Downtown Simpsonville is continuing to see redevelopment. The Greenville Journal does a great job highlighting key points from Simpsonville City Manager, Dianna Gracely. Those items noted include:
- Conversion of Simpsonville Elementary to the new Simpsonville Arts Center
- Burdette Central redevelopment
- Heritage Park
- Swamp Rabbit Trail extension
Here’s the link to the Simpsonville Comprehensive Plan. Here’s an additional helpful resource. It’s a link to the Simpsonville Planning Department. It has notices of meetings as well as various zoning, planning and land use maps.
High speed rail may be coming through the Upstate in the next decade and developers and government officials look for ways to develop this connection.
We haven’t seen the cost-benefit analysis on what appears to be anywhere from about $5 billion investment to $15-$20 billion investment. High speed rail has run in to many challenges in California where it has been underway for years. Perhaps it can be done here in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina faster and better…only time will tell. Here’s the official page from the Georgia Department of Transportation: Atlanta to Charlotte: Passenger Rail Corridor Investment Plan along with the US Dept of Transportation.
Lots of stories have been published recently. Here are just a few:
Charlotte Observer: High-speed rail could link Charlotte to Atlanta in 2 hours. Have your say next week.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta-to-Charlotte high speed rail: Beneficial or boondoggle?
Curbed Atlanta: What to know about the Atlanta-Charlotte high speed rail proposal
FoxCarolina: Open house showcases possible high-speed rail line connecting Atlanta and Charlotte; would run through Upstate
Charlotte Five: Charlotte to Atlanta in 2 Hours
What do you think? Should we spend what appears to be somewhere between $5 billion and $15 billion for this project?
The City of Greenville Planning Commission will be reviewing the plans for the proposed billion dollar redevelopment plan for County Square. There are many neighbors who have expressed concerns given the rezoning request by the developers. Some of the concern is the number of stories of the buildings that may be allowed to be built.
Here’s the link to the agenda for today’s City of Greenville Planning Commission meeting. Here is the 57 page support document for the proposed development that was included in the planning commission’s agenda.
Greenville County and the developers of the billion redevelopment plan called County Square are still negotiating with the City of Greenville. While there are still lots of details to hammer out, no doubt all of those will get agreed upon with the possible exception of the City of Greenville’s demand that 10% of the housing be designated at “affordable housing.” The Greenville News has an excellent in-depth article today regarding the County Square project. In addition, there is a follow up story with concerns that neighbors have regarding the redevelopment of their neighborhoods.
This seems like a big reach by the city. Why is it this city councils all across the country feel they can interfere with projects like this and make a claim to get affordable housing. If the city wants affordable housing then collect whatever fee you think is necessary to fund your efforts and go build it elsewhere.
There are lots of places in Greenville to build affordable housing for people that the city can then manage. The developers should ask the city how much money are they looking for and pay them off.