Electrician Contractor in Forest Acres, SC

Their convergence means calling attention to three important matters: severe weather, wildfires and prescribed burns.

This week as proclaimed by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster is Severe Weather Awareness Week, a time to provide information and resources to residents on combating extreme weather. The week comes at a time when the climate is changing from cold to warm as spring nears. Weather experts sometime call this the “mean season” for tornadoes and other extreme weather.

But this week’s weather warnings have pertained to another danger: wildfires.

With low relative humidity and high wind speeds across the state, the South Carolina Forestry Commission has encouraged the public to exercise the utmost vigilance when conducting outdoor burns of any kind.

These conditions create a greater-than-average potential for outdoor fires to escape easily and spread rapidly, taking longer – and more firefighting resources – to contain and ultimately control.

“We’ve had several dry days and have seen wildfire ignitions begin to increase,” SCFC Fire Chief Darryl Jones said Monday. “With the dry front passing through, there will be an increased risk from conducting debris burns and prescribed burns until conditions begin to improve later this week. If you don’t have to burn over the next several days, please consider postponing burning."

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The danger from wildfire may have been elevated for a just a few days, but it is very real all the time in a state such as South Carolina with major forest acreage.

That’s why even as there are warnings about fire, there is continuing advice for landowners to take action to prevent fire damage.

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McMaster has proclaimed March 2023 Prescribed Fire Awareness Month in South Carolina.

A coalition of state, federal and non-governmental land management organizations under the umbrella of the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council requested the proclamation to raise awareness of the essential role that fire plays in both the stewardship of our natural resources and the protection of lives and property.

Prescribed, or controlled, burning is the skilled application of fire under planned weather and fuel conditions to achieve specific forest and land management objectives. Controlled burning is an ancient practice, notably used by Native Americans for crop management, insect and pest control, and hunting habitat improvement, among other purposes.

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The practice continues today under the direction of land managers who understand the appropriate weather conditions, fuel loads and atmospheric conditions for conducting such burns. These carefully applied fires are an important tool to reduce wildfires, enhance wildlife habitat, and keep the nearly 13 million acres of forested land in South Carolina healthy and productive.

While prescribed burning cannot stop all wildfires, it is the best management tool available for preventing larger and more frequent outbreaks.

“Prescribed burning is not only the most effective, economical protection against wildfires because it reduces accumulated fuels,” said McMaster in his proclamation, “but it is also a key tool in managing and maintaining the ecological integrity of South Carolina’s woodlands, grasslands, agricultural areas and wildlife habitats.”

Darryl Jones, SCFC Forest Protection Chief, said about 500,000 acres are prescribed-burned every year in South Carolina – most of them on private land – but at least 1 million acres should be burned annually.

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Prescribed fire does not remove all risk of wildfires from a forest, but the chances of major damage are greatly reduced. The need for caution with fire at all times remains. As does the need for awareness of weather and what it means for the risk of blazes – and other severe conditions.

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Reducing fire risk as important as awareness of fire dangers

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If you feel like you've seen new businesses popping up everywhere, you're not wrong.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you feel like you've seen new businesses popping up everywhere, you're not wrong. The US Chamber of Commerce said Richland County is among the top 3 percent of counties in the country for starting a business.

Last year more than 1,500 businesses registered with the South Carolina Department of Revenue. According to the Secretary of State, that's a fraction of the record-breaking numbers in South Carolina.

‘Throwback Outpost,’ a consignment shop in Forest Acres, is part of this boom. The shop opened on Beltline Boulevard in January.

“Opening your business should just be a matter of the anxiety of you personally opening a business," owner Bryan Kerouac said.

Kerouac said in Richland County, the process to open his shop was painless.

“You went to the city, the City of Forest Acres, they said here’s what we need, here’s what we need for inspections," Kerouac said. "You draw the plans out. Here’s what you need for the business license and all of that. They spelled everything out for you."

According to South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond, during the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the state broke records for the number of business filings.

“The last two years, the Secretary of State’s office has received number of business filings," Hammond said. "Last year, we received close to 100,000 business filings.”

Hammond said this due, in part, to access to resources.

“Because of our online filing, we actually broke a record during COVID. We attribute that to the fact that we were able to set up remotely and have the paperwork process," Hammond said. "90% of our filings during that time were online."

David Grillo owns Boca Grande Burritos. He’s a first-time business owner, and he said this process put his fears aside.

“I had never done it before, so it was pretty new to me," Grillo said. "It wasn’t difficult at all. It was very simple. It was a lot simpler and less painless than I thought it would."

Hammond adds that the office also accepts paper applications for businesses.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - The City of Columbia approved five projects dealing with water and sewer infrastructure problems during a council meeting on Tuesday.

Columbia city council granted Columbia Water to spend $2,066,187 for critical upgrades and continuing projects following inclement weather damage in December.

“Over the three days; Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day following Christmas, we accumulated a volume of work orders that’s roughly equivalent to an entire month,” said Clint Shealy, Assistant City Manager for Columbia Water.

Shealy said last year’s deep freeze challenged Columbia Water as well as its customers. The utility service was forced to exhaust funding towards three private contractors to fulfill work orders in a timely manner.

Come this week, the city council approved the utility service’s request to continue those relationships in the form of Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDC).

“The City of Columbia, like all other employers, is having a time with getting employees. And we are using these three companies to augment the staff we have on duty,” said Councilman Howard Duvall.

Duvall believes the approved finances will stimulate the local economy as every penny is intended for the IDCs. He told WIS that all three contractors were local.

“I think in any business, you want to have an appropriate staff [so] that you can respond to the day-to-day activities that need to happen. And when there’s a surge of extra work, you use things like private contractors to supplement your team to get that work done,” said Shealy.

In addition to daily repairs across the 2,500-mile piping system, Shealy said capital projects could include the Rosewood-South Kilbourne Area, Shandon Neighborhood, Town of Irmo, and Forest Acres, to name a few.

Concurrently, Columbia Water is preparing to upsize the Mill Creek Wastewater Pump Station off Interstate 77 to meet industrial growth in that area.

The utility service is also slated to improve the water system on Rimer Pond Rd. and Hard Scrabble Rd. to support industrial and residential growth in the northeast portion of their collection system.

Money will additionally go towards ongoing chemical water tests as Columbia Water is anticipating regulatory proposals for polyfluorinated substances, or forever chemicals, in the not-too-distant future.

“It’s money that we’ve already budgeted. So, it’s in our operating budget for this year to do that. It was contemplated, about this time last year, to spend $2.5 million over the course of the fiscal year to be able to respond,” concluded Shealy.

Shealy told WIS he hopes Columbia Water will stay in-budget for the remainder of this fiscal year which ends June 30 and anticipates no rate hike for customers.

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Multiple restaurants, retail businesses are opening or have opened recently in the city next door to Columbia

Credit: Poogan's Southern Kitchen

FOREST ACRES, S.C. — The City of Forest Acres is booming with new businesses. The city has become a boom town of sorts for dining and specialty retailers in the past few months.

With all of the comings -- and a closing or two -- here is a roundup of what's recently opened and what's opening soon:

Zoe’s at 4855 Forest Drive is closing and will reopen as CAVA, a fast-casual restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine. The CAVA company bought Zoe's and is slowly converting restaurants in the chain. CAVA's menu items include build-your-own salads, bowls, pitas, and RightRice (a high protein, high fiber grain made of 90% vegetables) dishes. Meat choices include lamb, chicken, and beef, and vegetarian options include falafel and roasted vegetables.

The venerable Trenholm Plaza is getting HomeGoods and Sephora stores in the former Stein Mart location. That space was divided into three retail areas. After HomeGoods, a sister company to T.J. Maxx and Marshalls specializing in home furnishings, kitchenware, and accessories; and Sephora, a store offering skincare and beauty products, are established, a third retail space will be available for lease.

Legacy Martial Arts has opened a studio in Forest Park (Lowes Foods shopping center) at 4711 Forest Drive. This will be the fifth location in the Midlands area for the family-oriented martial arts studio. Classes begin at age 4 through adulthood.

Next door to Legacy is Waxing the City studio. Remove unwanted hair and get bikini-ready with one of the licensed estheticians.

Crumbl Cookies is opening a second Midlands location in Cardinal Crossing. The national chain cookie shop features a rotating menu of 4 to 5 different specialty flavors each week – think chocolate chip, raspberry cheesecake, lemon poppy seed, and caramel popcorn, for example.

Also in Cardinal Crossing, Ice Box Cryotherapy has opened. Ice Box specializes in whole body cryotherapy (exposure of the body to ultra-low temperatures, ranging from -200 degrees to -256 degrees Fahrenheit for three minutes) to reduce inflammation, improve circulation and relieve pain. Ice Box also offers compression therapy, red light therapy, and facial treatments. Thinking of multiple treatments? Memberships are available.

Molto Vino is a self-serve wine bar that occasionally hosts special dinners, classes, and events. The location in Cardinal Crossing is the second in the Columbia area.

Poogan’s Southern Kitchen has scheduled its grand opening for Monday, August 22, facing Forest Drive in Cardinal Crossing. The first Columbia location from the popular Charleston-based restaurant group will feature an outdoor dining space, a full bar, a state-of-the-art kitchen, and a private dining room for events. Poogan’s will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner – to-go and delivery will be available for brunch and dinner. The menu includes items such as chicken & waffles, shrimp & grits, pimento cheese fritters, and Poogan’s biscuit pot pie.

Duck Duck Goose, a children’s clothing store is opening next door to Be Beep A Toy Shop at 4525 Forest Dr.

Kudzu Bakery & Market has completed its expansion into a second storefront at 4600 Forest Drive and now sells an array of kitchen items in addition to freshly baked bread, pies and cookies, and freshly made sandwiches.

Finally, Lexington Medical Center has bought 5133 and 5143 Forest Drive. The hospital system plans to open a family practice and OB/GYN office. The two-story, 20,000-square-foot facility should open by end of 2023.

The ongoing interest is showing Forest Acres to be a desirable spot for retailers and the city is a one-stop destination for many shoppers. The city is also the only Midlands location for Trader Joe's grocery.

"Forest Acres continues to evolve, and quality of life remains a top priority for our city council," Mayor Frank Brunson said. "We were fortunate that our commitment to providing premier shopping and dining, clean and safe streets, and destination parks along tree-lined streets all resonated with home buyers in the recent real estate market."

One question that remains is the future of Richland Mall. Once the home of upscale fashion stores Bonwit Teller and Parisian, the two-story mall at the intersection of Forest Drive and Beltline Boulevard has been mostly vacant for the past 15 years. Belk and Barnes & Noble remain.

"While we are still early in the process of our goal to redevelop the Richland Mall, we can say we remain very hopeful," Brunson said of the mall. "The property owners are still under contract with a developer that has a proven track record. That developer is currently in the due diligence phase of the contract."

He added that there are still "a lot of pieces to this redevelopment puzzle" that will still need to fall into place.

"It is a project that city council counts among its chief priorities," the mayor added. "Seeing the property repurposed with quality and sustainable development is important to the citizens of Forest Acres and our greater region at large."

Lexington’s Main Street isn’t getting a beer garden, but it will soon have a wine bar and a spot to get both sushi and Southwestern food.

Following an announcement a couple months ago that the Forest Acres wine bar Molto Vino would take one of the three buildings at the corner of Church and West Main that were previously slated to become the Navy Yard beer garden, the Chronicle has learned that Takosushi, the popular regional chain that specializes in its two titular foods, is set to open in one of the two remaining buildings.

Takosushi will lease the red brick building furthest down West Main on the corner lot, likely utilizing the building’s glass garage doors to incorporate an outdoor bar, co-owner James Williams told the Chronicle.

He said the Lexington location will be a full-service Takosushi, and the hope is to be open this summer.

“We’re super excited to be there in Lexington,” Williams said, adding that the area is booming.

He specifically noted being across the street from the town’s increasingly bustling Icehouse Amphitheater as being advantageous.

“We love what Lexington has done in terms of activating the Main Street space and really creating a good event atmosphere and really drawing people down there,” he said. “And so we expect it to continue to grow and we’re excited to be part of that growth.”

The revelation that Takosushi will come to downtown follows quickly on the heels of the announcement that Barrio Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey will take the restaurant space in Icehouse on Main, the in-progress private building that is the last piece of the Icehouse Project centered on the amphitheater.

“We don't see it as competition,” Williams said. “We want to be in an area with lots of good food options where people are coming for lunch and for dinner.”

Though it ultimately canceled plans to open downtown, the Navy Yard beer garden beat back a legal challenge to its beer and wine license brought by the neighboring St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church. Williams emphasized that his business has already reached out to the church, saying they’re “good friends with them and really excited to be their neighbor.”

“Regardless of where we’re opening a restaurant, that’s always something that’s incredibly important to us,” Williams said of establishing good relationships with those around the restaurant.

Takosushi, which vacated a previous downtown Columbia location in 2019, reopened on Columbia’s Main Street in 2022, and Williams said that seeing Lexington business lunch-ers frequent that location suggested a location in their town could do well.

He added that the chain is mulling a third Midlands location, and the restaurant’s website lists outposts in Forest Acres and Lexington as coming soon. The chain currently has locations in Aiken and Greenville, along with Georgia locations in Evans and Augusta.