Picking The Right One

Books come from trees, so it makes sense that West Ashley’s next library will find a home in one of three wooded lots near the intersection of Glenn McConnell Boulevard and Bees Ferry Road.
On Tuesday evening (after press time) Charleston County Council had an opportunity to vote on where to put a brand new 20,000-square-foot library facility in West Ashley. The leading candidate was alongside the wooded campus of West Ashley High School.
The advantages there are free land, which would take some major infrastructure, proximity to the school, and the same population numbers the other two nearby sites would serve.
With a new C.E. Williams Middle School to be built in the near future on the same campus, and WAHS slated to get not only a career tech building, but also an advanced studies stand-alone building, the entire area could become a full-operational Death Star of education.
It would be similar to the one surrounding Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant, which has similar amenities and has enjoyed steady patronage.
The downside is visibility. West Ashley already has two “hidden” libraries — one off Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, which can’t be seen from a main traffic artery and another tucked behind Earth Fare in the South Windermere Shopping Center, also not visibly from any major roadway.
Additionally, even though it would be surrounded by booming neighborhoods like Carolina Bay, its remoteness could be troublesome, especially for the elderly, in the winter when the sun sets early.
Charleston County Library Board of Trustees chair Janet Segal sees a bigger picture, though. “We’re getting a new library, and that’s a good thing; no, it’s a great thing,” she says.
Segal led the charge last year for a $100 million library referendum on the local ballot that sailed through. The referendum will build and enhance 16 county library facilities in the coming years.
Segal describes the convergence of public will and funding as a generational opportunity.
“We didn’t have a library referendum for 30 years and we won’t probably have another one for 25 more — certainly not in my lifetime,” says Segal, who lives in Shadowmoss.
Segal led an effort this year to divine what would be the best spot for a new West Ashley library.
The early frontrunner was a front-row spot on the coming West Ashley Traffic Circle, but it was too small at only two acres, half of what is needed.
The next two spots the trustees recommended were close by, with the first fronting onto Glenn McConnell at Essex Road. Tucked behind it is a thriving apartment community, replete with sidewalks, and kids on bikes.
But, that kind of visibility could come at a higher cost, as that land is privately owned.
The next spot was down Glenn McConnell and then left to the corner of Bees Ferry and Sanders roads across the road from the entrance The Avenues apartment complex.
The plusses here are substantial, as a facility located there would have its front doors overlooking the future of residential growth in West Ashley. Long Savannah, the massive suburban development recently greenlighted, will need it’s own library, according to Segal.
“That thing isn’t a ‘neighborhood,’ it’s its own town, and it’s going to need to get its own library,” she says.
The Sanders Road site, also privately owned by the same developer, would have Bolton Landing as a neighbor, connected through the backside that is currently deeply rutted dirt roads.
West Ashley appears to be in a win-win-win situation with whatever plots County Council chooses, unlike James Island. There, where city, county, public service district, and town abut, hardball politics seem to be pushing around the location of their facility.
Originally, West Ashley and James Island were going to share a 40,000-square-foot library, similar in size to the downtown facility, along Folly Road. But Segal said the love and support for the existing South Windermere library was such that a split plan had to be devised.
West Ashley loves libraries, and if the county and Segal have anything to do with it, this part of town will soon have another love affair. Once the site is selected, bids are put out, a builder is selected, architectural plans are approved, ground is broken, bricks are laid, and books are shelved.
It’s going to be a while, but with planned public meeting spaces, big windows, better computers, it should be worth the wait.