City Council Update from Dick Dewar

AGENDA ITEMS FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY, FEB 28.

APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS – I have appointed Brendan Doherty to the Planning Commission. Brendan is an Aiken native, a graduate of USC and is a local business owner.

APPROVAL OF DEED OF DEDICATION FOR STREETS, WATER, STORM SEWER, AND SANITARY SEWER LINES FOR THE VILLAGE AT WOODSIDE – Silver Bluff Development Company, LLC Woodside Village Residential, LLC, Sidewood Development, LLC, Woodside Golf, LLC, Village Oncology Center, LLC, and the Village Imaging Center, LLC are ready to dedicate to the City of Aiken roads located in The Village at Woodside, along with storm sewer lines, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, and related equipment. Council had several questions regarding this Resolution and proposed dedication at your December 13, 2010, meeting. Our Staff Attorney has discussed these issues with the developer's attorneys. We believe Council's concerns have now been addressed. Our Engineering staff reviewed the roads and other utilities and have found no deficiencies. The water and sewer lines have been tested and approved by DHEC. We, therefore, recommend that City Council accept this deed of dedication.

RESOLUTION APPROVING MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH SPCA FOR FUNDING FOR ANIMAL SHELTER – Council will review the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Aiken Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

City Solicitor Ben Moore will be present to explain the City’s concern with signing any MOU that requires the City to indemnify any entity. State law prohibits us from doing so.

The remainder of the MOU appears to follow the guidance Council provided when it last discussed this situation. The SPCA is scheduled to meet and vote on our proposed changes prior to the February 28, 2011, City Council meeting. We will report the results from the SPCA meeting Monday night.

APPROVAL OF A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING DEED OF DEDICATION FOR LIFT STATION, DETENTION POND, ROAD, UTILITIES, AND EASEMENTS IN DEODAY PLANTATION, SECTION 4 - Crowell & Co would like the City of Aiken to accept the sanitary sewage collection system, lift station, a 20 foot sanitary sewer forcemain easement along with ingress and egress to reach the lift station, a portion of Pendula Court, and storm water collection system including the 20.65 acre detention pond located in Deodar Plantation, Section Four. The dedication does not include any water lines in Section Four of Deodar Plantation. The City engineering staff has reviewed the utilities and road and have found all deficiencies to be corrected. It is recommended that Council accept the deed of dedication.

APPROVAL OF ACCOMODATIONS TAX COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS – The City’s Accommodations Tax Committee meets every year to determine how to distribute approximately $169,000 in A-Tax revenues pursuant to state law.

This year the Aiken Performing Arts Group has a time-sensitive request for funding a particular event.

Total requests are over $327,000. The Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. Their decisions are being reported after the agenda packet is being compiled, but before your meeting. The complete list of requests will be available at the Council Meeting.

APPROVAL OF BUSINESS DIRECTIONAL SIGNS IN DOWNTOWN AREA - In November 2010, Council approved the placing of business directional signs in the downtown area during the 2010 holiday season on a temporary basis. The Aiken Downtown Development Association's board members are now requesting that the directional signs be installed permanently. They state that during the trial phase of the project no negative comments were received. They believe these signs benefit the downtown businesses, especially during these economic times.

MISCELLENAEOUS ADDITIONS:

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE AT USCA. SCDOT requested input regarding a proposed pedestrian bridge over the Robert M. Bell Parkway. You will recall that USCA Chancellor Tom Hallman had initially requested monetary support for this project as part of the November, 2010 1¢ Capital Project Sales Tax (CPST) ballot, but later withdrew that request. You will also recall that the City of Aiken had provided $745,000 for USCA Convocation Center in infrastructure installations in the last round of CPST. At that time, Council heard a presentation about a pedestrian bridge being built as part of future phases of the Convocation Center complex. With this in mind, the City Manager has written SCDOT to remind them of the City’s support of the Convocation Center project.

CITY CAPITAL PROJECTS. The Planning Commission approved the list of capital projects we submitted to them at their February 15, 2011 meeting. The only modification to the submitted list was deletion of the water line loop at The Vale at Montmorenci. Since no right of way has been obtained for this project, it appears prudent not to list it at this time. We will be scheduling a joint meeting between Council and the Planning Commission in April to discuss the status of their Action Items agenda.

WHISKEY ROAD TRAFFIC SIGNALS are now booted up with the In Synch traffic control and monitoring system. After an initial trial phase, when we will ensure any bugs are removed, we will begin normal routine operations. The goal of this system is to adjust traffic signal intervals to keep traffic moving as smooth as possible.

APRT SECURES TOURNAMENT. APRT Director Glenn Parker has stated that the City of Aiken has been awarded the Unites States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Senior State of South Carolina tennis tournaments for the next 3 years. In addition, we have also been selected for two 12-team tournaments sanctioned by the state Dixie Youth Sports baseball leagues for 13 and 14 year olds.

PAWNEE NEILSON REMEDIATION WORK. We are scheduled to open bids to bid the redesigned Pawnee Neilson connector road on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.

AIKEN AIRPORT GLIDE SLOPE PROJECT. Engineering and Public Works Director Larry Morris has confirmed that the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission has completed its obstruction survey for the Glide Slope Path installation as part of our Instrument Landing System project. We retain our goal of having this system operational in the Spring of 2012.

CROSLAND PARK CRIME RATE. Director Frommer has shared updated crime statistics for Crosland Park. ADPS efforts have reduced reported crimes significantly in a number of areas.

SAVE THESE DATES AND PLAN TO ATTEND:

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011 All Republican Precincts in Aiken County will conduct the bi-annual precinct reorganization meetings. Please go to the web site www.aikengop.com for further details.

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2011 AT 1:30 P.M. in Rye Patch the Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch will hold their annual meeting. They are celebrating 40 years of work in support of this fine city facility. City staff will report on completed, pending, and planned improvements to this beautiful complex.

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011 AT 6:30 P.M. City Council will hold the work session Council desired to discuss business license collection practices. Please note the changed date, done at the request of Debbie Nix and Deedee Vaughters. If you are a local business owner, this is your time discuss and learn about the City’s Business License practices.

For other events and other happenings around Aiken be sure to visit www.AikenIS.com.

Wanted- Concerned Citizens

CONCERNED U.S.CITIZENS URGENTLY NEEDED

    IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM DICK SMITH 

FOR

AIKEN COUNTY VOTERS

Dear Friends:

 I am writing today because I have, like most of you, serious concerns about the current economy and budgets of the Federal government and the economies of virtually all of the United States including South Carolina. For too many years we the people have not paid enough attention during elections, and time after time re-elected the same “nice” individuals without knowing what they actually stood for or their record in representing us.  In fact, in local elections only 25% of our registered citizens actually vote and only about 50% turn out even in statewide elections for the Governor and other state officials. It is shocking that almost half our citizens have no interest. We are all paying the price of such a lack of attention to irresponsible career politicians of any persuasion, and many painful actions must be taken if we are ever to get our state and country in order. We the people need to become much more involved. Unfortunately many good folks do not wish to involve themselves in politics because they rank politicians below “used car salesmen.” Others believe they can’t make a difference so why bother. The next paragraph will explain why I feel much different about involvement now than I did when I moved to Aiken in 1999.

In 2001 the Woodside Plantation Company submitted a request to annex approximately 65 acres on Silver Bluff to be zoned Planned Commercial, a category which at that time placed very few restrictions on how the property would be developed.  Area property owners and residents were concerned that commercial development and even apartments would edge up to residential areas in Woodside and other areas further south and west, changing the quiet residential quality of life and increasing traffic on Silver Bluff Road.  A group of citizens calling themselves Smart Growth was already concerned about the “unbridled growth” and rapidly increasing traffic on the Southside, especially Whiskey Road.  The longtime Chairman of the Aiken City Planning Commission was the top commercial realtor in the area, and City Council was solidly pro-growth. Many Woodside residents were concerned about the annexation request and when they called their City Councilman their calls were never answered. The annexation request moved forward to City Council at a standing-room-only public meeting attended by more than 200 Woodside and other area residents and covered by local TV.  More than 20 concerned citizens spoke against the annexation and only 2 spoke in support, but when the vote came, it was approved unanimously 7-0!

 As a consequence of this blatant disregard for the concerns of residents Smart Growth decided that the only way to improve the situation was to elect new City Council members.  Two seats would be in contention at the next city election. After a long search we failed to find anyone willing to run for the District 4 seat which included all of Woodside plus several other neighborhoods to the North including most of the Horse District. After some pressure from the Smart Growth Board and a promise of their support I agreed to run even though I had never been active in politics. Due to her concerns about Historic Preservation uncontrolled growth and taxes Jane Vaughters who lives on the North Side had independently decided to run at large. We did not know each other but when we met early in the campaign, we found our interests had much in common, and the team of Dick and Jane ran for office. To the chagrin of the local establishment including the county GOP and Chamber of Commerce, we handily beat their “old guard” candidates. It is important to note that many of the concerned citizens who supported us are in fact Democrats.  Even though we were only 2 votes on Council we were very soon able to force more open government and systematically push through ordinances on traffic, impact fees, beefed up planned commercial zoning requirements and throw out an ordinance that reimbursed developers for the utility and roadway installations built while developing their property. We were also able to appoint our own representatives to various boards and commissions.  Dick and Jane did their job but both believe in term limits. We stayed only eight years but we have been replaced by like minded individuals and we continue to have a much more transparent and balanced council.  To sum it up, the only way to change things at any level of government is join the fight. Anyone can do it - even a 72 year old guy who could have just as easily stayed retired and played more tennis, and a much younger woman who also had and still has a full time job.

The SC Republican Party is going through its biennial reorganization and we need registered citizens to attend a meeting in your respective Precinct on March 3^rd. “All politics is local” and citizens need to be involved at the grassroots. Please attend your precinct meeting. Make your voice heard. The time may vary but information of time and place can be found on the www.aikengop.com  website and also appear at the bottom of this message. Democrat’s party information for concerned citizens can be found at www.aikencountydemocrats.org 

If you have any questions or need more information please email me at: dickdonnasmith@gforcecable.com or call me at 644-7394. You can also comment on this blog.

Dick Smith

Former Aiken City Councilman

District 4

Precinct Meeting Locations

Written by admin

Sunday, 13 February 2011 20:07

Precinct Name/No. Location of Meeting Time of Meeting Aiken No. 1 Christ Central 267 Laurens Street 7:00 Aiken No. 2 TBD Aiken No. 3 769 Teague Street NW 7:00 PM Aiken No. 4 TBD Aiken No. 5 Make up Meeting - GOP Headquarters 127 Greenville street Aiken No. 6 240 Knox Ave 7:00 PM Bath No. 7 TBD Beech Island 8 Beech Island Fire Department, Beech Island Ave 7:00pm Belevedere 9 TBD Carolina Heights 10 TBD China Springs 11 Make up Meeting - Gop Headquarters 127 Greenville street 7:00 PM Clearwater 12 TBD College Acres 13 College Acres Public works 33 Citadel Drive 7:00PM Eureka 14 Eureka Fire Department Gloverville 15 TBD Graniteville 16 TBD Jackson 17 Jackson Community Center 7:00 PM Langley 18 Make up Meeting -GOP Headquarters 127 Greenville St. Lynwood 19 TBD Millbrook 20 112 Cherry Hills Drive 7:00PM Moneta 21 TBD Montmorenci 22 1651 Banks Mill Road, Aiken, SC 29803. 7:00 PM New Ellenton 23 New Ellenton Community Center 7:00pm New Holland 24 TBD North Augusta 25 North Augusta Community Center 7:00PM North Augusta 26 North Augusta Community Center 7:00pm North Augusta 27 North Augusta Community Center 7:00PM North Augusta 28 TBD North Augusta 29 TBD Oak Grove 30 TBD Perry 31 TBD Salley 32 TBD Shaws Fork 33 TBD Shiloh 34 308 Summer Wind Court 7:00PM Six Points 35 Shadow Oaks Assisted Living  -  108 Gregg Av NW 7:00PM Tabernacle 36 Couchton Fire Detp #2 7:00PM Talatha 37 TBD Vaucluse 38 TBD Wagener 39 Wagener Town Hall 7:00PM Ward 40 TBD Warrenville 41 Warrenville First Baptist Church 7:00PM White Pond 42 TBD Windsor 43 131 Old Bell Rd Windsor 7:00PM Belevedere 44 TBD Misty Lakes 45 3023 Maplewood Drive 7:00pm Six Points 46 TBD Aiken 47 TBD Hammond 48 Community Center Hwy 125 and Beech Island Rd 7:00PM Willow Springs 49 1130 Audubon Rd, North Augusta 7:00PM Breezy Hill 50 TBD Midland Valley 51 TBD Levels 52 159 Mallard Lake Drive 7:00 PM Hollow Creek 53 Woodside Plantation Country Club 5:00PM North Augusta 54 TBD North Augusta 55 TBD Couchton 56 TBD Redds Branch 57 TBD Fox Creek 58 TBD Pine Forest 59 Town Creek Baptist Church  7:00pm Gem Lakes 60 Town Creek Baptist Church  7:00 PM Silver Bluff 61 TBD Belevedere 62 TBD Ascauga Lake 63 TBD Cedar Creek 64 Cedar Creek Community Center 4:30-6:00 Sleepy Hollow 65 TBD Hitchcock 66 St. Paul's Lutheran Church 4:30PM North Augusta 67 North Augusta Community Center 7:00PM North Augusta 68 TBD Anderson Pond 69 The Reserve Club at Woodside 5:00PM Sandstone 70 Knights of Columbus Hall (1003 Spalding Dr) 7:00PM Midland Valley 71 1130 Audubon Rd, North Augusta 7:00PM Levels 72 TBD fox Creek 73 501 W. 5 Notch Rd  (Fire Dept) North Augusta 74 TBD South Aiken 75 334 Skakerage Rd 7:00PM South Aiken 76 Woodside Plantation Country Club  7:00PM