ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — This upcoming Monday Orangeburg County will be hosting a smart growth summit open to public to discuss what residents would like Orangeburg County to look like in the future.
The event will take place at the county conference center at 2:30 and again at 6pm.
Community partners like MUSC- Orangeburg, the Orangeburg County School District, and SC State will be presenting their plans for the future as well.
Angel Howell is the Orangeburg County administrative services division director… she says having a sustainability plan is vital for the future.
“We’re not trying to be a Charleston, we’re not trying to be Columbia," said Howell. "But we do want to make sure that there’s jobs here for our citizens. That our educational system is able to provide the things that they need for future jobs and that we have recreational outlets for our citizens to enjoy so they don’t have to go to Columbia or Charleston all the time.”
Howell says this will give residents a chance to decide what happens in their homes towns.
“Over the course of the next year we will be conducting our sustainability study gathering information from our citizens," said Howell. "So that they can help shape the next 10 to 15 or 15 to 20 years of the county’s growth.”
The county conducted a sustainability study in 2011, which they said led to the capital projects sales tax and several federal and state grants.
“Orangeburg County has seen significant growth, we have seen economic growth and we have seen residential growth," said Howell. "Companies have located here because we were poised for the growth. We had sewer infrastructure, l we had water infrastructure, we had broadband infrastructure and our schools were preparing our kids for the jobs that are here today.”
Residents are welcome to share their thoughts on where they have seen and need growth in any infrastructure in the county.
County officials say they will provide an online forum for residents not available to attend in person.