Appeals court won’t hear South Carolina cruise case before 2016

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Attorneys will have to wait until
next year to argue about a permit for a contentious $35 million
passenger cruise terminal in downtown Charleston.

The
State Court of Appeals had said it would hear the case the week of Dec.
7. But a court official said Monday that scheduling conflicts have now
delayed arguments until February at the earliest.

The South Carolina Ports Authority wants to build a new cruise
terminal by renovating a waterfront warehouse. The state Department of
Health and Environmental Control granted a permit almost three years ago
to allow additional pilings to be placed beneath the warehouse to allow
construction.

An administrative law judge earlier upheld the
permit saying that preservation, conservation and neighborhood groups
opposed to the terminal lacked standing to appeal. Those groups are
appealing, saying the terminal will hurt property values and the quality
of life and increase pollution.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers continues reviewing hundreds of comments on the Ports
Authority’s request for a new federal permit.

A federal judge
tossed out an initial permit saying regulators needed to look at not
only the impact of the pilings on the environment, but the larger impact
of the terminal on historic Charleston. The Corps will determine if a
more extensive environmental impact statement on the cruise terminal should be compiled.

The developments in the cruise controversy come as Charleston elects a new mayor.

Joseph
P. Riley Jr., a strong advocate of the terminal, retires at the end of
the year after serving 40 years in office — longer than anyone in the
city’s 345-year history.

Businessman John Tecklenburg and state Rep. Leon Stavrinakis meet Nov. 17 in the runoff in the nonpartisan mayoral election.

Stavrinakis
helped get a provision in last year’s state budget that earmarked $5
million for installing shore electrical power at the terminal so cruise liners are not idling burning fuel at dock.

Tecklenburg also favors shore power as well as an enforceable limit on the number of cruise ships and a per-head tax on cruise passengers to help the city deal with the costs from the cruise industry.
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