I was born and raised in New Orleans, a city famous for food. In the French Quarter at either Morning Call® or Café Du Monde you could enjoy a cup of café au lait along with freshly made beignets. Throughout the city and surrounding areas you could find local bakeries like Scharf’s, or Haydel’s that made fresh doughnuts. Then, of course, Dunkin’ Donuts® offers donut holes. Doughnuts, for all of my life were imitation beignets with a hole in the middle. They were great with or without coffee and those little donut holes from Dunkin’ Donuts® were fun to eat all by themselves!
Then I came to Mount Pleasant, SC and donut holes had an additional definition that has nothing to do with food! That was back in 2002.
There is a little store on the corner of Ben Sawyer and Rifle Range. It is an eclectic place that offers cast concrete statures, produce and other items of interest. The little store stands out not because of the merchandise, but because of how it compares to the surrounding properties. It’s different.
I learned that the corner was a donut hole, meaning that it was not a part of the Town of Mt. Pleasant even though it was surrounded by Mt. Pleasant. Basically, the owner of that property had been able to avoid being part of Mt. Pleasant when the area was annexed sometime ago. It seems that some property owners could avoid being part of the town and the taxes that might be a cost of being in the town. On the surface, the property owner seems to save some tax money and is under the jurisdiction of the county instead of the town. But are these donut holes good for you?
The food doughnuts and doughnut holes are a real treat, occasionally! But since they are full of calories, mostly from fat, a steady diet of doughnuts is not good for you. What about these property donut holes, are they good for you, or me?
There are hundreds of these donut holes in Mt. Pleasant. Some are as small as a quarter-acre while others are much larger. Who responds to an emergency if it occurs in a donut hole? …Mt. Pleasant? …Charleston County? Since the property is not part of Mt. Pleasant and the owners are not paying Mt. Pleasant taxes, technically it should be Charleston County. But what if Mt. Pleasant Police, or Fire do not respond, is there a liability issue? And what if Mt. Pleasant does respond? What is the exposure to Mt. Pleasant and who pays for that response? Would Mt. Pleasant bill the property owner for services rendered?
The questions are not new. Brad Franko from Count On 2 News, did a story on 9/17/2009 that reminded us of the problem donut holes presented to fire departments responding to the Sofa Superstore fire in West Ashley. On 11/2/2009, ABC News 4’s Natalie Caula had a story about the issue in North Charleston and how it impacts property values. The Charleston Regional Business Journal Staff Writer Scott Miller wrote about the issue in the 2/4/2008 journal. None of them offer a real solution in site. I haven’t either.
What do you think? Are donut holes good for you- not the food variety, but the property type? Should individual property owners have the right to become donut holes?
http://www.thestate.com/154/story/998138.html?storylink=omni_popular
http://www.benhagood.com/inNews/inNews55_files/Annexation_laws_under_fire_for_’shoestring’_easements_CRBJ_2-4-08.pdf
http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/1109/674364.html
Mark R. Fuchs
MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com
mark@markandpatriciafuchs.com