AC Repair in Daniel Island, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The city of Charleston and regional partners are hosting their third free workshop for residents to learn about composting today, March 4.

The March 4 workshop will be at the Daniel Island Recreation Facility, 160 Fairbanks Drive, from 11 a.m. to noon, according to a press release.

The press release says the next two workshops will be on March 20 at the James Island Recreation Complex, 1088 Quail Drive, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on April19 at the Charleston Gaillard Center, 2 George Street, and via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m.

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According to the press release, the workshops are designed to provide tools and resources to help residents get started composting, including information on the new food scrap drop-off program and composting at home. Residents are invited to join a workshop of their choice and pick up a free, reusable kitchen compost caddy.

The press release says thanks to a regional partnership with Charleston, Charleston County and Folly Beach, multiple drop sites are available for residents in the Charleston region to drop off food scraps at no charge. Three new sites will open on March 1. The food scraps are then sent to the Bees Ferry Compost Facility, instead of the landfill, to be recycled into compost.

Residents interested in dropping off food scraps must sign up in order to learn how the program works and what items are accepted, according to the press release. The sign up form is also available at www.charleston-sc.gov/compost

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Once registered, the press release says food scraps can be dropped off at any of the following sites listed below:

Corinne Jones Park at 36 Marlow Drive (Peninsula)

Elliotborough Park at 134 Line Street (Peninsula), opening March 1

Medway Park at 2101 Medway Road (James Island)

James Island Recreation Complex at 1088 Quail Drive (James Island), opening March 1

Bees Ferry Landfill at 1344 Bees Ferry Road (West Ashley)

Ackerman Park at 55 Sycamore Avenue (West Ashley)

Folly Beach City Hall at 55 Center Street (Folly Beach)

Governors Park at 165 Fairbanks Oak Alley (Daniel Island), opening March 1

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For more information about each drop site, including hours open and directions to access the site, the press release says to go to www.charleston-sc.gov/compost

This week there are new developments coming before the various City of Charleston boards and committees. Below are those items as well as the application results for items specific to Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. More detailed agendas and results can be found at charleston-sc.gov/agendacenter.

UPCOMING

CITY OF CHARLESTON TECHNICAL REVIEW COMMITTEE

Feb. 23: Hawthorne at Clements Ferry Road – Review of revisions to a previously approved site plan for 210-unit multifamily development at 2800 Clements Ferry Road, Cainhoy.

March 2: Marshes at Daniel Island – Review of revisions to previously approved road construction plans for a 56-unit development at 146 Fairbanks Drive.

Thomas Island Marina – Gravel parking lot and restroom building to serve Thomas Island Marina at 100 Sands Preserve Drive, Cainhoy.

Woodfield Daniel Island III – 12-unit townhome (Phase 2 ) of Woodfield Daniel Island III Multifamily (Phase 1) at 350 Henslow Drive.

The Waterfront Phase 3 – Road extension and six single-family lots at 515 Helmsman St., Daniel Island.

Point Hope – Goldfinch Tract – Construction of a mixed-use development containing 192 units of single-family attached homes and amenities in Cainhoy (address to be determined).

RESULTS

Feb. 16: Haswell – A plat for a 20-lot single-family residential subdivision at 509 Seven Farms Drive on Daniel Island. Results: Approval pending final documentation to MS4. Once approved, submit plat to Planning for stamping.

Haswell – Roads for a 20-lot single-family residential subdivision at 509 Seven Farms Drive on Daniel Island. Results: Approval pending final documeentation to Engineering and MS4.

REGULARLY SCHEDULED CITY & COUNTY MEETINGS

Berkeley Co. Bd. of Education is meeting the first and third Tuesday each month through April 2023. Starting May 2023, they will meet the first and third Monday. Executive Committee meets at 5:30 p.m.; meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Berkeley Co. Council meets fourth Mon. of each month, 6 p.m., Berkeley County Admin. Blg., 1003 Hwy 52, Moncks Corner.

City of Charleston Council typically meets the second and fourth Tues. of each month, 5 p.m., City Hall, 80 Broad Street, Charleston, SC and/or virtually via Conference Call #1-929-205-6099; Access Code: 912 096 416. Exceptions: Summer Schedule - 3rd Tues. of June, July, and August; December meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tues. Dates and locations subject to change.

City of Charleston Technical Review Committee meets every Thurs. at 9 a.m.via Zoom.

City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals – Site Design meets the 1st Wed. of each month at 5 p.m. via Zoom.

City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals – Zoning meets the 1st and 3rd Tues. of each month at 5:15 p.m., except for January and July when no meeting is held on the 1st Tues.

City of Charleston Design Review Board meets the 1st and 3rd Mon. of every month at 4:30 p.m.

City of Charleston Planning Commission meets the 3rd Wed. of every month at 5 p.m.

City of Charleston Board of Architectural Review – Large projects meets the 2nd and 4th Wed. of every month at 4:30 p.m.

City of Charleston Board of Architectural Review – Small projects meets the 2nd and 4th Thurs. of every month at 4:30 p.m.

All meetings are open for public comment except the City of Charleston Technical Review Committee meetings.

For more information, contacts for specific projects and on location and time of the meetings or to learn more, visit charleston-sc.gov/AgendaCenter/.

As traffic flow changes throughout one of the state’s busiest thoroughfares, so do the plans for the proposed I-526 Interchange Improvements project at Long Point Road. Although the traffic ramp reconfiguration will take place near the Wando Terminal at Exit 28 in Mount Pleasant, the impacts will be felt down the stretch of interstate that leads to Daniel Island.

The $165 million project proposes to improve the operations of the I-526/Long Point Road interchange and I-526 mainline and reduce operational conflicts between port-related and local traffic. The average daily traffic from Daniel Island to Long Point Road was approximately 78,000 motorists in 2017, according to SCDOT. If there was no build out or mitigation by 2050, a projected 131,000 motorists would frequent the same stretch of road daily – a 69% growth rate.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) deems the current Long Point Road and I-526 interchange configuration is deficient because it does not have the capacity to accommodate the forecasted 2050 traffic as outlined in the I-526 East Lowcountry Corridor Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study Report.

Last August, SCDOT personnel held a public information meeting to discuss the project’s proposed alternatives. Recently, as a result of community feedback received, the preliminary design of the new partial interchange, including the associated flyovers, have been adjusted in order to reduce or avoid impacts to Seacoast Parkway in Mount Pleasant, according to I-526 Lowcountry Corridor Project Director Pete Poore, who replaced SCDOT’s senior engineering project manager Joy Riley following her resignation after 13 years in December 2022.

Poore noted that the adjustment to Reasonable Alternative 2 is now the Reasonable Preferred Alternative for the project. The proposed alternative includes new ramps from the Wando Terminal that would connect to the truck climbing lanes on the Wando River Bridge.

SCDOT previously performed a safety analysis for the existing truck climbing lanes on the Don Holt and Wando Bridges and concluded that it was safer to leave the existing truck climbing lanes in operation rather than closing them to decrease the number of accidents.

Although these adjustments do not have any direct impact on Daniel Island, the Long Point Road interchange improvements are expected to greatly improve the commuter flow of traffic all the way to Daniel Island’s interchange at Exit 24.

The project has been funded by a combination of federal funds with state matching dollars through the Interstate Improvement Program in SCDOT’s 10-year Plan. Construction is expected to begin by the spring or summer of 2024.

The project’s next step is to obtain National Environmental Policy Act documentation in order to get environmental approval sometime in early 2023. NEPA compliance is estimated to take up to 12 months and the design and construction is estimated to take up to 32 months.

The I-526 corridor program includes $7 billion of interstate improvement projects representing the largest and most complex projects developed by SCDOT to date.

“SCDOT welcomes input from the communities wherever infrastructure projects are planned,” Poore added. “Our goal is to work with our partners, which includes the public. We encourage citizens to make comments and offer suggestions.”

For more information and virtual access to the project or to provide public input, visit 526lowcountrycorridor.com.

Jeep McCabe - Bishop England junior forward Lily Hodge looks to junior forward Madison Riley for a three-pointer in the fourth quarter of the state championship against Gray Collegiate Academy. The Bishops lost 40-32 to the War Eagles last Friday at USC-Aiken’s gymnasium.

Bishop England High School girls’ basketball coach Paul Runey was still analyzing the actions that led to the Bishops’ 40-32 loss to Gray Collegiate Academy March 3 in the Class AA state championship game at University of South Carolina-Aiken, when he was asked about the finality of his long and successful tenure at the helm of the program.

Runey announced earlier in the season that he was calling it a career after the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. A reporter asked the affable coach if he had given much thought to his retirement.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” said Runey, whose team turned a mediocre 6-7 start to begin the season, into something memorable that included the Bishops’ eighth trip to the state finals. “I have too much to think about the game.”

In hindsight, Runey knew that beating the War Eagles would be a tough task. Gray Collegiate had three players who topped the charts at 6 feet. And, he knew his team had stretches where it was tough to even buy a basket.

“If we had a stronger offense, the results might be different,” said Runey, whose team finished with a 19-12 record.

Runey also broke down the final minutes of the game when the Bishops cut the lead to two points. But the Bishops were called for a blocking foul when Runey thought it was a charge on the opponent.

But the Bishops used up all their rally magic. They managed to rally from a 12-point deficit against Andrew Jackson in the Lower State Championship to gain a 39-38 victory.

Gray Collegiate jumped out to a 10-2 lead at the end of the first period and that was the difference, although the Bishops showed mettle during the rally. The BE offense showed signs of life in the second period, but the Bishops went to the locker room at halftime on the wrong end of a 22-11 score.

“You can’t get down big against a quality team like Gray Collegiate,” Runey said. “We seem to have that one quarter where we go down and dig ourselves into a hole. This one was too deep to get out of, although the girls battled hard. It’s a tough way to lose.”

Gray Collegiate, coached by former USC basketball standout Brandon Wallace, finished the season with 10 consecutive victories to finish with a 22-6 record and its first state championship. War Eagles’ Jordan Mintz and Maliyah Mason shared scoring honors for the opposite team with 11 points apiece.

All-state selection junior guard Izzy Woods led the Bishops with 11 points, all coming in the second half. Junior forward Madison Riley chipped in with 10 points. She scored eight of the Bishops’ first 11 points.

Woods scored some big baskets in the second half including a 3-point goal with less than two minutes left in the game to cut Gray’s lead to 32-30. But Kadence Walker Lee scored on a drive to the basket and was fouled on the play.

The old-fashioned 3-point play ended the Bishops’ hopes for a seventh state title.

Pictured (from left) are Bishop England wrestling coach Paul Spence, Thomas Curl, Sam Cherichello, Griffin Buss, Sean Loughery, Dixon Hardy and Cole Preiditsch. BE qualified six wrestlers for the South Carolina Class AA Individual Wrestling Championships in Anderson on Feb. 24-25 and crowned one state champion.

The Bishop England High School wrestling program continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down high school sports all over the country in March 2020 while it lingered into the next year.

Three years later, the proud program experienced its best season since the pandemic hit.

The Bishops qualified six wrestlers for the South Carolina Class AA Individual Wrestling Championships in Anderson the weekend of Feb. 24-25 with three grapplers collecting medals including junior Sam Cherichello, who won the prized gold medal. He was the 16th wrestler during coach Paul Spence’s enduring tenure to be crowned a state champion.

“It was a very productive year,” said Spence, who completed his 36th year as a coach at BE, including 32 as the head coach. “We had a lot of good things happen. But we are still struggling to fill out the lineup (with a wrestler in every weight class).”

The Bishops might not have the depth. They were in the top 10 of the Class AA team standings for most of the year, but their postseason aspirations ended with a three-point loss to Cross in the first round of the playoffs.

It wasn’t talent that lost the match. The Bishops forfeited two weight classes to the Trojans and that cost the Bishops 12 points and the match.

But they do have the talent. They qualified six wrestlers for the individual championships; Cole Preiditsch, Sean Loughery, Dixon Hardy, Griffin Buss, Thomas Curl and Cherichello competed.

Liberty won the Class AA individual team championship with 157.5 points. The Bishops held down seventh place, recording 51.5 points.

Cherichello was a state runner-up last winter and wouldn’t be denied this season. He was crowned champ in the 132-pound decision with a victory over Military Magnet’s Heicol Jiminez.

Preiditsch also fared well, claiming a silver medal in the competitive 220-pound weight division. He won the first two matches of the eight-man class.But Justin Pardue of Buford ended his dream of gold by recording a fall at the 4-minute mark.

Meanwhile, Loughery dropped his first match in the 126-pound division, but recovered, remained focused and won the bronze medal with a 12-4 victory over Adrian Hershberger of Dixie. Cherichello and Loughery’s success on the mat can be attributed to them practicing against each other every day.

“I force kids to work with different athletes so they can see different things they might not see against the same wrestler,” Spence said. “It helps elevate their game.”

Preiditsch’s career ended the same way it began: He qualified for state. He competed in the elite tournament his freshman season, but failed to qualify the next two years because of COVID and injuries related to wrestling and football. He claimed a medal for his senior season.

Meanwhile, Philip Simmons competed in the Class AAA individual state matches and claimed 19th place in the team standings. Freshman Matt Spignardo claimed a bronze in the 126-pound division.