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Council approves $30,000 design contract for two emergency access roads in flood-prone Gatewood/Chinquapin areas
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Summary
Council approved a $30,000 contract with Davidson Floyd to design and permit two emergency access roads (Brookfield Drive to Tranquil Road and Tall Pines Trail to Creek Road East) identified in the 2016 watershed study; the county has budgeted $100,000 per road for construction and set design and permitting as the next step.
Josh Skinner, the county's capital project sales-tax director, presented a watershed-based proposal to design two emergency access roads in Gatewood and Chinquapin. Skinner said the 2016 watershed study identified eight critical flood-prone areas countywide; the two Gatewood projects would restore emergency access for about 30 homes on Brookfield Drive and provide a second option for six homes on Tall Pines Trail.
Skinner said Davidson Floyd was the low bidder at $30,000 to perform surveying, design (24-foot gravel road), gate design, permitting and easement platting; the county has set aside $100,000 for each road in the watershed study budget. Council members praised the safety rationale, but several asked who would maintain the gravel emergency roads and gates in the long term and whether Greenwood County would assume maintenance and liability if the county holds the easements. Staff said those operational decisions had not been finalized and that the current action was to authorize design work.
A motion to approve the $30,000 Davidson Floyd design contract passed unanimously. Skinner said design work and permitting are the immediate next steps; staff will return later with construction bids and final maintenance/easement proposals.
Sources: Josh Skinner, Capital Project Sales Tax Director (presentation to Greenwood County Council, April 21, 2026).
