Auto body shopin West Ashley, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A major grocery store in West Ashley is relocating and people are curious about what will take its spot.

The developers of Ashley Landing on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard are planning to relocate the Publix across the parking lot.

In the location where Publix currently sits, the plaza ownership is proposing an apartment building.

“The changes we're making with the road improvements is to help create this gathering place atmosphere so people have an easier way to cross Old Towne Road and cross over Sam Rittenberg by walking, by biking, by pushing a stroller if they desire," said Peter Shahid, Charleston County councilman representing District 9. "So this gathering place idea has been promoted well before I was elected to city council, probably back in the early 2000s, to see this area come into a mixed use of residential, to include retail, to include restaurant."

Developers of Ashley Landing are proposing an apartment building with 280 units and a parking deck.

They’ll meet with Charleston's Technical Review Committee on Thursday.

”It is not a review board to make a decision. It's just there to say, 'okay, you've completed the application process. You seem to be in compliance with our requirements.' Then it takes it to the next step," Shahid said.

Many residents shared their concerns online of too many apartment buildings in West Ashley, and not enough infrastructure.

“I live right across the street from this. I will be impacted as much as anybody else," Shahid said. "And so I hope that the developers of this project will take into consideration some of the concerns that my residents have about the number of residential units out there and making sure that, while there are authorized by law can go ahead and do a residential component to this, they take in consideration the number of units, the size of the units and that they take in consideration traffic flow."

Others say they’re more concerned about traffic and the addition of more cars brought by people who will live in the apartments.

“We have studied the traffic flow of this, of this intersection and of this area. It is one of the most highly traveled intersections and roads in the county of Charleston," Shahid said. "So it's a concern that folks have, but other experts will tell us that residential units actually calm down or lower the number of traffic in a particular area."

Developers will have to go in front of the design review board, and Charleston City Council member Peter Shahid advises residents to pay attention to that meeting.

“That's the point in time, which their voices can be heard and the members of the design review board will listen to them and weigh those concerns," Shahid said.

The Technical Review Committee meets Thursday at 9 a.m. on Zoom.

This money will come from the first half-cent sales tax that the county approved back in 2004.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Millions of dollars will come from Charleston County Council to go towards the I-526 expansion after Tuesday night’s approval. This money will come from the first half-cent sales tax that the county approved back in 2004.

This is the second time Charleston County Council has attempted this vote. It was finalized with five yeas, three nays and one absence. Just like the council was during discussion, public comment was also divided.

“You are our trustees,” Elizabeth Singleton, who is against the county funding said. “This is not your money. It’s ours.”

Bradley Taggart, for the county funding, disagreed.

“Poll after poll has shown that people with this project are in fact permanently in favor of completing 526,” Taggart said.

Rick Voight, against county funding, says there are better ways to spend billions of dollars and should use better outcomes.

Joe Greck, for the county funding, encouraged all of council to support the funding, which they ultimately did.

The Mark Clark Extension will extend from West Ashley to Johns Island, James Island and areas of the Charleston metropolitan area to provide easier transportation and improved safety. The total project cost is more than $2 billion.

Councilman Teddie Pryor Sr. District 5 says if this began when it was first presented 42 years ago, it would have only cost around $280 million.

“And you know, people are saying ‘Well why do we delay it?’” Pryor said. “The more we delay, the more it’s going to cost because construction goes up.”

Councilman Larry Kobrovsky for District 2 says otherwise.

“I think it is a tremendous gamble,” Kobrovsky said. “Other words, we voted to spend $75 million of taxpayers’ money without any guarantee that it will be put to any use.”

Kobrovsky says he wishes they would have waited until the next sales tax referendum in two years for them to know exactly where this money will go.

“If we have $75 million that was designated for transportation money and we can put that to meaty use, let’s do that and not gamble,” Kobrovsky said.

Pryor says putting money towards 526 will not defer any other transportation projects going on.

“We just need to move on and move forward,” Pryor said. “People can make excuses or comments when they don’t want anything done, but I’m trusting that Secretary Hall and SCDOT working with us to get this project completed.”

Pryor says the next step is for South Carolina Department of Transportation to start the permitting process. No word right now on when that could start.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCBD) – They’re in the sky, perched in trees, and on top of roofs.

Birds of all types are flocking to the Grand Bees neighborhood in West Ashley. According to neighbors, they’re leaving behind a mess.

“A lot of poop, a lot of debris left over in the yard. You know, it doesn’t matter how many times they clean it. It’s like ‘where’d this napkin come from, where’d this come?’” said Jamie Weiler, a Grand Bees resident.

The Lennar housing development is located right off Bees Ferry Road, next to a large Charleston County landfill.

Katie Fox moved to the neighborhood one year ago and said the birds are dropping off lots of trash when they fly in.

Wrappers, feminine products, chicken bones, and even needles are just a few of the items neighbors have seen in their yards.

“I have tons of trash in my backyard that I often use one of those trash claws to pick up because I don’t want to catch any diseases from this,” Fox said. “And then many kids can’t go out and play. Dogs are choking on bones. They had to go to the vet to get those removed from their stomach. So, it’s been pretty bad. We’re all running out of ideas.”

Fox said she’s woken up by the sound of the crows every morning. The noise doesn’t stop until the evening.

Jamie Weiler said the birds weren’t a problem when the homes were being built. Little did he know, a few months later, he would have some unexpected neighbors.

“Since there’s no construction noise there’s no hammering or anything like that. They’re not scared so they’re just hanging out, hanging out, hanging out. So, it’s gotten worse over time,” Weiler explained.

According to Charleston County officials, the landfill has been there since the 1970s.

News 2 reached out to Lennar’s Charleston office, but we have not heard back. We also made calls with county leaders in hopes of getting some answers.

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCSC) - Neighbors in a West Ashley community say they are frustrated and anxious after floodwater crept up to their homes, and a potential solution could be a few years away.

Bennett Barton and Rachel Brunette said Thursday’s rainstorms flooded both the road and their backyards, almost getting into their houses. They said as cars passed by, the wake would go up and slap against their front doors.

“This is my first house; I didn’t know what to expect,” Barton said. “I started panicking. I couldn’t leave to get sandbags or any preventative measures because the road was flooded, too.”

They said as cars passed by, the wake would go up and slap against their front doors.

“At one point, I even got pitchers and just was pouring them into my sink from my screened-in porch,” Barton said. Didn’t do anything, but it made me ease my mind a little bit.”

The Woodlands neighborhood is part of the Dupont Wappoo Watershed, which consists of around 1,000 acres of West Ashley surrounding the Citadel Mall.

The City of Charleston said they are spending $5 million on four out of the 10 scheduled projects to improve downstream water flow under Interstate 526. Once that is done, the city will be increasing the size of pipes and canals near the Woodlands neighborhood to get the water out faster.

“There’s not a lot of elevation change to make that water flow very quickly,” Charleston Director of Stormwater Management Matthew Fountain said, “so those very small ditches don’t work for how much pavement, how many buildings we have in the basin now.”

Brunette said it is not uncommon for her to have to check the weather radar before she leaves for work.

“So, when I’m away for the day, I have to be prepared that whether my windows are open, whether the dog is in or out, and like you said if the vehicle is in the right place in case it does flood,” Brunette said. “There’s been a couple of cars that have been flooded out. The landscaping, you can’t keep decent landscaping. It washes away.”

The city said they are optimistic construction on the projects will start in 2025, but until then, Barton said his anxiety will continue.

“If it had rained for two more hours or it was going into high tide, I think my living room would have been underwater,” Barton said. “Who knows how much that would have cost?”

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SCDNR News

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C.

Last week, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) was awarded $1.5 million to work with partners and volunteers in the Charleston area to restore seven acres of degraded salt marsh in a historically important area. The project will unfold over four years and use volunteers to plant salt marsh grasses and construct oyster reefs through SCDNR’s South Carolina Oyster Recycling and Enhancement (SCORE) Program.

"We’re ecstatic to receive funding for this project," said Michael Hodges, SCDNR shellfish biologist and lead on the project. "We’re excited that we will get to involve so many volunteers and partners in the project’s implementation. This will be a unique project, using novel, nature-based solutions to restore the degraded tidal marsh in this historically significant part of the Lowcountry."

Granted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the National Coastal Resilience Fund, the award is one of eight funded across the country and represents a continuation of federally funded work on Old Towne Creek in West Ashley. Phase one of the project, led by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), involved developing engineering and design plans for coastal marshes in West Ashley. A team led by Dr. Joel E. Kostka, Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the Schools of Biological Sciences and Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at GT, will lead post-restoration monitoring and quantify habitat improvements as well as collaborate with SCDNR to train volunteers and citizen scientists. Other partners in this phase of the project will include Robinson Design Engineers and the South Carolina Aquarium.

"This project is a win-win for the Charleston area as it will restore critical wildlife habitat while strengthening the resilience of the coastline to damage from storms and erosion made worse by climate change," said Dr. Kostka. "We at Georgia Tech are excited to participate in the project, in particular to leverage science to develop metrics and improve strategies that will ensure the success of nature-based restoration activities across the U.S."

The restoration site is in what was formerly Maryville, a small town with an important role in Charleston’s history. Chartered and settled in 1886, Maryville was one of the area’s most prominent settlement communities – self-sustaining, all-Black communities that offered the region’s formerly enslaved population safer places to buy land, raise families, and pursue farming or trades in the Jim Crow-era South.

Despite later annexation by the city of Charleston and rapid development of surrounding West Ashley, the area is still known to some locals – including descendants of the town’s founders – as Maryville.

Old Towne Creek is the tidal waterway that connects this area to the nearby Ashley River. In 1670, it saw the first English settlers arrive and establish ‘Charles Towne’ on its banks. Later, the fishermen of Maryville plied its waters for crab, oysters and fish. Today, the creek is popular among kayakers and birdwatchers. But like many urban waterways, Old Towne Creek and its surrounding marshes have degraded over time, particularly after a severe drought in 2012 and another salt marsh dieback event in 2016. Researchers have found that the salt marsh within the project area has not recovered naturally like other areas with similar conditions.

The recent $1.5 million in funding will allow for the restoration and monitoring of seven acres of degraded salt marsh through community-based restoration efforts. Members of the community and the Ashleyville-Maryville Neighborhood Association, who initially noticed that the marsh vegetation was dying back, participated in the initial site assessment and will now be engaged as volunteers in the restoration.

SCDNR biologists have been constructing ‘living shorelines’ – shorelines made of natural materials – for two decades, primarily using recycled oyster shells. These shells attract young oysters, which settle on the hard materials and collectively grow into reef structures that filter waterways, provide habitat for fish and buffer shorelines from erosion.

Please click here to sign up to receive updates about marsh restoration volunteer events.