Coming off an 11-win season with many of their key players returning, the James Island Trojans are the clear-cut favorite to repeat as the Region 7-AAAA champion.

The Trojans enter the season as a top 10 team in the Class AAAA statewide media poll, and have their sights set on bigger things this season.

The Bengals of Lucy Beckham won seven games in their first full varsity season and should be a strong contender for a top three finish in the standings this season.

May River, Hilton Head and Bluffton will be playoff-capable teams. Colleton County, under new coach Adam Kinloch, should be improved but may be a year away from earning a playoff spot.

James Island

HEAD COACH: Jamar McKoy

2022 RECORD: 11-2

WHAT TO KNOW: With talent, size and experience, these Trojans are potentially the best team in school history.

Senior Braxton Scott returns at quarterback after missing most of last season with an injury. Scott is a true dual threat with multiple weapons at his disposal. Senior Wushi Ravenel is among the top wide receivers in the state and Amontre Scott, Amor Scott and James Maxwell are athletic skill players coming off big seasons. Magnum Chestnut is a returning senior leader along the offensive line.

The defense is loaded up front with juniors Dalton Woodall, Malachi Jefferson and Hendrix Beran all showing college prospect potential. Senior Chris Glover returns at linebacker and senior Jayden Whaley anchors a talented defensive backfield. Burke transfer Jaden Brown-Singleton will be an added weapon on both sides of the ball.

The Trojans also boast one of the top special teams unit in senior punter Coleman Franzone and junior placekicker Gray Dangerfield.

Lucy Beckham

HEAD COACH: Jamel Smith

2022 RECORD: 7-4

WHAT TO KNOW: Despite a relative lack of varsity game experience, the Bengals played with great effort and determination to earn a playoff berth last season.

With Smith at the helm, effort is a priority and the Bengals should again be in the chase. Among the top returning performers are athlete Charles Byrd, who can play running back or receiver and is a key playmaker offensively.

Senior Bryce Rothwell returns as one of the state’s top tight ends, Sawyer Hearne is back as a starter along the offensive line,

Linebacker play should be a strength with several returners. Among those returning backers are Hank Aeppli, Jackson Allison and Daniel Fletcher. The defensive line play is led by senior Jaiden Moore. Mason Ombres and Joseph Tolley are returning as defensive backs and may see time at receiver.

May River

HEAD COACH: Richard Bonneville

2022 RECORD: 5-6

WHAT TO KNOW: Bonneville moves from his role as an assistant coach into the head coaching position this season so the transition should go smoothly. The Sharks are 34-9 since 2018 and the winning should continue in 2023.

Junior quarterback Tanner Macy is a key returner offensively, along with junior receiver Gage Duncan. Leading along the front are senior Will Mauro and senior tight end Cayson Simmons.

Two seniors, Adrian Gaston and Karon Green, will anchor the defense along the front. Senior Kammron Mitchell is a key returner in the secondary.

Bluffton

HEAD COACH: Hayden Gregory

2022 RECORD: 5-7

WHAT TO KNOW: Gregory has brought a resurgence to Bluffton and the Bobcats could make a run at a top two finish this season.

The offense will be directed by senior Owen Bayes, who transferred from region rival Hilton Head. Bayes accounted for more than 800 total yards as a part-time starter at Hilton Head.

Junior Sebastian Tollefson returns as one of the top athletes and will see time at running back and defensive back. Sophomore Carnell Warren is the top receiver.

Leading the defense will be senior linebacker Jeremiah Curry and senior end Shane Whitaker. Curry racked up more than 100 tackles last season while Whitaker tallied 12 tackles for loss coming off the edge.

Hilton Head

HEAD COACH: BJ Payne

2022 RECORD: 3-7

WHAT TO KNOW: The Seahawks look to move into the top three in the region with a handful of key returning players on each side of the ball.

With one quarterback transferring to Bluffton, the offense is now in the hands of 6-5 senior Jackson Bibee, who saw extensive action a year ago in a two-quarterback system.

The offense will have balance with the return of junior running back Troy Timko, who rushed for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago.

The defense may be in the overall strength of the 2023 team. Senior end Shaikh Thompson is one of the top prospects in the state, racking up 15 tackles for loss last season.

Senior linebacker Connor Wiendl returns after 61 tackles and 10 tackles for loss last season. Sophomores Chris Holmes (tackle) and Allen Green (end) will step into key roles along the front.

Colleton County

HEAD COACH: Adam Kinloch

2022 RECORD: 1-9

WHAT TO KNOW: Kinloch, a Colleton County graduate and former player, returns home as head coach for his first stint as the leader of a program. The new coach has assembled a staff with several fellow graduates and has worked hard to rebuild a strong culture and relationship with the community.

On the field, wins may be hard to come by in year one, but Kinloch is building a deeper program with increased participation.

While unsettled on a firm starter at quarterback, Kinloch expects sophomore Cameron Grayson to be a major factor at running back this fall. Another key performer is senior Nick Williams, a 6-2, 225-pound tight end.

Senior tackle Jayshawn Brown is the leader along the front with sophomore Xavion Green showing solid potential as well.

Williams also will be a factor defensively, at linebacker. Juniors Amari Williams and Kendall Farmer are showing promise at outside linebacker and senior Kamarion Bryant will anchor the defensive front. Senior Antoine McWilliams is the leader in the secondary at safety.

South Carolina’s first-ever cannabis dry bar has landed on James Island. High Rise Dry Bar from Charleston Hemp Collective opened Aug. 11 and is changing the world of hemp-derived products and the non-alcoholic beverage space by offering mocktails made with legal cannabis seltzers.

“I think it’s really cool pioneering stuff like this,” said Matt Skinner, owner of Charleston Hemp Collective. “You always kind of worry about whether it’s going to go over and how many people are going to relate to it, but I feel like the reception we’ve gotten just so far is insane, so I’m super-excited about it.”

In recent years, the popularity of legal hemp-derived products has exploded in the Charleston area as these products are said to offer purported medicinal benefits and increase relaxation. Hemp Collective offers a range of products from vapes and gummies to tinctures and even Bloody Mary mix. But since launching its cannabis seltzer High Rise in May 2022, Skinner has noticed a fast-shifting acceptance.

“Charleston has really embraced this whole [cannabis] movement,” he said. “So much has changed, and so much of it is becoming more and more accepted.”

Currently, High Rise’s seltzers are in about 200 bars and restaurants, including Halls Chophouse and Husk, and 350 shops and grocery stores in the Charleston area. But the product also is distributed throughout the Southeast in Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

“Some of the most elevated restaurants in Charleston are really trying to create mocktails now and jumping on board with High Rise to help craft that, and I think that’s special,” Skinner said.

He said he believes now is an exciting time — not only for the cannabis space but also the non-alcoholic market. He points to a renewed interest in non-alcoholic options particularly amongst Gen Z, who are noticeably drinking less alcohol than previous generations.

A 2022 consumer trends report from Drizly found 38% of Gen Z respondents said they opted for more alcohol-free drinks than the previous year compared to 25% of Millennials, 15% Gen X and 8% Baby Boomers.

“There’s this interest not only in the ‘canna-curious’ space right now, but also people are looking for NA (non-alcoholic) options. The NA world and the beverage space right now is insane,” Skinner said.

The company’s original plan was to create a second shop with a small bar, but now the bar is really the star, he said. Skinner and his business partner, Chris Long, wanted a space for a high-end mocktail bar, so they used a portion of the space for the shop and a larger portion for a bar, lounge area and multiple tables for guests to sit and mingle.

During the store’s recent soft opening, DJ Jerry Feels Good set the vibe with upbeat tunes. Skinner said the bar plans to bring DJ Jerry Feels Good back as a regular in-house DJ in addition to rotating other DJs on various nights.

Currently, the bar’s open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. But Skinner said they may expand the weekend hours in the future.

The first iteration of the drink menu includes seven unique mocktails with names like Connection, Tranquility, Invigorate and Zen.

Drinks include fruity ingredients like salted watermelon and pomegranate and well as savory elements like ginger, turmeric and matcha. The menu offers suggestions under each drink to add CBD, Delta-8 or Delta-9 seltzer to elevate the experience.

For those who are canna-curious but not familiar with these different derivatives of the hemp plant, CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in hemp that can induce feelings of relaxation. Delta-8 and Delta-9 are both psychoactive compounds in the plant that can induce feelings of “being high.”

Roughly one-third of a can of High Rise seltzer is used in each drink — equal to two milligrams of CBD, Delta-8 or Delta 9.

“The point is not just one and done,” Skinner said of the mocktails. “We want you to be able to try two or three drinks. And by the time you get to your third drink, you’re gonna be feeling really good. It creates more of a social experience.”

Jules Schneider, beverage director for Herd Provisions, helped develop the current menu.“[This was] easily the most challenging menu I’ve done so far,” Schneider said. “Coaxing out flavor without the use of alcohol is another beast on its own. Alcohol is such a great solvent that making well-flavored ingredients is a cinch. I ended up making my own bitters with vegetable glycerin in a pressure cooker and really relied on great produce and proper technique to make fantastically flavored syrups.”

Skinner added, “I’ve got to give a lot of props to Jules. Not only did he take time to look at so many different [flavor] profiles, [but] he was also very careful when he named them. They all really represent the ingredients of those drinks and what they stand for.”

The menu will change quarterly to introduce new drinks and operate as a space for experimentation. Skinner wants to use the bar to test out new mocktails in addition to featuring rotating specialty High Rise drinks other restaurants and bars have developed for their location including Herd Provisions, The Longboard and others.

“Charleston is a community that supports brands that they feel like are really making a movement, and Charleston has really gotten behind High Rise,” Skinner said. “I don’t think there’s another city in the Southeast that has so much respect for this cannabis drink space.”

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A developer looking to build on just over six acres of land on James Island held a community meeting with neighbors as the potential project moves forward.

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A developer looking to build on just over six acres of land on James Island held a community meeting with neighbors as the potential project moves forward.

The 6.5-acre parcel off Dills Bluff Road, near the intersection of Camp Road, is currently owned by the town’s public service district. KT Properties President Kyle Taylor said they plan to build a 20,000 to 25,000 square foot commercial center to hold about 10 to 15 businesses.

“Lowcountry-style architecture is where we’re heading,” Taylor said. “We see mixed-use retail, some restaurant, small to medium scale, some coffee, some office, medical office, just a variety of uses to support the local community.”

The district attempted to develop a new operations center on the property for several years. The projects were put on hold amid pushback from neighbors against the plan.

The property then went up for sale in 2021, and developer KT Properties is under contract with the public service district to purchase the land.

Toward the rear of the parcel, Taylor said they plan on proceeding with building 25 attached townhome units to make living on the island more affordable and save as many grand trees as possible. Taylor said those changes were made based on feedback from neighbors.

“First and foremost, we want to make sure the community knew that we weren’t doing a cross-connection road,” Taylor said. “That was the most important concerns for neighbors that we weren’t going to send traffic to the neighborhood, which we are not. Especially, making sure we are taking care of stormwater management by adding a third pond was maybe some new information for some folks inside.”

Some neighbors said the project is too dense compared to the surrounding area and the land could instead be used for a park.

“The open space that they’re proposing is not enough,” neighbor John Peters said. “That little open space in the center is like hanging out in the parking lot. It’s what I’ve been telling people because that’s what it is.”

Others, however, said it’s exactly what James Island needs to grow.

“I think it’s the beautification, and the fact that they are really addressing the stormwater issue,” neighbor Joanne Root said. “It’s very well executed, and it’s going to be very attractive, and I think it’s really going to uplift this area.”

Peters believes the project does not fit into the area where it’s slotted to be.

“There’s hawks and owls that live in there. There’s concern with the wilderness there,” he said. “They come over and take out those squirrels, so there’s a lot of little things that are being overlooked in lieu of developing to just add more citizens to the neighborhood that we already have enough citizens in.”

Root, however, believes there’s enough of a market to build the development.

“I think the townhouses would be perfect, and I think there’s a big need for that,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that can’t maintain a yard that are definitely looking for that. It’s more progressive, I think, and more forward-thinking.”

As the project has been in the works for several years, Peters said he believes it should be up to the public to decide what happens with the land.

“Put it on the ballot and say, ‘Citizens, what do you want to do with this land?’ And come up with the best ideas possible,” he said. “If the citizens say they want a development, they put a development in there. If they want a park, we’ll put a park in there. If they want a fitness trail, let’s put a fitness trail.”

Taylor said he hopes the project will be finished with design and permitting around spring next year. He said construction would follow shortly after.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The marshy edges of the Charleston peninsula and its surrounding islands were long viewed as opportune sites to dump debris and add developable land mass to a city surrounded by water.

But that attitude has shifted in recent decades as concerns over sea-level rise and loss of native plants and animals take focus. That’s why a proposal to build a bridge over a largely untouched marsh on Johns Island caught nearby residents off guard.

“It was astounding to me,” said John Zlogar, chairman of the Johns Island Task Force. The group was established a decade ago to bring together residents and local officials to address Johns Island-specific issues.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will review an application from property owner Michael Blanchard to build a bridge connecting his piece of land on a narrow island in Pennys Creek, a tributary of the Stono River, to the mainland of Johns Island. The property is zoned to allow up to 40 single-family homes, but Blanchard has not submitted any formal plans to the city yet. The lot has been in his family since the 1940s but until now, no one has had the financial means to both develop it and build a bridge to it, he said.

“We’d like to put some houses on it,” he said. “Heck, I would live out there if I could.”

Building a bridge would connect his 60-acre property to an existing neighborhood made up of two roads and about 200 townhomes off of River Road. An extension of one of those roads, Fenwick Planation Road, would be required for drivers to access the bridge. And Blanchard already has an easement there because his family previously owned the land across Pennys Creek as well.

But using that easement would result in what resident Candice Losego calls, “an eyesore.”

“It would go right against my backyard,” she said.

A view that currently gives way to marsh grass, seabirds and the occasional herd of deer, would be obstructed by a 33-foot-wide bridge the length of 1½ football fields.

Losego and other residents of the neighborhood have been rallying supporters to call for DHEC to host a public hearing on the proposal.

Because DHEC has received over 20 requests for a hearing, officials said they will host one on Johns Island but have not set a date and time yet. At the hearing, residents will have an opportunity to share comments about the proposal before DHEC reviews the application.

Potential alternatives

As of now, Blanchard’s lot is inaccessible.

The nearest road to Blanchard’s property on the island, Rushland Landing Road, runs perpendicular to it and leads to a bridge connecting to Johns Island. Between Blanchard’s land and Rushland Landing Road is a piece of property owned by S.C. Department of Transportation that stretches the width of the island, isolating Blanchard’s lot.

Residents and environmental advocates would prefer Blanchard get an easement from the S.C. Department of Transportation to access Rushland Landing Road instead of building another bridge.

“The applicant does not appear to have detailed why this is an infeasible route for access,” a comment submitted to DHEC by the Coastal Conservation League states.

DOT bought the property adjacent to Blanchard’s in 2019 in anticipation of the department’s plan to extend Interstate 526 and link West Ashley, Johns Island and James Island. As a part of the larger project, the department plans to build a connector through its property on the small island in Pennys Creek.

Charleston Chief Resiliency Officer Dale Morris said that if the project gets the go-ahead, it would make more sense for Blanchard to try to tie into the proposed connector that would run though the island and use it as the main access point to his property rather than attempt to build his own bridge.

“The Dutch Dialogues would say, ‘have as little of a touch on the marsh there as you can,’” Morris said, referring to a yearlong flood-management research program the city underwent in 2019. “Using the I-526 opportunity to access that land would be better than building that bridge.”

But the full project has stalled somewhat due to eye-popping cost estimates that most recently landed at $2.2 billion. While the agency works to fill funding gaps, any property DOT bought in preparation for the effort sits in limbo.

Blanchard said if he had his way, he wouldn’t have to build a bridge at all.

“If we can get access to Rushland Landing Road, we would give up on the bridge in a heartbeat,” he said.

A statement from DOT said granting access to the property is “not possible,” due to the myriad government agencies involved in the I-526 project. The agency is also not obligated to grant access to Blanchard because it had been landlocked long before DOT bought the property, the statement read.

Whether the bridge plans materialize or not, Blanchard will likely face fresh opposition should he choose to develop his property.

A shifting tide

New developments in sensitive areas such as Pennys Creek are in murky territory when it comes to city regulations.

What is currently legal may not be legal a few years from now.

That’s because Charleston officials are currently crafting a Comprehensive Water Plan and a new zoning code for the entire city. When those documents are complete, developers will have a new set of standards to follow. And those could restrict how much building happens in low-lying areas, especially along a marsh.

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“We have to turn those concepts and goals into a zoning ordinance and language,” Morris said. “Once we do that we will have more control over how and where development can occur.”

But without new zoning laws in place, the city is facing an uphill battle managing the drainage needs of both old and new neighborhoods.

Upstream from Pennys Creek, Charleston is pursuing a $12 million drainage project around the Barberry Woods Development. The city plans to restore 25-acres of wetlands around the flood-prone neighborhood for use as a public park and natural drainage tool. The open space will help absorb stormwater that eventually runs into Pennys Creek and then the Stono River. The last thing the city needs, Morris said, is another bridge disrupting that process.

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Reach Emma Whalen at 843-708-5837. Follow her on Twitter @_emma_whalen.

Short-term rentals are a controversial topic in the Lowcountry, especially in beach communities.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Short-term rentals are a controversial topic in the Lowcountry, especially in beach communities.

Local governments have put ordinances and regulations into place to control vacation rentals, but a new bill up for discussion at the statehouse Wednesday could take away that power.

Adam Moore lives in the Town of James Island and says a noisy Airbnb has disrupted his quiet neighborhood.

“I mean you’re getting 14 people, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties,” Moore said. “My son, he’s 10, we go to school, we’ve got to be there 7 in the morning and there’s been multiple times we’ve been woken up 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. because of the raging parties going on.”

In the Town of James Island, property owners are not allowed to rent their home out as a short-term rental less than 30 days if the home is not occupied by the owner.

“I think towns and cities should be able to make their own ordinances and laws based on the citizens and how they feel about it,” Moore said.

But a bill coming before the South Carolina House of Representatives Municipal and Public Affairs Subcommittee Wednesday could change that.

If signed into law, South Carolina House Bill 3253 would prohibit local governments from enacting or enforcing ordinances, resolutions, or regulations that prohibit short-term rentals. It would also put penalties on municipalities that do. They would have to be taxed at 4% instead of 6% investment property rate and would not be able to receive any distributions from the Local Government Fund.

Folly Beach rental property owner Tom Powers is all for it.

“There’s thousands and thousands in these communities that love those communities that are heavily invested in it, they have family legacy there, and they have no say against the minority of people that quite often aren’t even from the area telling them what they can do with their property,” Powers said. “It’s just not fair.”

In Folly Beach, the number of short-term rental licenses is currently capped at 800, and the city is not accepting applications at this time because the cap has been exceeded.

“They’ve basically cut their leg off to fix a problem with their little toe,” Powers said.

State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis of Charleston County, who is on the subcommittee, says he’s been hearing from people on all sides of the issue constantly. He says he has some “serious concerns” when it comes to taking away power from local governments.

“Each of these municipalities handles these issues differently, and I just am very concerned about the precedent that we’d be setting by prohibiting these municipalities from doing that and stripping their local government funds or taxing them at a different rate if they decide that they are gonna enact these ordinances anyway, so I’ve got some serious concerns and those are some concerns I’m going to bring up at the committee tomorrow morning,” Pendarvis said.

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