Pawleys Island library deal comes to vote

Georgetown would help with roads

By Aliana Ramos - aramos@thesunnews.com

Pawleys Island residents will need to drive an additional three to four miles to get to a library if a deal between the Georgetown County School District and Georgetown County is approved.

Some residents said a new site is needed to keep up with growth.

The Georgetown County Board of Education will take action tonight on whether to approve a land swap with the county.

Under the proposal, the school district would deed one acre of land at the Waccamaw Intermediate School site off Willbrook Boulevard on which the county could build a library. In return, the county would perform road improvements on Willbrook Boulevard in time for the new intermediate school's opening in the fall.

The school will cost about $14 million to build and will house grades four through six.

The road work includes median improvements on the St. Paul/Willbrook exit, turn lanes on Wildcat Way/Willbrook entry/exit and a turn lane for the Reunion/Willbrook entry/exit.

One additional acre would be used jointly for shared parking around the library.

"I don't mind them moving it as long as it's going to be a bigger and better library," said Kathy Judge of Pawleys Island. Judge said the current library site, 24 Commerce Lane in Pawleys Island, is small and does not house the newest best-sellers.

She said there are times when they must be ordered from one of the other branches.

Roz Breit is a member of the Waccamaw Neck Friends of the Library and would like to see a new building.

"At this point, this building cannot be added onto. We just need a larger facility," she said.

Pawleys Island resident Carrie Humphreys said, "This one is a little antiquated. What's another five minutes?"

The Waccamaw Neck library expansion is part of the Visions II capital improvement plan.

About $10 million has been set aside for the library to be spent by 2017 under preliminary cost projects and estimates approved by the council last year.

If the deal is approved, it will appear on the county council's next agenda. The next meeting is set for May 13.

County Administrator Sel Hemingway said the deal would be good for both parties. "We wind up getting a library adjacent to the school," Hemingway said.

Contact ALIANA RAMOS at 357-9520.