Lowcountry Headlines

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North Charleston to present 10-year comprehensive plan

ByDanielle Seat|February 18, 2020 at 8:46 AM EST - Updated February 18 at 8:52 AM

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Tri-County area is growing, which is why the City of North Charleston will present a 10-year comprehensive plan on Tuesday to tackle all that comes along with growth.

Based on a collection of information from many meetings and surveys over the last 18 months, the city compiled a 59-page document to address everything from population changes to land use.

The four main topics city leaders plan to tackle with this 10-year comprehensive plan are: “livability and quality of life, sustainable growth and resiliency, economic opportunity, and mobility and connectivity.”

City leaders say affordable housing specifically is something they are zoning in on.

The median household income in North Charleston sits 30% below the regional median income. City leaders say this leaves many in the area what they called ”house burdened,” which means homeowners and renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing. City leaders say based on the information they compiled, the majority of households in North Charleston have an average income of $39,000. This means the majority of households can not afford to spend more than $1,000 per month on housing. But the city proposes the price will come down if there are more units available.

The city is looking to add significantly more mixed-use units and higher density housing. One of the locations they are already on is the Mixson Apartments.

Another of the hot topics in their 10-year comprehensive plan is transportation. The city plans to spend $3 billion on transportation; the majority of which will go towards 3 to 4 main projects. Some of those projects include the widening of I-526 (total cost of $1.5 billion), the widening of I-26 and construction on interchanges (total cost of $1.75 billion), and the Low County Rapid Transit (total cost of $340 million). You can find more information on where that money is coming from in their presentation here.

City officials say that transportation allows citizens to more access to jobs, as well as a better quality of life. And with a population increase of more than 13,000 people in North Charleston since 2017. ​

The first presentation will be Tuesday at the North Charleston Transit Center at 5 o'clock.

There will also be 4 more presentations throughout the next couple of weeks, and you can find more details on that here.

Copyright 2020 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Photo: Live 5 News


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