Daily Archives: March 19, 2023

City Government, Demolitions, Historic Aiken, March 2023, Planning & Development

City of Aiken Demolition Index

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Contrasts in structural demolition figures.

by Don Moniak
March 19, 2023
Updated March 20, 2023 and May 3, 2023.

Click to enlarge.


Sources

DEMO 200:

The DEMO 200 program that was recently suspended pending further review is enshrined in Section 10-3, Demolition Assistance Programs—of the the City of Aiken Municipal Code. It allows a property owner to pay the city only $200 to have a “substandard” structure on their property demolished. The term “substandard” is not defined in the ordinance.

For residential properties, the ordinance states:

“As an alternative to any procedure set forth in any applicable section, the building official may meet with, or correspond with, all the owners of the residential property upon which a substandard structure may be located and offer to have the city undertake the demolition of the substandard structure in return for the payment by the owner to the city of the total sum of $200.00. Upon receipt of this payment, and the execution of an agreement approved by the city attorney, by the owners of the property on which the substandard structure is located, the building official may direct the demolition and removal of the substandard structure.”

For commercial properties, the cost is $2,000 to the property owner, the maximum demolition cost is $20,000, participants must own the property for two years and keep them for another four to avoid any penalties.

The City of Aiken is stingy about sharing program information, and requires a Freedom of Information Act request for any data. One recent request revealed that Chaplin and Sons Clearing is the city’s primary contractor for DEMO 200 jobs. A search of the city’s  AP Check and EFT Registers in the  Finance Department folder of the city’s document repository revealed three invoice totals for the company from January 2022 to January 2023:

01/19/2023  $7,750.00  on Page 15 of 1/3/15 Check Register\. Check # 305315

4/27/22.       $6750.00 on Page 16 of 4/30/22 Check Register  Check #302364

1/5/22. $6750 on Page 1 of 1/31/22 Check Register Check # 300846

It is likely that the 1/19/2023 invoice pertained to the recent demolition of a home at 327 Chesterfield Street N., seen in the two photos below taken on October 24, 2022, a few months prior to demolition. Another home within the same fenced lot, listed as having a $6750 “valuation”/demolition cost in city records, was demolished under DEMO 200 sometime after June 2019 (see feature photo). The property was subsequently sold, and the remaining home was demolished. The lot is now entirely empty.


A Chaplin and Sons Clearing demolition permit reported a demolition cost of $5250 (below) in the permit, but that is not necessarily the final cost. The appraised value of the home reported by the Aiken County Assessor’s Office in 2022 was $57,132; a value that, coupled with the property value of $22,000, resulted in an tax assessment value of $4750 and a 2022 tax bill for property owner Susan Parry of $1101.05. The 2023 bill will only be for the property value.

The demolition permit for 327 Chesterfield Street North. According to the City of Aiken, no demolition application was on file.


Warneke Cleaners and Holley House Motel

The Aiken Municipal Development Commission holds title to the seven properties in downtown Aiken informally known as the Pascalis project properties. Demolition of two of these properties, the operating Warneke Cleaners and the vacant Holley House Motel, is part of the post-Pascalis scheme for a three-story, 45,000 square foot office complex the City of Aiken proposes to build on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory; at a cost of $20 from state plutonium settlement funds.

The combined square footage of the two properties is 20,683 square feet. (Warneke Cleaners 6308 sq ft, Holley House Motel, 14375 sq ft). According to a Savannah River Site Litigation Fund Request Form submitted by the City of Aiken to Aiken County, and forwarded by the county to the state’s Executive Budget Office and Joint Bond Review Committee for official project approval and release of funds, the City of Aiken estimated a cost for “site development” of $1,500,000 ($1.5 million). The only explanation provided for the project cost is “demolition.”

From the request for plutonium settlement funds submitted by the City of Aiken in January 2023, and approved by Aiken County Administrator Clay Killian on March 14, 2023. (click to enlarge)



The City of Aiken has declared its intent to move Warneke Cleaner to another location on nearby Richland Avenue. No cost estimate for the relocation is provided in the funding request; nor is any estimate of environmental cleanup costs for the existing dry cleaner. The city’s zoning ordinance also prohibits “light industry” like dry cleaners in the downtown business district—-existing dry cleaners were grandfathered in after the zoning ordinance was amended.

Aiken County Assessor’s Office Photo of Warneke Cleaners in 2019. One of the oldest small businesses in downtown Aiken, the building was recently described as part of a “blighted” downtown by City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh. Under DEMO 200, former owner Neel Shah could have requested the city demolish the building for $2,000, with city taxpayers footing the remainder of the bill up to $20,000.

Aiken Count Tax Assessor’s Office photo of Holley House Motel on Bee Lane, taken while the business was still operating. According to AMDC records, owner Neel Shah had a new roof was installed that year. Today an Aiken Public Safety employee lives rent-free in two renovated motel rooms as part of a caretaker’s arrangement established by the AMDC. City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh recently described the employee’s housing as part of downtown “blight.”


(Update). In April of 2021, the first Project Pascalis project cost estimate from Weldon Wyatt’s GAC, LLC projected a demolition and abatement cost of $712,248 for the entire project area—seven properties. The cost estimate for the Holley House was just under $100,000.

April 2021 Cost Estimate for original Project Pascalis, from GAC, LLC. The developer withdrew from the project the first week of May, 2021.


Hahn Village Demolition.

The Hahn Village public housing complex on 19.2 acres owned by the Aiken Housing Authority once housed anywhere from 250- 300 people in about 100 housing units across ~42 duplex-style complexes that ranged in size from 1400 to 2800 square feet and housing 2-4 families per unit. Demolition was announced in 2018 and completed in 2022.

Cliff Hampton of Alternative Construction and Environmental Solutions, who managed the demolition for the Aiken Housing Authority, which owns the 19.2 acres, the winning bid to demolish approximately 100,000 square feet of residences was just over a half million dollars—or one-third the speculated downtown demolition and site development costs for the SRNL project.

Mr. Hampton wrote in an email:

“The winning bid was for $531,700.00 submitted by Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition.  The City of Aiken’s arborist has worked closely with us through this process.  The City of Aiken would not issue a demolition permit without this being accomplished.  There are trees that have been designated by the arborist that can not be disturbed and have been protected to the arborist’s satisfaction.  Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition has stated that they plan to remove no trees other than the ones that have fallen down onto structures through natural causes.”

Hahn Village Public Housing. The housing unit on the left contained four apartments. According to Aiken Economic Development Director Tim O’Briant, a “well executed project…would electrify the Northside.” (Aiken Standard, August 22, 2021)


Next: Homes Demolished Under DEMO 200.

March 2023, Nature News

It’s in the Stars

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By Burt Glover


As part of our natural world, stars are often overlooked. In my younger years I fell under the impression that telescopes were needed to properly study them. My older brother had received a reflector telescope for Christmas one year. Closeups of the moon were, of course, astounding. The planets, a little less so. The excitement of looking at the individual blurry spots, known as stars quickly faded.

Back then, I saw the nighttime sky as just an unchanging jumble of bright spots with no meaning, and I didn’t think much more about it. 

In my 30’s, my sister gave me a book– “The Stars: A New Way To See Them” by H. A. Rey, and it changed my life.

Starting in the early spring, with the scent of flowers in the nighttime air, I started my journey, sans a telescope.  I was quickly able to pick out the constellation Orion, the hunter.

This giant hunter, with his sword held high, and knife hanging from his belt, appeared to be in eternal battle with Taurus the bull, with its long horns charging. Of course, Orion has his hunting dog, Canis Major (the big dog), at his heels to help him.

So many stories from this small piece of sky! Betelgeuse, a bright star in Orion’s shoulder may, sometime soon, become a supernova which will light up our nighttime sky. Betelgeuse= Beetlejuice. Don’t say it three times fast, though! 

Night sky with Orion. (Photo credit: Vitalij Kopa, Dreamstime)

The Orion nebula, one of the few visible to the naked eye, can be seen in the knife hanging from his belt. His hunting dog assistant contains the Dog Star, Sirius in its collar. It was thought by our ancestors that when this star revolved behind our sun in July and August, it contributed to the sun’s heating power, giving us the “dog days” of summer. 

The Pleiades (translated to the Seven Sisters) is a very small star cluster of stars that occurs in the back of the Taurus the bull, which Orion appears to be battling. The Pleiades has been mistaken by many to be the Little Dipper, due to its shape, but it is not. The Japanese name of this star cluster is “Subaru,” and you may see an emblem of this star cluster on many of the cars that they make today. So many stories!

The blue reflection nebula and star cluster known as The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. (Photo credit: Neutronman, Dreamstime)

As the seasons passed, my knowledge progressed. I learned more and more of the constellations, and so many more of their stories.

The zodiac consists of the twelve constellations that the sun, moon and planets appear to travel through in the course of a year. I was surprised to learn that there is actually a thirteenth constellation of the zodiac! With thirteen being such an unlucky number, our ancestors opted to look the other way. It didn’t help that the constellation (Ophiuchus)  depicted to them a voodoo doctor holding a snake that has been torn in two. I have never been one to put much stock in astrology, but I have always been curious. At the time I was born, the moon was in that thirteenth constellation. I’ve always wondered how astrologers would interpret such a thing.

Our ancestors charted their lives by the stars. As the constellations in the sky progressed throughout the year, they served as navigational guides, cues to plant and harvest, stories to pass along to younger generations. The stars that I see tonight will slowly circle around, and reliably be here to see next year at this time. The stars gave the ancients, and can give us, a sense of continuity — a connection with the cycle of life. The same is true of many animals, whose migration, feeding, and mating rituals are guided by the stars. 

These years, I don’t need to see a calendar to know that, when I see Orion rising in the early morning summer sky, winter is on its way. Seeing Virgo and Leo on the horizon in the cold of winter gives me hope that spring is near. Once you realize there is more to the night sky than a jumble of stars, you realize how much more there is to see. 

Meteor in starry sky during Perseid meteor shower. (Photo credit, Yaratam, Dreamstime)

Meteor showers arrive many times throughout the year, the best known being perhaps the Perseid in August and the Leonid in November. There are also comets, lunar eclipses and planetary occurances to dazzle. Weather phenomena are there to astound. I’ll never forget seeing my first “Moon Dogs” — rainbows surrounding the moon from ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Stars are an essential part of our natural world. And you don’t need a telescope to see them! As our ancestors and so many birds and animals could attest, the nighttime sky brings the circle of life together.

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The Milky Way as seen over Botany Bay on Edisto Island, South Carolina (Photo credit: Michael Ver Sprill, Dreamstime)

Contributor Burt Glover became an accidental naturalist during his earliest childhood days exploring the dirt roads, backyards, polo field and barns of the Magnolia-Knox-Mead neighborhood of 1950s Aiken. Birds are his first love, and he can identify an impressive range by song alone. He asserts that he is an observer, not an expert, on the topics of his writings, which range from birds, box turtles, frogs and foraging, to wasps, weeds, weather and beyond.