Plans for Governor's Park back on the drawing board

Jessica Johnson
The Post and Courier

The playground at Freedom Park is the most recent addition to the park behind the Daniel Island School. It’s also home to the island’s only ball fields.

Jessica Johnson
The Post and Courier

The playground at Freedom Park is the most recent addition to the park behind the Daniel Island School. It’s also home to the island’s only ball fields.

A conceptual plan for Governor's Park, a site around the Family Circle Tennis Center and beneath the Interstate 526 bridge, will be revealed to Daniel Island residents at a September Neighborhood Association meeting.

Charleston City Councilman Gary White, a Daniel Island resident, discussed some of the park's plans during a recent meeting, but some residents wonder if construction on the park will ever begin.

The park has been included in design plans and discussions since 1991, and some residents say the length of time it has taken to develop that and other city parks on Daniel Island promised by the city in a development agreement between the city and developers has been a source of frustration, said Jimmy Bailey, Daniel Island Property Owners Association community services vice president.

The time restriction on Governor's Park was dropped when the city built the Family Circle Tennis Center, which opened in 2001.

The land for the park serves as overflow parking for tennis center events.

Matt Compton, director of operations for the parks department, said the city's obligation to develop Governor's Park was met with the creation of the tennis center.

According to a 2000 amendment to the development agreement, the city was relieved of its budget obligation and timeline to build Governor's Park and four other parks north of Interstate 526. And Compton said the only part of the agreement the city has not met was its obligation to build a southern district park on Daniel Island. The land marked out for that park, however, is not publicly accessible.

Resident Erik Brine, Daniel Island Neighborhood Association president, has asked the city to amend the development agreement to transfer funds from the southern district park to Governor's Park. The city agreed to spend about $3 million in 1991 dollars on the southern district park, which would be about $5 million today.

Currently, the city has earmarked about $500,000 for Governor's Park, not enough to complete the park's first phase. White said plans include a dog park, a staging area for outdoor performances, a public boat ramp aligned with an Interstate 526 bridge and the grand lawn that would serve as the center point for the entire project.

It would complete a trail system on the island that runs from the neighborhood's south side on the island at Pierce Park Pool all the way up to the waterway that ends behind the Family Circle Tennis Center, connecting to the sidewalks and trails behind the Daniel Island Park neighborhood on the north side of the island.

White envisions using various funding streams, including accommodations tax revenues and funds from the capital improvements budget for Governor's Park.

Berkeley County Councilman Tim Callanan has floated the idea of creating a special tax district for recreation opportunities on Daniel Island and the Cainhoy Peninsula to area residents.

Volunteers may begin circulating petitions to hold a referendum vote for such a district this fall.

The former Daniel Island Neighborhood Association president said the funds could be used to expand on city recreation projects, but wouldn't relieve the city of its obligations.

"(Daniel Island) is a very large area with a large suburban population, yet to date there's only one baseball field for all the new homes and all those kids," Callanan said. "I understand that the city has certain restraint with the budget."

Callanan said if the district were created, the board governing the district could use additional tax funds to improve facilities after the city met minimum requirements. He sees the tax district as a catalyst propelling construction of the parks promised by the city in the development agreement.

Brine said he is in favor of the idea because it would give residents control over how their tax dollars are spent.

Callanan has lived on the island for seven to eight years, and he said it seems that each year the city has discussed building Governor's Park.

"Still to this day, nothing has been done," he said.

With a special tax fund, Callanan said, residents could add a swimming complex to Governor's Park, mentioned in early island plans.

A special tax district also could improve park and recreation services for the unincorporated areas around Clements Ferry that have no services, Callanan said.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.