A Trade Behind Closed Doors

We refuse to trade Gadsden Creek for the preservation of a former golf course in Summerville.

In 2015, after local environmental organizations such as Charleston Waterkeeper and Coastal Conservation League (CCL) and neighborhood residents vocally opposed the destruction of Gadsden Creek, WestEdge's permit to destroy and develop the last remaining piece of wilderness next to Gadsden Green was administratively withdrawn.

Over the next few years, WestEdge worked behind closed doors to broker a deal that would neutralize the environmental opposition to WestEdge's proposed destruction of Gadsden Creek.

In 2018 WestEdge would donate $1.5 million to the Open Space Institute (a NY-based organization, for whom CCL's former legislative director now works). Open Space Institute used these funds to purchase a tract of land in Summerville, a part of the former golf course at King's Grant to be "turned into a marsh park with a walking trail and paddlecraft launch." Less than a month later, WestEdge would submit its revised 2018 permit application to SCDHEC and the Army Corps (the very application that currently sits in question), proposing to use the King's Grant site as the their "permitee responsible mitigation site" to compensate for the destruction of Gadsden Creek.

After this deal, the environmental groups originally active in opposing the destruction of Gadsden Creek became silent. From a 2018 article in the Post and Courier, "The Charleston Waterkeeper and the Coastal Conservation League have generally been supportive of the latest mitigation plans, but they didn’t formally support or oppose the plan to fill in Gadsden Creek." Further, Open Space Institute's project manager (CCL's former legislative director) has suggested, "I can't wait to fill Gadsden Creek!"

We see two major issues here:

1. This "deal" was brokered behind closed doors by privileged power-brokers and did not involve public input nor the inclusion of voices from Gadsden Green or other area residents.

2. This "deal" only looks at WestEdge's proposed destruction of Gadsden Creek through a single dimension--the net number of wetland acres preserved--rather than through a multi-dimensional lens. The "deal" does not account for the human cost of this destruction. It does not account for the social justice implications of taking a historic creek, an essential fish habitat, and a functioning tidal system away from an already marginalized community and giving this value to a non-marginalized community in Summerville. This pattern of TAKING has been going on for far too long. It is time to stop!

We must do better.

Where is the City of Charleston leadership on this matter? Remember, the City of Charleston (that's us, the residents and taxpayers of this city) own the majority of the critical zone (the creek and wetlands) proposed to be filled by WestEdge.