When Construction Meets the Dead

City of Charleston · Ad Hoc Budget Committee
⛽ Fuel price spike moderating but still $406K over budget
Fuel costs peaked at $4.34 per gallon in May against a budget assumption of $3.30, but have since declined to $3.97 as of mid-June. The projected budget impact has improved from $700,000 to approximately $406,000, though staff cautioned that ongoing geopolitical volatility around global shipping straits makes the outlook uncertain. The city is monitoring both price and consumption quantity to manage the remaining budget year.

City of Charleston · Ad Hoc Budget Committee
💰 Surprise 20-30% insurance jump strains city budget
The city's risk insurance premiums for property, auto, inland marine, and tort liability came in 20-30% higher than budgeted, pushing BFRC well over its monthly target. Staff indicated the Insurance Reserve Fund historically provides poor advance projections, and this year gave no warning of the increase. The city is now actively considering going out to market to seek competitive alternatives, and staff warned that preliminary 2027 projections show another large increase on the horizon.

City of Charleston · Ad Hoc Budget Committee
🌊 Stormwater collections reach $15.9M against $12.8M target
Following a change in the city's stormwater fee collection method, revenues are significantly exceeding projections, with $15.9 million collected through May against a $12.8 million target. Part of the surplus reflects late payments from Charleston Water System for prior years, and staff is verifying whether all past-due amounts have been remitted. Expenditures remain under target, giving the stormwater fund a strong fiscal position heading into the second half of the year.

City of Charleston · Board of Architectural Review - Small (BAR-S)
🏛️ City-owned legal department building cleared for laminated glass window upgrade
The board granted final approval for the City of Charleston's legal department building at 50 Broad Street to have existing window sash glazing replaced with laminated impact-resistant glass while retaining the historic sash. The architect cited the 1938 tornado that shattered City Hall windows and damaged Andrew Jackson's portrait as justification for the resilience upgrade. The Preservation Society of Charleston supported the request and called for a broader policy statement on resilient retrofits for historic properties.

City of Charleston · Board of Architectural Review - Small (BAR-S)
🏙️ Rundown King Street Charleston single approved for boutique cafe conversion with residential addition
A circa-1910 Charleston single at 692 King Street received conceptual approval for comprehensive exterior restoration and a rear residential addition, with the front historic building proposed as a boutique cafe or lounge to activate the streetscape. The board added a condition requiring reuse of the existing turned porch columns and directed restudy of the addition's south elevation parapet where it awkwardly intersects the existing roof. The project is part of a broader revitalization trend along this segment of King Street.

City of Charleston · Board of Architectural Review - Small (BAR-S)
🏠 Homeowners denied after-the-fact demo approval for contractor-caused destruction
Owners of 58 Dunway Avenue described a years-long nightmare in which a contractor demolished their historic accessory structure without permission in 2021, misappropriated construction loan draws, and abandoned the project, leaving a half-finished shell on site since 2022. Despite winning a court judgment, the owners have recovered no funds. The board denied the after-the-fact demolition per policy but directed that a replacement structure matching the original footprint and form be permitted, effectively allowing the owners to move forward.

City of North Charleston · North Charleston City Council
📋 First reading clears for ordinance regulating nuisance shopping carts
Council approved first reading of an ordinance amending Section 9-71 of the City Code to regulate nuisance shopping carts within city limits. The ordinance addresses a quality-of-life concern about abandoned carts in neighborhoods and public spaces. A second reading will be required before it becomes law.

City of North Charleston · North Charleston City Council
🏗️ Council advances extension of Navy Yard master development closing dates
First reading approved authorizing the mayor to execute a second amendment to the Purchase and Sales Agreement with Navy Yard Master JV LP, a Delaware limited partnership, extending the closing dates on the landmark redevelopment project. The Navy Yard redevelopment is one of North Charleston's most significant ongoing economic development efforts. The ordinance passed unanimously and will return for a final reading at a future meeting.

Charleston County School District · Board of Trustees
💰 James Island Charter drops out of stadium cost-share, reallocation amended
The board approved two capital fund reallocations but amended the second to remove James Island Charter High School after the school withdrew from a planned cost-share partnership for a stadium project, citing limited available funding. The approximately $4.8 million that would have been added to the James Island Charter project returns to program contingency, while the school's original allocation of roughly $4.3 million remains and a revised scope of work will be developed. The remaining reallocations for D10 Middle School and Stiles Point Elementary proceeded as presented.

Johnson Hagood Stadium was built in 1927 on land that had served as a city-owned burial ground for nearly 80 years. The Citadel purchased it from the city in the 1960s. During a recent construction project at the stadium, a contractor discovered what appeared to be historic gravesites, likely dating to the 1800s.

That discovery set off a process most Charlestonians have never had reason to think about -- a layered framework of state law, city code, federal oversight, and council votes that governs what happens when ground gets broken on top of the dead.

The City of Charleston's Community Development Committee took up that framework at a recent meeting. City staff walked through what the law actually requires and what the city has done in the past.

The short version: the legal floor is lower than many people assume. What Charleston has historically done above that floor is another matter.

The Preservation Society of Charleston, through a National Park Service grant, has produced a map of known and potential burial sites across the peninsula. It shows dozens of locations, marked by category, spread across the length of Charleston's neck. The map is publicly available on the Preservation Society's website.

The Department of Natural Resources and Charleston County maintain their own cemetery-locating resources as well.

"The city is chalk full of cemeteries," said city staff attorney Miss Copelan, who led the presentation.

That density shapes everything about how development works here. A project that might require a routine permit review anywhere else may, in Charleston, require coordination with archaeologists, state agencies, and city council before a single shovel goes in the ground.

City staff laid out three contacts the city recommends making before any ground disturbance:

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Created by state statute and authorized by the National Historic Preservation Council, SHPO ensures archaeological resources are protected during construction. They manage compliance for state and federally funded projects and serve as a resource for private developers. SHPO produces an "archaeological management plan" and can refer developers to other agencies -- DHEC, the Bureau of Coastal Management, the Department of Environmental Services -- depending on what the site involves.

The City of Charleston Building Official. The building official is a formal consulting party in the federal Section 106 process, which governs how archaeological resources are handled on projects with federal involvement.

The Charleston County Coroner. The coroner assists with the physical handling of any remains found on site, including locating and coordinating climate-controlled storage.

City code section 7.5-4, updated in 2021, ties into two layers of state law.

The first is the state statute on tampering with cemetery sites without permission. Penalties run up to $5,000 or up to 10 years in jail.

The second is the South Carolina Archaeological Resources Act of 2010, adopted under Governor Sanford, which expanded the definition of archaeological resources to explicitly include grave sites and cemeteries.

For construction projects that encounter burial sites, state law mandates a specific process -- and it runs through City Council.

When human remains need to be moved to allow construction to proceed, City Council must vote twice.

Vote one: approval to remove. The city must first provide 30 days' public notice. If there are known descendants, they must be notified as well. The applicant presents their case at a public hearing, and council votes on whether removal is "necessary and expedient."

Vote two: the reinterment plan. This vote covers where the remains will go. If there are known descendants and no consensus can be reached, state law calls for a three-person board: the city appoints one member, the descendants appoint one, and those two collectively choose a third. That board's decision is final. If there are no known descendants, state law is silent on the process, and council votes on the reinterment plan as presented.

Both votes can happen in the same council meeting, depending on how prepared the applicant is.

What the law does not require -- but council has historically asked for:

These items are not codified, but city staff said they have become standard expectations when applicants come before council:

A council member asked what it would take to codify those requirements. Staff confirmed it could be done by council ordinance.

The Gillyard Center. The original Gillyard was built in 1968. In 2012, a renovation and expansion began. In 2013, workers discovered a burial site containing 36 grave sites.

Following a council vote to approve removal, the remains were placed in climate-controlled storage. Lab analysis was conducted to determine age, gender, and estimated date of burial. Seven years passed before reinterment took place, on George Street. In 2025, the Anson Street African Burial Ground Memorial Site -- featuring a fountain -- was formally dedicated.

Johnson Hagood Stadium. The stadium was built by the City of Charleston in 1927. In 2004, the Citadel began demolition of the west-side stands and discovered graves. They came to council with a plan to remove and reinter 341 grave sites, and the resolution was granted that year.

In 2016, during demolition of the east-side stands, additional graves were found in the drainage field. Under a SHPO archaeological monitoring plan, those remains are planned for reinterment at the same memorial site as the 341 from 2004.

The most recent chapter unfolded during current stadium improvement work. A Citadel contractor discovered what appeared to be additional historic gravesites, likely dating to the 1800s. The Citadel says it immediately activated its previously established historic preservation plan, halted work in the affected area, and coordinated with its archaeological consultant and SHPO.

Per the 2004 City of Charleston ordinance, the Citadel says it will reinter and memorialize any remains in an expanded, protected area on the south side of the stadium. The Citadel's archaeological consultant assessed surrounding construction areas and found no evidence of additional gravesites.

"We understand the deep importance of historic remains to the Charleston community and with the City will engage with the broader community on this topic," said Jonathan Hoffman, Vice President of Communications and Marketing at The Citadel. "We will continue to follow archaeological best practices and guidance provided by the State Historic Preservation Office and coordinate with various stakeholders throughout this project and future construction activities."

A public commenter pushed back on treating past examples as templates.

The Gillyard site involved 36 grave sites. The site at 106 Street -- the former YWCA property purchased by the College of Charleston in December 2024 -- has documented estimates of up to 12,000 people buried there, according to a speaker at the meeting. The Johnson Hagood Stadium site carries estimates of as many as 24,000.

"Please do not compress the couple of examples that we have as if it applied to all of these situations," said Millisent Brown, a James Island resident who spoke during public comment.

Brown also noted that certain faith traditions hold that a final resting place is supposed to be exactly that, and that there is no universal definition of what a respectful reinterment means.

Julie Bowling has spent two years compiling a partial inventory of the people buried at the Johnson Hagood site. She created an online database at friendsoftowerhillcemetery.org listing the names of thousands of individuals. According to Bowling, those buried there include enslaved Black people, Irish immigrants, asylum residents, Confederate soldiers and sailors, mariners, and infants.

"These people are the ones who built our city," Bowling said. "They built the city's wealth. And for them to not even get a sign, no acknowledgement, a total erasure, that they were ever put in the ground there. That to me is despicable, and I don't use that word lightly."

Bowling, who lives near the stadium and is a Citadel alumna, said she wants to see the entire cemetery memorialized and the bodies left in place.

"It's really abhorrent that we give nothing to these people who are marginalized in life," she said. "And now, and even in death, we treat them as if they did not matter. And we do that a lot in society. And this is one way that we could last give these people their humanity back."

The College of Charleston has not yet come to City Council with a removal or reinterment plan for the 106 Street property. The timeline so far, as presented by city staff:

The Preservation Society of Charleston has been participating in the college's community engagement process and called on city staff to stay involved as it moves forward.

A Preservation Society representative at the meeting argued that avoidance should be the guiding principle -- that if remains don't have to be disturbed, they shouldn't be. She noted the distinction between an anticipated discovery, where a developer knows what they are getting into, and an unanticipated one found mid-construction.

"If we don't have to disturb remains, generally faith traditions will encourage us to leave them in the ground as they were intended to be buried," she said.

The 2021 City Master Plan identified burial grounds and cemeteries as cultural resources that needed to be addressed and maintained. A public commenter also raised a question about whether the Hey Good Pro Avenue project -- which abuts the stadium area -- might carry its own burial ground implications.

When the College of Charleston does come to council, it will be the first test of this framework at a site of this scale.

This deep dive is based on a City of Charleston Community Development Committee meeting presentation, public comment, committee discussion, and a statement from The Citadel regarding the Johnson Hagood Stadium discovery. The 106 Street application has not been filed with council as of this writing.

Here’s what the local real estate market is looking like. If you want to know what’s happening in your zipcode/town specifically, either reply to this email and let me know the area, or click HERE to sign up for updates, or click the graph and search by area.

1️⃣ Have a tip for us?
Got the inside scoop on something coming or changing? Reply to this email and let me know! Happy to give you credit if it makes it in the newsletter or on Instagram.

2️⃣ Curious what’s happening?
See some land being cleared or zoning notices popping up in your neighborhood? Send me all the details you can, and I’ll look into it and see what we can find.

3️⃣ Know someone who needs a REALTOR®?
If your friends or family ask if you know a good REALTOR®, that answer is always yes. Send them my way, I got a guy that help! 😉 Or they can just drop their info HERE, and I’ll be in touch with them…oh, and this goes for you too if you need my help!

And here’s 1 way you can help…If this was useful, pass it on!

Forward this email to one person in Charleston who wants to pay attention to what's happening around them. Or send them here to sign up:
chucktownreport.com/subscribe

Until next week,
Bill Olson
Father • Husband • Realtor® • Civic Storyteller