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After some last-minute funding maneuvers, Charleston approved the terms of a construction contract for a long-awaited bike and pedestrian bridge connecting downtown and West Ashley.

It now awaits federal approval before the mayor can sign off on it and work can begin.

As construction firms submitted proposals for the project this summer, local leaders became aware that their most recent cost projections were insufficient.

That’s when the estimate ballooned from $42 million about a year ago to about $74 million today. As a result, city officials had to secure more funding from county, state and federal agencies. In addition to dipping into the city’s hospitality tax funds, the Medical University of South Carolina chipped in too.

In total, the city’s contribution to the project via hospitality tax funds stands at $13 million.

Construction bidders attributed the higher-than-expected cost projections to rising interest rates, as well as increased labor and material costs. The winning bid came in at $73.8 million.

City leaders had considered scaling the project back when the new estimates were calculated but Councilman Mike Seekings said South Carolina Transportation Secretary Christy Hall was determined to find additional help from all levels of government to bring the project across the finish line.

“Secretary Hall put her money where her mouth is,” he said.

With Hall’s help securing an additional $30 million committed from various agencies, the city was able to move forward with a contract with civil contractor, Superior Construction.

NORTH CHARLESTON — To continue efforts to become the Coast Guard’s “operational center of gravity” on the East Coast, officials broke ground Jan. 26 on its new $160 million campus.

This 64-acre site along the Cooper River — just south of the former naval base that closed in 1996 — will house an administration building and redesigned 1,100-foot concrete pier.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and be completed in 2026.

“This Charleston campus will have improved infrastructure that translates into more productive personnel and more efficient operations,” said Capt. Neal Armstrong, the commanding officer of facilities design and construction.

The 51,500-square-foot administration building will provide training and conference room space, and additional rooms dedicated to cutter ship support.

Sustainability is a priority, so the new facility will achieve net-zero energy usage and a net-zero carbon footprint, Armstrong said.

The current Pier November will be replaced with a pier more than three feet taller to enhance durability during coastal storms. It will provide utilities to support five national security cutters and a 90-ton crane, which is critical for dockside maintenance, Armstrong said.

During the design and construction phases nearly 60 subcontractors will support the two main contractors on the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and RQ Construction LLC, providing work for nearly 900 people.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, said every Coast Guard mission begins and ends at a shore facility. When the ships are not at sea, they need a base that can provide necessary maintenance, she added.

The missions conducted at Base Charleston are vital to protecting national security and economic prosperity, Fagan said, adding that the new campus will aid in “lifesaving work,” including patrolling the waters for smuggled narcotics.

A new kind of forest is soon taking root in West Ashley, and it's one you could eat right up — literally.

Pluck an apple, cut some herbs or pick some berries at South Carolina's first food forest, a new free-of-charge grove being built in the Ardmore community.

With an expected seven stories of canopies and an estimated $25,000 annually in produce by its fifth year, Charleston Parks Conservancy director Darlene Heater acknowledged it's a remarkable undertaking for the local nonprofit.

"It's creating access in food deserts but creating it in a way that is low-maintenance and little barrier for people to be able to participate in it," Heater said.

The food forest on Mulberry Street near Grech Street, and off the West Ashley Bikeway, is being funded by a $50,000 grant from the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

While the conservancy is handling the horticulture, the City of Charleston's parks department is working to excavate the land, add pathways and install a new playground at the park. It is one of several conservancy projects this year, in addition to working with the city to manage 24 parks on the peninsula, on James Island and in West Ashley.

Parks Department director Jason Kronsberg compared the collaboration between the city, the conservancy and the community to a three-legged stool. The conservancy liaises with the neighborhoods, like Ardmore for the food forest, and then fundraises with them before going to the city to bring a project to life.

The food forest is intended to help the Ardmore neighborhood, recently identified in the Charleston parks master plan as a community of high need, along with the surrounding community.

Besides providing free access to produce, the forest can help people better understand where their food comes from, Kronsberg said. It's also an opportunity for folks to lend a hand with some maintenance.

"The parks are owned by everybody," Kronsberg said.

The project will not be without its challenges, though. As the weather in Charleston gets more severe, Heater said that the conservancy will need to tend to the forest carefully and make sure plants or produce don't wash away.

Teaching the community how to use — and not overuse — the one-of-a-kind forest will take time, too.

The conservancy plans to lean on its volunteer base to maintain the forest, such as harvesting, packing and sending excess produce to local nonprofits. There will be no constraints on harvesting to start, as to not adversely impact food accessibility, Heater said. Part of it will be trial and error, and much of the plan is flexible based on the demand the conservancy sees for certain produce.

"What we may learn is that this community really loves sweet potatoes but doesn't care as much about turnips," Heater said. "So let's look at how we can expand growing our sweet potato patch so that we can continue to serve the people adequately who most need it."

This spring will mark the first planting of the fruit trees, brambles and herbs. Heater said that best practices dictate not harvesting during the first year, so by the second year the conservancy expects to have herbs, mushrooms, brambles and possibly bananas to harvest.

By the fifth year, with an estimated 70 trees bearing fruit, Heater said she expects 10,000 pounds of produce.

The food forest comes two years after the adoption of a new Charleston parks master plan and months after the overwhelming approval of a bond referendum question last November.

"Citizens spoke loudly and clearly that they supported the referendum and improved park spaces," Kronsberg said. "Coming out of COVID, when parks became critical infrastructure, it was natural that there was that much support for a referendum."

As the Ardmore food forest begins to yield, relieving supply-chain issues might just become an additional perk. And in a world reshaped after the pandemic, the food forest is one project that shows how to branch out from the traditional park.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Residents who live near one West Ashley development learned more about the future of their community during a meeting hosted by developers.

Cameron Property Company, the company overseeing the development of 26 acres near the Essex Farms community, invited residents to share their concerns and provide input at a meeting Thursday night.

The 26-acre lot runs from Essex Farms Drive, down Skye Drive and extends to Dorothy Drive.

Developers were accompanied by Charleston city officials representing the council, planning department, and traffic department to discuss what potential businesses residents could expect to see.

During the meeting, community members said they were relieved to learn that the developer withdrew its request to change the zoning language to include drive-thru windows at restaurants.

The developer is in talks with a grocery store and gas station, but plans have not been finalized.

Some residents said they are less than pleased about the big changes coming to the Essex Farms community.

Residents also expressed concerns about traffic congestion and the potential for a gas station to be built on the property.

“Tonight’s the first time we’ve heard gas station. That was a shock for all of us. When we purchased our properties, we were told specifically that a gas station wasn’t allowed to be there,” resident Kellie Kinard said.

Development Manager Collins Moe said he wants community input but that the company has the right to build to the zoning order, which does allow a grocery store and gas station.

“We’re going through the appropriate city of Charleston permit steps which require traffic studies. Things that outline what we’re proposing to make sure they meet all the standards with the county, the state, and the city, more importantly, based on where this property lies. At the end of the day, we’re still very far out,” Moe said.

Kinard said she is disappointed and was left with even more concerns and questions.

“I think my husband and I are going to have a serious conversation about whether or not we’re going to list our home. Which is really unfortunate because we love our neighborhood. We have great neighbors, but we do not want this type of development that they’re talking about potentially literally within several feet of our driveway,” Kinard said.

City officials stated that this development was approved many years ago and the zoning goes back to 1997.

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Charleston County School District will continue to keep West Ashley sixth graders on a separate campus from its seventh and eighth graders.

C.E. Williams and West Ashley middle schools were set to merge in 2020, but space concerns resulted in the decision to create a sixth grade academy at the former West Ashley building, now called C.E. Williams North.

It was a temporary solution at first, designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about crowding if students from both middle schools were consolidated onto one campus. Administrators have studied whether to keep it that way for the last year, and at a May 9 school board meeting they recommended to Charleston County School Board trustees that the campuses remain separate. The trustees approved the decision.

Keeping the sixth grade academy solves the problem administrators originally grappled with: How to create two West Ashley middle schools, grades 6-8, with roughly equal demographic ratios. There's no easy way to draw boundary lines to achieve that, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Borowy said.

"It has not been practicable, and I don't expect it to be practicable," he told board members.

With just one West Ashley attendance zone, the demographic imbalance isn't an issue. Anecdotally, Borowy noted that the sixth grade academy arrangement seems to be working for families. The district held community meetings in February and March, and feedback from parents was positive.

"They went into this configuration skeptically and they are extremely excited about what it's given to their students," he said.

Sixth grade-only schools are rare in South Carolina and elsewhere, but show early promise of helping ease students' transition to middle school.

Joe Williams, the district's associate superintendent of secondary learning, said they've seen some academic gains already, though COVID-19 has complicated learning efforts.

The board also approved adding an annex with additional classrooms at C.E. Williams South and replacing the building at C.E. Williams North.

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At C.E. Williams North, the plans call for construction of a new school with classroom space for 600 students — about 170 more than the highest enrollment projections predict. Core parts of the building, like the cafeteria and gymnasium, will be built for a capacity of 900 students though, giving an option to expand the school later if needed.

The new school would be built behind the existing facility, which would be torn down eventually and turned into athletic fields and parking lots. Construction should be complete by 2026, according to Borowy.

C.E. Williams South was built with a classroom capacity of 900 and a core capacity of 1,200. The new plans call for adding an annex with eight additional classrooms.

Down the road, both schools would have the capacity to be converted back into traditional middle schools for grades 6-8.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — City and county officials say they’re trying to find solutions to the growing issue of homelessness in West Ashley.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday night’s meeting comes after deputies recently arrested someone for arson who’s widely known in West Ashley for living in the woods. But Sheriff Kristin Graziano insisted this issue is larger than just one person.

“I think that it is a problem," said Kevin Gerald, who lives in West Ashley. "We just want to know who to talk to."

Some neighbors said they’re starting to feel unsafe and are now taking the time to learn how to get involved.

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“I’m concerned about the growing homeless situation here in West Ashley, and we want to try to find out what we can do to alleviate some of the problems and how to get help for people and what we can do to feel safe,” Gerald said.

But it’s an issue with a lack of solutions.

Officials say the Charleston County area doesn't have a permanent homeless shelter. City Councilman Stephen Bowden said the city is working towards creating a shelter that would provide more immediate housing to those in need, but he didn’t have a timeline for when its doors may open.

“What we're doing, displacing folks just because it doesn't look good, is wrong,” said Sheriff Graziano. “We need to find places for them to go. And there needs to be a solution and it needs to be community driven and it needs to be government funded.”

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While the area has outreach programs for the unhoused like the Navigation Center and One80 place, Sheriff Graziano said those resources alone aren’t enough. City and county leaders are urging neighbors to call their lawmakers and push for involvement at the state level.

Still, some left the meeting questioning what comes next.

“So, was there a solution? No,” said Sean, a resident of West Ashley. “I think there's a lot of really neat people that are trying really hard to find one. And I think there's wonderful people that care. I think there's people in our community that care, but nothing came out of that.”

Following Wednesday night’s meeting, Mayor William Cogswell’s office released a statement:

"The Sheriff did not notify anyone from the mayor’s office that this meeting was happening. Poor communication will not help us collaborate on solving issues in our city."