Winnsboro Offers Financial Aid
WINNSBORO – In addition to the untold millions of dollars in damage caused by last weekend’s storm, the record flooding and rainfall prompted the cancellation of County Council’s special called meeting Monday night, resulting in a delay for a potential economic development project.
Winnsboro Town Council, meanwhile, vowed at their meeting Tuesday night to offer assistance to victims of the historic storm.
Project USA Delay
The only item on County Council’s Monday agenda was first reading of an ordinance to rezone two parcels for AEC Pellet 1 USA, a wood chipping company with designs on a new facility in Winnsboro. Interim County Administrator Milton Pope told Council during their Sept. 28 meeting the company hoped to close on the property by the end of October. The first reading was scheduled to coincide with that closing.
Pope said Tuesday that while the postponement of first reading will cause a delay for the company, it would not create a major problem.
The proposed rezoning from RD (Rural Resource District) to I-1 (Industrial District) would cover 2.01 acres owned by Rosezenna Cason White at 137 Cason Road, and 180 acres owned by Wateree Holdings LLC % Forest Investment Associates also on Cason Road. The rezoning would require three readings and a public hearing. A makeup date had not been set for the first reading at press time.
Assistance
Town Council Tuesday gave the OK to $9,372 for equipment to upgrade a portion of the wastewater system, but perhaps the most important approval for funding went to victims of the weekend storm.
“We ought to try to reach out to the City of Columbia and Richland County and see if there’s anything we can do to help the situation they’re going through right now,” Mayor Roger Gaddy said, suggesting a possible donation to the Red Cross. “I think we’re very very fortunate, obviously, that we didn’t get hit as hard as Columbia and the rest of the central Midlands.”
Instead of Columbia, Councilman Clyde Sanders suggested a donation to the towns of Manning and Kingstree, towns he said were very similar in size to Winnsboro and towns he said were hit hard by the storm.
Council ultimately voted to donate up to $2,500 to the Red Cross, whom Gaddy said could best make a determination of where it should be spent.
“We’ll do all we can to alleviate some of the stress some of those communities have,” Gaddy said, “and we hope they have a speedy recovery.”