Plans for park and ride facility on fairgrounds getting pushback

LADSON, S.C. (WCBD)- Officials with the Charleston Regional Transport Authority, or CARTA, want to put a park and ride facility at the Ladson fairgrounds, but they’re getting pushback from some fair officials.

CARTA Chairman, Mike Seekings says this plan has been in the works for years.

“It’s an important project for many reasons. It opens up possibilities for everyone that’s around here,” Seekings said.

The idea is to use 6 acres of the 180-acre fairgrounds and transform the space from a parking lot to a CARTA park and ride facility, connecting the 21.3-mile Lowcountry Rapid Transit project, making public transportation more accessible.

Seekings said, “We’re well down the road in cooperation to have this project be viable.”

However, fair leadership is now unwilling to give the land up.

“We feel like taking this property away from the fair is a really bad move for us,” Past president of the Coastal Carolina Fair, Mike Jernigan said.

Leaders saying if they lose a chunk of their parking lot they would lose a lot of money and it would disturb their operations.

Jernigan said, “It would eliminate our ability to use one of our primary gates, and we feel like the effect of that on our parking means that we have less revenue, and less money to give to the charities that depend on profits from the fair.”

However, Seekings says he thinks it’ll have the opposite effect and doesn’t understand why fair leadership is backing out.

“Having a hub right next to the gates of the fair is a natural to bring people in a safe economical way to the fair,” Seekings says.

Ultimately, fair leadership says they can only express their concerns, but the final decision won’t be up to them.

“It’ll be up to the three county governments and officials that represent taxpayers,” Jernigan said.

CARTA officials say if the plans go through, they wouldn’t break ground for another 2 years.