The Newberry City Commission unanimously approved the second readings of two Community Development Districts (CDDs) during a special meeting on Tuesday, with one commissioner absent. 

The CDDs, for the 225-acre first phase of the NC Ranch development and for the 237-acre Westone development, will be special-purpose local quasi-governmental units that have the authority to finance, plan, establish, acquire, construct and reconstruct infrastructure within its bounds. 

A CDD can issue bonds to home buyers in order to finance the development building their homes and new community. 

After the development is complete, the CDD uses the funding to build, run and maintain its infrastructure and services.  

After a long first reading for each of the CDDs at previous meetings, commissioners only had one change to make—removing the establishment of an interlocal agreement from the statutes that establish the CDDs. 

“Just to be clear, the development agreement will cover 99.9% of anything we do with the CDD and the development itself,” Commissioner Mark Clark confirmed with staff during the meeting. “I think the red tape here is just another stack, and so I’m in agreement to take this off, do the development agreement, let this thing go forward, and then if the developer needs to have an interlocal agreement… then we come back together as partners and figure out what’s best for both parties.” 

Clark made the motion to approve the NC Ranch CDD, seconded by Commissioner Ricky Coleman, who first asked about the interlocal agreement. The motion passed unanimously, with Commissioner Tim Marden absent. 

Mayor Jordan Marlowe said the interlocal agreement confused the issue for him at past meetings, adding more questions about the CDDs. 

“I can’t remember who said it, but the thing I couldn’t answer was, tell me the difference between a good CDD and a bad one,” Marlowe said. “And finally someone said it’s not about the CDD, it’s about the development. If it’s a good development, the development’s going to succeed.” 

A second reading of M3 Development’s CDD application for its Westone development was also on the agenda, and staff noted that M3 had chosen to exclude from its development some areas that are in conflict over environmental issues and code compliance issues from the past. 

Clark made the motion to approve the Westone CDD, seconded again by Coleman, to pass 4-0, with Marden absent.