Mattress storein Goose Creek, SC

The Goose Creek Planning Commission’s follow-up analysis of a proposed mixed-use development on 117 Red Bank Road — known as Avalon Point — during a April 4 public hearing revealed lingering traffic concerns, prompting the group to vote against a request to rezone a defined land parcel from General Commercial (GC) to Planned Development (PD).

With no less than eight of nine public speakers who voiced their opposition to a bid to incorporate 142 residential lots across 32-34 acres of land, the planning commission cited issues with potentially adding 250-300 more cars to the area that would further inhibit the flow of traffic.

Neighboring residents — including Rebecca Work — from from Greenview Acres, West Greenview Acres and Gardenia Villas shared their concerns with the commission over making an already compromising situation even worse for cars backed up along Red Bank Road attempting to access Wisteria Road.

“I’m a stay-at-home mom. I can pick and choose the times I leave my house. I’m stuck and I can’t get out of my own neighborhood in a timely manner. With no way out other than Wisteria is not a great option — we’re going to get stuck there longer,” stated Work, who moved to Goose Creek seven years ago.

Similarly, Gary Semon and Sandra Ertley reported that traffic along Red Bank Road is backed up past Forest Lawn Avenue, as people continually try to bypass congestion to no avail.

Semon added: “I understand that Beazer [Homes] has the SCDOT traffic approval. I want to see whoever approved that sit in traffic right now between 5 and 6 o’clock because I bet you they would rethink that real quick ... it gets worse every day.”

The impact analysis, in fact, was endorsed by the SCDOT with no external mitigations being required, according to Goose Creek Planning & Zoning Director Kendra Wise, who said that “variables could change” on that front.

During the commission’s questioning of Beazer Homes Land Development VP Tom Wallington, the construction company spokesperson acknowledged that two access points are needed, with the main entrance coming off Red Bank Road and the secondary one off Wisteria Road.

The majority of the traffic is indeed coming off Red Bank Road, he said, and informed that no left-hand turns would be permitted along the entrance and egress path. Also noted was Beazer Homes’ collaboration with the nearby Kennedy Center location to “improve” the parking lot area at 96 Wisteria Road.

In response to a suggestion from Commission member Anthony Jenkins to schedule one-on-one meetings with affected residents, Wallington claimed he would welcome another opportunity to meet with locals as he did about a year ago.

Prior to denying the rezoning request, the Commission voted by a 3-2 tally against a motion to approve the zoning modification with recommendation for governance and oversight by City Council in conjunction with the Department of Transportation, and with special community involvement.

The topic of flooding was also revisited at the April hearing, when Work and others took issue with replacing water-absorbing trees and soil with concrete and asphalt.

Wallington addressed flooding by promising to build ponds that would hold excess water and discharge it at a slower rate.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCIV) — Two women are speaking publicly after living in Goose Creek rentals owned by Conrex Property Management, LLC - rentals they say had harsh conditions, with little to no help from management.

"We moved to 29 Montclair, a Conrex house in March 9, 2022," Valerie Swabb said. "The amount of things wrong with the house was crazy. The back doors would be rotting and they would come out and scrape it out and fill it with wood filler."

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Swabb, who moved out on April 10, went to Facebook to talk about the rental after seeing it is available to rent again. Conrex has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, but for Sawbb and her family, their experience living in the rental only got worse. She says she sent long emails to Conrex management detailing the house's problems, but no action was taken.

"I ran a mold test kit on the air vent where it was the strongest," she said. "In nearly three days, the entire petri dish was covered in literally three different types of mold. I sent every contact at Conrex an email with the photos and offered to give them a kit. I called their maintenance department and they would not respond to anything."

Others described having similar issues.

"Once we moved into the property, I reached out to them there were a lot of infestation issues with roaches, rats, and lizards," said Jennifer Jackson, who moved into her Goose Creek rental from out of state. "They refused to come out and do anything about it."

Jackson says she had to deal with mold, electricity, and infestations. She sent management a long video of the house, but says no one came out to check out the property.

"Because I couldn't make any progress on any of the things that needed to happen to make the house livable, I gave them 60 days notice and paid out the last," says Jackson.

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Both Swabb and Jackson say they plan to take action against Conrex.

"That house has the potential to be a really good house, especially for the area that it's built in, but it's just not done properly," Swabb said.

On May 10th 2023, Conrex Property Management responded with a statement saying:

At Conrex Property Management, we are committed to providing our valued residents with comfortable and safe homes, striving to ensure that their maintenance needs are promptly addressed.

After conducting a thorough review of our records, we have found no substantiating evidence to support the claims made by Ms. Val Swabb. Her assertions are contradicted by the findings of the home inspection conducted in April 2023.

Additionally, upon careful examination of the records pertaining to Ms. Jennifer Jackson, we did not discover any maintenance requests logged throughout her lease term.

So that the maintenance process is convenient for residents and also so that we maintain accurate documentation, we require residents to submit maintenance requests in writing using the online form available on our website. This procedure allows us to route and track maintenance requests until they are completed. As neither of these requests were submitted in our maintenance system, we are unable to provide any further details at this time.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Christmas came early for a young man in Goose Creek but not before a couple of Grinches got in the way.

After realizing he dropped more than $1,700 in cash while riding his motorcycle down Highway 52 as he was headed to the store, 20-year-old Kyle Kons got to his destination Wednesday afternoon only to find his money missing. He retraced his steps to see several cars pulled over on the side of the highway - people were grabbing his cash and driving off.

“By the time I got there, the last car was pulling off,” Kons says. “I felt hopeless. I thought ‘I’ll never get this money back.’”

Kons says he had just bought a car with the cash and had put the leftover money in an envelope from the bank.

“I thought my front jacket pocket was zipped up all the way, but I guess not,” he says. “I thought I had felt something fall out and hit my leg, but I didn’t question it because nobody behind me was stopping.”

“My heart sunk. I felt like I was the laughingstock of the town,” Kons says. He says he moved to Goose Creek last year for his career in the Navy. He’s currently a Petty Officer.

In a Facebook post of his own in the group, Kons wrote, in part:

“I didn’t realize my money was gone until I arrived at Walmart, and by the time I got there, the last car was scooping up my money… I ask people to be decent human beings and return the money to the owner. I earned that money that you got for free.”

In addition to expressing his frustrations, Kons left his phone number on the post to see if anyone had extra work, so he could earn some money during the Christmas weekend.

He says he never would have thought the community would use his phone number to find his payment apps, like Venmo, CashApp and Zelle, and gift him his money back… and then some.

“I came home from work Thursday, and I had $300 in my account,” Kons says. “I was like ‘no way,’ and it was maybe five people total at the time sending money and saying ‘this sucks but have a great Christmas.’ I was so touched, like, oh my gosh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Kons says most of the payments appeared to be coming from other military members in the area. The payments ranged from a couple of dollars to $250.

In total, Kons tells us he’s been sent over $2,000 through the payment apps, and he doesn’t want to get any more notifications or payments.

He spent Friday with his roommates, John VanTatenhove and Tyler Roton, picking up litter on Highway 52 where he lost his money as a way of giving back to the Goose Creek community.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

A brand-new park opened in Goose Creek on Friday with the focus of being “a park built for everyone.”

Published: Fri Dec 16 2022

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - A brand-new park opened in Goose Creek on Friday with the focus of being “a park built for everyone.”

The $9 million project, Central Creek Park, hopes to be inclusive towards everyone with volleyball and basketball courts, a splash pad, a food truck pavilion and pickleball courts.

Over 26,000 square-feet, ‘Debra’s Playground’ will offer a wide range of accessible activities for people with physical or visual disabilities. The surfacing is all wheelchair accessible, and the equipment is based on sensory items for everyone to enjoy.

Families who include children with disabilities were the first invited to play at the park after this morning’s ribbon cutting. Nicole Valentine, mother to her special needs daughter, says other parks have never really been concerned about including all the different aspects of sensory play before.

“It’s never really kept in mind the heart of all children to be fully inclusive, and even down to having the fence around for those kids who love to run,” Valentine says. “It’s very important and it does so much for parent’s safety concerns to be able to just come here, and you almost get a little bit of relief watching your children play and not be so stressed out.”

The City of Goose Creek hosted a tribute to the donors of the park ahead of the ribbon cutting ceremony. Goose Creek Recreation Director Crystal Reed addressed the city and sponsors after working for months on the development.

“Central Creek Park sets our community apart and creates opportunities to remove barriers, increase self-esteem, develop community culture where everyone benefits from health, fitness and social connections,” Crystal says. “Thousands of children and adults across Berkeley County of all abilities have benefited from our therapeutic recreation program over the past several years; because of you, we just raised the bar with Central Creek Park.”

Parents of children with special needs say that it means the world to them to see their children experience a park they can truly enjoy. Kathy Kackley, parent to Trista Kutceher, travel the U.S. together promoting inclusivity in parks and compared other parks to Central Creek Park.

“There’s something here for everyone; there’s something here everyone can do,” Kackley says. “We like to be inclusive in our play and in our life, and we are very appreciative that Goose Creek has stepped up and has a place for everybody to play together.”

Goose Creek Assistant Recreation Director, Nicole Herrera Murray, explains how the city worked to choose specific pieces of equipment for special needs children to use. After planning and researching for months, she says Friday was a dream come true.

“I’ve been dreaming of this day for a really long time. It’s really amazing to see everyone enjoying and hearing the screams behind us is just everything that I’ve ever wanted,” Murray says.

The public is invited to join in on the fun Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. or Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 47 Old Moncks Corner Rd.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

In a move that will impact numerous homes backed up on a cut of land on Red Bank Road, Goose Creek is rezoning a 34-arce wooded parcel that serves as a buffer for residents who live in the area.

On May 9, City Council held the final reading and vote to approve the rezoning. For years, the area was zoned for general commercial. Now it is zoned for “planned development.”

The area with the address at 117 Red Bank road is proposed to have apartments as well as separate dwellings.

Bordering the 30-plus acres are homes along Pandora and Hastie drives. The area also sits near one of busiest intersections in Berkeley County, where Red Bank Road intersects with Highways 52 and 176.

The county tax map shows the site as having the last large stand of trees inside the area that is dense with both business and residential traffic.

The proposal presented by Beazer Homes to the planning commission shows the residential areas of Avalon Point Planned Development fills roughly 29 acres.

The plan includes 142 total residential lots, with 71 each of single-family residences and townhome units. An additional commercial area totals approximately 3.5 acres.

Some living along the fringe of planned development feel defeated. That includes Lisa and Steve Berry, who live on Pandora Drive.

Their home, coincidently, sits across the street from a home that has a plaque on the front stating it was the site of the first Goose Creek Council meeting in 1961.

Over the past few months, Lisa Berry has gone to a number of meeting to urge leaders to put the brakes on the effort. She and her husband have lived in their current home since 2005. Now, they might move.

“We are considering moving where I can get some acreage,” Lisa Berry said. “... I don’t want to end up in this scenario again.”

“I thought we were going to retire here. I have my dream kitchen. We just did siding and windows over the past few months. And it’s like, wow, somebody else is going to benefit.”

The Berrys said they’ve had the go-round with the elected leaders since the plan was first considered last fall.

“The other thing they would throw in my face, was, ‘Well, that’s zoned general commercial now. Somebody could come in there and do this or that,’” she said. “And I said, ‘why haven’t they?’”

There is no set time frame for work to begin on the project. So for the Berrys, there is a little more time to search for some new land. Lisa Berry said she has learned some lessons along the way in the losing effort — and has some words for those facing similar battles.

“The biggest think I’ve learned is ... silence is consent. I don’t like to say that but it’s kind of what it is,” she said. “I still say we should and make our voices known. I don’t know how else we are going to do it. These are our elected officials, but I still think things are falling on deaf ears.”

There was not much discussion on the plan during the final the reading on May 9. The vote passed unanimously.