Georgetown County wants to turn blighted properties into community spaces. How you can help identify them

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD)- Georgetown County has received half a million dollars in federal funding to begin the process of rehabilitating environmentally damaged properties into usable community spaces.

Now, county officials are asking the public to help identify which sites could be a good fit for the program.

The $500,000 in funding, awarded through a Brownfields Assessment grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, will be used to assess sites in Georgetown, Andrews, and Spring Gulley.

County leaders say qualifying sites include abandoned schools or factories and places contaminated with asbestos, old fuel tanks, or other pollutants and hazardous substances.

To determine which sites should be considered for rehabilitation, county officials will hold public information meetings in each of the three communities next month.

• Monday, Aug. 5 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Library Auditorium, 405 Cleland St.
• Tuesday, Aug. 6 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Andrews Library, 105 Morgan Ave.
• Thursday, Aug. 8 from 6-7:30 p.m. at McDonald Elementary School, 532 McDonald Rd.

Representatives from Terracon, the project contractor, and the Asiko Group, a consultant, will also be on hand to answer questions.

“The cool thing about the assessment grant is it’s the first step toward potentially getting multiple millions in federal dollars for cleanups and improvements,” said Maureen Mulligan, an environmentalist and training coordinator in the county’s Environmental Services Division. “They especially are wanting to focus on historically ignored communities. And it really encourages community buy-in, so it’s not just us coming and telling people what we want to do; it’s finding out what the interests and priorities are for the community.”

The former Baghouse Dust Waste Pit on Aviation Boulevard in Georgetown has already been identified as a priority site for the project.