BCSD Approves ‘Memorandum Of Understanding’ With Carnes Crossroads

Pictured: Entrance to Carnes Crossroads (Courtesy: Google Earth)

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. – At a Jan. 14 Berkeley County school board meeting, BCSD Superintendent Dr. Eddie Ingram announced another element in the school district’s multi-pronged approach to its capital building needs based on the area’s explosive growth, especially in Carnes Crossroads.

Dr. Ingram recommended the board grant the school district’s administration the authority to execute a first of its kind “memorandum of understanding” with the developer of Carnes Crossroads to implement impact fees within the development.

The recommendation that would have builders pay impact fees directly to the school district received unanimous approval from board members.

In addition to the revenue generated from the voluntary impact fees, Ingram announced the intent to build a new K-8 school within the Carnes Crossroads development. The district is looking at a couple of sites and the exact location within the development is still under negotiation.

“We know from experience that K-8 schools work well and the beauty of implementing that model here is that it will alleviate overcrowding at both Cane Bay Elementary and Cane Bay Middle simultaneously,” Dr. Ingram said.

The work with DI Development Company to secure space, and funds is latest of several such successful efforts between the school district and the company.

“Our team has collaborated with the Berkeley County School District to help develop three public schools in two planned communities in Charleston,” said DI Development Company President Matt Sloan. “Schools are among the foundational building blocks of a strong community, and we could not be more excited to work with district leaders again to bring quality public education to Carnes Crossroads.”

Board members were pleased to hear of this newest solution to the ongoing challenge in addressing growth and revenue sources to support capital projects. Among those was district nine school board representative Ann Conder.

“In order to be good stewards of tax dollars and address our facility needs, we are going to need to think outside of the box,” Ms. Conder said. “The voluntary impact fees do exactly that and are one step in the right direction. The Board has heard the public’s desire to find ways for new growth to help fund their impact on schools.”

The board’s move to secure funding and space for a new school in the area of Highway 176 follows a cap on enrollment at Cane Bay Middle and Cane Bay Elementary and a school choice option for families living within the attendance zone – both approved at the December 10 regular board meeting.

Rezoning for the Wildcat Tract and the undeveloped areas of Nexton passed with a second reading at Tuesday’s meeting. Additional information and maps will be published at a later date.

“Let me be clear, in my opinion, the only long-term solution to the problems of growth we are seeing in areas like Cane Bay, other than busing students to schools with capacity thought the district, is the construction of new school facilities,” Ingram said. “Everyone in the administration is committed to our capital building program that addresses our needs as quickly as funding is available. Our capital building program is premised on appropriate planning, and we have worked with this board for two years on a plan that I believe will be a model for the Southeast and other high growth districts.”

Ingram described the deal with Carnes Crossroads as an “exciting and strong first step forward.”

“In the years to come, we will need to continuously build and address our growth,” he said.

The next Berkeley County school board meeting will be held on Jan. 28 in the boardroom of the Berkeley Education Center located at 107 E. Main Street in Moncks Corner. All meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. with executive session and regular session to begin at approximately 6:30 p.m.

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