Driving School in Wadmalaw Island, SC

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston is seeking public input on plans for Johns Island’s first-ever recreation and aquatic center.

Council members say this is a long-awaited project that will bring major amenities to one of the region’s fastest-growing communities.

The proposed design includes two swimming pools, an indoor gymnasium with two basketball courts, fitness rooms, classrooms, multipurpose spaces, a catering kitchen, outdoor pickleball and basketball courts and an inclusive playground and splash pad.

The project, located off Maybank Highway, will be funded by the City’s $70 million parks bond referendum that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2023.

City officials say the preliminary design incorporates nearly all the amenities that residents have requested so far. Their primary interest in seeking feedback lies in the number of multipurpose rooms, noting the island’s limited meeting spaces.

Charleston District 3 Councilmember Jim McBride says the new center will provide convenient, much-needed recreation opportunities for residents who currently must travel long distances to access similar facilities.

“These kinds of things are needed public services,” McBride says. “When they’re on the island, people don’t have to drive a long way to get that. Right now, if someone wants to use a pool, they have to drive 20 or 30 minutes away and that’s a barrier for some people.”

City leaders believe expanding recreational options on Johns Island will help reduce traffic congestion by giving families more reasons to stay on the island for activities.

The public feedback meeting will be held Monday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Haut Gap Middle School, where city officials and the design team will present preliminary plans for the 50,000-square-foot facility.

Construction of the recreation and aquatic facility is expected to begin within the next two years.

CHARLESTON — Growing pains on Johns Island have long included traffic woes and infrastructure strain — and now an unusual wave of power outages.

Berkeley Electric Cooperative, which provides power for many residents of the area, said an “abnormal” number of outages have affected neighborhoods throughout the summer and fall with recent events occurring Oct. 7 and Oct. 9.

A review of the past six months of Johns Island outage activity in the River Road area from Main to Maybank roads found 75 outages, each affecting an average of 245 meters.

The average outage lasted 1 hour, 39 minutes, according to Libby Roerig, director of marketing and communications for the utility.

The cause of most of these outages — 73 percent — are related to construction in the area.

“It’s an abnormal cluster (of outages) due to abnormal circumstances,” said Roerig.

In comparison, during this same time period and service territory in 2024, Berkeley Electric Cooperative recorded 40 outages, not including Hurricane Helene, that on average each affected 105 meters and lasted 1 hour, 57 minutes.

Residents have taken to social media to post about the outages, with one poster commenting, “It seems like every other day.”

Utility officials say the interruptions are largely tied to rapid growth and construction projects, including the new Johns Island Elementary School, which opened this fall school year, and the Main Road corridor improvements that will widen the high-traffic artery between River and Chisholm roads.

“Sixty-six percent of that majority (of outages) are related to crews working on live electrical lines that are intentionally placed in a protective mode,” Roerig said. “In this state, the lines become extremely sensitive, and the system’s automatic reset function is disabled to ensure maximum safety for lineworkers.”

When lineworkers are actively working near power lines, even minimal contact — such as a small branch or animal — can trigger a full outage, whereas under normal conditions, it would merely cause a localized ’blink,’ or momentary interruption, Roerig said.

One outage on Oct. 7 knocked out power completely for about 20 minutes. Two days later on Oct. 9, power flickered for residents on Johns Island for about 20 minutes, was caused by a construction vehicle that struck an overhead transformer.

The vehicle was involved with working on the Main Road widening project, Roerig said.

“As a utility, we’re working to build the most resilient system possible, but we don’t have control when our equipment is damaged by a third party,” Roerig said. “We strive for having no outages, but things happen with fast-growing areas.”

She said crews have been working “hands-on and energized” lines as they reroute power lines near the school and road construction zones which added to interruptions this summer.

“It’s the nature of being a utility,” she said. “We can’t control when hurricanes or bad afternoon thunderstorms hit, but we can control how we respond.”

When outages occur, Roerig said the utility strives to “isolate” affected areas and reroute power through different substations or circuits to restore service and have local workers on the island who can respond quickly when outages occur.

Several areas, especially newly built neighborhoods on Johns Island have power lines buried, but underground lines can still be impacted.

“Underground lines have to come above ground at some point and you're going to have the same outage as you would in other (above ground) places if someone hits a power pole,” Roerig said. “We are optimistic we’ll be able to return to normal outage activity levels once construction is completed.”

Charleston City Councilman Jim McBride, whose district inlcudes Johns Island, said seven constituents personally reached out to him about the intermittent power issue. He said he has been in discussion with Berkeley Electric directly about it.

“They confirmed they are working on investigating each instance I sent to them and sending me back the result of what they found out,” McBride said. “Due to the many trees and branches near power lines around Johns Island, there is a lot of opportunity for temporary power outages when branches or trees fall into power lines.”

“The good news is that Berkeley Electric has done a lot of reliability investment in the Johns Island area in the past few years to help with faster restoration,” he said, adding that Santee Cooper recently upgraded its transmission line on the sea island to reduce outages and “to provide faster response.”

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A new fire station is coming to Johns Island thanks to a county property agreement from 2009.

Charleston County leaders came to an agreement with developers Kiawah River Investment, LLC, and Ocean Boulevard Properties, L.P., for more than 1,400 acres of property.

The soon-to-be Kiawah River community is bringing more than 1,200 homes, along with commercial spaces and storage.

A portion of that agreement will lease three highland acres of land to Charleston County for 99 years.

St. John’s Fire District leaders expect construction to begin on a new station by the summer of 2026.

Plans detail an around 11,000 square foot station along Kiawah River Drive. Around eight to 10 fire personnel will operate out of the facility.

St. John’s Fire District Ryan Kunitzer says firefighters will have a new space to train for service calls as well as a place to decompress during their 24/48 hour shifts.

“We plan to have a large training room so we can do things like CPR classes,” Kunitzer says. “It’s going to have a state-of-the-art workout room so that our firefighters can maintain their health and wellness. And then also, a great living area as well, too, so that our firefighters can have some downtime between incidents.”

Kunitzer says the overall goal for the new facility is to meet the demand and needs of the growing community.

“In areas where there is growth, and from the size of the buildings, and how many buildings as well, so that we have an effective response force,” Kunitzer says. “It’s not just this station, it’s other stations around it as well that, if there is a fire, that we can meet the needs of what is happening on that scene.”

Charleston County District 8 Councilman Joe Boykin says the property will become a hub for public safety.

“We’re also going to build a new EMS station that will include a small sheriff’s office substation,” Boykin says. “So they will all be co-located right on the same property, and it will be a very strategic area for which they can respond and cover the lower part of Johns Island and also support Kiawah and Seabrook.”

Leaders are hoping for the completed fire facility in 2027.