Advocate for a Better Charleston
We advocate alongside residents, elected officials, city staff, and project teams for planning and preservation that betters our city.
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"NOW IS THE TIME,
tomorrow will be too late."
Susan Pringle Frost, Founder of the Preservation Society of Charleston
We are serving as an advocacy leader for citizens concerned about preserving Charleston’s distinctive character, quality of life, and diverse neighborhoods.
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![295 Calhoun Street is back for BAR-L review this week, after a year-and-a-half hiatus. The revised design is a new take on a controversial apartment and retail project that has been subject to four denials by the BAR-L and three developer-led appeals since 2021.
After numerous failed attempts by the developer to muscle an overly massive, 8-story building through the review process, the proposal up for consideration this week is the first meaningful restudy since the BAR first denied this project in 2021.
Throughout the design review process, the PSC has called for more sensitive height, scale, mass, and architectural direction, and successfully intervened in the developer’s lawsuit challenging the validity of the Board of Architectural Review. That case remains pending, and this week’s proposal appears to be the mediated outcome of a subsequent legal challenge to the fourth BAR denial.
While still one of the largest building footprints ever proposed downtown, notable changes are a promising step forward, but the design needs refinement.
We’re often asked how such a large building could be built in the Alberta Long Lake floodplain. City leaders approved a 2021 increase in height and density on the site, approved under the city’s previous comprehensive plan, which designated the site suitable for the most intense development allowed at the time. With that rezoning in hand, the owners have a vested right to build, subject to BAR.
Increased flooding has since prompted a reevaluation of where development should occur. Locating high-density projects in flood-prone areas not only puts future residents at risk, it has the potential to constrain infrastructure.
PSC supports recommendations of the current City Plan and the Water Plan, which urge City leaders to consider elevation in land use decisions.
Equipped with new data and associated policy recommendations, City leadership is positioned to implement impactful policy changes to ensure boards and commissions have the tools to guide context-sensitive development. The PSC is committed to working with decision makers and community members toward a more resilient future for #Chs. [Images via BAR and Google Earth.]](https://www.preservationsociety.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)