Aiken Design Review Board will meet Thursday, receive briefing on Project Pascalis lawsuit
Jul. 13—The Aiken Design Review Board could get briefed on a lawsuit filed to stop Project Pascalis on Thursday afternoon.
The board is scheduled to meet for a special called meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 14, in Room 315 of the new municipal building located at 111 Chesterfield St. S.W.
On the agenda is an executive session to receive legal advice relating to pending, threatened or potential litigation or other matters covered by attorney-client privilege from board attorney Jim Holly.
The meeting will happen nine days after a lawsuit was filed to stop the city's progress on Project Pascalis.
The members of the Design Review Board are among the defendants named in the suit.
Project Pascalis is the city's name for the $75 million downtown Aiken redevelopment project being shepherded by the Aiken Municipal Development Commission. The project calls for redeveloping properties in the block surrounded by Laurens Street, Richland Avenue, Newberry Street and Park Avenue.
The plan, as proposed, calls for the demolition of the former Hotel Aiken and buildings next to it on Laurens Street and their replacement by a 100-room hotel. Several buildings at the corner of Newberry Street and Richland Avenue would be demolished and replaced by an apartment complex and a parking garage, with the new building's footprint extending out into what is currently the southbound lane of Newberry Street. The former city municipal building on Park Avenue would be expanded into a conference center.
Also on the agenda is annual training for board members from Randy Wilson.
A note at the bottom of the agenda says the meeting will be limited to those two items and that no opportunity for public comment, questions or presentations will be given.
