The Pulse of Columbia

If you haven’t driven down Lady Street in the Vista lately, you should. It’s amazing to see the revitalization that is taking place along a piece of road many for so long treated as the red-headed step child of Gervais Street. Lady is beginning to hold her own now.

A prime example of this is the new Carolina Ale House which just opened its doors for business along the Vista corridor June 20th.

You might recall the old Hiller Hardware… well, today it’s anything but a bunch of nuts, bolts and 2×4s. With a new second-floor outdoor bar and beautiful view, the old hardware store is now a thriving restaurant that fast becoming one of the busiest in the Vista.

And it’s really no wonder. To go from the eye-sore of an old hardware store (no offense to the Hillers) to a vibrant restaurant with 194 employees and an estimated $4 million in projected revenue for the coming year, it is the epitome of what the “Revitalization District” is all about. It’s estimated that this restaurant alone will generate close to $100,000 in hospitality tax revenue.

But the owners of Carolina Ale House have not been without their issues in this “special district” in downtown. The restaurant opened for business nearly four months after its target date during the “NCAA Final Four”… a very important time of year for a sports bar… and the main reason… the DDRC (Design/Development Review Committee) of the City of Columbia.

Chris Sullivan, one of the restaurant’s owners, sat down with The Pulse just the other day to give us his take on working with what many in Columbia could easily call the “Don’t Dare Revitalize Columbia” committee.

Sullivan and his partners worked with architects to develop what they considered a first-class building design to match with the existing architecture of the Vista. While the Zoning and Fire Departments… which aptly spell out defined parameters for their regulations… gave them very good parameters from which to work, the DDRC left much to be desired.

In fact, the DDRC… a quasi-judicial governing body… has been a major roadblock to their business… as they have many others. Architectural design changes demanded by DDRC staff have cost the restaurant chain nearly $275,000. Signage for the building had to be modified significantly because DDRC staff didn’t like the round shape or the font on the sign. And now, the restaurant may have to spend thousands more to move a window, because it deviates from the original approved design.

The major issue in all of this is that by state law, the quasi-judicial nature of the DDRC offers, as its only recourse, appeals of its decisions to the appellate court… which already has a five-year waiting list. At its last presentation to City Council, DDRC staff trumpeted the fact that they’d only turned down two projects, but what they failed to say is how many projects they’ve altered from their original plans at the cost of thousands of dollars to the City by way of the new tax bases these projects would have generated? A prime example is that a four-month delay in opening the Carolina Ale House restaurant has already cost the city more than $30,000 in hospitality tax revenue.

We understand the desire to create an distinctive look and feel for our city, but whatever your cause, stalling development severely limits the city’s ability to generate the revenue it needs to pay for city services. The City is raising taxes for the third year now… all the while, layers of bureaucracy are stalling the tax and revenue base for the City.

Carolina Ale House goes before the DDRC Tuesday afternoon at 5pm for a review of their changes. It will be interesting to see what comes of this one.

Normally, The Pulse has not strayed from the “city government gadfly” title that Eric Ward at Free Times used to describe this blog the other week, but today is an exception.

Seems that across the river there is a street-fight brewing in Lexington County…where there’s just as much of a split over how to get things done as there is in the city of Columbia.

Some are calling the race between Jake Knotts and Katrina Shealy yet another fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. It will be interesting to see.

Like him or not, you can always rely on the fact that Jake Knotts is going to be Jake Knotts…reliably stubborn, unchanging and at times defiant. For some people, Jake’s “their boy”.

Then there’s Katrina Shealy… the former chairwoman of the Lexington County GOP… who says she’s challenging Knotts’ status quo to represent the ever-changing face of Lexington County. For her supporters, she’s the agent for change who’s willing to give Jake a run for his money.

It will be interesting to watch the outcome of this race. It’s all going to boil down to that one thing that makes or breaks every campaign… turn out!!

~ Dave Wilson, Contributing Editor

If you’ve ever wondered why it is that Columbia city government has some issues, just take a look at this quote from Councilman E.W. Cromartie at Wednesday’s session of City Council…

“The policy of council is the policy of council, but at the same time things occur. And we’ve always had the flexibility to respond to different situations as they occur. …The policy of council, at any given time, is when four members of city council vote for something. That’s just the way it works.”

Now… E.W. is of course right… technically. If all of Council is present, four members can pretty much decide to do whatever they please. Take Wednesday as an example.

• At least four decided to give away $125,000 of hospitality tax surplus to help fund a national hydrogen fuel cell conference slated to come to Columbia next year.
• A little while later, at least four decided to approve a $227.7 million budget with a 3.8% millage increase.
• And at least four decided to increase rates on water and sewer fees by 5%.This is the way the Council-Manager form of government operates.

But the problem with what E.W. said is this… how in the world can an already-taxed City Manager keep the ship of city government going in the right direction when his bosses (the 7 members of City Council) could, at any point in time, change the direction the compass points?

Council has the sole ability to set policy direction and they can override any previous action or decision on a whim. When that happens… more often than not… the city ends up with haphazard policy decisions or special allocation of city finances that don’t take into account the bottom line of an already fiscally tight city budget.

That just leaves the City Manager to sweep up the crumbs.

Word has it on the street that the clock is counting down quickly for the city to get its “house in order” before Council makes some major changes.

Perhaps Council should take a few minutes to reflect on its way of doing things and finally put some policies and procedures in place for itself that will calibrate the compass of the ship… not keep adjusting it simply because four people think it’s necessary.