New fight brews over old hospital

The idea is big picture: Sell the old Dorchester County hospital complex in Summerville. Use what could be a $4 million profit to move to or build a bigger complex, consolidate offices and add revenue in cash-strapped times.

Except that the old hospital complex is a treasured bit of the old town.

It's an entire city block that serves as the county services center for the lower county, near Main Street and U.S. Highway 78. Its main building is a stately brick and white-columned edifice that is a scenic focus. The complex is where residents in the busy suburbs can go to pay taxes and obtain building permits or flu shots.

And it's the place where any number of people in Summerville were born.

When County Council suggested closing it last year, more than a few residents were vocal in opposing it. In the 1970s, when the county first looked to demolish it after the hospital closed, the Summerville Preservation Society and residents launched a petition to maintain services there.

Longtime preservation society President Heyward Hutson is rousing people to do it again.

"I'm appalled at the idea. Not only have we been through this before, but it makes no sense to sell a property that is centrally located, serves the community well and is paid for," he said.

The building was erected in 1937, and has huge meaning for people, Hutson said.

"I don't understand the mentality of people who want to destroy something that makes Summerville beautiful."

County Councilman Richard Rosebrock said he has been hearing from Hutson and others.

"Oh boy, I'm getting it," Rosebrock said. "I think we'd be opening a Pandora's box, with the cost to open a new office. It's not something we should do. We've got a lot of other issues on the agenda already."

But Rosebrock frankly concedes he doesn't think the votes are on the council to stop it.

The opposition seem to be focused mostly in the historic Old Town of Summerville. County Councilman Bill Hearn, who represents the district where the building sits, said he's heard from only one or two people. County Council Chairman Larry Hargett and Councilman Jay Byars said they haven't heard much.

They agree that any decision will come down to dollars and sense. The building is more than 70 years old, Hargett said. It's costly to heat and cool and costly to renovate.

The council wants to consolidate under a single roof the state-mandated services that it now pays rent for in other offices.

The council is considering moving services from the space-strapped complex to a bigger location, possibly the largely vacant Heritage Square shopping center, or to the suburban-hub Trolley Road area.

That would allow officials to bring in at least some of nine services that currently use rental space at a total cost of more than $235,000 per year, according to county figures.

"We need to explore what is best for the county as a whole and looking at that sale and possible opportunities it creates is the responsible thing to do," Byars said in an email. "If selling that property creates opportunity to build a new library … and move the services closer to the population center of the area, then we should explore it."

That might not happen without a fight. Again.

"I'm in favor of something that makes the community better. I'm not in favor of destroying something to get money for a councilman's project, and you can quote me on that," Hutson said. "I guarantee you there is more opposition than just Heyward Hutson and the preservation society."