Dec. 31, 2019 corrected to Woodland Elementary.

December 28, 2019

Mallory Herrmann
citydesk@lstribune.net

The Greenwood Board of Aldermen has unanimously voted against the formation of a Woodland Trails community improvement district (CID) just south of Woodland Elementary. Woodland Shore Development is owned by Jim and Machelle Riffe

During the public hearing, the board heard from several residents who expressed concern that the district was a means of generating private profit at taxpayer expense.

“I don’t understand why he has to use public money for private gain,” said one speaker.

Bill Moore, attorney with Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes, P.C., said that the CID was a funding mechanism the developer had been discussing with the city for a year or more, and that it was an incentive to help sell new lots in the area.

“It is his belief that this will allow him to better market these lots,” Moore said.

The petition to establish the CID was filed with the city on Oct. 11 in hopes of providing funds for the ongoing maintenance of public streets throughout the district. But those funds would be collected through annual special assessments, paid for by property owners within the CID over five years.

The initial directors proposed for the board of directors were Mayor Levi Weaver, Alderperson Maleda Babiarz and Weston L. Peery (each with four-year terms) and Jim and Machelle Riffe (each with two-year terms).

Alderperson Shane Freeman was absent from the board’s Dec. 10 meeting.