WINNSBORO – A Columbia man charged in a fatal Fairfield County hit-and-run appeared in bond court on Friday morning.
Brian Jenkins, 41, was released on a $50,000 bond after he was charged with a hit-and-run resulting in death.
Troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said Jenkins was the driver of a white, four-door Nissan that is believed to be involved in the hit-and-run collision that killed 40-year-old Lamont Andre Jackson on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
BLAIR – The Fairfield County Coroner’s Office, Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department and SLED are investigating a residential fire which occurred around 9:00 AM on Dec. 16 at 1520 Hwy. 215 North in Blair.
Coroner Chris Hill states that the body of George E. Kennerly, age 74, was discovered in the burnt remains of his residence. The cause of the fire has not been determined at this time.
Blythewood – Peggy Fowler, a Columbia realtor was recently selected by the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce as its Business Person of the Year. The Chamber also selected a Columbia business, Chick-fil-A as its Large Business of the Year.
Blythewood’s Doko Smoke, owned and operated by Tony and Chris Crout, was selected as the Chamber’s Small Business of the Year and the Chamber’s Community Service Award of the Year went to Liz Humphries, owner of Blythewood Consignment. The awards were made at the Chamber’s annual Gala on Dec. 8 at Doko Manor.
“We are working hard to make Blythewood a better place to live, work and play, and the efforts put forth by these successful businesses and individuals makes that job easier!” said Mike Switzer, executive director at the Blythewood Chamber.
BLYTHEWOOD – After suggesting last month that the Town of Blythewood might want to consider taking advantage of advance refunding to refinance its $5.5 million bond issued in 2010 by the Blythewood Facilities Corporation (BFC), attorney Ray Jones of Parker Poe, returned to a Council workshop last week to advise the Town to hold off on the refinancing for now.
To take advantage of the refinancing, Council would have to pass an ordinance with two readings and a public hearing.
“To the extent that the market is not with us today, and it appears it will not be with us through the rest of the year, we will have to hit pause because we would not then be able to refinance this debt until June 1, 2018, at the earliest,” Jones said at the workshop.
Town Administrator Gary Parker explained last month how advance refunding works.
“It’s a financing technique that allows an issuer to obtain the benefit of lower interest rates when the outstanding bonds are not currently callable. The 2010 bonds are callable at the Town’s option on Sept. 1, 2018, or at any time within 90 days before that date,” Parker said.
Jones told Council last month that because Congress is considering dropping advance refunding as part of their tax reform law proposal, and because interest rates were lower than they may be in the summer of 2018 when the 2010 bonds are callable, they might want to act right away.
“Originally, we were looking at a total savings of about $318,000 to do the advance refunding last month,” Jones said. “The rate estimate at that time was three percent. We certainly thought that was worth coming to talk to you about.”
While Jones said Whitney Bank now offers two rates – 1) 3.05 percent with a catch; the bank would hold that rate if there are no changes in the tax law and 2) 3.75 percent, a rate the bank would automatically adjust if the tax reform passed. Jones said the 3.75 percent is a more realistic rate.
“With that rate, however, the Town’s savings from refinancing would shrink by $60,000,” Jones said.
“By going ahead and passing the refinancing ordinance now,” Jones advised Council, “we’ll be in a position to move when the market is there again.”
Council will vote on the ordinance at the next council meeting.
BLYTHEWOOD – The zoning fate of the Rimer Pond Road area will once again be in the hands of Richland County Council as members cast their votes Tuesday night on whether the road will become commercial or remain rural. The hearing was scheduled for October, but land owner Hugh Palmer who is requesting the rezoning, asked to have the hearing rescheduled for Dec. 19. Many of those who oppose the rezoning say that date could favor Palmer if many of the families who usually show up at Council to speak out against the rezoning are out of town due to the schools’ Christmas break which begins Dec. 16.
For almost a quarter century, Rimer Pond Road area residents have fought to keep commercial zoning out of their neighborhood. Hugh Palmer and his son Patrick Palmer, who live in Columbia, are among a long string of developers/land speculators to repeatedly ask County Council for commercial zoning on the road.
For the past three years, the Palmers have requested commercial zoning on 5.23 acres of land they own at the intersection of Longtown Road West and Rimer Pond Road. The property sits across the road from Blythewood Middle School.
There is no commercial zoning on the road.
“For the Palmers, a lot of money is riding on the success of this request…maybe as much as $2M, maybe more,” Rimer Pond Road resident Trey Hair told County Council earlier this year. “There’s no money in it for the residents. All we want is to just to be able to maintain our rural way of life, what we moved out here for. Once the first commercial zoning request is approved, they will start coming down like dominoes along Rimer Pond Road.”
The commercial issue
The Palmers say they want to bring commercial uses to benefit the neighborhood. The residents responded that they don’t need those commercial uses and don’t want them.
Residents say commercial uses in neighboring areas have brought crime and more commercial zoning, and that many of those commercial buildings are frequently vacant. They have given examples of gunshots being fired at nearby convenience store/gas stations.
Residents told Richland County Planning Commissioners earlier in October that the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoning the Palmers seek on Rimer Pond Road would allow a convenience store with gas pumps in the midst of their residential and farm properties, bringing crime to the neighborhood. The Commissioners assured them that convenience stores with gas pumps are not allowed in NC zoning. However, Richland county Planning Director Geonard Price said the residents were correct, that convenience stores with gas pumps will be permitted on the Palmers’ 5.23 acres if it is rezoned to NC.
Although there is currently no other commercial zoning in the area, the County’s planning staff recommended that the Planning Commission vote for the rezoning, saying it “would be consistent with the intentions of the 2015 Comprehensive Plan and that it would not be out of character with the existing surrounding development pattern and zoning districts for the area. According to the County zoning ordinances, the property, as it is now zoned, is also consistent with the intentions of the Comp Plan. The residents say the only reason to change the zoning to commercial is for the Palmers to enrich their coffers at the expense of the neighborhood’s quality of life.
While the Comprehensive Plan specifies that the NC zoning district is designed to be located within or adjacent to residential neighborhoods where large commercial uses are inappropriate, but where small neighborhood oriented businesses are useful and desired, Rimer Pond Road area residents say such commercial uses are not desired by the residents, and that to vote for them would only be accommodating developers, not the people who live there.
“After Council defeated the Palmers’ last commercial zoning request on Rimer Pond Road in February, Ashley Powell, Manager of Richland County Planning Services, was quoted as saying, “Right now in some areas, like Rimer Pond Road, the people who live there are not liking what the County has planned for their area in terms of zoning.
“If we want to protect the character of the neighborhood that the people moved out there for,” Powell said, “we need to amend (the Richland County comp plan) based on the feedback we get from the people.”
While Powell set up several meetings to gather that feedback, 10 months later the County has still not issued any reports on the results of those meetings. According to Tracey Hegler, Director of Planning and Development for Richland County, those reports won’t be made available until around February, 2018, long after Council votes on whether to establish commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road. So the results of the meetings are being held up by the County planning staff until after they could be of any benefit to the areas (including Rimer Pond Road) that they are supposed to protect.
Just before the Planning Commission voted earlier this month on the Palmers’ commercial zoning request, Commissioner Heather Carnes confessed that she had been leaning toward voting for Neighborhood Commercial zoning this time because she’s a city girl and appreciates what she feels NC zoning can generally do for rural communities who desire commercial uses.
“Even so,” she said, “in this particular situation, given what Rimer Pond Road is and that there is no commercial zoning for, like, forever, in this area, I am going to vote against this request for commercial zoning.”
While Commissioner Beverly Frierson voted in favor of the Palmers and against the residents as did David Tuttle, Christopher Anderson and Planning Commission Chair Stephen Gilchrist, the motion for commercial zoning ended in a tie vote which meant it failed to pass. As a result, no recommendation, for or against, will be sent to Council when it meets Tuesday evening, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. at County Council chambers in the County building at Hampton and Hardin Streets in Columbia.
Those wishing to speak for or against the commercial zoning request must arrive a few minutes early to sign in. Council will have three votes on the issue. If at any of the three meetings they vote against the rezoning, then the issue will be denied.
The 5.23 acre parcel at Rimer Pond and Longtown West roads was part of a larger 31.23 acre tract the Palmers purchased in February of 2008. In December of 2008, the family wanted a different zoning and asked County Council to rezone the parcel from Rural (RU) to Medium Density Residential (RS-MD). Council granted their wish, and the Palmers sold off all but the 5.23 acres to developer Kevin Steelman, president of LandTech, who subsequently built homes on the property.
By June, 2015, the Palmers wanted to up-zone the 5/23 acres and asked Council to rezone it – this time, from Medium Density Residential (RS-MD) to Rural Commercial zoning (RC). Palmer listed the 5.23 acres for $350,000 per acre. When it was apparent to the Palmers that they did not have the vote over a large contingent of Rimer Pond Road residents at the June 23, 2015 County Council meeting, they withdrew their rezoning request prior to the meeting.
Five months later, the Palmers brought their request for commercial zoning back to County Council, this time complaining that the 5.23 acre parcel was undesirable as residential property because it had a cell tower on it. But the cell tower had been on the property when they purchased it. Council’s vote ended in a tie resulting in a denial of the Palmer’s rezoning request.
Last Feb. 23, the Palmer’s again asked Council for commercial zoning on the 5.23 acre parcel. More than a hundred residents attended the County Council hearing to ask that their neighborhood be spared from the Palmer’s commercial zoning request. In a bold display of bias, the road’s own Council representative, Gwen Kennedy, left her chair at the dais during the meeting, walked outside the chambers with Boyd Brown, a lobbyist hired by the Palmers to persuade Council to vote for commercial zoning. After about 10 minutes, the two came back in to the meeting. Kennedy took her seat at the dais and subsequently made the motion to approve the Palmers’ commercial zoning request. The motion failed as she was the only one who voted for it.
Kennedy did not attend a community meeting on Oct. 18 in Blythewood that was called by the residents. Instead, Calvin Jackson met with the residents to hear their concerns.
What businesses are allowed outright on the 5.23 acres under the Neighborhood Commercial zoning designation?
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County Sheriff’s office charged James Ruben Woodard, 29, with attempted murder after witnesses say he shot at a man who Woodard and another unidentified man had been arguing with. The incident occurred about 2 a.m., Nov. 25.
The victim reported that he had accused the unidentified man of stealing vehicles and other items from a yard on Ramble Drive.
The incident report states that Woodard began defending the accused thief, then pulled a gun on the victim who tried to grab the gun from Woodard.
Unsuccessful in disarming Woodard, the victim ran into another yard. Witnesses told deputies that Woodard then got into a grey Mustang and pulled up onto Ramble Drive. The report states that Woodard again presented a gun and began firing on the victim. The victim stated that he ran and that Woodard pulled out of a driveway at a high rate of speed, then fled the scene in the vehicle going toward State Highway 269.
The victim stated that he believes the other man he was arguing with fled the scene on foot into the woods.
A bullet was recovered from a vehicle on scene and there was damage reported to other vehicles as well as to the residence on the Ramble Drive property where the shooting took place.
Woodard was arrested Dec. 7, and a judge denied bond to Woodard on that same date. He is being held at the Fairfield County Detention Center.
WINNSBORO – A 26-year old Greenwood woman, Kitoria Sha’Pel Glenn, has been sentenced to 26 years behind bars on Monday for the 2015 murder of her boyfriend, Edward McClurkin, 50, of Ridgeway.
McClurkin’s body was discovered by family members in his home at 9181 Highway 34 E. on the morning of Feb. 5, 2015, the victim of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Later that day, Glenn was found by deputies at her mother’s home in Greenwood and brought back to Winnsboro where she confessed to shooting McClurkin after the couple had had a domestic dispute.
Charged with murder, Glenn pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter before Sixth Judicial Circuit Judge Brian Gibbons.
WINNSBORO – During the public comment period of County Council’s meeting Monday evening, a Winnsboro resident questioned Council’s wisdom in purchasing 14 acres for a fire station when the County Assessor told her the average acreage for a fire station in Fairfield County is two acres.
“What will the other two acres be used for?” Yvette Howard asked.
Before that question was answered, Councilman Dan Ruff had some questions of his own about the purchase.
“What happened to the two acres that was supposed to be donated to the County by the Presbyterian Church several months ago (LW Presbyterian gives land for county facility, July 6, 2017 issue of The Voice),” Ruff asked.
“They (the church) have not donated the land as of this date, but we will probably revisit that,” County Administrator Jason Taylor said.
“I have a meeting on Jan. 6 with a lady who is going to donate it to the County,” Jimmy Ray Douglas chimed in. “We’ll accept the property for a fire station there.”
“I don’t understand why we jumped ahead from the donated two acres to pursuing the 14 acres,” Ruff said. “I don’t understand why we went that route when we had enough land to build it if we had just waited,” Ruff said.
Douglas said the church voted to donate the land but the Presbytery took more than two months to get back to the church.
“I was looking for a place to put the fire station if this particular property wouldn’t be gifted to us. I found the 14 acres, but Crescent had put in the deeds that nothing could be built except residential uses,” Douglas said.
“So that just about killed the 14 acres. Crescent offered to give the 14 acres for the roll back taxes they owed on the property. It would have been a wash – free, more or less. On Jan. 6 I’ll have a discussion with the woman who wants to give us the two acres. I’ll have a discussion with her and talk with Mr. Taylor,” Douglas said.
“I just think we need to be patient on this a little bit,” Ruff said.
BLYTHEWOOD – During Council members’ remarks at Monday’s Council meeting, Councilman Malcolm Gordge brought up what he called false information provided to the Town by Comet officials about the number of people who ride on the new Blythewood Express Comet commuter bus, 52X, that buses riders to Columbia in the morning and back to Blythewood in the afternoon.
Gordge provided The Voice with a recent report from the Central Midlands Transit on ridership and seat occupancy of the Blythewood Express. The report stated that of the 90 seats available on the 52X, 33 percent of the seats were filled during the second month of service (October, 2017), almost double the percentage for the previous month (16.3 percent).
“Our best day so far,” the report stated, “was Thursday, Oct. 5, where a total of 63 passengers filled 70 percent of the available seats.”
The report stated that during October, the 52X had a total ridership of 664 passengers, an average of 30 passengers per day.
But Gordge said the Town was not seeing those numbers and he challenged transit officials about the number of riders taking the bus out of Blythewood.
“In actuality,” Gordge told The Voice, “we never had more than one, two or three passengers ride the bus except a few days when there were as many as five. So when I challenged the numbers, they told me that those numbers were for the entire 52X route which picks up many other locations even though it is called the Blythewood Express,” Gordge said.
“When I told them we needed to have a better understanding of what the numbers, time frames and destinations are, they did not seem worried. I had the distinct impression that the transit officials are going to keep running the bus out here no matter what,” Gordge said.
The bus, which charges $2.50 bus fare each way, makes stops at The Ponte apartments on Main Street and at Town Hall. For bus schedule information, go to www.townofblythewoodsc.gov.