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  • Officials answer WWTP/Penny Tax Questions

    WINNSBORO – The Voice has received several letters from readers in regard to the penny tax and the wastewater treatment plant that ask some of the same questions that have also been posed on Facebook pages by citizens in both Fairfield County and Blythewood (Cedar Creek area.) The Voice asked county officials s to answer these questions and clarify any misinformation. While county officials can provide information about the penny tax, they cannot advocate for or against it. Questions that might be construed as advocating were answered by Gene Stevens, President of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce or Neil Robinson, County Council Chairman.

    Q:  Since Chamber is on the taxpayer’s payroll and it is illegal for County taxes to be used to promote the penny tax…there appears to be a serious conflict of interest.

    A:  The Chamber is not on the County’s payroll. The County grants the Chamber funds every budget year for various purposes, mostly to promote tourism and business activity such as the Ag & Art Tour. Rock Around the Clock, etc. The County’s funds are not being used to promote the Penny sales Tax. The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce is a 501 C6 organization which gives them the right to advocate on any issue they view fit. “501 C6 tax status is that it allows organizations to engage in unlimited amounts of lobbying.” No Chamber dues, County or Town funds were used in funding this effort. It was all raised by outside sources. No employees at the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce are County employees.

    Q:  Shouldn’t a potential industry pay for the WWTP it needs?

    A:  They do through impact fees. However, the waste water treatment plant must be in place first.

    Without proper infrastructure, companies will not establish job creating, tax paying facilities.

    Industries pay impact fees to connect to the system along with usage rates. Impact Fees or tap fees based on volume and are similar to what residential customers pay when they build a new house and connect to a municipal system.

    Q:  Now, the county is asking Fairfield County residents, and me when I shop there, to pay a 14 percent tax on nearly everything that we buy in the county or you order on line.

    A:  This is not true. This is an extremely misleading tactic used repeatedly by people opposed to sales tax increases across the country. Claiming the county’s penny tax brings the sales tax in Fairfield County to a 14% sales tax increase is disingenuous and not at all accurate.

    The following explanation we think gives a good understanding of how the tax works.

    “Though 14 percent is the mathematical rise in the rate of fractional rate charged, it does not accurately convey the impact of the tax because it is a comparison of fractional rates and includes no whole numbers. To determine the true percentage increase, the formula used must include the real-world cost of goods involved. For example, the current sales tax on a qualifying $10 purchase [in Fairfield County] is .70 cents. If the referendum is approved, the same item would cost $10.80. To calculate the increase, subtract the current cost from the proposed cost ($10.80- $10.70 = 0.1) and divide the difference by the current cost (0.1 ÷ 10.70 = 0.009345). To convert the answer to a percentage, multiply the quotient by 100 (0.009345 x 100 = 0.93), and the product is rounded to 1 percent.” – Larry Wood, Post and Courier

    Put simply, assume you choose to visit Laura’s Tea Room in Ridgeway and you spend $10.00 on great sandwich plate and a cup of tea, your additional cost due to the penny sales tax is ten cents. If you add the existing 6% state sales tax and the 1% road tax, your total cost would be $10.80, not $11.40 which is what you would pay if a 14% sales tax were imposed, which is not the case.

    That’s why the 14% increase statement is a misleading tactic.

    Now assume you spent $10.00 on a sandwich in Blythewood at Scotties. In Richland County, your total costs would be $11.00…twenty cents more than Fairfield County. Richland County charges 2% more on every dollar spent which you can see from our above response is not a 28% increase.

    Another thing important to note is that this 1% sales tax isn’t applied to non-prepared food (groceries) or any medicine, so to say “a 14 percent tax on nearly everything that we buy” is not true on two levels.

    The real issue is not the additional minimal impact of a 1% increase on local citizens but the significant burden of high unemployment, lack of amenities, and a dismal future for our kids without the 1% increase. Remember, for the last twenty years, we have been burdened with the highest unemployment in the state. Just prior to Covid, as a result of our commitment to economic development efforts, our unemployment rate plummeted and there were at least nine other counties with higher rates. In the last 18 months, we have announced more jobs than in the previous 15 years combined. We have momentum and sewer capacity is absolutely foundational to the future that our citizens and our children deserve. Neil Robinson, Chair Fairfield County Council.

    Q:  [The county has] 16 properties on the I-77 Corridor internet site for sale or lease. Two spec. buildings built in 2014 that have never been used. They have 600 acres on Cook road in industrial Park sitting there empty.

    A:  This is not true. To begin, the first spec building that was built in Walter B. Brown Industrial Park was sold to a company called CTG. They currently use the facility as a distribution warehouse. The second Spec Building you are referring to has been sold to Oldcastle APG who plans to invest $28.9 million and begin operating out of the facility by Q1 of 2021. They will hire around 100 employees and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in property taxes.

    The Fairfield County Commerce Center is still in the process of being developed. The first tenant was Bomag. Currently we have other prospects considering the park. Incidentally, they initially looked at Fairfield County because of the speculative building. We recently received grant funding to pre-grade sites for prospective industry. Even during Covid, we are experiencing significant interest.

    Q:  No Fairfield residents are receiving new sewer from this 50 million dollar spec. plant

    A:  The plant is estimated to cost $32 million. Most of which will be offset by grant funding. Initially, we will extend collection lines along major arteries to allow residents to connect. We are pursuing new residential and commercial development as aggressively as industrial activity.

    Q:  Not a SINGLE WWTF in SC has contained spills. NOT ONE!

    A:  This is misleading. The MBR system, which is the proposed facility, has recorded no leaks in the wwtp located in Isle of Palms. We propose to build the same kind of state-of-the-art all enclosed wastewater treatment plant.

    Q:  There has been NO CONSIDERATION on the impact on animals like deer, turkey, raccoons, possums and thousands of birds that will consume the effluent and eventually get sick and die

    A:  This is not true. Studies have been conducted on the impacts to the area and the creek. DHEC has approved Cedar Creek as capable for accepting the discharge. Cedar Creek already accepts effluent from the Ridgeway Waste Water Facility and we are unaware of any adverse impact on wildlife. As has been stated multiple times, the MBR system generates a very clean effluent. In fact, it is near potable.

    Q:  How many think that locating sports areas near a wastewater plant is a fun place to play?!

    A:  First, the plant itself will not be located directly by the fields. The proposed exhibit you a referencing has the plant at the southern end of the property. Between the plant and the fields, there will be significant vegetative buffer, meaning that the plant itself will not be visible. The grading work that will be done on site will make it so the plant will be lower than the ball fields. In addition the plant itself is a relatively small MBR (Membrane Bio Reactor) system. The entire facility will be enclosed.

    Also, the Columbia Waste Water Facility is located adjacent to the exclusive private Heathwood Hall Episcopal School which has numerous outdoor recreational activities including sports fields.

    Camden recently opened their Riverfront Environmental Park. This was a former sewer facility pond site and is also located by the existing waste water facility. Camden received a Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) Achievement Award for this park. 30 cities and towns submitted projects and initiatives for consideration in the annual award.

    Q:  Had they [county] set aside the money that they have spent on this [Penny Sales Tax] PR campaign and design, how much closer would they be in getting the wastewater where it needs to go – into the Broad River.

    A:  The county is not participating in any advocacy campaign. The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce is running an advocacy campaign that has been paid for by donations from private organizations. As previously stated, the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce is an 501 C6 organization. 501 C6 organizations can participate in advocacy work. 501 C6 tax status allows organizations to engage in unlimited amounts of lobbying. Executive advocacy comprises a significant portion of the activities of many business leagues. Zero county dollars have been spent on any PR campaign for the Penny Sales Tax.

    Fairfield County has only hosted an educational Zoom meeting.

    Q:  The effluent will contaminate the water wells along Cedar Creek.

    A:  No. And to be clear, Ridgeway’s existing facility already discharges effluent into Cedar Creek now and has for years. Out of concern for the wells, the county requested a hydrologist study the potential impacts on groundwater.  The study concluded that there were no ramifications. If you have interest in looking at the study please reach out to the Economic Development office. We can make that available for anyone who wants to read through it.

    Conclusions of the study are as follows:

    In the South Carolina Piedmont, water does not flow across topographic divides. Instead it flows within the watershed via relatively short distances from topographic divides toward stream channels.

    Streams in the Piedmont Province are characteristically referred to as “gaining” streams because the streams gain water from discharging groundwater along their length; thus. The Piedmont aquifer feeds flow to streams rather than streams feeding the aquifer.

    Although there are rare instances of “losing” streams (streams that discharge water to groundwater) in the Piedmont Province, they are usually associated with specific rock types like limestone or dolomite, which are not mapped within the Big Cedar Creek watershed.

    Water in Piedmont watersheds invariably flows from high elevations to low elevations, and toward the stream network. This flow pattern includes subsurface groundwater flow.

    The chance of recovered well water being influenced by surface water is remote, because the volume of water pumped for domestic water supply needs is miniscule compare to the volume of water traveling within the watershed from stream divides toward streams.

    Q:  Why can’t the wastewater treatment plant wait till a later time?

    A:  Fairfield County will be unable to attract any new industry without an expansion of sewer capacity.

    We are almost out of capacity now. We must continue to lure investment and add jobs as well as curb the trend of population decline in Fairfield County.

    Q:  Did the county pay the newspaper or a PR firm to write the story on the wastewater plant/sports complex?

    A:  No

    Q:  If the penny tax passes, how much total sales tax will residents be paying?

    A:  One penny on every dollar spent, ten cents on every ten dollars spent and one dollar on every hundred dollars spent.

    Q:  In The Voice article, county officials said there is only 34,000 gallons per day of sewer capacity available. The Town of Winnsboro has an available capacity of 287,000 gallons per day, and capacity from closed industries would contribute another 255,000 gallons per day.

    A:  Officials have said there is only 34,000 gpd available at the mega site, Fairfield Commerce Center, Exits 32 and 34.  The existing collection lines and pump stations are inadequate, undersized, out dated and in need of upgrading. In order for the growth areas to access Winnsboro’s excess capacity, we would have to spend $10M-$12M on collection lines.  Conservatively, we can build a plant to initially handle 2 mgd and easily expand to 4 mgd for $8-16 per gallon. Economically, it makes no sense to spend $12M to upgrade sewer collection lines and not create any new sewer capacity.

    The Winnsboro engineers did identify 255,000 gpd that can be potentially “reclaimed,“ but DHEC has not yet signed off on this request.  Until they do, there is only 287,000 gpd available, but not accessible.

  • Annexations between Fairfield and Blythewood are old news

    Blythewood, previously called Doko, was located in Fairfield County. | Taken from H.B. McLean Sr.’s History of Blythewood

    BLYTHEWOOD – A recently proposed annexation of 60 acres of Fairfield County property into the Town of Blythewood has stirred up considerable conversation in both Blythewood and Fairfield County.

    But annexing into and out of Fairfield County is nothing new for Blythewood. It’s been doing that since at least 1913.

    According to documents in the Blythewood Historical Society & Museum archives, the town of Doko (later called Blythewood) was located in southern Fairfield County, just above the Richland County line, until the early 20th century. It was during the early 1900s that the citizens of Doko reportedly grew weary of the poor condition of the Fairfield County Roads and the “bad schools.”

    At the time, the construction and maintenance of roads was the responsibility of counties, and Fairfield was a much poorer and more rural county than Richland County, according to documents at the Society and Museum.

    Dr. Michael Langford, one of the town’s early families, was an instigator of a movement for Doko to annex into Richland County because of the poor roads and schools.

    An oral history account (archived in the Historical Society and Museum) taken from an unnamed man says the line was moved at high noon on Saturday, Aug. 23, 1912. But it was recorded in 1913 that the town and about 10 square miles of the surrounding land became part of Richland County.

    More recently, when the Fairfield County government attempted to accommodate the opening of a landfill in the lower southeast corner of the county sometime in 2008, residents objected and sought the help of the Town of Blythewood to save them from the landfill. About 35 families successfully petitioned Blythewood to annex approximately 50 acres of land into the town.

    While the annexed families had planned to work with Blythewood Town Council to rezone the proposed landfill property with a zoning designation that would prohibit the landfill, that strategy turned out not to be necessary. And the landfill, for other reasons, never materialized.

    Today, the patriarch of one of those 35 families, Eddie Baughman, is now a second term Blythewood Town Councilman.

    Baughman said he is still happy he annexed into the town, but finds some of the changes resulting from the annexation somewhat confusing – he still pays his property taxes to Fairfield County, but his address is in Blythewood. His mail is delivered from the Blythewood post office, but if he had school-age children, they would go to Fairfield schools, not Blythewood schools.

    Now, in 2020, should Blythewood purchase the 60 acres in Fairfield on the wastewater treatment site for the sports complex and annex the property, any development on the site would pay property taxes to Fairfield County, but Blythewood would collect hospitality and accommodation taxes, building permits and other fees from the proposed site.

  • Lake Wateree enhancements underway

    LAKE WATEREE – Major improvements to recreation and picnic areas around Lake Wateree that have been in the planning stage since 2006 are now underway full steam, according to John Crutchfield, a representative from Duke Energy, who updated county council members Monday night on the construction process.

    Among 89 sites to be improved by Duke Energy from Lake James to Lake Wateree over a 20-year span, at least three sites located on Lake Wateree in Fairfield County will be completed in the first five years and another one in the second five years, Crutchfield said.

    While the improvements are primarily in Councilman Jimmy Ray Douglas’s District 2 and some in Councilman Moses Bell’s District 1, Douglas told The Voice after the meeting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required Duke to develop the recreation improvement/management plan.

    “While we assisted in offering any information we could to Duke officials,” Douglas said, “They actually came to us with the plan. We were just happy to assist them in any way. The improvements will add a lot to the enjoyment of the lake.”

    The plan, Crutchfield said, is very detailed featuring construction timelines, operations and management.

    “All four of the first Fairfield sites we are improving will be completed by 2022 and include: Wateree Creek accessory which was completed last year,” Crutchfield said, “and it is now open to the public; Molly’s Creek a new access area, is under construction, and we’re underway with the engineering and design phase for Colonel’s Creek access area. Taylor’s Creek – in another five years,” Crutchfield said.

    “We’re legally bound to implement these plans,” Crutchfield said.

    Improvements for the Wateree Creek site include a fishing pier, picnic facility, restrooms and approximately 10 gravel parking spaces.

    Currently undeveloped, Molly’s Creek is under construction and will have a swimming area, paved parking, restrooms, trails, bank and pier fishing, picnic facilities and boat trailer parking. We started construction in late 2019 and we’ll will have that site completed in the late June, early July timeframe.

    “We are currently working on the fishing pier, the swim beach and the boat ramps. We’ve done the grading for the area, laid down the base coat for the parking and started on the curbing for the parking. We’ll also install three restrooms and an attendant storage building,” Crutchfield said.

    “As far Colonels Creek, we are currently in the engineering design and permitting phase. We expect to start construction in late April or May of next year and go through the next recreation season. We anticipate the swim beach will be open during the recreation season of 2022. We’re building the swimming areas, restrooms, picnic shelter and additional paved parking.

    Once Colonels Creek is completed, we will offer the county the opportunity to lease it through our Access Area Improvement Initiative lease program.

    Taylor’s Creek is a new site and will be constructed in the second five years, to be completed by 2027.

    “We plan to build a parking area for about 10 vehicles, and then a trail down to the lakes edge with a fishing trail for bank fishing opportunities,” Crutchfield said.

  • Davenport: Fairfield poised for development

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – The announcement this month that Oldcastle APG purchased a facility in Fairfield County for $2.2 million, plans to invest $25 million and create 100 jobs paying $20+ an hour on the line, is an example of the county’s economic development program working, said Ty Davenport, the county’s economic development director who has helped bring six new companies and 700+ jobs to Fairfield county in the last six years.

    It was a shell building the county invested in a few years ago that got Oldcastle’s attention. The company considered new construction on a county industrial site before ultimately choosing to purchase the 75,000-square-foot building in Ridgeway, Davenport said.

    “They just kept going back to the shell building because it’s kind of plug and play: It’s already there, then they pour a floor, install their equipment and they’re off to the races,” he said. “Speed to market was a critical factor.”

    This is how it goes in a lot of cases, Davenport said. A marketable asset, such as a shell building or uniquely developed industrial site, gets the attention of companies that are looking to site a facility. Those things put Fairfield County on their radar, and then they found out what we had to offer.

    “It was encouraging to me because it wasn’t just the fact that there was an existing shell building,” he said. “Even if they had decided to go ‘greenfield’ other important factors – our location and workforce – were also a good fit.”

    The term ‘greenfield’ refers to a site that hasn’t been built on yet – one that a company chooses to develop on its own. Most of the industrial sites the county offers are greenfield sites.

    Davenport said the idea behind Fairfield County’s economic development philosophy is pretty straightforward: build it, market it and they will come. Provide all of the infrastructure a company needs for a site – things like water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, rail and highway access – and provide information on other factors like the local workforce, a big factor for companies when making site decisions.

    Davenport said this effort has filled available industrial park sites nearly to capacity and underlies the development of a mega-site, which is currently underway.

    The addition of sewer capacity with the county’s proposed wastewater plant, he said, will fill in a key gap in the plan, enabling the development of more industrial park land.

    “We’ve bought about 700 acres, and we are in the process of rough-grading pads, preparing sites so that the next company that comes along can go vertical quickly without having to do a lot of site work. It takes a lot of risk and time out of the process for companies,” Davenport said. “We will most likely roll the money from the sale of the spec building into another spec building.”

    The idea, Davenport said, is to attract employers to the county who hire well-paid workers, such as skilled machine operators, and also bring money into the county with the revenue generated by the business, its suppliers and any further development that may spring up around it.

    This method of economic development has been used for years, and some states and localities have had better luck with it than others.

    South Carolina has seen a streak of major wins in recent years. Davenport said Fairfield County is uniquely positioned in the Midlands to attract the kind of major manufacturers that have come to the upper and lower parts of the state.

    He runs through a lot of employment and population numbers, with a clear conclusion: This part of the state still has an untapped workforce, and Fairfield is home to the mega-site.

    The mega-site consists of 1200+ acres bought by the state, and Davenport said the hope is that an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), such as an auto maker, will locate here. Ideally, he’d like to see Fairfield County become home to a manufacturer of high-tech vehicle technologies, such as electric or self-driving cars.

    “An OEM is not going to Greenville, and it’s not going to go down to Charleston,” he said. “The only place left that has population is the Midlands.”

    The state helped with the land purchase, and the county is getting it ready for the hoped-for manufacturer. Regional economic development groups are marketing it alongside other industrial properties in the area, which could be used by suppliers.

    South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt, in an emailed statement, touted the state’s partnership with localities like Fairfield.

    “South Carolina is committed to advancing our business-friendly environment and team-first approach to economic development. Our work with partners like Fairfield County is critical to recruiting new business and supporting the growth of existing industry,” Hitt said.

     “This week’s announcement that Oldcastle APG will be establishing operations in Fairfield County, bringing a $25 million investment and approximately 100 jobs, reinforces the impact of our pro-business climate and team effort,” Hitt said. “We look forward to continuing to work together to create more opportunities in Fairfield County and in all corners of our state.”

    With major industries, the state also sometimes gets involved with incentive packages. For example, while the county can offer agreements that reduce business taxes for major industries – particularly those that drive development around them – the state can offer grants for infrastructure.

    Davenport said the system is working for Fairfield – and, with the proposed wastewater treatment plant, he predicts big success going forward as the region competes, as other parts of South Carolina have, for major manufacturers.

    “I think it’s going to work… I believe we’re in the growth path,” he said.

    “Everybody knows that Charlotte’s getting closer to Columbia and Columbia’s getting closer to Charlotte,” he said, pointing to Rock Hill as the kind of development outside Charlotte that could be repeated – on smaller scale – in Fairfield County in relation to Columbia.

    “In Rock Hill or in York County they don’t have to do product development anymore because private developers will come in, buy land and build a spec building. When you get to that point, you know you’ve made it,” he said. “That, I believe, is where Fairfield is going.”

  • Blythewood woman killed in crash

    COLUMBIA – A Blythewood woman died in an early morning crash in Columbia on Monday.

    The accident occurred at the intersection of Leesburg Road and Fontana Drive.

    Shirley Cornelius died after being taken to Prisma Hospital, according to Coroner Gary Watts.

    The 51-year-old Blythewood resident’s cause of death was blunt chest trauma, Watts said.

    The crash occurred at the intersection of Leesburg Road and Fontana Drive, near the junction with U.S. 378 and I-77.

    Information on what caused the crash, or if any other vehicles were involved, has not been made available. 

    The crash is being investigated by the Columbia Police Department. More information will be released when it is available.

  • Motorcyclist dies after from injuries in Hwy 321 crash

    UPDATE: Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill has released the name of the motorcyclist who was fatally injured on Saturday on Highway 321 S in Winnsboro.

    Hill says Paul Bryan Simmons II of West Columbia was traveling South along with another rider when they struck a vehicle that was exiting the local recycling center. Mr. Simmons was ejected from his motorcycle and was pronounced deceased on the scene. The other rider was transported to Lexington Medical Center for nonlife threatening injuries.

    This accident is under the investigation of the Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

    WINNSBORO – A motorcyclist died and another motorcyclist sustained injuries in a crash involving a 2014 Nissan on U.S. Hwy 321 Saturday morning.

    The crash occurred about 11:35 a.m. near S.C. Hwy 34, when the driver of a 1996 Kawasaki was southbound on Hwy 321 and hit the driver’s side of a 2014 Nisan attempting to turn left from a private driveway onto Hwy 321. The driver of the Kawasaki was ejecting.

    The driver of a 2005 Kawasaki motorcycle, seeing the first collision, laid 2005 motorcycle down in an effort to avoid hitting the Nissan.

    The driver and passenger in the Nissan were both wearing seatbelts and sustained no injuries. The driver of the 1996 Kawasaki sustained injuries and was transported to Lexington Medical Center where he later died.

    The driver of the 2005 Kawasaki also sustained injuries and was taken to Lexington Medical Center.

    Neither motorcyclist was wearing a helmet.

    The identity of the deceased motorcyclist will be released by the Fairfield County Coroner. The crash is being investigated by the S.C. Highway Patrol.

    This story was updated October 12, 2020 at 11:12 a.m.

  • CT-scan COVID test available at PH-Fairfield

    WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Covid-19 Taskforce is offering a CT scan for initial diagnosis of COVID with results provided to prescribing physicians within 24 hours. Protocols include any symptom of COVID and selected high risk individuals.

    CT-scans are recommended by the World Health Organization when PCR (sometimes known as the ‘nose swab’ testing) tests are delayed. Not only are results available rapidly it also has been reported to provide only 5% false negative rates, compared to 20% – 30% for RT-PCR.

    Slots are available now from 5-9 a.m. and 9-11 p.m., Monday thru Friday. Patients are encouraged to ask their physicians if this is the best test for them. To schedule CT testing, physicians should fax patient orders to Providence Health Centralized scheduling department at 803-256-5816.

  • Council fields penny tax questions on virtual town hall webinar

    WINNSBORO – An important local question is on the ballot this year in Fairfield County: a proposed penny sales tax, earmarked to fund a much-needed wastewater treatment plant.

    If it’s not approved, county officials say, that will mean other, typically less popular, sources of revenue will have to be used to fund the plant – for example, a property tax increase, a sewer rate increase, and potentially cuts in services like public safety.

    The county has purchased the land and is moving forward with the project. It’s up to the voters in Fairfield County to decide whether to impose the new sales tax or use one or more of the other funding sources instead.

    County officials held an information meeting Tuesday evening to answer questions about the wastewater treatment plant project and the penny tax question on the Nov. 3 ballot. They answered questions from the public during the virtual town hall meeting, which was held via Zoom.

    “The wastewater treatment plant is a need, not a want,” Fairfield County Economic Development Director Ty Daven port said, explaining that Fairfield County is nearly at capacity with its current wastewater treatment capabilities, making further development in the county a near impossibility without adding more capacity.

    Part of understanding the current plan for adding sewer capacity means recognizing how much has changed since the failed nuclear plant project – once viewed as an economic savior for the revenue infusion it was expected to provide – fell apart.

    In some ways, it means a different future than was anticipated five years ago, when the previous county council and administrator put together a 50-year plan.

    “When you do things, you have to do them in the context of your times, and at that time I think they were confident that the nuclear plant would be built, and that they would have enough money to essentially put in the lines and hook to Richland County or Columbia,” Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor said in response to a question about the county’s departure from that plan.

    “It was not going to be that we would have a [wastewater treatment] system here in Fairfield County,” he said.

    But in the current reality, Taylor said, not only would the county lose autonomy by being dependent on Columbia’s wastewater systems, but the fees and costs involved would be too high. Without a new infusion of nuclear plant revenue to fund its infrastructure needs, the county has had to come up with a new plan.

    Finding a good site for a wastewater treatment plant was a challenge, county officials have said. But after an extensive site search and negotiations with the landowner, Fairfield officials settled on the site that they just purchased, which is located on Cedar Creek near Interstate 77’s Exit 32.

    It had to be located on a stream large enough to discharge the treated wastewater, and also close to industrial development areas.

    Pumping it to the Broad River would cost more than double the current plan, Davenport said, in response to a viewer’s question about the options considered for the project. Also, neighboring Richland County took a position against Fairfield’s proposed plant.

    “The reasoning they gave was that Richland County currently operates a wastewater treatment plant on the Broad River that has been allocated a certain amount of discharge. And I guess pollutants in the discharge… are at their max,” Davenport said.

    “And if we’re allowed to discharge into the Broad River, then they’ll have to spend more money, basically, to reduce the amount of pollution that they’re putting into the Broad. So, it affects their budget.”

    Bill Bingham, owner of American Consulting Engineers, the engineering firm hired by the county, talked through some of the details of Fairfield’s new plant.

    “The current proposal, as it stands right now, is for a membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment facility. What this means is basically that it is a tertiary, which is the highest level of treatment we have in wastewater. It basically meets a Class I reliability standard, which means you have full redundancy so that if one component goes bad, there’s another component to take its place,” Bingham said.

    “MBR technology is basically a very fine filter… This is a biological plant, which removes the waste using special bugs to eat the waste, but then you’ve got to filter those out, and the membranes provide the filter, and what results is a water that is near drinking water quality.”

    He said the plant will also come with an odor control system so that it does not emit an odor to surrounding areas.

    In response to a question about the potential for contamination of Cedar Creek, Bingham’s brother Bill, also with the company, made a familiar comparison: “Much like you have a nuclear plant here in Fairfield County and that nuclear plant has redundancy, that means there are multiple systems. If one fails… there’s backups to backups.”

    In response to a question about current infrastructure, Taylor said the construction of this new plant will free up capacity in the existing system, allowing for expansion in the town of Winnsboro using current wastewater capacity – and touted the importance of local partnerships.

    In addition to the town of Winnsboro, the county also has partnerships with the town of Blythewood, which is considering purchasing 60 acres of the site to build a sports complex on land adjacent to the sewer plant site, and the state, which has helped with the purchase of a mega-site for future industrial development and is helping with the sewer plant project as well.

    County officials’ overall vision for the site goes beyond adding sewer capacity for current needs and is focused on the big-picture economic development of Fairfield County.

    In addition to the mega-site, county officials also hope to see commercial and industrial development take off around Exit 32 with the addition of new wastewater capacity.

    “We have ample natural gas, we have ample electricity, we have great highway access off of I-77, we’re close to an international airport and we’ve got a large labor pool to pull from,” Davenport said. “So, we are in a good – a great position, really. We just do not have the sewer capacity to maximize our potential.”

    The county has done well with industrial announcements in recent months, Davenport said, and a big announcement was made this week Oldcastle APG is coming to Fairfield County and will make use of some of the remaining capacity.

    “If we do not add capacity and we have one medium-sized industrial user come online, we will have no more capacity left and we will be in a moratorium situation, will be shut down as far as our recruitment of new industry, as well as our existing companies – they won’t be able to expand,” he said. “It is a critical situation, a critical need we have. We really do have to move forward.”

    But his hope is that the project, which has a construction timeline of 24 to 30 months, will do more for Fairfield County than just meet immediate development needs; his hope is that it will facilitate the kind of development that reverses a 50-year trend of population loss by providing opportunity for the county’s young people.

    “We purchased a 1,200-acre mega-site located on I-77,” Davenport said. “We need to allocate between 500,000 and a million gallons per day for that site so we can be successful in recruiting a larger employer. It will possibly be a large facility that is going to be kind of a game-changer for the county, and it’s critical that we keep moving forward.”

    In the big picture, he said, while building wastewater infrastructure comes with a price tag now, the private industrial and commercial development that this investment makes possible will generate not only enough revenue to cover the cost of infrastructure, but to potentially reduce property taxes and increase services throughout the county.

    The penny sales tax is a common means of funding capital projects in South Carolina and is used by 43 of the 46 counties in the state, including Richland, Davenport said. Some basic necessities, including food and medicine, are exempt from the tax.

    “The good thing about the Penny sales tax is that it does not single out property owners, it is an alternative to property tax,” Taylor said. “It has the added benefit [that] non-residents – not just residents – and visitors would also pay.”

    Also, the revenue from the tax is tied to a specific project – in this case a sewer plant and its associated infrastructure – and cannot be used for anything else. So, if voters decide to impose the tax Nov. 3, they will be designating the money for this project only.

    Asked about the impact of the tax on the average person, Taylor summed it up this way: “Basically, if you spend $1,000, you’re going to spend $1,010. It’ll impact you $10. And again, it will impact those outside of the county who spend money here, and in that respect it’ll be transferred in.”

  • Blythewood schools benefit from $1M grant

    COLUMBIA – Six Blythewood elementary and middle schools will benefit from a $1 million grant Richland School District Two recently received from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

    The Whole Child Initiative grant will provide college and career ready resources necessary to successfully build and/or expand the district’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programing, according a statement released by the district office last week. 

    Bethel-Hanberry, Langford Elementary, Round Top Elementary, Lake Carolina Elementary (Upper & Lower campuses), Blythewood Middle and Muller Road Middle are among 15 Richland Two schools and approximately 1,245 military-connected students who will be served by the grant over the next four-and-a-half years.

    The overall goal is to increase academic outcomes in math for elementary and middle school students.

    According to the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education of the National Science and Technology Council, it is critical to national security that students spark interest in critical and fast-growing careers in STEM. The committee concluded that the Pre-K thru 12 education system is poised to increase and sustain student engagement in STEM.

    The DoDEA awarded $22 million across 21 grants that will serve more than 100,000 students across 13 states.

  • Fatal accident on Highway 321

    FAIRFIELD COUNTY – A single car fatal accident occurred on Highway 321 Bypass about 3:10 p.m., Wednesday according to Highway Patrol officer Matt Southern. The driver was wearing a seat belt.

    According to the report, the vehicle was southbound on Highway 321 when it left the right side of the road, the driver over-corrected and left the road on the left side, went down an embankment and overturned. The only occupant of a 2005 Honda sustained fatal injuries and died on the scene.

    The accident is being investigated by the S.C. Highway Patrol and the Fairfield County Coroner’s office.

    No other information is available at this time.