Some stories regarding this week’s Aiken City Council agenda, and an update on a development.
by Don Moniak
September 11 City Council MeetingAiken City Council will convene 7 p.m. on Monday, September 11th for its regularly scheduled meeting at the new City Hall at 111 Chesterfield Street, South.
The agenda includes public hearings on the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan, budget amendments to allocate a budget surplus, and a critical Memorandum of Understanding involving the Powderhouse Road Connector project.
The Aborboretum
First, some good news. The Second Public Hearing for the City of Aiken Comprehensive Plan update is near the top of the agenda. After first being omitted from the plan for years, the uniquely managed and Arboretum, which is situated within and around the City of Aiken, has been recognized as a unique resource in the plan’s cultural resources chapter.
Read “Aiken’s World-Class Arboretum Finally Recognized in City of Aiken Plan”for more…
Development Road
Deep in the agenda is a Resolution Authorizing the City of Aiken to Enter Into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with James S. Watson and Powderhouse Parters, LLC. This MOU is critical to the success of the long-planned and highly-debated, $38 million Powderhouse Road Connector project.
Although marketed as a Whiskey Road traffic congestion relief project, the Connector Project will facilitate, and encourage, major residential developments across the project area. At least 2,000 new residences are anticipated across an undeveloped three-hundred acre area outside of city limits. Read more in “Development Road.”
Lab Project Meetings
Two meetings regarding the proposed downtown Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) office complex are planned this week. One meeting is closed to the public, the second meeting is open to the public. Read more in “Secret Meeting, Open Meeting.”
Project Unicorn
Finally, one item not on the agenda is “Project Unicorn.” See “Introducing Project Unicorn” for an update on a story first reported in early May.
Great to see the Arboretum getting the needed respect and recognition! Perhaps this will spillover to a little more respect and appreciation of Aiken’s green areas in general where more recently trees seen only as wild areas in the way of car washes, housing developments and mattress stores.
I wish the city would start taking a look at the litter in the streets and curbs. Perhaps some sort of litter enforcement could happen.
The council members seem to be concerned with the old run-down portions of downtown, Maybe they should drive around the district they represent and and pay attention to their voter’s concerns.