CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Charleston County Council members met Tuesday night and approved being part of the Tax Increment Financing District, or TIF, for the redevelopment of Union Pier.

Charleston Mayor William Cogswell unveiled the Union Pier redevelopment plan last month, and county officials said they had until Nov. 4 to vote on whether they wanted to be part of it or not.

A TIF is a public financing tool designed to stimulate private investment in a blighted area.

Using a TIF system will allow the city to divert property tax revenue generated by private redevelopment projects into a fund to pay for public infrastructure projects, such as stormwater drainage, public spaces such as parks, water access, as well such as affordable housing at Union Pier. .

Basically, it will increase the assessed value of property in the project area, resulting in greater tax revenue.

Union Pier currently generates no tax revenue. Cogswell said this private investment could be worth about $2 billion and is expected to generate $47 million in tax revenue annually over 30 years.

However, the Charleston County School District, Charleston County and the City of Charleston would not receive that tax revenue from the project until the 30-year funding period ends.

CCSD was approved to be part of the Union Pier TIF Monday night. Part of the school district’s agreement with the city was that they had to give up their office space located at 75 Calhoun St., leaving that additional 30,000 square feet to CCSD.

Charleston County also signed an intergovernmental agreement with the city to obtain its approval for this TIF. Under that agreement, the city would relinquish ownership of 294 parking spaces located at the Cumberland Street Garage. The money that comes from people paying to park there would go back to the county. The city will still have the option to use those spaces, however, it will have to pay the county 30.6% of the operating costs.

Charleston County Council member Brantley Moody said he hopes to see the redevelopment of Union Pier. One concern he had previously mentioned was making sure the county had its expenses covered for the next 30 years.

“So as the area grows, we’ll see apartments, hotels, restaurants and things like that that the county has to provide services for, whether it’s EMS, 911 and things like that, so my big concern was making sure we had a source of revenue.” to cover those costs and I’m sure we have it,” Moody said.

Another Charleston County Council member, Jenny Honeycutt, also said she was excited to see what would come of this project.

“The county is really looking forward to what the city can do with this incredible resource we have. “We are very pleased to have a local partner willing to redevelop this area and the county is happy to partner on that,” Honeycutt said.

The IGAs for both the school district and the county will be presented to the city of Charleston on November 4 for a second and final reading.

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