Resiliency & Mobility

On October 9, 2024, the S.C. Supreme Court issued its final opinion upholding the permit that allows the WestEdge Foundation to proceed with the Stormwater Improvement Project on the west side of the Charleston peninsula. This brings closure to previous challenges to this permit.

• Charleston City Council voted unanimously to endorse the Stormwater Mitigation Project in 2020.
• The WestEdge Foundation’s environmental permit application was approved by S.C. DHEC in 2021 to impact 3.9 acres of wetlands on the west side of the Charleston peninsula, a key step for the project to be able to move forward. The purpose of the permit is to cap the exposed landfill and fill the degraded marsh and drainage feature to stop the frequent tidal and storm-related flooding of polluted water that harms the surrounding community.
• The Friends of Gadsden Creek, an organization that formed to oppose the filling of the wetlands, challenged the issuance of the permit and a hearing before the South Carolina Administrative Law Court was held June 6-10, 2022.
• Chief Administrative Law Judge Ralph King Anderson III issued his decision on Dec. 5 upholding the issuance of the permit.
• Friends of Gadsden Creek filed an appeal in January 2023.
• Both parties filed a joint motion for the appeal to be taken up directly by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The motion was granted on October 3, 2023. The hearing was held in Spartanburg on June 19, 2024.

The Stormwater Improvement Project would help solve the problem by capping the exposed landfill, while halting the tidal inflow of water from the river. Two new drainage tunnels would deal with stormwater:

• Hagood Street and Fishburne Street Tunnel: This tunnel will channel stormwater from the areas around Hagood Street and Fishburne Street. The collected water will then be directed northward, eventually being discharged into the marsh located behind the Joseph P. Riley Stadium. This will help prevent flooding in these areas by providing a direct route for excess water to flow into the marsh.
• Gadsden Green and Ashton Street Basin Tunnel: This second tunnel will serve the Gadsden Green area and the Ashton Street Basin. It will transport stormwater from these regions to the city’s new Spring-Fishburne Deep Tunnel. The deep tunnel is designed to handle large volumes of water, significantly reducing the risk of flooding in the contributing areas.

Before the the mid-20th century, the area encompassing WestEdge today was part of a 100-acre salt marsh once known as Gadsden Creek. Around 1950, the city of Charleston began using this area as a landfill, depositing trash throughout the marsh and filling in Gadsden Creek entirely.

When the landfill closed in the 1970s, it was capped with soil and a manmade drainage feature was dug through it to provide stormwater drainage for the area. The rest of the former landfill was sealed off as new roads were paved, and buildings and sports stadiums were built on top.

The tidal influence of the Ashley River on the small drainage ditch over time led it to resemble a creek again, but the tides have also eroded the landfill cap, leaving decades-old trash and debris exposed.

Today, the drainage feature contributes to three problems, often all at once.

• Frequent tidal flooding in the adjacent intersection of Hagood Avenue and Fishburne Street and the Gadsden Green Homes public housing community.
• Stormwater flooding: It is now insufficient to handle the mostly developed area’s stormwater runoff, particularly during heavy rains.
• Pollution: The exposed former landfill is contaminating the water and spreading the contamination to the community during flooding events.