CHARLESTON — Neighborhood and other organizations in Charleston not satisfied with the planned location of a new $35 million passenger cruise terminal called on Monday for an independent study of where to build it.
Carrie Agnew, executive director of a nonprofit called Charleston Communities for Cruise Control, said locations besides the planned site for the terminal need to be reviewed.
“There needs to be an independent study of other properties,” she said. “We also believe that independent, merit-based study would look at potential negative effects as well as potential positive effects.” She said a study by the South Carolina State Ports Authority “only outlined positive effects.”
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Efforts to reach the city and the Ports Authority were not successful Monday afternoon.
Two months ago, the city Board of Architectural Review approved plans to create the new terminal in an old waterfront warehouse. That means only minor details needed to be worked out before work begins on the terminal to serve the city’s expanded cruise industry.
The plan calls for a mile of chain link fence to be removed in a blighted section of the waterfront, new streets to be created and installing lighting and landscaping to blend with the rest of the historic city. The authority is building the new terminal to replace an aging cinderblock terminal more than 40 years old.
But some residents in downtown neighborhoods say the location is too close to their homes. Agnew did not suggest who might do an independent review but said it should not be someone with a vested interest.
Four of the groups calling for the review earlier sued Carnival Cruise Lines alleging, among other things, that the company’s vessels are a public nuisance and amount to illegal hotel operations.
The state Supreme Court agreed last week to hear that case without it first going to a lower court. The city and the State Ports Authority have intervened in the suit on the side of the cruise line.
Carnival permanently based its 2,056-passenger liner Fantasy here almost 2 years ago, creating a year-round industry. Tourism is a $14 billion industry in South Carolina and cruises account for about $37 million of that.
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