Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2008

Cayce must be more thoughtful about annexations

ASK CAYCE; IT’LL annex anything — no questions asked. That’s the reputation Cayce is developing as its City Council makes rash decisions about annexations on the Richland County side of the river.

Want thousands of acres of flood-prone land annexed so you can build a risky development? Ask Cayce. Want to be annexed to get favorable designation for a development so financing is easier? Ask Cayce. Not only will Cayce grant your wish, it’ll do so quickly, whether or not it has enough information to determine whether it’s in the long-term best interest of its taxpayers.

Just consider two cases. In December, Cayce hurriedly annexed a little more than 3,100 acres, most of which is in the undevelopable floodway. The council rushed the annexation through, saying it wanted to get the property on the tax rolls in time to receive revenue from it. Later, officials acknowledged that they had withheld the real reason for the rush: They wanted to pre-empt a process by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to implement maps that would place the land in the floodway. Columbia Venture wants to develop Vista Farms on the 3,100 acres, the former home of the failed Green Diamond.

More recently, City Council annexed 35.5 acres where a developer is building a proposed 206-unit project, next to Vista Farms. The developer has already built 146 homes at the development, called the Retreat.

The council’s approach to annexing these properties should concern city residents. The elected body annexed both sites in a hurry, and the public never got full information beforehand. While the city will get tax revenue from the annexations, it’s yet to be determined what the cost will be to provide services, such as police and fire, across the river. In both cases, developers went to Cayce after Columbia and Richland County didn’t roll out the red carpet.

In the case of the massive Vista Farms, Columbia and Richland County wisely decided against allowing the development because of the many unanswered questions about flooding and liability.

While the Retreat is a safer bet, Cayce’s council rushed to annex it, giving it initial approval at a special called meeting. The Retreat Partners, a group of investors based in Athens, Ga., went to Cayce because Richland County designated the development as a condominium project, which the developer says would hamper financing. “The county required us to call it a condo... but Cayce said, ‘Well sure, we’ll change the code to make it fit,’” said W. Leighton Lord, an attorney who represents the Retreat Partners.

But the question is, should local governments be in the habit of annexing property and altering designations “to make it fit” just because a developer asks?

A Richland County official said the county considers the homes condos because they don’t have property lines that extend to a public road. Residents would own the building, but not the yard. Anna Almedia, development services manager for Richland County, said of the project: “We can’t call it something it’s not.”

Maybe Richland County can’t. But Cayce will. Cayce will do anything, no questions asked.

Let’s just hope that in its zeal to grow and be a bigger player in the Midlands, Cayce doesn’t bite off more than it — or its taxpayers — can chew.