A newly proposed hotel would be one of the first on Johns Island if it comes to fruition.

New Leaf Builders is proposing a 55,000-square-foot lodging, with an unspecified number of guest rooms, according to plans reviewed last week by the city of Charleston’s Technical Review Committee, typically the first official stop in the permitting process.

The hotel is part of a larger mixed-used development to be called Jubilee. It includes 65 residential units, three restaurants and retail and office space.

The 3.27-acre property at 2935 Maybank Highway is just west of River Road. It was annexed into the city in 2017.

New Leaf did not respond to requests for comment about its plans last week. The company, which is headquartered on Johns Island, not far from the Jubilee site, builds homes in several residential developments in the Charleston region and in the Wilmington, N.C., market, according to its website.

The first hotel on Johns Island is well on its way. The Dunlin is set to open this summer at Kiawah River, a master-planned development off Betsy Kerrison Parkway. The luxury Auberge-operated boutique inn will offer guests 72 rooms, 19 villas, riverfront dining and a full-service spa, among other amenities.

MLK Day at IAAM

The International African American Museum is once again offering free admission, this time as part of a public celebration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Registration for a timeslot is required for the waiver for tickets that are good from noon to 5 p.m. on Jan. 15. Local vendors, food trucks and other activities will be on the grounds of the IAAM, which opened its doors in June.

Earlier this month, the waterfront museum next to the Charleston Maritime Center offered free admission to commemorate Emancipation Day on Jan. 1.

Business

Tennis (jobs), anyone?

The 2024 Credit One Charleston Open is less than 90 days away, and organizers are courting would-be volunteers to ensure the women’s professional tennis tournament runs smoothly.

The annual WTA 500 event is a big visitor draw, attracting more than 90,000 attendees to Daniel Island each spring. It returns March 30-April 7 to Credit One Stadium.

Organizers are looking to recruit 350 volunteers to fill all sorts of roles, from ushering to maintenance, as well as 100 ball-crew members. The perks for the unpaid gig include tickets to a match, meal allowances and event apparel. Training and orientation sessions are required.

The tournament is run by The Charleston Place owner Ben Navarro’s Charleston Tennis LLC and Beemok Sports & Entertainment.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Those who live on or travel through Johns Island say they have mixed feelings about a new road designed to connect Maybank Highway to two other roadways.

Work is continuing on what is called the Northern Pitchfork, which will connect Maybank Highway to Fenwick Hall Allee and River Road. That work will require lane closures from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday on Maybank Highway at River Road.

Some residents are hopeful it can be part of a solution for what they say is horrendous traffic but others say it’s just a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

There is also frustration surrounding the daytime lane closures for Friday, as residents believe it will be a nightmare, and the work should be done overnight instead.

Charleston County Construction Project Manager Sheila Parker said this has to get done in a specific window of time and they don’t want project delays. The new road is something the city and county have been working on bringing to life for years, with the goal of alleviating congestion and moving traffic along on the island.

“People coming off of James Island onto Johns Island using the Maybank Highway corridor will be able to take the Northern Pitchfork road and kind of bypass the Maybank Highway and River Road traffic light,” Parker explained

Byhira Thorn, who frequents the island often, said she thinks the new road will cause confusion for drivers, and it’s not addressing the root issue.

“I think another lane in general needs to be added,” Thorn said. “I mean, they did it with the bridge which was awesome, but they need to do it with the island. The island itself all around, roads need to be doubled for sure.”

Johns Island resident Kristin Nolan said she hopes this will help, but wishes it was done sooner.

“First of all, I think they should have thought about this before all of the building that went on and the extra light that was put here,” Nolan said. “I feel bad for people that go to James Island in the morning if Maybank and River are backed up for miles.”

Earlier this month, Charleston leaders said they are working on a $30-million project to improve traffic on Johns Island, part of which includes widening Maybank Highway to four lanes from River Road to the Stono River Bridge. But funding for that has yet to be nailed down and those plans are years away.

The construction on Friday is weather-dependent and drivers are asked to use caution while driving through the area.

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Trident Medical Center has submitted a Certificate of Need to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to build a $277 million hospital on Johns Island. The application is for a 50-bed acute care hospital between Maybank Highway and Cane Slash Road, across from the Live Oak Square development.

Projections for Johns Island Hospital show that within the first three years it will create nearly 300 jobs, contribute $10 million in non-income taxes to support the community and pay $70 million in salaries, wages and benefits, the organization said in a release.

“We are excited to continue making medical care more accessible to residents in our historically underserved communities,” Trident Health President and CEO Christina Oh said in the news release. “Currently on Johns Island and neighboring communities, it can take residents 30 to 45 minutes to drive to their nearest hospital, and often longer in heavy traffic and inclement weather. Our goal is to increase access to timely, high quality and affordable health care services.”

Trident Medical Center’s chief of the medical staff and medical director of emergency services, Dr. Scott Hayes, said he sees firsthand the results of delayed care.

“For residents who live far from emergency medical care and who may be experiencing a medical emergency like a heart attack or a stroke, minutes can mean the difference between life and death,” he said in the news release. “Access to care close to home is critical, especially in areas like Johns Island and the surrounding communities, that have frequent traffic delays.”

Trident Health surgeon Dr. Thomas Litton, who lived on Johns Island for 20 years and recently moved from there largely due to increasing traffic congestion and limited access routes off the island, said, “The rapid population growth and development of Johns Island, as well as its role as the sole gateway to Kiawah, Seabrook and Wadmalaw Islands, has created a strong need for a full-service hospital in the area. Residents on those islands have never had a full-service hospital. Trident’s hospital on Johns Island and their freestanding ER on James Island will greatly improve residents’ access to much-needed medical care.”

Johns Island Hospital will be located seven miles from James Island Emergency, Trident’s new freestanding ER at 945 Folly Road, Charleston, that will open in the next few weeks.

Plans call for Johns Island Hospital to have 50 beds with space to expand to 150 beds, 40 medical/surgical/stepdown beds, 10 ICU beds, 20 ER rooms, four operating rooms, two endoscopy suites and a cardiac catheterization lab. The hospital also would have two CT scanners, an MRI, two diagnostic radiology suites and a fluoroscopy room.

In addition to the hospital, services would include medical offices for primary care and specialists as well as outpatient imaging and support such as breast imaging, rehabilitation and other outpatient therapy services.

“From our first discussions about building a hospital on Johns Island, we have been committed to creating a thoughtful plan that preserves the natural beauty of Johns Island,” Oh said in the release. “We will honor the strong Gullah Geechee cultures of the community; we will partner with the areas’ community and businesses; and will promote the important and unique contributions of Johns Island’s agricultural community.”

The proposed Johns Island Hospital is in addition to nearly $140M in capital investments currently underway at Trident Health’s hospitals, Trident Medical Center and Summerville

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Officials with the city of Charleston and Charleston County have announced a plan to address traffic concerns on Johns Island.

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said the plan is the result of collaboration between the city of Charleston and Charleston County and will tackle traffic flow problems at the intersection of Maybank Highway and River Road, portions of Maybank Highway and the northern and southern Pitchforks, Tecklenburg said.

“Traffic congestion has been a huge issue coming and going on Johns Island,” he said. “And it was accentuated when that traffic light got added down the street. And everyone came to the realization that we needed to go back and rethink what got done six or seven years ago, what’s been done since then and what can we do collectively and collaboratively to make it better and make improvements.”

The city and county laid out the main points of the plan:

“Pitchforks” means two new roads that will branch off of Maybank towards River.

“The current cost estimate sits somewhere between $25 and $30 million to do all of this,” Charleston County Councilmember Joe Boykin said.

Tecklenburg said the money will come from future sales tax and Department of Transportation funding and once permitted, will apply for federal funding.

The full construction funding will have to be identified and approved by both city and county councils, according to Tecklenburg.

The first goal for short-term, interim improvements to Maybank Highway are expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2024, Tecklenburg said.

Robby Lingenfelter who works on Johns Island said he’s hopeful about the project but still frustrated.

“They say that the northern pitchfork will be completed by the first quarter of 2024, that’s good,” he said. “Southern pitchfork they said will take years, so we’re still five to ten years from alleviating the issues we have now.”

He said the city and county have been meeting since June to address the traffic issues on Johns Island.

“It’s going to happen. We are committed to making that happen,” Tecklenburg said.

Some locals question the mayor’s timing.

“Hearing this press conference that is happening five days before an election, can’t help but notice that a lot of this was conceptual and funding for a lot of this isn’t even secured,” Logan Mcvey said. “So, this seems like more talk and a lot more traffic just sitting and waiting on stuff to happen.”

Tecklenburg’s response was that they needed enough vetting through engineers and design teams before the plans could be presented.

Charleston County Council member Jenny Huneycutt, Charleston City Council member Karl Brady and the city’s planning and traffic directors also attended the news conference.

WATCH THE CHARLESTON LEADERS ANNOUNCE THE JOHNS ISLAND TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN BELOW

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston County held a public hearing Tuesday night to discuss and hear from anyone interested in the development of a large medical village on Johns Island.

The planned development, located between 4357 and 4365 Betsy Kerrison Parkway, called the Island Park Medical Village would take up more than 17 acres.

The medical village has been a topic among residents of the islands for months now with polarizing opinions supporting and against the development.

More than 30 people spoke during public comment and hundreds of letters were sent to the council in opposition.

RELATED: Neighbor worried about proposed development on Johns Island

Developers are requesting to rezone the land from low-density residential to large-scale medical office park with almost 160,000 maximum square feet of business space.

The medical village was proposed to Charleston County Planning Commission Members back on November 13 with all 7 members denying the zoning request.

Tuesday night, the questions raised included what types of medical options and concerns about traffic.

“We do agree that we need medical facilities, that we do need access,” Long-time Johns Island Resident, Tamara Butler, says. “My question is just what kinds of medical facilities are going to be there and what services are going to be provided.”

Almost 900 property owners on Kiawah Island were surveyed with 80% saying they are against the medical village and think the size of the project is too large.

“In this particular instance, the site of it, the location, the scope and the scale, feels out of character with the area of the island,” Lowcountry Land Trust President Ashley Demosthenes says.

However some community members want the development, sharing why the area needs accessible medical facilities closer to their homes.

“We lack health care. So, this project, the wellness village, actually helps alleviate a lot of that for us because now we’re going to go in a different direction,” Long-time Johns Island Resident, Jim Hart, says.

Developers say they have held meetings to hear from the community about what they want out of the project, and have reduced the project’s size by 25%.

“We care about the community. All we want to do is to provide a development that meets the needs of the people, to curtail the traffic and to allow people to have a choice,” project developer Jill Skerchek says.

With no action being taken, the developers will present the plan again in two weeks to the county council with any possible changes they make in the meantime.

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