Your First Choice for Scratch and Dent Appliances in Mount Pleasant

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The early voting period is coming to a close Saturday across South Carolina.

Early voting began on Oct. 21 and election officials saw record numbers for turnout. This year marks the first time the state has done one of these periods that is open to any voter, and especially for a presidential election.

“People are excited about this year’s presidential election,” Rosie Brown, director of Berkeley County voter registration and elections, said. “Since early voting, we have seen a phenomenal turnout all over the county. People are wanting to get out and get their vote heard. And they’re participating in early voting in record numbers.”

Isaac Cramer, executive director of Charleston County board of elections, echoed the same message. Mount Pleasant is one of their busiest polling locations and said they are moving the lines as much as they can.

“Here in Mount Pleasant, wait times are 20 to 30 minutes,” Cramer said. “We’re seeing the most voters in the state at this location, so even if you see a line, they’re moving really quickly.”

Charleston County recorded nearly 120,000 votes since early voting began. Although they aren’t seeing as many people show up as last week, many were expected today.

“It seems today is the busiest day, which is what we expected – Friday, last Friday before the election, to be the biggest turnout,” Cramer said. “One thing, we’re just encouraging voters is you still have one more day – it’s tomorrow, from 8:30 to 6.”

Berkeley County added 30 in-person voting machines and 2 more to curbside vote to relieve the wait times this week. Officials said they recorded around 50,000 votes. However, voters are coming to cast their ballots at all hours and there is not necessarily an off-peak time. Brown said one trend she noticed last week, that may be helpful for those going to the polls on the last day.

“People usually get up early on Saturday mornings to do their early voting,” Brown said. “We did notice last Saturday that once the college football games started coming on TV or people going out to those games, the line became shorter at that point in time of that day.”

|Updated: Oct. 31, 2024 at 5:21 AM EDT

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC)- The final site review for a food, entertainment, and public gathering space was approved by Mount Pleasant’s commercial design review board on Wednesday night.

The space is called Gather Mount Pleasant and will be located on Midtown Avenue right across from MUSC Midtown in Mount Pleasant and off of HungryNeck Boulevard.

The co-developer of Gather Mount Pleasant, Mack Cross, said that this project will cost $14 million. He said he wants it to serve as a place for friends and families to come and enjoy time together.

“Spend time, you know, ideally away from screens and have conversation, meet neighbors here, host out of town visitors,” Cross said. “A place that Preston, our other partner and co-developer, are really kind of planning for families like ours and a place where we would like to meet our community and spend time.”

Cross said Gather Mount Pleasant will have a similar atmosphere to the Gather location in Greenville, South Carolina but it will be bigger. Along with a variety of food and beverage options and live music like Gather Greenville, the Mount Pleasant location will have additional features like retail, office and salon space.

However, the site Gather Mount Pleasant will sit on has a residential community right next to it called Midtown Townes and Cross said they have had to modify their designs because of some residents’ concerns.

“We reduced the scale of the project. Originally we had a hotel component, but we have since gotten rid of that. The economy changed through the process, so that was a factor as well, you know, so just navigating all those different factors and really wanting to be thoughtful about the design and making sure that it’s a great fit for this site and this community,” Cross said.

One of the concerns previously expressed was noise, however, Cross said they have addressed this with the setup of the project and wouldn’t be having live music played late at night.

“So the scale of the building and where the stage is located within the project the buildings will provide some natural sound screening for that stage, but yes, we are sensitive that this is a residential area,” Cross said.

Many residents of the townhomes spoke during the public comment session of the meeting. One of their main concerns was about an entrance and exit point for commercial vehicles located on Fortier Drive which many of the residents said this road is essentially a driveway for them. They said with that road already being narrow and having commercial vehicles come through they worried about what congestion it could bring.

Mac Deford, a local politician, is one of those residents. He said that he thinks his community would be overall supportive of this project if they addressed this issue and found an alternative access point for commercial vehicles that doesn’t include Fortier Drive.

“I think as long as they are not using our private road, what is an alleyway, clogging it up with commercial traffic which you know would create a lot of safety concerns and hazards, I think they would have the overwhelming support of our community,” Deford said.

During the meeting, officials assured residents they examined various places to put this access point but that this was the best spot.

Cross said he believes the project they have designed now is the best concept they could be bringing to the area. Now that the commercial design review board has approved, Cross said the next steps would be for them to finish their construction drawings and then submit those to the Town of Mount Pleasant for building permit approval.

He said they hope to break ground in early spring or summer with construction expected to be completed in the middle of 2026.

“It is a place for many occasions, spontaneous occasions. It’s really hard to go out with a big family or multiple families and find a place to eat that’s welcoming and you know not too expensive and you know where you’re not disrupting people,” Cross said. “I can think of numerous occasions of times where you know we will end up here and hopefully others will too.”

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 17, 2024 at 2:46 PM PDT|

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - A Mount Pleasant teen is turning a freak accident into a lesson about inclusion.

At first glance, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong with 16-year-old Kallyn Long.

“I went through all my whole life hearing on both sides.”

But Kallyn is dealing with an invisible disability.

Let’s rewind to April of 2022. Deciding to be a daredevil, she got on an amusement park ride at Carowinds which turned her real life into a rollercoaster she never expected. At 13 years old, Kallyn found out she had been born with a rare condition called EVA -- Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct -- which is how the brain connects to the ear.

“I didn’t realize this until after the rollercoaster because I felt no pain and I was fine,” Kallyn says. “But, a week later, I started to feel like my ear was kind of clogged and I had a couple headaches. So, I went to the doctor and they sent me to the ENT because they saw nothing wrong. But, at that point, I just couldn’t hear. I learned that, with my EVA, the g-force from that rollercoaster triggered it and caused it to detach.”

Kallyn says there were a lot of unknowns in the beginning.

“We didn’t know that I had EVA and we didn’t know if it would even affect my right side. But now I know that it does affect my right side and I have Cordelia, my cochlear implant. I gave her a nickname, of course, because she’s always with me. I mean, everywhere I go Cordelia is with me.”

She says she was definitely scared going back to school at first because she knew kids would be confused.

“Some kids, especially nowadays, they like to take a flaw of yours or something that makes you different and almost make it your nickname. I received like ‘Helen Keller’ as a joke sometimes. And from certain people, you know, they’re trying to make you feel better about it.”

Kallyn says you never know someone’s story. It’s a reason she just wrote her book, “Cordelia And Me,” about her hearing loss and promoting to love your unique “self.” She says there is ability in any disability.

“I do pageants and a big thing about pageantry is having a platform and my platform now is encouraging inclusivity and empowering those with invisible disabilities — like I. This book definitely allowed me to reach multiple different audiences, especially younger children. I got to tell my story in a more childlike way. Cordelia is definitely a great character. And I love how my story is made for Charleston -- it’s very Charlestonian and coastal.”

This is her word to anyone about not knowing what people are going through and how she felt when she was getting made fun of.

“Always lead with curiosity and always lead with empathy because everyone loves to go straight to judgment and trying to figure out things. I definitely think that my message for the book is everyone has a storm. Some you can’t see the lightning or, in my case, even hear the thunder. But you cannot be afraid of your storm because that’s what makes you different and there will always be a ray of light that will break through those clouds whether it’s someone or something — and you always just have to remember there’s a rainbow always after a storm.

Kallyn says, especially in the beginning, she always wondered why this happened to her. But this is what keeps her going.

“As a Catholic, I stick to the Bible and a message that really helps me move along was John 13:17, ‘and Jesus replied you do not realize what I’m doing now, but later you will understand,’ and that’s something that I like to take with me every day.”

You can find Kallyn’s book, “Cordelia and Me,” at your local bookstore or on Amazon.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Towne Centre's future uncertain as Mount Pleasant denies rezoning request (WCIV)

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) — After months of back-and-forth discussion, Mount Pleasant town leaders have denied a rezoning request for Towne Centre.

Discussions surrounding the future of the space first started when Bed, Bath & Beyond shut down.

“There were real concerns about some of those large buildings could someday be vacant, so they wanted to kind of think ahead and plan for different redevelopment scenarios,” said Michele Reed, the town’s director of planning.

READ MORE | "State Supreme Court decision allows controversial Charleston stormwater project to proceed."

Continental Realty Corp., which owns the property, shared an original proposal with the Town Council in April to add apartments, a hotel, and more retail space. Overall, it consisted of buildings that would stand at 75 feet tall.

“I think that like maybe a hotel might be a bit too much because we already have that big hotel over there and I know around like the slow seasons now it's pretty much useless,” said Benjamin Marhefka, who works at TCBY in Towne Centre.

In a series of ten meetings and public hearings with residents, town leaders asked for adjustments to the plan; some of which were made, like lowering building height and adding greenspace.

However, some residents still worry about the possible issues new development could bring to Mount Pleasant.

“If they completely erase all the parking spots for like other businesses, I think that's going to be a big problem because I’ll see the parking lot like jam-packed on Saturdays,” Marhefka said.

READ MORE | "South Carolina flood victims face grim reality without insurance."

While parking isn’t a main area of concern with the proposal, the majority of council and Mayor Will Haynie still have reservations about the plan, saying it needs to be done right.

“Council really wants to see a solid plan that they know exactly what they're getting so that the people of the town know what they're getting, and they can really make a sound vote on this proposal,” Reed said.

The request has been shut down for now but a new version of it could be before Town Council in the next few months.

David Donato with Continental Realty Corp. sent News 4 the following statement after the original story aired:

“The next steps for CRC are to work on integrating the feedback from Council Members and the Mayor into a revised amendment that can garner Council support the next time through. The good news is that nearly everyone in this process sees the logic of doing what we can to improve Towne Centre. We knew this would not be a straight line to a PD Amendment - that is why we approached Town of Mt. Pleasant proactively. At the end of the day, I believe we will reach an outcome that keeps Towne Centre vibrant for years to come."

Updated: Oct. 2, 2024 at 5:03 PM PDT

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - If you’ve been out on Shem Creek, you may have noticed some noise and the appearance of tall scaffoldings and metal scraps.

These are the building blocks for a dock and shrimp processing building repair project on Haddrell Street. This is the home base of Tarvin Seafood, a shrimping company that has provided the domestic delicacy to Lowcountry businesses since 2011.

“They take a lot of pride in the product and they make our product look better,” owner Cindy Tarvin says. “They’re rebuilding the back half of this building and the dock surrounding it. When it’s completed, it’ll be a really nice space.”

The town of Mount Pleasant purchased the property after noticing the dock was deteriorating and causing safety hazards.

Leaders described the metal building as rusted, the dock wood uprooted and unevenly spaced. The building and dock are estimated to be around 60 years old.

“It was important we didn’t close them down to rebuild the dock,” Deputy Director of Engineering and Development Services Kevin Mitchell says. “It’ll help with the seafood processing itself and preserve the historical character of what the creek was all about.”

The phased project is estimated to be around $4 million. It started in the spring of 2024 with the repair of a nearby ramp and dock, and now it is in the second phase. Leaders say this is the most complicated as it involves the cementing and full rebuild of both dock wood and the metal building itself.

It would extend the building out to the water, several feet away from where it currently sits.

The group says their goal is to return the dock and processing center to its former glory, so the finished product will aim to look exactly as the original setup.

“It is going to benefit whoever’s here. whether it’s us or a future owner. It’s the last space on the creek large enough to anchor a fishing fleet,” Tarvin says. “That’s the important part. Not that it’s helping Tarvin Seafood, but it’s helping the creek.”

The project is expected to be finished within the next four to six months.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.