In April of this year, Representative District 64 Fawn Pedalino submitted a request on behalf of Clarendon County for a grant of $700,000. The purpose of the request is to make wastewater improvements to the Summerton area addressing the small capacity deficiency for the North Shore Hotel Development project. The North Shore Hotel Development Project is a planned SpringHill Suites by Mariott consisting of 117 rooms and several cabins. According to the request submitted by Representative Pedalino, the current wastewater system prevents Summerton from having economical development projects from coming to the area because it is at maximum capacity and the $700,000 would help the community to have the North Shore Hotel come to the community for future projects.
Representative Pedalino’s request was granted. She said, “I am proud to have been able to get the funding for the project and to get the project off the ground. The county is going to complete the project. They are just waiting on the Town of Summerton to approve the county to hook up the Summerton water system once everything is complete. A meeting to discuss this is already in the works.”
A statement from the county received Monday read as follows: “The project will be located on Gordon Road, adjacent to the North Shore at Lake Marion condominiums. It will include a four-story, 117 room hotel, eleven cabins, a restaurant, and an area with single family residences. Access to Lake Marion will also be provided. The $700,000 from the recently passed State Budget for the project will come to the County, and County staff will use these funds to complete the project’s water and sewer infrastructure requirements. Then we will turn the completed improvements over to the Town of Summerton as a connected part of their water and sewer system, as is typical of how these types of improvements happen. This will be a very exciting project for our County, and we very much appreciate the Legislative Delegation working to land these funds.”
Senator District 36 Kevin Johnson, who in April was instrumental in securing several million in grants for Clarendon County, wanted to secure the funding for North Shore Hotel as well. “In a meeting several months ago, our legislative delegation met with County officials and Summerton officials to receive an update on this project. To fully fund this project, which will be a benefit to Clarendon County and the town of Summerton, approximately $700,000 in additional funding was needed. All of us pledged to work hard to obtain the funding. Personally, I contacted several possible funding sources but was unsuccessful.
When the proposed State budget came to the Senate from the House, I requested funding for this project. When I received the lists of projects that I requested funding for, the funding for North Shore was not included. I met with the Chief of Staff for Senate Finance and he assured me that when the budget was sent back to the House, there would be additional available revenue that can be appropriated and he also assured me that the House had committed to him to make this vital funding available. In my opinion, it is not important who gets credit for securing the funding. At the end of the day, every member of the General Assembly votes on the proposed budget. The North Shore project will be another game changer in our area and it is an example of what can be done when our local leaders work together on projects that benefit the constituents that we represent. I look forward to seeing this project to the very end and to experiencing all the benefits that will come with it.”
