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Tag: Mt. Zion

  • County OKs deed for Mt Zion

    WINNSBORO – County Council voted 5-2 Monday night to accept transfer of the deed for the Mt. Zion property from 1st and Main Development Group, should the renovation of Mt. Zion prove, in the end, not to be feasible. Mikel Trapp and Neal Robinson voted against the County accepting the deed.

    During County Council time, however, Robinson said, “I’m definitely for the renovation of Mt. Zion because I see the potential. We definitely have to move forward with it. This [current administration] building is falling apart. I helped put out two fires here when I was with the Sheriff’s Department,” he joked.

    Robinson said he received many emails concerning the vote.

    “And I got more emails for the renovation than I got against it,” Robinson said.

    Trapp said he needed more information on the project.

    The vote paved the way for the County to explore the possibility of restoring the dilapidated school building to accommodate a county complex that would include 10,000 square feet of office space over what the county now has. The cost of that exploration would be borne by the developer who has 180 days to come up with a plan and a price for the project with an allowance for extra time if needed. If the County agrees to the proposed plan and price of the renovation, the developer will proceed with the project, bearing the entire cost to completion.

    At that point, under a lease/purchase agreement, the County will lease the facility from the developer until the renovated property is paid for, after which time the County will own the property and building.

    “Should the County not decide to go forward with the project,” County Council Chairman Billy Smith clarified following the meeting, “the deed would transfer to the County and it would be the County’s responsibility to demolish the building, if desired.”

    Smith also said there had been discussions with Town of Winnsboro officials who had expressed a willingness to share in the cost of the demolition of Mt. Zion, estimated at around $200,000, if necessary.

    While two residents, Shirley Green and Renee Green, spoke during public comment time, asking Council to not accept the deed and to not go forward with the renovation, resident Pat Curlee spoke in favor of the renovation.

    “Construction of an administration building is not an economic driver for downtown Winnsboro,” Shirley Green said. “The administration building is already in the town…Everything is hypothetical…if the plan is acceptable, if the plan is cost effective. It’s a construction scheme,” she said, also alluding that the County would be purchasing the property without knowing the price.

    “That couldn’t be further from the fact,” Smith said during County Council time. “The plan is to have a proposal from 1st and Main Development Group and at that time we will learn the price of what we’d be getting ourselves into and we would vote, at that time, up or down, whether to proceed with the project. And, in my mind, community development is economic development, and this is absolutely good, positive, community development for the town as well as the county,” Smith said.

    Renee Green addressed integrity and suggested the County should not spend money on construction or destruction of Mt. Zion, but should expand the current administration building. She also suggested the County might not be able to move the confederate monument that occupies space adjacent to the Mt. Zion property.

    “That monument is not even on our land. It is on state land,” she said.

    Smith countered Green’s claim, stating that the state does not own the land the monument sits on.

    Both Trapp and Councilman Dan Ruff sought documented assurances that the monument will be moved if the County goes forward with the plan.

    “We are committed to moving the monument, and the Town has said that they would be willing to allow us to do so,” County Administrator Jason Taylor said.

    “If there is a way to compromise and everyone can be happy, we can set an example that we are trying to work together to make something good happen,” Ruff said.

    Smith agreed. “Everyone on this council has said they would do everything they could, as a part of this project, to have the monument moved,” Smith said.

    A & F Committee Report

    Following the regular Council meeting, the Administration & Finance Committee voted to move forward to accept the deed of ownership for Garden Street Park from the Town of Winnsboro.

    It also voted to defer a vote on whether to accept ownership of the swimming pool in Fortune Springs Park from the Town until the next meeting to gather more information about the cost and timing of renovating the pool.

    The committee also agreed to recommend that Council adjust the pay scale of EMS employees, revise the County’s procurement manual and establish procedures to expend funds appropriated by Fairfield County in its annual fiscal budget for collaborative capital public works projects.

  • County gingerly pursues Mt. Zion

    WINNSBORO – Before going into executive session Monday evening to discuss a contractual matter concerning a Memorandum of Understanding and proposed deed agreement between the County and the Town of Winnsboro aimed at renovating Mt. Zion for use as County office space, County Administrator Jason Taylor laid out the sticking point. To go forward with the project, Council would have to allow Taylor to sign a deed requiring the County to accept Mt. Zion from the developer should the renovation project prove, in the end, not to be feasible.

    During the first public comment period, residents Shirley Green and Yvette Howard urged Council not to accept the deed to Mt. Zion. Their myriad reasons included: that the project would be wrought with challenges, that a Confederate monument faces the main entrance to the complex on College Street; that protests to the monument would be a major hindrance to economic development and that moving the County’s administration building would blight the Mill Village.

    Taylor readily addressed the monument, saying the Town had agreed the confederate monument could be moved. When pressed for assurance of that, Taylor said he would have a document drawn up to request the Town to sign, giving up the monument at the same time he signed the deed.

    Councilman Billy Smith said that while the Heritage Act, a S.C. statute, prohibits public bodies from moving monuments of any kind, there is no prescribed penalty for them doing so. Smith also said the property where the monument stands, which is separate from the Mt. Zion grounds, could also be transferred to 1st and Main, a private company seemingly not governed by the statute. And if, in the end, Smith said, the project does not move forward and the building must be demolished, the County will still own the land.

    Taylor addressed the more pressing issue for the County.

    “It has long been known that at some point in the near future, the County must address the need to improve and provide additional space for both the Courthouse, Sheriff and administrative functions,” Taylor said.

    He said rehabbing the existing administration building would cost an estimated $2.5 million just to replace the roof and all the mechanical systems. He cited problems with the building including near-waterfalls down the back stairs during hard rains. That $2.5 million would not include more space or replacing an antiquated, possibly unrepairable HVAC system that, Taylor said, could go anytime. Taylor said it would cost $17 million to build a new courthouse on Congress Street, then relocate much of the courthouse staff to it before beginning renovation of the existing courthouse.

    “With the abandonment of the two nuclear reactors,” Taylor said, “we cannot afford that. Renovating either the administration building or Courthouse, we are looking at considerable disruption to operations and significant cost associated with temporality relocating staff and services while the work is being done.”

    Taylor said repurposing Mt. Zion’s school building poses a solution. He said it would increase the County’s office space by 10,000 square feet, cost less than renovating current offices and help revitalize downtown Winnsboro. He said a previous study commissioned by the County identified Mt. Zion as a catalyst for redevelopment, saying it would help improve the community and spur new growth.

    “To explore this possibility, we began working with 1st and Main Development, a company that specializes in historic renovation and reuse,” Taylor said. “They have a successful track record of using historic tax credits to affordably redevelop old buildings. With their expertise and taking advantage of the tax credits, they can [renovate] the building far cheaper than we could.”

    “The County’s lease agreement (rent-to-own) with 1st and Main would allow us to get the space we need in a timely manner and at a price that would not burden our budget or preclude our ability to pursue other important economic development and community projects,” Taylor said.

    After a lengthy executive session Monday night, however, Council seemed no closer to reaching an agreement on signing the deed.

    “There was no vote on the deed tonight because, collectively, we need a couple questions and concerns more fully addressed before making a decision,” Smith told The Voice following the meeting.

    “These concerns are mainly centered on the nearby confederate soldier monument and what the State’s short-sighted Heritage Act does and does not allow pertaining to monuments on public grounds,” Smith said. “As long as all involved parties remain interested after the County is able to gain more information on these matters, the Council does plan to hold an up or down vote on the proposed deed agreement.”

  • Mt. Zion rehab hits potential snag

    WINNSBORO – On Nov. 21, Winnsboro Town Council voted to accept a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Fairfield County and 1st & Main Development of Durham, N.C., regarding the revitalization of the Mt. Zion property.

    The MOU was proposed by Councilman Billy Smith last summer, but before it could be voted on, Council was distracted for several months by the VC Summer abandonment.  The MOU, which did not require Council approval, was later signed by County Administrator Jason Taylor on Nov. 11.

    According to the MOU, the Town of Winnsboro would deed the 3.27-acre Mt. Zion property and buildings to 1st & Main Development for the purpose of rehabilitation. The plan, according to the MOU, is for 1st & Main to be given 180 days to come up with a plan to develop the property. There is also a provision for additional days, should the project be on track but needed a reasonable extension of time. After the property is developed, the County would begin leasing it back from 1st & Main for use as a government complex. Through the lease agreement, the County would eventually own the rehabilitated property.

    The MOU states that “[Town] Council believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of Winnsboro that surplus public property with historic significance to the Community, be revitalized and put to private uses that blend with the residential neighborhoods while creating jobs and bringing quality commercial enterprise to the Town.”

    While Winnsboro Town Council has voted to accept the MOU between the County and 1st & Main Development, there is a significant bump in the road before the property deed would be binding. The deed, as it has been written by the Town of Winnsboro, stipulates that if, for some reason, 1st & Main Development does not move forward with the rehabilitation of the Mt. Zion property, ownership of the property would be assumed by the County.

    “That deed would have to be approved by a vote of County Council before it could be signed by the County Administrator,” Council Chairman Billy Smith said. “I don’t know what the outcome of that vote will be, but I’m not in favor of the property becoming the County’s should the project not materialize.”

    Smith was said he was not sure when the matter would come to Council for a vote.