Cayce wants to beautify Knox Abbott, build history center, police and fire headquarters

Cayce leaders are seeking to extend a redevelopment tax plan set to expire this fall for another 20 years to pay for new projects.

The plan, a tax increment financing, or TIF, district, allows the city to use future property tax growth from a defined area along Knox Abbott Drive and along the Congaree River for improvements.

City Hall expects to reap as much as $19 million from the extension after using the tax plan originally created to build the popular riverwalk and related projects.

Major parts of Cayce’s extension package include:

▪ A face-lift of Knox Abbott featuring landscaped medians for several blocks near Parkland Plaza, estimated to cost up to $10 million, depending on their length.

▪ An interpretative center at the 12,000 Year History Park being developed along Congaree Creek, estimated at $2.8 million.

▪ A new public safety headquarters that would house police and firefighters, estimated at $5 million. Going forward with it depends on how much revenue comes in and the cost of the other two projects.

“We can’t afford to do anything on this list if we do not have a TIF,” Assistant City Manager Shaun Greenwood said.

The new look for Knox Abbott is a longtime goal of city leaders.

“Landscaped medians and landscaping along rights-of-way has proven to have a positive reduction in driver speed, number of collisions and the overall sense of pedestrian safety,” Mayor Elise Partin said.

Power lines along the road won’t be put underground because that step is too expensive, officials said.

The extension of the tax district requires approval from Lexington 2 schools and County Council since it would freeze revenue for both from that geographic area through 2037.

Both typically go along with such plans since it sets the stage for commercial redevelopment that brings in more revenue eventually.

But one of nine County Council members, Erin Long Bergeson of Chapin, expressed misgivings when the plan was outlined last week.

She is unhappy at the prospect of a little less money today amid pressure to add deputies, firefighters and ambulance crews to keep pace with growth.

County Council chairman Todd Cullum called the extension beneficial, saying projects that spruce up a gateway into the county as well as features in his home town will produce a bigger payoff for everyone.

This story was originally published January 29, 2017 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Cayce wants to beautify Knox Abbott, build history center, police and fire headquarters."