According to the Charleston County Library’s latest plan, the quaint South Windermere Library location will be completely renovated.
For the past few years, the county library system has been busy putting together a referendum to fund an impressive building and renovation program.
At a public hearing in April, local stakeholders were given a chance to weigh in on the idea of razing the 6,000-square-foot, 50–year-old library in favor of a larger and more modern location somewhere along the Folly Road corridor.
The idea was poorly received, and the library system went back to work on its plan. Recently, it unveiled its referendum, in which it will ask voters in November whether they want to support the expenditure of $108.3 million.
That money would build five new libraries, each of them more than twice the size up to nearly seven times the size of the South Windermere location. It would also renovate 13 different existing locations.
Janet Segal, chair of the board of trustees for the county library system, as well as for the Vote Yes! For Charleston Libraries committee, said the plan as it now stands would call for the “gutting” of the South Windermere facility.
“We would be able to get the building up to Americans with Disabilities Act, install new wiring, the air-conditioning system needs to be replaced, and we’d be able to redesign the inside and find out what we can cram into 6,000 square feet of space,” said Segal.
New technology would also be wired into the facility, and possibly some public meeting rooms could be included, too, she said.
Should the voting public go for the referendum, Segal said the next step would be to bring in architects to host public meetings to find out what local stakeholders want, and don’t want, included in the revamped library.

Pin It on Pinterest