Preview – Pelzer Town Council met Tuesday Aug. 12 with three items of high interest to the community on the agenda.
Agenda items to be discussed and updated include the historic Community Building renovation project, the Pelzer pool property case, PHC Veterans Monument location and an updated employee handbook.
State and Federal Tax Credits will reimburse 45 percent of the cost of the Community Building renovation project. The project is also eligible for additional historic tax credits of 25 percent, resulting in credits amounting to 70 percent of the cost of the renovation project.
The building is located just outside the historic district already in place in Pelzer and it will be a stand alone National Historic Register building, making it eligible for the extra tax credits.
The Community Building renovation will include a new kitchen, ADA restroom and storage.
The status of the Pelzer Pool property has been in question since 2022.
In March of 2022, the Town of Pelzer filed required documents to exercise the authority of eminent domain and re-acquire the property that was at one time the municipal pool site.
The town submitted $50,000, the amount the property appraised for, to the Anderson County Clerk of Court, along with the court summons and paperwork to move forward on reclaiming the property.
The current owners had the option of accepting the $50,000 the town offered or to fight it in court. The issue had been in litigation since, with attorneys for both sides working on it.
The property was sold by the town in 2015 for $11,000 and a truck and the pool was filled in by the new owners soon afterward. It was resold again in 2020.
After a number of citizens residing near the property complained about plans for a tire business, Town officials began considering options and decided to re-acquire the property “for public purposes”.
Council voted in September 2021 to use eminent domain authority.
A court summons was filed with the Anderson County Clerk of Court in December 2021 and condemnation notices were sent to property owners.
At the December 2021 Town Council meeting, Town Attorney Richard Thompson said that the property had IRS and SC Tax liens on it.
The status of the PHC Pelzer Veterans Memorial has been in question for several years.
The PHC has been working with Meritus Signature Homes, located in Anderson, on the project for three years. Construction on the memorial has been delayed due to different opinions on where the memorial should be located.
At the July meeting of Council, PHC President Kim Wilson said the PHC would like for the memorial to be located in Wardlaw park, citing visibility and honoring a soldier from Pelzer who grew up near the park and was killed in Korea.
Micah Wallace of Meritus Signature Homes said the memorial will be real stone block, have lighting, a statue, a flagpole and benches. He said it will be maintenance free and have a solar camera with a link so that residents and the committee can view it at any time and can monitor for vandalism and maintenance.
Wallace also said it will include a berm, drainage and handicap access from the parking lot.
The meeting will be covered and reported in the next week’s issue of The Journal.
