Beach Co.’s Kiawah River plan moves forward

Charleston County Clerk of Court Julie Armstrong has approved the Beach Co.’s petition to launch a Public Service District on the southern end of Johns Island.

The district would provide fire and sewer service to the company’s high-end Kiawah River Plantation development.

Armstrong, in a email to the newspaper, said she is working with the county’s legal department and the Board of Elections and Voter Registration to figure out the plan’s next steps.

Under state law, after the clerk of court approves a petition, the clerk calls an election of qualified voters in the district.

That shouldn’t be difficult in the case of Kiawah River. The district only would include the Beach Co.’s 2,000-acre property, which currently has only one resident.

Public service districts provide to residents of unincorporated parts of the county services such as sewer and fire protection, along with trash collection and disposal. And forming new ones is not common. The last one formed in Charleston County was the North Charleston Sewer District in 1972.

Read more in upcoming editions of The Post and Courier. Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or on Twitter @dianeknich.