Plans for growth

The owners of Rosebank Farms on Johns Island privately wondered three years ago if they should close.

A gourmet grocery store had opened at Freshfields Village, a shopping complex at the entrance to Kiawah and Seabrook islands.

"It almost put us out of business the first year because everyone had to go to the 'new' store," said Louise Bennett, who owns Rosebank with Sidi Limehouse.

Sales at the farm store on the Betsy Kerrison Parkway plummeted to a third of what normally came in. Bennett and Limehouse stuck with it, hoping the "new" would wear off the competing store and business gradually would return to Rosebank Farms.

"The comment I get most of all is, 'We're so glad you're still here,' " Bennett said.

Bennett and Limehouse capitalize on what makes their business unique by growing as much produce and as many flowers as they can each season. The animals at the farm continue to be a big draw, and this year, the farm is making sorghum syrup.

"I think we have a little spot of our own that is local, that is true to this area," Bennett said.

Like Bennett and Limehouse, residents and officials on Johns Island and in towns west of the Ashley River, such as Meggett, Hollywood and Ravenel, face the challenge of maintaining what is true to their areas while becoming bedroom communities of Charleston.

"We're definitely going to have to try and control the growth in the town," said Ravenel Town Councilwoman Annie Brown. "Mount Pleasant is overcrowded, so is Summerville. So I think this area, U.S. Highway 17 going toward Jacksonboro, they're coming into our area."

"We don't want to completely stop it. We'd like to control it," Meggett Mayor Grange S. Coffin Jr. said of growth in the area.

For these towns, development is "kind of like a double-edged sword. We want to maintain a rural character, but, of course, everyone does like the amenities provided in a larger area," said Edward Holton, Hollywood planner and zoning administrator.

The towns have seen a few new businesses move in, but a car wash, restaurant and landscaping business, for example, don't offer enough jobs to their populations.

"We don't have enough business in the area for employment," Brown said. "A lot of the people in the community go out of the Ravenel area for employment."

The areas seem to be particularly attractive to home development, but the towns can't offer the necessary services.

"We have paved some of our roads, but quite a few still need to be paved," Brown said of Ravenel, which just last year starting bringing in sewer service to the area.

Several months ago, the town turned down a developer who wanted to build 250 houses in the area.

"We don't have the capacity for something that large," Brown said.

Though the economic slowdown has meant Hollywood and Meggett haven't had developers knocking on their doors lately, officials in both towns said they face the same issue.

"We don't have the infrastructure and resources," Coffin said. "A developer is going to have to put their own roads in and take care of whatever septic systems are required. We have sewer in the town of Meggett, but we have run out of sewer taps, so there can be no more people tapping into the sewer system."

Coffin doesn't necessarily see that as a bad thing. "I think it's going to help us. We believe that will limit development," he said.

Like his neighbors in Hollywood and Ravenel, Coffin wants to maintain what he loves about Meggett.

"The large tracts of land tend to maintain the beauty of this area. I don't think there's any place I know of that's any prettier than Meggett," Coffin said.

Hollywood is in the midst of developing its comprehensive plan, which will address growth issues and designate areas that are geared toward development and areas saved for nondevelopment, Holton said. He expects it to be done by next spring.

Reach Nita Birmingham at 937-5433.