The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 18, 2000, Page 3, Image 3
1th e ©amecock
Old, new clash on Lowcountry beach I
■ Longtime Folly Beach residents say
< new buildings eroding island's charm
by Arlie Porter
The Charleston Post & Courier
FOLLY BEACH — Not so long ago on
Folly Beach, oysters were dumped in a
burst of steanvpnlo a plywood table. Now,
oysters are more likely to be chilled and
arranged in a perfect circle on a dinner
plate.
At Folly Beach, blue-collar is out.
Condos are in.
In the past three years, nearly 300
condominium units have been built or are
planned on the island. And as the con
dos multiply, long-cherished Folly Beach
landmarks me vanishing.
• In the last month, Bushy’s Seafood
* staurant off Folly Road closed. It will
oe razed and 33 condos built ip its place.
• Crawdaddy’s Seafood, another Fol
ly Beach fixture, closed a month ago. De
velopers plan to construct a bridge pern
the boarded restaurant to wooded Long
Island so they can build 203 homes.
• Thirty condo units me planned be
hind the Santl Dollar, a popular bar on Fol
ly Beach.
Rogers Qglesby, who has lived on Fol
ly Beach since 1972, looks around and
wonders what happened to the Folly he
used to know.
“ITiere are all these new kinds of peo
ple coining in,” he said. “I don’t mean
they’re bad. But before... we had paupers
and princes, millionaires.and mutts, but
we all got along OK.
“Now there are all these Volvos and
Jaguars and SUVs. The whole feeling of
the town is changing because of all this
development.”
Added Bonnie Carracciolo, chair of
the town’s planning commission: “It’s a
huge change in the personality of tire com
munity. Overall, there’s no question about
that.”
Some say Folly Beach has been dis
covered.
Others attribute new condominium
construction to soaring land prices. Still
others say it’s crass speculation. Whatev
er it is, condos are going up everywhere.
The Ocean Front Villas, with 96 units,
was built next to the Holiday Inn two years
ago. More than 100 condos have been
built or are planned along scenic Folly
Road. Another 18 units are crowded to
gether along the beachfront next to the
Folly Pier.
Because many of the condominium
buildings are built in flood zones, they are
elevated.
Nearly all reach the town’s 40-foot
maximum height limit.
Carracciolo calls the box-shaped con
dominiums “prefabricated cracker box
es.”
Oglesby, a member of the city’s Board
of Zoning Adjustment, calls them “stack
a-shacks.”
“Folly Beach is becoming a yuppie
Calcutta,” he said.
Girracciolo partly blames the current
City Council and previous administrations
for not supporting strongly enough the
creation of a city board of architectural
review.
“I don’t think anyone is going to look
at these things and say, ‘What a beauti
ful structure!’ ” she said. “Folly Beach
used to be about people. Now it’s about
structures.”
Mayor Vernon Knox says the econ
omy is encouraging the condominium
construction.
The Oce;m Front Villas were sold be
fore the building was finished, which
encouraged other developers, he said.
“People tliiiik they can get more b;uig
from building condos,” he said. “You can ‘
build condos, sell them mid walk away
with a good chunk of change.”
However, Knox said the condo con
struction is relegated to the appropriate
ly zoned areas mid residents need not wor
ry that the building boom will turn Folly
Beach into another Myrtle Beach.
City Council members have avoided
creating a board of architectural review
because of the additional layer of gov
ernment. Knox said.
“It’s very sad, ” one council member
said. “It’s like watching a friend with a
terminal disease, and you know there is
ultimately no cure.”
Hunger
T
from pageU
its member agencies to the people which
those agencies serve, and it’s a very or
ganized and responsive network of peo
ple who are fighting hunger.” Holland
said.
- %
Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland, said
hunger is not a simple problem, but
rather “a complex of realities that re
inforce one another.”.
He said hunger and poverty are po
litical issues compounded by the fact
that th£ poorest members of the pop
ulation are the ones who do not vote,
so their issues do not get represented in
the legislature.
Neal tuged citizens to get involved
in the light against hunger by commu
nicating their needs to their represen
tatives.
-Elizabeth Patterson, director of the
S.C. Department of Social Services, out
lined several plans her oiganization has
for the future as part of their “Procla
mation for Food Security.” Their goals
are to improve nutrition for school
children, especially those in low-income
areas, and to create a new, less restric
tive application process for food stamp
eligibility.
Patterson emphasized the impor
tance of food stamps for low-income
families, calling stamps the first line of
defense against hunger. However, on
ly half of eligible families participate in
the program, a statistic DSS hopes to
improve through increased public
outreach and publicity.
According to Patterson, every coun
ty in South Carolina is served by a food
pantry, with the exception of Mc
Cormick, Barnwell, Allendale and Jasper
counties.
Neal said each church should get in
volved in the community by creating
its own food pantry to help people in
need.
According to the Harvest Hope Food
Bank, it distributed more than 7 million
pounds of surplus food in 1999.
The city/state, desk can be reached at
gamecockcftydesk@hotmaiLcom.
St. Thomas More Catholic Center
Rev. Tim Lijewski Mass Schedule Sacrament of Penance
Chaplain Saturday 4:30pm Saturday 3:00pm-4:00pm
Sr. Julienne Guy OSU Sunday 11:00am. 7:30pm or by appointment
Director of Christian _, , _ . _ _.
Formation Newman Club Tuesday 7:00pm
W 1610 Greene St. 799-5870 (Across from School of Nursing)
Wltt'Jil'IU'l
Columbia -Five Points (behind Harper's)
Proclaiming Christ through the Scriptures and Sacraments
Adult Bible Class 9:30ant • Holy Cbnununion 10:30am Member Parish -Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
Sunday Activities
9:00 & 11:15am - Worship Services 10:00am - LifeLine Contemporary Service
10:00am - Sunday School
3407 Devine St. ~ 256-8383 ~ www.Shandon-UMC.org
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