Personal Injury Attorney in North Charleston, SC

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A proposed boat manufacturing facility still isn't sitting right with people who live near the former Baker Hospital Boulevard site in North Charleston.

Sea Fox Boats announced plans to build a boating manufacturing plant at the site, and it raised concerns from community members. North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess sent a letter to the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission in January stating that the area isn't zoned for that type of project and hasn't been since the 1980s. Lately, neighborhood sentiments haven't changed.

"It seems, to me, to be very inconsistent with the park's mission and their ideology," said Charlie Masencup, an owner of a parcel near site. "The entire deal smells really fishy. It happened behind closed doors with no transparency, not to the public, not to the adjacent landowners, to no one."

Craig Logan, the vice president of the Chicora Neighborhood Association, believes that the community wasn't engaged with enough in the deal.

"That's not what happened," Logan said.

READ MORE: "Controversy grows over proposed boat facility in North Charleston."

Ed Sutton, who is running for a state Senate seat, chimed in through a series of posts on X Monday night.

"I'm here to support the surrounding neighborhoods, churches and non-profits," he wrote.

State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis also added that his constituents' concerns are legitimate.

"I've heard from numerous members of the community in recent weeks who oppose the rezoning at the old Baker Hospital, much of which impacts my district," Pendarvis wrote on X. "Their concerns are legitimate and should be given considerable weight. I stand with Mayor Burgess and the community."

READ MORE: "Businessman defends controversial plan for Baker Hospital site, promising jobs and park."

Neighbors said this area is their only access to the Ashley River and the space should reflect what the community wants.

"If you look around this site is mostly unspoiled apart from what's across 26 behind me," Masencup said. "There's no industry on this side of the road at all., It's a completely inconsistent use. It does not jive with the neighbors, not with low-income housing, and or the elder care facility right behind you, both of which would be adjacent to their proposed facility.

READ MORE: "'John was brave': Boeing whistleblower's lawyer responds to news of his death."

In February, Sea Fox Boats owner Fred Renken defended his desire to build a boat manufacturing plant.

"My reputation's on the line with this, and I want it to be right," Renken said then. "We hit on all the things that Charleston County Parks and Rec that they want. They wanted to partner with us. They feel comfortable about it. I think it's a fair deal. The rent escalates over time. I'm not trying to take advantage of anybody. We're just trying to do a partnership with them."

However, neighbors would like to see a park with access to the water – not a boat manufacturing plant.

"We want to see a park," Logan said. "This is what they're supposed to be doing for the community. We would be appreciative if that's the route that this took."

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The future of land in North Charleston lies in the hands of city council members, and it’s a breath of relief for concerned community members and a strain for the company urging its industrial use.

The city council will be the next step forward for the proposed plan after a request to rezone two parts of the former Baker Hospital property on the Ashley River. They will vote on whether the land will be rezoned from R-1 residential to M-2, heavy industrial and M-1, light industrial.

The city’s Planning Commission on Monday voted 5-1 to deny the recommendation to rezone before passing it onto council - saying it didn’t align with the best interest of the city’s comprehensive plan, the location to the Ashley River and the public interest of surrounding neighborhoods.

The land, defined as a brownfield, is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

“We don’t need industry in our living rooms. We don’t need to breathe the fluid of industry in our neighborhoods. We don’t need to be impacted negatively that way,” Union Heights resident Skip Mikell says.

The Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission and Sea Fox Boats have a 90-year lease with the goal of building a manufacturing plant on 11 acres of the 46-acre property. Sea Fox Boats owner Freddy Renken says they plan to bring 200 or more jobs to the area and will fund the construction of a waterfront public park.

The commission says rent paid by Sea Fox Boats and its dry stack marina would offset operations and maintenance for the park. Nothing has been finalized or started because this is in a due diligence phase.

The park itself would have the following amenities:

Renken did not speak at the meeting but a company lawyer shared insight on his behalf:

“What is there not to want about this? To turn a brownfield into a park that provides jobs and an economic engine. With Sea Fox Boats, the City of North Charleston will be able to build planes, cars, boats. I think that is pretty cool,” Ronald Richter says.

Despite the push for approval, a resounding “no” was heard from a crowd of North Charleston homeowners and supporters. They say the company never shared its plans with surrounding neighborhoods and businesses, including Union Heights, Chicora-Cherokee and Accabee.

Mayor Reggie Burgess also pushed for a full recreational park option to be considered following the initial plan release.

Charleston County Parks states in this press release they planned on releasing public input meeting dates in early 2024. As of now, no updates have been provided.

The commission released the following statement:

The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission (CCPRC) recently entered into a public-private partnership with the locally-owned Sea Fox Boat Company at its Ashley River site. The company is in a two-year due diligence phase, which includes addressing zoning and permitting issues.

Per the partnership, Charleston County Parks would continue to own the entire property, with tenant Sea Fox funding the creation and maintenance of the future public park. This would allow Charleston County Parks to develop and operate the park without taxpayer funds. Because of the site’s history as the former Baker Hospital and as a phosphate processing plant, it has created a brownfield that will require costly environmental efforts to make it suitable for recreational use.

The future county park would offer residents green space and views of the Ashley River. Other possible amenities at the park include a fishing/crabbing dock, trails, playground, splash pad, shelter for camps or programs, and unique event space. Public input meetings will be held to learn what the communities would like to see on the site. Once the zoning process has been completed, we will determine the timeline for the public input meetings.

Seventeen people spoke in opposition to the plan. Neighbors say adding the plant would not benefit their community in terms of work or play and are asking for the area to be solely a park.

“The neighborhoods we represent have some of the lowest unemployment rates in North Charleston. Chicora-Cherokee specifically has a 2.9 unemployment rate, which means our people are already working,” KJ Kearney says.

The planning commission stated in the agenda item they recommended denial because they believe the property’s location to the Ashley River makes the plant unfeasible and there is a “lack of support” to the city’s comprehensive plan.

Sea Fox Boats argues the area they are requesting rezoning for is on a brownfield, the former site of a phosphate processing plant and hospital, which would need environmental maintenance to make the area suitable for recreational purposes or greenspace.

North Charleston natives say they remember the smells, the sights and the feelings of growing up near the former plant and the concerns it raised for health and wellness.

“Those people don’t live here. So whatever damage they do, they leave at the end of the shift and go home. We live here and if there’s anything that we can do to prevent that kind of thing reoccurring. We’re going to do so,” Mikell says.

The site was donated to Charleston County Parks in 2015 by Charleston residents Michael and Jenny Messner of the Speedwell Foundation. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.

“The owner of that property is the Charleston County Parks and Recreation. Their purpose for being is to create parks, preserve and protect greenspaces,” Richter says. “We are not looking for the high bidder here, we are looking for the perfect partner to clean this place and make it a place of pride.”

The discussion will now go before city council starting on April 11 for its first reading. The next opportunity for public input will be on April 18.

For more information on the project, click here.

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