Roads
District rejects offer of deed to Willbrook path
A golf cart ban will continue on the path along Willbrook Boulevard after a local group declined to take ownership of the pavement from Georgetown County.
“I was surprised,” County Council Member Stella Mercado said. She started working with the Willbrook Plantation Road Maintenance District earlier this year to find a way to acommodate the carts.
The district board decided last week that it didn’t want to take on the liability, said Dave Philips, who chairs the board.
“I’m not sure where we go from here,” he said.
The path was built by the Litchfield Co. when it developed Willbrook Plantation. It provides access to the beach through Litchfield by the Sea to the neighborhoods within Willbrook. It also connects portions of the Bike the Neck route from Murrells Inlet to Pawleys Island.
Even after Willbrook Boulevard and its right of way were deeded to the county in 2005, the carts were allowed to operate, even though they are banned on other portions of the Bike the Neck route.
Following a lawsuit by a woman who was hit by a golf cart while cycling on the Willbrook path, Georgetown County put up signs to enforce the ban on golf carts and other motorized vehicles.
The county and the the road district each paid $50,000 to settle the suit last year. The golf cart operator paid $100,000.
Mercado arranged a meeting with the road district that led to the county’s offer to deed the path to the district.
“There just wasn’t any interest among the other directors to assume responsibility,” Philips said.
The road district was created by the Litchfield Co. and collects an annual fee from residential and commercial property owners. When Willbrook Boulevard was transferred to the county, the district retained an easement to maintain the right of way landscaping and the path.
“We have the right, but not the responsibility,” Philips said.
In the past, that has included patching the path and trimming trees and bushes.
Beth Goodale, the county’s director of Parks and Recreation, ordered signs about the ban and put them up herself in August. She said she wanted something nicer than an institutional sign. Several of her signs have disappeared.
New signs are on order, similar to those on other sections of the Bike the Neck path, Goodale said.
Mercado, who lives in The Reserve neighborhood, said she has heard from people who support and oppose the ban in equal numbers.
Although Philips said he hoped to accommodate both sides, he noted that golf carts have become larger and more common since the path was built in the 1990s. The path remains 8-feet wide even though the current standard is 14-feet wide, he added.
The district plans to meet with neighborhood boards to discuss ways to make Willbrook Boulevard safer for golf carts.
“In 33 years, one silly little accident out there, it’s come down to this,” Philips said.
