Chimney Sweep in Ravenel, SC

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Across the state, local and statewide leaders are getting their boots dirty to highlight everything South Carolina has to offer outdoors.

They’re hiking to remote waterfalls in the Blue Ridge Mountains, kayaking down the Black River and stopping to appreciate natural wonders like the uninhabited wildlife haven of Bulls Island.

The stops are all part of the 5th annual South Carolina Seven Expedition, put on by the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor. The expedition is 30 days of outdoor adventures designed to show off what South Carolina has to offer and encourage environmental stewardship. You can follow the month-long tour of the state through their .

Some stops are more symbolic than natural. At the base of the Ravenel Bridge, Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and SC DNR Director Tom Mullikin gathered for an urban hike across the bridge.

“We believe in what SC7 is promoting, and that’s first an awareness and appreciation of our natural resources,” Haynie said, who also serves as an ambassador for SC7. For us as a big suburban municipality, all the things that we can do to make our environment healthier, to make our quality of life better, and frankly, to make our town more beautiful.”

The engineering genius of the bridge serves as a display of how humanity is able to conquer nature, but, overlooking the water, it’s also a reminder of the Lowcountry’s natural beauty.

“I truly believe we live in the most beautiful state in the country, and when you highlight for people things like the amazing waterfalls in the upstate to the beautiful coastline that we are seeing today, you get people really excited about staycations and appreciating everything we have,” Evette said. “That’s why you have got to put awareness on it, and I truly believe you have to lead from the front.”

“It’s just amazing what we have here,” Mullikin said. “When we started this, I thought we would be showing South Carolina to the world, and we have now with more than 22 million followers. But more important than that is showing South Carolina to South Carolinians.”

The hike isn’t just a photo opportunity for bureaucrats. It’s a call to action, which is why the public is encouraged to participate in SC7 events.“I really feel if you don’t move the people, you won’t move the needle. We’re a state of 20.5 million acres. We have 3.5 million acres under conservation in some form,” Mullikin said. “The governor and senior legislators want to take that to 10 million. So, what we’re doing is showing people that this is exactly what we need to protect.”

At the local level, Haynie says they’re doing their part to promote conservation and protect natural areas.

“We formed a green commission of citizens who are credentialed in things like wildlife biology, in climate action plans, in stormwater management—all of the things that come together to make us more resilient,” Haynie said. “That starts with the built environment because if we mess up our hydrology or we mess up our stormwater management with an improperly built environment, then we’re working against ourselves.”

He says they’re also in the process of acquiring land for a new park that would protect green space.

The expedition’s next stop is Boone Hall Farms. It will finish with a hike along the Spanish Moss Trail in Beaufort on July 30.

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RAVENEL, S.C. (WCSC) - Hurricane season is in full swing here in the Lowcountry, and that means Charleston County has to have a place to take debris when there is a major storm.

However, not everyone wants that debris site in their backyard.

In Ravenel, the county has an agreement with a property owner on Hyde Park Road that would allow them to use the land for hurricane debris. It was last used in 2019 when the county burned debris from Hurricane Dorian.

People living in the area complained about the smoke, and the county committed to .

Conversations at the time led residents like Andrea Dunn to believe that the site would no longer be used at all, but that’s not the case.

The county’s agreement with the property owner means they’re able to bring it back online at any moment. Dunn says she doesn’t want to see more trucks on their roads, and she trusts the government to not burn debris there in the future.

“No, I don’t believe anything that the county is saying because I have not been able to trust anything that they’ve told us,” Dunn said. “Why were we not notified that there was an agreement? What does it say? How does it affect us as far as that agreement? What have they communicated on our behalf that we know nothing about?”

The county says one of the reasons why this site is still on the list of places to take hurricane debris is that the area is inside a quarantine zone for Asian Longhorned Beetles. The beetles are an invasive species that can decimate forests. County officials say they are required to have a designated debris site within the quarantine zone, so they aren’t transporting infected trees outside of the zone.

County officials reiterated that the site hasn’t been used in more than five years and, if it is used again, no burning will take place.

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RAVENEL — The town on the rural edge of Charleston County is taking initial steps toward creating affordable houses with a planned land purchase, as residents worry about rising prices.

While Ravenel is a small town with roughly 2,700 people, it’s part of a county that’s seen rapid growth. Charleston County’s population has risen from 350,000 in 2010 to over 408,000 in 2020, a 16.6 percent increase according to U.S. census data.

As growth speeds on, Ravenel Mayor Stephen Tumbleston told The Post and Courier he’s heard one thing time and time again from residents and members of Town Council: it’s becoming unaffordable to live in Ravenel.

Tumbleston said he started searching for property within town limits several months ago that would work as as a site for affordable housing when he came across two parcels of land off Martin Street.

The town plans to purchase the 35-acre property for $675,000 from resident Sandra Loy. The town applied for money from Charleston County’s greenbelt program and the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable housing, for financial help with the purchase, Tumbleston said.

Town Council voted 5-1 to approve a resolution to purchase the land at a July 29 meeting, with Town Councilman Jim Rogers Jr. voting against it. Rogers said at the meeting he would prefer approving another moratorium, following the one they passed for the duration of their comprehensive plan review.

Ravenel has grappled with incoming development over the past few years. Town Council annexed around 3,500 acres off Old Jacksonboro Road for a planned development of nearly 800 homes in 2021 and then annexed another 755 acres in 2023 for a planned development of 350 homes on Davison Road.

Residents later protested a rezoning request for a 96-acre property on Drayton Road that could allow for 300 homes in 2024. The applicant eventually withdrew the request.

Additionally, a proposal for a concrete batch plant that came before Town Council and the board of zoning appeals last year spurred controversy. Residents were worried about potential environmental impacts, but also felt local officials didn’t have a long-term vision for Ravenel and weren’t prepared for traffic that new development will bring.

The board of zoning appeals unanimously denied the request for a special permit to build the concrete plant in January.

Now, the town is focusing on affordable housing as a preemptive move with incoming growth, Tumbleston said.

Plans for the land include using around 11 of the 35 acres for affordable housing — somewhere between 20 and 25 single-family homes — and the rest to be preserved as a passive park. Tumbleston believes this is a great example of smart growth for Ravenel.

The town needs more housing that is affordable to lower-income individuals, the mayor added. He said details regarding house pricing and whether the homes will be for rent or to own are still being determined.

“I think this is a model for our little town, what we can do moving forward to help folks,” Tumbleston said.

Ravenel resident Jerry Gray supports the town's plans for affordable housing. Anything that can be done to make it easier for people to live in Ravenel is a great idea, he said.