Mortgage Broker in Knightsville, SC

Dorchester County is continuing with its plans for a large-scale rezoning effort to stop the over-building of additional apartment complexes and townhomes.

At a County Council meeting Monday, members voted and approved the rezoning of dozens of parcels of land from multi-family residential to mostly single-family. Under single-family zoning, property owners aren't allowed to build apartments or townhomes.

Knightsville LLC is a property owner with plans for building townhomes that was exempt from the rezoning ordinance after filing a complaint in county court. County officials say there have also been some additional complaints from residents about the rezoning.

"The complaint from Knightsville LLC held more significance because of the level of investment involved," said Kiera Reinertsen, the county planning and zoning director.

In 2004, the county's zoning ordinance was amended and led to an increase in approvals of multi-family zoning.

After hearing complaints about traffic, infrastructure and flooding during the organizing of its 2018 Comprehensive Plan, the county announced mass rezoning plans for multi-family spaces.

According to officials, most of the property owners under the rezoning project already live within single-family spaces. The project will help bring property owners who have spaces for commercial use into compliance. Using a property for commercial use is not permitted in a single-family residential district.

The project will also help balance population densities and available county infrastructure.

Some of the multi-family areas highlighted for rezoning include property southeast of Ladson Road toward North Charleston and between Ladson Road and Central Avenue in Knightsville.

In April, Knightsville LLC filed a complaint in the county court over proposed rezoning. The owner had purchased three parcels of land off of Central Avenue in Knightsville with the goal of building townhomes.

In the complaint, the owner alleged that the rezoning plans undermined and violated their investment-backed expectations and denied them the right to pursue a planned development project.

During the Monday meeting, attorney Ellis Lesemann spoke on behalf of Knightsville LLC. He said they paid just under $1.1 million for the land in 2019. He also argued that there is enough infrastructure in place to develop the project.

"They've been incurring permit fees, legal fees, engineering, doing a wetlands delineation and going through other types of carrying costs to bring that project forward," he said.

Lesemann said his client learned about the rezoning plans for their property in February. After a Monday executive session, the council agreed to exclude property under Knightsville LLC from its rezoning ordinance.

"We were pleased to be able to resolve the matter with the county," Lesemann said.

Future approval of multi-family zoning will be based on the county's available infrastructure and future land use.

Health

The area above Central Avenue in Knightsville is next on the county's list of mass rezoning. The county's planning commission is scheduled to meet on Oct. 8 to review proposed rezonings.

A County Council public hearing is expected to follow on a later date. Officials say property owners impacted by the rezoning should've already been notified.

Many owners have likely received a flier on their property notifying them about the rezoning.

Driving from Moncks Corner to Knightsville Elementary every day is a long drive, but Melissa Odom says it is worth it.

Odom is in her third year teaching third grade at Knightsville, and her fourth year total teaching at the school, having spent the first year teaching second grade.

Odom started teaching in Anderson before moving to DD2, where she first taught at Eagle Nest Elementary for five years. This is her 14th year teaching.

Growing up, Odom worked with kids and could not picture herself doing anything other than teaching. She is from Mt. Pleasant originally, and graduated from Wando High School in 1998. At Wando she was a teacher cadet, and knew from there she wanted to teach.

Odom went on to Anderson University to study elementary education. After her time spent working in Anderson, Odom decided to move a little closer to home.

Odom said she loves being in the classroom.

“Year to year it’s a goal of mine to form a strong relationship and bond with my students, as well as watching them and helping them grow in preparation for their life and education,” she said.

Last school year Odom was a Teacher of the Month and was also a finalist for Teacher of the Year. In fact, she has been a finalist for Teacher of the Year at her previous schools as well.

This year Odom is teaching math, science and social studies. She teaches two classes with a combined total of 41 students.

Odom said she cannot think of any worst experience she has ever had teaching, but she finds the best thing about her profession is she learns more from her students every year; they teach her not just educational things, but things about life as well, she said.

Her favorite thing about Knightsville Elementary is how it is such a tight community; everybody is just a friendly face, she said.

“It’s just one big tight-knit community within our school – teachers or students, new faces or old faces,” she said.

Odom has been married to her husband Daniel for 10 years. They have a 4-year-old son named Hayden and another 2-year-old son named Jonathan. The family has two dogs: a 5-year-old lab named Gauge and 10-year-old cocker spaniel named Harley.

Odom said she is very close to her parents, who are still in Mt. Pleasant, and said that outside of school her family enjoys spending time together. She also likes being outside and doing things like going on a run, boating and going to the beach. One of her favorite pastimes is going crabbing.

Odom’s life goal is to try to live life to the fullest every day and be the best teacher for her students, colleague for her coworkers and mom, wife and daughter to her family.

“I just want to be the best I can be every day,” she said.

A Grayco Hardware & Home and Parker’s Gas Station are coming to the Knightsville Crossing Shopping Center next year. After Mr. K’s Piggly Wiggly closed in 2017, the building that served as the centerpiece of the shopping center has sat vacant on the corner of Orangeburg and Central Avenue.

Kevin Rogers, a developer with Knightsville Enterprise LLC, purchased the retail site from Jim and John Kersting, owners of Mr. K’s Piggly Wiggly. According to county records, the property was purchased for $3.2 million. There are pre existing tenants that will remain in place including two restaurants, a nail salon, UPS store and H & R Block. Rogers said the addition of Grayco and Parker’s will help bring the shopping center back to life.

While both of the incoming companies have multiple stores, Rogers said each one has a family- owned feel.

“It’s a nice thing to see and be a part of,” Rogers said. “Nothing wrong with big national outfits but sometimes there’s a little bit of a difference that customers feel when you walk into a store that’s run by the owner.”

He was impressed with Grayco, which originates in Beaufort and has stores in Savannah and Hilton Head. And Parker’s has over 50 stations throughout Georgia and South Carolina that Rogers said are “well-run, attractive looking stores.”

Nathan Richardson, vice president of real estate and development for Parker’s, said in an email that the Parker’s at Knightsville Crossing will feature a brand-new store design, which is inspired by Lowcountry vernacular architecture. The store will have a parged brick facade, metal roof, bracketed louvers, window details and nearly 4,800 square feet of retail space.

“Summerville is a growing community, and we’d like to be in the path of growth,” Richardson said. “We hope to build 5 or 6 new stores in Summerville in the future.”

Madelyn Robinson, director of administration and economic development for Summerville, visited one of the Grayco Hardware & Home stores in Hilton Head. She said she was also impressed by Grayco and the store will fulfill a need for that type of retail in the Orangeburg Road and Central Avenue area. She said it’s great that the property will no longer be sitting vacant.

“I think both of those businesses coming into Summerville, they’re not represented in Charleston area,” Robinson said. “Their first foothold they’ve chosen is Summerville. That speaks highly of our community, instead of us being second choice, we’re first.”

Robinson said the area surrounding the Knightsville Crossing Shopping Center is growing and opportunities for commercial growth are strong.

In the coming months, the 10-acre shopping center will get spruced up with overall landscaping improvements, sign replacements, lighting upgrades and new sidewalks. Rogers said he expects Grayco to be open in the spring of 2019. Representatives from Parker’s said the gas station will be open for business in the summer of 2019.

Knightsville Elementary School Principal Wally Baird points to a field now occupied by trailers – mobile classroom units moved onto the campus this summer to accommodate a growing population.

The original school building was built as a Civilian Conservation Corps project in 1939; it is still in use. Nearly 1,250 students attend the school, which includes the original CCC building and some 26 mobile units crammed in every available space on campus. Parking is scarce, and virtually every available space on campus is occupied.

To walk out to the rear of the campus is to see a study in patience on all sides – hundreds of parents wait in a long, serpentine line stretching down several neighborhood roads, even as children who walk to school cross those roads to get there in the morning and go home in the afternoon.

“It can get pretty wild back here, especially in bad weather,” Baird says. “But everyone is really pretty great about it – everyone wants the children to be safe.”

He smiles and greets a parent who is sitting in her car, the first in the long, long line. She has been there, she says, since noon so she can pick up her child when school is dismissed at 2:10 p.m.

In the front of the school, buses take one load; they will return to pick up a second group who will wait for another couple of hours in the computer lab, Baird says.

That the children, staff, and parents are proud of their school is obvious – a lot of people – teachers, staff, and parents -- volunteer a lot of time and effort to make the drop off and pick up procedures work as smoothly as possible. They help keep up the grounds, walk with groups of children to and from school. The school has a long and proud history deeply interwoven with the community.

But KES, like so many, needs some help.

Dorchester County voters will make a number of important decisions come November 6.

One of those will be whether to allow the Dorchester School District 2 to issue bonds up to $178 million for much needed capital improvements throughout the district.

Dorchester County is one of the fastest growing counties in South Carolina, and most of that growth has occurred within the boundaries of DD2. Some 19,245 students attended DD2 schools during the 2005-2006 school year; that number had increased to 23,169 students during the 2011-2012 school year. Because the fastest growing demographic in Dorchester County is families with elementary school age children, the district plans to build three new elementary schools with a capacity of 1,000 students. This will not only help reduce classroom sizes in all the elementary schools but will greatly reduce and even eliminate portable classrooms – which currently cost about $100,000 per finished unit -- at all the elementary schools.

Reducing student populations at all the schools will alleviate many issues, most dramatically the drop off and pick up situations at KES and others, Baird said.

Other important upgrades are also needed, such as updating electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems.

“The referendum will benefit every child and every family in the district, not just us,” Baird said. “We’ve done great work with what we have, but I believe that if we do not relieve that pressure, if we keep up with the present levels, the quality of education – and the safety of the children, will be at risk.”

The new Zaxby’s in Knightsville is now open for business as of June 18. Zaxby’s is located at 1625 Central Avenue. A post on the eatery’s Facebook page stated opening hours are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Zaxby’s is a fast food restaurant chain known for chicken wings, chicken fingers, sandwiches and salads.

Chad Edens bought Insty-Prints last year and the business has just finished its transition to the franchise’s flagship brand of Allegra. Allegra is a full-service marketing and communications company based in Summerville. The business is located at 320 Old Trolley Road and can be reached at 843-376-4478, hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more at https://www.allegramarketingprint.com/locations/summerville-sc/services/.

JJ’s Bakery – formerly Bubbie’s Bakery in downtown Summerville – is under new management. Judy Saffa, the new owner, hosted a grand opening on June 16. The bakery is located at 110A S. Cedar Street and is well-known for its cupcakes, cakes and cookies. The bakery can be reached at 843-419-6140.

Perkins Restaurant and Bakery is slated for a June 19 reopening, following a kitchen fire that shut down business for 10 days (as of June 18). Perkins is located at 1700 Old Trolley Road and is owned by Dowm Hawley. Hawley said the restaurant threw a parking lot party fundraiser June 6 that was supported by hundreds of customers to raise money, along with food donations, from the community to help support the hourly employees that had to miss work. “The outpouring from the community has been something from a Hallmark movie and has humbled and elated my spirit and faith in our tight knit community,” she said in an e-mail. View the restaurant’s menu at http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com/menu/ .

Rainbow Child Care Center is opening the doors to its brand-new school, located at 2464 N. Main St. This will be Rainbow’s second location in Summerville. The new nearly 11,000 square foot center serves children from 6 weeks to 12 years of age. Families seeking more information about the new or existing Rainbow Child Care Center or interested in touring the new facility are invited to visit rainbowccc.com/Summerville2 or call 1-800-90-LEARN.

Carnes Crossroads has expanded its recreational options. Five workout stations were placed along the trail loop in the St. James Park neighborhood in May. The stations include 14 pieces of equipment that can be used for 40 different impact exercise. Hurdles, pull-up bars, a dip station and monkey bars provide several resources for exercise in the Goose Creek neighborhood.

Beckstone Apartments, formerly known as Comet Creek, officially opened in Summerville June 15. The complex is located at 100 Comet Creek Lane in the Summerville area and features 264 one-and two-bedroom residences.

The complex contains plenty amenities that include a 24-hour fitness center, yoga studio, sun porch with flat screen televisions, and a resort-style pool with a tanning ledge and gas grills. A sand volleyball court and a pet park provide outdoor recreation.

“We’re super excited to a part of Summerville,” said Ashley Mizzell, marketing manager with RE Carroll. “This area is developing so rapidly. It’s such a hot, fast-moving market. It’s booming. It’s crazy. It’s exciting to see all the growth.”

TRIO, a Mount Pleasant-based marketing communications agency, will provide free advertising and marketing services to local nonprofits on Oct. 25. Through its 24-hour CreateAthon initiative, TRIO will dedicate free marketing services to organizations in need. TRIO will be accepting applications from Monday, June 18 - Friday, Aug. 17. Applicants are asked to submit a 60-second video on why their organization should be selected.

If you know of a new business venture, contact reporter Rickey Ciapha Dennis Jr at rdennis@berkeleyind.com.

“There are so many wonderful nonprofits in our area who need marketing help.” says Jenny Dennis, TRIO’s chief operating officer. “Unfortunately, a lot of these organizations struggle with having enough funding to invest in their marketing support. That’s where CreateAthon can help.”