Booming growth and its management will again be the themes for North Augusta in 2008, officials say.
With growth come advantages such as economic development, and negatives, including traffic congestion. City leaders say it will be their challenge to balance both in harmony.
"You just can't avoid it, but you try to have the foresight and do things to alleviate traffic concerns," Mayor Lark Jones said.
Avoiding the congestion that came with growth in Columbia and Richmond counties will be one of the obstacles city leaders will have to overcome. The recent allocation of an additional $18 million in state funds to complete the Palmetto Parkway extension to Interstate 20 will help alleviate some traffic in downtown, Mr. Jones said.
G.M. "Skip" Grkovic, the city's director of Economic and Community Development, said the Interstate 520 project should be completed in late 2009 or early 2010. The interstate will direct some growth toward Belvedere and he said it could be a draw for future industrial, commercial and residential development.
The look and layout of such development will be another key issue. The city council recently approved a new comprehensive development code, redefining zoning ordinances and setting guidelines for building aesthetics.
"It seems like our major controversial things are always involving rezoning and growth, and I expect that to continue," the mayor said.
Grkovic said the national cooling of the once-simmering housing market has affected development in North Augusta, though not to the extent of many communities throughout the country.
About 2,000 residences have been added in recent years to the 7,900 households tallied within the city limits in the 2000 census, Grkovic said. Developers have as many as 8,000 homes, plus 2 million square feet of retail space in the long-term planning stages, he said.
"Some of that will surely be developed, some of that may never be developed," he said. "But even if only half of it moves forward that's still a fairly substantial increase in the population and commercial activity in the city."
If the development happens and how long it takes, he said "will be a function of the economy."
Development in the city center remains strong, particularly along the Savannah River, he said.
Much of that, Grkovic said, is fueled by Jackson Square, the first completely new commercial development in downtown in a decade, and the city's new municipal center.
The four-story, nearly $20 million municipal center is beginning to take shape and will dominate the corner of Georgia and Bluff avenues once completed during the first quarter of 2009.
The new year looks to be a busy one for the Greater North Augusta Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber will take its legislative agenda to the state chamber offices March 5.
Some of the issues on the agenda include support for funding job-readiness programs for drop-outs and programs that reduce drop-out rates, increasing tax on tobacco to fund health care for uninsured workers, requesting a review of the state's tax structure to ensure a more equitable tax burden between property owners and businesses and supporting protection for companies that are given fraudulent information and unwittingly hire illegal immigrants.
On Monday, the chamber will move to 406 West Ave. It also plans to launch a new Web site, change its fiscal year and launch several new programs, chamber President Bill Bassham said.
"The biggest new thing for us is we'll be in the new office," he said.
The annual meeting, which is usually held in February or March, will be moved to May.
The chamber also looks to add new programs, including a women-in-business and an ethics symposium for youth and small businesses. A business seminar designed to provide information on reducing the risk of being sued is planned for Feb. 26.
Reach J. Scott Trubey at scott.trubey@northaugustatoday.com. Reach Lisa.Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
