There is a small vocal group demanding a much more expensive location at a Bi-Lo Location, that was not chosen as the top site by the Library Board OR the Finance Committee. Public comments have been overwhelmingly favorable for the Baxter Patrick school site and it will cost significantly less then the other presented options.
The total estimated cost of the BI-LO location is much less than Baxter Patrick. BI-LO is $9.3 million and Baxter-Patrick more than $11 million.
The total cost of the BI-LO site is 14% less. It saves the taxpayer $1,720,000.
Now, the property at Baxter-Patrick is "free," though the County is supposed to provide something to the Charleston County School Board in exchange that is estimated at $200,000.
(Is it really tennis courts for James Island elementary school? Will they be open to the public?)
But all that is there now is a vacant lot. Building a 20,000 square foot library is very expensive. It would be $10,820,000.
So that adds up to $11,020,000.
The purchase price of 20,000 square feet of an existing building next to BI-LO is $2,650,000. The needed renovations would be extensive, costing $6,650,000. It all adds up to $9,300,000.
The Dills Bluff site, assuming the JIPSD wants to sell, would end up costing about $400,000 for the land. And so the total cost would be $11,220,000. It is near the exact center of James Island and very close to the existing branch.
Of course, it costs about $200,000 more than Baxter Patrick and $1,900,000 more than BI-LO.
What is the major benefit of Baxter-Patrick? It is in Anna Johnson's district. It is more centrally located to the voters on James Island in her district. Most of the voters in her district live off of James Island. They are spread over all the other Sea Islands--Johns, Edisto, etc. Most of the James Island voters in her district live near Grimball Road, Sol Legare Island, etc. Of course, the Down the Island community is in her district, and it is right next door to the Dills Bluff site, but it is on the far northeast edge of her district on James Island.
So, if you completely ignore the over 70% of James Islanders who are not in Anna Johnson's district, then Baxter Patrick makes perfect sense.
Most James Islanders are represented by Councilman Joe Qualey. The other sites are in his district.
If you start off by deciding which member of Council will "get" the new library, and then allow that member to choose where it goes, then everything falls into place.
Right now, the Grimball Road community is in unincorporated Charleston County, however, it was in the Town of James Island in the past. The Town is committed to providing an opportunity for the citizens to rejoin the Town. We want them back.
Personally, I think a library at Baxter Patrick could be a fine addition to the community. However, I know it is controversial. Some of the support in the Grimball Road community was manufactured by claiming that the alternative was a bus parking lot. (I am often very open to the argument for some new development that it could be worse.) Still, some of the Town's closest allies in the Grimball community are adamantly against the library there. No one from the community has contacted me to say they are for it.
Charleston County Greenbelt paid St. James Presbyterian Church about $900,000 for some property on Grimball Road. The Town contributed $200,000 from its allocation of Greenbelt funds. The money was provided to the St. James Foundation which paid it over to the church. The property now belongs to the St. James Foundation and is supposed to be the site of a Gullah-Geechee center. When representatives from the St. James Foundation came to Town Hall to collect the other $500,000 that the former director of the St. James Foundation told them that the Town had promised, I was shocked. I never promised anything of the sort. The Town could not possibly contribute anything like that. ($500, yes, $5,000 maybe, $50,000 no, $500,000 are you kidding?) I have always assumed that the reason Reverend Heyward is so strongly in favor of the Baxter Patrick site for the library is that he hopes it will provide synergy with the proposed Gullah-Geechee center. Maybe he hopes that this location for the library will help with the multi-million dollar fundraising necessary to follow through on what the St. James Foundation promised in exchange for the nearly $1 million of Greenbelt funds paid over St. James Presbyterian Church. I want it to succeed. The Town did "invest" $200,000 of its greenbelt allocation towards the project!
If the goal is to save money, then BI-LO is the way to go. If we want to keep the library near its current site at the very center of the Island, then Dills Bluff is good, but more expensive. And if the goal is to give the library to County Councilwoman Anna Johnson, then we should just be glad she isn't proposing to move it to Hollywood or Adams Run!
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