Orangeburg County offers tax breaks to 4 solar farms

The county’s governing body approved a fee-in-lieu property tax, multicounty industrial park and special source revenue credit to Cope Solar LLC, Shining Sun Solar LLC, JMoss Solar LLC and Project Cooper.

Each of the solar farms is expected to pay an average of $300,000 a year in taxes over the next 30 years. There will be no permanent jobs with the solar farm projects. Temporary jobs will be needed to build the farms.

The four projects are:

• Cope Solar LLC – $273 million
• Shining Sun Solar LLC – $92 million
• JMoss Solar LLC – $93 million
• Project Cooper LLC — $85 million

A public hearing on the proposed projects was held but no one spoke at the public hearing on June 17.

EnergyRe Project Developer Bruce Binney said the company will be developing the JMoss Solar and Shining Sun Solar projects but is not ready to provide specifics such as location, acreage, construction and operational timelines, or megawatt power production numbers.

EnergyRe acquired Charleston-based Southern Current. Southern Current’s other local projects announced over the years have included a 20-megawatt farm near Elloree and a $10 million, 8-megawatt solar facility near Springfield.

Information on Cope Solar and Project Cooper were not immediately available.

Rejecting more roads

Meanwhile, council has unanimously voted against accepting existing roads around the Santee National Golf Course and the future roads in the newly built Center Pointe subdivision into the county’s maintenance program. The roads are in the Town of Santee.

“I just think it is common sense to say no,” Councilman Kenneth McCaster said, noting he has roads in District 3 that need work. “My recommendation is that we don’t take any roads at this time in any municipality or town. Until we do either the unthinkable of raising taxes or raising fees, we really can’t afford it.”

Councilwomen Latisha Walker and Deloris Frazier echoed McCaster, adding they have roads in their districts needing maintenance and other work.

“My roads in my area, some of them are as old as I am, and they are not paved,” Frazier said.

County public works, building and planning officials all expressed concerns about the county taking on additional roads outside of its jurisdiction.

County building official Stewart Haig said the policy has been for the home owners association’s in each subdivision to assume the responsibility of maintaining roads through a fee structure each homeowner is responsible to pay.

“If we open that door, I think we may open up a door where any subdivision that comes in are we going to take over the roads,” Haig said, noting such actions would mean the county will have to increase funding for the public works department.

Orangeburg County Planning Director Preston McClun said there is no way to know if the roads that have been constructed are up to SCDOT standards.

“That could be something where we could be taking roads that were built to a substandard specifications and then we might have to start doing and performing repairs on those roads sooner,” McClun said.

The county’s Public Works Committee earlier voted against accepting the roads.

In other business from June 17:

• Executive Director of Everybody Eats Globally Inc. Patricia Elliot requested council help the nonprofit food-distribution agency find at least a 700-square-foot space so that it can store and continue to distribute food boxes.

Elliot said the space would need to have electricity to house a walk-in cooler. She said the space would be needed every other Tuesday and Wednesday mornings or about 26 weeks annually.

The mission of Everybody Eats is to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to people in need.

The group currently distributes food at the former Orangeburg DSS building on St. Matthews Road but the building will be unavailable for usage in the near future.

• South Carolina State University Dean of College of Business and Information Systems Dr. Matthew Guah introduced 26 graduate students from Kenya and Nigeria who are attending the United States International University-Africa in Kenya and the University of Lagos business college in Nigeria.

Guah said the students have been able to explore various parts of the state, including the Orangeburg Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum, Charleston, Columbia and Atlanta.

Guah said the international partnership is a part of the process of the university’s efforts to become a Research-2 institution under the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education’s ranking system.

• Council gave unanimous second reading to the certification of a petition from Northwood Estates residents for the creation of a special-purpose tax district to provide lighting to the subdivision. Northwood Estates is located off Five Chop Road, east of Orangeburg. A public hearing was held but no one spoke.
• Council unanimously approved a resolution to participate in the South Carolina County’s Property and Liability Trust program.

The program is sponsored by the South Carolina Association of Counties.

Orangeburg County had been under the state’s Insurance Reserve Fund, but chose to change its insurance provider at the recommendation of SCAC.

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said the SCAC insurance program is a better cost to the county, covers the same liabilities that many counties experience and does not include coastal counties that can impact insurance premiums due to the threat of tropical storms and hurricanes.

• Council unanimously approved a resolution to allow the Orangeburg County Fire District to enter into an agreement with Provident Fire Plus through the South Carolina Firefighters Insurance Services. The county’s fire district also was under the state’s Insurance Reserve Fund.

Orangeburg County Fire District Director Teddy Wolfe said the insurance coverage under Provident will be tailored to firefighter needs.

“There is more coverage and less paperwork,” Wolfe said.

• Orangeburg County Fair Association President Lin Hair reminded the public about the July 4 celebration with fireworks scheduled for 9 p.m.

He also said the annual fair will be held Oct. 1-6. The theme this year is “It’s Bloomin’ Fun.” The midway will be presented by Lisko Family Amusements with the expectation of about 25 rides.

• Orangeburg resident Steven Palmer of Mulberry Street asked the county if there are any plans to pave the portion of Medway Drive that is not paved.

The road serves as a pass-through from Riverbank Drive to North Road northwest of Orangeburg. The road is adjacent to the newly built Petco.

Palmer said there is a new subdivision being built in the area and traffic will most likely have to pass by his house because most people do not take the dirt road.

Councilwoman Janie Cooper Smith said she is not aware of the road being scheduled to be paved but she said she would look into the matter.

• Council unanimously approved spending $61,500 with Encore Communications LLC to help the Orangeburg County Development Commission create a marketing website. The contract will be for four years.
• Council gave unanimous final approval to an agreement to lease county-owned land set aside for economic development to Kaigler Farms.

The Kaigler family will be able to continue to farm the property until it is needed for industrial or economic development use. The annual lease will be $4,800.

• Councilwoman Latisha walker read a proclamation naming June as Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness month.
• Council entered into closed session to discuss the replacement of legal services previously provided by the county’s deputy attorney, Jerrod Anderson.

Anderson was elected to serve as the 1st Judicial Circuit Seat 4 Family Court judge. He will begin his new role July 1.