In addition to talking about a Clinton Police training agreement with the federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, Clinton City Council at its March 2 meeting also heard two presentations related to residential and business development.
Josie Kate Haupfear, School District 56, Director of Secondary Education, presented information about the capacity in local schools. One alleged drawback to encouraging more residential development in Clinton is the idea that “our schools can’t handle it”; but Haupfear’s presentation made it clear that that fear should not be a roadblock to more housing.
John Lummus, president and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, spoke about economic development, saying that more rooftops would encourage more national businesses to look at Clinton.
“Empty rooftops?” asked Council Member Anita Williams, reflecting a local concern that developers need to sell the houses they have built already, before building a lot more.
“Not empty,” Lummus said. “They count the houses that have people living in them.”
Council also heard a presentation about Disabilities Awareness Month, from Jason Tavenner and Tara Glenn representing the Laurens County Disabilities & Special Needs Board, now re-branded as Pathwise. They said the new name more accurately reflects the agency’s future forward focusing on more independent support, early intervention, and partnerships with doctoral programs at Presbyterian College.
Haupfear gave the council a 2-page packet related to District 56 enrollments. She said overall enrollment compared to 2008 to today is down 655 students. “We have at least that number we can serve,” she said.
Clinton High School is designed to serve 1,400 students but has an enrollment of 782. All district schools have capacity, she said, with the possible exception of Eastside Elementary; a large subdivision is under construction on Vance Drive, right beside Eastside.
“There is no cause for concern with enrollment,” Haupfear said. “We do no expect to build another school. We would look at (options) at the schools.”
She said state regulations allow schools to have 30 students to a class, but District 56 bases future development on 25 students-per-class.
She said District 56 has lost some students to Thornwell Charter School, but indicated that research shows the greater impact has been on neighboring District 55. Local enrollment also has been affected by the fact that D56 used to be able to count the school at Whitten Center in its enrollment, and “we can’t do that now,” Haupfear said.
In his presentation, Lummus said the 10-county Upstate Alliance is a lead source for development prospects for Clinton and for the Laurens County Development Corporation. In 2025, he said, Upstate South Carolina saw $7.6 Billion in new investment and the creation of 5,000 new jobs; Laurens County added $125 Million investment and 250 new jobs to that total.
But, already in 2026, Laurens County is on track for $155 Million in investment and the creation of 209 new jobs - just 3 months into the calendar year.
Lummus stressed workforce development and quality housing options are vital to continued growth. “Cities have prioritized housing to prevent brain drain,” he said. “People follow quality of life. A community is either growing, or shrinking.”
Council Member Danny Smith asked Lummus what trends the Upstate Alliance is seeing related to jobs and living. He answered, “People love to live in great cities. It’s a free market - a (developer) will come to a region where they can sell houses.”
He said the Upstate Alliance can help Clinton track how many people live here but work somewhere else, or those who live here and work here.
In other business, Council considered a Planning Commission adopted new rule about housing developers paving and guaranteeing roads/streets paving, and made some recommended changes. Council Member Gary Kuykendall said his concern relates to “heavy trucks going in and out (of an under-construction subdivision), tearing up the roads after we have taken them into our system.”
Council approved the ordinance revision on 1st reading, and referred the matter to last Tuesday’s Planning Commission agenda.
City Manager Joey Meadors brought council up-to-date on a County requirement that no metal be allowed in debris set out for disposal, and a state Department of Juvenile Justice rate increase for young people who are incarcerated. He said great progress was being made on installing new lighting along South Broad Street (paid for with part of county Capital Projects Sales Tax money approved for Clinton water, sewer and streets) but he added that the project’s scope had been scaled back.
CPST was approved in Nov. 2020, and after the COVID pandemic and supply-chain disruptions, materials cost rose so much, so quickly that a project envisioned for all of South Broad was scaled back to stop at Maple Street. The lighting project puts electric lines underground and removes poles.
Asked by Williams about streetlights being out elsewhere in the city, Meadors said he needs citizens to make those reports, “we are so inundated with developments and keeping the system running that we rely on citizens to let us know” where streetlights are out. The City does have an internal system that “flashes” when a streetlight goes out.
In the financial report, co-assistant city manager Carl Stevens said spending and revenue are right where they are expected to be for this time of year. He said property tax revenue is up about 5% as new development comes on-line, and $125,000 came back to Clinton from Laurens County as the former Renfro building was restored to a fee in lieu of taxes. Stevens said the city’s Local Option Sales Tax credit is about $100,000 ahead of where it was expected to be. Hurricane Helene damage to the City’s river pump station had received a $500,000 insurance settlement and is awaiting a $381,000 FEMA payment - Stevens said that restoration work will provide the pump station with better valves to deal with future flooding and storms.
The last piece of FEMA funding - $981,000 - is for the City to re-imburse the electric companies that sent technicians to assist with restoring lines and poles.
Council also heard updates on the Hwy 56 Recreation Complex, ARK Management’s due-diligence on a land sale of former Whitten Center property for a travel baseball complex, and future, full re-opening of the Police-Fire Station on North Broad Street (awaiting upstairs offices).
In her comments, Williams thanked city staff for social media recognition of her, Shirley Jenkins and Robbie Neal during Black History Month, and she spoke for city transparency - “we have to be sure we are transparent, that we follow-up with citizens; we don’t always agree, but we try to work together.” Williams said, as summer approaches, it is imperative that the City and County Animal Control work to get stray dogs under control - “we pay them $30,000 a year; I’m not sure I see them in my area.”
Whether it’s enforcing the dog-tying ordinance or the dog-tags ordinance, Williams said, for the summer, “It is important that our children are be able to be out,” safely.
Council members thanked Meadors and his staff for their work and updates. Smith added appreciation to Main Street Clinton for a recent updating and visioning session, staged at The Lumberyard.
He said, “We have a lot of great momentum in Clinton. I appreciate what I have seen lately.”
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