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Columbia City weighs crash‑rated barriers, Homeland Security guidance for event safety; council to enter executive session
Summary
City public safety leaders reviewed federal guidance and barrier options—crash‑rated bollards, modular barriers, trailer‑mounted gates—and urged council to approve engineering work; council voted to enter executive session to discuss security measures and a project called Project Catalyst.
City public safety staff recommended the city prioritize crash‑rated perimeter measures and engineering reviews to harden public event spaces against vehicle attacks and other risks.
Harry, an emergency management official leading the technical review, told council that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an incident‑planning tool in April 2024 and that crash‑rated barriers and bollards are one element of a broader mitigation framework. "We wanted to make sure that any unit that we looked at or considered met the Safety Act," Harry said, referring to the 2002 federal law that fosters anti‑terrorism technology certification.
Staff walked through commonly available systems and their intended uses: chainable steel Archer‑style barriers, modular yellow vehicle barriers that link across lanes, trailer‑mounted Nasaka gates rated for a 15,000‑pound vehicle at 30 mph, engineered retractable bollards and crash‑rated planters. The presenters explained U.S. crash‑rating systems (K‑ratings used at federal facilities and M‑ratings from ASTM tests) and said staff will recommend crash‑rated solutions for locations where vehicles could access pedestrian crowds.
Major Martin and the city’s special events coordinator described the resource burden of current mitigation strategies and the potential savings from permanent or portable crash‑rated hardware. The special events coordinator said the city handles "on average an event, 300 plus events a year," and later provided a recent tally of security deployments: 119 people working security, eight public works trucks, four fire trucks, four USC buses, 60 police vehicles and eight vehicles from assisting agencies. Staff argued that installing appropriate barriers would reduce the need to deploy heavy equipment and allow personnel to focus on prevention and visibility inside events.
Speakers emphasized implementation tradeoffs. Crash‑rated bollards and retractable systems require engineering and underground work—fiber, water and utilities on Main Street were cited as complicating factors—and some solutions include temporary trailer‑mounted gates or bolted, non‑crash bike barricades for crowd control. Staff also said some decorative planters can be crash‑rated and used as dual‑purpose landscaping elements during non‑event periods.
The city manager and chief of police said staff would bring more specific recommendations, including cost and engineering estimates, in executive session. Council then voted to move into executive session to discuss security measures and related economic development matters. The council motion to enter executive session referenced South Carolina law and a project labeled "Project Catalyst." The motion passed on a roll call vote.
Votes at a glance
- Motion to enter executive session for discussions regarding security measures and Project Catalyst: approved (roll call: Bailey—yes; Brown—yes; Dr. Bussell—yes; Irving—aye; Brennan—yes; Dean Brown—yes; others present voted in the affirmative). The motion was made from the floor and seconded; council moved to executive session to discuss the matters under cited South Carolina code sections.
Ending
Staff will return to council with specific, crash‑rated product recommendations, engineering assessments for proposed locations and cost estimates; some details will be discussed in executive session as permitted by state law.
