Road upgrade questioned

Some council members say $2M price tag is too high for private street serving only 5 homes

Tyrone Walker
The Post and Courier

Cliff Brown lives along Hutchinson Road, which he said is often impassable, and he said $2 million isn't too much to spend on improvements.

The Post and Courier

Some Charleston County Council members are balking at the idea of spending $2 million to improve and reroute a portion of a private rural road in Awendaw that serves only 13 properties and five homes.

The council's Finance Committee is expected to vote on whether to recommend that the full council finance the project to upgrade, but not pave, Hutchinson Road.

Councilman Joe McKeown said he opposes the project, which was approved in 2006, before he was elected.

"It doesn't make sense financially, and it doesn't make sense to disturb that area," said McKeown, who represents the area.

Jim Neal, the county's interim director of public works, said Hutchinson Road is one of 60 mostly private community roads that the council is considering improving. The road is last on a prioritized list of such projects, he said.

The county puts road projects on the list if people who live on the road get a certain percentage of signatures from neighbors supporting the project.

Enough residents of Hutchinson Road signed a petition in 1995 for the county to consider the project, Neal said, but the county wasn't able to secure the right of way from enough land owners to make the project happen.

The project languished until March 2006, when County Council asked the Department of Public Works to come up with four options for improving the road.

Later that spring the council authorized the department to move forward on one of the options, Neal said.

That option would shift the entrance to Hutchinson Road from one point on Causey Pond Road to another, cut across property owned by Winwood Farm Home for Children, run across a dam that divides a pond, then connect to an existing dirt road.

"From an engineering standpoint," Neal said, "it's possible to put a road there, but it would be expensive and difficult," he said.

Jody Tamsberg, chairman of Winwood Farm's board of directors, said his group is strongly opposed to the project. "It would cross our property and fill in part of our pond," he said. And it would make the property less secure, he said.

The organization treats abused children, and abusive parents could try to gain access to their children, he said. Now, Winwood Farm has just one entry point, he said.

Councilman Henry Darby said he's in favor of the project. The county promised it was going to improve the road, he said, and it owes it to the people who live there to follow through.

Cliff Brown, who lives on Hutchinson Road with his wife, said mostly family members live along the road.

He said he doesn't think $2 million is too much for the improvements.

"The reason you pay road taxes and state taxes is for situations like this," he said.

The road now is often impassable, he said, especially at high tide or after a storm.

"We want convenience and access to get in and out, what everybody wants," he said.

Alfonzo Blake, who's been living on the road for 43 years, said the road can be dangerous. His 80-year-old father, who has lived on the road his entire life, lives with him. When his father needed emergency care, he said, EMS workers almost couldn't get to the house because of poor road conditions.

Blake said some council members have said he and his family members who own land on the road want road improvement only to boost the value of their land, which sits on the Wando River.

But, he said, he's not trying increase the value of land so he can sell it and move on. "I plan to live back here a lifetime."