Committees vetting capital project proposals for possible sales tax
Greenwood County received 43 applications for the anticipated capital project sales tax, totaling more than $160 million in projects.
With the 1-percent sales tax, or penny tax, projected to raise between $9 million and $9.53 million each year for up to eight years, the five committees appointed by the county and city will be tasked with vetting and prioritizing projects for the review of the six-member capital project sales tax commission, appointed by County and City councils.
“I believe the process has been successful thus far,” County Manager Toby Chappell said. “We’ve received diverse projects in terms of cost and genre. These projects can continue the advancement of Greenwood County.”
The projects range five categories: economic development, infrastructure, public safety, quality of life, and parks and recreation.
Economic development
Economic development received three proposals: a new speculative building at the North Greenwood Industrial Park, the development of the Genomics Center of South Carolina at the Greenwood Genetic Center and the development of an advanced manufacturing training facility at Piedmont Technical College.
Together, the projects would cost about $18 million.
The spec building, which is a move-in-ready industrial building popular among prospective businesses, and the advanced manufacturing training facility were two possible projects mentioned by County Council Chairman Steve Brown during his State of the County address last year.
The 47,000-square-foot training facility for Piedmont Tech would be partially funded by the tax and located on the college campus on Kateway between the existing Building Construction Technologies Building and the new HVAC Training Center.
The Genomics Center would be located in existing laboratory and office space vacated by the S.C. Biotechnology Incubator Program on the Genetic Center campus and will use the funds requested for specialized equipment and instruments.
Infrastructure
The infrastructure committee, which received the most project requests for the tax, is geared toward brick-and-mortar projects.
The projects range in cost from $134,000 for parking lot repairs near the United Center for Community Care to $37 million for targeted water line replacement in the county by Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works.
A number of sewer line replacement projects have been submitted as well.
Greenwood County and the town of Ninety Six submitted projects to help drainage. The county’s $1.5 million proposal would prompt a study of and repairs to four water basins in order to help areas that flooded during the historic rainfall this winter and past fall.
The town of Ninety Six also submitted various projects to replace water lines and extend service to the boat ramp at the Buzzard Roost dam and Grand Harbor community.
Two infrastructure projects are related to economic development in handling heavier traffic at two industrial hotbeds in the county, including the Highway 25 intersection in Hodges in front of Colgate-Palmolive and SPF North America and the widening of a portion of Highway 246 between highways 72 and 702 near Fujifilm, Ascend Performance Materials and newcomer Colombo Energy.
The four-mile widening project requests $20 million, while the intersection project requests $757,000. The widening project would also seek funds from the state Department of Transportation.
Public Safety
The county is looking to upgrade its radio system to a 800-megahertz system, which would upgrade the sheriff’s office, EMS, fire service and local municipal police departments. The new system is becoming widely used throughout the country and state and would cost about $4.4 million.
The county also submitted an application to implement the eight-year fire master plan, which was approved last year and serves as road map to build new stations, purchase new equipment and a new $2 million public safety training facility.
The new facility is intended to serve the entire Eighth Circuit, according to John Long, officer in charge of professional standards with the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office.
Other projects include a new city fire truck for $1.2 million, case management system in the solicitor’s office for $175,000, jail renovations for $750,000, records management system for city police and a public safety administrative center for $16 million to house city police, sheriff’s office, county fire service, EMS and emergency management.
Quality of Life
Quality of life projects include a number of cultural areas promoting the general well being of residents and organizations.
The Museum submitted a project for the construction of a replica of the Southern Passenger Depot at the Railroad Historical Center on South Main Street with a request for nearly $1 million.
Pastor Darlene Saxon and Beyond the Walls Family Restoration Center applied for the Seaboard Avenue Recreation Center to renovate the building and swimming pool for services provided to the community, such as a food bank, youth-at-risk program, talent program and recreational camps.
The total project could cost $324,500, however, the application requests any financial assistance in renovating the space.
Other projects include structural updates to the Federal Building, an activity shelter and cabins for the Little River Baptist Association Youth Program, renovation and restoration of Katherine Hall in Ware Shoals, renovation of Troy School House, a proposed 2,800-square-foot theater and auditorium and additional rooms at the Benjamin Mays Historical Preservation Site, handicap-accessible public restrooms, and a Veterans Memorial Plaza at the Greenwood Veterans Center.
Those requests range from $30,000 to about $3.5 million.
Parks and Recreation
Focuses of the parks and recreation committee are geared toward five applications to renovate various parks and walking trails in the county and implement the Lake Greenwood and bicycle and pedestrian master plans.
The Greater Greenwood Parks and Trails Foundation submitted an application for about $6.5 million in improvements to seven existing parks, including Grace Street Park, Foundry Road Park, Magnolia Park, Ninety Six Mill Park, Riegel Park in Ware Shoals, Wisteria Park in Troy and Hodges Community Park.
The application also would implement the first phase of the bike and pedestrian plan compiled last year.
Thomas Moore, a member of the Lake Greenwood Master Plan steering committee, proposed implementing various portions of the Lake Greenwood Master Plan, such as landscaping and signage for entrance ways, additional public access areas, restroom and trash collection facilities and a bike trail from the Lake Greenwood State Park to Watts Bridge Road and Ninety Six.
The city/county planning department has also requested $75,000 to install safety lights on the four bridges over the lake, which is part of the Lake Greenwood Master Plan.
The proposal for the master plan calls for $1 million.
Additional upgrades include renovation of the old Civic Center property and other recreation facilities owned by the county, renovation of the Brewer Complex and installing a walking trail around the Promised Land ball field.
Referendum
Committees have been reviewing applications this week and making recommendations to applicants who need to amend their proposals as the deadline to do so approaches Tuesday.
The committees have also started vetting the projects to make recommendations to the commission, which will meet with committee leaders for their report around the first of April.
Recommendations to the commission are expected to be hashed out by the committee leaders during the last two weeks of March.
<\z186667>The commission will then form the referendum question and final project list, which will then go to County Council.
<\z186667>Council can only approve or deny placing the question and project list in its entirety with no changes on the November ballot.
<\z186667>The county successfully passed a capital project sales tax in 2006, raising about $43 million in less than six years and going toward the construction of the Greenwood County Library and improvements to the Buzzard Roost dam at Lake Greenwood.
<\z186667>The county used about $12 million to pay off the county’s remaining debt after savings from the first phase of work on the dam. The county still has a fund balance of about $21 million for the next phase of work on the dam.
Contact Colin Riddle at 864-943-5650 or follow on Twitter @IJCOLINRIDDLE.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Feb 11, 2016
By COLIN RIDDLE criddle@indexjournal.com