LEXINGTON, S.C. — The mayor and council of the Town of Lexington made time a big focus in their Monday night meeting.
Mayor Pro-Tem, Hazel Livingston marked 25 years on council, and Mayor MacDougall announced a project that has been in the works for more than a decade and will take more than a decade to complete.
To celebrate Councilwoman Livingston's years of service to the town she received several recognitions. Livingston has been an integral part of the renovations to Virginia Hylton Park, and beautifying the area for current and future residents.
"I hope that people will continue to preserve Lexington preserve some of the histories, continue to preserve some of the green space... I have 10 grandchildren and I want to leave some parks and footprints that they can enjoy in the future," Livingston said.
Livingston says this 25-year celebration is not goodbye. She says she is still deciding whether or not she will run for her seat again before November.
As Livingston thought about the future so did the town with a new development that will come to the area in the next two years.
Mayor Steve MacDougall says the 93 acres just to the left of the public access beaches along Lake Murray will soon be developed into something the town of Lexington has named Smallwood Cove.
"It's going to have two hotels on it, it'll have a conference center that we will build, it will have 1100 residential units, those will be houses, condominiums, and townhomes. It will have some retail space on it, so there will be space for people to set up shop," MacDougall explained.
Mayor MacDougall explained that the project has been discussed for more than a decade and says he's looking forward to seeing it all come together.
The Smallwood Cove project is expected to begin construction in the next two years but will take a total of 15 years to complete.
Private developers are expected to invest in excess of $733 million into the project.