Sumter planning $4M expansion at Shaw Welcome Center

The Welcome Center at Shaw-Sumter Farm is a $3.4 million structure built with local and state tax dollars. Last year, the center was brought to the forefront of the public’s attention following an article published by The Post and Courier about it being used for hunting excursions by military higher-ups, local government officials and their friends and family. Now, more information on who has access to Shaw-Sumter Farm has been provided by the city. Even as questions remain about the center and who can use it, the city is preparing for a new structure that may soon be built on the land: a barn to increase capacity for military uses.

An unbuilt barn

The barn revitalization project was proposed at $4.27 million and is planned to span 6,200 square feet. The money was awarded by the S.C. Department of Veterans Affairs in October 2023 as a military enhancement grant to be used for military protection and mission readiness.

The barn is expected to cost more than the Welcome Center and the three-bedroom caretaker house on the Shaw-Sumter farm property. The purpose behind it? According to City of Sumter Director of Communications and Tourism Shelley Kile, it is all about capacity.

The Welcome Center seats 128 people, whereas the grant proposal for the barn says it will “accommodate larger groups of military members and their families.” Kile says this larger capacity will allow Shaw to have unit meetings or training sessions at the barn.

At this point, there is no indicator of when the project will begin.

The original grant proposal showed a ribbon cutting should be expected in 2025. The proposal also says the project would take 24-36 months upon receiving the grant. So far, only architectural/engineering fees have been spent, amounting to $27,000. There is not a timeline for when the barn must be completed, but the city must report to the Department of Veterans Affairs quarterly on how the money has been spent – though right now the department has been informed the project is on hold, with the main problem being funding.

The initial $4.27 million price tag will no longer suffice for the city’s plans because construction costs have risen, meaning the barn may have to be downsized. But sacrificing added capacity would bypass what the city said the need for the facility is: more space.

Though there are no renderings, Kile described it as “not that fancy of a space.” If constructed, she said it would have cement floors and be an open-air building with garage-like doors. In comparison, the Welcome Center has a much more lavish look: a large stone fireplace, a balcony hosting two stuffed bears and vaulted ceilings, according to reporting from The Post and Courier and observations by The Sumter Item when the paper covered one event at the center in August 2024, where Gov. Henry McMaster announced Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS would be launched in South Carolina.

The revitalization aspect of the project has also changed. The barns on the site are in such disrepair they can no longer be revitalized, so instead, some of the wood may be reused in the new build.

Transparency

For many, the existence of the Shaw-Sumter Farm Welcome Center was a shock. It is nestled at the end of what could be any rural driveway, inconspicuously set next to farmland and wooded area beyond a fenced-off gravel drive. Many of Shaw’s operations are unknown to civilians, but this land belongs to the city and the center was paid for with state tax dollars, causing some people to question why they didn’t realize it was there sooner.

Even residents who have lived in Sumter for decades didn’t know. Residents like Brenda Williams, a retired physician who raised her three daughters in Sumter with her husband. The existence of the center especially surprised her as it is close to her house. Having lived in Sumter for 43 years, Williams said when she found out about the facility that she felt angry at the “disrespect and disregard of people, working people.” She said she felt like the city was not being transparent in how it was using tax dollars.

So, she set out to find more information and wanted to see the center with her own eyes. After inquiring with the city about getting a tour of the facilities, she was turned down twice, cited with City of Sumter Resolution No. 911.

The resolution, which became city policy in 2023, addresses where the public has access to and where they can record when it comes to municipal property, but Williams maintained that it was her First Amendment right to be able to take pictures and videos on the property. Now, a sign is posted in front of the gate to the Welcome Center that reads “limited access area,” referencing the resolution.

In April, Williams found information on the city’s website that had not been there before regarding the Welcome Center, and one document she found particularly useful was an application to use the center. She filled it out, this time with her “science whiz kids” in mind.

Williams formed Science Whiz Kids 32 years ago at her and her husband’s medical practice. The group of children was made up of her staff’s kids, and while their parents worked, Williams would lead them through science experiments and lessons. She applied to use the Shaw-Sumter Farm under an educational purpose, saying she wanted to teach the children about agriculture and wetlands.

She was again denied after receiving a letter from the city’s lawyer, Danny Crowe, that also referenced the resolution.

A retired master sergeant in the Air Force shared his story with The Post and Courier. In 2022, he inquired about using the Welcome Center for his retirement celebration following 22 years of service but was denied after seeking approval through Air Force channels. He said he was told that only E-9s and above could use the facility, and he was an E-7 sergeant. A 20th Fighter Wing spokesperson told The Post and Courier the wing commander “approves an event based on its purpose and whether it has unit-wide interest” and that the wing “does not have any protocols limiting requests or use of the Welcome Center by the rank of the requestor."

So, who can use the facility?

Sumter Mayor David Merchant wrote in an email to The Sumter Item that the Shaw-Sumter Farm is a limited-use government facility. So, essentially, it is not open to the public. He compared it to a publicly owned football stadium. On a Friday night, he can pay to attend his son’s games, but he cannot go to the same stadium to play ball with his son on a Saturday morning because it is a limited-access government building. Merchant also wrote that there are no plans to open the land up for general access.

“However,” Merchant wrote, “there have been plans to create access for students in the Sumter School District as a nature walk/outdoor classroom. We received a Duke Energy Foundation Grant as well as private donations to help complete this project.”

When the land the center is on was purchased with sales tax revenue from the voter-approved 2008 Penny for Progress initiative, the referendum cited base retention and providing green space for residents as reasons for its purpose; however, residents have not seen access to that green space.

Kile also mentioned this project, saying when the Sumter dam was damaged by Hurricane Joaquin’s subsequent “1,000-year flood” in 2015, it rerouted wildlife and water, and the city has run into issues getting restoration funds from FEMA. However, Merchant said now that the dam has been classified as low hazard, they can begin repairs once they find the funding.

Some agricultural pieces of the land are rented out to local farmers, and the city makes money by allowing selective timbering. This pays for maintenance, according to Kile.

Other than this potential nature walk/outdoor classroom and one other youth program, the public has no access to the Shaw-Sumter Farm. And, with documents about the Shaw-Sumter Farm being not easily available or complicated to find prior to The Post and Courier’s October 2024 article, questions have been raised about the city’s transparency when it comes to the land. Especially when it comes to hunting.

In its Uncovered report last year, The Post and Courier, whom The Item partnered with for this story, reported on multiple instances of hunting taking place on the property of the Shaw-Sumter Farm, including Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon and two top Shaw Air Force Base officers, Col. Kevin Hicok, commander of the 20th Fighter Wing, and Col. Bryan Tash, deputy commander Ninth Air Force, who were given written warning notices by a state Department of Natural Resources officer for hunting doves without proper permits.

The city said it now only allows DNR-sanctioned hunts, and the property’s caretaker, who is provided his on-site housing by the city, is required to lessen the deer population if it gets too high.

Recently, the city did open up another way for the public to access the land through a youth hunting program. In the Take One Make One program, youth 10 to 17 years old can “learn about safe and ethical hunting through first-time youth hunts,” according to the city’s website.

Why was the Welcome Center at Shaw-Sumter Farm purchased?

Through a spokesperson, S.C. Speaker of the House Murrell Smith, a Sumter Republican who helped secure the funding for the development, reiterated that he supports the Welcome Center as “an important space that has supported the mission of Shaw and the larger economic growth of Sumter,” which is similar to what he told The Post and Courier last year.

Smith helped the city secure a $750,000 state parks grant in 2016 and another $750,000 earmark in 2021, The Post and Courier reported. Future funding through the state for the barn project is unlikely right now as this year’s budget was passed by the General Assembly with no appropriations for local projects.

It has been 20 years since the Department of Defense has gone through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, but the fear of having Shaw closed and leaving a detrimental economic impact not just on Sumter, but the whole of South Carolina, remains. In June 2022, the base generated $2.4 billion for the state, a figure that has steadily gone up with it bringing in $1.6 billion in 2017. Smith told The Sumter Item in October 2024 the base's economic impact in the Sumter region reaches $1.7 billion annually.

Shaw, established in 1941, has survived every round of BRAC from the first one in 1988 to the last in 2005. Though it has been a while since any base has faced BRAC, it is not a retired practice.

Deciding which bases may need to close is based on several different economic factors. One of those factors is whether a base has enough space to expand.

That is where the Welcome Center’s property comes in. Located on about 900 acres of city-owned land, the center is part of nearly 3,000 acres purchased for base preservation. It is the only parcel that can be developed on, as the other two are part of the Congaree Land Trust.

The land may belong to the city, but it may as well belong to Shaw, since ownership is supposed to transfer if the Department of Defense determines the base should expand. That’s why, Kile said, the city tries to develop base-useful resources such as the Welcome Center on the land. Kile estimates Shaw uses the center 40 weeks of the year, noting the Shaw–Sumter Farm’s caretaker can handle managing two events per week.

When asked about the process of transferring the land to the base, Merchant said Sumter City Council would need to pass an ordinance to allow an immediate transfer to the federal government. He emphasized the city would gladly give the land to Shaw.

"Shaw’s economic impact is over $2 billion annually,” he said. “Just as important, we value the impact that airmen, soldiers and families have on our community. The center was built to help strengthen these bonds by welcoming base leadership and giving them an off-site facility for meetings and special events. It also serves as a reminder to them that we are poised for growth, and this land is held for base expansion.”

Bryn Eddy of The Sumter Item and Tony Bartelme of The Post and Courier contributed to this article.

The Post and Courier’s Uncovered project is an ongoing collaboration with more than 19 community newspapers to expose questionable conduct in South Carolina. For more information, visit www.postandcourier.com/uncovered.