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The Village at Sandhill

StevenRocks

By StevenRocks
in Columbia

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waccamatt Town

waccamatt

Posted
Posted

May be a dumb question, but why commuter rail over buses? I would think a bus line would be more advantageous, financially, and from a flexibility standpoint.

Commuter rail is faster and is not impacted by traffic. I think it would also save energy.

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johnpro318 Hamlet

johnpro318

Posted
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They are looking at putting a commuter rail line from downtown to Camden which would likely have a stop at VAS.

Wow, for some reason I didn't even think of that! I mean VAS being so close to the railroad. I think it would get a lot of uses going all the way down #1 towards downtown. Especially with gas about to reach 4 dollars a gallon.

:shok:

Have we heard anything else about a commuter rail? Didn't they conduct a study or were planning to conduct a study for this??

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

Posted
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Lets also not forget that Commuter Rail is not the same as regular rail service. Its more "Amtrak" in nature, and operates in the AM and PM peak travel times. It would not be regular rail service like the DC Metro or the Lynx in Charlotte (light rail).

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MarkoPoloUSC Crossroads

MarkoPoloUSC

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Hey guys, I've been reading UrbanPlanet on and off for a few years, but this is my first post, wohoo!

I think the bottom line reason that people don't move downtown is schools. I think most of the young professional crowd would and does choose downtown verses living in VAS.

Richland One just has a sub par school system compared to Richland 2. The schools zoned for VAS are among the best in the country - quite a feat for a South Carolina school system.

This is also the case for other surrounding school systems. Lexington 1 joins Richland 2 in being constantly recognized as the best of the best. Lexington 5 (Irmo, Dutch Fork), are also great schools. Until Richland 1 can make some changes that are recognized publicly, the average middle and upper middle class families will probably stay out of the city and in the burbs, making places like VAS attractive.

Then again, who wants to live on a 3rd floor condo with twin 3 year olds, an 8 year old, and 30 bags of groceries to carry up every week? Eeeek...

On another note... I grew up in Lexington, and now work in Northeast (Still live downtown, though). I'm not really sure I understand its attraction. It takes much more time to get to than Lexington or Irmo from downtown (and I live close to 77), and it has no real sense of community. It feels more like Columbia's step child. Sinage is out of control, traffic lights are sparse, making two notch road impossible (it takes me 10 minutes to make a left out of the bank parking lot), and there seems to be little police patrol.

I think there's much potential for the area - but I think it needs incorporation. Northeast (the Clemson Road/Two Notch Area) is much farther removed from the City of Columbia than Irmo, Harbison, or Lexington. Unless there's some connection I'm unaware of?

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CarolinaSouth Unincorporated Area

CarolinaSouth

Posted
Posted

Lets also not forget that Commuter Rail is not the same as regular rail service. Its more "Amtrak" in nature, and operates in the AM and PM peak travel times. It would not be regular rail service like the DC Metro or the Lynx in Charlotte (light rail).

True...but it's a start. I feel it would be a very good tool in waning people off of car dependency. But the sad thing about it all is how the fares for public transportation will increase if ridership increases...it just seems like that always happens. However if it gets a family to not use their care for a day or so each week...that helps.

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CorgiMatt Town

CorgiMatt

Posted
Posted

Hey guys, I've been reading UrbanPlanet on and off for a few years, but this is my first post, wohoo!

I think the bottom line reason that people don't move downtown is schools. I think most of the young professional crowd would and does choose downtown verses living in VAS.

Richland One just has a sub par school system compared to Richland 2. The schools zoned for VAS are among the best in the country - quite a feat for a South Carolina school system.

This is also the case for other surrounding school systems. Lexington 1 joins Richland 2 in being constantly recognized as the best of the best. Lexington 5 (Irmo, Dutch Fork), are also great schools. Until Richland 1 can make some changes that are recognized publicly, the average middle and upper middle class families will probably stay out of the city and in the burbs, making places like VAS attractive.

Then again, who wants to live on a 3rd floor condo with twin 3 year olds, an 8 year old, and 30 bags of groceries to carry up every week? Eeeek...

On another note... I grew up in Lexington, and now work in Northeast (Still live downtown, though). I'm not really sure I understand its attraction. It takes much more time to get to than Lexington or Irmo from downtown (and I live close to 77), and it has no real sense of community. It feels more like Columbia's step child. Sinage is out of control, traffic lights are sparse, making two notch road impossible (it takes me 10 minutes to make a left out of the bank parking lot), and there seems to be little police patrol.

I think there's much potential for the area - but I think it needs incorporation. Northeast (the Clemson Road/Two Notch Area) is much farther removed from the City of Columbia than Irmo, Harbison, or Lexington. Unless there's some connection I'm unaware of?

Not if you choose Dreher or A.C. Flora and the schools that feed those high schools. But also, the city, the school district and the business community have embarked on a multi-faceted approach to bringing the school district up to par. In the meantime, Dreher and A.C. Flora are second to none. Welcome to the forum by the way.

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

Posted
Posted

MarkoPoloUSC, welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your thoughts. :thumbsup:

What you've said is something we've discussed here as well. Schools are a big factor in determining where people, particularly young families, will live. However, let it be known that urban housing options run the gamut from multiresidential condo projects to single family residential. You can still get your detached house with a yard downtown and in the intown neighborhoods. :)

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

Posted
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Welcome to the forum MarkoPoloUSC!

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I do agree that Dreher HS and its feeder schools are pretty good, but y'all have to admit that Richland 1 does not have a good reputation over all.

I wonder if its worth considering consolidation? Would that improve the situation at all?

Also, I think that downtown living with families, while still a new concept, will eventually be successful. The reverse migration back to the city cores is happening, and it will eventually bring people who live there and dont want to go back to the burbs to raise their families because they love the quality of life that living in an urban environment offers.

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TheCarolinaKing Whistle-Stop

TheCarolinaKing

Posted
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It is quite interesting that many of you feel that Richland One is Sub Par. When in comparison to the State as a whole it is one of the better districts. Also if you look at many of the Leaders in the city, most of them attended Richland One schools, (Vince Ford, Todd Rutherford...) which says alot. Richland Two is seen as better, because many of their schools over the past decade have been the newest and largest in the area. But as Richland One continues to rebuild you will see a drastic change. Look at the housing market. Many of the well to doers are beginning to move back towards downtown. Besides Private schools there children will be in richland one and exposed to others in richland one. I myself am a product completely of richland one and not to sound pompous but to make my point I will start Medical School at MUSC in the fall. Many of my classmates (Keenan High) have gone on to become architechs, physicians, lawyers, educators... Essentially in my opinion The true test is the support that is given to the students, not just which schools are better. in many cases the same materials are used accross the board. Also my mother teaches in Richland Two and she felt that her children would and did recieve better nurturing in Richland One. He opionion is that many times, students who have the potential to be great become numbers in the large schools of Richland Two and many times fall through the cracks. Richland One currently has a more negative stigma on it than that of richland two. but i feel as i said before you will see a change occur!

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  • 6 months later...
Mr.Marc Hamlet

Mr.Marc

Posted
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VAS at 1.4 million sqft of retail space is technically larger than any mall in the state even though its not an enclosed mall. Haywood in Gville tops has at 1.2 million followed by Westgate in Spartanburg at 1.1 million.

I thought the Coastal Grande mall in MB was the largest in the state.

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johnpro318 Hamlet

johnpro318

Posted
Posted

Yeah....I can't help but feel like the Village at Sandhill's could have worked on the Canal Side location. People could have shopped and enjoyed the river...but maybe something can happen soon....maybe the Arcadia Mall underground will get revitalized

I hope something like this happens along the river. Although we wanted this to be downtown, this is better designed than most suburban sprawl. As you continue north and east it seems that development has had more and more stringent restrictions. A lot of stuff from Sparkleberry on is designed pretty well compared to the rest of two notch, etc.

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