Clinton City Council has approved various land transactions and zoning changes that are allowing projects to move forward.
Council’s regular monthly meeting Monday was about a half hour with no public comments and with the enacting of 6 proclamations for November days and month designations.
Council adopted an ordinance on first reading amending the zoning designation for 1.09 acres at the new Shell Creek subdivision, where a forest has been cleared beside the former Renfro plant at Hwy 76 and Springdale Drive.
Council moved ahead on first reading for the formation of a Planned Development District for 446 acres at the former Whitten Center property that will become a travel baseball complex being developed and managed by Elite Diamond Dawgs. The properties are on East Corporate Center Drive, Post Drive, SC Hwy 72 East, and Old Colony Road (upper end). The zoning of these properties now is Agricultural, Low-Density Residential, and General Commerce, being converted to PDD.
City Manager Joey Meadors said the tract also includes properties under the direction of the Clinton Economic Development Corporation that may become part of the overall baseball/subdivision/commercial property.
This matter will be before the Clinton Planning Commission for a public hearing on Nov. 11. The City Code, as amended, requires a minimum of one public hearing before an ordinance, or amended ordinance, can be enacted; council did not conduct a public hearing when it passed an ordinance to sell just over 500 acres to ARC Management for the development site.
The zoning change passed by council is contingent on the property sale closing. The City of Clinton will evenly split the proceeds of the land sale with the State of South Carolina, which deeded the surplus Whitten property to the City for maintenance or sale, depending on what the city government decided to do with the heavily-forested land. A similar tract on the opposite side of I-26 is being considered for an industrial park.
Council also gave final reading approval to a zoning change that will allow Coastal Concrete to develop a business that is envisioned to employ 100 people on the southwest side of Commerce Avenue (near I-26 and Hwy 56). The change involves Industrial zoning that will allow the business to construct a building taller than was allowed under current zoning.
Council tabled a land-sale ordinance for 4.55 acres also tied to ARC Management’s development until county mapping of the tract can be reviewed by all attorneys involved in the matter.
Clinton Canopy will be asked to be the Grand Marshal of the Dec. 6 Christmas Parade, council decided, in recognition of the group’s beautification work in and around the City of Clinton.
Council received a Christmas events schedule, and members expressed appreciation to Main Street Clinton for conducting the Nov. 1 Scots & Brats festival on Gary Street in the city. Meadors reported that city records show there have been 228 housing starts in the city between 2020 and Sept. 2025, and that a certificate of occupancy has been received for the renovated Police/Fire Station (the former city hall on North Broad Street).
Meadors also reported that, based on a planning retreat, the City’s electrical supplier, PMPA based in Greer, will not pass along a rate increase this coming year. Finance Director Carl Stevens reported on upcoming meetings with FEMA* to present expenses incurred during Hurricane Helene, for reimbursement, and told the council that $400,000 will be coming to the city from FEMA mitigation funding. This will upgrade valves in the water system to prevent potential failure in the event a hurricane ever strikes here again.
Also, Council is considering Jan. 8, 2026, for a possible informal work session discussion with Meadors and others in city administration of future needs and programs in the City of Clinton.
*FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Administration
STATE - AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Contractors to begin building 130 affordable homes across 7 counties under new SC Housing program
BY: JESSICA HOLDMAN - NOVEMBER 6, 2025 2:33 PM
Five homebuilders will construct 130 new homes in South Carolina and sell them for far less than the state’s median price.
The state Housing Finance and Development Authority began the effort, called the Made It Home! program, in August to expand the inventory of affordable homes in the state.
While the builders are still finalizing locations, the $175,000 to $200,000 homes are largely expected to be spread across Richland, Orangeburg, Dorchester, Florence, Darlington, Spartanburg, and Sumter counties.
The companies include:
How it works
The participating firms will build either 1,000-square-foot homes with two bedrooms or 1,200-square-foot homes with three bedrooms. Both sizes must have two bathrooms.
The builders must price the homes at or below $175,000 for a two-bedroom and no more than $200,000 for a three-bedroom.
By comparison, the median listing price of a home in South Carolina is $350,000, according to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
In exchange for the reduced price, SC Housing will subsidize the construction with a $12,500 payment to the homebuilder for each home constructed.
The state housing agency also will help families buy them.
SC Housing, working with its lending partners, will provide the eligible homebuyers with $25,000 in forgivable down payment and closing cost assistance. The agency also will require buyers to take out a 30-year mortgage through one of its partner lenders. To qualify, the buyers must have household incomes of $135,000 or less, depending on the county.
The buyers must then live in the home and not rent it out or use it as a second home.
The Legislature put $5 million toward the program in this year’s state budget, allowing SC House to more than quadruple its original plans for a 30-house pilot program.
Making it happen
The state’s Home Builders Association expressed concerns early on about whether builders would be able to make the deal pencil out as building costs, land prices and local taxes and fees have soared.
But Howie Mason, the regional construction manager for McGuinn who is leading the project for the firm, said the agency took builders’ feedback on the program into account, which has helped.
For example, Mason said the agency relaxed some of its requirements on the types of materials builders can use. Those rules were largely outdated, he said, and companies now have access to items that are both better quality and more affordable.
Those adjustments coupled with developers willing to give McGuinn a small discount on some of its lots has made participation possible.
“Plus, we want building community to be not just something we advertise but something we do,” Mason said or McGuinn’s decision to get involved.
The company has watched as its primary customer base has shifted over the past couple years. McGuinn had once appealed to first-time homebuyers, but now many of those buyers have been priced out due to higher costs and interest rates.
The first homes
Mason said McGuinn plans to start building its first 10 to 15 homes in the Lower Richland area, south of Columbia in a neighborhood called the Reserves at Mill Creek. Construction begins in January, and the homes will hit the market in the spring.
In addition to meeting the bedroom and bathroom requirements under the program, Mason said the homes will have a one-car garage. And while they might not come with certain extras, such as a fenced yard or blinds in the windows, the homes will largely look the same as every other house in the neighborhood.
Next, SC Housing has asked McGuinn to look for lots in Orangeburg County, where the existing housing stock tends to be older and built on larger lots. Because there are fewer homes available and more land under the ones that do exist, Mason said it can be nearly as hard to find a place to live in these more rural counties as it is in the state’s larger metro areas.
With offices in Greenville and Hilton Head, as well as Columbia, Mason said McGuinn might also build some of its allotted homes near Spartanburg or Beaufort as the program continues.
Mason also said this is not McGuinn’s first foray into affordable housing. The builder has worked with the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority and the Columbia Housing Authority in the past.
As for the Made It Home Program, Mason said McGuinn’s executives and investors like the way it was designed, and he thinks it’s something the state should be able to repeat for years to come.
“It puts more power and ability into the hands of the builders,” he said. “And if you let us help, we will.”
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
MORE ABOUT HOUSING
Young homebuyers lose more ground in housing market as states struggle to help
The median age for first-time homebuyers this year is 40.
In 1991, it was 28.
BY: TIM HENDERSON - NOVEMBER 6, 2025 4:56 PM
Young homebuyers have been priced out of the market even more than previously, according to a report released Nov. 4 by the National Association of Realtors.
“As a result of decreased housing affordability and limited housing inventory, potential first-time buyers retreated further from the housing market,” the report stated, comparing homebuyers between July 2024 and June 2025 to previous years.
The share of first-time homebuyers dropped to a new low of 21% of all buyers, and the median age of those first-time buyers increased to 40, up from as low as the late 20s in the 1980s.
Older repeat buyers with cash offers and large down payments now dominate the market, according to the report. Repeat buyers had a median age of 62, the oldest in the report’s 44-year history.
Among the states trying to help first-time buyers: Florida, which offers mortgages and down payment assistance, and Michigan, which has exhausted the funds in the first-generation, first-time buyer program it announced in February.
In October, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said he plans an “aggressive” approach to zoning changes to create 35,000 starter homes aimed at first-time buyers, including a state preemption of local rules, though similar state laws failed earlier in the year.
“I don’t want my grandkids to be in Indiana,” Cox said in a recent speech, saying one of his sons was considering a move there to find a more affordable house.
Convenience to work location continues to decline as a reason for choosing a neighborhood in which to buy. It’s down to 31%, from 34% last year and 46% before the pandemic in 2019, despite recent increases in employer demands to work from the office, according to the new Realtors report.
The reasons most buyers cite for choosing a home are quality of the neighborhood (59%) and convenience to friends and family (47%).
This fall, the federal government shutdown also might be affecting potential buyers if they are trying to purchase a home in certain flood zones, because new government flood insurance contracts are suspended, according to the National Association of Homebuilders. That could leave new homebuyers in some areas unable to close or exposed to risks in high-risk states such as Florida and North Carolina, according to Realtor.com. In other cases, homebuyers might have to turn to costlier private insurance.
The overall cost of buying a new home is near all-time highs, with monthly payments for the median-priced house consuming almost half the median household income in August, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The last time it was below an affordable 30% was in 2021.
Prices have been rising fastest in the Midwest because of the region’s relative affordability, and in the Northeast because of the scarcity of homes for sale, according to an August report by the National Association of Realtors. Florida, Texas and other Southern states have seen price decreases because of new home construction, according to that report.
Median sales prices in the second quarter ranged from $146,000 in Decatur, Illinois, to $2.1 million in California’s Silicon Valley, according to the same report.
Governments and financial institutions are continuing to roll out programs they say can help. In September, New York state announced a plan to build starter homes to be built with manufactured components on vacant land owned by nonprofit land banks for the purpose of building affordable housing and other community needs.
California’s Dream For All program offers up to $150,000 for down payments or closing costs to first-time, first-generation homebuyers, though applications are closed until 2026.
And the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati expanded a program giving $25,000 for down payments to first-time, first-generation homebuyers. The program started in Kentucky and expanded to western Tennessee counties.
Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org.
Tim Henderson covers demographics for Stateline. He has been a reporter at the Miami Herald, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Journal News.
