Post by Fred Palm

CHARLESTON COUNTY’S RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY INFORMATION MISSING IN ACTION Open letter to the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester, SC business community seeks to explain what is needed to have A Better Charleston County by 2050 despite the water. o   https://lnkd.in/evcP64Sr o   https://lnkd.in/emZgvFud The full resilience and sustainability county data base of information focused on metes and bounds parcel flood risk, but not the adjacent road that flood, and that are vulnerable impacting the entire local community’s movement should be a vital part of the 2026 half-cent sales tax referendum consideration. Its is not. The rich, untapped understanding revealed in the county's resilience data needs to inform the 2026 plan's thinking and discussion. The county council should make the information fully available to inform the citizenry, who will be asked to vote on a plan predicated on a half-cent sales tax increase and future capital investments. Today's Mark Clark tombstone article in the P&C, 'SCDOT refunds Charleston County $3.1M for Mark Clark project after transportation sales tax fails,' reveals a lack of organized, actionable, or arrayed road priorities. 526 became the deer in our headlights. Other road improvements are not included in a formalized priority schedule for the release of funds, which gave rise to the trust discussion. Furthermore, the county's strategic plan lacks a focus on resilience and sustainability components, which are essential for our notion of preparedness and the flood protections that may or can be funded. Resilience and sustainability remain a secondary, off-to-the-side consideration outside the county's key strategic priority rankings and the reporting of those achievements, which have not been developed, even with road “improvements” in mind. The available natural features, which can serve as alternatives or complements to current and proposed capital flood control investments, are not part of the county's resilience asset structure despite being an alternative resource that remains unseen by planners. After all, securing a significant amount of money will be involved and likely be more difficult to secure in the future. The tradeoffs, choices, and rationale, clearly defined and well understood by 2026, will become key decision factors. .