Proposed Pennys Creek Bridge | County Housing Plan

There are many ongoing activities that will impact Johns Island today and long into the future. We hope you find this newsletter helpful in navigating those activities.

On the more immediate side, one of our readers alerted us to a request to build a 570 ft vehicular bridge across a tributary of Pennys Creek. (Pennys Creek lies between Johns Island and the islands on which Headquarters Plantation and Rushland Landing are located).

Longer term, the County's developing housing plan and 5-year update to the comprehensive plan will have significant impacts on Johns Island. The question is will the impacts be for the better or the worse?

Please continue reading to find out more about these and other topics that will impact you.

Jan 31 - Mark Clark Extension (aka 526): Charleston County Council voted to fund $75M for this proposed project. They did not put forth a plan to fund the remainder of the $2.2B project. Only councilmembers Darby, Kobrovsky, and Wehrman voted against the funding. On a related note, SCDOT recently purchased additional land on River Road for the project. [See the Johns Island Update section of this newsletter for more details.]

Feb 1 - Tree Removals: The Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals approved a request to remove 6 grand trees and relax other tree protection requirements for the planned future site of Low Tide Brewery off Maybank Highway. You can view the meeting here starting at 1:06:45.

Feb 2 - Johns Island Roads: Charleston County Public Works Staff presented an update on Johns Island road projects. You can view their presentation here.

Feb 6 - New Elementary School: The Charleston City Design Review Board reviewed the latest plans for the new elementary school on upper River Road. The school will be for second through fifth graders. [See the Johns Island Update section of this newsletter for more details.]

Feb 6 - Townhome Development on Maybank Hwy: The Charleston City Design Review Board reviewed plans for a 72 unit townhome development on Maybank Hwy by the Tattooed Moose. [See the Johns Island Update section of this newsletter for more details.]

Feb 8 - Greenbelt Advisory Board Meeting: Staff's presentation at this meeting included details on the finances of the Greenbelt Program. There was also a presentation on the salt marsh in the Lowcountry that is well work reading.

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

Feb 13 (Mon) @ 2:00 pm: The Charleston County Planning Commission meeting will discuss the status of the five-year update of the comprehensive plan (the comp plan). The meeting will be held at 4045 Bridge View Drive, North Charleston and will be livestreamed here.

Feb 21 (Tues) @ 3:00pm: Charleston City Council will hold a workshop regarding the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

Feb 21 (Tues) @ 4:30pm: The City of Charleston Design Review board will review the design for their new fire station on Maybank Hwy at Wildts Battery Blvd (near the Royal Tern). [See the Details of Upcoming Events section of this newsletter for more details.]

Feb 28 (Tues), 5:30 to 7:30 pm: A public meeting for the Charleston County "Housing Our Future" plan will be held. You can review the plan here and supply comments online here through March 1st. The meeting will be held at the John's Island Library, 3531 Maybank Highway. Please plan to attend and to submit comments.

Mar 8 (Weds): An application has been made to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to permit the construction of a 33 ft wide by 570 ft long vehicular bridge across a tributary of Penny's Creek at Fenwick Plantation Road. [See the Details of Upcoming Events section of this newsletter for more details.]

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.

Jun 5 to Jul 28: This is the summer application cycle for the Charleston County Greenbelt Program.

SCDOT Land Purchase

According to the Post and Courier, the SCDOT recently purchased a parcel on lower River Road for $3.4M. We believe the parcel, outlined in red above, is TMS 345000008. This parcel is approximately 20 acres and is adjacent to the planned location for "Connector B" of the Mark Clark Extension. SCDOT already owns several parcels in this area.

New Elementary School on Upper River Road

At their February 6th meeting the City of Charleston DRB reviewed the latest designs from the Charleston County School District (CCSD) for the new elementary school on upper River Road. A rendering of the facade is shown above.

You can view the details of their plans here starting at page 52. If you want to see the layout of the interior of the building, go to pages 62-63. Note that this is a large file and is best not viewed on a mobile device.

The drawing below shows the planned roundabout on River Road as well as the road connections to the neighboring residential developments.

Townhome Development on Maybank Hwy

At their February 6th meeting the City of Charleston DRB reviewed the latest designs from for a 72 unit townhome development surrounding the Tattooed Moose. You can view the detail here starting at page 117.

The City, unlike the County, has a DRB that reviews the esthetic designs of developments. These reviews are only performed for certain portions of the City, including along Maybank Hwy. Once the development gets to the DRB phase it is nearing the end of the review process. There result of the review should be a design that is more in character with the area.

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

New City Fire Station

The City of Charleston Design Review board on February 21st at 4:30 will review the design for the new City fire station. The station will be located on Maybank Hwy at Wildts Battery Blvd, which is near the Royal Tern.

An artist's rendition of the fire station is shown above. We are glad to see that it is designed in the Johns Island vernacular, i.e. it fits in with traditional Lowcountry building designs. You only have to compare it to the exiting City fire station on Maybank across from the Tattooed Moose to see what it could have looked like without the DRB process.

The rendering above shows the layout of the site and the connections to Maybank Hwy and Wildts Battery Blvd.

This is a virtual meeting. Click here to learn how to submit comments or to participate. You can view the presentation here starting at page 100. Note that this is a large file and is best not viewed on a mobile device.

Pennys Creek Bridge

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has sent out a permit application notice. This is a request to permit the construction of a 33 ft wide by 570 ft long vehicular bridge across a tributary of Penny's Creek from Fenwick Plantation Road to TMS: 346-00-00-519. The parcel is outlined in red above.

It appears that the Mark Clark Extension "Connector A" would prohibit vehicular access to this parcel, hence the request for a connection across the marsh to Fenwick Plantation Road.

The parcel is in the City and consists of about 6 acres of highland. It is in the STR zoning district that would allow a density of 7.3 units per acre for a total of about 40 houses. This is the same zoning as Fenwick Commons.

Comments are due by March 8th. If you have any information on this topic please email us. We plan to send an advocacy alert out on this topic by the end of February.

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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.