MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Resiliency is the Town of Mount Pleasant’s main focus when it comes to its long-term goals.
The town has released a draft of its Five-Year Comprehensive Plan and is asking for public feedback.
In 2020, the Long Range Plan was adopted, looking ahead to 2030. However, with a new requirement made by the state and the changes over the last five years, Mount Pleasant had to make some revisions.
SC Code §6-29-510 (D)(10) requires that a resiliency element be added to the list of planning elements, so that’s exactly what Town of Mount Pleasant Division Chief for Neighborhood Livability Liz Boyles said was their priority.
“Maybe it’s a pandemic, maybe it’s a storm, maybe it’s changing in the economy. How can we best be prepared to weather whatever that change is? That’s what the resilience element is about,” Boyles says.
As these additional revisions impact the community, one resident, Cathy Perry Nickles, says she started coming to Charleston in 1988, which was a different sight in comparison to today.
“Driving through Mount Pleasant was like driving through a barren town. There was hardly anything here. Now, it is just bursting at the seams, and it’s a great thing, but yes, I mean the town will have to accommodate that growth,” she says.
Boyles says the language is nearly the exact same as their 2020 adopted plan, but you may see some additional information, including a Hazard Mitigation Plan, a Hazard Vulnerability Analysis and a Community Forest Master Plan.
“Basically, bring it up to speed with the things that we have done since the plan was adopted five years ago,” Boyles said.
For example, they have now collected data from their “Public Input Matters” open houses in 2022 and 2023. With the surveys and the changes they’ve observed within the last five years, they made small edits throughout.
“That’s why it’s so important to bring in the whole conversation about the business community. If you’re talking about resilience, you know, sea level rise is one thing, but you know, having a healthy economy is a whole different thing,” Boyles says.
Boyles says that because this adopted long-range plan looks ahead to 2030, it can be a challenge with how often things could change in the Lowcountry. She says that’s why it is important to have input from those in the community.
For Nickles, she loves being part of that community and knows the town has to stay up to date with the constant changes.
“As anything in life happens, the bigger you get, the more revisions you have to make to accommodate that growth,” she says.
Below are the dates for the public meetings:
Boyles says the town’s planning commission will review the drafted plan on June 18.
For more details on the drafted plan, follow this link.
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