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...The ultimate weakness in that argument though, is that the vast majority of Mt. Pleasant isn't "coastal village", it's cookie-cutter suburbia...
Exactly, there's nothing villagey about neighborhoods where all of the houses are required to be an exciting variant of white/gray/off white/cream or you find repeats of the same design all over. But, whatever.
Our "cookie cutter" neighborhood requires homes to be painted in historical colors. But then all of the homes in our section are custom. All to often people say new is cookie cutter. There are tract developed home sites as well as custom homes all over the sections of MtP that isn't part of the village. Saying the newer sections of MtP is all cookie cutter is a gross misrepresentation. Just like the old section of MtP with the same single story ranch style that's repeated over and over doesn't make it cookie cutter.
The overwhelming issue is that Mt. Pleasant is technically it's own city, yet co-dependent with the city of Charleston in actuality, and what's good for Charleston Metro isn't what East Cooper wants.
The Charleston Metro area would benefit greatly from Mt. Pleasant becoming more urban. It would mean greater centralization, less traffic, and increased vibrancy and culture for Charleston as a whole, due to what would be increased attractiveness to those who crave urban living.
Unfortunately, East Cooper doesn't want that. What they want is "...to be less urban and more coastal village.” which they have every right to be. There's nothing wrong with a coastal village-type area 5 min away from downtown, it's actually something that very few cities have.
The ultimate weakness in that argument though, is that the vast majority of Mt. Pleasant isn't "coastal village", it's cookie-cutter suburbia. I'm all for not wanting to litter Shem Creek with buildings, but there is very clearly a double standard when it comes to new construction in the "original" Mt. Pleasant and the "rest of" Mt. Pleasant. They have to consider the other 80% of the city of Mt. Pleasant as carefully and with the same vision as they do Old Village/Coleman. If you want to have a coastal village vibe, have an actual plan that materializes that vision for both area codes. That way you don't end up with a car-dependent suburban wasteland where people have to live and you create places where people want to live.
Excellent summation.
I am in Mt. Pleasant pretty regularly and what bothers me is the way the expansion is happening as much as how fast it is happening. Mt. Pleasant is now fully immersed in South Florida style strip malling / "community" style of development. Just one trip to South Florida will show anyone that autocentric build-out is a seriously flawed ideology. I wish they would just issue a moratorium on the development for a while until they drop back and access where they are and where they want to be. Growth for the sake of growth is what a cancer cell does. Current Mt. Pleasant growth is like cancer. Mt Pleasant deserves better than just another road widening and adding yet another Chile's and bourgeois "community"
I may have said this on the first lage, but I think Mt P is a great to live and shop. Good stores: chain and local, and I dont think its that cookie cutter. Now Las Vegas, thats cookie cutter. Riverside, CA, thats cookie cutter. Just because Mt P has cul de sacs doesnt mean its "cookie cutter."
My issue is the lack of action on office jobs. For a city of its size, jobs arent as promiment as they should be. If things keep up, Mt P will hit 100K before long. I love growth and a growing Charleston, but I think the city needs to slow down residential, and create more office space and retail. Patriots Point is ripe for office, and theres plenty of room elsewhere.
Mt Pleasant certainly has the education and income levels. As someone said, Mt P works good on its own, but is still too dependent on Charleston. Even Summerville is starting to focus more on office and not "bedroom community status." Mt P needs to become another business hub like Chas and North Chas.
Itll keep people from having to commute in and out of town, keep income high, utilize Mt P's education levels, and invest in the economy. Not saying we need a bunch of Atlanta style office towers, I know Mt P will never have that, but something like Blackbaud or the offices in Nexton, those would work.
Slow down residential, and rev up office and retail.
Since city hall does not have the courage to stand behind its own smart growth strategies then maybe pressure from the business
community will eventually work.
Mt P is a natural fit for Class A space and forward thinking firms know their workers don't want to be stuck in traffic jams on a daily basis. In the end $ wins.
Around 2005 there was a fellow, originally from NY????, that objected to every expansion in MTP. He showed up at all MTP government meetings. Letters to the editor, etc. He had the classic drawbridge mentality. You ask what is the drawbridge mentality?
We are being invaded. I am safely in the castle. Pull up the drawbridge. What about those still outside the castle? Screw them I am inside the castle now.
He complained about all expansion. His name was Cy??? Anyone remember him?
Sometimes a drawbridge mentality is warranted and justifiable. Someone has to get there first and at some point you may need to pull up the bridge. Just because there is a demand for housing doesn't mean it needs to be met. Growing commercial property and office space is one thing. Stacking high density housing on top of each other not so much.
I mean building commercial space is a really good idea to attract companies to somewhere other than downtown (I've hear that for a lot of companies it's either be located downtown or not be located in Charleston at all), but without some type of urbanization somewhere in Mt. P or offering top-tier real estate for commercial space, Mt. P doesn't offer anything you can't get in a place like Charlotte. The kinds of businesses you want to attract arent exactly going to be clammoring to be located in second-tier locations just be around the Charleston metro area when they can get something better in Charlotte or Richmond. Top tier companies command top tier real estate, and it doesnt seem that Mt. P is willing to offer that.
In all reality, Mt. P needs a BAR or someone other than original Mt. P residents and city council to determine what's best architecturally.
In terms of the drawbridge mentality, the accessibility of Mt. P contributes the the overall attractiveness and economic growth of Charleston. Sure Mt. P doesn't have to meet the demand for housing, but purposefully not fulfilling demand will likely have detrimental long term effects to Charleston as a whole outside of just Mt. P... which is why its ridiculous that there isn't more collaboration between Charleston and Mt.P when it comes to development.
Hover AL is a great example of smart growth without tons of high density urbanization.
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