Community Development Committee highlights

The City of Columbia’s Community Development Committee met on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 to discuss several items involving programs and activities that directly affect our communities in the City of Columbia and Midlands region.

To begin the committee meeting, District 1 Councilwoman Tina N. Herbert provided an overview on “Let’s Build Together,” which is a series of informational sessions on the topic of housing development for interested landowners including churches, non-profits and the public.

The last informational session was held on August 28, 2024 at the Columbia Water Wastewater Management facility located at 4013 West Beltline Blvd. Attendees were able to gain information from the City of Columbia’s Community Development Department, The CEBA Group, the Columbia Housing Authority and various City staff members.

The City of Columbia collected input from the attendees at the information session via one-on-one discussion and a survey that was distributed to all attendees. Councilwoman Herbert and City Staff will review the information submitted to better understand the needs and the desires to develop single-family housing in the City.

Following that overview, Ayesha Driggers, Director of the Office of Business Opportunities, gave an update on the Grocery Store Incentive, which was passed by City Council on November 21, 2023. The focus of the incentive was to attract and benefit grocery stores in disadvantaged corridors throughout the City of Columbia by offering a rebate of business licensing fees.

The designated business areas are located on or within 200’ of these specific corridors and/or districts: Main Street, North Main Street, Two Notch Road, Farrow Road, Elmwood Avenue, Fairfield Road, W. Beltline Boulevard, Colonial Drive, River Drive, Sunset Drive, Monticello Road, Covenant Road, Atlas Road, Bluff Road, Bull Street District (bounded by Harden, Colonial, Bull, and Calhoun Streets). Grocery stores are eligible for a 100% (new) and 75% (existing) rebate of their business license fees each year, for a total of five years.

So far, three grocery stores have received the rebate including:

• Toms Creek Family Farms Food Market | Various locations, mobile food market
• Uncle Willie’s Grocery Store | 2205 Main St., Columbia, SC 29201
• Your Dollar Sto’ | 3017 Farrow Rd., Columbia, SC 29203

After the update regarding the grocery store incentive, Ayesha Driggers gave an additional update regarding the mobile food market, involving Toms Creek Family Farms. The City of Columbia launched the mobile food market in March 2024, in order to provide citizens with the convenience and accessibility of quality foods in communities lacking options to obtain healthy foods.

The mobile food market started with three locations during the week, but has now expanded to every weekday in the following locations:

• Monday | Corner of Kortright St. and North Main Street, 29203
• Tuesday | The COMET Central, 1737 Sumter St., 29201
• Wednesday | Greenview Park, 6700 David St., 29203
• Thursday | 2012 Harden St., 29204
• Friday | Food Truck Friday, 2300 Bull St., 29201

Since the inception of the mobile food market, Toms Creek Family Farms has obtained a sponsorship from Palmetto Credit Union, partnered with the South Carolina Department of Social Services for promotional opportunities and partnered with the South Carolina Department of Public Health for free cooking classes at Greenview Park. The mobile food market continues to discuss future opportunities to collaborate with state agencies, universities/colleges and local organizations to provide health-related information, screenings and access to healthy foods to communities across the City of Columbia.

To wrap up the Community Development Committee, Felicia Kilgore, Director of the Community Development, presented the 2023/2024 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER). This report reviews the activities and disbursement of federal funds the Community Development Department receives to assist residents in the City of Columbia and surrounding counties.

The purpose of the CAPER is to provide an overall evaluation of federally funded activities, report to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the community, and to provide citizen participation opportunities to review/comment on funded activities.

The 30-day public comment period began on August 23, 2024 and will last until September 24, 2024. The Community Development Department will hold a public hearing on September 24, 2024 at the Earlewood Park Community Center, 1113 Recreation Dr., starting at 6:00 p.m.

To comment on the CAPER and future usage of federally funds, please contact the Community Development Department at (803) 545-3373 or e-mail [email protected].

To see a highlight of the report and view the accomplishments of the City’s Community Development Department, please see the attached report.

The Community Development Committee is comprised of the following City Council members: District 1 Councilwoman Tina N. Herbert (Chair), Mayor Pro-Tem Will Brennan and At-Large Councilman Tyler D. Bailey.

Here is a link to the full meeting on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/keHmGvUzFTQ?feature=share.