BRADLEY — A plethora of pennies can help a community take some big steps forward.
Promised Land residents came out and took quite a few of those literal steps this past weekend during the grand opening of a walking track that surrounds the ballfields behind the old schoolhouse.
It was a celebration of a dream realized in this tight-knit Greenwood County community along McCormick Highway in Bradley.
In 2016, Greenwood County voters approved a one-penny capital project sales tax initiative that eventually would fund the $66,326 for the track’s construction.
The pedestrian trail is 1,340 feet. Four laps is about a mile. The track will be used for health and fitness, particularly for seniors, the application for funding said.
Promised Land Community Association President Jan Williams applied for the grant. It is the first time CPST funds have been used for a project in Promised Land.
“To have this track in the community is a vital part of the community, being that persons can walk here and not have to go to Greenwood for health reasons and to just get a breath of fresh air,” Williams said.
Greenwood County Council member Edith Childs was joined by state Rep. Anne Parks, Mary Woodiwiss of the Greenwood County Community Foundation, and Rick Green from Upper Savannah Council of Governments. They each spoke, with Childs noting that Williams worked hard to obtain the grant.
Williams said the ballfields will serve as a staging ground for future community events, and the track will be a big plus.
“While there are activities in the field, hopefully there are persons who would walk around the track,” Williams said. “As a community association, we’re trying to get more people involved in doing things, and, hopefully, by us initiating activities, more people will get involved in the community.”
Williams said she thinks a lot of people in Promised Land will use the track.
Resident Pamela Austin said a lot of people in the community want to exercise but can’t get to Uptown Greenwood to walk.
“By having this here in the neighborhood, it’s making it more accessible for those that want to but can’t get to the other places,” she said.
Austin said the track is a start of returning Promised Land to what it used to be years ago.
“We would all come together, no matter what the occasion was, just to come out and fellowship and have a good time with each other,” she said. “When I was growing up as a child, we would have summer events out here under the supervision of adults. On top of that, on the weekends, when it was warm, we’d have the baseball games. It was just a part of a big community gathering.”
Community resident Douglas Norman has been in Promised Land for more than 60 years. He calls the area where the track is located his former “running ground.” He went to the former Promised Land school, which is in front of the track, from first through fourth grade. He played baseball on the ballfields when he was growing up.
“I’ve got a lot of memories here, and this is definitely an upgrade,” Norman said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the community. It’s been a long time coming, and we need that. This just brings the community back together like we used to be. We all care about each other, and we all know each other.”
Resident Jeanette Austin said the track means a lot to her because there is too much traffic for her to walk where she lives in the community.
“Having a designated place where you know where you don’t have to worry about traffic is a godsend to me,” Jeanette said. “I walk a lot.”
Jeanette said the track is especially a blessing for the many seniors who live in Promised Land.
“Having a place where seniors can walk will improve their health,” she said.
Resident Linda Hill said the track project is an example of “togetherness.”
“It means we’re trying to lay something for the adults, as well as the children,” Hill said. “We’re trying to bring together unity in the community so we can be as one. We’re trying to make the community better so everybody can be proud of it.”
Childs said the track is “so very important to this community.”
“All the years when we’ve had the capital campaign, this is the first time I’ve had something in the Promised Land community,” Childs said. “Not just that, but, this whole year we’ve been able to get things in District 1 that make me so proud. Troy got their walking trail. So proud. Promised Land got their walking trail. So proud. Then Foundry Road will soon get their park for their children. So happy. Then they will renovate Magnolia Park. All this came from our one-cent sales tax. I’m just so grateful. Today, I can see where my one cent has gone.”
Parks said God has blessed the community and allowed it to persevere through hard times.
“Sometimes when people start projects, they think it ought to be finished overnight,” Parks said. “It takes time. It takes dedication. It takes people working together to get things accomplished. I have seen that the Promised Land community can accomplish anything they want to.”
Woodiwiss works with grants processing through the community foundation.
“Unlike many grant applications, they (Promised Land) received funding on the very first attempt,” she said. “Often, smaller and newer nonprofits are not successful in their first pass. But this group was successful. That is particularly noteworthy because it was an especially competitive grant cycle. That really speaks to the good work that Jan and others did in putting that grant application together to request funding in support of this walking track.”
Green said it was “a special day for a very special community.”
“I’m very happy to see this track in place,” Green said. “I know we’ve got some plans for the future.”
Those plans include rubberizing the track surface.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Apr 25, 2022
By GREG K. DEAL gdeal@indexjournal.com
Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/the-right-track-promised-land-takes-step-forward-with-walking-path/article_bfa97393-987e-59ec-8f54-0d1a6b877f7d.html
Public meetings
/in Index-JournalTUESDAY
LANDER UNIVERSITY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: F. Mitchell Johnson board room
AGENDA: Approval of minutes; President’s Report; Committee Reports: Academic Affairs – Robert Barber (Action Items: Faculty Annual Review Process, Tenure and/or Promotion Review Timeline), Enrollment and Access Management – Holly Bracknell, Finance, Facilities and Audit/Governmental and Strategic Initiatives – Don Lloyd (Action Item: Special Tuition Rate Proposal); Institutional Advancement – Marcia Hydrick, Policy – Bob Sabalis (Action Item: Americans with Disabilities Act Policy), Student Affairs/Intercollegiate Athletics – Ray Hunt; Other business/announcements/reports: Bylaw Appendix – Bob Sabalis, Faculty Senate – Dr. Daniel Harrison, Staff Senate – Anissa Lawrence; Executive Session – Discussion of employment, compensation, promotion, demotion, discipline or release of an employee, a student or person regulated by Lander University.; Adjournment
GREENWOOD COUNTY COUNCIL
TIME: 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Greenwood County Library
AGENDA: Executive session at 4 p.m. Regular public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Presentations: 1. Proclamation recognizing National Correctional Officer and Employees Week at Leath Correctional Institution as May 2-6, 2022. Capital Projects Sales Tax quarterly update — Josh Skinner, CPST Coordinator. Public comment. Old business: Second reading: 1. Ordinance 2022-10 authorizing the execution and delivery of a Fee in Lieu of Tax Agreement by and between Greenwood County, South Carolina and Project River to provide for payments of fees in lieu of taxes and the issuance of certain infrastructure credits, the conveyance of certain real property to Project River, the inclusion of the subject property in a multi-county industrial park, and other related matters. – James Bateman, Economic Development Director. New business: A. Consideration of the appointment of special tax district commissioner for the following subdivisions- Canterbury, Trey Jenkins. B. Approval of revisions to Greenwood County policy 5.6, travel policy C. Resolution 2022-15 to amend the FY22 budget for the purchase of sheriff’s department vehicles and equipment awarded through a S.C. Department of Public Safety grant for school resource officers. D. Resolution 2022-16 to amend the FY22 budget for allocation of surplus funds and expenditure of needed capital expenditures. E. First readings: 1. Ordinance 2022-11 dissolving Northfall Acres as a special tax district. 2. Ordinance 2022-12 to amend the Greenwood County Zoning Ordinance, being ordinance 13-86, as and if amended, so that four parcels of land totaling approximately 2.94 acres, owned by Andrea Mitchell Terry, William Booker, Willie N. Norman Jr. and Tommy Foster located in Bradley, S.C., which changes zoning classifications from RDD to R-1.
WEDNESDAY
MCCORMICK COUNTY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP
TIME: 10 a.m.
LOCATION: 610 S. Mine St.
AGENDA: Budget workshop to discuss fiscal yea 22-23 budget.
THURSDAY
MCCORMICK COUNTY
PLANNING COMMISSION
TIME: 5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: 610 S. Mine St.
AGENDA: Old business: Zoning ordinance, comprehensive plan. Reports: County council report, economic development report. Next meeting: June 2, 2022 at the county administration center.
New restaurant is coming to Lake Greenwood
/in UncategorizedTwo Greenwood veterans are bringing a new restaurant to Lake Greenwood.
Taps at the Panorama will bring a veteran-owned craft beer venue to the lake, courtesy of Charles Thomas, Dave Donley and their families. Both veterans of the U.S. Armed Services, Thomas and Donley said while the finer details of the restaurant are not worked out, it’s going to be a veteran-themed restaurant with a laid-back atmosphere, outdoor seating and food to complement the brews.
“We’re all military people,” Thomas said. “We became friends over the years and we think it’s obvious: There’s a need on the south end of the lake.”
Taps will be located at the former site of the Panorama restaurant on the lake, along Ninety Six Highway near Seasons by the Lake. Donley said his hope is to make it a place where people can make memories and enjoy each other’s company.
“It’s great doing this with friends, we’ve had an absolute riot putting this together,” he said.
The new restaurant was among the announcements at Tuesday’s Life on the Lake Summit, Connect Lake Greenwood’s annual lake social and update on all things lake life. Jimmy Peden, CLG chairperson, said he was excited about the new restaurant alongside all the other developments coming.
CLG used to be a branch of the Greenwood S.C. Chamber of Commerce, but in January split off to become its own nonprofit serving all the counties connected by Lake Greenwood.
“We felt like we could be a neutral group with Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry,” Peden said. “We’re more than just events and the fireworks show at Lights on the Lake.”
CLG was a big proponent of the Lake Greenwood Master Plan, and since creating their first master plan in 2015 more than 50 projects detailed in the plan have been completed. These ranged from adding signage on the Highway 221/72 bridge and putting lights on the undersides of bridges to installing a lakeside walking trail at the state park.
Now the lake is ready for another master plan, and Peden said the county’s request for qualification is due soon, meaning a new master plan should be completed this year.
Aside from a campaign to make boaters aware of a new no-wake law passed earlier this year in South Carolina, Peden said CLG is working with partners throughout the lake community to facilitate economic development along Lake Greenwood’s waters while maintaining the lake’s natural beauty.
You can’t put the brakes on growth now, Peden said. People are snatching up lakeside real estate, and they’re looking to move to the area, start businesses and build.
“The secret is out,” he said.
Other guests gave updates on lake matters. Greenwood County Council member Dayne Pruitt assured lake lovers that he and other county officials have been working with Greenville-area officials to monitor the status of the Lake Conestee Dam. The dam, which is aged and was in poor condition, holds back toxic sediment that could flow down the Saluda River if the dam were to fail.
Greenwood County Sheriff Dennis Kelly showed off a new 23-foot patrol boat replacing a previous, older patrol boat. He said officers will be patrolling the lake’s waters during upcoming holiday weekends and popular lake events.
Josh Skinner, the county’s Capital Project Sales Tax coordinator, said through penny tax funds, state dollars and a Department of Natural Resources grant, the county has received about $810,000 for the boat ramps being installed at the Highway 72/221 bridge near Break on the Lake. He expects the work, which includes expanded parking by the ramps, an outdoor pavilion and a restroom facility, will be finished by late August.
Ware Shoals gets county update, looks toward sewer upgrades
/in Index-JournalWare Shoals officials were updated on recent county activities at their April town council meeting.
Council heard from Greenwood County Council member Theo Lane at the meeting April 19. Lane represents District 7, which includes the Town of Ware Shoals.
Lane said he used to write regular updates on county matters in the town’s newspaper, The Observer. Since the paper suspended publication in December 2020, he said he’s had to find other ways to update residents on county business, and took to speaking at council meetings.
He said he updated Ware Shoals’ council on the $65.5 million expansion of Symrise Pet Food at nearby 5300 U.S. Highway 25. He also shared an update from the county treasurer’s office on the increased revenues this past quarter from the Capital Project Sales Tax’s penny tax. The CPST is funding projects throughout the county, including sewer upgrades in Ware Shoals and a planned remodeling of Katherine Hall.
Lane also said he told council it would have a new building. The county owned a building behind the Larry Traynham Center, but Lane said he worked with the county manager to transfer ownership to the town.
Ware Shoals Mayor Scott Horne said council expected to hear from Laurens County DSS Director Darren Thames, but no representative from the agency showed up. Instead, council discussed an expiring lawn care contract and said the town will be taking over mowing the lawns that were previously handled by B&B Lawn Care.
Horne said council met in a closed-door executive session to talk about a contract with an engineering firm working on sewer upgrades near the Carnell bridge. Horne said council took no vote following the executive session, but said the project has been in the works for years and involves replacing aging sewer lines along the Saluda River.
The Capital Project Sales Tax includes an eventual $1.5 million for sewer infrastructure upgrades in Ware Shoals, although the town has been taking time to have its plans and designs reviewed. Horne said the company reviewing the sewer plans has not provided feedback, and he’s waiting for their review before moving any further.
The right track: Promised Land takes step forward with walking path
/in UncategorizedBRADLEY — A plethora of pennies can help a community take some big steps forward.
Promised Land residents came out and took quite a few of those literal steps this past weekend during the grand opening of a walking track that surrounds the ballfields behind the old schoolhouse.
It was a celebration of a dream realized in this tight-knit Greenwood County community along McCormick Highway in Bradley.
In 2016, Greenwood County voters approved a one-penny capital project sales tax initiative that eventually would fund the $66,326 for the track’s construction.
The pedestrian trail is 1,340 feet. Four laps is about a mile. The track will be used for health and fitness, particularly for seniors, the application for funding said.
Promised Land Community Association President Jan Williams applied for the grant. It is the first time CPST funds have been used for a project in Promised Land.
“To have this track in the community is a vital part of the community, being that persons can walk here and not have to go to Greenwood for health reasons and to just get a breath of fresh air,” Williams said.
Greenwood County Council member Edith Childs was joined by state Rep. Anne Parks, Mary Woodiwiss of the Greenwood County Community Foundation, and Rick Green from Upper Savannah Council of Governments. They each spoke, with Childs noting that Williams worked hard to obtain the grant.
Williams said the ballfields will serve as a staging ground for future community events, and the track will be a big plus.
“While there are activities in the field, hopefully there are persons who would walk around the track,” Williams said. “As a community association, we’re trying to get more people involved in doing things, and, hopefully, by us initiating activities, more people will get involved in the community.”
Williams said she thinks a lot of people in Promised Land will use the track.
Resident Pamela Austin said a lot of people in the community want to exercise but can’t get to Uptown Greenwood to walk.
“By having this here in the neighborhood, it’s making it more accessible for those that want to but can’t get to the other places,” she said.
Austin said the track is a start of returning Promised Land to what it used to be years ago.
“We would all come together, no matter what the occasion was, just to come out and fellowship and have a good time with each other,” she said. “When I was growing up as a child, we would have summer events out here under the supervision of adults. On top of that, on the weekends, when it was warm, we’d have the baseball games. It was just a part of a big community gathering.”
Community resident Douglas Norman has been in Promised Land for more than 60 years. He calls the area where the track is located his former “running ground.” He went to the former Promised Land school, which is in front of the track, from first through fourth grade. He played baseball on the ballfields when he was growing up.
“I’ve got a lot of memories here, and this is definitely an upgrade,” Norman said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the community. It’s been a long time coming, and we need that. This just brings the community back together like we used to be. We all care about each other, and we all know each other.”
Resident Jeanette Austin said the track means a lot to her because there is too much traffic for her to walk where she lives in the community.
“Having a designated place where you know where you don’t have to worry about traffic is a godsend to me,” Jeanette said. “I walk a lot.”
Jeanette said the track is especially a blessing for the many seniors who live in Promised Land.
“Having a place where seniors can walk will improve their health,” she said.
Resident Linda Hill said the track project is an example of “togetherness.”
“It means we’re trying to lay something for the adults, as well as the children,” Hill said. “We’re trying to bring together unity in the community so we can be as one. We’re trying to make the community better so everybody can be proud of it.”
Childs said the track is “so very important to this community.”
“All the years when we’ve had the capital campaign, this is the first time I’ve had something in the Promised Land community,” Childs said. “Not just that, but, this whole year we’ve been able to get things in District 1 that make me so proud. Troy got their walking trail. So proud. Promised Land got their walking trail. So proud. Then Foundry Road will soon get their park for their children. So happy. Then they will renovate Magnolia Park. All this came from our one-cent sales tax. I’m just so grateful. Today, I can see where my one cent has gone.”
Parks said God has blessed the community and allowed it to persevere through hard times.
“Sometimes when people start projects, they think it ought to be finished overnight,” Parks said. “It takes time. It takes dedication. It takes people working together to get things accomplished. I have seen that the Promised Land community can accomplish anything they want to.”
Woodiwiss works with grants processing through the community foundation.
“Unlike many grant applications, they (Promised Land) received funding on the very first attempt,” she said. “Often, smaller and newer nonprofits are not successful in their first pass. But this group was successful. That is particularly noteworthy because it was an especially competitive grant cycle. That really speaks to the good work that Jan and others did in putting that grant application together to request funding in support of this walking track.”
Green said it was “a special day for a very special community.”
“I’m very happy to see this track in place,” Green said. “I know we’ve got some plans for the future.”
Those plans include rubberizing the track surface.
Ninety Six gets update on park project, MRB consulting work
/in UncategorizedNinety Six will soon get help from a town native in handling matters throughout the town’s government.
Mayor Mike Rowe said the town contracted with MRB Group, an engineering and strategic planning firm based in Charleston, to help with issues ranging from reporting the spending of federal COVID-19 recovery funds to helping streamline ordinances and other town business.
Rowe said the town has worked with MRB group since January and has been in contact with MRB Senior Planning Associate Riccardo Giani, who town council heard an update from at Monday’s town council meeting. At the May 16 town council meeting, Ninety Six native Julie Wilkie will take Giani’s spot working with the town, Rowe said.
Wilkie, Greenwood’s city manager, is leaving her position in Greenwood’s government on May 6 to start working with MRB Group.
“MRB is a group we hired to do a lot of different things in town,” Rowe said. “They’ve helped with reporting our ARPA fund spending, they’ve also helped with economic development, taking stock of what’s available in town and talking with some residential developers.”
Rowe said MRB has helped the town government streamline some of its internal processes too, to cut down on errors and redundancy. Consultants have helped draft property maintenance ordinances, standardize internal forms and are taking a look at the depreciation of town vehicles and developing a schedule for when to replace them.
MRB has also helped some with the town’s 2020 financial audit, which was because of the state Treasurer’s office at the end of October. The most recent hold-up was a request by the auditing firm for a number of documents after auditors noticed inconsistencies among certain account balances and duplicate entries in the 2020 budget.
Rowe said Town Clerk Ketekash Crump-Lukie submitted the requested documents about three weeks ago, but he hasn’t heard back from their auditing firm. The audit has to be completed so the town can move on to the 2021 audit, which they have yet to start on, Rowe said.
At Monday’s council meeting, town officials also approved the first phase of the Capital Project Sales Tax improvements at the town park. Davis & Floyd engineering firm helped the town lower the cost of the project by making adjustments to the planned renovations.
“Anything we could do to try and trim a dollar here and there because what we found from the other park projects in this first phase, they came in over budget,” Rowe said.
The park upgrades were going to include a new gazebo and bathroom facilities, but instead, they are remodeling and expanding the existing gazebo. The park will have new handicap-accessible walking paths, playground equipment and a renovated and expanded bathroom.
In order to get the cost of the project down to its current predicted cost of about $372,000, they’ve cut new lighting around the park and electrical outlets. Rowe said they hope to have the renovations out for bid at the end of May.
SPF announces $65.5 million expansion in Greenwood County
/in UncategorizedSymrise Pet Food announced a $65.5 million expansion at Tuesday’s Greenwood County Council meeting — growth that will span the next three years and bring 65 jobs to the county.
Diana Pet Food opened its North American headquarters at 5300 U.S. Highway 25 in 2007, and since rebranded as SPF. The company specializes in making flavor enhancers for pet foods.
“Based on my experience in two years and talking and working with the team, we really wanted to make that investment here in Greenwood County,” said Tim Lonc, North American General Manager at SPF. “Along with that investment obviously goes commitments we’ve made in the community, commitments in academia and technology. We’ve invested quite a bit in the last nine or ten months making sure this is the right place for us.”
Lonc emphasized SPF’s partnerships with the Humane Society of Greenwood and investments into Grace Street Park, the United Way of the Lakelands and contributions to the Greenwood Promise and Piedmont Technical College’s industrial skills programs.
Emon Satterwhite, SPF’s North American director of operations, said that before this expansion, the company worked to respond to community concerns about the odor their manufacturing processes produce. In the past two years, the company installed a $2 million equalization tank to help remove solid waste from water being sent to Ware Shoals for treatment.
Satterwhite said the company will improve its gas extraction process to help remove odors, along with using a new chemical treatment for wastewater, along with expansions to their productive capacity.
“We started this process about a year ago, 14 months,” Lonc said. “We’ve gone through the approval process over the last nine months. … Our plan is to get that work done fairly quickly and start construction hopefully, if everything goes well as far as materials, in 2022.”
Lonc said he expects the expansion will be complete in 2025. Greenwood County Economic Development Director James Bateman said SPF’s expansion will double its investment at the Hodges facility so far. He said the company exceeded its investment commitment since 2007 by more than $40 million and 90 jobs.
Bateman said he and county officials toured a wastewater treatment facility in Cary, North Carolina that used a similar process as what’s coming to the Greenwood facility to mitigate its odors. Residents near the plant there had no complaints about the odor, and council member Theo Lane said when he visited the wastewater facility at that plant, there was no discernible odor.
Tami Baber, Hodges town clerk, read a statement by Mayor Michael George regarding the expansion. He said though he’s been active and vocal about his residents’ complaints of odors from the facility, the company was responsive with public meetings to discuss and learn how to address those complaints. He joined the trip to the North Carolina facility and said he was impressed by the odor abatement efforts there.
“I’m hopeful today that we are closer than ever to putting all of this in the past,” George wrote. “I eagerly anticipate the day I can speak to council about something other than odors in northern Greenwood County.”
For the past 15 years, SPF has been a close partner for Greenwood County, said council member Edith Childs. She was grateful for their continued investment in the area, as was Lane, who said council took seriously the public’s environmental and quality of life concerns.
Council voted 6-0, with council member Mark Allison absent because of illness, to approve a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement with SPF North America for this project. The FILOT agreement waives property taxes for the project for 30 years, replacing it with a fee. The agreement locks the expansion’s millage rate at 6% of the assessed value, and includes a 35% special source revenue credit for the first five years and a 25% credit for the next 10.
In addition to voting on final approval of this economic development project, county council took their first actions on another titled Project River. This project is set to bring $37.95 million in capital investment and 300 new jobs, from a Minnesota corporation that has yet to be publicly named. Council approved an inducement resolution allowing the county to move forward with a FILOT agreement with this company, and had first reading of the fee agreement ordinance.
In other matters, council voted to spend funds on a new trash compactor for the landfill and a camera system for the Greenwood County Detention Center.
County Treasurer Steffanie Dorn said council put aside $375,000 earlier in the year from special appropriations to eventually spend on a trash compactor, and she is now “extremely concerned” about the prices she’s seeing. She asked council to allow $500,000 from the landfill enterprise fund to go toward securing a new compactor, though she said she hoped it wouldn’t take all of that money.
Public Works Director Rob Russian said bids for a new compactor are due April 27, and the county needs to be able to act quickly to purchase one to ensure they don’t have to rely on a backup compactor, which is in need of repairs. Council voted unanimously to approve the funds.
Council also unanimously voted to use more than $272,000 in unspent salary and benefits funds from the county jail, along with $35,000 from a sheriff’s office fund, to buy a new camera system for the jail. The system would include 131 cameras for the jail, sheriff’s office and the perimeter of both buildings, and would provide better-quality images and coverage to view areas of the jail that are currently blind spots.
In other business:
Council passed an ordinance setting the hours for Stockman Park and the Wilbanks Sports Complex, closing those parks from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.
The Hodges-Cokesbury Fire Department earned the Fire Safe S.C. community designation, the only department in Greenwood County to earn the distinction.
Dorn said her staff is working to present a draft budget to council by the end of next week. She said fine revenues in court are back up after the COVID-19 pandemic slowed that income, and while hospitality tax income increased 13% this March over March 2021, accommodations tax income unexpectedly dropped 8% compared to the same period last year. She said Capital Project Sales Tax revenues were up this past quarter, and the tax is set to collect near 100% of its expected revenues.
District 50 board talks upcoming capital projects
/in UncategorizedGreenwood County School District 50 Board of Trustees on Saturday gave priority to a handful of school projects for next year.
The board met Saturday for a retreat to discuss a handful of topics, including upcoming projects.
The district estimates it will have $2 million for capital projects from its annual bond sale.
Four projects given priority for next year by the board total $1.8 million.
First priority would be an updated entrance at Emerald High School. Discussion around the item centered on safety. The estimated cost for that project is $1 million.
The other three projects are storage buildings at all schools, with a total estimate of $250,000; expansion of the Greenwood High cafeteria estimated at $350,000; and a new classroom at Hodges Elementary, estimated at $200,000.
Other items on the district’s capital projects list include press boxes and concessions at Emerald’s football and baseball fields, classroom wing and cafeteria at Mays Elementary, ticket booth at Emerald’s football field, fieldhouse and weight room at Greenwood High, turf on all other fields at both schools, maintenance shop and parking lot upgrades at the district office.
Another topic the board discussed was the potential for a new technology center.
“I think it’s time that we get serious about looking at the prospects of a new technology center,” said board member Clay Sprouse.
“I think it’s past due.”
Superintendent Steve Glenn said funding for the technology center is through the county, adding he has had discussions with County Council members and others.
Board members discussed possible use of the next round of the county’s Capital Projects Sales Tax, as well as the potential for partnering with Piedmont Technical College.
Sprouse said the current Russell Career and Technology Center building is outdated, and a new facility would help show the districts’ willingness to train the workforce when industries visit Greenwood County.
CPST rakes in $2.8 million in January; more projects are set to start
/in Index-JournalFrom the lake to the Bypass and from Hodges to Ninety Six, Greenwood County is seeing the power of a penny.
The Capital Project Sales Tax has raked in more than $44 million so far, with a $2.8 million check deposited in January from the penny sales tax’s earnings over three months near the end of 2021. County Treasurer Steffanie Dorn has projected that the tax will bring in $86.7 million over its lifespan — more than 98% of the original projected target of $87.9 million.
On Tuesday Greenwood County Council approved a final design draft for the Wilbanks Sports Complex. More than $9 million in CPST funds will go to renovating the sports facilities at the old Civic Center lot on Highway 72/221, with much of this year’s penny tax funds going toward this project.
Josh Skinner, CPST coordinator, said he met Thursday with officials to discuss how the county will bid the work at the Wilbanks center out. That same day, he toured the work done at the J.C. Fox Boozer Complex in Ninety Six, which has had its baseball fields graded and finished, along with much of the infrastructure and site work.
“All the walkways are in, the fences are up, the fields are in. I think all the parking lot is done,” Skinner said.
Constructions crews are working on a new concessions and restroom stand, and the county’s Ninety Six parks supervisor Tee Timmerman said he thinks the renovated fields will make for a more playable space for teams. An additional ball field also makes the park prime for tournaments.
“It’s going to be an awesome thing for the rec department here. This is the first big set of upgrades we’ve had here at the park since the beginning,” Timmerman said. “It’s just being able to show the kids and their families that the county knows how important it is they have quality fields to play on.”
Grace Street, Foundry and Magnolia parks are set to see upgrades too. The recent demolition of the decommissioned water treatment plant on the Bypass has made room for designers to start drafting a new park entrance and building for Grace Street Park, and the county is working with the city to ready the Foundry Road site for park construction. Greenway Construction has the bid for the work on Magnolia Park but will work on Hodges’ park first.
By Break on the Lake along Highway 72/221, crews have already sank the first half of a new boat ramp Skinner said could be ready to ease boats into the lake by early summer. Workers will make the ramp first, then turn toward paving the parking lot and building a pavilion and restroom facility.
“They’re racing the rising water level out there,” Skinner said.
The county has built fire stations, with the finished Miller Road station set to open March 12. Skinner said there’s two more to go: one on Highway 221, the other on Morgan Road in Hodges. In 2023, CPST funds will go toward an about $5 million multi-agency training center for firefighters, EMS and law personnel.
In Ninety Six, Davis & Floyd is working on designs for a drainage line that will run through the set-to-be-renovated town park, also being upgraded with CPST dollars. Construction should start on both projects just after this year’s Festival of Stars, Skinner said. Work is also underway on laying new water lines in Ninety Six to replace old galvanized pipes with PVC.
The next few years have a watershed study, the widening of Highway 246, phase two of the North Greenwood Industrial Park, renovation of Katherine Hall in Ware Shoals and upgrades to the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historic Site.
“All of that is an example of what we can do to enhance the quality of living in this county,” said County Council Chairperson Chuck Moates. “I think it’s able to provide things for this county that we would not be able to provide without significantly raising taxes.”
Council member Robbie Templeton said a portion of this tax revenue comes from shoppers from out of town.
“It’s painless, really, for our citizens,” he said. “What we get for that money far outweighs the costs.”
This is why Moates said it’s essential to soon start laying the framework for the next CPST campaign. Passing the 2016 CPST took setting up committees to explore and vet project applications and to build up public support for it, he said.
Templeton said there are some projects already in mind for another CPST if it were to pass. As building costs have increased through the coronavirus pandemic, he said some projects have had to be cut back for cost. A second CPST could give the chance to complete work that might be cut for cost in current projects.
“We cannot wait until ‘24-and-a-half to start trying to put this together,” Moates said. “It’s too critical and important a project — a need in our community, not to start sooner rather than later.”
Our View: Goals and wish lists worthy of exploration
/in Index-JournalGreenwood County Council members are up to some good.
People who are more than a tad wary and distrustful of governmental bodies will typically say the opposite, but news from Tuesday’s council meeting should be viewed in a more positive light.
There, they individually and collectively discussed goals and plans for the coming years — even with sights set on 2025.
We concur with Melissa Spencer who suggested council set a date for a retreat that would give them more opportunity to connect with each other beyond their regularly scheduled meetings and to have any necessary training.
Longtime member Edith Childs also set a goal dealing with training, only her goal was to see more county staff cross-trained on areas of responsibility. A good idea, especially in these current days when employees are increasingly harder to find or retain.
Also on Childs’ list of goals is an item that, unfortunately, has a bad reputation, largely because of a poor label assigned to it. While she did not use the term “defund the police,” Childs did say she thinks the county should consider hiring a mental health specialist who could assist first responders in deescalating certain situations.
As one of the county’s leading longtime proponents of neighborhood watches and Crimestoppers hotlines, Childs has also long been supportive of law enforcement’s efforts. She is not advocating to take money from law enforcement, but rather to have someone with a particular area of expertise that might net better results than, say, an officer responding to a situation. Definitely worth exploring.
Mark Allison touted an info desk at the courthouse to make various information readily available. Granted, much or most of the information is or should be on the county website, but having a kiosk equipped with a computer that also has restricted access, might be a good idea. Saves on paper waste too.
And fresh to council, Dayne Pruitt talked about keeping tabs on the Lake Conestee Dam and the need to hold back any of the toxicity a dam break would send our way. He’s also suggesting it’s time the county get out of the volunteer fire business and consider paying and recruiting more personnel. We do appreciate all our volunteers, but this sounds like something that ought not be taken off the table.
Surely one that will raise a stink among some residents involves Chuck Moates looking ahead to 2025 and additional opportunities to float another capital project sales tax for potential countywide projects. The penny tax, he said, has proven beneficial to the county at large, which is hard to deny.
We were fairly sure the current CPST endeavor would not be a one-and-done. Its hefty project list is getting funded, but there’s no reason to think there won’t be future projects in need of funding, and that will benefit the county in general.
We supported the current CPST effort and are interested to see what might be on the next wish list. What we do know is that when such projects come up and when the general consensus is that they are needed and worthy, it’s good to have the burden of costs shared by those who visit and make purchases in our county. Such a funding source lightens the load on the residents a good bit, after all.
Fate of Greenwood farmers market in question
/in UncategorizedA Greenwood farmers market’s fate is uncertain, but board members don’t want park renovations to oust them from the building they’ve been in since the 1980s.
The Greenwood County Farmers Market is housed in a building at 1612 S.C. Highway 72/221, between the American Legion baseball field and the Wilbanks Sports Complex.
Work is planned this year under the Capital Project Sales Tax at the sports complex, and initial design proposals suggested taking the farmers market out of its building and out onto an open lawn. The building would be used to house the park’s maintenance staff, but when the farmers market board caught wind their vendors would be out of a covered building and selling on the grass, they made their displeasure heard.
“It’s just kind of befuzzling to me that whoever the company was that came up with this design didn’t consider the farmers market,” said Carroll Culbertson, a farmers market board member who has been involved since its early years. “I mean there’s a big sign out there that says ‘Farmer’s Market’ and it’s the biggest building out there.”
Culbertson said the Greenwood County Farmers Market started in 1975 after the Clemson University extension office pushed for Greenwood and Abbeville county residents to start a local farmers market. It gained momentum over the years. Eventually, Greenwood County helped the farmers market put up the building the market has been hosted in ever since.
About $9.6 million in county funds and capital project sales tax dollars are going toward renovating the adjacent Wilbanks Complex, including putting in new ball fields, pickleball courts, restrooms, concession areas, walking paths and green spaces. CPST coordinator Josh Skinner said if the county can get the project out to bid soon, construction could start this summer.
The initial design concepts shared with the public in mid-January, designed by McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, proposed housing maintenance in the farmers market building and putting the market under tents on a lawn.
“I’ve got closer places to home to sell my goods if I want to sell out in the dirt,” said market board member Diane Lee at a meeting Wednesday.
The farmers market is used by vendors to sell their produce, but it’s also a site for senior food voucher federal nutritional assistance programs, Susie Culbertson said. The building is used as event space for the annual Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office deer supper, among other club events.
“It’s not just a farmers market, it’s a resource,” she said. “And it’s ideal to have it here with the sports complex because the farmers market is a cornerstone for those people eating healthy.”
At Wednesday’s board meeting, the members spoke with county councilmen Robbie Templeton — who serves as chairman for the committee that will suggest a final design for the site’s upgrades — and Theo Lane. County Manager Toby Chappell, Skinner and Parks and Recreation Director Brad Cuttill also attended.
“The concerning part to me was that somebody had to meet with this planning group. … I don’t see how they missed the farmers market,” Carroll Culbertson said.
Templeton said the design team was made aware of the farmers market prior to their designs. He said a committee was formed to handle the CPST parks renovations more than two years ago, and although they gathered a group of stakeholders for the park site, it did not include a representative of the farmers market.
“Carroll’s right, in their plan they want to move the market to an open-air market in a green space,” Templeton said. “We haven’t seen the final plan, we don’t know what’s going to be on it.”
Current maintenance storage is simply too small for the expanded park site, Cuttill said, which is why they wanted the market building. County Councilman Mark Allison, who serves on the farmers market board, said he wants the county to take that building for maintenance but wants a new building for the market.
“To stay that’s a farmers market building is a stretch. … It’s a multipurpose building is what I would say,” he said. “But I will not vote on a plan that has nothing but a green space for the farmers market.”
Allison proposed putting up a new, smaller metal building, closer to the front entrance of the Wilbanks complex, that could house the market. The board conceded that if they can’t keep their current building, they’d like a new one.
Templeton said he’d take their feedback to the design team and his committee, which in the coming days will be reviewing design plans and making a final recommendation to county council in a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15, at the Greenwood County Library.