Lighthouse Boulevard Drainage Project

The Town of James Island has been working on the Lighthouse Boulevard Drainage Project for many years. Initially, the project focused on constructing a sidewalk to connect the Lighthouse Point Neighborhood to the sidewalk on Fort Johnson Road.  While that continues to be part of the overall project, because of flooding on Fort Johnson Road and homes to the north during major storm events, the project now includes a culvert under Fort Johnson Road and a storm drain along the east side of Lighthouse Boulevard to convey water to the Parrot Creek drainage canal that runs between the New Beginnings Church and the Lighthouse Point Neighborhood. 

The sidewalk portion of the project has shifted to the west side of Lighthouse Boulevard.  The James Island Soccer Club has agreed to provide an easement for the construction of the sidewalk on their property.   The sidewalk will wind through the heavily wooded area between the soccer field and the road.  No grand trees will be impacted by the sidewalk.

The drainage portion of the project, however, remains on the east side of Lighthouse Boulevard.   For the most part, the drainage pipe will be under the SCDOT right of way along the road, but it will encroach on the Church's property in several places.   The Church has agreed to give the Town an easement for the encroachments.

Unfortunately, there are two grand trees that will be impacted by the installation of the drainage pipe.   While both trees have suffered severe root damage due to the maintenance of the existing drainage ditch, digging the trench for the new drainage pipe will cause further damage.   One will need to be removed, and the root system of other will be further damaged so that it might not survive.  The Town will try to save one of the trees, but is asking the BZA for permission to remove both.

Initially, the Town had asked new Beginnings Church for an easement to construct a sidewalk on their property near Lighthouse Boulevard. The Church instead proposed that the Town construct a curb and gutter along the road, pipe the existing ditch, and place the sidewalk next to the newly constructed curb. That approach would have required the removal of some trees.   Due to the requirement that much of the ditch be piped, and the experience of flooding on Fort Johnson Road and the homes to the north during storm events, the Town expanded the project to include a culvert under Fort Johnson Road to help with drainage problems. A sidewalk project became a joint sidewalk and drainage project.

The Town won a grant from the Charleston County 1/2 cent Transportation Sales Tax to share in the cost.   We asked Charleston County Transportation to take over management of the project in 2017.   Their consultant proposed that the sidewalk portion of the project be moved to the west side of he road and that we approach the Soccer Club for an easement.   That was successful.

As for the drainage portion of the project, the west side of Lighthouse Boulevard would have many serious tree impacts, so the County's consultant proposed to continue to look at the east side of the road.   One option was to construct an open drainage ditch to convey the water away from the new culvert under Fort Johnson Road.   This would be partially constructed on the SCDOT right of way, but it would substantially encroach on the Church's property because of the need for slope on the sides of the ditch,  This would also create more tree impacts.   The drain pipe alternative requires less room, but it still will encroach on the Church's property some and impact two grand trees.  The Church agreed to the drain pipe rather than the open ditch just last month.

After receiving approval from the Church for the drainage portion of the project, the Town applied to its own Board of Zoning Appeals for a variance to remove the two grand trees. The Town's BZA always meets on the third Tuesday of each month. The Town's case will be heard at the BZA's next regular meeting on November 20th.   The Town met all legal notification requirements--a sign was placed on the property, letters were sent out to neighboring property owners, and an ad was placed in the Post and Courier.    During the coming week, our usual notifications for the BZA meeting will appear on the Town's website and other social media.

There has been some confusion spread by the media regarding the project.   While the overall project is for a sidewalk and drainage improvements, the sidewalk is not being constructed to improve drainage.   The culvert under Fort Johnson Road and the drain pipe along the east side of Lighthouse Boulevard is aimed at improving the drainage on Fort Johnson Road and the area on the north side of Fort Johnson Road. 

The two trees are partly on the SCDOT right-of-way and partly on the Church's property.   There is no drainage issue at that location.   The project is not aimed at controlling standing water there.  Exactly what the Church will do with that area of its property is up to them, but they are not replacing the trees with impervious surface.  Immediately, there will be a grassy area that will continue to absorb rainfall rather than create additional runoff. 

While the drain pipe will have inlet boxes along Lighthouse Boulevard and so remove storm water from that road, there is not a serious drainage problem because sheet flow down the road to the the drainage canal conveys most of that water on the road.   While SCDOT did dig out the ditches on the road recently, it wasn't because there was severe flooding on Lighthouse Boulevard.   The problem is that Fort Johnson Road blocks drainage from the north, which is the reason for putting a culvert under Fort Johnson Road.   The purpose of the drain pipe is to convey that water to the drainage canal.

This drainage improvement will not impact the Lighthouse Point neighborhood, which is on the other side of the drainage canal from the outlet of the drain pipe. Lighthouse Point does have drainage problems, which he Town continues to address.   For example, the Town recently replaced a drain pipe to convey water from the ditches on Grimsley Road to the outfall in Clark Sound. 

I am asking that the Town's BZA allow the removal of these two trees because controlling flooding is a major priority for the Town of James Island.