5 Charleston mayoral candidates outline climate action plans | SC ... - Charleston Post Courier

5 Charleston mayoral candidates outline climate action plans | SC Climate and Environment News | postandcourier.com

Five of the Charleston mayoral candidates outlined their plans to protect the city against climate change and rising water threats at an Oct. 12 forum co-hosted by several local environmental and civic engagement groups.

Those who participated included: Mika Gadsden, Clay Middleton, Peter Shahid, William Cogswell and incumbent John Tecklenburg. Debra Gammons did not attend.

Mika Gadsden

Charleston mayoral candidate Mika Gadsden. Ruta Smith/Provided

Gadsden, a community activist, co-chairs the nonprofit Friends of Gadsden Creek. She places an emphasis on the role of "green" infrastructure in mitigating flooding and climate change. Green infrastructure uses organic elements like vegetation to reduce the effects of climate change. She said it's critical for the city to protect the green spaces it still has, while re-wilding certain "gray" infrastructure like parking lots.

"The good thing about green infrastructure is it has a regenerative quality, so it gets better as time goes on," she said.

She supports bolstering access to public transportation and creating more protected intersections for cyclists and pedestrians to move the city away from car-dependent infrastructure.

On strengthening building codes, Gadsden contends the city, and specifically the Board of Architectural Review, creates barriers to building more resilient and energy-efficient infrastructure. The BAR is tasked with preserving and protecting Charleston's historically and architecturally significant buildings within historic districts.

"From what I'm hearing anecdotally, it's really difficult for folks to embrace more sustainable solutions for their homes and their businesses," she said. "We have to make sure that we relax regulations."

Clay Middleton

Charleston mayoral candidate Clay Middleton. Provided

Middleton is a former aide to U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and previously led Charleston's Office of Business Services. He advocates for establishing new building standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would apply to both private and public buildings. He said the city should reject new developments which fail to meet those criteria.

"We don't have to say 'yes' to every development," he said. "We want to work with developers that want to do well and do good at the same time."

Middleton also wants to move Charleston away from its car-dependence by creating "10-minute communities" where residents are a 10-minute walk from school, work, groceries and other essential services. As mayor, he'd also establish a "clean energy and environmental justice council" which he said would provide the city with technical and social expertise to navigate the threat of climate change. Middleton also supports partnering with local nonprofits and the private sector to preserve local green spaces and wetlands.

He'd like to bolster the city's climate resilience by partnering with the federal government through grant programs and initiatives like the White House's Justice40, which aims to provide aid to historically disadvantaged communities that have been disproportionately impacted by climate change.

Peter Shahid

Charleston City Councilman and mayoral candidate Peter Shahid. Mahmood Fazal/Provided

Shahid has represented part of northeast West Ashley on City Council since 2016. Like Gadsden, Shahid said city zoning policies can hamstring energy efficiency measures. He advocated for re-assessing zoning laws to make it easier for property owners to install energy-conserving technology and infrastructure.

"I look around my neighborhood in West Ashley, and I see solar panels on some houses. But a good number of neighborhoods have restrictions about the ability to install those types of panels," he said. "So one of the things we do is look at some of the restrictions and remove some of the restrictions and eliminate some of that red tape."

Shahid pointed to Charleston's past as a walkable city, and said he'd like to see a return to denser neighborhood planning to reduce car dependency. He supports more bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly alternatives to driving. He promoted his support for a 2018 ban on some single-use plastics and said the city should look for similar small steps it can take to reduce pollution in local marshes and water bodies.

William Cogswell

William Cogswell will be on the ballot for mayor of Charleston in November. Provided

Cogswell is a real estate developer and a former Republican state representative for the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula and portions of Mount Pleasant. Many of Cogswell's climate recommendations focus on energy efficiency and resilience in building design. He supports green infrastructure projects, and has included them in prior projects. He added that it's important that the city doesn't bite off more than it can chew.

"I believe green infrastructure is a critical component to how we grow as a city," he said. "But it's pretty essential that it's also maintained. Time and time again we have projects that are well-intended, but if they're not properly maintained, they can actually add to the problem."

Cogswell said Charleston needs talented workers to do that and he'd establish relationships with local technical schools to help train a new climate change workforce. He said Charleston should band together with other South Carolina municipalities to lobby the legislature for more help to establish clean infrastructure. Cogswell supports expanding public transportation, and highlighted his prior work planning and creating a "transit-oriented development" — the redevelopment of the former Navy hospital on Rivers Avenue.

John Tecklenburg

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg. Provided

Tecklenburg, the incumbent mayor, has led the city since 2016. He spent much of the forum highlighting the clean energy and climate resilience efforts the city has undertaken since he took office, from passing a climate action plan to replacing street lights with LEDs. Most of his future resilience strategies entail doubling down on those efforts, many of which are ongoing.

Tecklenburg said he's in favor of tightening building codes and development guidelines to ensure energy efficiency, although he noted state and federal policies limit how tight the city can make those. He's in favor of partnering with local businesses and manufacturers to build out the city's clean energy infrastructure.

"I've advocated for opening up the leases for offshore wind power," he said. "We need to continue to promote that and advocate for it."

On preservation, Tecklenburg said the city is already tracking marsh migration across the region, and a forthcoming rewrite of Charleston's zoning code will be aimed at not hindering the natural movement of those wetlands.