The Town of Awendaw is asking CCSD to defer action on new school

AWENDAW, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County School District says they are looking to build a new school in Awendaw, but the Town of Awendaw says they don't agree with where they want to put it.

In a letter to CCSD, the Town of Awendaw says “the site is very isolate, and contributes nothing to the community at large outside the education benefits of the students.”

CCSD says they are looking to rezone a site on Highway 17 North, between Jenkins Hill Road and Duffield Road in Awendaw.

That being said, the Town of Awendaw says, although they are in need of a new school and have been for years, there are other locations that would better suit the community.

The Planning and Public Works Committee says they will review the rezoning request from CCSD Thursday, along with the letter of opposition from the Town of Awendaw.

In the letter, the town administrator says they'd like to see the school built at a number of other locations along Highway 17 North, including one site near the Center for Birds of Prey. This site is on the opposite side of Awendaw, about 15 miles away from the current location, the town administrator said.

In response to the letter, the CCSD representative said:

“Charleston County School District conducted an exhaustive search of properties to serve the students and anticipated growth in that area of the county. The property located at the Kaiser Farm location is 107 acres of highland property with little to no trees. For that reason, we have the ability to support the proposed school facility and programming with few environmental impacts, which in turn, contributes to financially-sound development maximizing taxpayer dollars. The property referenced as available in the letter from the Town of Awendaw is actually unavailable, per the owner’s representative.”

If the committee approves the rezoning request at Thursday’s meeting, there will be three additional readings by the full council between now and the end of September, the council said.

The meeting will be at 5 p.m., and will be live streamed at Charleston County’s website.

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