In a wide-ranging meeting of almost 2 hours Monday night, Clinton City Council set the stage for a potential industrial development that could employ 100 people near the Hwy 56 / I-26 interchange.
Coastal Precast Systems is planning to build on 43.9 acres a plant that will generate pre-cast concrete structures for bridges, City Manager Joey Meadors told the council.
The move required a zoning designation change. The property now - behind the Pilot gas station and across from where Laurens County used to have a trash-transfer station (southwestern side of Commerce Ave.) - is zoned C3 (commercial) and I1 (industrial); but the Council approved the first of two readings to designate the property as I2. This will allow buildings to be constructed 2 feet higher than what would be allowed in C3/I1 - there will not be a public hearing, since a hearing about this change already was conducted by the Planning Commission - and the only change from the original, public-hearing request is the additional 2 feet of building height.
“This is good news,” Meadors said of the employment possibilities for this manufacturing plant.
Responding to a question, he said the plant site is away from Barrel Stave Road, a rural residential area located outside the city limits.
The action was taken at the Clinton City Council’s regular monthly meeting (first Monday). Also at that meeting, Meadors asked for tabling two items - a 1.09 acre zoning change on a Hwy 76 property and a sale of an additional 4.55 acres to ARK Management Corporation.
ARK has agreed to purchase more than 500 acres from the City of the former Whitten Center site that was deeded to the City as State surplus property. ARK plans to construct a travel-baseball complex on the site, and corporation officials have said that development will attract an adjoining subdivision and retail developments like hotels and nationally known restaurants.
On build-out, it could be the largest development of this type — baseball - housing - retail — in Central South Carolina.
The 4.55 acres that ARK will be buying was not included in the original sale, the proceeds of which are split between the City of Clinton and the State of South Carolina.
The sale currently is in the due-diligence period for which ARK has paid Clinton $50,000. The company can request that money be repaid if it finds something on the property that substantially changes its development plans, and causes the development to be abandoned.
Council Member Anita Williams asked if the $50,000 would have to be forfeited if ARK made that decision “for any reason” - she was told yes, as long as the repayment request was made during the due-diligence period.
She said that was not the understanding that she, as a member of the council that approved the overall sale, had of the transaction.
Williams said giving the money back should be based on some substantial (a cemetery that would require location expense, for example) and not just if the company decided “they want to go to Greenwood.”
She asked for a legal clarification of the city’s position and the company’s obligations.
Overall, the transaction is for $1,381,000 for the purchase of 552.72 acres (with an additional 4.55 if approved) on which is proposed a $30 Million complex. The deal was finalized in August. Entrance to the property will be Corporate Drive - the road that runs off Hwy 72, near the I-26 interchange, beside Starbucks, across from QT, and beside the Hampton Inn & Suites. This intersection is considered “the gateway” to Clinton.
In any event, the additional land sale did not move forward - Meadors said the additional 4.55 acres would have to be sold by ordinance, not as a contract amendment as designated on the council’s agenda. It likely will come back in ordinance form in November.
More information from this meeting will be in the October 15 issue of The Clinton Chronicle.
