Is there any small city anywhere that has had as many recent challenges as Clinton?
Take the towns of Western North Carolina out of the mix for right now - a big “ask” we know because of Hurricane Helene devastation, some of them have been wiped off the map entirely - and just consider an Aug. 27 downtown fire and a Sept. 27 hurricane - both have attacked Clinton, a town that lost textiles and for years saw declining population.
Finally, we were starting to turn a corner. Rapid growth in the population of South Carolina, from 3 Million to 5 Million in a relatively short period of time, has sent the development that has overcrowded Greenville-Simpsonville down toward Laurens and, subsequently, our way. The light industrial park out by Eastside Elementary School was sold for a housing development. Another group wants to develop East Main Street. Another group wants to put houses between Ingles and Merrye Oaks. The Cotton Loft turned a rail depot into an exquisite weddings and events venue. The Bush River Resort finally got zoning approvals. The New Clinton Library should be opening soon. We have a splash pad and a recreation center making slow but steady progress.
Then, BOOM, four buildings burned to nothingness on Musgrove Street. Then, DOUBLE BOOM, Hurricane Helene cut power to all 4,200 City of Clinton electrical customers and wrecked the campuses of Thornwell and Presbyterian College.
It’s a double whammy that was discussed in some length at the Oct. 7 Clinton City Council meeting. Frankly, it is remarkable that the City went from where it was on Sept. 30 to where it was on Oct. 7 and could even HAVE a meeting in city hall.
Mayor Pro-tem Ronnie Roth said this, “I’ve always said Clinton has got the best employees; 30 years ago a state senator told me Clinton is one of the best cities, the way it is run, the leadership and employees. This a strong community and we have proven that. Very few communities have had the kind of adversity we have had. Tom Brooks has done a tremendous job of leadership, and his staff is second to none. We are a strong nation, you saw that with so many utility companies pouring into here. That’s what makes our nation so strong, and we owe this all to our God. We’ve got a lot to do. We had some good plans that got interrupted, but these will be back on pretty quick. We have a lot on track about the city that is positive for us.”
So, what are some of those positive? Well, a group of four Upstate investors, including local businessman Chip Cooper, wants to turn the downtrodden Industrial Supply Building into a $5.8 Million apartment complex. To do it, the investors have asked Clinton for a $500,000 investment to build a public parking lot which the residents also could use - think Columbia at USC and the College of Charleston, students live in apartments but they don’t “buy” a parking space.
To make this happen, the Clinton Economic Development Corporation has committed $250,000; and City Manager Tom Brooks asked for a similar commitment from the Laurens County Development Corporation.
“Clinton needs some good news,” Brooks said, BEFORE Hurricane Helene.
Laurens County Council Member David Tribble, who represents Clinton, spearheaded a successful effort at the county level to secure a $250,000 commitment in infrastructure money to put toward whatever infrastructure the Clinton Economic Development Corporation believes is appropriate. The County Council could have said “no” but they were sitting on $800,000 in project-undesignated INFRASTRUCTURE money, so the rationale would have difficult to explain. As council member Jeff Carroll, the lone “no” vote said, “We haven’t had an ‘ask’ from the City of Clinton” not realizing that council member Tribble’s motion WAS the ask.
And then we come to The Fire. We have owners of the burned down House of Pizza wanting to build their restaurant back, or find an alternative site, and the City of Clinton is sitting on the building pictured above. The rationale for this NOT to be House of Pizza could be “we don’t want a pizza restaurant on our main corner of downtown,” but our response is, “Why Not?”
It could re-activate the closed Bake Shoppe next door. It could spark Scoops to make a come back after the extended power outage (we are almost certain) ruined all their ice cream. We could have a beer garden behind the building, where the city had to pay to have an unsalvagable building torn down (and now sits a flat plot of brown mud), and/or a pocket park where people could take their pizza and wings to go, and sit out in beautiful October and April weather. What’s not to like?
Now, granted, we do not know what the City has “up its sleeve” for this building; but no sale has been announced, so we presume it’s available. And, with the Laurens County Department of Social Services coming into the MS Bailey Municipal Building (which has open space because School District 56 moved out) we have the potential of employees walking to lunch. House of Pizza nearby could be a very viable option, along with Wilson’s Curb Market, Steamer’s, The Pasture and Pop’s BBQ.
House of Pizza Clinton Owner Narmeen Farhan wants to be back in Uptown Clinton. We need to make that happen -- not with a direct infusion of public money, because that could violate the law, but with ENCOURAGEMENT. We have got to be a business-friendly city. Our future, more than likely, depends on it. (Encouragingly, Hoyt Hanvey Jewelers is opening at 202 Musgrove.)
We have a new industry moving here from the Rust Belt and it should be opening soon in the City’s second spec building (the first one was bought by an affiliate of General Electric). We have a vast tract related to the Whitten Center property, dealt to Clinton by The State as “surplus property” but almost no money to develop it - steps up, again, the Laurens County Development Corporation which has committed $250,000 to an industrial park road. By our accounting, this could be the LARGEST uncommitted tract of land on two interstates between Greenville-Spartanburg and Columbia, less than 3 hours from the Port of Charleston. We have great potential.
The question then is this: Are we tapping all the resources we have to be a business-encouraging community? Are we taking expertise from current and retired Presbyterian College Business professors? Do we have an incubator, or the potential for one? Are we letting the fact that we will not grandfather “Impact Fees” for housing developments announced before the fees were voted in favor of by the Clinton City Council stymie residential development? More rooftops mean more national businesses will look at our community - how do we mesh that with support for the small businesses already here? In blunt terms, if we get a Lowe’s, what does that mean for TrueValue and Robertson’s Ace Hardware? And, shouldn’t our city have a theme or an identity - here’s our suggestion, Beach Music Capital of the Upstate. We have to look no farther than our own local radion station WPCC, and Pat and Robin Patterson’s worldwide on the web Large Time Network. We should tie every concert we have, every festival we have to Beach Music, and don’t reinvent the wheel, just capitalize on what’s already popular. And what about Hurricane Helene - could it be possible to get the Small Business Administration in here to advice our business community on hurricane bounce-back?
Frankly, we also need to address our “brain-drain” especially as it relates to our City of Clinton people being pouched by Laurens County. We, at The Chronicle, are especially aware of this - we have always been a preparation ground for journalists headed to other places, in some cases, very prominent positions in journalism. But, to always be a “training ground,” is that totally in our best interest?
This is meant to be a 10,000-foot look down at some of our community challenges - not a solution, we don’t know all the answers. We recognize where we are -- What is our path forward?
