Work on City of Bamberg’s downtown revitalization project underway

The first phase will create a park on a vacant space on Main Highway that had been the site of blighted buildings that were destroyed in a massive fire in March 2019. Bamberg County and the City of Bamberg coordinated the removal of the buildings, and the county obtained ownership of the site to provide for the property’s rehabilitation and reuse.

“Work started about a month ago,” Bamberg Mayor Nancy Foster said.

The first phase will be funded with the help of a nearly $40,000 grant from the state Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department’s Park and Recreation Development Fund. The site has been cleared and first-phase work has included the installation of drainage and connection to the city’s water system.

“Once we had secured the PARD grant, we pretty much began work. We’re trying to grade the ground now to make sure it’s level for sidewalks, grass and that kind of stuff. A lot of underground work had to be done,” Foster said.

Bamberg County Administrator Joey Preston was hesitant to put a timeline on the completion of the first phase but said the park, green space and outdoor amphitheater are slated to be complete before winter.

“We’re hoping to have that done maybe before Thanksgiving, sometime in October,” Preston said.

Bamberg County and the City of Bamberg have partnered to create the plan for which the Lower Savannah Council of Governments was able to secure the services of North Charleston-based Stantec Consulting Services.

“Stantec did some of their magic. They’re not quite done yet,” said Preston, noting that another grant is coming to help funding the project’s first phase work.

“We have another grant coming to help us with the infrastructure for the park. It’s not going to be just for that downtown park. It’s going to be for lots of portions of the city, which may perhaps include the railroad berm, some more of the walkway and then maybe even down to the hospital because we have renovations going on down there,” the county administrator said.

Because the city and county don’t own all of the downtown buildings, Foster said the city and county are relying on the owners of other downtown buildings to fix them up. She said Southeastern Housing, for example, has purchased the old city hall building, along with two other downtown buildings.

“We’re trying to work with each owner. We’ve opened several new businesses within downtown. So it’s either tenants or owners. We’ve sold several buildings. So hopefully those will get restored,” Foster said.

One downtown building is slated to become a welcome center for both the city and county. There was $150,000 set aside for a welcome center and tourism building in Bamberg as one of the projects included under a capital projects sales tax referendum approved by Bamberg County voters in November 2018.

Foster said additional grant funds and new investors are being sought to continue the downtown project in phases.

“We have some new investors and hopefully private owners downtown will restore these buildings. We are partnering with the owners to see that things are refurbished or renovated. Our state representatives have also been wonderful. Rep. Justin Bamberg and Sen. Brad Hutto helped with the PARD grant,” the mayor said.

“We’re reaching out to other representatives to help us with funding, but there’s other funding through South Carolina Parks and Recreation other than the PARD grant. There’s other avenues and businesses that are partnering with us. I’m just not in a position to name all that yet,” she said.

Enhanced parking, renewal of the local theater, a museum and a market area are all part of the larger vision for downtown.

“We have a rendering of the downtown with additional parking, but we’ve not gotten to that point yet. But that is in the works,” said Foster, who has said the black railings that currently line downtown are not included in the downtown revitalization plan.

The installation of walking paths, landscaping for green space and lighting is also part of the revitalization project.

“With the walking trail, we’re working on getting lighting and enhancing the west side. Also, we’re going to somewhat expand that Veterans Memorial, which will be on the walking trail. We’re tying it all in … to also include the Ness Sports Complex,” Foster said.

“We have Veterans Highway that goes right into the Ness Complex. So we actually have renderings on the Ness Complex to do walking trails out there and enhance that for tournament play,” she said.

While that phase has not yet started, “we are in the process of getting lighting for the walking trail and the downtown, amphitheater and the green space. All that is being done. So we’re trying to tie it all in so it’s one big trail,” Foster said.

The recreation master plan, which is also included as part of the downtown revitalization plan, is to include upgrades to the basketball courts, several baseball/softball fields with seating and concession area, multi-use sports fields and walking trails.

Preston said, “All of that will be tied back into downtown. Imagine the Ness Complex being tied back into the Veterans Memorial and back around. We’re also incorporating the City of Denmark. We’ve been talking with Denmark Tech about helping them renovate and expand their athletic fields and then to have all those fields available for tournament play.”

“We’re also working Denmark Tech on their signage on Heritage Highway,” he said.

Preston said the downtown revitalization project is needed to improve the area’s quality of life.

“We want Bamberg to be prosperous. It is the county seat for the county, and right now the downtown area is kind of dead. … You want to have some type of activity, some thriving that’s going on like you see throughout South Carolina in other areas. We need to bring that to Bamberg,” he said.

Foster said, “I’m truly excited. It’s been a long time coming, and this is the goal that we’ve worked toward. So I’m really excited and think some things are going to really happen.”