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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Some big changes are coming to a more than $12 million sports complex in Summerville.

The Oakbrook Sports Complex, which will be located at the current Oakbrook YMCA, will include “state-of-the-art” turf sports fields and more.

“This is where, if you talk to anybody in our area, ‘I learned how to play baseball here, I learned how to swim here, I learned how to soccer here,’ so this is where we started, and now where we want to take to a whole new level,” Summerville YMCA CEO Joe Debney says.

The Summerville YMCA will contribute 17 acres of land, and the county will foot the bill, which has more than doubled in the last three years.

Right now, the fields have poor drainage, uneven turf, and chalk outlines for fields.

Once finished, the new complex will include two soccer fields and other multi-use athletic fields with subsurface drainage, lighting, parking, concessions, a playground, and restrooms.

“If you come out here our fields need rest,” Debney says. “Being able to dry these fields off quickly, being able to have a better facility for these kids, where we don’t have rainy days, where they don’t have to go somewhere else to play.”

Dorchester County Council Chairman Todd Friddle says the new complex will allow the county to host travel sports in an area where outdoor recreation is exploding.

“With a first-class facility, not only for the local community but travel tourism. People coming in here to bring teams to travel, stay spend money in the Summerville market, in the Dorchester area,” Friddle says.

This project is a part of the county’s broader goal to revitalize the Oakbrook area overall using TIF funds, which Friddle explained as tax revenue from the area being put back into it.

Friddle says they were partnered with a different organization for the project originally, but “couldn’t work out the logistics.”

They’re currently in the permitting process and hope to break ground on the project over the summer if all goes as planned, Friddle says. Once they break ground, he estimates the complex will take about 18 months to be completed.

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Former and current residents at a Summerville apartment complex are sharing their stories, alleging bad communication from management and deteriorating conditions, after seeing one woman come forward about a mold problem.

In March, Breanna McCalla detailed a mold problem that she says forced her to move her family out of the Latitude at Wescott.

Madison Harriss says she experienced something similar when she spotted mold in her unit.

“When I first saw it, I started off by sending emails to the front office just letting them know about it. I also made a couple of trips into the office to talk to someone as well,” Harris says.

Harris feels she did everything right when she first saw mold nearly a year after she moved in. She says it took months of emailing and visiting the office to get someone in her unit to check out the issue.

“And it was frustrating because all they did was paint over it with some KILZ and called it a day. So it didn’t feel like it was resolved because it came back shortly after,” Harris says.

Harris says the mold and mildew-resistant paint job was too little too late, and when her lease was up in 2021, she left but took her story with her and shared her experience with anyone asking about living in the area.

While current resident Casey Hendricks says she hasn’t seen mold, her communication problems started before she even got on the property.

“Within three days of our move-in date, they told me that we could no longer have the three-bedroom apartment on the first floor they instead were moving us to a two-bedroom apartment temporarily on the third floor, which made it really difficult with two little kids and a dog,” Hendricks says.

Despite paying her deposit and hiring movers, Hendricks’ family was in a space too small. When they were finally allowed to relocate to a 3-bedroom months later, further communication issues cost her hundreds of dollars. Her moving company spent hours sitting in the parking lot on the day of the switch, waiting for management to allow them into the unit. When the company ran out of time that day, Hendricks had to pay movers to come back.

Once inside, Hendricks says the conditions were concerning. She pointed out water stains and missing vanity draws and knobs.

“The vanity that was never fixed. It was like this when we moved in. I did do a walk-through with the property manager and she is aware of this as of last November and when I moved in and it still has not been repaired,” Hendricks says.

Now Hendricks is facing mounting water and sewer bills, more than quadruple what she budgeted as average cost, and she wants answers. But with no repairs to her apartment yet, she doesn’t think she’ll ever get the help she’s asking for.

“So many other apartments are filled with mold. It definitely makes you wonder what might be out there in your air ducts and stuff that you’re not seeing,” Hendricks says.

Harris says while she lived there, she faced other maintenance issues besides mold like Hendricks.

“It just felt like they really didn’t care to fix the problem,” Harris says.

Latitude at Wescott management declined to comment when asked to answer questions for this story.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The corner of U.S. Highway 17A (North Main Street) and U.S. Highway 78 (East 5th North Street) is about five blocks from Hutchinson Square, the town’s current gateway and historic core, and those leading the 500 North Main redevelopment say they want to create something just as special. This is county property and the county is rightly leading the project, but the outcome will be hugely important for the town: The site is 5.3 acres, slightly larger than Charleston’s Marion Square, and sits at an important crossroads.

“They talk about Hutchinson Square being the entrance to Summerville. This is going to bring the entrance to Summerville down to 78,” County Council Chairman Todd Friddle tells us, adding that several other revitalization projects, including road improvements and underused properties, are in the works nearby. “It’s critical we get this right because this is going to be the thing that kicks that off.” We agree and have noted the details will determine how the public receives this important new public space.

The most visible and critical part of that space will be the new park itself, which is projected to be about the size of Hutchinson Square and will be home to a new and improved veteran’s memorial, replacing the existing memorial about 100 yards to the south.

Last month, the county signed a deal with Dorchester Investors LLC, which is working with the Boudreaux group of Columbia on the design of the new park and a new office building and will present its plans to Summerville’s Historic District-Board of Architectural Review for approval. While this first phase occupies only a small part of the county’s property, it’s the piece that most people will experience first, so it should be a striking one.

Once this first step is finished — which could occur about a year after construction starts — the county’s employees can move from the old hospital complex into the new building, and the next phase can start. It also will be crucial, as it will determine how much of the historic building is kept. The current plan calls for maintaining its oldest portion, including the entry portico that is the building’s most prominent feature. The second phase is expected to include two highly visible retail buildings along North Main, separated by a new public space.

The final phase would include building apartments at the rear of the property, along Cedar Street. After hearing the public’s concerns, County Council has scrubbed plans for a boutique hotel and a 5-story parking garage. It’s important that County Council respond to such concerns while staying true to its larger goals of placing much of the property back on the tax rolls, giving county staff better office space and improving Summerville’s unique sense of place.

Once a small town, Summerville has grown dramatically in recent decades to become South Carolina’s seventh-largest city, and most of its growth has been suburban in nature and taken place well beyond the town’s historic core, which seems ever smaller and more delicate in the big picture.

Projects such as 500 North Main are an important effort to expand that core — to increase the size of the town center where people would like to walk around, not just drive past — so it’s important that it ultimately has the character, quality and ambiance to encourage people to do just that.

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The undersigned are some of Summerville’s many businesses, institutions, churches, schools and organizations at the heart of our town’s economic, cultural and civic life. We are invested in the success and vitality of our town. We support the town council’s mission to “establish a quality of life that provides a safe, healthy, beautiful, and harmonious place to live and work.”

We congratulate and welcome our new mayor and newly elected and returning council members. We wish you success, wisdom and discernment in your leadership positions.

During this election, we were encouraged by how “quality of life” was a central campaign issue, specifically addressing the problem of Summerville’s lack of connectedness and walkability. Good town design is all about connections – the ability for residents of all ages, physical abilities and financial means to safely and comfortably walk or ride a bike to any place in town. This is a significant factor and indicator of quality of life for residents and is the “glue” that binds our neighborhoods together.

Walkable and bikeable towns have proven to be essential for:

The more connected the various parts of a town, the better the quality of life for its residents. This is why our “Summerville Comprehensive Plan” sets a top priority for making our town walkable.

Unfortunately, Summerville does not have a well-connected pedestrian network but is a patchwork of isolated islands separated by traffic corridors designed for cars, not people. Most of our town’s sidewalks and crosswalks are either discontinuous, in disrepair or nonexistent.

Residents within walking distance of a church, park or store cannot safely walk there. Children are robbed of their independence and healthy development as they find themselves trapped in their immediate neighborhoods, unable to walk or bike to a friend’s house, school, or ice cream store. Parents are left to chauffeur their children around town, adding to the self-perpetuating cycle of traffic woes.

Out of necessity, some residents resort to walking on active roadways alongside moving traffic. As cars and trucks pass them, they have to step aside to walk on dirt and through roadside ditches lest they get struck by vehicles. Walking at night is especially dangerous, and those who are frail, in a wheelchair or pushing baby strollers dare not walk on many streets at all.

Even if they are lucky enough to find a sidewalk, they often cannot cross a street as most intersections are designed solely for car traffic with hardly any pedestrian crosswalks. The message is clear: pedestrians are not welcome.

Bicycling is also nearly impossible. We have all seen those poor souls trying to balance their bikes along a road’s uneven edge, with trucks hurtling by within inches of them on one side and precarious ditches on the other. It’s not just undignified; it’s downright dangerous.

As a town that prides itself on our quality of life, we must do better.

The good news is we can transform Summerville into a walkable, bikeable and pedestrian-friendly town if we install comfortable, continuous sidewalks and controlled street intersections with crosswalks designed for people. Our focus, at least initially, should be on fixing our town core area and significant roads to stitch together adjacent neighborhoods to each other and our downtown. If done right, the impact and benefits will be felt immediately.

We applaud the election candidates who promised to fix our “sidewalks to nowhere” and urge the mayor and town council to prioritize this vital and much overdue infrastructure project. As our civic leaders, you have the opportunity to leave a positive, lasting legacy by creating a walkable, bikeable and truly connected Summerville.

It is time. Let’s make it happen.

Cordially,

AgentOwned Realty

Allstate Insurance

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Azalea Magazine

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Dorchester Habitat for Humanity, Inc.

Edible Arrangements

Edwards Electrical, LLC

Epstein Architecture

Essential Yoga

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First Capital Bank

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Five Loaves Cafe

Flowertown Realty

Four Green Fields

Gimer Consulting LLC

Groucho’s Deli

Guerin’s Pharmacy

Hair Jazz, LLC

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HealthWorks

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A Louisville, Ky.-based breakfast chain with an emphasis on biscuits will open its first South Carolina location in Summerville this year, with plans to also open a Fort Mill location.

Biscuit Belly, a Kentucky based “craft casual” brunch restaurant serving up warm hospitality and chef-driven gourmet biscuit breakfast sandwiches, will open a store this fall at 118 West Richardson Ave., Summerville, according to a news release. The chain will also open stores in Norfolk, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., this year.

Biscuit Belly’s current franchise group, DGB Tenn LLC, will be spear-heading the brand’s new locations. Additionally, it expects further expansion into the northern Virginia market as early as fall 2024, the release stated.

“Growing with Biscuit Belly has been an incredible experience so far,” said Clint Umphrey, operating partner for DGB, said in the release. “The brand has created a delicious and craveable menu based on some damn good biscuits and in return, has cultivated a strong following from its customers. We are thrilled to be close to the opening of our two next locations in Norfolk and Raleigh and can’t wait to integrate into the communities.”

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The brand has also announced that current franchise partners, Todd Gallinek and Deepen Patel, have signed leases for their first two locations coming to the greater Charlotte market, including Fort Mill in South Carolina, at 2147 W. Highway 160 Suite 101.

“We’re thrilled to finally be able to announce the addresses for our first two locations coming to the Charlotte area,” said Deepen Patel, Biscuit Belly franchisee, in the release. “We know that Biscuit Belly will be a perfect fit for Charlotte’s vibrant food scene and the community will appreciate the better brunch experience the brand provides.”

Founded by Lauren and Chad Coulter in 2019, and franchising since 2020, Biscuit Belly has become a staple in their home state of Kentucky, the release stated. Known for their chef-inspired offerings revolving around a scratch-made biscuit, boozy beverages, and a bright, modern environment, it has seen rapid success locally and is eager to continue expansion across expanded markets.

“We’re thrilled to finally have nailed down the addresses for our newest locations in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina,” said Chad Coulter, founder and CEO of Biscuit Belly, in the release. “We’re confident in our partners abilities to uphold the standards we set ourselves to of bringing a better brunch experience and damn good biscuits to communities throughout the country.”