City Council awarded two bids for the renovation for the Horace McKown Center and received a primer on four redistricting mapping plans from council members tonight.
Lazer Construction Co. Inc. of Anderson was awarded its bid of $736,700 for renovations to the McKown Center that will house Greer’s cultural arts. J. A. Piper Roofing of Greenville’s low bid of $197,701 was approved; conditional on negotiating the amount not to exceed the $162,677 city budgeted for the project. Both bids passed 7-0.
Greer’s T2 Design & Construction was among 10 bids. Its $776,919 bid was fifth lowest and only $40,000 off Lazer’s winning bid. All firms participating in the bid process and their bids are listed in the story below.
An ad hoc committee with Mayor Rick Danner and council members Wayne Griffin and Wryley Bettis presented four redistricting plans drawn up in Columbia. The plans are to be studied in a council workshop, discussed in a public hearing and wind its way through two readings. Once council approves a plan, the Justice Department must give its approval, a process expected to take 60 days. The maps and other redistricting information available at city hall or click here.
On the heels of redistricting being approved council will then begin an election process that has been postponed next month. The earliest Greer city elections can be held is in the spring, 2012.
Each district must have 4,250 residents with as little deviation as possible among the six. A minority district must be among the six. Danner said deviation ranged from 10-14 people to 2,200. The difficulty, Danner said, was districts drawn from with census blocks. Lines could not be moved from street to street to accommodate equal representation because often streets would cross new census blocks.
Other council actions:
• REVISED: The statement of intent and plans for Brushy Creek Road planned development by Mongo Homes was approved for revision of its residential density plan. The revised site plan proposed 53 single-family units and about 2.6 acres of area dedicated to commercial out parcels. The residential density of the revised site
plan is +/- 2.7 units per acre. Over 100 townhouses were first planned with a density of 6.42 units per acre. Greer CPW will provide utilities, according to the statement submitted to city council.
• REZONING: Approved, 7-0, a request for property owned by Nils Roger Stjernvall at 211 North Main Street to RM-1, multifamily residential, from C-1, commercial.
• RESIGNED: From the Housing Authority was Kandis Powell, effective immediately. Her term expires Dec. 12, 2012. Nominations for a replacement will be taken at a later meeting.
• TABLED: The emergency ordinance to prohibit the advertisement, possession, use, purchase, or distribution of substituted cathinones (“bath salts”), synthetic c