City Council to view plans for classroom at Carolina Bay

A presentation of plans to build an outdoor classroom and conduct some forestry management work at the Carolina Bay Nature Reserve will be given at the Aiken City Council meeting this evening.

The presentation will include concept drawings of the "interpretive center" that the City is planning to construct at the Carolina Bay located off Price Avenue. This project was listed on the second round of the Capital Project Sales Tax referendum at $100,000 and was approved in 2004.

According to City Manager Richard Pearce, this outdoor classroom would have little impact on the natural site as the goal is to have it "blend in with the landscape" and is similar to a structure at Phinizy Swamp.

Some residents have spoken against the building of the outdoor classroom, stating this manmade structure will damage the integrity of the nature reserve.

This structure is to be placed in an existing cleared area over a drainage pipe installed years before that feeds from Price Avenue. The Carolina Bay serves as a detention area for the city with a pump system and several drainage pipes that were installed about 15 years ago to prevent storm water overflow in surrounding neighborhoods.

The project includes not only the building of this outdoor classroom but also the clearing out of invasive plant species that are deterring the growth of native plant species in the bay area. No large trees would be removed, and the undergrowth along Colony Parkway and Price Avenue would be mulched, according to a memorandum from Pearce.

Pearce also mentioned in the memorandum that the City has consulted several experts regarding its management plan, including Hitchcock Woods Superintendent Bennett Tucker, who has identified natural habitats that need to be protected.

In other business, Council will conduct the first reading of an ordinance to roll back the City's real property tax millage rate from 66 mills to 62 mills. The last time the millage rate changed was in 2007 when it decreased, and it hasn't gone up in more than 20 years, according to City officials.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and will take place in the Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 214 Park Ave. S.W.