Year-in-Review: New Face, No Debt for City Council

The big news in 2012 for Goose Creek City Council is what the city doesn't have anymore: debt. The last of the city's loans on the water system, recreation center and the Crowfield Golf Course have been paid off.

Planned construction in 2013 for a new fire station headquarters and a third fire station will come from tax collections that have been set aside. The council will have to find money to staff the new fire station, but the budget approved for this year included no tax increase for residents.

In April, Goose Creek municipal elections introduced a new face to the City Council. Planning Commission Chairman Franklin Moore defeated incumbent Sal Gandolfo in a council runoff. John McCants and Jerry Tekac were re-elected.

Development (or the fear of development) guided much of the debate among council members in 2012. The main debate came from a proposal by Mayor Michael Heitzler to put new deed restrictions on the city's Crowfield Golf Course.

Read more:

• Crowfield Board Approves Plantation Square Rehab
• Grocery Pulls Out of Proposed Goose Creek Site
• Moore Wins Goose Creek Runoff
• Vote Expected to Payoff Crowfield Course Loan
• Fire Station Plans Get Council Support
• Council to Consider Crowfield Deed Compromise
• Smoking Ban Gets Initial City Council Approval
• City Approves Carnes Crossroads Streetlight Deal

Heitzler argued that strict zoning wasn't enough to prevent future city councils from selling a piece of the golf course. Deed restrictions would prevent the property from being subdivided. The council has always supported Crowfield's preservation, but balked at tying the hands of future councils.

First floated in the winter, it wasn't until a compromise was proposed by Moore that the council approved the deed restrictions in the fall. The compromise will allow future councils to invalidate the restrictions if approved in a voter referendum.

Early in the year, Crowfield Plantation residents were pleased to learn a tenant had been found for the long-abandoned Food Lion shopping center at Crowfield's St. James Avenue entrance. Self-storage developer Albert Heyward has proposed annexing the property into the city and developing it into a self-storage/office site. Financing delays have so far stalled the development in 2012.

Food Lion's shadow carried over two proposed commercial developments elsewhere in the downtown district. IGA had proposed putting one of its markets on U.S. 52 near the Woodland Lakes and Braemore communities, but community opposition chased them away. Earlier this month, CVS plans for a new building in front of the Fairfax neighborhood was refused by City Council.

In 2013, the council is expected to take a final vote in January for a smoking ban within city limits. The measure received initial support from the council, 4-3, in December. The development of Carnes Crossroads is finally moving ahead after years of delay, setting up fresh debate over development growing outside of the city's downtown center. 

What news stories were you watching in Goose Creek this year? Tell us in the comments section below.