200 attend hearing on SC cruise terminal

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — About 200 people turned out for a public hearing on a permit for a new $35 million cruise terminal in South Carolina.

The speakers Wednesday seemed about evenly divided in supporting the Charleston terminal and objecting to the plan because it would cause more traffic, noise and pollution in an historic neighborhood.

The state’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management must decide whether to approve new pilings at the site of an old warehouse being renovated as a cruise terminal. The agency is expected to make a decision this summer.

Mayor Joe Riley said the plan will lead to redevelopment of a blighted industrial area. But Dana Beach of the Coastal Conservation League said regulators can’t be concerned just about pilings, but must weigh the larger project impacts.