(A)(1) The governing body may include within an improvement district an area within the municipality in which the proposed improvements have been constructed or are under construction at the time of the establishment of the improvement district.

(2) Before the commencement of the construction of these improvements, a written agreement with the owner of the area to be improved must be entered into by the municipality authorizing the construction of the improvements in anticipation of the inclusion of the area which is improved in the improvement district upon such terms and conditions as the governing body agrees, including the reimbursement, as a cost of constructing improvements under this chapter, of any monies expended for the construction before and subsequent to the establishment of the improvement district. Any agreement providing for the construction of the improvements before the establishment of the improvement district must be authorized by an ordinance of the governing body, notice of which must be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality, at least seven days before the final adoption of the ordinance. Any agreements entered into in accordance with the foregoing conditions before the effective date of this section are ratified and confirmed and the area improved declared eligible for inclusion in the improvement district as proposed in the agreement.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 5-37-45

  • Governing body: means the municipal council or other governing body in which the general governing powers of the municipality are vested. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
  • Improvement district: means any area within the municipality designated by the governing body pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and within which an improvement plan is to be accomplished. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
  • Improvements: include open or covered malls, parkways, parks and playgrounds, recreation facilities, athletic facilities, pedestrian facilities, parking facilities, parking garages, and underground parking facilities, and facade redevelopment, the widening and dredging of existing channels, canals, and waterways used specifically for recreational or other purposes provided that the municipality, the State, or other public entity owns fee simple title or an easement for maintenance in these channels, canals, or waterways, the relocation, construction, widening, and paving of streets, roads, and bridges, including demolition of them, underground utilities, all activities authorized by Chapter 1 of Title 31 (State Housing Law), a building or other facilities for public use, a public works eligible for financing pursuant to the provisions of § 6-21-50, services or functions which a municipality in accordance with state law may by law provide, and all things incidental to the improvements, including planning, engineering, administration, managing, promotion, marketing, and acquisition of necessary easements and land, and may include facilities for lease or use by a private person, firm, or corporation. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20
  • Owner: means any person twenty-one years of age, or older, or the proper legal representative for any person younger than twenty-one years of age, and any firm or corporation, who or which owns legal title to a present possessory interest in real estate equal to a life estate or greater (expressly excluding leaseholds, easements, equitable interests, inchoate rights, dower rights, and future interest) and who owns, at the date of the petition or written consent, at least an undivided one-tenth interest in a single tract and whose name appears on the county tax records as an owner of real estate, and any duly organized group whose total interest is at least equal to a one-tenth interest in a single tract. See South Carolina Code 5-37-20

(B) The provisions of item (2) of subsection (A) do not apply to any area proposed for inclusion within an improvement district which, within three years prior to the date of the adoption of the resolution required by § 5-37-50, is subject to a development agreement pursuant to the South Carolina Local Government Development Agreement Act.