Clinton City Council members are grappling with the idea that, if there is retail at the proposed Cambridge Farms subdivision AND retail at the proposed travel-baseball complex and subdivision, what incentive will there be to save the retail businesses in Uptown Clinton.
“Twenty-five buildings in downtown are empty today. That’s a scary thought,” Mayor Pro-Tem Danny Cook told Cambridge Farms developers at an Aug. 3 meeting. “We had our first meeting last week about how we revitalize our downtown. If we take more retail ‘out there’ (beyond Ingles) and the ball park will be ‘out there’ (former Whitten Center property), that’s a concern we have to think about. It’s new, it’s vibrant-looking, more than what is downtown.”
Veranda Homes, which is proposing 409 lots in Cambridge Farms, also has on the drawing board a small segment of the property for potential retail. That’s because, developers say, focus groups they’ve had with people in Clinton indicate a desire for more shops, upscale restaurants, high-end boutiques and, potentially, a day care. Opponents say Clinton can’t fill the empty stores it has now, why should anyone build more?
Retail is not the main focus, developer Patrick McNair assures the City, but it could provide an attractive “gateway” into the upscale subdivision.
And, the most sobering assessment came from Mayor Randy Randall, who said of Clinton without smart growth, “We are going to be dark.”
So far, Cambridge Farms has received a 3-2 go-ahead from the Clinton Planning Commission, but no official vote from the City Council (which has final say in all things zoning and annexation). They did not have a full council on Aug. 3, so the matter was tabled. Council members said at that time, that it could start up for discussion again after Aug. 31. After it approves the annexation and zoning ordinance, the Council has nothing else to do - the Planning Commission will oversee the site-development plan.
“Retailers will do that math,” McNair said. “There will be 490 homes there. These people (Cambridge Farms residents) also will come downtown.”
“Over the course of time, the tax revenues will be fantastic,” Cook said. “(But) we are not broke. We have to build another fire substation, maybe two; we have to have another fire truck, and impact fees are specific to that (fire, police and recreation spending). At what point will you see significant dollars?”
McNair said, “I give it every bit to where we are building homes — two years, 100 homes at least, two to three years. The market is slow - 100 homes is solid revenue, to me.”
Cambridge Farms, as proposed, has an opponent in Council Member Natalie Cogsdill.
“We have 1,200 - 1,900 homes in R2 and R3 (zoning, under construction). That’s why we want this (whole subdivision) to be R1,” she said.
“The state needs 90,000 - 100,000 homes (right now, to meet the rising population),” McNair said. “Clinton’s 2,000 is not a drop in that bucket.”
Some arguments against annexing the property for Cambridge Farms, and allowing a subdivision with three different housing price-points, are that Clinton now has 8 subdivisions under some kind of construction - why not wait to see if all those houses sell, before permitting more?
“Utility rates will not go down no matter how many houses we build,” Cogsdill said. “I don’t like to be BSed. It’s 117 homes less (than what was proposed last year), that’s less taxation.”
Cogsdill asked, rhetorically, if council members would live in a subdivision like this. Council Member Danny Smith, who is a Realtor, said, “Yes, I don’t view this as a negative for Clinton. If something like this was being put in near my house, I would live there. I think there are some people who would live here, they would live there if they could afford it. “I tried to get an actually number (of houses under development in Clinton) from the Planning Department and that is 1,530. On the initial list, we did not approved Belle Acres (near the recreation center). Highland Park has not moved forward (nothing for 2 years). Hampton Woods is built out. These (Cambridge Farms) houses don’t even get us to 2,200.”
Mayor Randy Randall said Clinton is down 2,000 people from where it was in the ‘90s, and projections are (if nothing changes) it will be down 2,000 more within the next 10-20 years.
“You either grow, or you die. … I try to balance what is going to be good for Clinton, and I think this will be good for Clinton,” Randall said. “In 2002, we were trying to talk (business) people into skipping over Fountain Inn, Simpsonville, Gray Court, and Laurens. We told them, ‘we are in the perfect spot, man.’ They said, ‘you have no houses.’ Now, with the housing on the books, it gets us to sort of even. People remember when we had this bustling downtown; well, now we don’t have as many people, so downtown doesn’t bustle as much.
“We need to grow in a smart way. We went to a meeting Friday night and people said, ‘we don’t have anything to do.’ When were trying to talk Fatz into coming, they said there are not enough rooftops, then they realized we have 50,000 people who ride by on the interstate. This project is the best plan we’ve had. The Planning Commission approved it, and I’ve always voted with the Planning Commission.”
The Cambridge Farms matter remains unresolved. Council has conducted 3 meetings in August, but 2 have basically been to discuss selling excess electrical capacity. Its September regular meeting falls on Labor Day.
