WINNSBORO – In a Facebook post, Rep. Annie McDaniel put the following questions to County government officials regarding the proposed penny tax/wastewater treatment plant. The Voice reached out to County Council Chairman Neil Robinson for answers. Those answers follow McDaniels’ questions.
McDaniel: Can this not wait until after the election?
Robinson: No, the penny sales tax is on the ballot so it has to be discussed before the Nov. 3 election. The closing date for the wastewater treatment plant site is driving the timing.
McDaniel: Where has the money been ’shuffled within Fairfield County’ (referencing a quote by Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor that appeared in The Voice’s 8-1-20 story about the wastewater treatment plant: “The way you grow a community is not just by shuffling money around inside the county or town, you need to bring in outside dollars.”)
Robinson: This is a phrase used by Commerce to explain that outside private sector dollars need to come into the county for sustainable growth and success.
McDaniel: Bond are issued, the penny is not raised during this pandemic. Will property taxes increase to pay the bond?
Robinson: No, this will not raise property taxes. The penny tax is proposed to avoid raising property taxes. The penny tax is an alternative funding source.
McDaniel: Share the names of the members on this committee that proposed this project?
Robinson: The purchase of the property was allocated in the 20-21 budget. The full council voted on the project. This was all reported in the newspaper at the time.
McDaniel: I requested but have not received the details. Is it true that you do not share the details because the devil is in the details?
Robinson: The council chairman invited Ms. McDaniel to two meetings, which she attended. The project was discussed at length at those two meetings. Ms. McDaniel was encouraged to ask any and all questions at this meeting. She requested the TY Lynn study be sent to her, which was provided.
McDaniel: Why is this venture good for the county but the teacher village was not?
Robinson: The county council supported the teacher village but the developer backed out. The developer by their own admission was not willing to take on the risk. The developer wanted the county to indemnify the project. By law, the county is not able to do this.
McDaniel: Beautiful project, is the timing right?
Robinson: Yes, although the best timing for this was 15 years ago. Following the crushing blow of SCE&G/Santee Cooper’s failure to complete the two new reactors which were planned to fund the wastewater infrastructure, the county had to alter its plans. We now have willing partners from the state, Blythewood and private developers for the project. We need to continue this growth that we’ve accomplished over the last two years. Without an expansion of sewer, we won’t be able to recruit more industry, create commercial opportunity, or create jobs and residential growth.
McDaniel: Will you share which roads have been repaired with the $5 increase?
Robinson: We’ll be happy to pull the records and share these details.
McDaniel: Venture between Blythewood and Fairfield. How many public hearings were held?
Robinson: The partnership with Blythewood is just a proposal and still in the early process. We hosted an informational webinar meeting Oct. 6, and welcome public input.
McDaniel: Why are we moving so quickly when we are still working on the new admin building?
Robinson: It is common for counties to work on projects concurrently. As you are aware, we have been working on the wastewater treatment plan for about 3-1/2 years as we have, all along, worked on other projects. Previous county councils and administrators have addressed the need for expansion in wastewater treatment capacity. With current private and public partnerships available to us, the plan is now coming together.
McDaniel: Please post all committee minutes, members, budget, total cost, and signed agreements.
Robinson: These have and will be posted as they are finalized.
McDaniel: Was there a penny increase a while back that is unaccounted for?
Robinson: As was publicized, a local options sales tax was passed in 2006. By law, these funds are used to reduce homeowner’s property taxes.
McDaniel: Finally, are we asking for forgiveness later since this project has not been properly vetted throughout the county and raise taxes now?
Robinson: The penny sales tax will be used to pay for the wastewater treatment plant. The need for additional sewer capacity has been known, vetted, and properly researched over the last 10+ years. We are currently nearing sewer capacity. Without an expansion there will soon be no more growth which will limit job growth as well.
McDaniel: Please share the timeliness and funding source.
Robinson: I believe this has been spelled out in council and reported in the newspaper numerous times. The wastewater treatment plant is expected cost approximately $32M and be completed in 3 – 4 years. In addition to potential state funding contributing to the plant’s construction, we expect to pull $5M from county coffers, cover $8-10M with the passage of a new penny sales tax and cover the rest with revenue generated by end users.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – With a $1.8 million land deal being proposed by Fairfield County, a partnership between the county and the Town of Blythewood is on track to check two big items off of local wish lists: a much-needed wastewater treatment plant and a ballfield complex for youth sports teams.
Fairfield County Council Chair Neil Robinson said both
projects are part of a long-range vision that could turn Interstate-77’s Exit
32 in Fairfield County into a new hotspot for development.
Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor agreed, adding
that if all the pieces come together, it could be a great benefit to the
citizens of both Fairfield County and Blythewood.
“The way you grow a community is not just by shuffling money
around inside the county or town; you need to bring in outside dollars.” Taylor
said, touting both the tournament-hosting potential of a sports complex and the
potential draw of adjacent commercial development made possible by the
wastewater treatment plant.
“There’s a synergy here – one thing helps build upon the other, and all those things help the critical thing that we’re focused on here [with this project], the wastewater treatment plant,” he said.
The need for increased wastewater capacity has been high on
Fairfield’s priority list recently as most of its existing capacity is already
in use. The county has brought in considerable new industry and accompanying
new jobs during the last three years or so, leaving Fairfield with only about
30,000 gallons of wastewater capacity – a fact that limits current potential
for both industrial and other types of development all over the county, and is
now prompting some industrial prospects to look elsewhere, taking their jobs
with them.
“Adding more wastewater capacity is key to the future
development of commercial and residential in the county. Without the new
capacity, the creation of new jobs, shopping opportunities and residential
development will be severely limited,” Taylor said.
“We had to find a site for the plant that has direct access
to a stream that can handle the expected effluent and will not require a
long-distance pipeline to a discharge site,” he said. The county settled on
property on Peach Road at the intersection of Cook Road just west of Exit 32 in
Fairfield County, just one exit north of Blythewood.
As it turned out, the property for sale is about 385 acres,
much larger and more expensive than what’s needed for the plant.
Enter Blythewood, where the need for ballfields has become a high priority with the exponential growth of the community. Building a sports complex was something newly elected Mayor Bryan Franklin talked about a lot in his campaign last fall. Blythewood, home of the popular Blythewood Youth Baseball & Softball League (BYSBL), has the revenue potential from accommodation and hospitality tax to purchase property for a sports complex but has not so far found a suitable/affordable site.
The Plan
The proposal is for the county to develop the wastewater
treatment plant and an extensive recreation park on 225+/- acres it purchased
on the south side of the property, and Blythewood is considering purchasing
60+/- acres in the center of the property for the sports complex. The current
land owner, Joseph Richardson, would retain about 100+/- acres on the north
side of the property for private multi-use development, including commercial,
possibly with apartments above.
In addition, the county portion of the park – a site not
suited for industrial development – will include the wastewater treatment plant
concealed in a heavily wooded area and a 50-acre pond that, Taylor said, is a
potential showplace, ideally suited for fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and maybe
a water’s edge event venue as well as a network of recreational trails.
“Because the wastewater treatment plant is located on the
property, it could reduce development costs on the site as much as $2-$3
million since they won’t have to run pipes, acquire easements and install pump
stations,” Fairfield County Economic Development Director Ty Davenport added.
Taylor said a partnership between Fairfield and Blythewood
and the landowner just makes sense.
Blythewood on Board
Franklin agrees.
“It’s just too good of an opportunity for us to pass up,”
Franklin told The Voice. “While our council has not yet voted on this plan,
we’ve discussed it in executive session and I know that all of our council
members are excited about it. We’re looking forward to moving on it.”
That move, however, could take as much as six to eight
months, he said.
“Blythewood doesn’t have a big budget, but we could pay for
the land over a three-year period of time. We just need time to assess it, get
our funds together, and let Fairfield get the zoning on the property.”
Having grown up in Blythewood, Franklin said he has fond
memories of playing on the three BYSBL fields when he was young. Those fields,
today, can barely accommodate the number of kids who want to play. Franklin
said he would like to see the town have a state-of-the-art facility like this
to support the BYSBL while also bringing substantial revenue to the town.
“Located on I-77 in the center of the state, the sports complex is going to attract kids of all sports from all areas of the state,” Franklin said. “And the commercial area is what the residents of Blythewood want to see – more restaurants, more things to do and close to home – just five miles from our Blythewood exit.”
A Mutual Benefit
“Both Blythewood and Fairfield will benefit from what the
other has in the park,” Davenport said. “For instance, Fairfield would have
joint use of Blythewood’s sports complex and neither would have to pay fees. A
rendering of the complex features up to eight baseball fields and five
soccer/football fields among other amenities that might include a hotel with
balconies for viewing games.”
From a development standpoint, Taylor said, the wastewater
treatment plant and sports complex projects are just the beginning. In addition
to meeting current needs, pairing needed infrastructure with a tourism-drawing
amenity will promote good, sustainable development at Exit 32.
That could help the county land a large manufacturing facility, Taylor said, such as an auto plant, just down the road at the future Exit 32 megasite. Such a facility, he said, would be a stable provider of jobs for the county and could also help attract the kind of planned, commercial development on Richardson’s acreage that might be anchored by a major sporting goods store and include hotels, restaurants and retail, which would bring in revenue during sports tournaments as well as serving Interstate travelers.
Annexation
Because of the proximity of the property to the Town of
Blythewood along Boney Road, the option is on the table for Blythewood to annex
the entire 385 acres and reap considerable revenue from not only the sports
complex, but the accommodation and hospitality taxes generated by the hotels
and restaurants, as well as franchise fees, business license fees and building
permits from the commercial development.
The long term plan could be extremely beneficial for the
citizens of both Blythewood and Fairfield County and would certainly raise the
fortunes of all of the residents of Fairfield County on many levels, including
jobs and new residential neighborhoods, Taylor said.
“The county would collect property taxes on all three
parcels. The site generates about $4,000 annually in taxes now,” he said. “A
single business in the commercial section could bring in well over $100,000
annually in property taxes. The property tax potential for the county is in the
millions”.
County officials say the several hundred acres adjacent to
the 385 acres are prime for the kind of nature-based housing subdivisions that
have replaced golf courses as the preferred type of residential development
across the country.
Davenport said the Exit 32 interchange, itself, is a
valuable asset with I-77, a major travel artery between Columbia and Charlotte,
a continuous resource.
“An interstate exit like Exit 32 costs about $50-75 million,
a resource that we need to take advantage of,” he said.
Master Planned
“I would really like to see this development taken to the
next level,” Taylor said. “We hope to develop a master plan and development
agreement on top of everything else, including tax incentives and other
incentives that make it more desirable for someone to come in and develop the
site to its best and highest use.
“We’re not just dreaming here,” Taylor said. “I think all of
this can be reality. We want to create a traditional, attractive community in
the commercial section that may have upstairs apartments, and where people can
easily take advantage of the proposed parks and the easy access to Columbia on
the interstate. We want to be proactive and get ahead of this [growth at Exit
32] with a development that is well thought out and sustainable.
“All this is driven by the wastewater treatment plant,” he
said. “We have to have the plant to support the future megasite just six miles
up the road. And when that plant hits, this 385 acres is going to explode.
Commerce has told us we have to be ready because when it does hit, it will be
hard at that point to catch up. I think that if we do this public-private
partnership right, everything will work.”
“At this point, of course, it’s just a proposal, a
public-private partnership between the county and the landowner to spur
development at Exit 32 to support the wastewater treatment plant and the plant
supporting growth, hand in hand,” Taylor said. “The county is also trying to
work with Blythewood to accomplish some of the goals that their mayor has set,
such as annexation and recreation. We can all three win here because our interests
are aligned to have improved access for all of our citizens to quality of life
amenities such as new parks, shopping options and residential choices – all the
things we can potentially have on that 385 acres,” he said.
Though there are still a lot of details that remain to be worked out on the project, all parties are hopeful.
Timeline
The timeline, of course, will be measured in years. Robinson
said 3-4 years is realistic for the $32 million plant to go through permitting
and construction, after which its capacity will be available to serve new
development in the county, both commercial and residential.
In addition to potential state funding contributing to the
plant’s construction, Robinson expects to pull $5 million from county coffers,
cover $8-10 million with the passage of a new penny sales tax, and cover the
rest with revenue generated by end users.
While Robinson said the penny tax is the most effective way
to fund the plant, the tax is dependent on voter approval on Nov. 3.
“With the penny tax, council wouldn’t have to raise property
taxes,” Robinson said.
The wastewater treatment plant’s two-million-gallon
capacity, expandable to four million gallons, is expected to serve Fairfield
County’s needs for at least 20 years.
“The wastewater treatment
plant has to happen. Without it, Fairfield County will have very limited growth
potential in the future; but when it’s built, the county will be in a great
position to welcome new growth, and to more fully realize its potential,”
Taylor said.
Robinson agreed.
“While people don’t necessarily love a wastewater treatment facility, and paying for it with a penny tax doesn’t give people a warm fuzzy feeling, they love what it brings – jobs, retail, industrial and residential growth, recreation, all of that and, quite frankly, lower property taxes in the end,” Robinson said.
The county has scheduled a virtual town hall meeting for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6 to explain the plan and answer any questions from the public. To register for the webinar meeting, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sbFWi2blQxSOIVks-WpNdw.
COLUMBIA – By 46 votes, Jesica Mackey won a special Democratic primary runoff in Richland County Council’s District 9 on Tuesday, and has most likely secured the seat in the upcoming November election. There is no Republican challenger.
Mackey, a public relations executive, with 631 votes (52
percent) bested Jonnieka Farr, a business analyst, with 585 votes (48 percent).
A portion of the far eastern side of Blythewood, including
part of LongCreek Plantation subdivision, is represented by District 9.
During the Sept. 9 primary, Farr finished with 39 percent of
the vote to Mackey’s 34 percent, setting up a runoff. Cody Pressley finished
third, and Angela Addison finished fourth.
Mackey will take the seat that was previously held by
Councilman Calvin “Chip” Jackson who died unexpectedly on Aug. 7, after winning
the Democratic Primary in June over Farr in a runoff. Jackson was finishing his
first term on council. He had previously served as chairman of the Richland Two
school board.
The Richland County election commission will certify the
race on Thursday.
WINNSBORO – Efforts to potentially relocate Winnsboro’s
Confederate monument is unlikely until at least 2021, according to Fairfield
County officials.
Fairfield County Council discussed, but took no action on a request from the Town of Winnsboro to relocate the town’s Confederate monument from its current location at the Mt. Zion Institute grounds to the Fairfield County museum.
A confederate monument stands on the edge of the Mt. Zion Institute property. | Barbara Ball
County leaders cited the S.C. Heritage Act, which prohibits
governmental agencies from removing Confederate and other war memorials from
public property. A two-thirds vote in the state House and Senate is required to
override this requirement.
“I don’t think there’s any action that can be taken by this
council at this time,” said county attorney Tommy Morgan. “The town has brought
this to the council’s attention, but there’s nothing that can be done.”
The Winnsboro monument depicts a Confederate soldier and his
rifle atop an obelisk near the corner of Hudson and Zion streets in Winnsboro.
It was relocated from Congress Street to the school campus
in the 1960s after a street widening project in town, according to the S.C.
Picture Project, a non-profit that maintains an online database of historically
significant landmarks.
County Administrator Jason Taylor said it was the town that
initiated the request to the county to relocate the monument. That request was
made following a guest editorial published on June 25, in The Voice by
Fairfield County NAACP President Jennifer Jenkins calling for the removal of
the monument from the grounds of the former Mount Zion School.
During the July town council meeting, Winnsboro Mayor Roger
Gaddy said the town is merely exploring options.
“We’re not moving it [right now],” Gaddy said. “We’re just
exploring our different options and how to legally apply those options. We’re
not going to do anything illegal.”
Fairfield County Councilman Moses Bell asked if the county’s
legislative delegation would be able to request to move the monument.
Morgan said the delegation lacks that authority. He said the
town’s request is contingent upon any potential revisions to the Heritage Act.
Bills to that effect have been filed in the General
Assembly. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of items are
likely to be taken up this year, meaning it will likely be at least 2021 before
bills addressing the Heritage Act are taken up, Morgan said.
Bell said that he’s “very appreciative that the Town of
Winnsboro looked at this and saw the harm that it’s doing to the community by
the confederate monument being directly in front of where we’re going to have
the new administration building.”
Councilman Douglas Pauley thought moving the monument should
be the town’s responsibility, not the county’s.
“This monument has always been in the Town of Winnsboro’s
jurisdiction and they’re responsible for it. I don’t see the need for them to
want to give it to us and for us to accept the monument and put it on a piece
of county property,” Pauley said. “If the heritage act is approved, they can
find a more suitable location that they own instead of it being on a piece of
county property.”
Adopted in 2000, the Heritage Act protects most monuments.
In part it reads:
“No Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, War Between
the States, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War,
Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Native American, or African-American History
monuments or memorials erected on public property of the State or any of its
political subdivisions may be relocated, removed, disturbed, or altered.”
WINNSBORO – The County and Town governments are looking to fund e-commerce sites for the county’s businesses as a way to help them survive the restrictions ordered during the Time of Corona.
In a presentation Monday night during the County Council
meeting, County Administrator Jason Taylor said the two governments are
considering providing funding for the Chamber to pay for the creation of
e-commerce websites for the county’s small businesses.
“We’ve kicked around several ideas,” Taylor said. “One idea
is a way to bring our businesses into the 21st century as far as how they
market themselves to the public. The concept is to help them with their web
presence – not just a website that says, ‘We’re here, located on Main Street,’
but one that has a point-of-sale feature so someone can go on it and not only
see what products are available, but be able to also purchase those products,
then go to the store and pick them up,” he said.
Taylor credited Sarah ‘N Geo’s pizza restaurant in Ridgeway
for taking the initiative to incorporate an e-commerce website into their
business.
“This restaurant was struggling after COVID hit. They went
online with a point-of-sale website and were booming after that,” Taylor said.
“That’s a model that worked for them, so we said, let’s see if we can follow
that.”
Taylor said e-commerce sites are a way to help the small
businesses long term, not just temporarily.
“I think we can assist businesses with this better than giving them a one-time grant. A one-time grant is a Band-Aid. With this [e-commerce site], I think they could come out of the pandemic even stronger,”
Taylor said.
Stephens agreed, saying that the pandemic had completely
shut some merchants down from doing business due to the government restrictions
put in place.
“Our restaurants were struggling, and the merchants were out
of business. They had no way to pull in any kind of income because they didn’t
have any kind of economic commerce capabilities at that time,” Stephens said.
To that end, Stephens would like to see Fairfield have a
virtual component that encompasses not only the businesses but tourism and
other things.
“When someone visits a town, one of the first things they do
is google the places they want to see and eat at. Most of our businesses and
restaurants don’t have websites. They just have Facebook. But if they don’t
have a website, they don’t have a Google rating,” Stephens said.
“We are partnering with Retail Systems, Inc., out of
Columbia, to connect with each of these businesses to create an internet
presence,” Stephens said. “The company will deal with each business
individually to customize their site to fit their needs. They will also offer
guidance on logistics, video monitoring services and credit card processing
services.”
Stephens said he’s contacting 30 businesses and restaurants
initially to offer them the opportunity to have an e-commerce site.
“This is a proposal to be able to basically bring our
businesses up to code,” Stephens said. “Once our businesses start doing this,
then we can start working on creating a virtual Fairfield.”
“The county is paying for the sites to be built and the
first three months of maintenance,” Stephens said. “Thereafter, the merchant or
restaurant will pick up the $50 monthly tab.”
For more information about the e-commerce sites, contact
Stephens at 803-635-4242.
BLYTHEWOOD – As was expected, the Blythewood planning commission voted 5-0 Tuesday evening to recommend that Town Council rezone the Red Gate property and a smaller adjoining property from Planned Development (PD) zoning designation to Development (D-1) zoning.
But the properties’ owners, who sat in the audience during
the commission’s proceedings, say they are not happy with the commission’s
recommendation, and that it will keep them from developing their properties as
they had planned.
The rezoning of the 143-acre property has been discussed by
Blythewood town government for the last couple of years. Annexed into the town
in 2007 from Richland County where it had been zoned Planned Development
District (PDD), the property was subsequently zoned PD by the Town. Before it
could be developed, however, the property went through several transitions.
After the larger parcel (Red Gate) went into bankruptcy, its ownership was
assumed by Arthur State Bank. It was purchased last month by Blythewood
resident Byron Dinkins.
The 2.41-acre corner parcel was purchased by Larry Sharpe,
who said he had planned to construct a service station and convenience store on
the property.
“I don’t know what’s been going on over the years. It seems
like it’s always one thing or the other,” Sharpe told the commission.
“At first, Winnsboro couldn’t supply us with water. Now we
don’t have the sewer. We’re trying now to work with DOT (SC Department of
Transportation). The curb cuts have already been approved, but they can’t tell
us exactly where the new road is going to be,” Sharpe said. “I’ve already
cleared the property and brought it up to subgrade and built a detention pond
off site according to the recommendation of the engineers. Everything is
approved on that site, except we still don’t have sewer. That’s the only thing
that’s actually holding us back – that and the DOT recommendations. So, if
those things were in place, I would be ready to move forward.
“I would like to see the zoning stay as it is, because the
property is already predesigned for that use,” Sharpe said.
But the Town of Blythewood code of ordinances places a
time-specific condition upon the established PD zoning district, with a mandate
for the planning commission to initiate a rezoning under certain circumstances.
The commission determined at its Aug. 3 meeting that the Red Gate property
fails under those ‘certain circumstances,’
Town Administrator Brian Cook confirmed that if the zoning
were changed to D-1, and Sharpe planned to construct the service station and
convenience store, he would have to apply to rezone that corner parcel.
Dinkins attended the meeting with commercial real estate
broker Tom Milliken, who told The Voice following the meeting that Dinkins had
purchased the property with the intent of developing it according to the
original PD plans, and that the rezoning to D-1 would make it impossible for
him to do that.
The original PD zoned property was to be comprised of 232
single family units, 300 multi-family apartment units and 36 acres of general
commercial.
The D-1 zoning designation provides for large tracts of land
located primarily on the fringe of urban growth where the predominant character
of urban development as not yet been fully established, but is predominately
residential or agricultural with scattered related uses.
Council will met at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 28, at Doko Manor
for the first of two votes on the zoning fate of Red Gate.
RICHLAND COUNTY – After a special election held Tuesday for the District 9 seat on Richland County Council, the winner will not be determined until a runoff is held later this month.
Unofficial results of Tuesday’s special election show that
Jonnieka Farr and Jessica Mackey will face each other in the runoff.
Neither woman received a majority of the vote. Unofficial
results show that Jonnieka Farr received 549 votes (38.77%) to Jesica Mackey’s
488 votes (34.46%). Angela Gary Addison received 107 votes and Cody Pressley,
272 votes.
The special election was called to fill the seat left by the
death last month of County Councilman Calvin ‘Chip’ Jackson. Jackson was
completing his first term on Council.
District 9 covers a portion of the southeastern side of
Blythewood 29016 and is one of three districts that represent Blythewood.
BLYTHEWOOD – Under pressure from former mayor Mike Ross, the
Blythewood Town Council voted in a contentious 3-2 decision to approve funding
to help pay for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce’s rent and utilities
for the current fiscal year.
Voting Monday night to award the Chamber $4,000 from the
Town’s accommodation tax (A-Tax) fund were Mayor Bryan Franklin, Councilmen
Eddie Baughman and Larry Griffin. Councilmen Donald Brock and Sloan Jarvis
Griffin, III voted against.
It was an about face from the July meeting when council
voted 3-2 against the funding.
At that meeting the Chamber asked for $5,500 to help cover
its rent and utilities so it could continue to rent the building it had shared
with CPA Susan Smith for the previous year. When the lease was up and Smith
moved out earlier this summer, the chamber wanted to retain the entire building
so it would have an office large enough to also house, free of charge, Bravo
Blythewood, the Artist Guild and the Visitor’s Center which is currently housed
at Town Hall.
Following the July meeting, Ross wrote a scathing email to
council members Donald Brock, Sloan Griffin and Larry Griffin, telling them
they were “slapping the arts and cultural community in the face” by not funding
the chamber’s rental/utility costs. Ross then scoffed at council’s funding of
the town’s Doko Film Fest.
Ross wrote that he would, “do everything…to make the
decisions of Mr. Brock, Mr. Sloan Griffin and Mr. Larry Griffin known to every
member of these groups and their supporters.”
Two weeks later, without that funding, the chamber signed
the rental lease for the office. Ross then sent a second email to Mayor Pro Tem
Eddie Baughman, who had voted in favor of the funding in July, asking him to
secure a place on the August agenda for the request. In that email, which was
copied to multiple people and obtained by The Voice, Ross again pleaded for
funds but for a lesser amount of $4,000.
“This allows us to secure residency in the old post office
building on McNulty Road,” Ross wrote on Aug. 14. However, the chamber had
secured the lease weeks prior.
There was no mention in Ross’ second email as to whether the
chamber would still offer free housing for Bravo Blythewood, the artists guild
or the visitors center in the chamber offices.
When Franklin called for approval of Monday night’s agenda,
Brock made the motion to remove the funding request from the agenda. The motion
failed 2-3, with Brock and Sloan Griffin voting for and Franklin, Baughman and
Larry Griffin voting against.
Franklin explained why he had granted Ross’s request to
place the item on Monday night’s agenda.
“It was my understanding, and the reason I added it to this
agenda as requested, was that there were going to be material changes [in the
request] that could change the opinions of the voting body,” Franklin said.
Larry Griffin also inferred that it would take material
changes to the request for him to change his vote to approve the funding
“I’m curious to see what that information is to see if it
will be a game changer,” Larry Griffin said. “I want to put that on record and
up front before we get started.”
Chamber Board Chairman Allan George, who presented the
chamber’s request, answered Larry Griffin, saying there were no material
changes to the funding request except that it was for a lower amount. Both
Franklin and Larry Griffin voted to approve the funding.
Addressing George, Sloan Griffin questioned the chamber’s
financial judgement in securing a year’s lease for an office they couldn’t
afford.
“We made a unanimous decision to enter that lease, and we
will honor that lease and all our expenses no matter what it takes,” George
said. “We’re just asking for some help in doing that. We’re not going to give
up on our purpose just because we’re not getting $4,000 dollars from the town,
if that’s your question. Are you questioning the decision we made to enter the
lease?” George asked.
“There you go.” Sloan Griffin answered. “You entered into a
lease that you could not afford.”
“That’s not to say we could not [afford it.],” George said.
“Then why are you here?” Brock asked.
“We’re asking for help, that’s all.” George said.
He went on to say that, “Our entire financial picture Is
before everyone in this room.”
“Where are all these financials you say we have before us,”
Brock asked. “We’ve seen no financial reports [from the chamber]. The chamber
was $20,000 in the red this time last year. How is now any different than last
year? You’re asking for a bailout.”
After giving a lengthy review of the chamber’s failure to
maintain financial records of more than $143,000 the town gave the chamber over
a three to four-year period that ended in early 2019, George said quietly,
“You’ve made your point,” and sat down.
The chamber has been criticized by the last council for
supporting its larger businesses members and members located in Columbia and
other counties over the mom and pop, family owned businesses in Blythewood.
George told council Monday night about ways the chamber plans to tweak that
perception.
He noted one member benefit the chamber offers is that
non-profit vendors are allowed to participate in chamber events without paying
the vendor fee that businesses pay.
“We’re kicking off a marketing campaign that’s a cooperative
effort where we can have a half page in the paper for 48 weeks, with 20 people
represented in that ad, but paying a small portion of the cost of the ad.
That’s a tremendous benefit,” George said.
“That’s going to be a little bit of administrative expense
to us, but that’s something we’re willing to do to help our very small
businesses. That’s a great benefit to small businesses that can’t afford to
advertise every week,” George said.
“Joe Bernard, the CEO of Providence Health, a great guy, has
agreed to chair a new committee for us called the industry partners committee,”
George said. “It invites members of industry to get together to discuss what’s
going on in their world.”
Both Baughman and Franklin praised the chamber.
“I stand with the chamber,” Franklin said after reading a
list of events and organizations the town funds.
“We fund these events because these are what our values
are,” he said.
Franklin said any business can receive A- and H-Tax funding
from the town.
“If your business wants to come and run an Octoberfest, and
ask for A- and H-Tax money, then come and fill out an application and do it,”
Franklin said. “This chamber runs more events for this town than any other
non-profit.”
While the town funds the events, Franklin said the town’s
funding is not necessary for the events to happen.
“If we didn’t spend a dime, every one of these events would
happen,” he said.
Following the meeting, Town Administrator Brian Cook
clarified that only non-profits can receive A- and H-Tax funds for events, not
for-profit businesses.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Planning Commission has begun the process to rezone a 143-acre undeveloped site across the interstate from downtown after developers failed to initiate construction of a planned mixed-use development.
The large wooded site, which is known as Red Gate Farms,
sits on Blythewood Road between Syrup Mill and Muller Roads. It lies across
Syrup Mill Road from Cobblestone; across Muller Road from Muller Road Middle
School and across Blythewood Road from Fairfield Electric Cooperative.
The property is currently zoned PD (Planned Development),
the town’s site-specific zoning designation for planned or mixed-use
development.
It was given that classification years ago, explained Town
Administrator Brian Cook, after a developer presented a plan for a mixed-use
development that was to include 233 single-family homes, 300 apartments, and 36
acres of commercial development.
The zoning for this property has been on the books since the
town annexed it in the mid-2000s, Cook said, but the project – and other,
subsequent proposed variations – never occurred. According to county records,
the bulk of the land is now owned by Arthur State Bank.
In its Monday night meeting, the Blythewood Planning
Commission discussed rezoning the property based on a provision in the town’s
zoning ordinance that mandates rezoning when a project with the PD
classification fails to progress within two years.
After some discussion, the commission voted unanimously to
direct town staff to craft a proposal to rezone the property to D-1, a
development district designed for large tracts of land on the fringe of the
town’s developed core.
“It puts the power back in our hands, especially since we
don’t know what the uses are going to be for this particular parcel of land,”
said Planning Commission Member Dereck Pugh, speaking in favor of classifying
the property as D-1. “It will give us the opportunity to review it again once
the [future] developer puts in the application.”
Cook said the commission discussed the issue of this
property in 2018 and again in early 2019, when a new proposal for a zoning
amendment and lower-density development was made but never moved forward.
“The applicant withdrew the application before town council
could take a vote on the proposed project,” Cook said, “and it stands today
with nothing happening on the property from a permitting or development
standpoint.”
The D-1 zoning classification, Cook said, is a kind of
holding pattern for land that’s likely to be developed in the future, allowing
for uses like single-family residential, parks and recreation, and religious or
government buildings, but requiring zoning approval for more intense types of
development.
“The district is intended to provide for large tracts of
land located primarily on the fringe of urban growth where the predominant
character of urban development has not yet been fully established, but where
the current characteristics of use are predominately residential or
agricultural with scattered related uses,” according to the town’s zoning
ordinance.
“It is further recognized that future demand for development
will generate requests for amendments in zoning designations to remove land
from the D-1 classification and place it into other more intensely developed
classifications as a natural consequence of urban expansion,” the ordinance
states.
Planning Commission Chairman Rich McKenrick said intentions
are to hold next month’s meeting in person with social distancing measures in
place with the option to participate via Zoom for commissioners and members of
the public who are uncomfortable attending in person, with social distancing
measures in place with the option to participate via Zoom for commissioners and
members of the public who are uncomfortable attending in person. The current
property owners will be informed of the meeting and invited to speak.
Cook said the town is currently undergoing a technology
upgrade that should make it possible to facilitate this plan from a technical
standpoint.
“We should’ve done something about this long ago,” said
McKenrick of the need to address the zoning at Red Gate, referring to the
property as a “golden nugget” on the edge of town. “The PD has sat out there
for way too long and is probably more dense than we would even want to approve
at this point.”
Cook said there is no rush to complete the rezoning, and the
town will follow the process required.
“I think that D-1 probably brings it back to the intent of
the master plan and comprehensive plan,” said commissioner Malcolm Gordge.
“Let’s hear what the immediate property owners have to say
about that,” Gordge said, “as well as the residents of the town.”
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County is bringing in more experts to
help counter Richland County’s growing opposition to a proposed wastewater
treatment plant.
Meantime, Fairfield County Council is also moving forward
with a proposed capital project sales tax to help pay for the facility that’s
seen as vital to recruiting more industry to Fairfield County.
On Monday night, the council voted 5-2 on the first of three
readings to implement the sales tax. Council members Moses Bell and Mikel Trapp
opposed.
There was no discussion during first reading, but later on
Councilwoman Bertha Goins said the tax is needed to further develop Fairfield’s
infrastructure.
“I know when you say taxes, people start fretting and they
get excited. I can understand that but taxes are how counties and towns are
built.”
County Administrator Jason Taylor said the county’s two
existing treatment plants are nearing capacity, aren’t expandable and
wouldn’t even be approved today by the S.C. Department of Health and
Environmental Control. Additionally, existing underground lines are undersized,
he said.
“While we’ve had a good run with economic development, if we
don’t do something to address our infrastructure capacity, we won’t have
anything left to sell to attract new industry,” Taylor said.
Goins also voiced reservations about Richland County’s
efforts to block Fairfield’s wastewater facility.
“I was very disappointed with the action that Richland
County took with the wastewater treatment plant. It was very discouraging.
That’s not the way to build relationships,” Goins said.
In May, Richland County submitted a report to the Central
Midlands Council of Governments (COG) outlining the county’s opposition to the
Fairfield facility.
The report, produced by Richland County Assistant
Administrator John Thompson at the behest of recently defeated Councilwoman
Joyce Dickerson, outlines well water contamination concerns of Richland County
residents living along Cedar Creek, where wastewater would discharge.
Richland County submitted its report despite DHEC recently
telling The Voice that the agency has no record of wastewater contaminating
water wells in South Carolina. Most contamination of private water wells is
caused by nearby septic tanks, an agency representative said.
In response to the Richland vote, Fairfield County is
retaining an additional engineering and legal firms to counter opposition to the
wastewater plant.
At last week’s Fairfield Joint Water and Sewer Commission
meeting, the group voted to retain American Engineering. Commissioners said
American has more experience working on local projects, which they said would
be needed when Fairfield pitches the plant to the Central Midlands Council of
Governments.
Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy, who chairs the joint
water-sewer panel, also voiced disappointment in Richland County’s opposition.
He said having an engineering firm who has experience presenting to the COG
would be beneficial in explaining the project and countering misinformation.
“We have to have someone help us educate people with
opposition to help them understand the sophistication for the wastewater
treatment plant and the negligible impact it will have on the environment,”
Gaddy said.
The water-sewer commission later voted to retain Willoughby
and Hoefer law firm for the same reason. Fairfield County has previously
budgeted $100,000 to cover anticipated increases in legal fees associated with
the wastewater facility.
“I think a lot of this is an emotional issue. We’ve got to
have some folks who can explain to Richland County, the citizens and the
politicians there, that we’re not trying to do anything detrimental to the
environment,” Gaddy said. “It really isn’t going to be how people have it
pictured in their minds.”
