Change proposed to historic property rehab ordinance

Ordinance would remove limiting language

Simpsonville, S.C. — Simpsonville City Council will entertain on Tuesday a rule change that would allow rehabilitation work to begin on a potentially historic property without having to obtain preliminary certification of the property's historic status.

The proposed change is to Ordinance 2018-02, which a previous City Council approved to adopt state legislation that offers incentives, such as a special tax assessment, for the rehabilitation of historic property. Unlike the language of the state legislation, which is known as The Bailey Bill, the City ordinance requires preliminary certification of the historic status of the property before any work can start.

If rehabilitation of a property currently starts before preliminary certification is obtained, then the property no longer qualifies for the special property tax assessment. The rule change would remove the need for preliminary certification without altering the requirement and process of obtaining final certification, which would still require a review by Council and recognition as a historic property.

Whereas property owners may now miss out on incentives for rehabilitating historic property because they did not know about potential historical status before starting work, Ordinance 2021-04 proposed by the Planning & Economic Development Department would