Greer hopes to cash in on ICAR

A worker with Sanitary Plumbing Inc. sprays water on a special backfill compaction at an overpass currently under construction. The overpass will allow motorist to enter I-85 north of the airport. PATRICK COLLARD / Staff e-mail this story print this story

_____Top stories_____

Greer leaders and planners hope to cash in on ICAR, Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research, but competition's tough so the ducks have to be thoroughly lined up.

"The competition to hold on to what you have, and to compete for new businesses just in the Southeast, is fierce," said Nat Irvin, executive professor of future studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

Business and industry are the big plums, not only because they bring jobs, but, "generally speaking, you don't get enough off of property taxes from a resident to pay for the services that you're giving the resident," said Howard Duvall Jr., executive director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

"Business pays the lion's share of taxes at the state and local level," said David Swenson, executive director of the Greer Development Corp.

To that end, Greer hopes to capture some of the development dollars coming to the Upstate. And the most obvious target, said Greer Mayor Rick Danner, is Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research. ICAR spin-off could be the easiest target right now, but the city's going for diversity, he said.

Spin-offs from the two multimillion-dollar medical campuses locating in Greer are also a strong possibility, Swenson said. City and county planners have identified an area south of Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County between four-lane South State 101and Brockman-McClimon Road as industrial use, where a business park could be located, he said.

Driving the possibilities are land, the current creation of an I-85 interchange at Brockman-McClimon and forthcoming sewer. Nearby are the airport, BMW Manufacturing Corp. and the Eastside's Michelin North America. BMW isn't inside Greer's city limits, so it doesn't pay municipal taxes.

Just down I-85 in Greenville will be ICAR -- a research and development campus for the automotive and motorsports industries, the Millenium Campus, a private research facility, and the Global Trade Center, intended to foster trade with China.

Annexation

Most of the area identified as ripe for development lies outside Greer's city limits, and the scent of annexation is in the air.

Greer resident James Bright said he thinks the city's galloping growth is good, although he has a major concern — "Too much traffic."

But growth is as inevitable as a juggernaut, planners believe, especially because of the strategic new interchange on I-85 at Brockman-McClimon.

"I just feel like that's going to really bust wide open," said Spartanburg County Councilman Rock Adams, who represents that area.

Most of the roads lying in the area below I-85 between South State 14 and 101 are "horse-and-buggy" types, Adams said. But he said, "I'd like to see business and industry come in there. That's where the revenue's at."

So he proposes to fix the roads.

"Don't wait until development comes," he said. "That's too late."

Danner said the city is looking to other areas such as Rock Hill for examples on financing incentives. One possibility is to create a limited partnership vehicle a corporation that can utilize public funding to establish something such as a business park with amenities that might include landscaping at the entrance, streetlights, curbs and gutters.

The city's plan calls for commercial development between I-85 and Abner Creek Road starting at Westmoreland Road and extending to Brockman-McClimon. From there to South 101, it calls for industry. South of Abner Creek Road, it calls for the area, now mostly rural, to develop as residential.

Duvall said the Upstate isn't just in competition with other communities any more. "We're competing with the world, and we have to make our areas attractive for worldwide investors to come in."

Irvin said people are feeling anxious about the global economy and the competition that communities are facing from places like India, China, Malaysia and elsewhere

"City planners are faced with the real threat of feeling being left behind by not moving quickly since companies know that they can go elsewhere," he said. Greer's land use plan calls for a 1,000-foot-deep strip of "transitional" development between the commercial and industrial uses proposed for the north side of Abner Creek and private homes to the south side. Transitional uses include offices, businesses and high-density residential such as townhomes and apartments.

What planners call urban-rural conflicts already are stirring up residents in the area basically, folks who live in a rural setting on narrow roads want things to stay as they are and worry about their children's safety on roads designed in bygone days.

Adams said he'd like Spartanburg County to partner with the city of Greer to improve roads that Greer annexes. He said the county could draw upon its new $25 vehicle fee to help fund improvements.

Adams said a bunch of county roads need improvements including Kist, Vaughn, Westmoreland and Brockman-McClimon. Some bridges need widening, he said.

A portion of Brockman-McClimon is county and a portion is state-owned, he said.

A guide

The land use map doesn't change zoning, Tom Meeks, a Greenville County planner said. It's a guideline. The Planning Commission recommends, and the City Council acts on rezoning requests from property owners. The council also sets zoning when it annexes territory.

Meeks said Greer is growing at such speed, he expects to update the land use plan again in five years.

Greer City Councilwoman Belle Mercado, who represents the area that lies within city limits, said, "Land use plans aren't written in blood. They change all the time."

For areas not yet annexed, "It's not like we have direct control over what happens," she said. "Especially, when you're talking about unzoned Spartanburg County. It's nothing more than a suggestion in that case."

Two-lane, Abner Creek Road, the dividing line between commercial and residential development, is state-owned. State Department of Transportation officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Spartanburg County Assistant Administrator Chris Story said, "It's a complicated soup of different things that leads to the scheduling" of road improvements.

In addition to roads, air quality can be an issue when a community is trying to attract new businesses. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to rule soon on whether the Upstate meets federal clean air regulations.

Swenson said Greer wants to attract a mix of businesses such as light assembly, warehousing distribution, service-related firms such as sales and marketing and offices.

The pressures between business development and quiet, rural neighborhoods south of I-85 on two-lane roads already has created a push-and-pull environment in Greer.

The City Council is in the process of approving a 220-unit townhome retirement development and a 100-bed assisted living facility on narrow Vaughn Road over the objections of residents who fear additional traffic and over a recommendation of denial from the Planning Commission.

However, many area residents welcome growth, especially the health care facilities new hospitals and related medical services planned by Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System on South State 14 and Westmoreland and by the Greenville Hospital System on Buncombe Road a few miles north.

Said Greer resident Linda Pattillo, "I think growth is great for this area."