Greenwood County Council approves boat ramp contract
With his hand laid atop his father’s Bible, Dayne Pruitt was sworn in Tuesday evening as Greenwood County Council’s latest elected representative for District 5.
Pruitt’s wife, Traci, held the Bible ahead of the day’s County Council meeting as Greenwood County Chief Magistrate Judge Ryan Johnson swore him in.
“As you all know, Dayne follows one prince of a fellow, Mr. Steve Brown. We still miss him and we grieve over his passing,” Council Chairperson Chuck Moates said. “Dayne is here now to open a new chapter in this endeavor, and to serve the people of the fifth district. We all on council look forward to working with him and supporting him, as together we serve all the citizens of Greenwood County.”
On his first day as a sworn council member, Pruitt had the chance to vote in a matter directly affecting his district — approving the contract for a new boat ramp on U.S. Highway 221.
“It’s always humbling and it’s an honor for your constituents to elect you to any office, at any level,” Pruitt said. “I’ve been on the school board level and now county council, and it never gets old to acknowledge that.”
At its previous meeting, county council postponed voting on approving a contract with MAR Construction for a new boat ramp at the Highway 72/221 bridge. The new ramp, which will include a restroom facility, pavilion and additional recreation areas, was approved with the Capital Project Sales Tax.
The vote was postponed to Tuesday to allow the new council member from District 5 to vote on the matter.
“Two weeks ago we were about $112,000 short for the contract,” CPST Coordinator Josh Skinner told council. “Yesterday we got some good news from the legislative delegation, which funded that additional money plus a little bit for contingency.”
Those dollars came from a state Department of Natural Resources fund earmarked for Greenwood County. Skinner and other county officials met with the Greenwood County Legislative Delegation on Monday to request about $203,000 — the needed $112,000 plus enough funds for a 5% contingency on the project’s cost. The delegation awarded these funds from two funds provided by DNR to Greenwood County.
The Capital Project Sales Tax funded about $720,000 of this project, a DNR grant covered more than $682,000 and the state appropriated $300,000 for the boat ramp and facilities. Council unanimously approved the contract Tuesday, and Skinner said groundbreaking is expected later this month. Construction is expected to be complete in late July.
“I felt like this is a much-needed request, additional recreational space for the boat ramp and especially new restroom facilities,” Pruitt said.
Council also approved a resolution allowing the county to transfer the new funds coming in for the boat ramp project to the Capital Project Sales Tax Fund.
County council voted on two rezoning requests — one that will let a woman build a home and another allowing a longtime business owner to sell his convenience store.
Mattie Roberson, the owner of 121 Cannon Road, requested 1.95 acres of her property to be rezoned from single-family residential to agricultural zoning. She said she lives in a rental home, but had contacted Clayton Homes and set up to have a manufactured home put on the property.
“I bought that land to move here and live in Greenwood,” she told council.
She ran into an issue — R-1 zoning does not allow building manufactured homes. Roberson requested a rezoning to AG-1, but the Greenwood City/County Planning Commission recommended denying the request.
Planning Director Phil Lindler said AG-1 allows for manufactured homes on lots of 7,500 square feet, but clarified that AG-3 zoning would allow a manufactured home while prohibiting any use of that land for a mobile or manufactured home park. After amending the ordinance to adjust from AG-1 to AG-3, council unanimously approved second reading of Roberson’s request.
The other zoning change was of the 0.38 acres that Promised Land Grocery sits on. The request came from Thomas Hughes on behalf of the convenience store’s owner, Willie J. Thomas Jr.
Thomas wants to sell the store, which has been in operation for about 50 years. He wants to keep the back portion of his property to incorporate it into his home. He requested the land at 3704 McCormick Highway be rezoned from Rural Development District to Neighborhood Commercial. The rezoning ordinance passed unanimously.
Council also approved appointments of members to several commissions and boards. City Council member Betty Boles, County Council member Melissa Spencer and former Greenwood Mayor Welborn Adams were all re-appointed to the GLAMNS Commission. Tony Booth was reappointed to the Locksley Hall special tax district commission, and Kym Kirby was appointed to it for the first time.
Steve Coleman, director of Project Genesis at Piedmont Technical College and head of MODELS Academy, was appointed to the Joint Board of Zoning Appeals. The BZA has the final say in appeals over alleged errors in handling an order, requirement or decision, among other responsibilities.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Jan 5, 2022
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com
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