FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I stay informed on what is happening on Johns Island?  

• Subscribe to the Johns Island Advocate

Who are my elected officials?  

• Click here to find out.

What is the Urban Growth Boundary?

• Click here to find out.

ROADS

Who do I contact to request maintenance on a road?

• First you need to determine if it is a state or local road.  Click here.

• For a STATE road fill out an SCDOT Maintenance Request Form.

• For a COUNTY road fill out a Charleston County Work Order Request Form.

• For a CITY road contact the city at the Citizens Support Desk at 843-724-7311, online at the Citizens Support Desk, email them at citizenservices@charleston-sc.gov, or text the CITIBOT at 833-990-2427.  You can also use the "City of Charleston" app that you can download from your app store.

• Click here to request a road be repaved.

ANIMALS

Who can I contact if I found an injured or nuisance animal?

• Alligators:  DNR,  843-953-9856 

• Birds of prey and shore birds:  Center for Birds of Prey,  843-971-7474 

• Mammals:  Keeper of the Wild, 843-636-1659

CONSERVING LAND

What is a conservation easement?

• See here and here.

Who can I contact if I am interested in conserving my land for future generations?

• For all of Johns Island contact the Lowcountry Land Trust:  Natalie Olson at nolson@lowcountrylandtrust.org

• For Johns Island along Betsy Kerrison Parkway you can also contact the Kiawah Conservancy:  Collie Farah at collie@kiawahconservancy.org

TOWN OF JOHNS ISLAND

Why don't we incorporate Johns Island as a town?

Requirements to incorporate as a municipality are given in Section 5-1-30 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.  There are several things greatly impeding the ability of Johns Island outside the current City of Charleston portion of the Island to become its own municipality.

• Contiguous, Sec 5-1-30 (A)(3):  The area of a proposed municipality must be contiguous.  The City of Charleston has split Johns Island in two by annexing a contiguous line of properties from the Stono River to Bohicket/Church Creeks.  Hence the only way to meet the contiguous requirement would be to also include parcels from Wadmalaw Island as part of the Town of Johns Island.  This is EXTREAMLY unlikely to occur.  That means we would have to incorporate into two sperate municipalities, i.e. "The Town of North Johns Island" and "The Town South Johns Island".

• Nearby Municipality, Sec 5-1-30 (A)(2) and (B)(1):  No part of a proposed municipality can be located within 5 miles of the boundary of another municipality except when (a) the area seeking incorporation has petitioned the nearest incorporated municipality to be annexed into that municipality and has been refused annexation by the municipality for 6 months or (b) the population of the area seeking incorporation exceeds 7,000 persons.  If we took the exception (a) route, the City of Charleston would most likely annex us.  That is exactly what we don't want to happen.  With regards to exception (b), neither "The Town of North Johns Island" nor "The Town of South Johns Island" would have a population of 7,000.  Note that the 2020 census showed that all of Johns Island had a population of 22,854 of which 11,884 lived in the city.  That number of city residents does not include the residents who live in "donut holes" that are surrounded by the city.

• Services, Sec 5-1-30 (A)(4) and (5):  A proposed municipality must provide a police force and at least two of the following: fire protection, trash collection, water, sewage, stormwater, code enforcement, planning and zoning, parks, or street lighting.  This would require raising property taxes.  Since the area outside the city is primarily residential, there is not the tax base to provide these services without significant property tax increases.  One could reasonably assume there would be widespread opposition to raising property taxes and hence to incorporation.

• Population Density, Sec 5-1-30 (A)(1):   A proposed municipality must have a population density of at least 300 persons a square mile (or 1 person per 2.13 acres) according to the latest United States census.  The census data would have to be analyzed to determined if either  "The Town of North Johns Island" or "The Town of South Johns Island" meets this requirement.

Why don't those who live in the City of Charleston on Johns Island just secede?

Sec 5-3-280 of the South Carolina Code of Law states a request for the reduction of corporate limits must be signed by a majority of the resident freeholders of the municipality.

Sec 5-3-240 defines "freeholders"  as "any person 18 years of age, or older, and any firm or corporation, who or which owns legal title to a present possessory interest in real estate equal to a life estate or greater (expressly excluding leaseholds, easements, equitable interests, inchoate rights, dower rights, and future interests) and who owns, at the date of the petition or of the referendum, at least an undivided one-tenth interest in a single tract and whose name appears on the county tax records as an owner of real estate."

The probability of getting 50% of freeholders in the City of Charleston to request that Johns Island be de-annexed is zero.

BEACHWALKER PARK

Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island is run by the Charleston County Parks Commission (CCPC), but the land on which it is located is leased by Charleston County from Kiawah Partners.  The lease was singed in 1976 and has a 100 year term .... the current lease will expire in 2075.  You can read more about it here and here.