Shem Creek - A seafood-lover's paradise!

Alright all you skaters in the house – now’s your chance to show off your skills and see who’s the best skater in Charleston – legally!

This Saturday is Free Skateboarding Day from 12-5 p.m. at Mount Pleasant Skate Park, behind the R.L. Jones Center where you can try MPRD’s SkateLite Pro Ramps for free.

Participants must bring their own skateboard and safety equipment (helmet, knee pads and elbow pads) and have a current, signed waiver on file.

All skate park rules and regulations apply. Check the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department website for more info, or contact Mark Friedrich at 856-2196.

For more skate park concepts going on around the country, check out Skateparks Start to Go Green.

Shem Creek aerial view
Credit: Post and Courier

According to an Oct. 31, 2008 Shem Creek appraisal from Atlantic Appraisals, the acreage Mt. Pleasant bought from the previous Ok Tire owners, Mark Mason and Phillip Smith, for $6 million is now worth only half that.

Originally asking $7.6 million for the property, the owners settled for $6 million when Mt. Pleasant threatened eminent domain foreclosure on the property early last year.

Even with proposed enhancements on the property to repair aged docks, etc., the value only gets as high as $4,138,000 based on today’s declined real estate market and economic downturn.

“We’re not going to do anything with it. We’re not moving forward at this point in time. We’re looking at some other possibilities in Mount Pleasant,” – PRC Commissioner Mark Kearns.

While Mark Mason and Phillip Smith obviously made out, higher property taxes are going to have to pay back the bonds that were used to buy the property.

Mt. Pleasant intends to use the location for a park and public space, so everybody is interested in how this will turn out. Local firm Thomas and Hutton Engineering is surveying the property now to come up with a master plan.

Input from several parties will be noted:

1. shrimpers,
2. the U.S. Coast Guard,
3. the sailing community,
4. adjacent neighborhoods,
5. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
6. Shem Creek restaurants and businesses,
7. the Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC), and
8. the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

Mt. Pleasant will be announcing when the meeting for public input is going to take place; until then, stay tuned.