WINNSBORO – Winnsboro Town Manager Jason Taylor said last year that, “one of the things nearest and dearest to me is to see downtown Winnsboro revitalized.”
With $12 million in grants under the Town’s belt this year and the prospect of more next year, the annexation of 150 properties into town this year, a new code enforcement ordinance with a bite, and substantial new private investment coming to the downtown, Taylor says the prospects for genuine revitalization of Winnsboro are taking shape.
Taylor talked with The Voice earlier this week about some of the Town’s accomplishments this past year that are continuing a revitalization effort that began in earnest in 2022.
AMI Electronic Meters
“We’ve finally completed the AMI electronic meter reading project for all our water and sewer customers and for most of our gas customers. We’re now moving toward installing electricity meters,” Taylor said. “This was a huge and expensive undertaking that was initiated when Mayor John McMeekin was on the town council. It will modernized our system and will hopefully address the meter reading and billing problems we had in the past.
“We’re still working through some of the kinks,” he said, “but we’ve seen considerable improvements and increased customer satisfaction already.”
Annexation
The Town has continued to expand its borders through annexation.
“We had 100 annexations last year and 150 this year – two or three new ones at almost every council meeting,” Taylor said. “After we dropped the $500 fee that property owners had been charged in the past to annex into town, we’ve had a flood of annexations. And we’re not solicited them. By coming into the town, they can access trash pickup and have lower utility rates. Ultimately, the more property that is brought into the Town creates a more consolidated service delivery territory. Police, fire, and trash services are made easier when service territories have fewer holes.”
Armory
With mostly inhouse labor, Taylor completed the renovation of the Armory this year – the painting, flooring and ceilings are all redone with installation of new heating and air conditioning planned for 2024.
“It’s more attractive now and more functional for community events. It’s now being used constantly,” Taylor said. “Every weekend it’s booked …not just once, but two and three times during a weekend. That’s wonderful for residents to have a nice place to hold their events right here in town. And the rentals provide income for the Town.”
Historical Preservation
“Passing the historical preservation ordinance this year was a big thing for us. It’s something we really needed to do for the future of the town. With the potential growth that’s coming, we don’t want to lose our unique historical identity,” Taylor said. “Along with Camden, we’re one of the oldest towns in the inland part of South Carolina.
“We still have a number of structures from the mid-1800s and even from the 1700s. Those are assets we need to protect. We want our historic buildings saved and repurposed for the future. The City of Charleston, of course, is a fine example of how this was done. Saving your history is a great financial asset for your town. We want to make the most of what’s here, to embrace the whole ebb and flow of the town’s history,” he said.
The Wolfe House
The Historical Preservation Group bought the Wolfe House on South Congress Street just months before COVID hit, with the intent to restore it, but it still stands in disrepair.
“The owners are doing some restoration work in Edgefield, in Trenton and that area right now,” Taylor said. “But they’ve stabilized the house, put a new roof on it, did some foundation work, closed in the window openings, and they’re telling us that their next project will be the Wolfe House.”
Grants
The Town has received somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million in grants this year, with the SCIP grant at $10 million, the largest. The SCIP grant is to be used to upgrade the quality of treatment in the Winnsboro water plant and expand the plant’s water treatment capacity from four million gallons to six million. This should be complete in about a year and a half, according to Taylor.
“We also received a $450,000 grant for parks, a $750,000 grant for a generator for the water plant, and $600,000 for upgrades for our town’s water plant chemical distribution system,” Taylor said. “While these grants may not seem exciting, they lay the groundwork for the revitalization of the town.”
Revitalization of Downtown
With the help of House Representative Annie McDaniel, Winnsboro received a very much needed $500,000 for downtown revitalization. It also received $25,000 from the SC Municipal Association and $20,000 for various public safety options.
“The model many towns have used successfully, is to get heavily involved in helping rehab old downtown buildings, and put these buildings out for businesses to buy or rent at a very low incentive rates,” Taylor said. “Then, as those businesses become successful, we need to work with their owners to be sure they can own that building.
“Town Council, Mayor McMeekin and I are looking forward to this next year really aggressively going after the revitalization of the downtown.
“We’re hoping to receive another $500,000 next year to use to acquire some of the derelict properties in the downtown and rehab them. We have offers out on several different properties right now. But acquiring these properties is slow, time-consuming work,” Taylor said.
“As the result of some of our efforts, people are now starting to invest in downtown,” he said. “We welcomed the new Mexican restaurant this year as well as investment in the Wells Fargo bank building with the potential for four new apartments and a nice restaurant going in there.
“We want to work with new business owners and encourage them. If they see us investing in downtown, that makes them more comfortable to invest their money.”
Code Enforcement
“In the past,” Taylor said, “we really did not have an ordinance in place that allowed us to aggressively enforce a lot of the code violations and/or clean up derelict properties that we have around town. Our new code enforcement ordinance is a huge step toward revitalization of the town.
“We’re now starting to meet with property owners to talk about blight and the enforcement process and let them know that the condition of their property has to be dealt with or they will face consequences,” Taylor said. “To that end, we’ve acquired six properties with dilapidated houses that we’ve taken down this year. We’ve acquired another five homes that we’ll be taking down next year.”
Taylor said the properties are being cleaned up and turned into greenspaces that can be added to existing parks or they can go into the Town’s new redevelopment bank to promote new development in the town.
“These properties are desirable to build on because they already have water, sewer, roads and sidewalks,” Taylor said. “They’re ready to go.”
“This not only improves our neighborhoods, but it helps market our utilities. Empty buildings and lots don’t pay gas, water, sewer and electric bills,” he said.
New Use for the Clock
It was announced at the last county council meeting that the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce is moving out of the clock office into a larger building in town.
“Right now we’re looking at doing some renovations to the first floor of the clock so we can move the town council meetings from the Woman’s Club building to the first floor of the clock,” Taylor said. “That floor just needs some cleaning, painting, changing some door knobs, things like that. It has heat and air and a brick veneer floor. It’s an underutilized space right now, but it’s a great iconic building in the town. Using that space puts life back into the clock. That work is being done inhouse.”
Now that the Town has had some successes, Taylor is looking forward to more.
“We must get heavily involved as did Newberry, Camden and Rock Hill,” Taylor said. “We must continue to look at what other towns have done successfully and then try to make that work for the Town of Winnsboro.”
