Clemson design center explores new uses for Georgetown port – Coastal Observer
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Clemson design center explores new uses for Georgetown port

An aerial view shows the state port, at right, and the steel mill behind in full operation. The last ship docked at the facility in 2016.

Generations of residents have been separated from the Georgetown waterfront by commercial and industrial uses along the Sampit River. A group of architecture students from Clemson University have come up with ideas for reclaiming a portion of that space now that it is owned by Georgetown County.

“It’s been a site the community has never been able to access,” said Dan Harding, director of Clemson’s Community Research and Design Center. “What happens when that site comes back into the public domain?”

That’s what the students and faculty were asked to find out, using an $80,000 federal grant that the county received last year. It was the first step toward determining a new use for the 45-acre state port facility that was turned over to the county in 2023.

The property has as much frontage on the Sampit River as the city’s historic downtown from Wood Street to St. James Street. That doesn’t count the portion of the former port in front of the idled Liberty Steel mill.

A presentation from students who worked on the port project in design studios last fall was scheduled this week for county and city officials. That was cancelled due to the winter storm and will be rescheduled.

Clemson’s work focused on creating a vision for the property and value for the community.

“It helps communities be more effective and efficient when they do contract with a planning consultant,” Harding said. “How can this be used as a rising tide that lifts all ships?”

What the Clemson students found was that the property has the potential to connect the community rather than just serve as a destination.

“Anything you do in Georgetown, you have to move around it,” Harding said. “Does it have the ability to be a bridge site?”

One that bridges the industrial past to a different future? One that connects the economically depressed West End to the affluent historic district?

The 13 students, both undergraduates and graduate students, spent two days in Georgetown in September. It was important that they see the site, but also that they understand the community and its needs, Harding said.

“The grant was for creating ideas for opportunities for clear and best uses,” he said. “We need to understand how this could achieve the county’s objective.”

They also heard from Rayshad Dorsey, a lecturer in the College of Architecture who is also a graduate of Carvers Bay High School. He has worked on a similar design project for a cultural center in Plantersville with the nonprofit Village Group.

“It needs to be grounded and at the same time say ‘why not?’ ” Harding said.

He also returned to the county last month and has worked with Clemson University Baruch Institute at Hobcaw Barony.

The port project was part of the students’ course work during the fall semester. Midway through the semester, International Paper announced that it was closing its mill that adjoins the port by the end of the year.

“The students didn’t know what to do,” Harding said.

He told them to follow the goals they had identified for their design work.

“We were able to pivot and adjust and keep going,” Harding said, adding that the closure “showed the need for resilience and mobility” in thinking about future uses for the port.

The students are all due to graduate in May, but their ideas will form the basis for future work by the Clemson Community Research and Design Center. The grant calls for those ideas to be refined based on community feedback. Harding said that could involve other students studying landscape architecture and planning.

“They will stand on the shoulders of those students to move forward,” he said. “It’s always very intentional.”

The project is due to provide the county with a documented vision for the port property by the summer.

LOCAL EVENTS

Meetings

Georgetown County Board of Education: First and third Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m., Beck Education Center. For details, go to gcsd.k12.sc.us. Georgetown County Council: Second and fourth Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 129 Screven St., Georgetown. For details, go to georgetowncountysc.org. Pawleys Island Town Council: Second Mondays, 5 p.m. Town Hall, 323 Myrtle Ave. For details, go to townofpawleysisland.com.   , .

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