GREENWOOD, S.C. — Greenwood City Council voted without dissent Monday night to buy the land it needs for the Carolina Avenue Extension, a road link first sketched out in 2015.
Ordinance 26-015, on its second and final reading at a session held in the Cultural Center Auditorium at Lander University, pays South Main Street Baptist Church $665,464.72. The city gets a strip of right-of-way about 40 feet wide plus a 15-foot temporary easement for construction.
Most of the money covers what the church gives up: September figures listed $438,000 for replacement parking and $177,430.40 for the land itself. If work has not started within three years of closing, the church can buy the strip back.
The street would run from South Main Street to Edgefield Street, opening a more direct path toward Self Regional Medical Center. County voters funded it in the 2016 penny sales tax. A state Department of Revenue audit lists the Carolina Avenue Connector with a budget of $2,447,774, of which only $49,750 had been spent through June 2024.
At the hearing, a museum volunteer warned about traffic on South Main Street and room for fire trucks. City Manager Julie Wilkie said the city hopes to discuss moving the signal near Taggart Avenue with the state, though no talks have been held.
Council also gave final approval to conditional-use rules for vape and tobacco stores and liquor-by-the-drink bars, with 1,000 feet of separation from schools and churches, and passed on first reading new speed hump rules for streets posted at 25 mph or less and longer than 400 feet.
Greenwood runs under a council-manager form of government, with Wilkie handling daily administration.
Section: More Greenwood SC politics news
Filed under: Greenwood SC Politics News
