The South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) this week awarded the City of Charleston’s Barberry Woods Drainage Improvement Project with a $4.6 million grant as part of its American Rescue Plan Stormwater Infrastructure program.
The drainage project is planned to set an example for the rest of the Charleston area. It targets the small Barberry Woods community, which is centrally located on Johns Island consisting of only two streets — Split Hickory Court and Hickory Knoll.
The drainage project will apply principles from the Dutch Dialogues, a 252-page report that details new and innovative strategies to combat flooding. Some of the project’s ideas taken from the report include conserving natural assets, respecting existing elevations and improving overall area drainage.
Additionally, an open-air stream weaving along a natural landscape is planned to create an aesthetically pleasing oasis for residents to enjoy while serving as a braided channel that slows, stores and releases floodwaters. While the exact locations of specific elements have not yet been determined, the project is set to be transformative for the Barberry Woods neighborhood as a whole.
“The Barberry Woods Drainage Improvement Project is a model for what’s possible in the new, Dutch Dialogues-inspired era of flood resilience here in the city,” Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said in a press release. “The innovative project is a critical part of our anti-flooding work on Johns Island, and I want to thank the state for their generous support of this effort.”
The Barberry Woods neighborhood and surrounding areas experience flooding of roadways, yards and structures during significant rain due to the subpar stormwater infrastructure unable to appropriately handle the runoff from the approximately 574-acre watershed, according to a press release.
The drainage project was named one of three critical drainage improvement projects on Johns Island in the 2021 Johns Island Restoration Plan to Improve Flood Resiliency. The plan was partially funded by a National Coastal Resiliency Fund grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The city will also purchase what is currently zoned as buildable land and incorporate that property into the new, natural drainage system.
In addition to the $4.6 million grant, the city has also acquired a $3 million low-interest loan from the SCOR for project construction and received an additional $100,000 in funding from the South Carolina Conservation Bank to help purchase land needed for the project.
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