Orthodontist near James Island, SC

|Updated: Jan. 15, 2025 at 7:04 AM EST

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston is looking at the application of a potential new development off Folly Road that would include a mini golf course and a new retail center.

In addition to the mini golf course, this potential new mixed-use development would include a food court, a coffee shop, a wellness facility and a bar. There are also plans for over 120 parking spaces to accommodate patrons, according to the developer.

If approved, the development, which has been named the “Community Corner,” would take up 2.9 acres of land on Grimball Road Extension.

This project is still very early in the approval process and would require several other steps and approvals from the City to move forward.

Though nothing is finalized, this potential project has garnered quite a bit of attention on social media with residents sharing mixed feelings. Some shared concerns about an increase of traffic and the construction harming wetlands, while others say they are excited about the idea and feel the area needs more recreational activities.

Chad Biel is the owner of Bohemian Bull, a restaurant that is just half a mile from the location of the tentative development. Biel shared his thoughts on the proposed “Community Corner” project.

“I would say I see two sides of this,” he says. “It’s inevitable that the city’s going to grow. I think that there needs to be some better city planning. We have a lot of flooding on this street and a ton of traffic on this street. So, I would ask that, you know, that gets thought of when they’re doing these plans, but then, as a resident that’s kind of the piece of the pie, right? I have kids. So, they’re going to enjoy the mini golf but then we also will deal with all the traffic that comes along with that as more and more people come down this way in a relatively small highway that runs through here.”

Biel says he likes the idea of more activity options coming to the area and believes it could help foot traffic for his business, but he calls on city officials to consider some of the flooding issues and road traffic in the area. If that is addressed, he says he welcomes the idea.

“As a business owner, I think it’ll be a positive impact. I mean, every single time that we see other businesses opening up in the area, we always see a positive impact from it and we’ve had sales growth year over year, and that’s because the area is continuing to grow, we are continuing to get more people that move to James Island, we are getting more businesses on James Island,” he says.

The developer of this tentative project says that they plan to create a world class space that does not exist anywhere in Charleston.

While there is no form for public comment on this project, the city’s Technical Review Committee Administrator, Eric Schultz, welcomes questions about any of the items up for discussion by the committee. Schultz can be reached at 843-724-3790 or schultze@charleston-sc.gov.

The committee will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. to discuss this application.

This item is scheduled in the agenda to be heard at 11:30 a.m.

Click here for the Zoom link to join the meeting.

To call into the meeting, dial 1-312-626-6799, then type in Webinar ID# 832-2640-6779, followed by the password, 721363.

Guests are encouraged to join the meeting 20 minutes before the agenda item is scheduled to be discussed. The “Community Corner” is up for discussion at 11:30 a.m.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Updated: Dec. 24, 2024 at 8:15 PM PST

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Several people decided to celebrate their Christmas Eve at the Holiday Festival of Lights at the James Island County Park.

From riding through three miles of light displays to visiting Santa, checking out the sand sculptures, shopping, exploring the reindeer workshop, or enjoying delicious treats, the festival offers something for everyone to enjoy.

Many say coming out to the festival has become one of the many Christmas traditions in their families.

“Besides coming here on Christmas Eve, I would say the other thing that we like to do is have a family dinner of course. We do have some inlaws that live here now, in addition to that a lot of facetiming, so with parents that are not here in Charleston,” resident Kellan Stephens says.

One family says they even drive hours to come to the festival every Christmas.

“We come every year,” Benjamin Singletary says. “It’s a lot of fun. The lights are super cool and we try to look for the new one.”

Others shared some of their longtime favorite things to do during the holiday season.

“Making Christmas cookies. My mom does that every year and so I always look forward to that and then just you know like Christmas movies, waking up on Christmas and opening stockings,” Tanner Bachtel says.

One Festival of Lights goer says that this year was his first time visiting the event and he even found a favorite light display when coming in to check out the Christmas magic.

“On the entrance, there is a construction company’s one. It was pretty cool, it was like a treasure island-type vibe with some gold,” first-timer Hunter Leyva says.

Another festival-goer says that growing up in Charleston she actually worked at the Festival of Lights and has seen more people come out each year to be a part of the holiday spirit. She herself also has some favorite parts about the event.

“The smores. I love making smores, so that’s probably my favorite part and I like the gift shop like the big building with everything. That’s probably my two favorite things,” Shaniya Hawkins says.

The Holiday Festival of Lights will be open until December 31 from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each night.

To learn more about what the Holiday Festival of Lights has to offer, you can visit here.

If you would like to purchase your tickets online you can click here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Updated: Jan. 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM PST

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - After a budget setback in 2024 delayed the project, the Charleton County Finance Committee is expected to award a contract for work to build sidewalks and a crosswalk at Woodland Shores Road and Maybank Highway on James Island.

People living in the area say they have been petitioning leaders for pedestrian improvements for years. Adam Friend founded a neighborhood association that focuses on improvement projects and recently, the group celebrated adding speed humps to Woodland Shores Road.

The ‘Complete Streets’ project plans to put that 8-foot sidewalk along Woodland Shores Drive, onto Maybank Highway to Stefan Drive, and add a midblock crossing of Maybank near Stefan Drive at Terrace Plaza. The work will include a median, pavement marking and drainage as well.

“For it to be 2025 and we’re finally seeing that a bid is being endorsed and going to be signed off on tonight with Gulf Stream is surreal, I guess would be the best word. I’m excited yes, but I’m going to hold out until I see they’re actually breaking ground before I believe this is really happening, but it looks certainly to be coming to fruition which should really help the safety of a lot of us who live on Woodland Shores Road,” Friend says.

County Council is expected to award a more than $3.6 million contract with Gulf Stream construction. Woodland Shores Road catapulted into the public eye after a 2023 hit and run that left Jen Drummond seriously injured. Her neighbors renewed a push for sidewalks, something they say they had wanted for some time. Their efforts have also achieved adding speed bumps since the incident.

“We’d hoped we could have avoided something tragic prior to having this come to fruition, but we fought really hard as a neighborhood. I started this Woodland Shores commission and I think it’s been a really strong grassroots mission, of people just refusing to take no,” Friend says.

Funding is both federal and local for the multi-million dollar project. There is not a set construction start date, but the work is expected to have at least a nine-month timeline once shovels are in the ground. Friend says it’s not perfect since it’s only one side of the road, and the opposite side of their mailboxes for some, but he thanks the local and state leaders who worked on achieving it.

“People have become very ‘Doubting Thomases’ I guess and don’t think it’s really going to happen, so I think we will all be really happy when we see the work in progress,” Friend says.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

JAMES ISLAND — Town officials are in early stages of adding new community spaces that could improve quality of life for residents.

Town Council approved two projects at its Nov. 21 meeting, one that will create a new park and another to build a new arts and cultural center.

Purchasing the property for the park is expected to cost over $2.7 million, according to James Island Mayor Brook Lyon.

The town requested a little over $930,000 in greenbelt funds from Charleston County's 2016 half-cent transportation sales tax to help buy 6.6 acres of land off Mill Point Road that will be used for their new park.

County Council gave unanimous approval on Nov. 12.

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One of Lyon's priorities as mayor is to obtain more green space and create parks across town. A few months after Lyon was elected in 2023, she directed town staff to look for properties with acreage that could be used for the effort. She said the owner of the Mill Point Road property reached out to her personally with an idea for a park and offered to give her a tour of the land.

After seeing the property herself, Lyon took each Town Council member on a tour and said they "fell in love with it."

"There’s only so much land," Lyon said. "If we don't get it, somebody else will and then it won’t be there for public use."

When Councilman Lewis Dodson saw the property, he called the land stunning and knew it would make for a beautiful park.

"It’s unbelievable. It's nice, it’s quiet, it's calm. ... It's going to be a fantastic opportunity for the town and people of James Island," Dodson said.

The town will close the land for the park in December, Lyon said. Then, a public input session will be held to see what residents would want to include there.

While nothing is set in stone, Lyon said that because there is waterfront access on the property, some ideas for what the park could have include paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing and crabbing.

The park would be located in County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt's district. She said this is a great use of greenbelt funds, and added part of the county's transportation sales tax is balancing growth with investing in conservation.

"This is one of those exemplary projects where instead of another multi-family development or housing going in, we’re going to be able to preserve six acres with access to waterfront," Honeycutt said. "I'm thrilled to be able to work with the town to make this a reality."

Lyon said she's grateful the town can help preserve land. Development on James Island has resulted in a loss of trees, which has become a problem for residents, as they often help absorb water during flooding. She considers the conservation of land to curb development an "added bonus."

"We just want to help get more parks and green space for our citizens," Lyon said.

While the park is a new asset, the town's plans for an arts center are to replace that already exists off Camp Road.

The town currently leases the building the arts center is in from Charleston County, and right now there's not enough parking. This was reason enough to purchase an acre of land at the corner of Hillman Street and Dills Bluff Road, next to the James Island Town Hall, Lyon said.

"It's a great space, and we've really done a wonderful job with it, but there's just so much more, so much better we can do for the community," Lyon said.

The arts center currently hosts several classes and groups for different activities, like yoga, knitting, crocheting, and throughout December, Christmas art classes for children.

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Lyon said the town plans to move classes and programs from the current center to Town Hall in the next few months as they work on the new arts center.

While there are no concrete plans yet and Lyon hopes to set up a public input meeting in the next few weeks, she said some possibilities include having sinks in the rooms for art classes, proper ventilation for oil painting, pottery classes and even a theater stage.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Officials confirmed that the fields at Johns Island Park are on schedule to be completed in time.

Charleston County School District (CCSD) is working on this project that is expected to bring new lights, grass, batting cages, and more to the facility. St. John’s High School parents were concerned after delays pushed back the much needed renovations, but are now breathing sighs of relief.

“Oh, that’s just amazing. I mean we’ve lost sleep over this,” Karen Tetrev, baseball parent at St. John’s High School, said. “The players are going to be so excited, they are working so hard. I mean they do batting in an old tennis court. They just do what they can.”

The park serves as a home base for the high school’s baseball and softball teams, but it is owned by the City of Charleston. The players commute to the facility for pre-season and in-season practice as well as games.

“We’re grateful that the city allows us to use this facility, that’s a great positive seeing as we don’t have place on campus,” Lindsay Jackson, baseball parent at St. John’s High School, said. “But we just feel like them and district might not understand the plight that our student-athletes are having to go through.”

Despite the challenges of having an off-campus field, the student-athletes are still able to play competitively with their peers.

“The boys and the girls are both competitive in their region, like last year – the year before last they won the region,” Jackson said. “That was the first time in 37 years and a lot of the young people on these teams, they came up on the Barrier Island leagues as well. So this is great, we’re really building baseball on Johns Island here but we need to have the facilities.”

As a primary location for these players, the completion date is crucial. Parents said these renovations are expected to bring the high school up to the equivalent of other high schools in the area, fulfilling the promises that were made.

“I think they are just going to be so excited to hear that they are being valued and put as a priority in the community,” Tetrev said. “I think it’s going to make a huge difference to the high school, I think it’ll draw more families, and I think in the long run everyone’s going to be happy we made this happen.”