Monday, Jul. 13, 2009

Columbia considers plans to jumpstart North Main

From I-20 to Gervais Street, between Two Notch Road and North Main, a third of the people did not graduate from high school, do not own cars and make less than $15,000 a year.

With such a poor community, and limited public transportation, developers have been wary of building restaurants and shops for fear no one would spend money there.

But three Columbia City Council members have a plan to jumpstart the community by playing Robin Hood: They want to use the property taxes from rebounding areas and spend them on the poorer areas.

The city can do this through a tax increment finance district, commonly known as a TIF.

Normally, a business owner’s property taxes go into the city’s general fund, which the city then spreads among its various departments.

Under the plan for this TIF, if a business owner’s property value increases, that new tax money stays in the business owner’s community to build things like roads and water and sewer lines, which then entice developers to follow with restaurants and shops.

Council members Tameika Isaac Devine, Sam Davis and E.W. Cromartie are proposing a TIF for the city’s poorest neighborhoods along Farrow, Two Notch and Monticello roads. Council members are scheduled to discuss the idea at City Council’s 9 a.m. Wednesday meeting.

But to make sure the TIF generates enough money, they have extended its borders to include some of the city’s most valuable real estate, including the old State Mental Hospital property on Bull Street, which once developed is expected to generate millions of dollars in property taxes for local governments.

“We’re not saying we’re just going to take everything from Bull Street and not give anything to that development,” Devine said. “We may be asked to participate in that development ultimately, and we’ll have to have some money. So setting aside some money as part of this TIF, it’s only smart to do that.”

LAY OF THE LAND

The idea for the North Main TIF — dubbed the Columbia Renaissance Stimulus Package — came out of the success of the TIF in Columbia’s Vista area, which over 20 years paid, in part, for parking garages, EdVenture children’s museum, the convention center and parts of the greenway.

The Vista TIF put more than $115 million into public projects there. Private investment followed, and the value of the Vista’s property jumped about 25 percent from 1994 to 2003, according to a State newspaper review that year.

The North Main district would be massive, far larger than the Vista TIF.

It would stretch from North Main south to downtown’s Bull Street, swinging over to River Drive and reaching down to pick up parts of Olympia and the riverfront land where USC and the city want to build a $76 million park.

The city by itself doesn’t generate enough property taxes to make much of a difference in the TIF. But if the city were to combine its taxes with those of Richland County Council and the Richland 1 School District, the TIF could raise more money faster.

But some public officials are worried the city may have cast its net too far. A TIF district means local governments have to give up a portion of the property taxes they would normally use to cover their operating expenses.

And with state law restricting how much local governments can raise property taxes each year, a TIF could hurt a local government’s budget over time.

“I do have concerns about trying to do too much at one time,” County Councilwoman Kit Smith said. “We’re looking at every dollar we can get just in order to tread water and keep up with our current level of services. To divert money out of our revenue stream would be a challenge.”

WHERE WOULD THE MONEY GO?

City officials have a list of projects they would spend the money on, but they have not said what those projects are because plans for the projects are not finalized yet and because they are working with private developers.

However, City Council members said their intent is to focus the money on projects that will help North Columbia neighborhoods that for years have complained they have been left behind while other areas of the city prospered.

But North Columbia’s demise has not been because of a lack of trying on the city’s part. The city has spent thousands of dollars on several master plans for attracting development, including the North Columbia Master Plan and the East Central Master Plan.

And since 1996, the Eau Claire Development Corp. — owned by the city — has spent about $29 million in North Columbia, including for the renovation of the Eau Claire Print Building off North Main Street and the construction of the North Main Plaza, home to several businesses and a popular lunch spot.

But most of that money has not been spent wisely, Devine said. A retail study that analyzed the $5 million North Main Plaza found the spaces there could not attract the kind of development the area could support.

“It’s great to say you want to develop something and have the development there,” Devine said. “But in order to entice developers to come, you’re going to need to have infrastructure there. That wasn’t part of anything in the planning process.”

Devine said her goal is to target properties that are not on the city’s tax rolls and develop them into revenue-producing businesses.

Two examples are city-owned off Farrow Road, located at 5554 Farrow Road and 1706 Busby St. The city has owned that land for years but has been unable to develop it. But if the city can use TIF money to hook up water and sewer lines to the property, it could entice a developer to build a shopping center or an office park, Devine said.

“The city can’t do it all,” Davis said. “We need to take the resources that can come from a TIF and partner with the private sector to get things done.”

AND DOWNTOWN?

The TIF could also help out USC and its struggling Innovista research campus.

The TIF map includes the Guignard family-owned property that is slated for Innovista’s Waterfront Park, off Huger Street between Gervais and Blossom streets.

John Parks, executive director for Innovista, USC’s new research campus, said the TIF could be the catalyst for the park to begin construction.

“I think we need every tool at our disposal, especially in light of the economic times that we’re in,” Parks said. “But even in the best of times, a thing like this really make things happen a lot sooner.”

But North Columbia residents say they want the money to come to their community first.

“We need to make North Columbia a destination, like Harbison or the Vista or Five Points or whatever to instill some longevity into the area,” said Rhett Anders, president of the Windemere Springs Neighborhood Association in Eau Claire, off North Main.

“It’s our turn.”

Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.

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