Pine Island neighbors could have SC park in their backyard. They worry that’s a problem
Plans to turn a private island on Lake Murray into South Carolina’s newest state park has raised concerns among some of its neighbors.
Residents living near Pine Island are concerned the narrow road leading through their peninsula out to the island, long operated as a private space for employees of SCE&G, will be overwhelmed by day trippers if the small island opens to the public, creating a traffic headache.
Dominion Energy, which absorbed SCE&G in 2019, has offered Pine Island to the state of South Carolina to pay off the former company’s tax liability after a failed nuclear construction project. The 27-acre island seems destined to be opened to the public as a state park.
That worries Rick Levitan, who lives directly across the water from Pine Island. He can see its picnic stands from his living room and could probably skip a rock to the island’s private marina from his dock.
The only entrance to Pine Island is at the end of River Road, which stretches two miles from North Lake Drive to a dead end at the lake, with housing developments branching off either side. Levitan lives in Edens Point, the last turn before Pine Island. On a nice summer weekend, he can envision traffic to the future park backing up past the entrance to his neighborhood, with discouraged drivers using the cul-de-sac to turn around.
“You go down River Road, there’s no shoulder,” Levitan said. “It’s a two-lane road. I don’t know if you’ll know it’s crowded until you’re on the causeway to the island. So traffic is a huge concern.”
Levitan and his neighbor Jeff Badgley used a tape measure to determine the width of River Road is 20 feet. The narrow, gated causeway onto the island, with homes running right up to it, measured just 17 feet. Levitan doesn’t see how two trucks towing boats would be able to get past each other.
Pine Island contains a swimming pool, multiple boat slips, extensive waterfront and a 9,000-square foot conference center on a scenic section of Lake Murray, the large reservoir near Columbia. Pine Island closed in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not reopened.
Badgley said he hopes the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism will regulate the number of people going onto Pine Island and effectively communicate when it reaches capacity — maybe through an app, he said.
“Once you pass the Shell station (at North Lake and River Road), there’s really nowhere to turn around,” Badgley said. He fears getting stuck in park traffic just trying to get back to his house.
S.C. Park Director Paul McCormack said he’s heard residents’ concerns, and the park service has steps in place to regulate admission to its parks.
“We operate fee-based sites, so the charge already shrinks the size of the people coming into the park,” McCormack said. “We can also set capacity, and once that’s reached, we turn people around. We don’t allow people to park somewhere else and walk in.”
Park rangers already require guests to reserve one of a limited number of parking spaces at Jones Gap State Park in Greenville County, McCormack said. Reservations also are required for some spaces at Devils Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee. The director emphasized staff haven’t come up with concrete plans yet for administering Pine Island, which is currently still Dominion property.
S.C. Rep. Chip Huggins, R-Lexington, organized an on-site meeting this week between McCormack, PRT Director Duane Parrish and about 30 Pine Island neighbors at the causeway.
“At this point, nothing is really decided other than trying to get everything finalized so they can put together whatever pieces they can put together,” Huggins said. He said law enforcement and the state Department of Transportation will also play a roll in keeping River Road and its environs clear of an excess amount of traffic.
Badgley and Levitan both said state officials have been receptive to their concerns so far, and are hopeful some accommodations can be made.
“They haven’t really shared their plans yet, so I hope they’ll sit down with us and explain those before anything happens,” Levitan said.
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