Reimbursement deal nixed by the county fathers

An arrangement by which the developer of student housing projects along the Seneca-Clemson corridor would qualify for infrastructure reimbursements was rejected tonight by the Oconee County Council.  Among the five councilmen, no one was in favor, even though one councilman commented that having student housing complexes in the county should not be considered a bad thing.  After all, as District Four Councilman Julian Davis was concluding his remarks, the high quality of today’s Clemson student is exactly the type of young person that the county’s population can benefit from.  But that’s not a view embraced by others—such as public comment speaker Candy Bianco.  She opposes what she called subsidizing student housing, a $3 million giveaway—she called it.  Bianco said 400 new housing units will worsen traffic congestion on 123 and if there has been a traffic study conducted, she’s unaware of it.  The developer of Clemson’s Dockside, Brent Little, has been pursuing similar complexes on property between the Paw’s restaurant and the Greenfield Manufacturing plant and has offered to help pay for the utility line extensions that would be required of the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority.  Project property owner Al Shadwick made the case tonight that, in Oconee sewer history, there have been numerous commercial projects that have benefited without paying for sewer lines.