Since 2015, the Horne Wetlands Park has been closed to the public due to the damages caused by Hurricane Matthew. The City of Orangeburg Council members have been working with J.D. Gaskin Construction Inc. of Aiken to start renovation plans for the park to repair and replace different portions of the wooden boardwalk.

Department of Public Utilities workers use pressure washers on the boardwalk near the entrance of the Horne Wetlands Park.

“The damage was done from two different storms and FEMA requires you to treat it as two occurrences. First, FEMA allocated $265,000 and after it was bid, we had to go back to FEMA and get their approval to bid it again,” Yow said.

With the spread of COVID-19, many projects have been placed on hold but the park is finally within the last stages of completion. The park is planned to reopen back up to the public during March 2021 with the completion of the boardwalk and other repairs.

@TheTandD