James Island voters choose incorporation

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

BY JASON HARDIN
Of The Post and Courier Staff

     The town of James Island finally rose again.
     Voters overwhelmingly decided Tuesday to forge a new town of some 22,000 people from chunks of unincorporated James Island suburbia, creating the fourth-largest municipality in Charleston County.
     According to unofficial results, more than two-thirds of those who cast ballots voted to create a town. Some 2,769 voters favored a town, while 1,260 voted against incorporation. About 40 percent of registered voters turned out to vote.
     Supporters, who argued that creating a town was the best way to take control of their destiny and tackle traffic and development issues, celebrated.
     "We did it," said Mary Clark, who has worked for years to create a town and who is running for mayor of the town. "It kinds of sounds like 1776, doesn't it? A bunch of ragtag people fighting someone with all the money and winning."
     Kay Kernodle, who is running against Clark for mayor, said the vote represented the island's wish to govern itself and address pressing development and traffic issues.
     "They decided it was time to stand up for what they wanted and to have a say in their lives," she said. "We may have to declare May 21 independence day on James Island."
     Opponents, who questioned how islanders would benefit from another layer of government and predicted a town would be a fiscal layer of government and predicted a town would be a fiscal drain on residents, conceded defeat. Some said their last-ditch efforts against incorporation came too late to change the outcome.
     "The lesson I learned was you can't change four years of rhetoric - you can't turn it around in three weeks," said Patterson Smith, who helped organize the opposition effort. "It's obvious that the residents of the town have spoken. I wish the town good success and good government."
     The vote means other county municipalities might have to tighten their belts. The town will take a cut of sales tax and other revenues that are distributed to the county and its municipalities, although officials from some of the affected municipalities said the losses will not be a serious hardship.
     Voters also gave the new municipality a name: the town of James Island. Voters chose to call the municipality a town rather than a city by a wide margin.
     They also decided several other questions, opting for nonpartisan elections and deciding that elected officials should serve two-year terms. They also chose the mayor-council form of government over two alternatives, and decided that council members should be elected at-large.
     The town will hold elections for mayor and council on June 18.
     The vote ends the saga that began after the first town was dissolved five years ago. The S.C. Supreme Court ruled then that the town illegally included marshes and waterways claimed by the city of Charleston, which brought the suit. Since then, the General Assembly passed a law that allows such areas to be, in essence, shared by two municipalities.
     Many residents said they voted for the town in order to stay out of the city, which they feared eventually would annex much of the island.
     "They should have done this 25 or 30 years ago," said resident Russell Bennett. "We don't need the city over here."
     The results represented a shift from the 1992 vote that established the first town. Then, voters all but deadlocked, with incorporation winning by only 75 votes out of nearly 5,000 cast.
     This time, some 500 additional voters favored incorporation, while opposing votes plummeted by nearly 1,000. Smith said part of the difference might have come from lingering hard feelings about the demise of the first town.
     "I think there was a perception that that was unfair," he said.
     Many on both sides expect a new round of legal challenges.
     Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said in a statement that the city looks forward to working with the new town. However, he also said that the city plans to explore the legality of the incorporation.
     "We do owe it to the citizens of the city of Charleston and Charleston County to ensure that the enabling legislation was legal and that it was fully complied with," he said in the statement.
     Town backers said they are confident the town was created legally.
     The election results will be certified Thursday, but the town won't officially come into being until it receives a certificate of incorporation from the state and elects officials in June.
    

     Jason Hardin covers the city of Charleston. Contact him at 937-5549 or at jhardin@postandcourier.com.