City Zoning Code Rewrite | Concurrency | 158 Houses on Southwick | Orange Hill

Your Participation is Needed!

Attend the Sea Island Habitat for Humanity future homeowner information sessions on February 18 and 20. This is the first required step in the process of homeownership with Habitat for Humanity.

Attend and speak at the the March 3 County BZA meeting regarding a case to cut down grand trees for a 58 unit development on lower River Rd.

Attend and speak at the the March 5 City BZA meeting regarding a case to cut down grand trees for the Hollydale Court development.

Watch the March 6 Transportation Sales Tax project update presented at the County Council meeting.

Continue reading to learn more about these and other happenings that will impact Johns Island today and into the future.

City of Charleston Zoning Code Rewrite Delayed

The City had planned to hold public meetings this month on the progress of their zoning rewrite. However, they cancelled those meetings. They now intend to better define their vision for the City and then translate that into infrastructure needs and the zoning code rewrite. This effectively ties the zoning rewrite to a funding plan for infrastructure. This infrastructure would include roads, mass transit, flood mitigation, affordable housing and conserved land. The funding would likely come from either a successful 2026 sales tax referendum or a property tax increase.

The rewrite had been planned to be completed by the end of this year, but it now looks like that will extend well into next year. You can read more about this effort at:

Concurrently Legislation

Concurrency is the principle that the public facilities and services (roads, public transport, school, parks, etc.) necessary to support a proposed development must be available, or must be made available, concurrent with the impacts of the development. Concurrency regulations also go by the name Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO).

Unlike other states, such as Florida, South Carolina state law doesn’t give local governments clear legal authority to throttle development based on inadequate infrastructure. That is why local State Reps. Spencer Wetmore and Leon Stavrinakis have introduced a bill to allow the use of concurrency as a planning tool at the local level. One of the key provisions is that "A governing authority adopting concurrency may require public facility and service contributions sufficient to offset a development's proportionate share impacts on facilities and services ...", i.e. the developer must pay their fair share.

Will the bill pass? We certainly hope so, but it will have less of a chance if the special interest groups in the development industry don't get behind it. This is an opportunity for them to step-up and and show they are truly concerned about our community.

158 Unit Development on Southwick Drive

The Fenwick Hill development on Southwick Dr came before the City Technical Review Committee (TRC) on February 13. The development will have 36 apartments and 122 townhomes for a total of 158 housing units. Note that this development meets the current zoning requirements, so it will not have to go before the Planning Commission or City Council for approval. It would have to go before the City Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) if any variances or exemptions are needed, such as for cutting down of grand trees.

There will be entrances to the development on Southwick Dr at Burnswick Dr and just south of Fishbone Dr. The development will also interconnect with the adjacent Hamlet Maybank development.

It is very difficult for drivers to enter and exit Southwick Dr from Maybank Hwy (see the graphic below). Coupled with the nearby Maybank Hwy-Saint Johns Woods Pkwy intersection, this stretch of road needs to be reimagined. Ideally, Southwick Dr would be realigned with Saint Johns Woods Pkwy and a roundabout installed at that intersection. Based upon the cost of the proposed River-Brownswood roundabout, these improvements would cost at least $6 million and likely more due to land acquisition costs.

It will be interesting to see if the developer's traffic study shows they need to make any improvements to the Maybank Hwy-Southwick Dr intersection.

56 Unit Development on Lower River Rd

A case is before the County BZA for the removal of 2 grand trees for a 58 unit subdivision on lower River Rd. Note that the subdivision is in accordance with current zoning. The only public input is concerning the grand trees. You can learn more about the case here.

The case will be heard on March 3 at 5:00 pm. Once the agenda package comes out, we will send out an update.

Orange Hill Planned Development

The development team for the Orange Hill Planned Development (PD) held a community meeting on February 4 and a Planning Commission workshop on February 10. We appreciate the community outreach the developer is doing for their project.

The development, which is located between Bohicket Rd and River Rd, was originally approved in 2005 for 181 houses and a golf course. The developer wants to modify the PD, including reducing the number of houses to 120.

The developer is also doing a Development Agreement (DA) with the County. The DA is a contract between the two parties for the long-term development of large tracts of land. Public benefits derived from DAs "may include, but are not limited to, affordable housing, design standards, and on and off-site infrastructure and other improvements. These public benefits may be negotiated in return for the vesting of development rights for a specific period."

It is our understanding that two key elements of the DA will be the by-right ability to cut down numerous grand trees without going before the BZA and the payment of a large fee for affordable housing.

The PD and DA documents have not yet been released to the public, but based upon the public meetings there are four areas of concern. We have provided recommended solutions. We encourage the developer to implement these recommendations and codify them in the PD and DA documents.

Traffic: Traffic is the number one issue on Johns Island.

A left-hand turn lane and a right-hand deceleration lane on River Road into the development should be provided.

Cutting down and encroaching on trees: There is always a concern about cutting down grand trees and swaths of trees on Johns Island.

The development team has spent a lot of time addressing trees, but a final look at how some additional trees could be saved would be well worth it.
A least yearly maintain the trees along Bohicket Road to improve the safety of that road.
The use of tree wells, which significantly reduce the long-term viability of trees, should be prohibited.

Water quality: At the public meeting residents along Bohicket Road expressed their concern about the impact to water quality of Bohicket Creek due to the fertilizer, pesticide and fungicide runoff from the golf course. The development team assured them this would not be a problem, but a trust-but-verify approach should be taken.

Monitor and publicly report on the water flow rates and water quality at the outfalls of the property. An entity such as Charleston Water Keeper may be able to help setup this effort.

Benefit to Johns Island: As part of the DA there needs to be some direct benefit to Johns Island.

All contributions to the tree mitigation fund should be spent on Johns Island. This is where the trees would be cut down, so this is where new trees should be planted.
All contributions to an affordable housing fund should be spent on Johns Island. The increased availability for workforce housing to support Kiawah and Seabrook Island workers would both help mitigate the housing shortage and reduce off-island traffic. It is recommended that the funds be used to support Sea Island Habitat for Humanity.
Rather than a restaurant or farmstand at the entrance on River Road, something that directly benefits the residents along Bohicket and River Roads should be provided. This could be something such as a public playground.

The development isn't expected go before the Planning Commission until at least their April meeting.

Hollydale Court City BZA Case

The developer of "Hollydale Court", located on Maybank Hwy, applied to the City BZA to cut down 29 grand trees. Subsequently, they engaged with the City and the community to obtain feedback on a revised design, which includes cutting down fewer grand trees.

This case is expected to come back before the BZA on March 5 @ 5:00 pm. Once the agenda package comes out, we will send out an update.

Bohicket Road Project Stopped

On February 6, Staff presented an update on Main Road Corridor Segment C (Bohicket Road) to the Charleston County Council Finance Committee. They discussed the difficulties of meeting the needs of the community. But the overriding issue was that the County did not have the funds to proceed with Segment C due to cost overruns on Segment A (the Main and 17 flyover). Therefore, County Council terminated the Segment C project by moving the funds to Segment A. You can watch the update here and read the presentation here.

Staff said they would provide Council a more comprehensive update on current Transportation Sales Tax projects at Council's March 6 meeting.

Main and 17 Flyover Update

Status: The Main Road Corridor Segment A project (Main and 17 flyover) has started construction and expected to be completed by December 2028.

Public Outreach: The County plans to do more community outreach on this program, including:

Holding quarterly community meetings starting in March.

Publishing a quarterly newsletter starting in March.

Developing and maintaining an updated website for the program.

Multi-Use Path: The multi-use path over the Stono River was eliminated from the scope of the project due to long-term maintenance issues. The County has said they are trying to revive the path. However it's unknown where the funds for this would come from, especially in light of the defunding of Segment C. We encourage them to find the funds to add the multi-use back into the project.

Total Cost $400 million: At the February 6 Finance Committee meeting, it was revealed that the actual cost of Segment A was about $400 million rather than the $354 million previously stated. The $354 million was only the contract cost. The remainder of approximately $45 million was for engineering, right-of-way acquisitions, and the Construction Engineering and Inspection (CE&I) consulting contract. The CE&I contact was for $24,538,314.02.

Central Park Road (James Island)

If you ever travel on Central Park Road on James Island, then you know it frequently floods during high tides. At their February 18 meeting, the County Council Finance Committee will be requested to approve (see here on page 7) improvements to this road.

"The work includes roadway and drainage improvements along Central Park Road from the intersection at Riverland Drive to the intersection of Fleming Road. Specific work items for this project include but are not limited to, asphalt paving, storm drainage improvements, traffic control, earthwork, roadway grading, construction of a sidewalk, pavement markings, signage, guardrail installation, utility relocation, erosion control measures, and riprap armament. The project also consists of the installation of one inline check valve and two muted tide gates installed on the ends of the three proposed 48” diameter Central Park Road cross-pipes."

The winning bid is for $2,718,669. Funds will come from a Federal grant and State “C” Funds. The latter are obtained from the state gasoline sales tax.

Habitat For Humanity Future Homeowner Information Sessions

Sea Island Habitat for Humanity is hosting future homeowner information sessions. This is the first required step in the process of homeownership with Habitat.

There are two dates to choose from: Tuesday, February 18 or Thursday, February 20. Both sessions are identical and will take place at 6:00 pm with check-in starting at 5:30 pm. The meetings will be held at the Berkeley Electric Building located at 1135 Main Road.

School Constituency Boards

The Charleston County School District (CCSD) has had constituency boards since the 1968 consolidation of Charleston's eight school districts. CCSD is the only district in the nation that has constituency boards. It looks like after almost 60 years, their time may be coming to an end. You can read more about in below.

Feb 18 and 20 @ 6:00 pm Sea Island Habitat for Humanity is hosting future homeowner information sessions. The meetings will be held at the Berkeley Electric Building located at 1135 Main Road.

Mar 3 @ 5:00 pm: The County BZA will meet. A case for cutting down two grand trees for a 58 unit development on lower River Rd will be heard.  The meeting will be held at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston and it will be livestreamed here. Once the agenda package is released, written comments can be submitted here until noon on February 28.

Mar 5 @ 5:00 pm:  The City BZA will meet. Tentatively on the agenda is the Hollydale Court development.  The meeting will be held in the Public Meeting Room, First Floor, 2 George Street, and it will also be livestreamed here.  Once the agenda package is released, written comments can be submitted here until noon on March 4.

Mar 6 @ 5:00 pm: County staff will present an update to Council on current Transportation Sales Tax projects.  The meeting will be held at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston and it will be livestreamed here.

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Published on: Feb 20, 2025
Subject: City Zoning Code Rewrite | Concurrency | 158 Houses on Southwick | Orange Hill | Bohicket Rd
Number of Subscribers: 3,754
Established: Feb 22, 2022
Publisher: John Zlogar

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