CHARLESTON, S.C. — Charleston, S.C., closed out its traveling State of the City series on the peninsula, where Mayor William Cogswell and City Council members met residents at Burke High School on Thursday evening, Nov. 12, to talk about growth and city projects.
Rather than give one big speech this year, the mayor and city staff took the update on the road to five parts of the city, shaping each stop around local worries. West Ashley heard about roads, James Island about flooding, and Johns Island and Cainhoy about how new development is loading up traffic. Close to 1,000 people came to at least one stop, the city said.
At the peninsula stop, the city rolled out an online dashboard with a map of every capital project now underway. People can sort the list by neighborhood, project type, stage and funding source, information the city had never gathered in one place before.
Housing was a main theme downtown. City figures show only about 9 percent of people who work on the peninsula also live there. Charleston is aiming to add 3,500 affordable homes by 2032 and expects to pick designers within weeks to draw housing that fits the look of the city and can be repeated across dozens of acres.
Flooding, safer walking and biking routes and handling tourism also came up. Those issues feed into the Peninsula Plan, a guide for the next 20 years of growth that the city expects to finish in early 2027.
Residents who missed the series can find recordings and slides on the city website. The next chance to weigh in is a public forum on the Peninsula Plan at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, back at Burke High School.
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