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According to the city manager, the Avenues in Cayce is prone to flooding but now state money could fill in the gap.

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CAYCE, S.C. — The City of Cayce has received funding that it says will go towards drainage issues that have annoyed residents for years.

In Wednesday's City Council meeting, two major moves were made to address a growing issue with drainage and flooding.- a check worth $10 million was given to Cayce from the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority, and the council approved professional engineering services for the second phase of the Cayce Avenues drainage improvement project.

Tracy Hegler is the city manager and says the money is a huge leg-up for getting the work done. She adds that part of the city is prone to flood, especially from storm water.

'It's just an older neighborhood that was built before we knew how to design storm water management, it's not uncommon, it happens everywhere," she says.

She explains additional funding will also come from the state transportation department making the total cost of the grant $11 million. She adds the drainage project is broken into three phases, with the second phase and will focus on drainage close to the river along Indago and Karlaney streets

"It's going to be either new pipes, bigger pipes, new culverts, upsized culverts, just to capture that flow in a more efficient manner than exists today," Hegler says.

That might not be the only change coming to Cayce's infrastructure.

RELATED: Cayce residents say erosion is causing a 'canyon', taking over properties

In Wednesday's meeting, Dara Brown a community health coordinator with Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center provided a presentation on a possible walking and biking loop that would run through Cayce.

"So our vision of the loop is to connect Steel Hands and Savage Craft breweries. So starting from Foreman Street with Steel Hands and going up Frank and across State streets towards Savage Craft and then down meeting street in West Columbia, turning left onto Twelfth Street and following Twelfth Street all the way into Cayce." Brown explains.

She says the color is to connect disadvantaged communities, especially communities of color, and additionally provide a safe place for people to walk and shop in the area. The idea is receiving verbal support from the council according to Mayor Elise Partin. She says the project could be a huge help to the local economy.

"We have so many great small businesses but there's space for more and adding in safe ways to bike and to walk we know will actually help to bring more business," she claims.

Brown says the next step is to host some audit walks, where city leaders and the community will come out and survey the proposed improvements, and says she is working to secure grant funding and garner more support from the community.

Residents of Cayce tell us they're excited about both projects, including Randall Clamb. He's an Avenues resident and sees a walking corridor as a safe alternative for his dog walks.

"When you're driving on the street you're thinking about getting over, so if there were sidewalks to walk on, it would just be a lot safer," he says.

He adds additional help with flooding will also be huge for the neighborhood.

"I think it's time to take care of a problem that has plagued us for a long time," Clamb says.

The ‘canyon’ was once a small stream that carried water from a drainage pipe, but now it’s a ravine that residents say their yards are slowly falling into.

CAYCE, S.C. — A handful of Cayce residents say erosion has ruined their yards and made it impossible to sell their houses, thanks to a creek they call ‘Cayce Canyon.' The residents want the City of Cayce to intervene.

“We are tired of being a hostage of Cayce,” said resident Karen Dawkins.

Dawkins has lived in the avenues of Cayce for thirty years. Her yard backs up to the riverwalk and right behind her fence is ‘Cayce Canyon.'

“Property values have decreased steadily,” Dawkins said. “Making it not feasible to sell our homes at the same time with the damage that continues to be done.”

The ‘canyon’ was once a small stream that carried water from a drainage pipe, but now it’s a deep ravine that residents say their yards are slowly falling into.

“We have lost one telephone pole already,” Dawkins said. “We've lost our fences. Our property has been deemed unsafe from the midpoint to what's now the bank.”

What used to be a flat back yard has become a steep hill, and now her house’s foundation is cracking. American Engineering Consultants review found that development in the area caused increased stormwater flow, and the ditch is significantly over capacity.

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Dawkins has reached out to everyone she can think of for help.

“The first thing we did was contact our city leaders,” Dawkins said. “Our city leaders told us that they were not solely responsible, that they even did a water study back in 2016 and found that the water coming onto the city's property comes from different entities.”

City officials say they are aware of the issue. "We're constantly looking for funding, whether it's via grants or talking to our state representatives or federal representatives, to help tackle this project,” Cayce City Manager Tracy Hegler said.

The City of Cayce recently received a $10 million rural infrastructure grant. The money’s from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and it’s going towards drainage issues in the Avenues. Hegler says a portion of this money is going to what residents call the ‘Cayce Canyon.'

“There'll be a little bit more on what we're calling the indigo basin, where we've started our work already,” Hegler said. “Some of our citizens are already seeing the great impact of that, and it will address what's kind of the next outfall in the Avenues drainage area, which is the Naples basin, and so we will be able to, we will be, we will be working on that.”

For residents, it may be the end of a decades-long issue.

“Cayce’s motto is 'Time for Life.'" We've been waiting over 20 years for ours,” Dawkins said.

Residents may see improvements soon, as the City of Cayce says the grant money must be spent in the next two years.

The City of Cayce is making efforts toward preserving historic Black cemeteries.

CAYCE, S.C. — For more than a year now, the City of Cayce has been working on preserving the final resting places of founding members of the community, and specifically people from the Black community.

City Grant Manager Taylor Gray applied for a Federal Historic Preservation Grant to conduct a survey of local African-American Cemeteries. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History awarded the city $15,000, and the city has matched the funds to make the funding $30,000 for the project.

Stantec, an engineering company in Columbia, was contracted for the project and gave a 20-minute presentation on Tuesday about what they found in surveying several plots of land with marked and unmarked graves. Kimberly Hinder with Stantec gave the presentation and explained the findings.

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"In summary, we identified seven African American cemeteries and four that may have had some African American burials within the city limits. We're recommending ground-penetrating radar for most of the sites in order to determine the number of burials and boundaries for the cemeteries," Hinder explained.

The company plans to continue researching each cemetery location they have looked at and hopefully have the community point them toward more graves. According to Cayce Cayce Museum Curator Andy Thomas, there is no timeline for the preservations project just yet.

"I think it's going to be a long term, and then as far as preservation, that's long-term. What are you going to put into it, your resources, and what you're going to put into it," Thomas said.

Chicora, a local cemetery preservation foundation, is not involved with this particular project but their director, Michael Trinkley, says preservation and restoration done right, should take time.

"Finding the cemeteries is certainly a great first step, but the second step needs to be, 'What are we going to do with them?'. Too often, people think once you record the stones... you've got all the information you need... Cemeteries are sacred, protected spaces under South Carolina law... so there's a lot more to the preservation of cemeteries, than just finding them. Usually, however complex and time-consuming finding them is, coming up with what you're going to do with them... is even more extensive," Trinkley said.

69-year-old Anthony Weston took time after the Tuesday night presentation to walk through the Saint Anne Cemetery behind City Hall, where generations of his family have been buried. Weston says he and his family are thrilled that more effort will be taken toward preserving Black history in Cayce.

"I'm glad they're doing this because you go into the museum and it looks like no Black people were ever in Cayce," Weston said.

To share information with Stantec on any unmarked graves in Cayce, contact Kimberly Hinder by email at Kimberly.Hinder@stantec.com or call at (813) 367-0969.

The Bee is almost ready to buzz.

Little Bee Bun Mee, a new restaurant that will specialize Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and more, announced Monday that it will officially open at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 11. It is located at 904 Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce.

The banh mi restaurant is the latest effort from owners Chris and Noi Souvanna, who have operated Duke’s Pad Thai restaurant in Cayce for the last several years. Little Bee Bun Mee is located right next door to Duke’s, and the owners said there will be an “open dining concept” between the two restaurants, where customers can choose from cuisine from either establishment in the same building.

“We wanted to continue to add more cultural dining to Cayce through one of our favorite dishes, banh mi sandwiches,” Noi Souvanna said in a statement. “The last few years have been a whirlwind, surviving a pandemic, raising two boys and running a successful business; we all just felt like busy bees which led us to naming Little Bee. Our passion for fast-casual food fuels the other busy bees out there to have a family-made meal and get on their way to their busy lives.”

Little Bee Bun Mee will focus on banh mi sandwiches, a type of Vietnamese sandwich typically built on a baguette. The sandwiches have continued to gain popularity in the U.S. in recent years. Little Bee also will have sushi, tacos, tea fusion drinks, poke bowls and more.

While it officially opens July 11, Little Bee has quietly had some soft opening activities recently, which the restaurant referred to on social media as “testing recipes” and “finalizing the menu.” A reporter from The State stopped in during one of the soft opening moments and tried the bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich, which came with Korean-style marinated beef, cilantro, cheese, Kimchi sauce and spicy mayo.

Little Bee has been long-awaited in Cayce. A sign touting the restaurant has been up on the building since last year, along with a neon, play-on-words sign in the window that implores customers to “Show Us Your Bunz.”

Banh mi seems to be having a moment in the Columbia area. Aside from Little Bee Bun Mee, two other banh mi restaurants — Banh Mi Boys in the Olympia neighborhood and Paris Banh Mi in northeast Columbia — have plans to open.

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 19 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of numerous South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, election coverage, social media and more.

Residents like Nancy Drew and Jessica Johnston say they're increasingly worried about city events that allow both alcohol and kids.

CAYCE, S.C. — Cayce’s annual Fall Fest is coming up next month. Some residents say the event promotes alcohol use, despite being called ‘family friendly.'

“It's a very critical societal issue,” said Nancy Drew. “But people don't want to see it that way.”

Drew is a long-time Cayce resident. She’s frustrated and disappointed with city events being called family friendly when alcohol is allowed.

“Hearing public relations people saying ‘go to the Christmas parade and then stop back by for a nightcap' ... that's cringe worthy,” Drew said. “And I've been going to Christmas parades for 70 years. And until this last year, I never saw a beer truck at a Christmas parade. This is outlandish."

Drew isn’t the only one with concerns.

“Seeing some of the city post, with their partnerships, information at the events and in the events post, you know, it will list out or say hey, you know, there'll be drinks and then you can actually see the vendors,” said Jessica Johnston.

Residents like Johnston say they’re worried Cayce is normalizing drinking. Scared of seeing more auto accidents, they say more kids are exposed to alcohol and more parents that encourage drinking.

“While people can go and drink, their that's their prerogative, when your law enforcement is connected, it becomes an optic that can appear to be like permission and create a culture, I think, that says it's okay,” Johnston said.

“Just like they imitate mommy cooking in the kitchen, they will go home and imitate mommy and daddy having a beer,” Drew said. “That's the norm, create the norm…where's the courage to say no going to come from?”

The City of Cayce declined an interview, but gave News19 a statement about the concerns.

It says, in part: “The beverages are offered, not required; and are handled by professionals… The City is not promoting drinking, like a wine walk, but offered as a supplement to an existing event because some of our participants enjoy having a drink while at the event.”

“We find this line of questioning particularly judgmental - from a couple people who are overly non-participative and unsupportive of City initiatives and who only wish to be disruptive of positive gatherings that promote connectedness and inclusivity.”

Cayce is not the only city in the Midlands to host events that involve alcohol, with neighboring West Columbia, Lexington and Columbia all having at least one event where alcohol is sold.