Auto MechanicNear James Island, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - One concerned resident living on James Island says there is a lack of communication on a traffic project that was designed to improve the safety and flow of traffic.

The Central Park Road and Riverland Drive Intersection Improvements Project was made to improve the safety and traffic flow of Riverland Drive and Central Park Road for all modes of transportation while minimizing impacts on adjacent property and grand trees. The project officially began in 2018 and is still in the works.

More than 11,000 vehicles a day commute on Riverland Drive, according to the Charleston County Transportation Department, and the lack of turn lanes and significant delays have prompted a plan to relieve traffic congestion at the intersection of Riverland Drive and Central Park Road.

The need for more crosswalks, signs and designated areas, frequent accidents, narrow lanes and delays for school traffic are just a few reasons officials say the project is needed. The funding for the project comes from the second half-cent sales tax.

Eric Lundcrum lives on Terrabrook Lane on James Island and says the road hasn’t been upgraded and the growth continues to climb in the area.

Charleston County spokesperson Kelsey Barlow says the county intends to install crosswalks and a flashing light at the Central Park and Riverland intersection. The project will also add a right-turn lane with refuge on Central Park and a sidewalk along Riverland Drive that will extend to the future Woodland Shores sidewalk to the Riverland Drive multi-use path.

“We should have some consideration on completing some of these projects that are way overdue,” Lundcrum says. “The Charleston County Council is always 20 years behind upgrading infrastructure to satisfy the growth. The other solution was just to put a traffic light there, but they didn’t even do that. Year after year of more growth and year after year no solution to the very busy intersection.”

We reached out to officials from Charleston County who told us the South Carolina Department of Transportation has approved the right-of-way plans, and they are currently in the right-of-way acquisition process. They are scheduled to advertise construction in the third quarter of this year. Currently, officials say the project team has made contact with impacted property owners and working with them for the right-of-way acquisition process.

If you know a road that’s driving you crazy, you can submit your concern here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Updated with visitor information on Friday, Oct. 13

Something green is coming to Charleston, and we’re not talking about St. Patrick’s Day. A new state park is in the works at the tip of James Island. We spoke with SC State Parks Director Paul McCormack for the latest on the project.

The waterfront park will be located on 23 acres at the end of Fort Johnson Road, adjacent to the Fort Johnson historic site. The parcel is managed by the SC Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.

In 2021, the state purchased the land from the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy for $23 million. The May Forest Convent located on-site is expected to be converted into an event venue that will be the main component of the new park. Funding has not yet been secured for the venue construction project.

Charlestonians can look forward to a day-use recreation and picnicking area with views of the Charleston Harbor, the Ravenel Bridge, and Fort Sumter. There is an existing gazebo and bench swing. Conceptual images are not yet available, but stay tuned.

An event space, lodging, and a dock may be added in the future. A structural assessment of the property is expected to determine park features down the road. What would you like to see this new park offer? Let us know.

In addition, there is a master plan that envisions the entire ~100-acre Fort Johnson area that is separate from the state park project.

The park is expected to open this spring or summer. There is currently no timeline for potential future amenities, but keep an eye on the newsletter for updates. The plans for Fort Johnson, which surrounds the state park area, are long-term.

May Forest launched its soft opening phase. The new state park on the northeast waterfront of James Island offers views of the Charleston Harbor, Ravenel Bridge, and Fort Sumter, plus woodland and fields abutting the shore.

The park is far from finished — but you can stroll for yourself now.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources bought the 23-acre park land from the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy for $23.25 million in 2021.

May Forest State Park and the ~100-acre Fort Johnson area make up a long-term development plan including updated trail access, greenspace, historical interpretation, and research campuses.

The park is located at 424 Fort Johnson Rd. Since it occupies one tip of James Island, navigating is easy: just follow the road to its end and follow the signage for visitor parking.

During the soft opening phase, the park is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays, grounds only.

May Forest is currently hiring a park ranger. Once they do, you’ll be able to visit on weekends, too.

Currently, May Forest offers walking trails and four picnic tables to unwind by the water. Pets are welcome in most areas, but you’ll need to keep them leashed.

As the park grows, look forward to an event space at the old May Forest Convent, overnight accommodations, and dining options.

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The site of a proposed preschool on James Island is causing some neighbors to worry about what their yards will look like during a storm or what the traffic will look like during rush hour.

The city of Charleston’s Design Review Board approved the basics, like what kind of building materials and plants the developer wants to use, for example, at the proposed Goddard Preschool located at 1137 Folly Rd., at Tuesday night’s meeting.

However, neighbor Matthew Pertuset says he’s more worried about what the city will review later on.

“How is that going to affect the, not just the people that back up, but the entire neighborhood?” Pertuset said.

The proposed preschool sits directly behind Pertuset’s home in the Queenborough neighborhood. He says he’s worried about the design of this building’s drainage because of how it already acts during storms.

“We’re already holding water,” Pertuset said. “So, for that to come up even more, I’m not sure. So, it’s a huge concern.”

But Robert Summerfield, the director of planning, preservation and sustainability for the city of Charleston, said because they have some of the most comprehensive stormwater regulations in the region, no project could make the problem worse but could only improve it.

“They’re working very hard to make sure that they are utilizing the existing wetlands on site and enhancing that as a stormwater catchment area,” Summerfield said.

But that’s not the only concern.

“If it is going to be a pickup, you know, we’re right here on Folly Road, how does that look during rush hour traffic in the mornings and the afternoons?” Pertuset said. “Is it going to get pushed into our neighborhood for us to deal with or is it just going to come to a stop on Folly Road?”

Summerfield said the city has already thought about it.

“We have created a drop-off low space so that cars, as they come in and drop their children off or pick them up, will actually flow through the site so that there’s a queueing situation that will occur so that people aren’t ideally not queueing out on Folly,” Summerfield said.

Neither the Goddard School nor the applicant, AAG Architects for Vista 26, LLC, have responded to requests for comment.

However, Pertuset said no matter what comes on this property, he just wants the city to be thorough with their plans.

“It is something that the community needs,” Pertuset said. “I think James Island could afford to have another preschool.”

Summerfield said the city will discuss more drainage specifics once the developer submits the next step to the Technical Review Committee. They will have to pass all initial designs before that is done and there’s currently no timeline of when that might take place.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

About 24 acres of undeveloped land along the Stono River on James Island will be protected thanks to a partnership between the Open Space Institute and the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission.

OSI purchased the property, located at the end of Bradham Road, for $1.5 million using a mixture of local, state and federal funds. The deal was set to close Dec. 20.

A limited-liability corporation agreed to sell the tract to OSI for well below market value. The property — appraised north of $4 million — likely would’ve been used to build single-family homes, OSI Senior Land Project Manager Patrick Moore said.

The tract, long and skinny like a piano key, is one of many that make up western James Island. Much of this side of the island remains relatively intact, especially along the waterfront.

“When the little (tracts) like this come up, they’re important because there is a bigger picture for them to plug into,” Moore said. “They’re not just one-offs.”

A pond that’s home to redfish and blue crabs stretches almost the entire length of the 24 acres. A path roughly carved through the center provides ample space for trails, and easy public access to the Stono River. The end of the piano key provides stunning marsh views.

And anyone visiting the nearby James Island County Park will be able to quickly access the new park via a sidewalk along Riverland Drive to Bradham Road.

The Terrabrook neighborhood sits between the two parks. Residents have been supportive of the project, Moore said. So have people in the Cross Cut, a historic settlement community around Central Park and Fleming roads.

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s Supreme Court heard arguments Feb. 6 over the constitutionality of the firing squad and electric chair as death penalty methods with some justices indicating discomfort with the procedures, especially the firing squad.

Four death row inmates, all convicted murderers, are suing the state Department of Corrections arguing the electric chair violates the state constitution’s prohibition of cruel punishment.

They also contended the firing squad violates prohibitions against unusual or corporal punishment.

During the hearing, the justices additionally seemed to be seeking a middle ground on how much information the department must give to death row inmates, the courts and the public about the drugs used in lethal injection under a recently signed Shield Law.

Thirty-two men are on death row in South Carolina, the corrections department said.

Palmetto Politics

Though South Carolina now has the drugs to carry out a lethal injection execution, the dispute over the other two methods stems from the 12-year period after its last execution in 2011 when the state was unable to obtain them, creating a de facto moratorium.

Drug companies will not sell death penalty drugs to states if their identities could be revealed, fearing public backlash, though South Carolina moved to change that thanks to a 2023 law protecting a company’s identity.

Since 1995, the state’s default method of execution had been lethal injection, though inmates could choose electrocution. In 2021, the governor signed a bill that made electrocution the default death penalty method but gave inmates the choice of firing squad or lethal injection if the drugs were available.

The inmates sued, claiming that with no lethal injection drugs available, they would be forced to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution. Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman agreed with the inmates and found the electric chair and firing squad unconstitutional in September 2022 after a trial in Columbia.

The state appealed, and the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in January 2023 but asked the lower court to investigate whether the state had done all it could to obtain lethal injection drugs.

Meanwhile, Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Shield Law in May, which barred the release of any information that would give away the identity of the companies from which the state purchased lethal injection drugs. In September, McMaster announced the state obtained pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug, and was ready to resume executing the inmates who have exhausted their appeals.

With lethal injection now an available option, the state Supreme Court again took up the question of the constitutionality of the electric chair and firing squad Feb. 6.

Grayson Lambert, a lawyer for McMaster who argued the case for the state, told the court the availability of lethal injection provided them an “off-ramp” to avoid weighing in on the constitutionality of the other two methods because the inmates now have the choice of lethal injection, which their lawyers have conceded is constitutional.

“I don’t think that someone should be able to elect an unconstitutional method,” countered John Blume, a lawyer from the Cornell Death Penalty Project who represents the inmates.

The justices did not skirt the constitutionality issue, pressing Lambert, the state’s lawyer, on how the firing squad would not be an “unusual” punishment as it has never been used in South Carolina and has only been used four times in the United States, all in Utah, since 1960.

Justice John Kittredge, who appeared otherwise skeptical of the circuit court decision — calling it a “scorched-earth order” that was “riddled with errors,” listed statistics about how rare the firing squad has been used in American executions during the last century.

Chief Justice Don Beatty asked pointedly whether it would be constitutional to bring back hanging.

The firing squad is a long-established method elsewhere in the U.S. and hasn’t been totally discarded, Lambert said. It’s gaining some popularity as some inmates across the country argue it’s less cruel because it kills almost instantly, Lambert added.

Lambert blasted the circuit court for finding that electrocution was unconstitutionally cruel.

In the 1970s when the Legislature last rewrote the state constitution, it included capital punishment, Lambert said. At the time, the only form of execution allowed was electrocution. That shows the legislature clearly intended to allow the electric chair, Lambert argued.

As to its cruelty, Lambert said the experts the inmates’ lawyers called in the trial never proved that someone being electrocuted would feel excruciating pain as their body is essentially cooked rather than being knocked insensate immediately. The inmates’ experts only proved that it was possible, which wasn’t enough to meet their burden of proof, Lambert said.

Blume said the reason the experts could not definitively prove inmates would suffer several seconds of intense pain was because scientists cannot ethically conduct lethal electrocution experiments on humans.

While the definition of cruel hasn’t changed, Blume told the high court, “it’s what we know about electrocution that has changed, and that means you have to reevaluate what’s cruel.”

Blume also asked the court to order the Department of Corrections make more information available to the courts and the inmates about the drug they plan to use to kill the inmates. Currently, the department has only revealed that the drug is pentobarbital and the dosage that they’ll use, citing the Shield Law.

Palmetto Politics

“If too much is disclosed or disclosed in the wrong way, it will thwart the efforts of SCDC moving forward to obtain the drugs, and lethal injection will once again become unavailable,” Lambert warned.

Palmetto Politics

The justices seemed to favor a bit more disclosure.

“Seems to me they don’t want to give you anything. Seems to me, even though you probably won’t acknowledge it, you want everything,” Kittredge told Blume. “Help us with a framework that would be somewhere in between.”

A decision is expected later.

Charleston remains a popular destination, and the city’s expanding luxury hotel scene reflects that trend.

California-based Auberge Resorts Collection plans to debut its first planned luxury hotel in South Carolina come 2024 in the form of The Dunlin, located within the Kiawah River master-planned community on Johns Island.

In partnership with real estate developer The Beach Co. and private investment and management company McNair Interests, the project is set to have a January groundbreaking.

“The Dunlin will offer an unforgettable escape where guests can immerse themselves in the pristine natural setting of Johns Island and the culturally rich attractions of Charleston,” Auberge Chairman Dan Friedkin said in a statement.

The Dunlin property will include 72 cottage-style guest rooms and suites and 19 villas, as well as a main lodge and porch, great rooms and a library lounge. Amenities encompass a pool with cabanas, full-service spa, community farmstead, and access to the community’s Spring House riverfront swim and fitness facilities.

A riverfront restaurant with outdoor deck will also be available, as will two event spaces, including a 10,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor event hall.

“We are pleased to partner with Auberge Resorts Collection to create The Dunlin, which will be one of the most remarkable new resorts in the country,” Beach Co. CEO John Darby said. “Auberge has a terrific track record of creating the most unique hospitality experiences in the world, and this endeavor’s intimate setting will bring highly personalized service with a coastal experience inspired by the local environment.”

Built into the Kiawah River community, which puts emphasis in natural surrounding elements, The Dunlin will consist of 2,000 acres of land with 20 miles of riverfront nature trails and marshlands. Guests will be able to participate in nature excursions on the property, including fly fishing, crabbing and boating, as well as paddle boarding, hiking and biking.

Architect Robert Glazier was chosen to design the resort, and Amanda Lindroth of Lindroth Design will lead the interior design of the property.

Construction financing was provided by United Bank’s Charleston offices.

Auberge Resorts Collection has 22 other hotels and resorts across the globe, recently winning accolades from Travel & Leisure’s 2021 World’s Best and Conde Nast’s 2021 Readers’ Choice awards.