2 weeks Ago By LEE HENDREN T&D Correspondent
There’s a lot more on the Nov. 5 ballot than the presidential election. In Orangeburg County, voters will decide whether to continue paying the 1-percent Capital Projects Sales Tax, commonly called the “penny tax.
” The Town of Holly Hill hopes to use penny tax revenues to make the playground at J. Francis Folk Park fully accessible to people who have phys..
. The measure has passed four times in a row. Revenue is split among the County Council members and all of the municipalities in the county.
Holly Hill would spend its fifth-round money to improve parks and recreation opportunities, Mayor Billy Chavis said at the town council’s monthly meeting on Monday, Sept. 9. Roy Gilmore Park in Holly Hill has a swing set large enough to accommodate people who use wheelchairs, but it’s a tight fit to access it throu.
.. At Roy Gilmore Park, a splash pad would be installed.
At J. Francis Folk Park, the town would renovate the “dilapidated” basketball court and build a second court. Too, the town would build a second ball field, which was in the park’s original plans but was never built.
It would be sized for girls’ fast-pitch and T-ball. Overhead lighting would be improved and expanded. Local news has never been this personal.
Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access. Also, the playground areas at both parks would get overhead lighting and would be upgraded to become fully accessible by children with physical handicapping conditions.
Holly Hill Mayor Billy Chavis leads remarkable financial turnaround; general fund and utility revenues up, business license sales soar, avoiding tax hikes. In other business, the council held a public hearing on the town’s application to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program for money to buy two fully equipped police vehicles. One citizen asked what kind of vehicles would be purchased. Chavis said they would be trucks.
Chavis said during an earlier meeting that the current fleet is aging and “our police vehicles have to be up to the task.” Orangeburg County will ask voters in November if they want to renew the 1 percent sales tax that’s funded building and road projects throughout the county. The council then adopted a resolution authorizing the town to apply for the funding.
The town will have to provide a small percentage of the total cost. During the public comments time, Kate Copsey asked what could be done about roving packs of dogs. She recently watched some dogs chase a young deer down Holly Hill’s main road.
When she yelled at the dogs, they stopped, which showed they had been domesticated, she said. “I know the police department can’t arrest a dog,” she said. Police Chief Josh Detter agreed.
He advised residents to call the Holly Hill Police Department if the dog is just running loose and not really causing trouble, especially if the resident recognizes the dog. But aggressive animals should be reported to Orangeburg County Animal Control, Detter said. He advised residents to keep in mind that his officers “don’t have the means or the equipment to catch those dogs.
” If a dog exhibits threatening behavior, his officers must protect themselves and other people and animals, and they have few non-lethal options. In other business, the council gave first reading approval to two petitions for annexation of a total of five parcels and a portion of a sixth parcel. The town owns four of the properties, including a landlocked 55-acre tract and three others that are associated with the town’s current or proposed new wastewater treatment facilities and spray field.
The 55-acre tract extends southward almost to Boyer Road. The fifth parcel is owned by Michael M. Grooms and others.
It encompasses 384 acres along the northwest side of Gardner Boulevard (S.C. 453) from Boyer Road almost to White Sands Road.
Also proposed for annexation is a portion of a 35-acre parcel that is owned by Star Properties of South Carolina. It shares a property line with both the Grooms parcel and the town’s 55-acre parcel. The town’s planning commission met an hour ahead of the council meeting and voted to recommend that the council approve the annexation requests and zone the properties Light Industrial, which also allows warehouses and certain other business uses.
A final vote to accept the annexation petitions is likely during the council’s next monthly meeting. Also, Planning Commission Chairman David Teague and consultant Rebecca Vance said the commission intends to present some proposed changes to the zoning ordinance during the council’s next monthly meeting. That meeting is set for Monday, Oct.
7, at 6:30 p.m. in the governmental complex on Old State Road.
Contact Town Clerk Shelia Williams at 803-496-3330 for more information. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter..
