Davis: County on the cusp of phenomenal growth | News | Berkeley Independent

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Davis: County on the cusp of phenomenal growth

Published Tuesday, February 07, 2012 9:06 AM

By Dan Brown
Berkeley Independent

Photo by: Frank Johnson/Independent

Berekeley County Supervisor Dan Davis delivers the State of the County address Friday.

Good times await Berkeley County, Supervisor Dan Davis said in his annual State of the County address before a Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce gathering last week.

Davis addressed chamber members Friday morning at the Redbank Club in Goose Creek.

“We have a lot of things on the move and I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish over the years and pleased with the direction in which we’re going,” Davis told more than 150 business and civic leaders. “I believe that Berkeley County sits on the cusp of many years of growth and prosperity.

“I think it’s very important that we’re prepared to take full advantage of the opportunities coming our way.”

While the current state of the economy remains a top concern, Davis believes the county’s sound financial management over the past five years of his tenure, which has shown less than a 1-percent increase in its annual budget, has helped Berkeley County weather the storm.

“This, plus the planned infrastructural improvements in the county’s roads and water and sewer system, and a trained workforce makes businesses want to locate here,” Davis said. “We’ve enjoyed a number of successes over the past year.

“Seven new companies have located in Berkeley County, which has created 495 new jobs with three of those companies coming in support of Boeing. We expect more to come.”

Davis added that a new manufacturing firm plans to locate in Bushy Park in March, but with the road improvements and the dredging of Charleston Harbor, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We anticipate more businesses to follow this company,” he said. “We’ve been told this will attract other businesses as well.”

Davis also announced a resolution in the Jedburg Road funding project that will allow the I-26 interchange expansion to proceed has finally been reached.

“This is the most anticipated project in Berkeley County in the last 10 years,” he said. “I’m recommending an ordinance for our February meeting that will complete the funding for the Jedburg Road interchange project so we will be able to move forward full speed ahead with it this spring.

“We are finally there.”

Davis said it was all about Berkeley County stepping up to the plate and taking care of its own business: “There has been less and less state and federal money available so if this was going to get done, Berkeley County would have to step up to the plate and pay for it.

“The water is free but you have to bring your own bucket,” Davis continued. “We have a lot of opportunities. Some of those opportunities are free, some aren’t, but we’ve got to be ready to take advantage of these opportunities.”

According to Davis the county has to be ready to accommodate the new shipping traffic potentially headed for Charleston.

“We are about to experience phenomenal growth but we have to have our bucket ready,” he said. “We have to have our infrastructural in place. We are working on building adequate roads. We must have water, and Berkeley County has one of the larger county water systems in the state. We have industrial sites with deep-water access along Cooper River and we must be ready with a trained educated workforce.

“If we don’t have workers for these new businesses, they’ll go somewhere else. We must continue to move forward and get in better shape.”

Davis cited George Will’s recent Washington Post column that said the U.S. was going to miss an important opportunity to accommodate increased shipping traffic once the expansion of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014.

“We have to be ready to support that increased traffic and I think at the end of the day, Berkeley County will be,” Davis said. “I believe that we are on the verge of much better economic times and about to experience phenomenal growth in the county.”

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