Category: Business

BLYTHEWOOD – “As we move Richland County forward, Blythewood is definitely an important part of the process,” Richland County Council Chairman Torrey Rush said in a presentation to Blythewood Chamber of Commerce members at a breakfast meeting in Cobblestone Park Clubhouse Tuesday morning.

He equated that forward movement with growth and touched on the three areas he sees as most important in the county’s growth – economic development, new fiscal policies and community engagement.

Commenting on the progress the county is making with economic development, Rush said he thought it was very good considering the county only recently, in the last three or four years, designated its own department for economic development. He commended Blythewood’s town government for having the foresight to recently rezone a large parcel of land bordered by Ashley Oaks subdivision, Community Road and I-77 for an industrial park.

“We’ve got Shop Road extension for a major industrial park,” Rush said, “and now up here on this side of town, it’s tremendous to have an industrial park here as well. It’s extremely important. And just to reassure residents, today’s industry does not mean smokestacks. It’s new technology, things you wouldn’t hear or see if you didn’t go by it. Having this industry in your city will be tremendous to this region.”

Commenting further on the importance of preparing industrial sites, Rush said, “Everybody’s looking for the same industries, the BMW’s of the world, all the tire companies, the manufacturers. It’s important to have the infrastructure in place to make sure we’re competitive.”

Rush said the penny tax is a necessary step to having that infrastructure in place. He also touched on the county’s tax rate, saying it’s one of the highest in the state, which can deter economic development.

“We’re going to have to stabilize our tax rate in order to compete,” he added. He said he has some ideas that he would be putting forward later this year.

On the initial tenants in the mega development at Killian and I-77, Rush clicked off a few of the businesses that have recently opened – Applebee’s, Panda Express, McDonalds – and those in the works – more auto dealerships including BMW Columbia and McDaniels’ Porsche and Subaru.

“A Chick-fil-A is coming, more big box retailers, lots of things,” Rush said.

Rush said that one of the most important aspects of moving the county forward is to have an informed citizenry.

“The community must be engaged. It must be informed and in the know,” he said. “We saw that a couple of weeks ago when a Blythewood group showed up at a Richland County Council meeting to protest a zoning issue. It seemed like we had all of Blythewood down there,” he said with a laugh. “But that means that you care about your neighborhoods, about your community and you want to make sure we’re growing in a smart and productive way.”

 

BLYTHEWOOD – Approximately 150 acres off I-77 near Westwood High School may soon be the new home of an aluminum foundry, several media outlets reported last week, with Toronto-based Linamar Inc. having narrowed down its search for a new location to the North Point Industrial Park or a site in Asheville, N.C.

The plant could create as many as 300 jobs, according to reports, with a final decision expected by Christmas. Details of the move, however, were still officially under wraps as Richland County and Asheville continue their negotiations with the factory.

“You may have heard of an announcement a few days ago of an (economic development) win right here in your own back yard,” Richland County Council Chairman Torrey Rush told the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meeting Tuesday. “I can’t speak to that right now because we’re still under a confidentiality agreement. Actually, that information wasn’t supposed to be out yet. Companies like these are saying this city, Blythewood, is a place we want to be.”

The foundry would potentially be located just outside the Blythewood town limits and owned jointly by GF Automotive, a Swiss automobile industry supplier. Linamar would also reportedly acquire the existing Pure Power Technologies plant in Richland County as part of the plan, according to reports.

Pure Power Technologies manufactures fuel injectors for automobiles and employs more than 200 people. Reports stated Pure Power could be used as a finishing plant for automobile components manufactured at the new Linamar-GF foundry.

Linamar and GF Automotive announced last summer their intentions to locate a plant in the southeast for a metal die-casting operation. And even though reports describe the plant as a “foundry,” Ed Parler, Blythewood’s Economic Development Consultant, said it would be unlikely if it would fit into one’s traditional image of a foundry.

“It may be a foundry,” Parler, who was not involved in the recruitment of Linamar, said, “but I wouldn’t think there would be any smelting done there; no obnoxious odors, no smokestacks. It may just be a stamping operation.”

And, Parler said, pollution-belching smokestacks are prohibited in the North Point Industrial Park.

Nevertheless, Linamar will require an air permit from the S.C. Department of health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to discharge pollution; although company representatives reportedly told media outlets last week that Linamar was committed to operating the plant cleanly.

Linamar Inc. was founded in 1966 and employs 19,500 people in 48 plants around the world. GF Automotive is a division of the 200-year-old Georg Fischer Corp., and is one of the leading automotive suppliers in the world. Pure Power Technologies has made a name for itself for its efforts to simultaneously provide jobs and protect the environment.

 

BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council continued on Monday evening to keep Cobblestone developer DR Horton’s feet to the fire in an effort to hold the company responsible for implementing traffic improvements in certain areas in and around Cobblestone Park should a future traffic study warrant such improvements.

During a year-long controversy between members of Town Council and Horton over the types and location of homes Horton planned to build in the upscale, gated community, Horton ended up reducing from 1,666 dwelling units that were allowed under Cobblestone’s then current zoning to 1,155 dwelling units. Horton representative Tom Margle said the reduction in dwelling units should also reduce traffic counts.

But Council wanted Horton to initiate a traffic impact study/traffic signal warrant study to evaluate the effects of increased daily traffic flows into and out of the Cobblestone subdivision at the intersection of Syrup Mill and Blythewood roads where they feared traffic could increase as new dwellings are constructed and occupied, Town Administrator Gary Parker explained during a Sept. 15 Council workshop.

Parker noted that Horton agreed to the studies and, in early 2015, implemented the traffic impact study. An ordinance amending the Cobblestone Park Planned Development District dated April 27 stipulated that Horton could continue to build up to 100 single family homes while any required traffic improvements required by the study were being implemented. Last summer, however, in a letter to Parker, the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) expressed satisfaction that no traffic improvements were needed as a result of the study. The DOT also agreed with Horton’s traffic engineering firm’s findings that no traffic signal was warranted. But the DOT did recommended a future traffic/signal review.

On Monday evening, the Town’s attorney, Jim Meggs, presented a formal resolution intended as guidance for the Town’s Zoning Administrator in implementing the April 17 ordinance amendment. While that amendment became moot following the outcome of the original traffic study, the resolution states that Horton has agreed to implement a second study at a future date, between July 23, 2015 and July 23, 2018, and after the Town has issued Horton building permits for the construction of up to 200 single family homes in the Primrose section of Cobblestone.

Should the second traffic study call for Horton to make traffic improvements, the Town agrees in the resolution to allow the Zoning Administrator to issue up to 100 additional building permits above the already-allowed 100 building permits that would continue to be issued during the study and while any recommendations from the second study are being implemented.

Council approved the resolution unanimously. Mayor J. Michael Ross, who lives in the Primrose section of Cobblestone, has recused himself from all discussions and votes on the issue. Two other Council members, Tom Utroska and Bob Mangone, who also reside in Cobblestone Park but not in the Primrose section, were cleared by the S.C. Ethics Commission to discuss and vote on the issue.

 

Heins Road Meets Different Fate

COLUMBIA – It was the Eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, but already the residents of Rimer Pond Road, LongCreek Plantation, Eagles Glenn and other nearby neighborhoods had a little something extra to be thankful for.

At a Richland County public hearing on the night of Nov. 24, a little more than a day before Thanksgiving morning, a vote by County Council landed in the corner of a group of Blythewood residents who, for almost a year, have fought a request by Hugh Palmer to rezone 5.23 acres on Rimer Pond Road from Residential Medium Density (RSMD) to Rural Commercial (RC). Had the rezoning, on property across from Blythewood Middle School, been approved, it would have been the first commercial zoning on the road.

Thirty or so of the residents protesting the Rimer Pond Road request addressed Council for more than two hours at the public hearing with many more in attendance. More than 100 residents signed a petition that was presented to Council objecting to the rezoning.

Palmer, representing his family’s business, Sycamore Development LLC, which owns the 5.23-acre parcel, said he was requesting commercial zoning because the property is unusable as residential property for which it is zoned.

“It has a traffic signal at the intersection, a cell tower on the property and an access easement to the tower,” Palmer said. “No one wants to live with these things in their yard.”

But Adams Road resident Michael Watts reminded Council that the cell tower was on the property when Palmer purchased it in 2007 and had it rezoned for residential use in 2008.

“The fact that lots on the 5.23 acres are no longer deemed acceptable for residential development is the cost of doing business,” Rimer Pond Road resident and commercial realtor Ken Queen told Council.

Noting that Palmer had already sold an adjacent 28 acres with 100 lots zoned for residential use, Queen added, “If you capture 100 lots out of a 28-acre parcel, and you don’t get to develop that 5 acres, I’m sorry as I can be, but you got your money out of the 28 acres and 100 lots. I do it. I know what the numbers are.”

Palmer’s son, Patrick Palmer, a commercial realtor with NIA Avant and longtime Chairman of the Richland County Planning Commission, represents the sale of the property and previously told residents that his family asked for commercial zoning to be able to bring needed conveniences to the residents on Rimer Pond Road and Long Creek Plantation neighborhoods.

One after another, the residents countered, saying they did not desire nor did they need any more conveniences than they already have. And most told of such horrendous traffic congestion near the proposed rezoning site now that it sometimes takes them 30 minutes to drive half a block.

“(They) are trying to force-fit commercial on an area where there is no demand. No one living in this area wants commercial conveniences at this intersection,” LongCreek Plantation resident Jerry Rega told Council. “We have 13 gas stations, seven pizza places and more than a dozen convenience stores within a few minutes. We do not desire or need more conveniences. The retail space is already saturated here.”

Eileen Rega added, “You can see here, tonight, that the citizens are against the destruction of our community and our quality of life just so a developer can pocket $350,000 per acre and move on. This is our rural community. It is where we live and raise our children.”

Geroge Burley told the Council that when he and his wife moved to the area they knew where they were.

“We can get whatever we need in 3-5 minutes. We want to keep it rural,” Burley said.

“The first commercial zoning can cause a tumbler effect, bringing other commercial zoning on the road, eventually destroying our rural way of life,” said Rimer Pond resident David Whitner.

Another of the road’s residents, Benjamin Montgomery, agreed with Whitner.

“My wife and I were insulted when this person said he was doing us a favor to bring conveniences to us. We know where the stores are. In 5 to 6 minutes we can get what we need,” Montgomery said.

“What makes this parcel unsuitable for residential all of a sudden is not really due to the cell tower,” said LongCreek Plantation resident Walter Johnson. “It’s due to the $350,000 per acre that he’s trying to sell it for.”

Linda Galson, president of and speaking for the LongCreek Plantation property owners association, added that LongCreek Plantation residents are opposed to Palmer’s proposed commercial zoning.

The theme of most speakers, including Liz Mull, was that they only wanted to keep what they had.

“I can stand in my back yard and hear cows moo,” Mull said. “I can stand in my front yard and hear I-77. We have it all, and it’s fabulous. Please don’t change it.”

Rep. Joseph McEachern (Dist. 77), who previously represented part of Blythewood on County Council, spoke for the residents.

“They have been fighting commercial on their road for years. I admire their tenacity to continue the fight to maintain their quality of life in this community,” McEachern said. “You’ve heard their voice. Now, by raising your hand, you are their voice. Now is not the time for commercial zoning (here). The residents are anxious and you can give them comfort.”

With that, Chairman Torrey Rush called for a motion, a second and a vote. There was no discussion. The vote was not unanimous. It was not even lopsided. It was a 5-5 tie. The room fell silent as County Attorney Amelia Lender was called forward by the Chairman to clarify the tie vote.

Then Rush announced, “The request for rezoning is denied.”

After a split second of stunned silence and disbelief, cheers and applause erupted from the audience. After eight months and five meetings, the residents had won. After about 10 seconds of celebration, the residents exited Council chambers, hugging and thanking each other, Rep. McEachern and Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross, who had stood with the residents.

It was not an easy win, and it is probably not over. The Palmers can request rezoning again on the 5.23-acre parcel after a year. Hugh Palmer could not be reached for comment. His son, Patrick Palmer, had not returned a phone call from The Voice at press time.

Heins Road

The Rimer Pond Road rezoning request, along with a residential rezoning request that allows more than 500 homes on 202 acres just a few miles north on Heins Road, were both on Council’s agenda that evening. Without any discussion, Council voted unanimously and with the support of the Heins Road residents’ representative, Joyce Dickerson, to approve the rezoning request in the otherwise wooded, rural area. Both rezonings had been opposed by hundreds of the area’s residents and were the focus of several front page stories in The State newspaper and covered by two Columbia television stations.

Dickerson said she told the Heins Road residents that the property was going to be developed anyway and that she felt she would have more control over it with the rezoning. Many residents expressed frustration that Dickerson had not held a second community meeting that she had promised before the public hearing. Dickerson approved up to 375 homes on the 202 acres, but did not specify in the meeting how the builder would be held to that number.

 

BLYTHEWOOD – Following the Planning Commission’s 3-2 vote on Nov. 9 to reject a site plan for Prestwick Development’s low-income housing project, The Pointe, on Main Street in downtown Blythewood, Prestwick CEO Jody Tucker told The Voice that he had no interest in seeking legal remedy.

But just 14 days later, on Nov. 23, Prestwick’s attorneys filed a legal action in the 5th Circuit Court against the Town and the Planning Commission asking the Court to reverse the Commission’s decision , to mandate its members to approve the development plan and to require the Town to pay attorney’s fees, court costs and such other relief as the court deems just.

On Nov. 30, Prestwick’s attorneys, Eppes & Plumblee, of Greenville, filed an amended complaint similar to the original complaint but with stronger language.

Planning Commissioner Don Sanders cited “the will of the people” as the reason for not approving the plan. But Prestwick said in its complaint that the Commission’s rejection of the development plan based upon “the will of the people” serves as grounds for the appeal. Prestwick asked the Court to find that the Planning Commission is exceeding its authority and acting in contravention of the law by basing its rejection on the “will of the people.”

“Notwithstanding the fact that the plan submitted by Plaintiff complied with all requirements of all state and local laws, regulations and ordinances, including but not limited to all building code requirements, traffic requirements and all storm-water management requirements and the City’s Comprehensive Plan,” the complaint states, “the Commission, by a three-to-two vote, refused to approve the plan.”

“When Prestwick’s representative asked the Commission why the plan was being rejected,” the complaint continues, “the members of the Commission voting to reject the plan said that it was the ‘will of the people.’ No other reason was given for rejecting the plan.”

Following the Nov. 9 meeting, Prestwick CEO Jody Tucker told The Voice he wanted the Town of Blythewood to follow its ordinances and vote based on (zoning) they’ve already approved for the site.

“The City of Blythewood needs to let us know if that was a valid vote. If it wasn’t, then we’ll be back at the December Planning Commission meeting for another vote under the terms of what the law allows versus the will of the people,” Tucker said.

But a Town official, who was not authorized to talk about the lawsuit and asked to remain anonymous, said the Planning Commission will now probably not convene for its regular December meeting while the lawsuit runs its course.

In addition to having its site plan approved by the Planning Commission, Prestwick Development will still have to submit its plans to the Town’s Board of Architectural Review for approval of 13 variances and for a certificate of appropriateness, The Town’s Planning Consultant Michael Criss said.

“The BAR has complete authority over the building’s appearance,” Criss told The Voice. “But that can’t happen until the site plan has been approved by the Planning Commission.”

Town Attorney Jim Meggs and Town Council discussed the lawsuit in executive session during Council’s meeting on Monday evening, but Ross said the meeting was informational only and that no vote was taken when Council came out of the closed meeting.

The Town has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

None of the Town officials contacted by The Voice would comment on the record about the lawsuit, and no one at Prestwick Development’s Atlanta office had returned The Voice’s phone calls at press time.

 

BLYTHEWOOD (Nov. 26, 2015) – Town Council members and Town attorney Jim Meggs continued, after a year of wrangling with DR Horton, to wring their collective hands and retreat into executive session to discuss what they say is the failure of Horton, a Cobblestone property owner and builder, to acknowledge a section of an ordinance amending Cobblestone Park’s Planned Development District (PDD) that was passed by Council last April.

That section requires Horton to acknowledge the terms of the amendment that require the builder to make traffic related improvements that may be prescribed or recommended by a Traffic Impact Study/Signal Warrant Analysis on sections of Syrup Mill and Blythewood roads.

But according to information provided to Town Hall by the S.C. Department of Transportation (S.C. DOT), no traffic related improvements were required after Horton commissioned both a preliminary traffic study and a Traffic Signal Warrant Analysis in July for the specified locations, Town Administrator Gary Parker told The Voice.

“S.C. DOT has confirmed that they are satisfied that at this time that nothing needs to be done about either a traffic signal or road improvements on Syrup Mill and Blythewood roads in connection with traffic impact on Cobblestone Park due to Horton’s development of the Primrose neighborhood,” Parker said. “However S.C. DOT has asked DR Horton to commission a second TIS (Traffic Impact Study) and Traffic Signal Warrant Analysis after the builder has completed 200 homes, built from mid-2015 forward in the new Primrose section of single-family homes.”

The homes Horton is currently building in older sections of Cobblestone Park are not affected by this traffic study requirement.

Even though the ‘acknowledgement’ required of DR Horton in the amended ordinance may now be moot, since no traffic related improvements are required, Council still wants Horton to acknowledge in writing that the company will follow through with S.C. DOT’s requirement that Horton commission the second studies after building 200 homes in Primrose, Mangone told The Voice.

Three of the Town’s five Councilmen – Bob Mangone, Mayor J. Michael Ross and Tom Utroska – live in Cobblestone. Over the past year, heated conversations have broken out in Council chambers with DR Horton representatives as negotiations were hammered out regarding Horton’s development of the property which has generally not been welcomed by the neighborhood.

Residents in Cobblestone have complained that the homes built by Horton could lower their home values and suggested that the additional homes might cause traffic congestion at the neighborhood’s egress and ingress on Syrup Mill and Blythewood roads. Council approved the PDD zoning only after Horton agreed to commission the TIS/Signal Warrant Analysis and make any required improvements.

When the matter came up at last week’s Council work session, Meggs told Ross, Utroska and Mangone – the only council members in attendance – that he was going to discuss that information with them in executive session.

“(There are) two positions,” Meggs said. “We don’t have any acknowledgement (from Horton) and there’s been some dialog between the attorneys for DR Horton and myself. That would be the subject of the executive session.”

Utroska asked Meggs if there had been any more discussions with Horton.

Speaking in muffled tones that were not entirely picked up by the recorder, Meggs told the three Council members, “That’s right. There are some developments.”

Asked by The Voice before the executive session how the state’s Freedom of Information Act provided for Council to discuss the PDD acknowledgment issue in private, Meggs replied that he would be giving legal advice.

Asked if there was a pending legal matter, Meggs replied, “No.”

Pressed further, Meggs said the executive session was a matter of attorney/client privilege. He said there was a disagreement with DR Horton.

When councilmen Utroska and Mangone were asked to comment about the legality of the executive session, Mangone replied that he follows the Town attorney’s advice. Because he lives in proximity to the Primrose section of Cobblestone Park, Ross recused himself from the discussion, voting and from the executive session as required by law.

Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Monday at 7 p.m. at The Manor. After conducting old business, the three newly elected councilmen will be sworn in. The public is invited to attend.

 

BLYTHEWOOD (Oct. 29, 2015) – Unsuccessful in swaying residents in the LongCreek Plantation and Rimer Pond Road area to accept commercial zoning on a 5.23-acre parcel on Rimer Pond Road (across from the Blythewood Middle School) last summer, commercial realtor Patrick Palmer withdrew his rezoning request at the June 23 Richland County Council public hearing. But last week a new sign went up on the property requesting once again that Richland County rezone the property for commercial use.

The request, which was made by Hugh Palmer, Patrick Palmer’s father, will be heard by the Planning Commission at 1 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 5. Members of the public are allowed to speak at this meeting, but must sign the speaker’s list (for or against the rezoning) before the meeting begins. Palmer is asking for the property’s current Residential (RS-MD) zoning to be changed to Rural Commercial (RC) zoning.

Patrick Palmer, whose family owns the property, is Chairman of the Planning Commission that will be hearing and voting on the issue. Because of that conflict, he is required by law to recuse himself from taking part in the discussion and from voting on the issue.

Last week Patrick Palmer met with three residents in the area seeking their support for the commercial zoning. He did not reveal, however, that a request for rezoning of the property would be on next week’s public hearing agenda.

Although the RC Zoning Dostroct allows such intense uses as service stations and grocery stores, Patrick Palmer told residents last spring that he envisioned such businesses as a Papa John’s, a dry cleaners and a dance studio as end users. Last week Palmer told the residents he met with that he did not know what businesses would go on the property and that he had not had any offers.

While the County’s administrative planning staff recommended the rezoning for commercial use last April, the Planning Commission, voted against it, saying the Zoning District Summary in the zoning ordinance for the Rural Commercial District (RC) was antiquated in that it stated, among other things, that the RC district was best suited for “isolated agricultural and rural residential areas and so that residents located beyond the limits of service of the municipalities can receive convenience merchandising and services.” Some Commissioners and residents argued that the Rimer Pond Road and LongCreek areas are neither isolated nor underserved and therefore this RC zoning was not appropriate for the area.

The zoning public hearing is set for 1p.m., Thursday, Nov. 5, in County Council chambers located at the corner of Harden and Hampton streets. For information and updates about the rezoning (including meeting agenda and information packet), ‘like’ the Facebook page KEEP IT RURAL For information from the county, email Suzie Haynes at HAYNESSU@rcgov.us.