health insurance agent in Goose Creek

Dear Editor,

A plea from the community needs to be heard. I welcome growth, but it needs to be smart, and in the best interest of the community. While our Goose Creek Planning Commission acknowledged community concerns on the Avalon Point proposal, denying the rezoning of the 32 acres to Planned Development on April 4,2023, city officials do not seem to be hearing our plea.

They have gone forward with the first reading at the April 11 Council meeting. Sufficient notice wasn’t given to have this on the agenda. Goose Creek City Council agenda was posted April 7, and the rezoning signs throughout the affected area still say Planning Commission Hearing in April. How is this public notice?

We, the residents, know how bad the traffic and flooding are in West Greenview, Greenview, Gardenia Villas. This area, which is home to the site of the first Goose Creek Council meeting, is being dismissed instead of acknowledged.

The proposed development, Avalon Point, will include 71 townhomes and 71 single family homes, and a small portion of commercial property bordering Red Bank Rd., Wisteria Rd., Pandora Dr., and Hastie Dr.

The neighborhood roads can’t handle 250 vehicles. Cars speed down Pandora Dr. to cut through. Fences, mailboxes, and as recently as February, a car have been crashed into, yet, nothing is done.

The proposed development will remove a small wooded buffer that my family has been trying to purchase to help further mitigate the flooding issues we have. This land has no TMS number and all officials I’ve spoken with told me we cannot purchase it because no one owns it (we have been maintaining this for almost 18 years). BUT, the Master Plan for Avalon Point has this land on it for a bike path between my home and my neighbor so these residents can walk into our neighborhood. How is it the city will approve a bike path over flood mitigation?

Pandora Dr. floods for many other homes. Lake Greenview pond and the natural drainage ditch that runs through the proposed development area, are not enough currently to mitigate the flooding.

Look and you’ll see a problem. The traffic study for Red Bank Rd was conducted February 2022. The data for average annual daily traffic came from 2020 (during COVID-19 lockdowns). It’s not comparable data.

This deal has a lot of benefactors and tax paying citizens being disregarded for the almighty dollar.

Lisa Berry

Goose Creek

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.

Central Creek Park is dubbed “a park for all” and so far it has been just that since opening on Dec. 16, 2022. The site on Old Moncks Corner Road has been a big success and the only real problem is finding a parking space.

It’s the three-month anniversary for Central Creek Park and it is as welcoming as envisioned when plans got rolling on the park over two years ago.

It was once just an idea for a playground but the 13-acre site is now a top destination.

The area offers pickle ball and basketball courts, a massive pavilion, a stage for concerts and movie nights, walking trails, greenspace and a giant playground that offers enrichment to the special needs community.

“The park has been packed,” said Hannah Miller, the Therapeutic and Community Programs Coordinator for Goose Creek. “I think everyone is a bit surprised about having this kind of resource. Everybody jokes we don’t have enough parking spaces. You pull up there in the morning and everyone is playing pickle ball, or getting an early start on the playground.”

And it’s not just early in the day, Central Creek Park is busy both day and night because there is such a variety of things to do.

“Then you drive by in the evening and the basketball courts are packed. I don’t have exact numbers but we have a few hundred different parking spaces and they are practically always full,” said Miller.

The $9.5 million park was built with the help of major donors and the business community. The spot is for everyone of any age or ability.

“We get a lot of compliments about how beautiful it is and how well it was organized and about how well it’s running,” she said. “We get a lot of thanks and a lot of praise for like, ‘My children haven’t always been considered so now they have a place they can go and feel safe and have a place to play.’ It’s been all compliments which is kind of overwhelming.”

The park, on the old site of the old Casey Recreation Center, is not only popular with Goose Creek residents, those from outside the city have been arriving as well.

“Not a day goes by that somebody is like, we drove here from North Charleston or we drove here from Summerville. It is really an attraction point and people are utilizing it,” said Miller. “It’s been a joy to have in the community, it’s been an honor to work there and be a part of the project. I think it’s going to be a staple for really long time to come.”

GOOSE CREEK — Lydia Wright squealed and giggled uncontrollably as her brother Michael pushed her on a swing at Central Creek Park in Goose Creek.

The 4-year-old, who has epilepsy, was belted securely in the swing by a plastic harness designed to hold children in place as they fly through the air.

Lydia’s family was one of the first families to use the city’s new 13-acre Central Creek Park, a barrier-free park and playground designed to accommodate everyone, including children and adults with disabilities. That was important for her parents, Rob and Bethany Wright, who say it’s extremely hard to find activities that accommodate their 22-year-old daughter Lissy, who has autism.

“We have been driving all the way to downtown Charleston” from their home in Cane Bay to participate in the city’s inclusive parks and rec activities, said Bethany Wright. “And when COVID came on, they stopped all their programming.”

The new Goose Creek park’s playground includes wheelchair-accessible swings, equipment designed to aid people with sensory processing issues and other features that appeal to “kids of all abilities,” said Mayor Greg Habib.

The park officially opened to the public on Dec. 16 after nine months of construction. Habib said it was a community effort — more than $1.3 million of the total $9.5 million cost came from private donations.

Hannah Miller, the city’s therapeutic recreation coordinator, and Nicole Herrera Murray, assistant recreation director, both advocated strongly for inclusive playground equipment.

“A lot of the pieces are intentional,” Miller said. “Like, we have a seesaw that you can put a wheelchair in. You can wheel somebody up so that they can experience the motion that you wouldn’t typically find at another park.”

While still not widespread, inclusive parks are becoming more common throughout the Lowcountry. Both North Charleston and Summerville opened playgrounds for children with disabilities in the spring, and North Charleston is working on a $5 million, 50,000-square-foot recreational space accessible for both children and adults.

Last month, Moncks Corner opened its long-awaited Home Telecom Miracle League baseball field, an inclusive, wheelchair-accessible field for the town’s Miracle League team to play sports. The field’s grand opening was attended by baseball fans throughout the Lowcountry. Like Central Creek Park, the $1.5 million project was funded partially by donations.

“We are excited about having our first season this spring,” said Moncks Corner Recreation Director Becky Ellison in an email to The Post and Courier.

The movement goes beyond the Lowcountry to other parts of the state. Greenville has several parks accessible for those with disabilities. The newest, Unity Park, opened in May with features like smooth, wheelchair-friendly turf, supportive swings with extra straps and interactive elements to the toddler playground, said Loren Thomas, the city’s multimedia communications specialist.

“Unity Park was really about bringing everyone together and giving everyone a place to play, a place to fellowship, a place to just enjoy the city of Greenville,” Thomas said. “Part of that was making sure the playgrounds, which are going to be a feature of the park, were accessible to all and inclusive to all.”

Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb, who attended the openings of both the Miracle League field and Central Creek Park, said it’s exciting to see places that everyone, regardless of age or ability, can enjoy.

“I look at this park, it’s like cradle to grave,” he said. “It’s (for the) really, really young, all the way up to old, and everyone in between.”

Goose Creek Parks Director Crystal Reed said the city worked closely with the special needs community and the rest of the public when designing Central Creek Park. The parks and recreation department already has a therapeutics program in which children and adults with disabilities participate in bowling, dance, music, art and fishing. Lissy Wright and her family has participated in the program for several years.

“When we started those programs, we started getting connected with a lot of the day programs in the area that serve a lot of the adults, and we started working closer with the schools, you know, their special education programs,” Reed said. “It’s really this close-knit community ... We feel like we got a lot of feedback from these groups as we started planning and we have sessions where we kind of were able to hear what the public wanted, what our community needed.”

The park also fits into a larger push by Goose Creek to expand its recreation and entertainment options as the city’s population and surrounding area grows. Last year, John McCants Veterans Memorial Park opened on Anita Drive, and the city has plans to break ground on a $4 million amphitheater behind the municipal center in April.

“I want to create as many opportunities for people to leave their home, go where other people are and have fellowship with one another,” Habib said. “I believe that’s how you build community. That’s how a hometown is built.”

Deborah Grace is a newcomer to the city, having recently moved from West Ashley, and said she thinks the park as a whole will be a great place for the city to hold events that she can take her family to.

“It’s just unique,” said Grace. “And I don’t think there’s any other park around the area like it that I have seen even in the tri-county area.”

In addition to the two playgrounds, Central Creek Park includes eight pickleball courts, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a food truck court, a splash pad that will open late next spring, a field and stage, and half-mile walking trail around the perimeter. The park also has the Casey Pavilion, where the city expects to hold events like farmers markets, craft fairs, movie nights and concerts if the weather is too rainy to hold them on the stage.