Aiken City Council could continue Project Pascalis cleanup Monday evening

Matthew Christian, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·4 min read

Apr. 9—The Aiken City Council could take two more steps to cleanup from the failure of Project Pascalis Monday evening.

The Aiken City Council is expected to consider the second and final readings of ordinances amending the city's budget to add and spend the $26.2 million the city received from the state's plutonium settlement and dissolving the Aiken Municipal Development Commission at their 7 p.m. meeting.

The plutonium settlement ordinance calls for spending $9.6 million to pay off bonds the city issued and granted to the Aiken Municipal Development Commission to purchase six of the properties — the Beckman Building, Hotel Aiken, the Taj Aiken Building, the Dr. C.C. Johnson Drug Store, Warneke Cleaners and Newberry Hall — that were included in the $75 million plus redevelopment effort.

The ordinance also calls for spending $3.5 million on a northside gravity sewer project, $3 million on repairs to the closed Fairfield Street Bridge, $1.2 million for intersection and amphitheater improvements at Beverly D. Clyburn Generations Park and $400,000 for the Farmer's Market streetscaping project.

Once the funds are spent, it will end a multi-year effort to get funds from the state's plutonium settlement with Department of Energy.

The council voted unanimously to approve a resolution March 27 entering into an agreement with Aiken County for dispersal of the city's plutonium settlement funds.

Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh said in a memorandum to the city council the state's Joint Bond Review Committee voted to approve the distribution of city's funds to Aiken County. He adds the funds will be remitted by the county to the city.

The city council approved the first reading of the plutonium settlement funds spending ordinance Feb. 13.

A South Carolina General Assembly conference committee voted last summer to allocate $26.2 million — An additional $900,000 went to the Aiken Railroad Museum — to the city for downtown and northside improvements ($25 million) and Beverly D. Clyburn Generations Park ($1.2 million).

The state of South Carolina and the Department of Energy announced the settlement agreement in August 2020 resolving years of litigation over the department's failure to either complete and begin operation of the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site or to remove the plutonium stored at the site that was to be processed in the facility. In the agreement, the department agreed to remove the plutonium by 2037 and pay the state $600 million upfront.

Of the $600 million, $75 million went to two law firms who litigated on a contingency fee basis but this has been challenged in court.

The ordinance dissolving the AMDC calls for its dissolution by June 1 and the transfer of its assets to the city.

In addition to the Project Pascalis properties, the AMDC owns the former Jackson Petroleum property and has around $100,000 in a bank account.

The council voted 5-0 — Mayor Rick Osbon and Mayor Pro Tempore Ed Woltz recused themselves — to approve the first reading of the ordinance March 27.

The city council is also expected to consider the second and final readings of ordinances:

— Approving a concept plan for a Home2Suites/Hampton by Hilton to be constructed on Ginger Lane and annexing and zoning a city-owned property on Oak Grove Lane to allow the project to move forward;

— Rezoning a property at the corner of York Street (U.S. Route 1) and Columbia Avenue from light industrial to general business to allow for the construction of a internal medicine family practice by Rural Health Services; and

— Annexing and zoning single-family homes on Monetta Street and Marvin Drive.

The council is also expected to consider:

— Approving a memorandum of understanding with the Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch outlining the groups' responsibilities for the properties located south of downtown;

— A resolution authorizing the acceptance of the deed for an easement to a stormwater pond in Deodar Plantation Section VII; and

— Proclamations designating April 22 as Earth Day in the city and April as Fair Housing Month.

The appointment of Faith Hawks to the Design Review Board to replace Katy Lipscomb is also scheduled for consideration at the meeting.

A worksession to discuss placing the Mason Branch and Brunswick Tracts into a conservation easement and the 2023-2024 budget will be held at 6 p.m.