North Augusta candidates talk growth and development, trust in government at forum

Apr. 14—Candidates in this month's North Augusta municipal election answered questions on growth and development, Riverside Village and perceived trust in city government during a political forum hosted by Post and Courier North Augusta and North Augusta Chamber of Commerce on April 13.

Democrat Richard Adams and Republicans David Buck, Eric Presnell and Kevin Toole each took part in the forum.

Presnell and Toole currently serve on North Augusta City Council. Their terms, as well as Bob Brooks' term, expire in May. Brooks is not running for re-election.

Growth and development in North Augusta

North Augusta grew in population by 14% between 2010 and 2020, and new development has gone up at all corners of the city.

"This is one of the hottest markets in the nation," Adams said.

Each of the candidates emphasized the importance of keeping ahead of new development by laying the infrastructure for it. "We can't just plan for today, we can't just plan for tomorrow. We need to be on a 10-, 15-, 20-year plan," Buck said.

Presnell pointed to what he said was the good foresight of past councils when the decision was made to widen Knox Avenue and add traffic lights in what now has become one of North Augusta's main commercial districts.

Toole said the city must balance residential growth with commercial development. Residential development can "create more of a financial burden than it creates revenue to handle that burden," he said.

Additional housing means more money spent on providing public services, everything from trash pickup to additional police officers, but revenues generated by the extra rooftops is usually insufficient to cover this extra outlay.

Toole suggested that impact fees could mitigate this. Impact fees are fees that a developer pays the city and that go into covering the costs of certain services or infrastructure.

This option has been looked at briefly before; it was a point of discussion during a joint session between North Augusta's council members and planning commissioners last fall, but no further public discussion has occurred since then.

One way the city hasn't been growing as much recently is in annexation, and each of the candidates agreed that future annexation should be handled strategically.

Annexation is limited to those properties contiguous to the city limits. It's also a voluntary action initiated by the property owner, not the city.

"It has to make sense. It can't just be annexed to bring in tax dollars," Buck said. "It has to make sense for the city. If it makes sense, then it's a win-win for both parties."

Adams said more education around annexation is needed: both the benefits a citizen would receive and the higher taxes they'd expect to pay should be outlined for those requesting annexation, he said, also suggesting a non-transferrable tax break of some kind for senior citizens wanting to be annexed into the city.

Both Toole and Presnell said that filling in the "donut holes" of North Augusta should be priority for any future annexation.

"We're probably one of the very few cities that you can go in and out of the city limits 10 times driving down two or three roads," said Presnell.

For many of the 35-40 people who attended the forum, development at Riverside Village and traffic issues along Martintown Road were specific concerns.

Each of the candidates said that Riverside Village is paying for itself. The city has cash on hand to make payments on Riverside Village through November 2024. The master developer of Riverside village has also promised new builds as early as this year.

Adams said that, going forward, he wanted to see concrete perimeters for when development will happen there, not just estimates.

Buck said the city needed to review its agreement with the developer "every few months, maybe monthly, and set some benchmarks for the developer along the way and make sure we're hitting these benchmarks."

The MID fees included in the Master Development Agreement for Riverside Village "encourage and incentivize" development and are "the sharpest weapon" the city has, said Toole. "The MDA, the agreement that we have, in a lot of ways protects the city as much as it protects the developer because it creates the structure and holds to the vision of what was originally supposed to be developed down there."

Toole added that he's "not thrilled" with the lack of the development on some of the parcels and said the city must keep pushing for continued development. Toole said the city needed to get "consistent and periodic updates" from the developer as well as push to "find a way to add some disclosures to that so that it's easier for citizens to see."

A couple of the questions from the public concerned Pinon Road, the Hive development (formerly Hamrick farms) and traffic along the Knobcone Avenue-Martintown Road corridor

But Pinon Road is outside the city limits, in unincorporated Aiken County, and is beyond the purview of North Augusta government. The question opened up a discussion around what the city can and cannot do.

"A lot of people want to blame us on council for everything development that's going on in the city," said Presnell. But "probably 80% of what you see being built never even comes before City Council."

Zoning dictates a lot of development. For the most part, "a citizen can do whatever they will with their property; you can't override their ownership," said Adams. "We still have laws we have to follow as well."

The Knobcone-Martintown corridor is the subject of an ongoing traffic study, as is Georgia Avenue, and candidates agreed that traffic will be a challenge going forward.

Presnell emphasized the interconnectivity of North Augusta that allows for numerous alternate routes and the ability to move through the city without ever getting on a main road. This interconnectivity should continue to be a priority, he said.

Trust in government, partisan elections

The candidates each said that open communication between the city and its citizens is a big part in determining the direction that North Augusta is going.

Looking back at where the city was and where it is now — with more business and more recreation — Buck said "we've put the right people in place."

Presnell said any lack of trust in city government has come from social media, rumors and "people not coming to the council meetings, not calling us, not emailing us" but that having one-on-one engagement with those who are concerned has generally dispelled any mistrust.

Adams said that engagement and education go a long way in promoting trust among the citizenry. "A lot of people do not know how cities work," he said.

Adams said his experience last fall going through North Augusta's Citizens Police Academy was helpful in that "when presented with the data, facts and statistics, it changes your perspective of everything that our officers do." Adams suggested that something similar be done for educating people on the limits of what their local government can do.

And what do the candidates think of having partisan elections in North Augusta? This was a question posed by an audience member.

"This is kind of a double-edged sword. Unfortunately, most people — whether it's local, state, national — they want to see someone who has the ideas that they have," said Presnell. But "We're talking about zoning and ordinances and things like that that we vote on, which it doesn't matter if you have a 'D' or an 'R' in front of your name."

All candidates were open to discussing the topic in future, and Adams was vehement in his opposition to partisan elections here.

"Absolutely not," he said. "Our elections should not only be non-partisan, but they should coincide with the presidential election because more people turn out during presidential elections as opposed to off-cycle elections."

Adams said that "color has had a chokehold on this town for a very long time and when I say color, I'm not talking Black and white, I'm talking red and blue."

Toole and Buck, like Presnell, agreed that party backing gives voters an idea of what a council member's ideas might be but also agreed with Presnell that most of what the city votes on are not partisan issues.

Election Day is April 25

The North Augusta municipal election is Tuesday, April 25. Precinct information and voter registration status can be found online at SCVotes.gov.

Additional information on early voting and Election Day precinct locations is also available on the city of North Augusta's website, northaugustasc.gov.

Polls will be open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.