Here’s why Rock Hill didn’t vote to approve the Panthers deal. Not yet, at least.
Rock Hill City Council passed Monday night on the opportunity to approve land use and development agreements for the proposed Carolina Panthers headquarters site on I-77.
It could be another month before the city finalizes those plans, according to the mayor who remains optimistic about the planned development.
“If you looked at all that as a funnel, we’ve started to narrow all that down,” Mayor John Gettys said, of work between the team and various public bodies from state to school district. “As you can imagine there’ve been a lot of issues that have been discussed and worked through. And we’ve got those down to the last few, but they’re the most important few as they always are in a big negotiation.”
Gettys said he and city leaders would like to say more about the development agreement, but at this point can’t. The city, county and schools continue to work through incentive agreements with the Panthers.
The city is doing the same thing in an unrelated case involving downtown redevelopment in Knowledge Park.
“It’s part of the process,” Gettys said. “And regretfully stuff like that can’t be as transparent as we would all like it to be because you’re negotiating very real issues.”
Gettys said putting off a vote to finalize the Panthers deal Monday night only indicates the full deal isn’t complete, not that there’s cause for concern about it happening.
“There is no agreement to anything unless there’s an agreement to everything,” he said.
Part of the issue is the scale of the Panthers deal, estimated to bring $2 billion in development along I-77 between the Cherry Road and Dave Lyle Boulevard.
“The thing I think we need to make sure we all understand as a community is how big an operation this is, how big an of opportunity this is for our community,” Gettys said.
Riverwalk is the biggest economic development project in the city to date. It came in 2007 at an estimated $600 million of value in 30 years. About half the value is in place now.
“The Panthers value in the first three to four years will equal what Riverwalk will be when built out,” Gettys said. “It’s that big in scope. It’s that big in size.”
The Panthers deal also comes with infrastructure in place up front, which Councilman John Black said is unusual. It’s also unusual to plan public needs around so quick a major investment. Tax incentive deals with the Panthers, like with the downtown redevelopment, can be used as a funding source for infrastructure.
Gettys said it’s important to know the city isn’t giving money to the developer. Agreements to fund infrastructure would involve public improvement.
“The things that you and I would use any day, that we cannot be stopped from using,” Gettys said. “Whether that be roads through the site so we can get to the interstate quicker and more efficiently than we can now. Whether that be sidewalks that we can use, or trails that you can ride you bicycle on from the urban core of downtown Rock Hill, eventually, all the way out to the Catawba (River) shores.”
Council members say city taxes won’t go up as a result of any deal with the Panthers.
“People somehow have been told that,” said Councilwoman Sandra Oborokumo.
Gettys said he believes in a few weeks to a month, a deal with the Panthers should be in place. It will take continued work not only from the city but from York County and the Rock Hill School District.
“This will be the biggest economic deal that either of them have ever worked with,” Gettys said. “Us too. And so it takes us all a good bit of work to get there.”
Tax rule changes
In a separate decision, Rock Hill is waiting on word from York County on tax rule changes for the downtown area that would allow Rock Hill to borrow more money for public infrastructure improvements. More than half a billion dollars of redevelopment could come for an area that includes Winthrop University and Fountain Park.
Much of it depends on federal opportunity zones. Investment by the end of this year and into early 2020 is key to developers getting tax incentives through the federal program.
Rock Hill would take the financial risk by borrowing more money for downtown, with the idea of paying it back through increased tax revenue created by redevelopment.
“What we’re asking the county to do is to trust us to do the job the right way,” Gettys said.
Rock Hill wants an answer soon.
York County only in recent months heard the city’s request, and doesn’t want to rush a decision that involves the biggest economic entity in the county — Rock Hill.
“The county is focused on ensuring the taxpayers are protected through a transparent and thorough review of all the details,” said David Hudspeth, interim county manager.
County leaders said in recent weeks a financially secure Rock Hill is critical for the county’s overall fiscal health. If county finance staff can settle on the city’s figures for added borrowing — most of it would pay for parking decks downtown — then council would support the move.
“If they check all the boxes that our financial people say they need to check, then obviously we’re going to vote for it,” Roddey said. “At the end of the day it has to make financial sense....”
Gettys said he believes the redevelopment, or in the Panthers case new development, makes the tax agreement worth doing.
“The property taxes that will come over the next 30 years, paid by the private developer, will either reimburse or will pay for the public improvements,” he said. “So we come out OK.”
The football team and downtown deals are different, but they hit on many of the same elements. Black said he doesn’t believe the Panthers would’ve looked at coming to Rock Hill a decade ago. Transition since, including downtown, is part of the city’s appeal for more development.
“Part of that is, they see what we are doing downtown,” Black said. “They see what we have been able to accomplish and how we’re transforming.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Here’s why Rock Hill didn’t vote to approve the Panthers deal. Not yet, at least.."
