Town to offer incentives for businesses to house sweetgrass basket makers

By Natalie Caula
ncaula@abcnews4.com

Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (WCIV) -- As cars whish by, Rosalie Coaxum concentrates on weaving the Sweetgrass for a new basket. The land she sits on is part of her family's history. She and her sister, Alma Washington now run the stand together along Highway 17 in Mt. Pleasant.

"This was passed on one generation to the other and we were here for, I'd say almost 100 years and almost in the same spot," Washington said.

Their future is unclear. As Mount Pleasant paves the way to ease congestion by expanding Highway 17, town officials say about sixty Sweetgrass basket weavers may be affected. That's why for the past several years, town leaders have been working on a way to keep the tradition going on the highway.

Monday the town's Economic Development Committee gave initial approval to an ordinance that would attract new businesses and/or developers to providing a space for the basket makers.

The highway expansion may eliminate many of the shoulders used by people who pull over to buy Sweetgrass baskets, and according to town officials, that creates a safety hazard. The ordinance provides a $15,000 credit on impact fees per stand, per development that invite a basket maker to move on their property along the corridor.

"It protects the ladies, it protects the pedestrians and were getting a business to come into the town," Economic Development Committee Chairman and town council member, Paul Gawrych said. "It's a carrot if you will. If you want to put a business here, if you want to put a CVS, you want to put a gas station, and you wanted to have a curb cut here and there's already a lady on the front of that property, were going to give you a credit to allow her to put her stand there."

Gawrych says even those properties along Highway 17 that are not in town limits, in Charleston County could annex into the town and apply for the credit.

The town's planning commission will most likely vote on the ordinance in May. Then, it will go through town council for approval.

For some town leaders, it's an economical and safe alternative, but for some Sweetgrass basket makers its unraveling generations of tradition.