Olympia Mill Village Updates

[emerging.me]

It passed first reading 6-5. There is real opposition to creating another TIF from councilmembers who were not around when the initial work on the Olympia revitalization began. They do not understand or feel obligated to abide by the commitments council have made over the years.

In favor were:

Doris Corley

Kit Smith

Greg Pearce, Jr.

Mike Montgomery

Bernice Scott

Tony Mizzell

Opposing were:

Joe McEachern

Paul Livingston

Val Hutchinson

Joyce Dickerson

Damon Jeter

Edited October 19, 2005 by emerging.me

[krazeeboi]

I hate the fact that it passed by such a narrow margin, but glad that it did pass. Also, moving the railroad tracks on Assembly near Olympia will do nothing but help.

[Spartan]

Glad to know that this finally passed Great news for Olympia

[emerging.me]

Well, this is just the first reading. It sounds like Mike Montgomery has problems with the idea and will ultimately vote against it. Supporters need to get Montgomery and Hutchinson or we're going to be left with a tricky scenario where funding for the remaining individual improvements will have to be pieced together by the county, city and school board.

[waccamatt]

I hope it ends up passing. Why would they vote against it?

[krazeeboi]

"Because my neighborhood doesn't have a TIF."

[emerging.me]

Another thing that opponents are also saying is that there needs to be a master plan in place and that we can't just keep randomly using TIFs as quick fixes for blighted urban neighborhoods -- they say that's not what they're meant to do. I agree with that, actually... but the thing is... this commitment was made to the Olympia community nearly a decade ago, long before the talk of a master plan or anything like that. To snatch this thing away now is a huge slap in the face to residents that have believed on it and groups that have worked so hard for it, not to mention developer Ron Kaplan who sunk millions into those mills based on the commitments made by local government.

[The_sandlapper]

More goings on about the TIF in Olympia.

Olympia

Edited October 26, 2005 by The_sandlapper

[waccamatt]

"Because my neighborhood doesn't have a TIF."

Well Krazee, we'd rather have you in Columbia, anyway. When you move here you can move to Olympia and....shazam!...you'll live in a TIF!

[krazeeboi]

LOL! Well I considered trying to get into USC for graduate school, but decided it would be easier to go back to Winthrop. Before that, I applied for admission to the school of public health, but didn't get in. But don't worry, I'll get down there sooner or later, I promise.

[emerging.me]

A small bit of Olympia development news -- you heard it here first.

A request to rezone a 2 1/2 acre parcel along the newly-opened Mill Village Riverlink, the former Commodity Engineering site, will go before the City of Columbia Planning Commission on Monday afternoon. Community leaders balked at developer Charles Small's initial plans for the site -- there may have been some concern that the initially planned units were student-oriented. He now plans to build a number of single-family townhomes on the site, which fronts Lincoln Street and is bounded by Whaley St., Heyward St. and the CSX rail line. Noisy living? I think so. But a reroute of that portion of the railway is planned.

I'm including an image showing the parcel in question shaded in red...

Edited November 7, 2005 by emerging.me

[waccamatt]

Great news, EM!

[krazeeboi]

Cool beans.

[krazeeboi]

Seems like the TIF proposal is on hold for now.

[emerging.me]

Yeah, I just found this out myself. I'd say if it's "on hold"... and it has to be done by Jan. 1, that it's a safe bet it won't happen at this point. But... given the "overlooked" new law it might not have made a difference anyway. Although... I don't know if Kaplan -- the mills developer -- would actually apply for that credit. Ironically, he is the one (other than the area's residents that have been fighting for this for years) that they promised all those improvements to.

[emerging.me]

Here's some news on an Olympia development that I've been following -- it is in close proximity to some land that is held by a member of my family, so I am keeping tabs... Developer Charles Small is building 27 up-scale townhomes along Lincoln Street in Olympia, off Assembly -- between Cap City Stadium and the USC Greek Village. The property is highlighted in orange in the attached map.

It will be gated.. BOO! And there will be no street connectivity along Heyward Street -- just a "green space" border -- but there will be open street connectivity to Lincoln, so that's good... right along the greenway connector. I'm attaching a site plan and a design sketch that were filed with the zoning board. They are, unfortunately, pretty vanilla... but I'm sure they'll be "nice."

Edited December 6, 2005 by emerging.me

[waccamatt]

Here's some news on an Olympia development that I've been following -- it is in close proximity to some land that is held by a member of my family, so I am keeping tabs... Developer Charles Small is building 27 up-scale townhomes along Lincoln Street in Olympia, off Assembly -- between Cap City Stadium and the USC Greek Village. The property is highlight in orange in the attached map.

It will be gated.. BOO! And there will be no street connectivity along Heyward Street -- just a "green space" border -- but there will be open street connectivity to Lincoln, so that's good... right along the greenway connector. I'm attaching a site plan and a design sketch that were filed with the zoning board. They are, unfortunately, pretty vanilla... but I'm sure they'll be "nice."

Gated! Yuck. If you're going to live in town, live with other people, don't separate yourself.

[Chtimi]

Gated ! Too bad ! The gated communities would be banned. After all, why welcome people who don't like the city.

[emerging.me]

The Olympia TIF is officially toast. This is disappointing news for me... I've been planning a small project in the area and was really counting on a number of those improvements. It may still happen, but it's kind of back to the drawing board.

[krazeeboi]

Oh well. At least the area has gotten some attention and some possible alternatives will be considered.

[vicupstate]

Did anyone besides me notice that Richland County Council is falling right into place to create a TIF in the sprawling Northeast to build a Baseball Stadium, but gave Olympia the back of it's hand not only on it's TIF, but also on addressing the truck traffic?

Can someone please explain the logic of that to me??

Condos, restaurants, etc. will get built in/around the Sandhills Village, with or without a baseball stadium. Olympia has been trying to get infrastructure improvements for many years, and that area's redevelopment is strongly linked to getting these improvements.

Emerging.me, you should write the county and city and tell them of your disappointment and point out this irony. Why should you invest in an area that they obviously are not commited to.

[Spartan]

Well, on the one hand you have Olympia, which is barely growing if at all, and on the other you have the NE, which is goring like mad. You are playing it safe when using TIF in that area.

That said, I agree that TIF would be more appropriate for Olympia. Just look at what it has done for the Vista.

You need to get people in Olmypia motivated to join the city. They seem to be more progressive when it comes to that type of thing.

[CorgiMatt]

Well, on the one hand you have Olympia, which is barely growing if at all, and on the other you have the NE, which is goring like mad. You are playing it safe when using TIF in that area.

That said, I agree that TIF would be more appropriate for Olympia. Just look at what it has done for the Vista.

You need to get people in Olmypia motivated to join the city. They seem to be more progressive when it comes to that type of thing.

Amen to that. I can't believe Olympia still has red recycle bins. That is rediculous. If you look at it on a map, that neighborhood so obviously should be part of the city. Someone in Olympia needs to speak up and get the city to annex them in.

[vicupstate]

Well, on the one hand you have Olympia, which is barely growing if at all, and on the other you have the NE, which is goring like mad. You are playing it safe when using TIF in that area.

That said, I agree that TIF would be more appropriate for Olympia. Just look at what it has done for the Vista.

You need to get people in Olmypia motivated to join the city. They seem to be more progressive when it comes to that type of thing.

TIFs were never intended for prosperous areas, they were intended for areas that were stagnant and/or declining. The Olympia TIF has sufficient funding with the redeveloped Mill. That is not the issue. Once the mill is on the tax roles (Jan 1) , that opportunity is gone.

I agree that Olmypia should annex to Columbia. They could even use that as an inducement fro the improvements. With the L.O.S.T. now in place, it will cost little if anything for the residents to do so.

Emerging.me, why don't you lead the charge on that. I bet you might even get some help from your fellow UPers.

[krazeeboi]

I didn't know that Olympia was outside city limits. That makes absolutely no sense; that area is practically a southward extension of downtown.