Posted on September 11, 2023
Berkeley County supervisor Johnny Cribb met with the media Thursday, Sept. 7, to officially announce a dredging project that has been years in the making. The project will remove 150,000 cubic yards of sediment in an inlet to Berkeley County’s only saltwater access.
Boaters looking for access to the water converge on the Cypress Gardens boat landing, which is often crowded. The dredging will mean more access in more places.
“If you want fish on the Goose Creek side you’ve got motor all the way up to Goose Creek and then go all the way back to Mount Pleasant,” said Tom Clubb, recreational fisherman who fishes the area at least three times a week.
Clubb has never been stuck in the plough mud, but he is aware of some unfortunate boaters.
“I was putting my minnow traps out last week and a man got stranded out there in a storm,” he said. “It was lighting and thundering. He was about 100 yards out.”
Instances such as these are exactly what the county wants to avoid. Berkeley County Government has awarded the construction contract for the Bushy Park Dredging and Spoil Site Project to J.F. Brennan Company Inc. County council approved the contract Monday, Aug. 14, at its regular meeting. Bushy Park Landing is located near the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek and provides public access to Foster Creek and the Cooper River.
The sediment will be delivered to the Clouter Creek South Cell disposal site in North Charleston, pending approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Crews will dredge down eight feet and 200 feet across at low tide.
Total cost of the project is just over $5 million and the funding comes from the 2014 and 2022 One Cent Sales Tax referendums.
“It became a big public safety and public recreation issue for a lot of folks that have used it for decades, said Johnny Cribb, Berkeley County supervisor. “It’s not uncommon to see a boat stranded out there on the plough mud and on a 100- or 90-degree day.”
The project will begin this October and run through March of 2024.
