If all goes according to plan, the City of Clinton will join the myriad communities throughout the United States to host travel baseball tournaments, and reap the economic benefits of thousands of visitors. In addition, people will be able to buy homes adjacent to this baseball-playing site.
That is the vision for a proposed $30 Million baseball park - subdivision complex to be constructed by ARK Management One Corporation. The first step was the Clinton City Council selling 552.72 acres of land east of the city to the developer, and that was done Thursday evening.
The City Council passed the sales ordinance without conducting a public hearing, and made the sale without placing the land up for sealed bids. The sales price is $1,381,000, and the City will receive half. The property was not professionally appraised.
“It’s a win for Clinton and a win for PC,” said Dr. Anita Gustafson, President of Presbyterian College, who outlined the college’s full support for the project.
She said a sports complex will assist in attracting high school students to enroll at PC, and housing will help meet the needs of graduate students who now find more options in nearby Simpsonville. She also said nearby Newberry currently receives the benefits of people visiting the campus for sports and other events because the neighboring city has more variety of hotels.
“It will boost the economy,” she said, while adding that the contract as agreed to mitigates the city’s risk.
“This is a no-brainer to me,” said local resident Michael Young whose seven children play travel baseball and softball. “I am well-versed in the economic benefits I add to other communities.”
The only concern expressed during the public comments portion of this called meeting of the Clinton City Council was from Old Colony Road resident Kayla Haupfear.
She asked the City and the developer not to use the narrow, rural road as an access point to the complex, as it now is a rear access point to Whitten Center.
“Please, keep the gate up” that separates the neighborhood from Whitten Center, she said, “and add some buffering.”
Council members acknowledged the contribution of James and Dorothy Haupfear for making a donation of land for Whitten Center. At one time, the home for severely disabled people was working farm land, assisting with their rehabilitation.
“Dorothy Haupfear was head nurse at WC until her retirement. James Oliver Haupfear worked there as a carpenter and handiman all of his adult life. Both raised a family of public servants that is still their legacy today,” wrote Tammy Jean Brookshire, in response to a Clinton Chronicle post about the land sale.
The State of South Carolina declared a massive portion of the Whitten Center property as “surplus” and deeded it to Clinton under certain covenants.
The Department of Disabilities & Special Needs will receive half of the $1.3M sales price, and Clinton will receive the other half, based on these covenants and the documents executed Thursday by the City and the developer. Engineering starts immediately, developer John Suter told people after the meeting’s adjournment.
Clinton also owns former Whitten Center property on the other side of I-26, and that is envisioned as an industrial park.
If developed that way, it will be the largest tract of uncommitted, industry-ready land between Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg.
The Council discussed the contract for about an hour in closed session, before returning for its 2nd and final reading-vote on the sales ordinance, and council members’ comments. Development plans will be submitted and reviewed by the Clinton Planning Commission, as the project unfolds over the next 4 - 6 years.
Mayor Randy Randall said, “I think this is a very exciting time for the City of Clinton and for what we are about to embark on … I’m ready to go.”
Council Member and Clinton Realtor Danny Smith urged local entrepreneurs to step up their plans to open businesses in Clinton.
“I agree, I think this is going to be great for Clinton. I think it is going to be a game-changer,” he said. “There have been a lot of ribbon cuttings downtown recently, and I would like to see a lot more of those. I think if you’re a local entrepreneur, and you’ve been thinking about something that you might want to open, this give you - as this gets going - this is going to give you a lot more customers for your potential business. So I’d like people that have been thinking about it to take that idea seriously. I’d like to see our local economy grow from this, but also our local entrepreneurs.
“I’d love to see them find success through the people that will be coming here for this (travel baseball and housing).”
Council Member Natalie Cogsdill thanked Suter for “sticking with us” and not taking the development idea elsewhere.
In addition to City of Clinton staff who worked on the agreement, Council members thanked attorneys for their work on the negotiations. The buyer is represented by Daniel J. Hoy, of Bradley K. Richards, PC, of Piedmont; and the seller is represented by Lawrence E. Flynn III, of Pope Flynn, LLC, of Columbia.
