GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - In Berkeley County, the city of Goose Creek and the South Carolina Department of Transportation worked together to approve a stoplight at St. James Avenue and Myers Road.

The stoplight was approved almost a year and a half ago and residents in the area say they’ve almost lost hope that it will get completed.

Data from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety shows more than 150 crashes have occurred at the intersection over the past five years resulting in dozens of injuries.

A traffic analysis found the volume in that area was too high leading to the approval of the signal with construction scheduled to take up to 15 months. SCDOT says the design of the signal began when the project was approved in March of 2022 with a contract in place in August that same year.

Michelle Yusko has lived in Okatee Subdivision for 15 years, directly across from St. James Avenue and St. Myers intersection. Yusko says she lives in a family neighborhood that’s peaceful and quiet. She’s seen cars cut through her neighborhood to get onto St. James Avenue just to avoid the intersection.

“They’re cutting through the neighborhood, which is making it worse,” Yusko says, “They cut through our neighborhood, so they don’t have to go to the end of Myers Road and pull out of our neighborhood onto St. James Avenue.”

Yusko is in favor of a red light but says she is unsure if it’s going to get done or if progress has been made. Especially when she’s seen accidents happen right in front of her.

“It’s awful, it’s ridiculous, it’s horrendous,” Yusko says, “They’ve been promising us a red light forever and ever.”

Yusko says they’ve gotten no notice or update on when the light will officially be at the intersection.

“Never, I have to go ask other people, maybe the electric company, they keep telling me what they’re hearing and it’s just not happening,” Yusko says.

SCDOT says the traffic signal mast arms for this intersection have been designed and ordered. The next step is installation, and the official completion date is Dec. 31 of this year.

If you have a road concern that’s driving you crazy you can let us know by clicking on this link.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) – The city of Goose Creek hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday afternoon as construction begins on the new Joseph S. Daning Amphitheater.

Although the Daning Amphitheatre will not open until the fall of 2024, members of Goose Creek City government, including Mayor Greg Habib, are already emphasizing the impact the new entertainment venue will have on the city.

“You can learn a lot about a city based on the emphasis it puts on the arts,” Habib says. “The arts can separate good cities from great cities, and separate great cities from destinations; this project is but the latest in our commitment to art in Goose Creek.”

Costing just under $4 million, the amphitheater can seat 800 people and will be located at the lake behind City Hall, beside the City’s Recreation Complex.

The city announced last August that the amphitheater will be named after former S.C. Rep. Joe Daning, who was a Goose Creek City Council member for over 20 years.

“I can’t tell you how much this amphitheater will provide a wonderful event space for all types of cultural happenings in the Goose Creek community for many generations,” Daning says. “And for me, and I know for a lot of folks, it’s a dream come true.”

Habib says the entertainment space will redefine what it means to grow up in Goose Creek and be a testament to arts in the city.

“We are enriching our hometown expanding our horizons and making an impact beyond our borders and moving our world,” he adds. “Ladies and gentlemen, this amphitheater is going to redefine what it means to grow up in Goose Creek.”

Cultural Arts Commission Vice Chairperson Libby Roerig also says that the structure will increase the quality and quantity of performance arts in the city.

“The amphitheater will mean more cultural events and programs, more concerts, more poetry nights, more dramatic performances, more movie nights, more special events,” Roerig says. “More opportunities for more kids to take part in and to take in performing arts in Goose Creek.”

The amphitheater will take 18 months to complete following Tuesday’s groundbreaking and will be built by Trident Construction.

The Middleton Group Architects and Baker Engineering LLC are also partners on the project.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Homeowners in a Goose Creek neighborhood are looking for a solution to the flooding that affects their properties every time it rains.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Homeowners in a Goose Creek neighborhood are looking for a solution to the flooding that affects their properties every time it rains.

Kristen Gilliam has lived in the Boulder Bluff Neighborhood in Goose Creek for about 15 years. She has a home around the corner from her parents and they both see their properties fill up with sitting water each time it rains. It’s not just the yards threateningly close to their homes; she says it’s also the streets.

“It doesn’t even have to be heavy rain. It does get very bad in some areas, especially down one of the roads here. Water Oak Drive and Lucy Drive itself. They do tend to flood to where people have to literally turn around and take another route. The neighborhood tends to shut down,” Gilliam says.

She says the flooding is affecting some of the homes, and she knows people who are moving out and say the water is a big reason why.

“Like on this road alone, we actually have a bunch of vacant homes right now because they’ve left. A lot of people have had damages happen in the past year. Like my next next-door neighbor, they’re gone. A couple of other owners have just left their homes,” Gilliam says.

A road over in Boulder Bluff, Leslie Powell and her family have lived in their house for three years.

“The first time that we noticed the flooding was like, maybe a month after we moved in. We were in the house hanging out and then looked out the window and our whole yard was underwater. And we talked to our neighbors and they said the flooding hadn’t been that bad since Hugo and since then three years ago, it happens throughout the summer. It happens every couple of weeks or so,” Powell says.

She says their property is a little downhill and dips down from the road so their house is built up from the ground. But, they still have issues with water getting into their crawl space and water getting into their cars.

“We have to move the cars there’s been damage under our house and water has gotten into our cars before when we’ve been out of town. And so it’s been going on for at least three years now,” Powell says.

The women say the neighbors talk amongst themselves and some have individually tried calling the city and county to get answers. But so far, they haven’t been able to get in contact with the right person, and say they feel bounced around with no answers.

“There’s clearly a bigger issue that needs to be addressed and I don’t know what that is. So I don’t know the right questions to ask,” Powell says.

Gilliam acknowledges that making sure drains are clear from trash or tree trimmings is the responsibility of the neighbors.

“I know the neighborhood has a lot of debris and trash and it is our responsibility to also clean up the neighborhood. But I believe is the county or the city, whatever you live in I feel like it’s their responsibility to make sure that our trenches or ditches are actually trenched out and they’re not being built up with a bunch of debris,” Gilliam says.

The city of Goose Creek directed concerns for this area to the Berkeley County Stormwater Department. Berkeley County Stormwater Department says they are looking into the service history and plans for the neighborhood and will provide them when available.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

In the last weeks of July, multiple storms moving through left the Boulder Bluff and Beverly Hills neighborhoods waterlogged.

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Officials in Berkeley County have provided a response after people living in a Goose Creek neighborhood expressed continued problems with drainage and flooding in their yards, and sometimes homes.

In the last weeks of July, multiple storms moving through left the Boulder Bluff and Beverly Hills neighborhoods waterlogged. People living there say the issue has been growing worse for years.

Berkeley County provided a statement that explains the stormwater department response:

On July 23, Roads and Bridges received a call that flooding was occurring in the Boulder Bluff, Beverly Hills and Forest Lawn area in Goose Creek. The crews were on-site at approximately 6:00 p.m. They removed debris and blockages in ditches along Clarine Drive, Dennis Drive, Annette Drive, Stephanie Drive, Vine Street and Harvey Avenue for over 4 hours and also met with homeowners.

For one family, July wasn’t the first time they’ve been affected by the water. Their house has flooded before. But Sherry McCreary says after a few calls to the county and state, she wasn’t getting a quick or efficient response. That’s why, when the rain started on July 23rd at their house, Chris White took matters into his own hands.

I mean, that’s not my responsibility. You know, I do what I can keep the ditch cleaned,” White says.

The family has a preparation plan they have to do every time it rains. They open the gates that let water under the house instead of in, and White goes to clear out the ditch.

“I saw him in the ditch and at first I thought he was joking and, yeah, we were videoing and zoomed in and saw it, yeah, and then saw his foot hanging from his ankle and it was traumatic. It was definitely traumatic. And it’s just a shame and it makes me so mad that things aren’t being done. That shouldn’t happen,” McCreary says.

They say, White was the main source of income and now they are struggling after his surgery. He needed stitches and will have physical therapy.

“I was getting ready to get hired on with this storm drain company. They’re still waiting for me. And now I’m going to be out of work for probably, I don’t know, maybe November,” White says.

Berkeley County says crews returned to the neighborhood about a week later after more calls about drainage and flooding. The statement continues:

Even though the reported rain event was measured at over 4 to 6 inches in a short period of time, we believe most of the flooding occurred because of debris blocking crossline pipes along road crossings. The blockages ranged anywhere from limbs, leaves, trash, bags, furniture, etc. Also on July 29th, Roads & Bridges responded to flooding around 8 p.m. that was acquiring along Amy Drive. There were blockages along Lucy Drive and Water Oak Lane. Similar debris was found to be the reason for flooding. The crews were on site for over 3 hours.

McCreary says her daughter and three granddaughters are also at the house, and they fear how dangerous the drains are after White’s accident.

“They have no idea the suffering we’re going through because of this. It’s ridiculous. And I hope that somebody hears this and takes it seriously and actually does something somebody that cares,” McCreary says.

The county maintains that it regularly services its property and shares more dedicated future plans for the area.

The statement concludes:

The County routinely cuts and cleans ditches within their maintenance area, which does not include State crossline pipes along road crossing or State roadside ditches but does rely on work orders and citizens calling to make us aware of any blockages. Berkeley County takes pride in how we respond to rain events and maintain drainage systems within Goose Creek and other parts of the County.

We are in the process of hiring firms to perform drainage studies around these areas and other areas within Berkeley County that seem to be prone to flooding.

Also, we are scheduling a meeting within the next few weeks with the City of Goose Creek, SCDOT and the County to discuss what can be done moving forward to try to help alleviate the problem of flooding in the Goose Creek area.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCBD) – Goose Creek could soon be home to… more chickens?

A new chicken ordinance in Goose Creek allows residents to have up to four chickens at their homes, but there are some rules you must follow.

“We’ve been trying to pass it for a while. It’s very contentious for reasonable reasons, and that is why our ordinance is so robust. It’s a four-page ordinance,” explained Goose Creek City Councilwoman Melissa Enos.

The ordinance allows homeowners to have up to four chickens, but no roosters, on their property. Renters can also have chickens with the landlord’s consent. Homeowners’ associations will still be allowed to ban chickens from neighborhoods. You must also have enough room in your yard for the chickens.

“You’re going to have to come down to the city and apply for a permit for $25, and the permit will have information on it that has the attached ordinance. You’ll have to have a coop, you have to have a chicken run- what the specifications of that is, your chicken food has to be in a rodent-proof container, all of those all of those sort of things. You can’t be able to see your chicken coop from your neighbor’s backyard, so you’ll either have to have a natural fence or a privacy fence. So, for all of those reasons you can’t have a rooster, you can’t have more than four chickens.”

The $25 permit will be an annual fee. Enos said that money will be used to help pay the code enforcement officers who will respond to complaints about chickens.

Some people have concerns about allowing chickens at all.

“One individual was saying he’s concerned about how it could increase rodents and snakes if your neighbor has one, what do you say to that,” we asked the city.

“Well, first of all, chickens are the closest thing to velociraptors- so they actually eat snakes. So, you’ll be okay with that. Responsible chicken owners have chicken mesh to keep them out of the coop and their food will be in rodent-proof containers,” Enos replied.

The ordinance is now in effect. Just head to city hall when they are open and apply.