James Island home demolished to serve as mitigation site

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A vacant James Island lot is getting a makeover that will benefit not only neighborhood properties flooding during rainstorms but add vegetation to the site.

The property on Shoreham Road will now serve as a small water retrofit.

City of Charleston Stormwater Management Director Matthew Fountain said the city had acquired the flood-prone residential property on Shoreham Road with a FEMA grant as well as the city’s small project allocations from their water budget of $1 million.

The house was demolished to provide what he said will serve as a semi-immediate improvement to the neighborhood for flooding.

Fountain said the city has begun contracting with a landscaper to replant the property using vegetation to the land that is ecologically beneficial and attractive to the community.

The city is retrofitting the property by digging out some of the soil which will provide an area to store some water temporarily during rainstorms.

He said it will then drain out and come back to landscape the property to make it an attractive site.

The city was looking for a home that had been consistently damaged by flooding.

“This home was acquired due to the damage, of course, from flooding,” Fountain said. “It will certainly not fix the flooding in this area from this one impact but it will significantly decrease the flooding or make some improvement to flooding during smaller rain events, after thunderstorms. Give a chance for water to be held on a property instead of in streets and other people’s homes.”

He said the city is looking at three more houses that will be demolished to retain flood water as well.

Fountain said this style of project is a result of a partnership with the Dutch Embassy which was brought in to look for ways to help resolve flooding and mitigation.

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