Despite neighbors’ concerns, new Lake Murray state park to open. Can it handle traffic?

A new state park on Lake Murray will be ready to open by the end of the year. Neighbors hope the parks service is ready for the expected traffic.

After years of preparation, the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism plans to open Pine Island to the public by the end of the year, Director Duane Parrish told Lexington County Council this week. For years, the island was maintained as a getaway spot for employees of South Carolina Electric & Gas. It was closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the struggling utility — which was absorbed by Dominion Energy in 2019 — offered the island to the state as a potential future park to meet its tax liabilities.

In the past year, S.C. Parks has done extensive renovations to the 27-acre island, including improvements to an on-site building that will be the residence of the new park manager currently in the process of being hired, Parrish said.

The parks service is set to unveil its new master plan for Pine Island later this spring or summer, Parrish said, and has completed three traffic studies on River Road, the only road connecting the island to the mainland. River Road runs some 2 miles back to North Lake Drive, with housing developments branching off to either side.

Traffic studies have shown that the roads leading up the park should be able to handle the expected traffic, and signs will be added along the route to guide drivers to the island. Cars will not be allowed to line up at the gate waiting for parking so as to keep residents’ driveways clear, Parrish said.

He said park personnel will turn cars around when the parking lot, which has not yet been striped with a set number of spaces, gets more than 90% full.

Councilwoman Charli Wessinger said she hoped the parks service will set up a website where parkgoers can check reservations ahead of a trip, or set up electronic signs to alert drivers that the park is full.

No reservations will be necessary to access the park, Parrish said, but at certain peak times the park may require parking reservations similar to how the parks service handles Jones Gap State Park in Greenville County, which has a similarly limited parking area because “it’s on the side of a mountain,” Parrish said.

“We don’t like doing the reservation system, because obviously that excludes some people,” Parrish said. “We’re all about new people coming in and using things. We don’t build parks if they’re not to be used.”

The park is slatted to open later this fall so any kinks can be worked out before an expected surge in attendance the following summer. A community preview will also be organized before the official opening.

‘We don’t want to be a bad neighbor’

Rick Levitan lives directly across the water from Pine Island, on a cul-de-sac that is the last turn before drivers reach the causeway onto the island. He was one of several neighbors who attended Tuesday’s council meeting, hoping the state park will commit to managing access the same way SCE&G did.

“They had to take reservations,” Levitan said. “To use the picnic shelters out there, you had to reserve one. It’s about safety. There are no sidewalks on River Road, and the causeway is only 17 feet from guardrail to guardrail.”

He wants the park to be reservation-only for at least the first year, “and if nobody is going, then you can relieve some of that.”

“We never required a policeman to direct traffic when it was operated by SCE&G,” Levitan said. “If you do not have reservations, you’re going to have problems, and I do not understand why PRT can’t see that.”

Councilman Darrell Hudson said his family has owned a home on Hunting Island in Beaufort County for 35 years, and he’s seen traffic grow to the state park there in that time.

“There’s now an hour and a half wait to turn in,” Hudson said. “Last summer, there were two fights in the parking lot over parking.”

Park hours for Pine Island will be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. from March through October, with the park closing at 6 p.m. November through February. A community building can be accessed for special events outside of regular park hours.

“Weddings are probably the largest thing we use in that regard,” Parrish said of the community building.

Parkgoers will have to pay an as-yet-unspecified fee and can enter by car or bike, although local residents will be allowed to walk into the park. Some three dozen boat slips at the attached marina can be rented on an annual basis. Only those renters will be able to access the island by boat, something Parrish hopes will alleviate neighbors’ concerns about boat traffic around Pine Island.

“I anticipate with what we call ‘hat and badges on the island, with a law enforcement presence, that some of what happens in the water will calm down quite a bit,” Parrish said. “At least that’s been our experience with Dreher Island today,” where slips can cost between $2,000 and $5,000.

The park service will prohibit any fireworks, drones, overnight camping, loud music and alcohol except for events in the community building. No weapons will be allowed except as permitted by state law.

“We don’t want to be a bad neighbor,” Parrish said.

Jordan Lawrence contributed to this report.