Landscaper that worked at R1’s early learning center site threatened with contempt of court
A Columbia landscaping business that worked on Richland School District 1’s abandoned early learning center project risks being held in contempt of court for its failure to respond to court orders.
Blooming & Grooming Landscaping Services, which records show was involved in “site stabilization” and “water mitigation” efforts at the Caughman Road site in Lower Richland, has ignored multiple subpoenas requesting it turn over documents related to the company’s work on the project, according to a court motion filed March 17 in Richland County.
The subpoenas were issued in connection with a lawsuit filed last July by a homeowner who claimed the clear-cutting and grading of the formerly forested project site resulted in a “massive” diversion of stormwater to the surrounding neighborhood during heavy rains.
Johna Wilkes’ Twin Oaks Way residence, which had never sustained any flooding in the prior 27 years she lived there, has been inundated with water repeatedly since March 2024, the homeowner’s suit alleged.
As a company engaged in stormwater management at the early learning center site, Blooming & Grooming’s work on the project is critical to the suit.
Richland 1 spokeswoman Karen York confirmed Monday that the company performed water mitigation at the early learning center site in March 2024, about six weeks after Richland County issued a stop work order that halted the unpermitted construction.
York said Blooming & Grooming filled sandbags and placed them on the property March 5 of last year in an effort to reduce stormwater runoff. The area had gotten more than two inches of rain on March 2 and was forecast for another two inches on March 6, she said.
“The sandbags were placed to redirect the outflow from the forecasted rain away from the adjoining properties,” York wrote in an emailed statement.
Richland 1 paid the company $2,560 for its labor, which York said was the only work Blooming & Grooming performed on the early learning center project.
Envisioned as a $31 million state-of-the-art facility that would expand child care services in the Lower Richland area, the project devolved into an epic boondoggle that damaged Richland 1’s reputation and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, an investigation by South Carolina’s inspector general found.
The school board ultimately pulled the plug on the center last month, with nothing to show for it but a concrete shell of a building and two lawsuits that blame the project for triggering routine flooding in the surrounding neighborhood.
While Blooming & Grooming is not named in either suit, Wilkes’ attorney sought records from the company’s owner and three corporate entities she controls. The records were sought because of the central role that stormwater management and site maintenance have in the dispute.
The landscaping company, which also has used the names B&G Services and B&G Landscaping of South Carolina, is a longtime Richland 1 vendor with a troubled financial history.
A December 2024 investigation by The State found the company hadn’t had a county business license in over a decade and owed the state thousands of dollars in unemployment taxes.
Mary Linda Able, who has owned the landscaping business since at least 2015, declined comment when contacted by a reporter.
She was served with four subpoenas on Jan. 22 and re-served Feb. 19 to correct an error in the original subpoenas, according to the March 17 motion.
The court orders commanded Able to produce documents related to her company’s work at the early learning center site and its communications with Richland 1 about the site, among other things.
Able had not responded as of March 17, according to the motion, which sought an order requiring that she appear before a judge to explain herself.
An individual who fails to respond to a subpoena without an adequate excuse can be held in contempt of court.
A hearing on the motion is set for Friday.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 12:13 PM.