Council to Consider Bond to Overhaul Civic Center
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Anderson County Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at the Historic Courthouse with a crowded agenda that includes a bond to overhaul the civic center amphitheater, development regulations, solar farm restrictions, and with decisions likely to shape growth, employee benefits and tourism spending for years to come.
The 6 p.m. recognition meeting will include a special presentation at which council members are expected to recognize February 11 as “2-1-1 Day,” commending the statewide referral hotline and the United Way of Anderson County for connecting residents to housing, food, utility assistance and other social services. In 2025, the 2-1-1 system logged nearly 180,000 referrals to more than 93,000 callers across South Carolina, including more than 3,200 calls and 6,300 referrals in Anderson County alone, according to the draft resolution. Council will also proclaim February as Black History Month locally, aligning the county with the national observance under the 2026 theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations.”
At the regular 6:30 p.m. meeting, will include the most immediate decisions concern land use and county personnel policy. Council is scheduled to take final action on an ordinance that would increase the minimum lot size for single-family and “twin home” lots with access to public water and sewer in unzoned parts of the county to 14,500 square feet—effectively tightening standards in rural and fast-developing areas that fall outside municipal zoning. A public hearing on the measure, sponsored at third reading, will precede the vote.
In a separate public hearing, members will also consider a change to the county’s personnel code to formally allow up to two workweeks of paternity leave, to be drawn from employee accrued sick and annual leave. The ordinance, advanced to third reading after unanimous votes in January, would codify a more expansive definition of “parental leave” and add a new section on “paternal leave” that applies to fathers, adoptive parents and non‑biological parents, while requiring employees to notify supervisors when they intend to take such time.
Several measures on second reading hint at a broader retooling of the county’s rules for development and public finance. Council will revisit a long‑running proposal to add Section 24‑153 to the land use ordinance, setting detailed standards for large‑scale solar farms in unincorporated Anderson County—a measure tabled in October and now poised to re-emerge amid continued interest from renewable energy developers.
A companion ethics measure would tighten rules for the county’s Economic Advisory Board, barring voting members from having any ownership or familial interest in property tied to proposed fee‑in‑lieu of tax or special source revenue agreements and explicitly stating that recusal alone is no longer sufficient.
Perhaps the most consequential votes, however, revolve around tourism money. Finance staff have placed before council a master bond ordinance, 2026-005, that would create the legal framework for issuing revenue bonds backed by the county’s 3 percent accommodations fee and a portion of “park fees” to fund tourist‑oriented projects. A related “series ordinance,” 2026-006, would authorize up to $12.7 million in such bonds, with a cap of 6 percent on the interest rate and plans to solicit bids from roughly 40 banks and financial institutions, according to explanations given at the council’s January 20 meeting. County Administrator Rusty Burns has emphasized that the debt would be repaid entirely from accommodations-tax revenues, which state law restricts to tourism uses, and not from property taxes.
Attachments to the bond legislation outline a slate of projects that County officials say are designed to put more “heads in beds”: significant renovations to the amphitheater and related infrastructure at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center, added boat‑ramp lanes and courtesy docks at Green Pond Landing, replacement of the ramp and docks at McFalls Landing, and upgrades at Dolly Cooper and Wellington parks.
Finance Director Rita Davis told council last month that the county has lined up roughly $4 million in sponsorships and about $1.2 million in grant funding toward the overall package, which is estimated at $13.9 million, with the bonds filling much of the remaining gap.
The overhaul of the amphitheater at the civic center is aimed at attracting more regular and significant entertainment. Many promoters have asked for the availability of V.I.P. seating close to the stage, and funding from the bond if approved, would reshape the venue to be more friendly to both acts and audiences,
Council is also scheduled to take up on first reading an ordinance that would allow the county to lease property at 2335 Snow Road to Love Well Ministries, a local nonprofit, for use as a residential opioid‑treatment facility for women. Under a draft ground lease included in the agenda packet, the county would enter into an “absolute net” lease running through 2040, with two optional five‑year renewals, at a nominal rent of $1 per year, while the ministry assumes responsibility for utilities, maintenance and insurance and agrees to operate an opioid‑abatement program consistent with a memorandum of understanding executed in November. Council voted earlier to help fund the ministry using funds from the South Carolina Opioid Settlement money.
