Chiropractic Care near 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.

Bulls Creek Apartments, in Charleston, South Carolina’s West Ashley neighborhood, is a 57-unit affordable housing development geared toward families. All of the one-, two-, and three-bedroom units are reserved for individuals and families earning less than 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). When Bulls Creek opened in August 2022, it was the first project in the city to be completed using revenue from the city’s dedicated $20 million affordable housing bond. Bulls Creek Apartments represents a promising step toward resolving Charleston’s affordable housing shortage.

The Apartments

Bulls Creek consists of 7 one-bedroom, 35 two-bedroom, and 15 three-bedroom units ranging from 750 to 1,150 square feet. Forty-five apartments are reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of AMI and 12 are reserved for those earning up to 50 percent of AMI. Amenities at Bulls Creek include a fitness center, a clubhouse, and a laundry facility. The development is in Charleston’s West Ashley neighborhood, roughly 7 miles northwest of downtown, and a nearby freeway provides easy access to the city and surrounding metropolitan area. A large shopping center nearby offers residents retail and service job opportunities. The development cost approximately $16 million. The primary funding source was low-income housing tax credit equity. The city also provided roughly $2.6 million in dedicated bond revenue for construction.

Affordable Housing Bond

According to Geona Shaw Johnson, director of Charleston’s Department of Housing and Community Development, the city’s recent comprehensive plan found that Charleston needs to add more than 16,000 housing units to keep up with demand, nearly half of which should be targeted to those earning less than 30 percent of AMI. In November 2017, Charleston voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum allowing the city to issue up to $20 million in general obligation bonds for affordable housing. Bond funding could be used “for the acquisition, construction, and equipping of safe and affordable housing for persons and families of low- to moderate-income,” which is defined as those earning between 30 and 120 percent of AMI. The city uses bond revenue to award loans to developers who provide income-restricted units that remain affordable for at least 30 years. The city began accepting applications for loans in 2019, after the council approved funding to repay the bonds from the city’s general budget.

The city prioritizes projects based on factors such as the timing of the development process, duration of the affordability period, level of affordability, the energy efficiency of the project, and the project’s location. Reviewers also consider the projects’ proximity to grocery stores, medical offices, schools, parks, public transportation, and more. The city considered Bulls Creek an attractive project because the West Ashley neighborhood particularly needs affordable housing and because the project site is close to downtown Charleston, a bus stop, and neighborhood amenities.

Moving Forward

Although Bulls Creek was the city’s first project to be completed using bond financing, it is not the last. The city is planning eight other affordable housing developments that use bond financing. Most of these developments will also be targeted to families, although two will be designed for seniors. These projects will also be sited in West Ashley or downtown.

The city of Charleston still needs more housing units, particularly those targeted to low-income households, to meet its demand. City leaders are investigating additional sources of funding for affordable housing construction, including other municipal sources. For example, the city has started using tax increment financing for affordable housing. Although funding from the housing bond will support only a portion of affordable housing financing in Charleston, it has been a helpful local funding source for producing low- and moderate-income houses.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Charleston County plans to make West Ashley safer by improving intersections along Savannah Highway.

A proposed realignment would connect Nicholson Street with Avondale Avenue.

People who live there are worried their neighborhood would become a cut-through, creating more congestion and safety issues closer to home.

They've created a petition and are asking Charleston County to stop this project before Avondale becomes a “cut through” community.

The Savannah Highway Capacity and Intersection Improvement Project's purpose is to improve safety, traffic flow and pedestrian access at key intersections along the corridor.

The project is funded by the 2016 half-cent sales tax.

But some people think it’ll bring more problems to their neighborhoods.

“I think that you need to listen more to the residents that are directly impacted, that own property, that have lived here for numerous years, about how the quality of their lives are going to change as a result of this," said resident Katherine Anderson.

The project team performed an analysis of the Savannah Highway corridor. Every intersection was evaluated from Savage Road to Nicholson Street for possible improvements.

Some of the plans include realigning Avondale Avenue to connect with Nicholson Street and adding a right turn lane along Nicholson Street.

"Their main focus was Savannah Highway. I do not believe they adequately looked at how this may impact these neighborhoods with these smaller roads that already have cars parking on both sides of them," Anderson said. "Emergency vehicles can rarely get down on them."

Katherine Anderson lives in the area. She agrees changes are needed, but not the ones county leaders are proposing.

"There has been many times that we've almost been T-boned in the car, because the Magnolia light has already turned green and the Avondale light is still red so that those cars can leave the neighborhood," Anderson said.

The neighborhood has schools and churches, which Anderson says already create congestion.

Neighbors also worry about a lack of traffic signals.

"We're still a neighborhood, and we need to be remembered that we are a neighborhood and that you should drive the speed limit," Anderson said.

The realignment would call for the building that hosts DB’s Cheesesteaks and other businesses to be torn down.

The City of Charleston is coordinating with property owners affected by the proposed Avondale road realignment.

“I just think that it's something about the character of our neighborhood. You know, a lot of people love the murals. It may not be my personal preference, but I know there are a lot of people who love it, and it makes her very unique, and I think that we need to hold on to that," Anderson said.

Charleston County offices were closed for Presidents' Day, so we reached out to county councilman Kylon Middleton who represents the area.

We are still waiting on a response.

"Our stance on this matter isn't a result of not wanting anything to be more safe. We are always after safety. But we need to be heard because we have spent a lot of money on our properties," Anderson said. "And we need these roads, we need to be listened to before any major changes occur."

As of now, there’s no timeline for when work could begin.

To read the petition, click here.

To view project plans, click here.

Those Statehouse boys are cooking up a good, old-fashioned “Yankee tax” to bring in new revenue.

But, unlike their dated Civil War terminology, it may not be a completely Lost Cause.

As Sen. Stephen Goldfinch explains, counties would have the right (via a successful referendum) to charge new residents moving in from out of state an extra $250 for a South Carolina driver’s license and another $250 for their car’s license plates.

The Post and Courier’s Alexander Thompson quotes Goldfinch saying it’s not fair when people just get to move here and enjoy all of South Carolina’s lovely amenities — our silky smooth, extra-wide highways, our highly ranked schools — without ever paying for any of it.

“What people from out of state are doing is they’re coming in and they get the opportunity to basically become part of our state and what we’ve already built at no cost,” Goldfinch said.

That’s a bold stand from a guy who has an inordinate share of carpetbaggers for constituents. And since those new residents wouldn’t be charged extra for their voter registration card, you’d think they might express their displeasure at the ballot box.

But what Goldfinch is actually describing is a user fee, and sometimes those aren’t a bad idea.

Sen. Chip Campsen has proposed a good bill that’s sort of a user fee. It would take a quarter of state park admissions tax revenue and earmark it for beach renourishment and rebuilding dunes trampled by hurricanes. Sure, it’s not a pure user fee since most state parks have no beaches.

Still, South Carolina’s beaches are one of the state’s biggest assets, but they don’t do us any good if they get washed away. And we often depend on the feds to come up with the untold millions it takes to pump that sand out of the ocean and back up on the beach.

It makes perfect sense to dedicate revenue generated by beaches to maintain them. And the Legislature has set a precedent for not making people pay for things they don’t use.

For instance, Act 388 stripped away property taxes for school operations from owner-occupied homes, all because some folks who had no kids in public schools (and who saw no benefit to a well-educated electorate) raised a stink.

Despite the dubious success of that program (some argue it wrecked public education), perhaps the state should go a la carte more often — like people who cut the cord on cable and just stream Hulu or Netflix.

For example:

Of course, West Ashley residents would happily pay the 526 toll for Johns Islanders if it would keep them off Savannah Highway.

Now, all this could get a little confusing, and complicate tax season, but the Legislature has never conceded Act 388 created problems, so why should this be one?

Even with some senators’ brazen hostility toward newcomers (who, by the way, are contributing mightily to our ever-expanding state budget), short-sighted state officials would probably be open to one discount: That is, no one would have to pay a toll on roads that lead out of the state.

Of course, if state leaders keep acting like loons, those will be the busiest roads in the state.

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.