Page 122 - Florence County, SC Florence County 2032: Connecting Our Past, Defining Our Future

Existing County | Priority Investment

PRIORITY INVESTMENT

As an update to the South Carolina Planning Enabling Act, the 2007 South Carolina Priority Investment
Act specifically set priorities for housing, transportation, capital improvement planning, intergovernmental
coordination, and encouragement towards traditional neighborhood design. These themes are referenced
throughout other elements of this plan and fully accomplished within the Land Use and Growth section of the
Future County Report. It encourages local governments to reevaluate comprehensive plans to limit the growth of
sprawl and prioritize projects and funding while creating new opportunities for affordable housing. The
combination of these uses and study of their potential location constitute land use and transportation planning
policy. Land use planning is an important component to achieve the ideal economic, social, environmental, and
public health outcomes for a community. Effective future land development can occur in a productive, efficient,
and sustainable manner with proper land use planning. Assessing the pros and cons about future decisions made
in regards to land use is imperative. The Priority Investment Act recommends that the local jurisdictions focus on
the impact of regional land use patterns, for example, the regional transportation system should be able to meet
future demands of the future land use. The Act supports incorporating scenario planning in the regional travel
demand model to measure the impact of land use decisions on the transportation system.
In July 2022, FLATS (Florence County Transportation Study) adopted a new 2045 Long Range Transportation
Plan. This plan accomplishes many goals of the Priority Investment Act. New priorities were studied and goals set
for the future development of Florence County.
The Future Land Use Map contained within this Plan also accomplishes many of the goals within the Act. However,
also important to discuss are the following components:

Funding

Bonding Capacity and Local Option Sales Tax

Bonds, grants and donations make up the majority of capital projects funding. Florence County has consistently
utilized general obligation bonds (GOBs) for large projects. The County has the capability to utilize its full bonding
potential and insure bonds only when needed for long term investment and capital improvement projects.
Additionally, the County works with other entities that share its public protection mission for them to issue tax
exempt bonds.
The County has also approved a One-Cent Capital Project Sales Tax three times in the past to facilitate
improvements in Florence County. The County maintains a Penny Tour website contained within with Florence
County pages to see the improvements made across the County. This public funding choices made within the
One-Cent Capital program allows Florence County to collaborate with other governmental entities including
utilities, other counties, municipalities, public service districts, school districts, public and private utilities,
transportation agencies, and other public entities to create a plan for growth and continued improvement of the
Pee Dee. While the most recent Capital Sales tax was approved by County Council on March 18, 2021, a list of all
improvements throughout the programs history as well as links to current projects can be found
here: http://florenceco.org/road-projects

Florence County, SC | Comprehensive Plan pg. 121