Best Jewelry Store near Johns Island, SC

The $75 million in funding that Charleston County Council approved for the Mark Clark extension project last week has the potential to be transformative for Charleston County and Johns Island in three ways, but not in ways council members or residents may think.

First, the project could be financially transformative in the short-term because it could be the largest county financial debacle since the millions “invested” in the former Naval Hospital.

Why? Because council is betting taxpayer money that a slew of low-probability events take place that make this $75 million bet a sure winner.

These events include betting that:

These bets don’t even include the bet that the state Joint Bond Review Committee will shirk its fiduciary responsibility and approve the infrastructure bank’s request for matching funds. This despite Charleston County having no real plan to raise the additional funds needed for the project.

If this low-probability bet is lost, county taxpayers will not only be out $75 million, but they also would have to reimburse the infrastructure bank for 50% of all funds it provided. And we would have lost $75 million that could have been spent on making much-needed improvements to our roads now.

Second, the project could be financially transformative for Charleston County in the long-term since the true cost of the project will likely be much greater than $2.2 billion.

Why? Because of the intergovernmental agreement Charleston County signed with the infrastructure bank and the state Department of Transportation, the county is solely responsible for all additional costs. These costs include any cost overruns and lawsuits; funds for bond servicing; and the cost to upgrade River Road to accommodate the traffic from this project.

These costs could easily add up to an additional several hundred million more dollars. Just imagine how the bond rating agencies will assess the county’s creditworthiness with this unbounded financial obligation.

Third, the project could be transformative to Johns Island because the Lowcountry character of the island would be lost forever.

Why? Because large road projects like these attract large “Anywhere USA” residential developments with their multitude of cars, big box stores and national franchises that push out local businesses. They also dislocate long-time residents. All of this would greatly and adversely impact our quality of life and worsen traffic congestion.

If you need some examples of this, just look to Mount Pleasant and the Cainhoy Peninsula.

Once the Ravenel Bridge was completed, growth in Mount Pleasant exploded. The town is now grappling with its growth and congestion at nearly every Town Council meeting. For example, the town recently announced it will perform an in-depth study to see what can be done to reduce the number of vehicles traveling on roads throughout the town. The study is not about building new roads but managing traffic on existing ones.

Without Interstate 526, the Cainhoy Peninsula was not attractive to developers. Now, there are plans to build 9,000 homes there and to fill vast stretches of wetlands — not to mention the eventual dislocation of long-time residents.

Even without the 9,000 Cainhoy houses, I-526 is currently so congested that the state and federal governments (not Charleston County) are looking to spend billions of dollars to try to relieve this congestion.

This is not the future Johns Islanders want.

There will be those who say that this is a much-needed project. This despite effective lower-cost alternatives that do not alter our island forever.

There will be those who say that residents are overwhelmingly in support of this project. This despite the latest DOT survey showing that fewer than half of them support the project.

There will be those who say that we need a third way on and off the island. This despite, in comparison, that we have only 10% more daily traffic than Hilton Head on our bridges. Yet we have two bridges with eight available lanes, while Hilton Head is about to spend millions to expand its single bridge from four to only six lanes.

Do we need to improve safety and reduce congestion on our roads to improve our quality of life? Yes.

Is betting the county’s short-term and long-term financial future, losing the soul of what makes Johns Island who we are, ignoring effective lower-cost alternatives and ignoring the desires of the majority of the residents the way to do it? No.

So what will happen?

The county could be saved from itself if the Joint Bond Review Committee votes against authorizing the matching funds. Then we can get back to the business of improving safety and reducing congestion on our roads.

John Zlogar is a cofounder of Rational Roads for Johns Island.

The South Carolina Environmental Law Project is urging people to request a public hearing for a potential bridge to be built over Pennys Creek.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Environmental Law Project is urging people to request a public hearing for a potential bridge to be built over Pennys Creek.

Pennys Creek separates a portion of land from Johns Island between the creek and the Stono River. The two-lane bridge would be 33-feet-wide by 570-feet-long.

Conservationists say that kind of construction work would affect the water quality and health of the salt marsh ecosystem. Betsy LaForce is with the Coastal Conservation League.

“We’re thinking about- runoff from cars and stormwater runoff that would go right into the marsh, but also just some of the shading and then the impacts from the piling,” she says.

The applicant is Mike Blanchard of Charles Blanchard Construction Corporation. The proposed name for the bridge is the Blanchard Family Bridge. The application is to build at Fenwick Plantation Road and St. Paul’s Parish Lane. That intersection sits inside a quiet Johns Island neighborhood. According to DHEC’s public notice, the purpose is to provide car access to private property where “access to public roadways is otherwise infeasible.”

South Carolina Environmental Law Project is concerned that the bridge will impact the estuarine ecosystem including some marsh habitat. The organization is also submitting a letter on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League. While the private bridge would access private property, the project argues that the negative impacts to the public waterway and ecosystem held entrust by the state are not worth it.

LaForce says there are a lot of questions about this bridge.

“There are kind of more questions than answers that have been provided in the application in the letter of intent as to why the applicant really needs this bridge to this island that’s already been under the same ownership for quite a long time and access via a separate bridge hasn’t been needed to date,” LaForce says. “So that’s part of the reason why this public hearing will be so important…to ask them to ask the applicant to provide a little bit more background on why this access is needed to the tip of this marsh island.”

The letter argues that there already is access to the land via Rushland Road. “The applicant does not appear to have detailed why this is an infeasible route for access” and that “their proposed access is not a necessity,” according to the letter. The applicant says he has been denied access through that avenue.

In a statement, the applicant explains his family has owned the land since the 40′s and sold off most of it reserving six remaining acres for their grandchildren to use. He says there used to be more bridges and causeways that fell into disrepair and have not been replaced. He says they have secured a permit in the past, but let it expire before being able to build.

Part of the statement reads:

“This property is landlocked and the only available access is by a bridge. We tried for 50 years to get access through the neighboring land between our property and Rushland Landing Road to no avail. We have met all of the regulations and were granted a bridge permit 3 times. If we can’t build a bridge, we cannot access our land.”

LaForce says they are also worried about development pressure.

“Some of the infrastructure that’s being proposed for such a sensitive ecosystem…so on our Sea Islands, we want to be really cognizant of these piecemeal kind of applications that are being considered whether it’s for new roadways, new bridges, and sort of the cumulative impacts that each of those individual budgets has on the bigger picture,” LaForce.

South Carolina Environmental Law Project urges people to submit a request for a public hearing to learn more about the reason for the bridge and potential impact to the environment. Neighbors say they are confident they will meet the 20-request requirement for a public hearing.

Public comments end on March 8th. For more information, click here.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

A Johns Island-based company that makes a foldable, portable pocket dog bowl and matching carrying pouch will soon land on one of the nation’s largest e-commerce websites.

Lowcountry Pet Specialties was among the companies chosen through Walmart's “Open Call” initiative to promote locally made products on the retailer’s marketplace website. The goal is to get it on Walmart’s physical shelves.

According to a press release from Walmart, more than 1,100 businesses from across the country pitched their products at the annual “Open Call” last year and just more than 330 were chosen to be sold in stores and online.

Lowcountry Pet Specialties was one of four suppliers in South Carolina chosen for products made, grown or assembled in the state.

The Mobowl (named for “mobile bowl”) is a $12.99 patented BPA-free foldable travel pet bowl that fits two cups of food or two cups of water and measures just four inches in diameter when open.

Launched nearly four years ago, the Mobowl is now sold at 120 pet specialty retailers worldwide and available on the Lowcountry Pet Specialties website.

“We have sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000-100,000 units. We have shipped 30,000 units to Europe,” said Lowcountry Pet Specialties founder John Hagerman, a retired engineer. “Europeans love this product; they are very active with their pets. (This WalMart partnership) is the project that really puts us on the map. By being in Walmart, it opens new doors for us to other retailers.”

Hagerman started Lowcountry Pet Specialties specifically to manufacture and sell the Mobowl. He came up with the idea after outings with his border collie at the beach and the park where he would forget to bring a water bowl.

“I would either cobble something up out of aluminum foil or I’d even pour water into my hand,” Hagerman said. “I looked online for a portable pet bowl, but nothing impressed me. I said,’ You know what? I'm going to make my own.’”

Hagerman’s friend had a 3-D printer and the first prototype of the Mobowl was created. Hagerman spent years testing different materials that was both safe for dogs and foldable into just inches. Hagerman has a trademark and patent for the Mobowl in multiple countries.

“The business was going great, and then the pandemic hit. And the problem was everybody was working remotely, so we didn’t have an opportunity to present our product or meet major retailers face to face and let them experience the product and feel it,” Hagerman said.

He discovered the Open Call initiative and applied last summer. Hagerman is currently in the process of supplying photos and a product description to Walmart's corporate marketing team and hopes to be online in the next few months.

The Mobowl is currently manufactured in Indiana, but Hagerman said he has plans to move production closer to home, especially if orders increase from the Walmart partnership. Hagerman said he hopes to hire workers to fulfill orders for increased production.

“We are looking now for a manufacturing site here in Charleston County. We're also looking in Colleton County to be able to fulfill the orders — Colleton County is offering some great incentives — in being able to warehouse all the products and all the packaging,” Hagerman said. “The plan is to maintain (inventory) we have now. Right now, we have plenty of inventory, but we're hoping that we deplete this inventory and we get back into production and start increasing production.”

Hagerman said he is working on inventing new to-be-trademarked products through Lowcountry Pet Specialties. He hopes the Walmart connection will spur national retailers like PetSmart or Petco to carry the Mobowl on shelves.

“Now that Walmart has brought us on board, I hope it will happen that (national pet retailers) are going to look at us with a much more serious frame of mind,” Hagerman said. “Our goal is to get it on the shelf. Once it gets on the shelf, that's when we will really ramp up production.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) -Thursday a resolution was filed that could begin an impeachment inquiry after a $3.5 billion accounting.

Representative Gil Gatch (R-Summerville) filed the resolution directing the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee to begin an inquiry into if South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom should be impeached.

Eckstrom told the Senate Finance Committee in February that the state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports have overstated how much reserve cash the state had. The error accounted for $3.5 billion over a ten-year period.

After the error was reported, a dozen Democratic state representatives filed a letter requesting an audit and further inquiry into the error.

Rep. Gil Gatch said, “This is a grave miscarriage of the public trust. If there was ever a reason for which the House should act on our authority to impeach, this rises to the top. At the end of the day, this is a $3.5 billion error, and we must hold the responsible parties accountable.”

Co-sponsors on Thursday’s resolution included Rep. Heather Bauer (D-Columbia) and Rep. Matthew Leber (R-John’s Island). Bauer was among the representatives that filed the earlier audit letter.

Bauer said, “I’ve asked for a full audit, and I got a meeting” She continued,“This has happened before, and he was warned. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t resigned yet. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

The South Carolina Constitution gives the SC House of Representatives the ability to impeach statewide officials for ‘serious crimes or misconduct in office.’ If the request is approved by two-thirds of the House of Representatives the question of impeachment would head to the South Carolina Senate.

Rep. Gatch said, “South Carolinians deserve better. We must demand transparency and accountability from our elected officials.”

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JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — The Lowcountry Cajun Festival will return at James Island County Park on April 22 from noon to 6 p.m.

New for 2023, festival admission will be charged per vehicle, and tickets are available for advance purchase, according to a Feb. 23 press release. A limited number of vehicles will be admitted. Tickets will be $35 per standard vehicle of up to 15 people in advance. If available, tickets at the gate will be $40 per vehicle. For additional details and to purchase tickets, visit CharlestonCountyParks.com.

Gold Passes will be valid for vehicle admission; the pass must be presented at the gate for entry. Gold Passes will not be sold on site the day of the festival, but may be purchased in advance online. Receipt of purchase will not be accepted, according to the press release.

Read more: Lowcountry Cajun Festival returns to James Island County Park on Saturday

According to the press release, the 2023 Lowcountry Cajun Festival entertainment lineup is Shrimp City Slim Swamp All-Stars from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., Les Freres Michot from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Corey Arceneaux & The Zydeco Hot Peppers from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The festival's small stage will host Friends of Coastal South Carolina for a program called “Who Calls the Swamp Home?” at 1 p.m. and the annual Crawfish Eating Contest will take place at 2:30 p.m., according to the press release. Other festivities include a crafters' market, souvenirs for sale and a kids' area.

Read more: Lowcountry Cajun Festival

Children can enjoy access to the inflatables and climbing wall in the kids' area all day with the purchase of a $10 hand stamp. Credit cards will be accepted at select locations, but attendees are encouraged to bring cash for convenience purposes, according to the press release.

No coolers or outside food or alcohol permitted, according to the press release. Carpooling is highly encouraged. Pets are not permitted to this event. James Island County Park will be closed to regular park guests on April 22 in order to host the festival.

The press release says Lowcountry Cajun Festival is presented by Charleston Animal Society, Coca-Cola and Charleston County Parks. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit CharlestonCountyParks.com or call 843-795-4386.