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Richland County planning director highlights retail leakage and commercial growth targets, urges master planning in priority areas
Summary
Director Sanithia Williams told council staff projected 20-year growth needs for Richland County include about 3.1 million square feet of retail and 5.9 million square feet of office space and that the county experiences roughly $418 million in "retail leakage." She recommended master planning and retail recruitment in priority investment areas such as Decker Boulevard and Sand Hill.
Director Sanithia Williams, who leads community planning and development, told the council on May 5 that the county's economic development goal includes supporting small businesses and retail "as a complement" to large industrial recruitment.
Williams said growth-forecasting tools used during the update to the comprehensive plan project that Richland County could need roughly 3,100,000 square feet of retail and about 5,900,000 square feet of office space over the next two decades. She emphasized the forecast is illustrative and not a single deterministic outcome: "This is just a forecasting, not saying that's the only place it can go," Williams said.
Williams also highlighted an estimated $418,000,000 in retail leakage—money county residents spend outside Richland County—and argued that capturing a portion of that spending through strategic local retail recruitment and investment would benefit small businesses, improve quality of life and support larger industrial attraction efforts by providing nearby retail for employees.
She recommended several budget-aligned actions council can consider in the upcoming cycle: funding a Decker Boulevard master plan, continuing redevelopment work at the former Columbia Mall site, considering priority investment areas such as Sand Hill and Broad River, and developing a retail recruitment strategy (including consultant assistance to identify supported retail types). Williams said such measures would shape where retail and office growth occurs and help revitalize underutilized sites.
Ending: Council members asked clarifying questions about whether projected office figures included county-occupied office space; Williams clarified the projections refer to private-sector office growth between now and 2045 and are not county office assignments.
