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Greenwood County hears watershed study; consultants propose monitoring, buyouts and multi-million-dollar projects
Summary
Consultants from Wilford presented a county watershed study identifying 20 flood-priority areas and four priority projects: lake-level monitoring stations (est. $20k–$75k depending on stations), Brookfield Drive improvements ($1.5M), Sample Branch options (1–4.5M range), and Fox Hollow apartment buyouts ($3.28M). Council approved a contract amendment to support grant resubmission and related tasks.
Consultants from Wilford presented the county’s final 2025 watershed study and outlined four priority projects intended to reduce local flood risk and improve emergency egress.
James Riddle and Molly Graham said the study—funded largely through the capital project sales tax—modeled two watershed systems and identified about 20 areas of concern. "We identified about 20 areas of concern," Riddle said, and the study grouped them into tier 1 and tier 2 priorities.
Molly Graham described the four projects the county advanced for further development. One recommendation is installing real-time lake-level and rainfall monitoring stations to allow homeowners associations to lower lake levels before storm events; Graham said, "1 station was about 20 to $25,000, 3 stations being 60 to 75,000, with an annual operating cost about 4 to $6,000." That option was presented as relatively low-cost, intended to blunt frequent, smaller events.
The second project addresses chronic overtopping on Brookfield Drive in the Gatewood community, where about 30 homes rely on the road for emergency access. Wilford's proposed multi-faceted solution includes replacing an undersized culvert, adding an emergency access road, and restoring roughly 1,600 feet upstream; Wilford estimated the total project cost at $1,500,000. Officials said the county applied to the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA) in March and will reapply in September after debrief feedback.
For Sample Branch the consultants described three alternatives: expanding an undersized culvert at Sample Road and pursuing a FEMA buyout for a residence at 510 Sample Road (a homeowner has signed forms to participate in a FEMA buyout); a more comprehensive alternative would also upsize the Bypass 25 culvert at a much higher cost (Wilford gave a range of about $3.5M–$4.5M). Wilford also recommended adding an emergency access road on Drive Branch Court (estimated $25,000–$50,000) to serve homes upstream that would not benefit from downstream culvert improvements.
The Fox Hollow Apartments—19 townhomes mapped in the FEMA floodplain and repeatedly impacted—were proposed for property buyouts, with a total cost estimate of $3,280,000. The county has submitted a grant application to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (S.C. EMD) for mitigation funding tied to recent storms; officials said that application is moving to FEMA for consideration.
As part of the study Wilford also performed a policy review, benchmarking floodplain and stormwater programs in five neighboring counties and offering ranked policy recommendations intended to strengthen the county’s long-term resilience.
After the presentation Josh Skinner, Greenwood County’s capital projects coordinator, asked the council to approve a roughly $6,000 contract amendment with Wilford to (1) rework and resubmit the RIA grant application, (2) provide virtual public meeting assistance, and (3) add the 510 Central Road property to the county’s FEMA application. Council approved the contract amendment unanimously.
What happens next: Wilford’s final report will remain available to council and the public; staff said they will take the consultants’ recommendations under review and bring a decision on adoption and implementation to council at a future meeting.
