Planning Commission sets sights on future
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Members of the Darlington Planning Commission met with members of other groups in the city on October 18 to collaborate on plans for the future. In attendance were commission chair Ronda Duke Brown, city manager Howard Garland, city planner Lisa Rock, Rosanne Brasington, Kay Pierson, Sheila Baccus, Ouida Page, Bryant Gardner, Betty Jackson, Brenton Dana, and Rosalia Fodera.
Brown began the joint meeting by updating the members that the large flower pots around the city’s public square will be joined by several park benches, designed to be sold to individuals, groups or businesses wishing to purchase in memory or in honor such as the pots were sold.
Bicycle racks will be the next project, placed in several locations to encourage shopping by the great number of cyclists that frequent the downtown area.
A “master plan” for Darlington provided by the planning commission was provided to the city’s council members at the October meeting, in hopes that they will accept and approve recommendations and research presented to them.
Roseanne Brasington shared that the Williamson Park Committee hopes to add recreational playground equipment at some point to the park for children to use. The park’s major fundraiser for the year, the 5K run walk, was a success; the committee will meet again in November to plan out their next initiatives.
Kay Pierson shared that the Historical Commission will be working on adding more areas to the Historical District for the city, including areas of the former Darlington Manufacturing “Mill Village” as well as churches, “shot-gun houses” and African American landmarks. She shared that the Darlington County Historical Commission’s new director, Brian Gandy, has been very beneficial in his help in preserving and celebrating the history of the city.
Lisa Chalian-Rock added that the Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association will be launching a new website with a proposed app to focus on the historic aspects of the town to tie the city together with the Darlington Raceway and other locations to develop a “brand” to help with tourism efforts.
Participants questioned the future of the downtown and the Darlington Courthouse; city manager Howard Garland said that the future of the area depends on whether the county moves forward on building a city-county courthouse on land already purchased on the north side of the public square. “To tear down the existing courthouse would cost $1 million in demolition costs,” said Gardner. “If we build a new courthouse a feasibility study would be done on the old one to see if would still be usable.”
Ouida Page asked if there was a strategy go get property owners on the public square to upgrade their buildings. Rock responded that often times the property owners are “not here and do not care” and are not taxed very much so they do not make improvements.
Bryant Gardner shared that he felt that the more foot traffic events on the square would improve the chances that a business would want to open on the square; Rock concurred, and said that after each music event on Liberty Lane the restaurants were full. She said that the DDRA hopes to have 5 – 6 events planned for the coming year.
Betty Jackson added that she hopes that events be spread out throughout the city, not just in the center.
Howard Garland added that the growth of the city is on the bypass. “We have to face the fact that the downtown is not growing,” said Garland. “But the bypass is. We just got word that we have two new businesses going up near McDonald’s and Huddle House.”
Both Gardner and Brenton Dana referenced the “youth drain” in Darlington. “If there was more to do, people our age wouldn’t move away,” said Gardner. “And with our median income in the city being only $19,000, we need to offer affordable things to do.”
Dana offered that the city needs a business liaison to approach businesses to help sponsor events, such as the Movies on the Square – which typically cost between $250 – $700 to purchase the rights to show the movie.
The group discussed the possibility of teaming up with the Historical Commission to invite groups in for a tour of historic properties, adding a lunch or dinner meal to the trip to help the area businesses.
Garland said that the biggest thing that the city needs, in his opinion, is a foundation.
“We don’t have a Byerly Foundation like Hartsville does,” said Garland. “We don’t have a Bruce and Lee Foundation like Florence does. We need a foundation where people can bequeath money to help the effort to better our city.”
Garland noted that the recent move of the Carolina Bank corporate offices out of Darlington to Florence has been met with dismay by much of the city.
“Foundations, like the Byerly Foundation, creates positive change,” said Garland. “We have corporations like NUCOR, like Georgia Pacific that can help sustain and help. If there were a place, a safe place, for people to leave a legacy for Darlington maybe we would finally get somewhere. People need a reason to believe in Darlington.”
Darlington City Council will meet on Tuesday, November 1 at 7 p.m., and the next Planning Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 15 at 9 a.m.