HARTSVILLE, S.C. (WBTW) – Plans to revitalize one South Hartsville community began with a lot of knocks on front doors.
It’s part of a survey of the condition of homes in the neighborhood, an issue that concerns many of the 1800 residents in the area.
“It’s just going away. We need as much help as possible,” Carolyn Rogers said.
Rogers has lived in South Hartsville for more than six years, after taking over her grandmother’s home and said she was surprised when someone came to her door.
“I showed them my windows were broken, on the side of my house a fire had got caught and it burned the side of my house. That needs to be repaired,” said Rogers.
Which is why city leaders and volunteers will team up to help fix that problem.
“I think that this is just the first step to moving forward to where we need to be able to revive the community,” said Heather Garrison with Hartsville City Planning.
“This community was a nice area. Howard Street was a nice area to live in. But now it’s run down,” mentioned Rogers.
So each day until July 31st volunteers will be looking at the condition of residents property to see which homes are in need of repair.
“It pertains just to the structure of the house, so that we can know what kind of conditions that we have and in what area seems to be the worst,” says Garrison
The hope is to get the resources to clean up the areas residents call home.
“By being in the streets and having the chance to talk to the community, they can kind of get a feel for who we are and what we want for them,” Garrison said.
After the data collection is complete, the city will apply for funding to begin its revitalization efforts.
The next Neighborhood Association meeting will happen Thursday, August 13th at 6 p.m. at the Butler Heritage Foundation. Officials will discuss the next phases of the project at that meeting.
If you would like to join the effort in South Hartsville, contact the City Planning Department at 843-383-3015.