Raising of low battery wall in downtown Charleston expected to start in January

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Charleston City Council unanimously approved the contract that funds nearly $11 million to raise a section of the Low Battery wall on Wednesday.

“That structure’s starting to have issues, it’s going to be a problem,” said Matthew Fountain, Director of Stormwater Management for the City of Charleston. Fountain says hurricanes have damaged parts of the wall. Funding would repair the damage, and also raise it to the same height as the high battery, which officials hope would help alleviate flooding in the area.

Funding for Phase 1 of the project would raise around 1,000 feet of the wall between Tradd Street and Ashley Boulevard. The work is expected to start in early 2020 and take about one year to complete. At that point, city council hopes to have secured funding to continue raising the low battery wall, a project that is expected to cost $64 million in total, Fountain said.

“We know we have to do something to repair it otherwise we’re going to be spending millions of dollars every few years to try to repair the existing structure,” Fountain said.

“It’s unfortunate that it has taken so long to get to this point,” said Jason Crowley of the Coastal Conservation League. “If that sea wall were to crumble, you put lives at risk, you put infrastructure at risk, and you destroy the goose that laid the golden egg.”

Officials say the low battery wall is 110 years old.

“If it’s only one step out of many that has to be done to secure this area I think I think it’s well worth it,” said Debbie Chottnier, who supports raising the battery wall.

She says she appreciates the beauty of the battery and supports any measures to protect the area from potential rising sea levels.

“There’s so much history. It would be absolutely heartbreaking to see it lost,” she said.

Work to raise the wall is expected to start in January.