Council to Vote on New Zoning Precinct, Sewer Project
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
On Tuesday at the 6:30 p.m. meeting downtown, Anderson County Council will hold the final vote reducing the number of county planning commissioners from nine to seven, axing the two at-large members.
Each County Council district would continue to appoint one planning commission member. The measure cleared its first and second readings by narrow 4-3 votes, with council members Cindy Wilson, Chris Sullivan, Greg Elgin and Jimmy Davis voting in favor, and Tommy Dunn, Brett Sanders and Glenn Davis voting against it.
The council will take second reading on a proposed rezoning of approximately 91.65 acres on Dixon Road in the Centerville Station A Precinct changing the property designation from I-2 Industrial Park to R-20 Single-Family Residential District. The planning commission has already recommended approval.
Council will also consider, on first reading, an ordinance which would bring zoning to the Broadview Voting Precinct. Anderson County’s precinct-based zoning system requires residents in a voting precinct to approve a zoning map before it becomes effective there. The Broadview item will be the council’s first formal step toward adopting that map. If approved, the measure would go to voters of the precinct in November.
Second reading on tax incentives for Project Palmetto, a proposed wood-products manufacturing and distribution facility at 1205 Hamby Road in Honea Path which will bring a $215.56 million investment and 217 new full-time jobs, with the first phase expected to enter service in 2027.
Under the proposed agreement, the project would receive a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement with a 4 percent assessment ratio, a fixed millage rate of 363.25 mills, and a 40-year term for each investment phase. The agreement provides special-source credits against qualifying fee payments: 50 percent in years one through five, 40 percent in years six through 10, and 25 percent in years 11-15. The incentives include conditions. The company would need to invest at least $150 million and create at least 100 full-time jobs by the end of the fifth year to avoid a reduction in special-source credits. The agreement identifies an enhanced target of either $400 million in investment or $150 million plus 125 jobs; failure to meet that enhanced standard by the end of the investment period would increase the assessment ratio prospectively from four percent to six percent, with additional catch-up obligations.
The ordinance would also certify the property as an abandoned textile mill site under the South Carolina Textile Communities Revitalization Act, allowing the company to pursue applicable state income-tax credits. The county would seek to include the project in the existing Anderson-Greenville joint industrial park.
Council will consider two procurement matters with implications well beyond the meeting room.
One is Bid No. 25-040 for the Starr-Iva Force Main Replacement Project, a sewer-infrastructure project whose bid details are not included in the agenda excerpt. The other is RFQ No. 25-037 for Hope Village, part of Hope Missions of the Upstate, the proposed transitional-housing project intended to create stable living options for people moving out of homelessness.
At the earlier 6 p.m. special presentations meeting council will recognize and/or honor: Kelly Jo Barnwell, recent recipient of the AARP Community Impact Award; Clarence Sullivan, whose three decades of work at the Civic Center have made him nearly synonymous with the place; members of the South Carolina State Guard as part of September being National Preparedness Month.
