Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee
Chairman: Bill Woolsey
Vice Chairwoman: Kathleen Wilson
Elected Officials
Laurie Hull
Joe Qualey
Public Agencies
Josh Johnson
Inez Brown-Crouch
Jeff Burns
Citizen Representatives
Christopher Haynes
Sussan Chavis
Jim Setford
Sarah Dwyer
Private/Non-Profit Representatives
Sherman Evans
Katie Zimmerman
Lauren Gellatly
Jason Crowley
Scott Pfeiffer
Business Owner/Development Representatives
Fred Whittle
Joe Walters
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Rethink Folly Road
The print edition of the Post and Courier had a rather alarming headline regarding Rethink Folly Road. "Bumpy Road to Progress, Effort to Transform Folly Road faces Delays, Lack of Clear Plan." The online headline was also troubling, "It just isn't safe."
Lack of a clear plan? Rethink Folly Road is a plan. The problem is money. Implementing the entire plan would cost tens of millions of dollars. There has never been any notion that this money would suddenly materialize and all of the plan would be implemented right away. Rather, Rethink Folly Road will be implemented gradually and only with approval by the four local governments on the Island.
Lack of a clear plan? Rethink Folly Road is a plan. The problem is money. Implementing the entire plan would cost tens of millions of dollars. There has never been any notion that this money would suddenly materialize and all of the plan would be implemented right away. Rather, Rethink Folly Road will be implemented gradually and only with approval by the four local governments on the Island.
The article suggests that formation of the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee has been a hold up. The Committee has no money and local governments have been moving forward with the plan--step-by-step. The Rethink Folly Road Staff, which is made up of planning professionals from the four local governments and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, has been meeting regularly.
The Town hired an engineering firm to develop specific plans for sidewalks and parking improvements from Eugene Gibbs to Ellis Creek. The Rethink Folly Road Staff unanimously endorsed the Town's application for a grant from the COG to fund construction.
The Town hired an engineering firm to develop specific plans for sidewalks and parking improvements from Eugene Gibbs to Ellis Creek. The Rethink Folly Road Staff unanimously endorsed the Town's application for a grant from the COG to fund construction.
Another element of Rethink Folly Road is improvements in public transportation. The Town will be funding a bus shelter at the corner of Folly and Camp and a bus pull off was added to the County's Folly and Camp intersection improvement project. The Town is also helping to fund landscaping at Camp and Folly.
Meanwhile, the City of Charleston included bike and pedestrian improvements on Folly Road as part of its list of priorities for the 1/2 cent sales tax. After the referendum passed, representatives from the Town, the City, and Charleston County met at Town Hall and agreed to pursue sidewalks between Camp Road and George Griffith Drive. Charleston County Transportation has already begun work on design.
Communication with the COG suggested that combining both the 1/2 sales tax and Town projects into a single project between Ellis Creek and Grimball Road would be more likely to be successful in obtaining a larger amount of COG funding. The Town agreed and the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee endorsed combining the projects at its September meeting. The Steering Committee also recommended improved crossings at Folly and both Camp and Eugene Gibbs. James Island Town Council approved funding for the crosswalks at its September meeting. While creating an inclusive Steering Committee is useful and was accomplished in September, it has never been an impediment to progress by the Rethink Folly Road staff or the four local governments.
The article also confused Rethink Folly Road with the Folly Road Overlay. Rethink Folly Road is a transportation plan while the Folly Road Overlay is a zoning ordinance. The Folly Road Overlay was passed by the Town of James Island, the City of Folly Beach and Charleston County in 2014, but not by the City of Charleston. Last spring, Mayor Tecklenburg expressed interest in having the City of Charleston adopt the Folly Road Overlay with some modifications. The City's proposals have been discussed by a committee made up of planning professionals from the Town, the City of Charleston, the City of Folly Beach and the County, but not the COG. The proposal is to be presented to the James Island Intergovernmental Council in October, not the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee. I believe that the City of Charleston will adopt some version of the Folly Road Overlay before the moratorium expires in November.
Any delay in a recommendation from the City Planning Commission to the City of Charleston Council regarding the Folly Road Overlay does not limit or interfere with work on Rethink Folly Road. The Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee has no role as either a decision making or recommending body regarding zoning ordinances such as the Folly Road Overlay.
Any delay in a recommendation from the City Planning Commission to the City of Charleston Council regarding the Folly Road Overlay does not limit or interfere with work on Rethink Folly Road. The Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee has no role as either a decision making or recommending body regarding zoning ordinances such as the Folly Road Overlay.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Irma and Drainage on James Island
Improving the drainage in the Town has always been one of my key priorities and one shared by Town Council.
On Monday, September 11, when James Island suffered the worst of Hurricane Irma, I was at Town Hall. Early that afternoon, between Irma's rain bands, we began to make forays out to survey the damage.
The flooding due to the storm surge and rain was alarming. We had 7 inches of rain in about 5 hours and approximately four feet of storm surge at close to a king tide. The two problems relate because our drainage empties into the marsh and with a high tide and a surge, there is no where for rain water to go.
Many streets were impassable for most cars and sometimes we went around rather than take a chance that our Town truck would stall. Yorktown, West Madison, and Winburn were all badly flooded, just to name a few. That evening, Kathy and I were out again. While I had been on Fort Johnson Road earlier in the day and it was open, as it was getting too dark to see and we headed home, we discovered that Fort Johnson Road was covered with water near Lighthouse Blvd. We did make it through, but it was deep.
I immediately contacted the Town's public works director, who contacted the public works desk at Charleston County EOC. They contacted SCDOT. I then contacted our state Representative Peter McCoy, and he immediately emailed his contact at SCDOT in Columbia who forwarded it to our local SCDOT office. (Since the 2015 floods, there has been a legislative liaison at SCDOT.)
Early Tuesday morning, I went to check on the areas that had been flooded. I started at Fort Johnson. The water was much lower and no longer overflowing the road, but half the road was still covered. SCDOT had not come and put out any signage. Closer inspection showed that little water was coming out of the drain under Fort Johnson Road at Eaglewood Retreat, but what was coming out was flowing down the ditch to the canal that goes under Eaglewood Retreat and Lighthouse Blvd and then connects to the marsh. I contacted Rep. McCoy again and said that we needed to get that pipe blown out and also some of the culverts across the road. The Town put out signage Tuesday morning.
Water on Fort Johnson Road in that area was nothing new. It happened regularly with hard rains and persisted for more than a week after the flood in 2015. There was a car in the ditch there for several days in 2015.
It turned out that when Eaglewood Retreat was constructed almost a decade ago, the drainage culvert under Fort Johnson Road was closed off and buried. There was nowhere for the water on the north side of the road to go. It was supposed to drain under Fort Johnson Road, and instead, Fort Johnson Road acted as a dam.
In the spring of 2016, a new drainage pipe was placed under Fort Johnson Road. This was a joint project of the Town, SCDOT, the Charleston County, and the City of Charleston. Once that culvert was reestablished, flooding on Fort Johnson Road in this area was much reduced. I have heard reports of water on the road, but it is not as frequent as before the new culvert was installed and it does not persist. The new drainage has been working. Until, of course, late Monday evening with Irma.
However, by Wednesday morning, this section of Fort Johnson Road was clear of water. Having a culvert under the road helped. SCDOT came and blew out the culverts on Thursday. We needed them on Tuesday, but it is difficult to complain too much. Many areas of the state were hit very hard by Irma. The crew that came said they were pulled off another job to do it. I greatly appreciate the help provided by Representative McCoy and also Senators Campsen and Senn in getting SCDOT there. Soon the SCDOT crews took off to go further south to work in areas like Edisto Beach.
More work is needed and we have contacted SCDOT to see when they can get to it. I do think they fixed the most obvious and severe problem--the pipe under the road. But the ditches need work towards Mikell Drive.
I spent much of Tuesday checking on the streets that had been flooded Monday afternoon and evening and nearly all the streets in the Town were clear of water. One exception was Birchdale and a small section of Foxcroft. These streets are mixed City and Town jurisdiction. I received an email from a resident (of the City) and when I investigated, it was clear that the drainage pipe under Ravenswood and Grand Concourse was blocked. These are Town roads (or at least those portions are.) We contacted County EOC and later that day, Charleston County public works sent out a crew, blew out the culverts, and soon the streets were cleared.
Even after Wednesday, there remained standing water in some yards in low lying areas. We have had many complaints that water came in under houses as well as in garages. There are a number of houses, typically on slabs in low lying areas, that had water in the house.
These are serious problems. Still, when I compare our situation to other areas, including the Charleston peninsula, I believe our drainage system held up well to Irma and much better than in 2015.
For example, we had a drain collapse near Highwood Circle in 2015, and there was deep standing water in that area for weeks. This was in Town jurisdiction. The break was repaired for the Town by Charleston County crews in 2016 and the area held up well to Irma.
But I believe we could have done better.
Responsibility for drainage in the area of the Town is divided between four governments. The drainage immediately adjacent to state roads is the responsibility of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT.) All of the major roads on James Island are state roads. In the area of the Town that includes Folly, Camp, Dills Bluff, Secessionville, and Harborview. However, many neighborhood streets are state roads too. That is because the state paved many dirt roads on James Island in the sixties and seventies. (For example, nearly all of the streets in Lighthouse Point and Eastwood are state roads.)
Ditches or piped systems along Town roads and any ditch or pipe that is not on a road in an area under Town jurisdiction is the responsibility of the Town. The Town has an intergovernmental agreement with Charleston County to provide basic maintenance on Town roads and drainage. The cost of each activity is calculated and deducted from an annual budget of approximately $150,000. This money is part of the County budget and contributed to by all County taxpayers including everyone in the Town. If the limit of that budget is reached, then County crews continue to do work in the Town's jurisdiction, but the charges are billed to the Town. The Town budgets $200,000 per year to cover such charges for basic maintenance as well as special public works projects. We have never reached the annual limit for basic maintenance, but we have paid the County for special public works projects.
The County crews work in the Town, the other smaller municipalities, and the unincorporated areas of Charleston County, including the unincorporated areas of James Island. There is frequently a wait before the County can get to any problem identified by the Town. To solve that problem, the Town recently procured private contractors to do drainage work. The goal is not to replace the County crews but to augment them when necessary.
Like all governments, the bidding process that the Town must undertake is extensive, and Council approved three contractors at our August meeting. On Friday, we signed the contract with Southern Pipe and met with its owner. Eadies Construction, which has long done work for the Isle of Palms, was also procured in August and Council approved having them repair the drainage pipe that connects the ditches on Grimsley Road to the marsh. (In 2015, Grimsley was flooded for several days and the water was deep. Grimsley was clear when I checked it Tuesday, but the drainage pipe, while open, is broken and needs repair at the marsh end.) We anticipate Eadies will start that project soon. Utilities Asset Management is the third firm we procured.
Before 2015, SCDOT had a plan for regular maintenance on their drainage system and were on a six year rotation. After 2015, they added a complaint driven element to their process. When problems develop, rather than saying they would get to it on their regular rotation (maybe in 3 years,) they now can deal with it immediately. That is good for us, since the Town frequently requests work on their ditches and drainage pipes. Just like everyone else, our public works director drives on SCDOT roads in the Town all the time, observing and reporting any drainage issues to SCDOT. Of course, our residents are not shy about contacting us regarding issues on residential streets that belong to SCDOT.
Even so, SCDOT has traditionally had many responsibilities and little money and has been slow to get to problem areas. The recent increase in the gasoline tax should help SCDOT with funding. However, just as we are prepared to have our contractors help when County crews are backlogged, we are now able to do the same when there is an urgent problem with drainage on an SCDOT right of way.
I agree with many that a shift in responsibility for local roads from SCDOT to local government makes sense. However, counties and municipalities have long pointed out that if we accept that responsibility, SCDOT should shift some funding in our direction. That argument has even greater force now that SCDOT has additional funding after the hike in our gas tax. In my view, it is unwise for any local government to just give up on SCDOT and commit to regular maintenance of state roads and the associated drainage with no transfer of funding. In my view, what the Town should do is emergency maintenance when SCDOT delays creates an urgent need for action.
At our September meeting, I asked for and received unanimous approval for spending up to $100,000 from our public works budget on emergency maintenance on SCDOT right of way.
The Town Administrator, Public Works Director, and I have already been reviewing our maps of the areas where we suffered significant flooding and are developing priorities for emergency work. I anticipate that our private contractors will soon be doing work to help with urgent problems on both the Town's and the SCDOT's drainage systems.
The area of the Town is interspersed with areas annexed to the City of Charleston (the City.) Ditches and piped systems along City roads and any ditch or pipe not on a road in an area under City jurisdiction is the responsibility of the City. This can result in situations where a residential street is in the Town for several hundred feet, then in the City for 50 or 100 feet, and then the next section is in the Town. Of course, nearly all of the newer neighborhoods on James Island (post 1980 or so) are entirely under City jurisdiction and their entire drainage system is a City responsibility.
There are a handful of unincorporated "donut holes" in the area of the Town. (About 30% of the land area of James Island is unincorporated but most of that is concentrated in the south and north ends of the Island that are no longer in the Town. Only a little unincorporated area is interspersed in the area of the Town.) In unincorporated areas, any street or road that does not belong to the state is the responsibility of Charleston County as is any ditch or pipe away from those roads. Because of our MOU with Charleston County, maintenance of drainage that is in the Town and in an unincorporated area is usually handled by the exact same people. (Of course, there is always an area of City jurisdiction between the unincorporated area and the Town. That is why the area is unincorporated.) Given the work that the County does for the Town for free, I believe that the Town should not worry about having our contractors do work across the small unincorporated donut holes interspersed within the area of the Town. We will be closely coordinating with the Charleston County storm water division on all of the work done by our private contractors.
While the Town works very closely with Charleston County on drainage, what about the City of Charleston and SCDOT? Soon after the Town was reincorporated in 2012, the Town's Public Works Director organized a storm water managers meeting. Four times a year, representatives from Charleston County, the Town, the City of Charleston and SCDOT meet at Town hall to coordinate storm water efforts. This has been going on several years, and there has been an understanding that we need to clear ditches and drains downstream first and work upstream in a coordinated fashion across all jurisdictions.
This cooperation has deepened over the last year. When I met with Mayor Tecklenburg to discuss shifting our boundaries near the new Town Hall, I also brought up the Down the Island drainage project and asked for his cooperation. Several sections of that ditch are in the City. He was agreeable, but also proposed that we find a way to divide responsibility for the other ditches that cross jurisdictions so that we can get some economies in our regular maintenance. I agreed. Charleston County and City Public works have been working on this.
During the discussions regarding the moratorium, City Councilman Dudley Gregory regularly emphasized at City Council meetings that drainage issues on James Island should be addressed. Mayor Tecklenburg agreed as did everyone else at our spring meeting of the James Island Intergovernmental Council. One issue is that new developments, largely in the City, are being built up with fill and causing flooding in adjacent older neighborhoods, frequently in the unincorporated area. This has been a serious problem near Fleming Road. However, we have a similar problem in an area entirely in the Town near Canopy Cove and the new City section of Harborwoods has negatively impacted some adjacent older parts of Harborwoods that are mostly in the Town. More recently a small 4 home development in the Town was built up with fill and an older home annexed to the City has been having issues. I believe that all of the jurisdictions need changes in our flood management ordinances to address this problem.
But there is much more that needs to be done regarding drainage issues on James Island. There was a call by FEMA for grant applications for Pre-Disaster Mitigation. The Town approached the City and Charleston County about a joint application for a Island-wide drainage study. The City was agreeable and Town Council approved participating at our September meeting. While I don't believe we should count on winning one of these highly competitive national grants, preparing a joint application will help build closer cooperation with other governments on our Island and reinforce the need to think about the Island as a whole.
Planning staff from Folly Beach, the City of Charleston, Charleston County, and the Town have been meeting on revisions to the Folly Road Overlay. This is related to the moratorium passed by the three municipalities (but not the County.) They are to report to the James Island Intergovernmental Council meeting in October. (We had to postpone the meeting because of Irma.)
Rather than try to get the planning group to work on drainage, the Town is proposing that we step up the role of the existing storm water manager group. We have already proposed extending an invitation to elected officials to the next storm water manager meeting (which was also postponed due to Irma.) Drainage will be on the agenda of the James Island Intergovernmental Council in October.
In my view, it is important that the governments on James Island develop a regular inspection program for all of the drainage on James Island. Such inspections are sensible, of course, but they also result in points for the CRS (Community Rating System) in the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program.) Given the mix of jurisdictions, these inspections should be coordinated.
The Harbor View Road improvement project is in its final stages. Right now, the contractor is responsible for maintenance of the drainage system but very soon that responsibility will be turned over to SCDOT. The road crosses and recrosses Town and City jurisdiction, and there are a handful of properties that are unincorporated. We need to make sure that the new piped drainage system is properly maintained. In 2015, while the road was under construction, the flooding on Harbor View was very serious. When I inspected the road Monday afternoon, it was open between Fort Johnson and North Shore, but high water was a problem for some of the houses on the west side of the road. Some of those houses flooded badly in 2015. (Beyond North Shore and up to the JI Connector, the causeway was overwashed by the storm surge and the road was closed. Fortunately, it was open Tuesday morning.)
The Town has many drainage projects in the works. I already mentioned the repair of the culvert at Grimsley that was approved by Council in August and should begin soon. We have also completed design work for installing drainage on an easement we have between Tallwood and Canopy Cove. I anticipate that construction will begin soon. At the Town's request, Charleston County has completed survey work and exhibits to obtain easements on the "Down the Island" drainage ditch that starts on Seaside Lane near the high school, and runs parallel with Fort Johnson Road before heading off to Dills Bluff Road and entering the marsh between Midvale and Camp. That ditch system has a break, missing about 100 feet of ditch near the end of Williams Road. The Town will be begin obtaining those easements soon--with an emphasis on prompt construction the missing portion of the ditch. The Town is also finalizing easements on the ditch between Stone Post Road and Sea Aire. That ditch drains much of the Stone Post area as well as Oceanview Road. The last section, where all of the water drains through, is private. Today, we would never allow a major subdivision with drainage being handled by a ditch along the boundary between two properties and no public (or HOA) easement. We did get Charleston County to clean the private portion of that ditch several years ago, after they initially refused, but only after I promised to get easements on the properties before next time (and appealed to County Councilman Joe Qualey for help.) The Town has also begun to install back flow valves on the outflows into the marsh so that high tides do not go back up into the ditches. While the two we already installed were not cheap, there are more areas where this will help protect homeowners near the marsh from king tides and modest storm surge. (Though it doesn't solve the problem of there being no where for rainwater to go at high tide and with a storm surge)
It has come to my attention that some residents of James Island have reported flooding conditions by making comments on facebook posts. If you had problems with flooding, you need to call the Town at 843-795-4141 or email publicworks@jamesislandsc.us or go to our webpage link for work order requests. While we were out scouting problems following the storm, don't assume that we already know. Contact the Town. If the issue is in the City of Charleston or unincorporated Charleston County we will figure that out and provide the information to the proper government body and also let you know who you should call next time.
Making comments on any facebook page, much less an advocacy group like "save james island," or posting complaints on the Nextdoor app is not the most effective way to communicate with your local government. We have phones, email, a webpage and keep office hours. (We do monitor the Town's official facebook page, but that is not the best way to contact the Town for public work needs.)
You are always free to come to Town Council meetings and express your concerns about drainage or any other issue. However, we will work to solve drainage issues in the Town according to priorities based upon a careful evaluation of the needs of the entire Town. While some members of Council called on citizens to come to our last meeting and sought a Council vote to require the Town to act on the specific drainage concerns brought by the 20 or so residents who came, it failed on a 3 to 2 vote.
I thank Councilmen Blank and Stokes for joining me in showing confidence in the judgement of our Town's staff to set priorities. I am disappointed in those who supported what amounted to a political stunt. Surely, no one would honestly want a system that required residents to show up to a Town Council meeting for their needs to receive serious consideration.
The Town does depend on residents communicating with us. However, water remaining in a ditch several days after a major storm is not a priority. It is when the water is out of the ditch that we have a problem. Because of the topography of James Island, we are not going to get enough drop in our drainage system for all the water to rapidly flow away and promptly empty all of our ditches. Digging the ditches deeper downstream will make standing water more of a problem there.
The Town's key priority is flooding in homes. Then water on roads, especially for extended periods. And water in garages or under houses. Water standing in yards is a problem, especially if it persists. Complaining that water is still in the ditch is not effective way to get priority action after a major flood event, especially if there was a much more serious problem such as water under your home.
I have heard people complaining that they had flooding issues even though they do not live in a flood zone. As one of our local insurance agents told us at Thursday's James Island Exchange Club meeting, everyone lives in a flood zone. However, some people live in flood zones where according to FEMA maps, the risk is so great that flood insurance is required as a condition for any federal benefit program, which includes the federal involvement that exists on pretty much any home mortgage. If you live somewhere that the Federal government effectively mandates flood insurance, it will be more expensive than if you don't. However, you should not assume that officials in Washington have our local conditions perfectly assessed. No one has ever said that you don't need flood insurance just because you aren't effectively compelled to have it by federal regulation. (I have flood insurance, but I am not required to have it by the federal government.)
Finally, if you believe that the Town is not responding to your needs in any way, including drainage, please call me at 843-697-7020 or email me at mayorwoolsey@gmail.com. We want the residents of the Town to come to us first with drainage issues. However, if the hold up is with Charleston County consider reaching out to your County Council representative--Joe Qualey or Anna Johnson. If it is SCDOT issue, then your State Representative, Peter McCoy or Leon Stavrinakis or your State Senator, Chip Campsen or Sandy Senn would be excellent resources. Of course, as I explained above, I can and will reach out to them on your behalf.
On Monday, September 11, when James Island suffered the worst of Hurricane Irma, I was at Town Hall. Early that afternoon, between Irma's rain bands, we began to make forays out to survey the damage.
The flooding due to the storm surge and rain was alarming. We had 7 inches of rain in about 5 hours and approximately four feet of storm surge at close to a king tide. The two problems relate because our drainage empties into the marsh and with a high tide and a surge, there is no where for rain water to go.
Many streets were impassable for most cars and sometimes we went around rather than take a chance that our Town truck would stall. Yorktown, West Madison, and Winburn were all badly flooded, just to name a few. That evening, Kathy and I were out again. While I had been on Fort Johnson Road earlier in the day and it was open, as it was getting too dark to see and we headed home, we discovered that Fort Johnson Road was covered with water near Lighthouse Blvd. We did make it through, but it was deep.
I immediately contacted the Town's public works director, who contacted the public works desk at Charleston County EOC. They contacted SCDOT. I then contacted our state Representative Peter McCoy, and he immediately emailed his contact at SCDOT in Columbia who forwarded it to our local SCDOT office. (Since the 2015 floods, there has been a legislative liaison at SCDOT.)
Early Tuesday morning, I went to check on the areas that had been flooded. I started at Fort Johnson. The water was much lower and no longer overflowing the road, but half the road was still covered. SCDOT had not come and put out any signage. Closer inspection showed that little water was coming out of the drain under Fort Johnson Road at Eaglewood Retreat, but what was coming out was flowing down the ditch to the canal that goes under Eaglewood Retreat and Lighthouse Blvd and then connects to the marsh. I contacted Rep. McCoy again and said that we needed to get that pipe blown out and also some of the culverts across the road. The Town put out signage Tuesday morning.
Water on Fort Johnson Road in that area was nothing new. It happened regularly with hard rains and persisted for more than a week after the flood in 2015. There was a car in the ditch there for several days in 2015.
It turned out that when Eaglewood Retreat was constructed almost a decade ago, the drainage culvert under Fort Johnson Road was closed off and buried. There was nowhere for the water on the north side of the road to go. It was supposed to drain under Fort Johnson Road, and instead, Fort Johnson Road acted as a dam.
In the spring of 2016, a new drainage pipe was placed under Fort Johnson Road. This was a joint project of the Town, SCDOT, the Charleston County, and the City of Charleston. Once that culvert was reestablished, flooding on Fort Johnson Road in this area was much reduced. I have heard reports of water on the road, but it is not as frequent as before the new culvert was installed and it does not persist. The new drainage has been working. Until, of course, late Monday evening with Irma.
However, by Wednesday morning, this section of Fort Johnson Road was clear of water. Having a culvert under the road helped. SCDOT came and blew out the culverts on Thursday. We needed them on Tuesday, but it is difficult to complain too much. Many areas of the state were hit very hard by Irma. The crew that came said they were pulled off another job to do it. I greatly appreciate the help provided by Representative McCoy and also Senators Campsen and Senn in getting SCDOT there. Soon the SCDOT crews took off to go further south to work in areas like Edisto Beach.
More work is needed and we have contacted SCDOT to see when they can get to it. I do think they fixed the most obvious and severe problem--the pipe under the road. But the ditches need work towards Mikell Drive.
I spent much of Tuesday checking on the streets that had been flooded Monday afternoon and evening and nearly all the streets in the Town were clear of water. One exception was Birchdale and a small section of Foxcroft. These streets are mixed City and Town jurisdiction. I received an email from a resident (of the City) and when I investigated, it was clear that the drainage pipe under Ravenswood and Grand Concourse was blocked. These are Town roads (or at least those portions are.) We contacted County EOC and later that day, Charleston County public works sent out a crew, blew out the culverts, and soon the streets were cleared.
Even after Wednesday, there remained standing water in some yards in low lying areas. We have had many complaints that water came in under houses as well as in garages. There are a number of houses, typically on slabs in low lying areas, that had water in the house.
These are serious problems. Still, when I compare our situation to other areas, including the Charleston peninsula, I believe our drainage system held up well to Irma and much better than in 2015.
For example, we had a drain collapse near Highwood Circle in 2015, and there was deep standing water in that area for weeks. This was in Town jurisdiction. The break was repaired for the Town by Charleston County crews in 2016 and the area held up well to Irma.
But I believe we could have done better.
Responsibility for drainage in the area of the Town is divided between four governments. The drainage immediately adjacent to state roads is the responsibility of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT.) All of the major roads on James Island are state roads. In the area of the Town that includes Folly, Camp, Dills Bluff, Secessionville, and Harborview. However, many neighborhood streets are state roads too. That is because the state paved many dirt roads on James Island in the sixties and seventies. (For example, nearly all of the streets in Lighthouse Point and Eastwood are state roads.)
Ditches or piped systems along Town roads and any ditch or pipe that is not on a road in an area under Town jurisdiction is the responsibility of the Town. The Town has an intergovernmental agreement with Charleston County to provide basic maintenance on Town roads and drainage. The cost of each activity is calculated and deducted from an annual budget of approximately $150,000. This money is part of the County budget and contributed to by all County taxpayers including everyone in the Town. If the limit of that budget is reached, then County crews continue to do work in the Town's jurisdiction, but the charges are billed to the Town. The Town budgets $200,000 per year to cover such charges for basic maintenance as well as special public works projects. We have never reached the annual limit for basic maintenance, but we have paid the County for special public works projects.
The County crews work in the Town, the other smaller municipalities, and the unincorporated areas of Charleston County, including the unincorporated areas of James Island. There is frequently a wait before the County can get to any problem identified by the Town. To solve that problem, the Town recently procured private contractors to do drainage work. The goal is not to replace the County crews but to augment them when necessary.
Like all governments, the bidding process that the Town must undertake is extensive, and Council approved three contractors at our August meeting. On Friday, we signed the contract with Southern Pipe and met with its owner. Eadies Construction, which has long done work for the Isle of Palms, was also procured in August and Council approved having them repair the drainage pipe that connects the ditches on Grimsley Road to the marsh. (In 2015, Grimsley was flooded for several days and the water was deep. Grimsley was clear when I checked it Tuesday, but the drainage pipe, while open, is broken and needs repair at the marsh end.) We anticipate Eadies will start that project soon. Utilities Asset Management is the third firm we procured.
Before 2015, SCDOT had a plan for regular maintenance on their drainage system and were on a six year rotation. After 2015, they added a complaint driven element to their process. When problems develop, rather than saying they would get to it on their regular rotation (maybe in 3 years,) they now can deal with it immediately. That is good for us, since the Town frequently requests work on their ditches and drainage pipes. Just like everyone else, our public works director drives on SCDOT roads in the Town all the time, observing and reporting any drainage issues to SCDOT. Of course, our residents are not shy about contacting us regarding issues on residential streets that belong to SCDOT.
Even so, SCDOT has traditionally had many responsibilities and little money and has been slow to get to problem areas. The recent increase in the gasoline tax should help SCDOT with funding. However, just as we are prepared to have our contractors help when County crews are backlogged, we are now able to do the same when there is an urgent problem with drainage on an SCDOT right of way.
I agree with many that a shift in responsibility for local roads from SCDOT to local government makes sense. However, counties and municipalities have long pointed out that if we accept that responsibility, SCDOT should shift some funding in our direction. That argument has even greater force now that SCDOT has additional funding after the hike in our gas tax. In my view, it is unwise for any local government to just give up on SCDOT and commit to regular maintenance of state roads and the associated drainage with no transfer of funding. In my view, what the Town should do is emergency maintenance when SCDOT delays creates an urgent need for action.
At our September meeting, I asked for and received unanimous approval for spending up to $100,000 from our public works budget on emergency maintenance on SCDOT right of way.
The Town Administrator, Public Works Director, and I have already been reviewing our maps of the areas where we suffered significant flooding and are developing priorities for emergency work. I anticipate that our private contractors will soon be doing work to help with urgent problems on both the Town's and the SCDOT's drainage systems.
The area of the Town is interspersed with areas annexed to the City of Charleston (the City.) Ditches and piped systems along City roads and any ditch or pipe not on a road in an area under City jurisdiction is the responsibility of the City. This can result in situations where a residential street is in the Town for several hundred feet, then in the City for 50 or 100 feet, and then the next section is in the Town. Of course, nearly all of the newer neighborhoods on James Island (post 1980 or so) are entirely under City jurisdiction and their entire drainage system is a City responsibility.
There are a handful of unincorporated "donut holes" in the area of the Town. (About 30% of the land area of James Island is unincorporated but most of that is concentrated in the south and north ends of the Island that are no longer in the Town. Only a little unincorporated area is interspersed in the area of the Town.) In unincorporated areas, any street or road that does not belong to the state is the responsibility of Charleston County as is any ditch or pipe away from those roads. Because of our MOU with Charleston County, maintenance of drainage that is in the Town and in an unincorporated area is usually handled by the exact same people. (Of course, there is always an area of City jurisdiction between the unincorporated area and the Town. That is why the area is unincorporated.) Given the work that the County does for the Town for free, I believe that the Town should not worry about having our contractors do work across the small unincorporated donut holes interspersed within the area of the Town. We will be closely coordinating with the Charleston County storm water division on all of the work done by our private contractors.
While the Town works very closely with Charleston County on drainage, what about the City of Charleston and SCDOT? Soon after the Town was reincorporated in 2012, the Town's Public Works Director organized a storm water managers meeting. Four times a year, representatives from Charleston County, the Town, the City of Charleston and SCDOT meet at Town hall to coordinate storm water efforts. This has been going on several years, and there has been an understanding that we need to clear ditches and drains downstream first and work upstream in a coordinated fashion across all jurisdictions.
This cooperation has deepened over the last year. When I met with Mayor Tecklenburg to discuss shifting our boundaries near the new Town Hall, I also brought up the Down the Island drainage project and asked for his cooperation. Several sections of that ditch are in the City. He was agreeable, but also proposed that we find a way to divide responsibility for the other ditches that cross jurisdictions so that we can get some economies in our regular maintenance. I agreed. Charleston County and City Public works have been working on this.
During the discussions regarding the moratorium, City Councilman Dudley Gregory regularly emphasized at City Council meetings that drainage issues on James Island should be addressed. Mayor Tecklenburg agreed as did everyone else at our spring meeting of the James Island Intergovernmental Council. One issue is that new developments, largely in the City, are being built up with fill and causing flooding in adjacent older neighborhoods, frequently in the unincorporated area. This has been a serious problem near Fleming Road. However, we have a similar problem in an area entirely in the Town near Canopy Cove and the new City section of Harborwoods has negatively impacted some adjacent older parts of Harborwoods that are mostly in the Town. More recently a small 4 home development in the Town was built up with fill and an older home annexed to the City has been having issues. I believe that all of the jurisdictions need changes in our flood management ordinances to address this problem.
But there is much more that needs to be done regarding drainage issues on James Island. There was a call by FEMA for grant applications for Pre-Disaster Mitigation. The Town approached the City and Charleston County about a joint application for a Island-wide drainage study. The City was agreeable and Town Council approved participating at our September meeting. While I don't believe we should count on winning one of these highly competitive national grants, preparing a joint application will help build closer cooperation with other governments on our Island and reinforce the need to think about the Island as a whole.
Planning staff from Folly Beach, the City of Charleston, Charleston County, and the Town have been meeting on revisions to the Folly Road Overlay. This is related to the moratorium passed by the three municipalities (but not the County.) They are to report to the James Island Intergovernmental Council meeting in October. (We had to postpone the meeting because of Irma.)
Rather than try to get the planning group to work on drainage, the Town is proposing that we step up the role of the existing storm water manager group. We have already proposed extending an invitation to elected officials to the next storm water manager meeting (which was also postponed due to Irma.) Drainage will be on the agenda of the James Island Intergovernmental Council in October.
In my view, it is important that the governments on James Island develop a regular inspection program for all of the drainage on James Island. Such inspections are sensible, of course, but they also result in points for the CRS (Community Rating System) in the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program.) Given the mix of jurisdictions, these inspections should be coordinated.
The Harbor View Road improvement project is in its final stages. Right now, the contractor is responsible for maintenance of the drainage system but very soon that responsibility will be turned over to SCDOT. The road crosses and recrosses Town and City jurisdiction, and there are a handful of properties that are unincorporated. We need to make sure that the new piped drainage system is properly maintained. In 2015, while the road was under construction, the flooding on Harbor View was very serious. When I inspected the road Monday afternoon, it was open between Fort Johnson and North Shore, but high water was a problem for some of the houses on the west side of the road. Some of those houses flooded badly in 2015. (Beyond North Shore and up to the JI Connector, the causeway was overwashed by the storm surge and the road was closed. Fortunately, it was open Tuesday morning.)
The Town has many drainage projects in the works. I already mentioned the repair of the culvert at Grimsley that was approved by Council in August and should begin soon. We have also completed design work for installing drainage on an easement we have between Tallwood and Canopy Cove. I anticipate that construction will begin soon. At the Town's request, Charleston County has completed survey work and exhibits to obtain easements on the "Down the Island" drainage ditch that starts on Seaside Lane near the high school, and runs parallel with Fort Johnson Road before heading off to Dills Bluff Road and entering the marsh between Midvale and Camp. That ditch system has a break, missing about 100 feet of ditch near the end of Williams Road. The Town will be begin obtaining those easements soon--with an emphasis on prompt construction the missing portion of the ditch. The Town is also finalizing easements on the ditch between Stone Post Road and Sea Aire. That ditch drains much of the Stone Post area as well as Oceanview Road. The last section, where all of the water drains through, is private. Today, we would never allow a major subdivision with drainage being handled by a ditch along the boundary between two properties and no public (or HOA) easement. We did get Charleston County to clean the private portion of that ditch several years ago, after they initially refused, but only after I promised to get easements on the properties before next time (and appealed to County Councilman Joe Qualey for help.) The Town has also begun to install back flow valves on the outflows into the marsh so that high tides do not go back up into the ditches. While the two we already installed were not cheap, there are more areas where this will help protect homeowners near the marsh from king tides and modest storm surge. (Though it doesn't solve the problem of there being no where for rainwater to go at high tide and with a storm surge)
It has come to my attention that some residents of James Island have reported flooding conditions by making comments on facebook posts. If you had problems with flooding, you need to call the Town at 843-795-4141 or email publicworks@jamesislandsc.us or go to our webpage link for work order requests. While we were out scouting problems following the storm, don't assume that we already know. Contact the Town. If the issue is in the City of Charleston or unincorporated Charleston County we will figure that out and provide the information to the proper government body and also let you know who you should call next time.
Making comments on any facebook page, much less an advocacy group like "save james island," or posting complaints on the Nextdoor app is not the most effective way to communicate with your local government. We have phones, email, a webpage and keep office hours. (We do monitor the Town's official facebook page, but that is not the best way to contact the Town for public work needs.)
You are always free to come to Town Council meetings and express your concerns about drainage or any other issue. However, we will work to solve drainage issues in the Town according to priorities based upon a careful evaluation of the needs of the entire Town. While some members of Council called on citizens to come to our last meeting and sought a Council vote to require the Town to act on the specific drainage concerns brought by the 20 or so residents who came, it failed on a 3 to 2 vote.
I thank Councilmen Blank and Stokes for joining me in showing confidence in the judgement of our Town's staff to set priorities. I am disappointed in those who supported what amounted to a political stunt. Surely, no one would honestly want a system that required residents to show up to a Town Council meeting for their needs to receive serious consideration.
The Town does depend on residents communicating with us. However, water remaining in a ditch several days after a major storm is not a priority. It is when the water is out of the ditch that we have a problem. Because of the topography of James Island, we are not going to get enough drop in our drainage system for all the water to rapidly flow away and promptly empty all of our ditches. Digging the ditches deeper downstream will make standing water more of a problem there.
The Town's key priority is flooding in homes. Then water on roads, especially for extended periods. And water in garages or under houses. Water standing in yards is a problem, especially if it persists. Complaining that water is still in the ditch is not effective way to get priority action after a major flood event, especially if there was a much more serious problem such as water under your home.
I have heard people complaining that they had flooding issues even though they do not live in a flood zone. As one of our local insurance agents told us at Thursday's James Island Exchange Club meeting, everyone lives in a flood zone. However, some people live in flood zones where according to FEMA maps, the risk is so great that flood insurance is required as a condition for any federal benefit program, which includes the federal involvement that exists on pretty much any home mortgage. If you live somewhere that the Federal government effectively mandates flood insurance, it will be more expensive than if you don't. However, you should not assume that officials in Washington have our local conditions perfectly assessed. No one has ever said that you don't need flood insurance just because you aren't effectively compelled to have it by federal regulation. (I have flood insurance, but I am not required to have it by the federal government.)
Finally, if you believe that the Town is not responding to your needs in any way, including drainage, please call me at 843-697-7020 or email me at mayorwoolsey@gmail.com. We want the residents of the Town to come to us first with drainage issues. However, if the hold up is with Charleston County consider reaching out to your County Council representative--Joe Qualey or Anna Johnson. If it is SCDOT issue, then your State Representative, Peter McCoy or Leon Stavrinakis or your State Senator, Chip Campsen or Sandy Senn would be excellent resources. Of course, as I explained above, I can and will reach out to them on your behalf.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Sandbags for Irma
The Town of James Island again worked with the City of Charleston for sandbag distribution for Irma. Both the City of Charleston and the Town of James Island provided sandbags and fill at the two sites--Dock Street Park on Patterson and the James Island Youth Soccer Club property on Fort Johnson Road at Eaglewood retreat.
Special thanks to the James Island Youth Soccer Club and its President Warren Sloane for allowing the Town and City to use their property.
Also, we had a variety of volunteers that helped supervise the sandbag distribution. Neighborhood Council representative Sherman Evans did a great job and put in long hours at the Fort Johnson site. Also, Henrietta Martin, another member of the Town's Neighborhood Council, helped. JIPSD Commissioner Kathy Woolsey did some work at both sites and Town Councilman Garrett Milliken was there helping residents fill bags. Madison Darms, James Weatherbre, and Tim Darms from James Island Christian Church helped at the Soccer field. And Quinlan helped Kathy at Dock Street Park.
The City and the Town paid for the sandbags and material. However, it is possible to get compensation from FEMA for part of the cost. That is why we were taking down names and contact information. FEMA requires that we collect the sandbags back, because they may be contaminated with flood water. If you obtained sandbags from either site, please return them to the James Island Youth Soccer Club.
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