking spaces.

Some of about 30 people who attended an informal presentation Tuesday about the project expressed concern about whether there was adequate parking. Consultant Gary Collins of DesignWorks said he hopes people will ride bikes to the park. Or people dining at restaurants could stroll to the park afterward, he said.

Some kayakers wondered if the town could make provisions to launch kayaks from the patch of high ground where the park begins. Shrimp boat captains have expressed concern about not being able to see kayakers, said Tony Woody, a civil engineer with Thomas and Hutton Engineering, a firm that is part of the design team.

William Hamilton, who grew up sailing in the area, has fought for a town recreational sailing center. Memorial Waterfront Park, Alhambra Hall and Patriot's Point were considered as locations. "This is the last place to build a sailing school in Mount Pleasant," Hamilton said. Small sailboats stored at the center would be towed from the docks into the harbor for instructional sailing, he said.

The Town Council bought the Shem Creek acreage, which is mostly marshland, in 2007 for $6 million, with the idea of preserving public access to an area many view as East Cooper's centerpiece. It has set aside $1 million for the park project, which would start next July. The park would be built in phases as funds became available.