Richland Renaissance has been resurrected. Here’s how it’s changed
Nine months after tabling the divisive Richland Renaissance development plan, Richland County leaders are resurrecting the program in a slimmed-down form.
Still at the core of the countywide development effort are plans to transform Columbia Place Mall into a hub for county administration and services and to relocate the county courthouse from Main Street to 2020 Hampton St.
But after going back to the drawing board, county leaders have nixed a few Renaissance elements that drew mixed reviews from the beginning, including a business incubator and transportation hub in the Dutch Square Mall area and an aquatics center in Lower Richland.
Richland County Council voted Tuesday to go forward with the revised Renaissance plan. It’s a new iteration of a plan originally orchestrated by former county administrator Gerald Seals and publicly unveiled in December 2017.
Council members were careful to emphasize Tuesday that their unanimous vote was not a carte blanche approval for making purchases, but rather a nod to allow county staff to further develop the Renaissance plans, including a budget and options for financing the projects. And, they said, the process will include plenty of public input — an element that some on council and many residents felt was missing from the original Renaissance rollout.
“I believe we can all agree that the Richland Renaissance name has been on a public relations journey,” Coucilwoman Allison Terracio said. “I would hope as we reintroduce this program it will be possible to have a new life.”
“Regardless of what you call it, these are critical issues,” Councilman Chip Jackson said. “I would hope that we would not get hung up on the title and not recognize the critical need.”
When it was originally unveiled in December 2017, Richland Renaissance faced criticism that county leaders had not consulted public opinion before constructing an elaborate plan and moving forward with millions of dollars worth of property purchases.
After the big reveal, county officials held three public information meetings.
In total, the original program was expected to cost more than $140 million, though some skeptics guessed the eventual cost could be much higher.
A price tag hasn’t been set for the new-look Renaissance plan, interim county administrator Ed Gomeau said Tuesday night. He said the county hopes to leverage private dollars along with taxpayer dollars to help make the plan work.
“We have to accept the fact that these are going to cost money. There’s no way around this. And we need a commitment ... that these are your priorities,” Gomeau told council members.
“We can make public perception of this better than it has been in the past,” he added.
County taxpayers already have spent more than $9 million on Richland Renaissance, including $8.9 million to purchase three former anchor stores at Columbia Place Mall and other properties.
Richland Renaissance was in danger of dying in May 2018, when County Council unexpectedly voted to table the plan indefinitely. The unraveling came after a heated council discussion about the business incubator and transportation hub, planned in Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson’s district.
Frustrated at the time by the lack of support for those projects as part of the whole plan, Dickerson said at the May 24 meeting, “If you’re going to kill one part, you might as well kill the whole thing” and start all over.
From then on, Richland Renaissance hung in limbo.
It was Dickerson who proposed reviving the Renaissance discussions at County Council’s recent retreat in downtown Charleston.
A unanimous council stood behind the program Tuesday night.
The revamped plan includes:
▪ Moving the county’s administrative offices from 2020 Hampton St. to Columbia Place Mall, along with some public safety and state agency offices.
▪ Moving the county courthouse from Main Street to 2020 Hampton.
▪ A critical care medical facility in Lower Richland, including an emergency center, outpatient care, pharmacy/lab, physical therapy, dental clinics and administrative offices. It would be built through a public-private financial partnership.
▪ A satellite location for county services in Lower Richland, similar to the Decker Center in the central part of the county.
▪ A historic trail in Lower Richland.
▪ Cleaning up blighted areas and adding Richland County signage across the county.
Most of these elements were included in some form in the original Renaissance Plan.
County leaders now plan to revisit a financing plan for the new-look Renaissance. They also plan to re-launch a public engagement campaign and establish a citizen oversight committee for the program.
