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Vista TIF district to end


krazeeboi

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The State reports that the city agreed Monday to end the TIF district in the Vista, and as a "settlement" of a dispute of how the funds from the district were being utilized, the city will pay the county $5.5 million. This will occur because the district was set to expire in 2008.

So do you guys think this will drastically affect Vista projects, particularly those associated with Innovista?

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The State reports that the city agreed Monday to end the TIF district in the Vista, and as a "settlement" of a dispute of how the funds from the district were being utilized, the city will pay the county $5.5 million. This will occur because the district was set to expire in 2008.

So do you guys think this will drastically affect Vista projects, particularly those associated with Innovista?

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Pick your neighborhood in Charlotte and you'll find it easily. But for example look at Dilworth, Wesley Heights, or Plaza-Midwood. In SC you can see it in starting to happen in Greenville's North Main neighborhood and the area off of Augusta near County Square... Columbia's Arsenal Hill or Wales Garden. These neighborhoods all have things in common... they are older neighborhoods that are seeing redevelopment and reinvestment. Very often this comes at the expense of existing structures. Very often you get high density townhomes/condos and in many cases you get McMansions (Wales Garden is notorious for that).

This phenomenon is currently only seen in the largest SC cities, namely Columbia and Greenville. Charleston is a different animal, so lets avoid that city in this comparison. Spartanburg has seen some, but notably less redevelopment/reinvestment in its old neighborhoods compared to the scale you are seeing in Greenville and Columbia.

Now, I'm not saying that all of this redevelopment is a bad thing. Greenville's North Main neighborhood has adapted to these changes the best and to my knowledge there was no significant government intervention- but there may be a North Main historic district (does anyone know?). In many cases it is the only way you're going to have any improvement in a neighborhood. I think, however, that in order to accommodate new housing stock it must be done in such a way that it doesn't destroy the character of the neighborhood.

I argue that Wales Garden is an example of a neighborhood that is no longer comparable to what it used to be, while Arsenal Hill is still somewhat characteristic of what it used to be. Wales Garden (no government invervention) is seeing more than its share of McMansions. Arsenal Hill is a little different because of the Governor's Mansion and the historic district there- forcing more development to occur around the Park and the fringes of this neighborhood. But the change is happening none the less, and the general feel of the neighborhood is still in tact.

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In this article from the Free Times, Vista business leaders say that ending the TIF district early won't hurt the Vista because the area has already gotten the projects accomplished that were intended to get accomplished with the TIF funds, such as the streetscapings, the greenway, and EdVenture and that the Vista is now at a point where it can largely be sustained by private investment. USC has proposed the creation of a new TIF to help with Innovista.

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I'm amazed that the city can even (sort of) balance its budget every year with all the property in town that is tax-exempt. When you take out state-owned property, USC property and church and other non-profit-owned property, there isn't a lot left. I'm sure Allen, Benedict, Columbia College and the Lutheran Seminary don't pay property taxes either since they are church-supported institutions. People should stop complaining about parking meters, lol.

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I'm amazed that the city can even (sort of) balance its budget every year with all the property in town that is tax-exempt. When you take out state-owned property, USC property and church and other non-profit-owned property, there isn't a lot left. I'm sure Allen, Benedict, Columbia College and the Lutheran Seminary don't pay property taxes either since they are church-supported institutions. People should stop complaining about parking meters, lol.
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Spartanburg acutally has a similar problem. We have 3 colleges, the airport, government offices (local, state, and federal), and tons of churches all within the city limits that take up about 1/3 of the total land area. None of them pay taxes. Its a major issue. Columbia is fortunate that many of its neighborhoods and districts are well valued.

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  • 1 month later...

I was thinking--perhaps the county should use the early "windfall" money to jumpstart plans for a new county courthouse. That would result in a win-win--a nice, new modern courthouse (developed by Holder, of course) and a prime parcel of land along Main would be freed up. As is, there's nothing urban about the courthouse as it now exists. Imagine the possibility of a nice, truly urban, well-rounded project there. It would certainly help to jumpstart things within the vicinity.

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