526 | Trees | Barberry Woods

Below are some highlights of Johns Island events since our last newsletter.

Barberry Woods Drainage Improvement Project: At their January 24th meeting Charleston City Council advanced this project by starting the process to acquire land. [Additional information can be found in the Johns Island Updates section of this newsletter.]

Mark Clark Extension (aka 526): On January 26th SCDOT Secretary Christy Hall gave a presentation to Charleston County Council about the need for the County to provide $75M in funding for this proposed $2.2B project. You can find out more about this meeting from this Rational Roads for Johns Island newsletter.

The following upcoming events will impact Johns Island and are worthy of your attention.

Jan 31 (Tues) @ 6:30 pm:  The Mark Clark Extension project is on the agenda for the next Charleston County Council meeting. You can find out more about this important meeting from this Rational Roads for Johns Island newsletter. The meeting will be held at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston. The meetings will also be live streamed here. Please plan to attend.

Feb 1 (Weds) @ 5:00 pm: On the agenda for the next City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals meeting is a parcel of land off Maybank Highway near Timberline Drive. The request is to remove 6 grand trees, omit the 15 protected trees per acre requirement, and allow the reduction of the impervious construction setback near the bases of five grand trees.  [See the Details of Upcoming Events section of this newsletter for additional information.]  Please plan to attend.

Feb 2 (Thur) @ 7:00pm:  The Johns Island Council will hold their monthly meeting. The County Roads Department will present the status of Johns Island road projects. The meeting will be held at Berkeley Electric Coop, 1135 Main Road.

Feb 6 (Mon) @ 5:00 pm: The Charleston County BZA will hear a special exception request to allow 2843 Cane Slash Road (Case #: BZA-12-22-00636) to be converted from limited short-term rental (72 nights per year) to extended short-term rental (144 nights per year). You can read the details here.  You can provide written comments here by noon on February 3rd. The meeting will be held at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston. The meeting will also be live streamed here.

Mar 16 (Thur): The Andell West Planned Development (aka the new Harris Teeter behind Freshfields) is expected to come before the Charleston County Council Planning and Public Works Committee.

Barberry Woods Drainage Improvement Project:
Planning for the Future

At their January 24th meeting Charleston City Council advanced the Barberry Woods Drainage Improvement Project by starting to acquire land (outlined in red above) . When the Barberry Woods subdivision was built about 20 years ago the subdivision essentially formed a dam across the natural flow of water resulting in frequent flooding.

The current building and stormwater regulations would not have permitted this damming to occur today, but it does beg some questions. Will current and proposed regulations be outdated in 20 years? And if so, what should we be doing now? Two examples illustrate this issue.

1) The City will soon prohibit slab-on-grade residential construction in the 100 year floodplain. But with rising sea waters and with more frequent and severe storm events, the current 500 year floodplain will soon become the 100 year floodplain.

2) Current City and County regulations restrict the removal of grand trees (i.e. large trees of certain species). There regulations are good from the esthetic viewpoint, but they don't address the issue of the removal of large swaths of trees (i.e. forests) which are essential to combat water events such as hurricanes and rain bombs.

Looking to the future, the City and County should prohibit slab-on-grade residential construction in the 500 year floodplain and require the preservation of contiguous strands of trees.

We encourage you to actively engage in the local political process by sending emails, attending meetings, and speaking up for Johns Island.

South Station PUD Tree Removal Request

On the agenda for this Wednesday's (Feb 1st) City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals meeting is a parcel off Maybank Highway near Timberline Drive which will be the future site of Low Tide Brewery. The request is to remove 6 grand trees, omit the 15 protected trees per acre requirement, and to allow the reduction of the impervious construction setback near the bases of five grand trees. You can read the details here starting at page 27.

The diagram above shows the trees to be removed (they have an "X" through them). We encourage the developer to work with the City and the BZA to eliminate or at least further minimize the impact on the trees. Preserving individual trees is important, but so is preserving groves of trees and limiting the impact of development on their root systems.

Written comments must be submitted here by noon on Tuesday (Jan 31). You will need the following information for your submittal:

Meeting name: BZA-SD, Feb 1, 2023
Agenda number: B3
Name of the project: South Street PUD

The meeting will be held at 5:00 pm in the Public Meeting Room, First Floor, 2 George Street, and it will also be livestreamed here.

The Johns Island Advocate is a free biweekly email newsletter that seeks to inform Johns Islanders of significant meetings and events that will impact our Island today and in the future.

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If you have any comments about what you have read in The Johns Island Advocated or have an event you think should be included, contact us at JohnsIslandAdvocate@gmail.com.

You can learn more about Johns Island by going to our website JohnsIslandAdvocate.org.