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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - A Mount Pleasant family is continuing to fight for land that’s been in their family for more than 100 years.

Henry Bailem says John Ballam Road has been in his family since 1893.

“Our forefathers left this property for us to maintain for future generations, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Bailem says.

The family says they have deeds and documents that prove the road belongs to them, but Charleston County and the Town of Mount Pleasant dispute that.

The dispute came to a head when a developer bought a piece of property across the way in 2017, and the road all the sudden became public.

“We feel like we’re being disrespected to the highest,” Bailem says, “The days of the local government taking advantage of the black folk are gone, we’re the new generation, and we’re not going to take it anymore, enough is enough.”

The family filed a lawsuit against Charleston County and the Town of Mount Pleasant and are now working to add the developer.

But another family member, Diane Jefferson says the county and town are dragging their feet.

“They demanded we get an attorney, we got an attorney, so why are they running now?” Jefferson says, “Why don’t we just go ahead, keep going and get this over with. Let’s take it to the court system.”

While they wait for their day in court, the family has taken matters into their own hands, holding protests and even once blocking off the entrance to the road.

“We’ve got to make a move and do what we need to do, and if they arrest us, then arrest us, we’ll get our day in court,” Jefferson says.

They’ve also connected to others who are in similar fights, and hope that their story encourages them to remain steadfast.

“Keep it for your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren, god’s not making any more property,” Bailem says.

The Town of Mount Pleasant and Charleston County filed responses to the family’s lawsuit.

Both entities say they cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

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Three area hospitals have been sold in a $2.4 billion deal to North Carolina-based Novant Health by the previous owner, Tenet Healthcare of Dallas, Texas.

The sale of East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, Hilton Head Hospital in Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville includes the associated physician clinics and other operations, according to a news release from Novant Health.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome our new team members and grow our presence in South Carolina,” said Carl S. Armato, president and CEO, Novant Health, which is headquartered in Winston-Salem. “Novant Health’s long-term vision is to transform the health and wellness of these communities through expanded specialty services and clinical expertise. We are energized and united behind our cause to create a healthier future together by building connections with patients and clinicians in coastal South Carolina.”

The East Cooper Medical Center includes 15 physician clinics. Hilton Head Hospital includes the Bluffton Okatie Outpatient Center and 12 physician clinics. Coastal Carolina Hospital in Jasper County includes the Tidewatch Free-Standing Emergency Department in Bluffton, according to the news release.

Novant Health said continuity of care is a priority and appointments and procedures will continue as scheduled during the transition period. “We are working closely with our new Novant Health team members to ensure a seamless transition for patients and team members,” Joel Taylor, market CEO of Hilton Head Regional Healthcare, said in the release. “We are eager to move forward together in support of our teams and know decisions will be made with our community’s needs at the forefront.”

“There’s a lot to be excited about when planning for our future,” Tyler Sherrill, CEO of East Cooper Medical Center, said in the release. “Novant Health is known for elevating clinician leadership to provide patients with a trusted health care experience through world-class technology, personal connections and convenient access to care.”

Tenet Health also owns a cluster of imaging centers and urgent care clinics in York, Rock Hill and Fort Mill, but those South Carolina properties were not part of the deal for the coastal hospitals.

“We understand that taking care of our patients starts with taking care of our people, so I’m delighted to join a leadership team that strives to not only be a healthc are provider of choice but also an employer of choice,” Ryan Lee, CEO of Coastal Carolina Hospital, said in the release. “I look forward to expanding the resources available to our team.”

Novant Health supports health and wellness programs in the community, including health education/screenings, community health workers and mobile cruisers. Each year, Novant Health provides hundreds of programs that serve patients, neighbors and some of their communities’ most vulnerable citizens, the company said in the release.

The Novant Health network consists of more than 1,900 physicians and more than 38,000 team members who provide care at more than 800 locations, the release said.

Tell me about your professional background and how you feel it makes you a good fit to be a council member.

I've been teaching in Charleston County since 2016. This is my 24th year teaching. The local aspect of teaching, most of my career has been in teaching elementary school, but still the local aspect of working in the community where I live has always been something that I really like. Now I'm in North Charleston, so it's the greater community where I live. I think this is a theme of why I've chosen to run for Town Council because I would like to see Mount Pleasant make its own decisions on a local level and be responsible for them and with citizens participating in the process. I lived in France for seven years and I have a Bachelor of Science in French and psychology and a master's degree in educational technology. I've just always been part of the local community and have worked well with others.

What do you feel is the biggest issue facing the town today, and what plans do you have to address this?

I have a daughter, a six-year-old, and we went to James Island yesterday to go rock climbing in James Island County Park. I would like to see the green spaces improved in Mount Pleasant to make it something where travelers don't have to go across town to go to the (County) Park. I know that there’s a bike path in … Laurel Hill County Park and just a dirt road going in a half-mile circle and there are things that we can put back there that would be places you can take your kids and take your family.

The other thing is I think that health all across the United States is a problem. We pay more for healthcare. We have more healthcare issues related to obesity and diet. I would like to be somebody who spreads the message of healthy eating and healthy lifestyles lead to better lives. We have a great little local market there at Boone Hall...we have the Farmers Market on Tuesday and Boone Hall is open the rest of the week.

The results of the Public Input Matters survey found that throughout all seven districts in town, respondents feel that traffic in Mount Pleasant needs to be improved. What are some concrete solutions that you feel can address this?

The traffic in Mount Pleasant and housing in Mount Pleasant — I don’t know if ‘victims of our own success’ is the right word for it. We have a very unique geography here. We are a virtual island in that there's no shortcuts. There's one way in and one way out. You may come across I-526 or I-26 or you go north towards McClellanville and Georgetown up (Highway) 41. There just isn't room.

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I know that the Town Council has a plan and they've already hired a company to look into certain traffic solutions. As a new council member, I'm not sure if I would be able to offer anything different to what they have already decided on.

Another area Public Input Matters survey takers responded to was housing availability. Forty-one percent of respondents felt that affordable housing options should be increased. How do you feel this can be accomplished?

I think it speaks well to the people in Mount Pleasant that we want things for people like affordable housing, but whether or not there is a feasible solution to providing that affordable housing — where are we going to put affordable housing? It makes sense that people want affordable housing but do they want the affordable housing in their backyard?

I want to live locally, I want to buy locally, want to shop locally, but we can't escape the fact that a lot of our local decisions are made on a state and national and global level. How does Mount Pleasant make affordable housing when the interest rates are 7.75 percent? There are things happening on a national level that we just can't control that can make our job of creating affordable housing next to impossible.

Is there anyone who has served as a role model to you, either from politics, past experiences or family members, that you look to and consider while you run for office?

One thing my dad always taught us was sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do, but you can take solace in the fact that it's the right thing to do. I am a part owner of a restaurant in Washington, D.C. with my brother Eric and when Washington D.C. decided to impose the vaccine mandate on restaurants … we were the only restaurant in Washington, D.C. to actively say no, we're not going to check people's health papers. It was very hard on my brother to do that, and he's such a big part of the local community. What I just really admired was his courage and even though it financially wasn't the best decision. Financially, it wasn't a great decision, but it was the right decision to make and his principles are something that I truly admire and I try to follow that example in my own life.

MOUNT PLEASANT — In an ongoing backlash to years of soaring population growth and traffic complaints, this affluent suburb plans to extend strict limits on building permits for another five years.

Just 600 new residences would be permitted yearly in the town of more than 94,000 people, and the actual number would likely be lower.

The yearslong effort to slow residential development by capping building permits is a step no other municipality in South Carolina has taken, but few have experienced growth like Mount Pleasant. The town's population has roughly doubled since 2000 and tripled since 1990.

“There was concern in the community about our infrastructure being able to keep up with the growth rate, and I don’t think that concern has gone away," said Councilwoman G.M. Whitley, who put the permit limit extension before Town Council in November.

The measure is scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing Dec. 13, with a final Town Council vote expected in January. The "building permit allocation system" has been in place nearly five years, and instead of expiring in early 2024, it would be extended to 2029.

It's among many steps the town has taken to thwart rapid growth. There's also a moratorium on new apartment construction that's been in place for seven years, zoning rules have been changed to limit building height and density, and development impact fees were increased dramatically.

In 2018, the year before the permit caps began, the town saw 1,407 new dwelling units — houses, apartments, townhouses and other types of residences. Last year, there were 759.

The permit limits were aimed at slowing the town's annual growth rate for residences from more than 3 percent to a target of 2.1 percent. The result was a growth rate even lower, marked by a low of 1.29 percent in 2020 when just 520 new residences were built.

Mount Pleasant's ordinance in 2019 laid out justifications for limiting building permits, and nearly five years later those have not changed.

The ordinance to extend the permit limits uses the same language, which says "the effects of significant growth are apparent and have resulted not only in increased traffic, congestion and noise, but have also burdened the services.." and "...the town’s road system is barely capable of adequately handling current traffic..."

The permit rules are particularly strict when it comes to higher density multi-family construction, such as apartments and condos. Just 500 new multi-family residences would be allowed over five years, while 2,400 single-family homes could be permitted.

Perhaps surprisingly, despite the limits in place since 2019, hundreds of single-family-home permits went unclaimed.

“Right now we have in excess of 800-900 single-family permits," said Michele Reed, the town's planning director.

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Real estate professionals said a lack of developable land in Mount Pleasant and the high cost of any land available help explain why hundreds of permits to build houses were not used.

“Mount Pleasant, in a lot of ways, is near build-out," said Josh Dix, government affairs director for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. "There’s not a lot of opportunity for single-family."

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If the town were to annex more properties, that could change. The town is currently in a lawsuit over rules that require property owners to become part of the town in order to get the water and sewer service needed for development.

The suit was filed by owners of a 185-acre tract on the Wando River, known as the Republic tract.

If it were to be developed in the town, Mount Pleasant's impact fees would apply and permit limits would allow just 25 new homes per developer every six months. If it could be developed as an unincorporated part of Charleston County, town officials have said the county's zoning would allow about 1,600 homes.

So, Mount Pleasant is mostly built-out, but that could change.

In the current permit-limiting plan that started in 2019, all but 10 of the 500 multi-family permits were claimed, as were all 100 of the permits allowed for accessory dwellings — generally small second homes on the same property as a primary home.

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Unclaimed permits will not roll over into the next proposed 5-year program. And as with the current program, there would be limits on how many single-family permits could be obtained every six months.

Drew Grossklauss, a Mount Pleasant realtor who became president of the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors in November, said he understands the town needs to address growth but the length of the permit limit extension seems unnecessary.

“I would say five years seems like an extreme to do something," he said.

There are exceptions to the permit caps. The two developments that have ongoing agreements with the town, Carolina Park and Liberty Hill Farm, are exempt, as are developments of affordable housing.

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During the last five years, there was one townhouse development, Gregorie Ferry Towns, that qualified for the affordable housing exception — townhomes started at $279,000 — but real estate professionals doubt private developers could create more.

"The cost of land, the cost of construction — all these things add up," said Dix. He said allowing more permits for multi-family housing could help create more affordable housing.

“There is a lot of talk from realtors that if we build a lot of multi-family housing, Mount Pleasant would be more affordable, but I think that’s not true," said Whitley. "They will charge what the market will bear."

MOUNT PLEASANT — His belief in both are unshakeable.

Why not combine them?

“I still enjoy teaching the game, I still enjoy being around kids. And as you know, I still hate to lose,” chuckled Joe Hudak, the memories of 31 years as a college baseball coach as fresh as the ideas for his new venture. “What’s even more exciting to me at this point is of being part of these young men’s spiritual development.”

Baseball and faith have always intertwined in his life, represented by a bracelet on his wrist featuring two hardballs flanking a cross. Hudak won 866 games in his career, 660 during 19 seasons at Winthrop, but when his tenure with the Eagles ended in 2010, he was looking for the next opportunity.

That’s where the seed for Kingsmen Baseball Academy, a full-time baseball development institution for high-school players, sprouted. Headquartered at Mount Pleasant’s Shipyard Park, it’s recruiting players for its first school year, which will begin in August.

A wave of baseball academies has crested with the creation of schools from southern Virginia to Florida, including Lexington’s P27 Academy. The idea is to take players who are planning to play in college — the Kingsmen are already talking to recruits who are committed to college programs for the 2025 season — and give them a baseball experience much more than the standard high-school season. They’ll practice three to four hours per day, do their academic work online and live within five miles of the field.

“We’re talking to a young man right now from Minnesota, who’s committed to Creighton,” Hudak said. “And it’s like we’ve told him — ‘You can stay home, where you’re going to play 20 games in high school, maybe, and the weather is horrible. Or you can come here, where the average temperature from November to February is 64 and a half degrees, play 60-70 games and get on the fast track to be successful in college, not just go to college.’

“And we’ll help them with what it really means to be a Christian. It’s not a list of dos and don’ts, it’s having a personal relationship with Christ. We want them to understand what it is so they can decide if they want to pursue that ideal. We won’t force it on them, but it is who we are.”

The Kingsmen will practice year-round and play in the spring against those other Southeast academies. They’ll take a mission trip to the Dominican Republic every year, where they’ll also play against local teams, with Bible study and church a regular part of their everyday stateside routine.

Tuition that covers travel, housing and all other aspects is $25,000 per year, with limited scholarship opportunities available. It’s open to sophomores, juniors and seniors although rising freshmen could be given a chance, if they meet certain requirements.

The goal is to get 48 players for the first year, enough for two teams. If the Kingsmen can get double that, they will get a year’s head start on their next venture: A branch program located in Gastonia, N.C., for a Charlotte-based team, currently set to start in August 2025.

“We have lodging at two apartment complexes in Charleston nine minutes away from Shipyard, and the players and parents will sign a contract about our expectations,” Hudak said. “We’ll run a really tight ship — they’re high-school kids — and monitor their academics and nutrition. They’ll be on their own at night so we’ll be prepping them for college, even if they don’t play.”

Hudak surrounded himself with a top staff. Charleston Southern alum and former big-leaguer Tyler Thornburg is handling the pitchers and one of his Winthrop products, ninth-round draft pick and Stratford High alum John Murrian, is coaching hitters and catchers. Former CSU baseball coach Jason Murray is a part-time assistant and Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore will also help part-time, after he retires from CCU following this season.

“I wanted to start a baseball academy but wanted it to be faith-based,” Hudak said. “We’ve sent 1,200 flyers around the country to recruits in the Class of 2025, and will do the same for 2026.”

Hudak worked with the Piedmont Fellowship of Christian Athletes from 2010-16, interested in coaching again but not wishing to uproot his children, in high school at the time, from Rock Hill. While coaching his son’s travel-ball team — his son is Preston Hudak, who played at North Carolina before chronic shoulder problems ended his career — the elder Hudak created a summer college-league team that was also faith-based.

The Piedmont Pride would eventually morph into the Kingsmen and their lion’s-head logo. Hudak dreamed of building the academy in York County but the project never really got off the ground, which is when Charleston and Mount Pleasant entered the picture.

Now his vision is nearly reality. Starting in August, the ol’ skipper will once again don the uniform, lace his cleats and lead another team.

“The ability to go to practice every day and play 60 or 70 games is really exciting to me,” said Hudak, who stressed the message of a favorite book of his: “Halftime,” where the message is to have success in life, then transition to significance.

“Our goal is to help them with baseball and their faith.”