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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Dorchester County Council leaders and park staff are celebrating Earth Day by officially opening the county’s second kayak launch, the furthest upriver public access to the Ashley River.

The launch site includes a parking lot with picnic tables and a path out to a high-water mark launch structure. It is about five miles upriver from the county’s other launch at the Ashley River Park. The launches create public access to 30 miles of waterway called the Ashley River Blue Trail.

Dorchester County Council Chairman Dave Chinnis says this launch connects growing resources for the area.

“With this launch in place, experienced kayakers can paddle through 16 miles of Dorchester County down the Ashley River Blue trail and continue paddling to downtown Charleston if they are that brave in the larger sections of that river. It’s 30 miles of waterway that we have now opened access to,” Chinnis says.

He notes that with the population and development of the area increasing, it is of utmost importance to preserve access to natural resources.

“Improving quality of life is paramount to our community’s success. Enhancing recreational opportunities as well as providing access to our waterways is critical to what we do. We started out with Ashley River Park,” Chinnis says.

Jay Byars, a Dorchester County councilman and Parks and Recreation commission chairman, says the current council’s priorities are aligned with providing public access to the natural resources of the county.

“This is a waterway, an important waterway that’s been out of reach for most citizens pretty much forever. Unless you owned property on the river, you weren’t able to get out here and enjoy the Ashley River. Dorchester County’s mission started with the Ashley River and the Bridgeman Kayak launch and Rosebrock Park. Now we’ve moved upriver a little further with this launch,” Byars says.

In 2019, voters approved the $38 million parks capital bond referendum, providing $500,000 in funding for the Swan Drive River Access Site. In 2022, a general obligation bond provided further funding for the $924,400 project.

In 2006, Dorchester County took over the land from Carolina Water System’s sewer utilities, reducing waste discharge into the river. The county proceeded to restore the land to meet Department of Health and Environmental Control compliance requirements for water standards and wildlife.

Byars says he has worked on the parks committee with the next generation in mind, thinking about building parks that his kids and now grandkids will be able to enjoy.

“I think Dorchester County is one of the jewels of the Lowcountry, and we are starting to be able to explore that and access it and see it. It is something I am very excited about. These are the things that the citizens of Dorchester County wanted, the citizens of the greater Charleston community wanted, and we’re happy to be a part of that and do our part,” Byars says.

The launch is located at 137 Swan Drive, Summerville, SC 29485.

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Thousands are expected to head to the 52nd annual Summerville Family YMCA Flowertown Festival.

Historic downtown Summerville will be filled with bustling crowds, vendors and local artisans for the three-day festival. Visitors are getting the chance to see the flowers in Flowertown as the seasonal bloom of Azalea flowers hits its peak.

Blooming flowers are not the only sight to see.

Organizers with the Summerville YMCA are hosting the largest numbers of vendors this year with over 400 stalls. A new pickleball bar is also available for visitors this year. The estimated 250,000 festival goers can expect gem mining and kangaroo photos by Crosswind Farm and a Plinko board game by Publix. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile will be hanging around Saturday.

The Summerville YMCA is showing off their newest “Y on the Fly” van. The van comes from $50,000 in grant funding from Boeing.

Plans for the van include traveling to communities for community health programs and recreational sports. The Lowcountry Food Bank will partner with the YMCA to distribute food boxes to local rural communities. Families can also sign up for volunteer opportunities on the van.

The weekend-long event is the biggest fundraiser for the YMCA location.

The funds go toward those health and wellness programs and other causes, including the community health program, allowing children to participate in recreational sports and family memberships.

The event’s fundraising efforts date back to 1973 with the first ever festival when a small group of women fundraised for the original YMCA with a small arts and crafts event.

Summerville locals and tourists visiting the weekend-long event are not allowed to smoke, bring pets or use drones.

Parking is available in the surrounding vicinity and side roads as well as in free and pay-to-park lots.

Maps, vendors, parking and restroom information are on the Summerville Family YMCA website.

The festival will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Saturday. Visitors can enjoy the festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A Summerville restaurant staple is closing its doors after more than eight decades of serving Southern hospitality.

Eva’s on Main opened in 1944 and Wednesday was their last day open. The owner and customers reflected on the bittersweet end to a long-standing favorite in the community.

The Southern food restaurant has a long history starting in 1944 with Eva Hensen.

“We felt that it was important to carry on that legacy,” Eva’s Restaurant owner Whitney Easler said.

The current owners have been running Eva’s for six years.

“We’ve had a number of longtime customers that have dined with us from back in the day when they were young, and they remember Eva snapping peas in the kitchen,” Easler said.

General manager Tina Howard has been serving friendly faces here for a decade.

“Customers are family to me. We have customers that eat here twice a day,” Howard said.

“This was our home away from home. We came here to feel like we were still back in Delaware. We love the food and the people that work here,” long-time customer Bonnie Booth said.

Owner Whitney Easler said those Southern roots that customer loves are what make it special.

“Making everybody feel like they’re eating at grandma‘s house and we’ve come to know so many of our customers by name. They know who we are and we know who they are. It’s like an old home when you dine at Eva’s,” Easler said.

While it’s a tough last call for many, the final dishes were served Wednesday with no regrets.

“It’s hard to let go, but we’re ready to retire and spend more time with family,” Easler said.

“It’s bittersweet, it’s a part of history gone but now it’s time for change,” Howard said.

Howard said much of the staff will still be working here, for the longtime customers who may want to stop by and visit. But they’ll have to change their taste, as an Italian deli is moving in. Howard said they’re expected to open their doors in three to four weeks.

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Summerville is considering annexation and rezoning a section of land to support a potential townhome development.

The town’s planning commission is meeting on Monday for a public hearing and to vote on a request from the landowner and developer to annex and rezone a property, which is currently part of Dorchester County and zoned for single-family residential use.

This nearly five-acre property is located off Bacons Bridge Road at Crestwood Drive.

If the town moves forward with the request, the annexation would bring the property under the Town of Summerville’s jurisdiction and rezone it for multi-family residential use, allowing for more housing units to be built.

Town officials say that about an acre of the property is wetlands, so only about four acres of the property is developable land.

The Town of Summerville’s Director of Planning, Jessi Shuler, says that the development is still in its early stages, but current plans suggest it will include 20 to 30 townhomes.

“It can vary depending on meeting our other requirements because we do have obviously stormwater requirements and parks and open space requirements that they will have to meet. Then they will have to build a road and so it just kind of varies as to how many they will actually be able to fit, but right now it looks like it will be somewhere between 20 and 30 units,” Shuler says.

She says the development plans so far have gone to the town’s technical review committee, but they haven’t submitted their plans yet to the design review board which is the next step.

Shuler says that the landowner and applicant haven’t discussed their reasons as to why they are seeking annexation into the town rather than remaining in Dorchester County.

Summerville resident and Board Member of the Bike and Walk Summerville, a nonprofit 501(c)3, Chris McClure, says he sees this potential development as a positive opportunity for his community.

“The lack of housing is very apparent to anybody who pays rent within the local area. I recently was looking for an apartment and there was nothing that I could find that was under thirteen or fourteen hundred,” McClure says. “The fact of the matter is we do need to build more housing. People want to live here, they’re going to find a way to live here even if it’s like renting for a little bit then finding a unit.”

This property is located near the Sawmill Branch Trail and McClure says the development could help create a more connected community, providing more opportunities to bike and walk the trail.

“When we don’t allow townhouses and apartments to be in the walking, biking, downtown kind of connected areas what ends up happening is that we push them out and we push them farther. We push them in areas where there are two-lane roads and ditches on the sides and guess what happens? Well, they have to have jobs, they have to work, they have to live in Summerville still and now 100 percent of those people are now dependent on a vehicle for all of their trips,” McClure says.

Shuler says whether the planning commission denies or approves the annexation and zoning request at Monday’s meeting the proposal will still move forward to the planning and development committee of council in April. That committee will then make a recommendation to the town council who will have final approval.

The planning commission ended up recommending that this request be denied.

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