Category: Community

The battle to take Rimer Pond Road continues as developer Hugh Palmer and his son Patrick, a former chairman and 14-year member of the Richland County Planning Commission, try for the fourth time in as many years to establish the first commercial zoning on the road.

Residents from Rimer Pond Road, LongCreek Plantation, Eagles Glen and surrounding areas are expected to show up at a Richland County Planning Commission public hearing Monday a little before 1 p.m. to sign up to speak against the proposed rezoning of a 5.23-acre parcel of land at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road/Trading Post Road. That meeting, which is usually held in Council chambers at the County building, has been relocated to the second floor of the main Richland County public library at 1431 Assembly Street in Columbia.

The owner of the property, Hugh Palmer, is requesting a change in zoning from Medium Density Residential (RS-MD) to Neighborhood Commercial (NC). The parcel is located across the street from Blythewood Middle School.

The County’s Planning Department staff is recommending that the Planning Commission recommend the rezoning to Richland County Council.

During the other three attempts by the Palmer family to bring commercial zoning to Rimer Pond Road, Patrick Palmer was either a member or Chair of the Planning Commission that determined whether the recommendation to Council would be for or against the rezoning. While Palmer recused himself from voting on the rezoning, his proximity with staff and the other Commissioners didn’t sit well with the residents who opposed the rezoning. After Hugh Palmer’s last loss to the residents in February of this year, Patrick Palmer resigned from the Commission.

The fourth battle between Palmer and the residents is playing out in a new dimension – Facebook – where Patrick Palmer has put himself into the mix, trying to convince residents that the information on anti-commercial Facebook sites and in The Voice is not correct.

“Nicole, this is Patrick Palmer and I would love to talk with you about the proposed rezoning at the corner of Rimer Pond and Longtown Rd. My cell is xxx-xxxx. Please call me anytime with any questions you have. The Facebook sites you are listening to are not correct. Please call me,” Palmer wrote on the Keep it Rural site which is managed by Rimer Pond Road resident Trey Hair. The site, which is the hub of the base who oppose commercial zoning on the Road, gets an average of about 2,500 clicks per update since the public hearing notice was staked out by property, Hair said.

For his part, Patrick Palmer and his father say they just want to bring commercial uses in small 6,000 square foot offices to the neighborhood as a convenience to the residents.

The neighbors disagree. Their mantra has become, “We don’t want it, and we don’t need it.”

“The only beneficiary of this zoning change will be the applicant who stands to make a large sum of money from the property sales,” Trey Hair said when addressing Council on the issue in February.

The 5.23 acre parcel which is home to a cell tower, makes it undesirable for residential use, Palmer told the County Council. The parcel is what’s left from a larger 36+ acre parcel after the Palmers sold 31.23 acres to Kevin Steele of Land Tech, the developer who is now building Coatsbridge neighborhood on the 31.23 acres.

In the spring of 2013, a flyer, which was verified by Patrick Palmer at the time, advertised the 5.23 acre parcel for $350,000 per acre.

Residents say they don’t want commercial zoning of any kind because they fear the domino effect – one commercial zoning making it easier for the next commercial zoning request to be granted.

Hugh Palmer told Council in February, when he was asking for Rural Commercial Zoning, that commercial zoning will not bring to fruition the residents’ worse fears. He also said commercial zoning is what the County, as a whole, has instructed the development community to do.

“Maybe it’s against what the residents out here want. But as a person who owns property in the county, all I have to go on is what the county says. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

BLYTHEWOOD – After high winds dispensed by Hurricane Irma slammed a tree across the roof of the Boney Road home of Willie and Jeanette Belton last week, prospects looked grim for the future of the home. With no home insurance to pay for the removal of the large tree laying across the length of the roof and framing boards sticking through the ceiling inside, some observers questioned whether the home that Belton built just before the couple was married in 1966 could be repaired. It would, after all, probably take a crane to lift the tree off the roof.

Nevertheless, Belton insisted that he and his wife would stay in the home they have shared all their married life.

“We can get it fixed,” he insisted, “We have friends and family in the construction business. They’ll help us,” Belton said.

And he was right.

A couple of days later those friends and family showed up and began the daunting task of cutting the tree into two-foot sections and throwing them off the roof.

“It took us about three hours,” said Raymond Palmer who owns R. Palmer Construction in Blythewood. “Kendall Robertson, Darryel Canzater and some other people helped with it, so it didn’t take too long,” Palmer said with a shrug.

The next day, Palmer and his brother Tommy Lee Palmer returned with a backhoe and dump truck to load up and haul off the tree sections, advising Belton that the tree was too old for him to use for firewood. The brothers then used the backhoe bucket to raise and stabilize the front porch roof that had been blocking the front door. They also covered the damaged areas of the roof with heavy black roofing paper to protect it from rain until the roof can be repaired.

Then, Saturday afternoon, a woman representing Masedonia Baptist Church on Highway 21 between Blythewood and Ridgeway, dropped by with a donation of money collected by some members of the church.

“And there may be some more coming after Sunday,” the woman told Belton as she handed him a sealed yellow envelope and patted his hand.

“We’re all family here,” she said, talking about the church relationship with the Beltons who attend Bethel Baptist in downtown Blythewood. But she said she is also a cousin of Belton’s and that the extended family includes Beltons, Palmers, Griffins and others.

And members of other churches say they, too, will be making donations.

Town Councilmen Eddie Baughman and Larry Griffin, also a relative, stopped by to check on the Beltons and find out what they need. Baughman later contacted several churches in the Blythewood area who have volunteer mission groups among their members who help out in such emergencies.

“There are resources in our community and it’s a wonderful thing when friends and family are there to help,” Baughman said. “There was a lot of damage to that house and, with no insurance, it would be a big expense. I’m just thankful no one was injured, and I’m thankful to those friends and family who have stepped up to help the Beltons.”

Fairfield Behavioral Health Services kicked off its Recovery Month activities in honor of September’s National Recovery Month with the groundbreaking of a new outpatient treatment facility. “Much prayer, preparation, perseverance and the power of partnerships got us to this point,” says Vernon Kennedy Sr., Executive Director. “Thank you to all who attended and special thanks to Mr. David Whitaker, Funeral Director and Owner of Palmetto Funeral Services for allowing us to use your grounds, chairs, tent and podium.” This new outpatient treatment facility will be a tremendous enhancement for service delivery for clientele, families, staff, Board of Directors, partners and the community at large. It will provide better privacy, opportunity for expected growth, adequate space, and a more practical location.  Pictured are Coroner Chris Hill, left, Attorney Kay Boulware (FBHS Board Member); Councilman Doug Pauley (FBHS Board County Liaison); Councilman Bertha Goins, Jannita Gaston (FBHS Board Member); Rev. Qunicy Pringle (FBHS Board Chair); Councilman Neil Robinson; Alan George, (First Community Bank); Vernon Kennedy Sr. (FBHS Executive Director); andSheriff Will Montgomery.

Sandy Level Baptist Church will host a Homecoming of past members on Saturday, Sept. 17, to celebrate the church’s 160^th anniversary. The church is one of the oldest in the Blythewood community and predates the town.

While the current sanctuary was dedicated on December 7, 1856 at the current Blythewood Road location, the congregation existed in the area since the late 1700’s. The early congregation was known as 25 Mile Creek Church. Bethel Baptist Church on Boney Road was formed by members who left Sandy Level following the Civil War.

During a cemetery tour last year conducted by the Blythewood Historical Society and Shives Funeral Home, the tour began inside church, then moved outside into the cemetery where guides waited at the gravestones of some of church members who had also been some of the Town’s founding fathers.

One of those who contributed much to the church and to the community was Dr. Samuel Bookhart who is buried in the shadow of the sanctuary.

Blythewood’s Wade Hampton Dorsey, dressed in period clothing, stood at the gravestone of his ancestor, Dr. Bookhart. Dorsey, a former Blythewood Town Councilman and former president of the Historical Society, spoke in the role of Bookhart, imparting the family’s history.

“I joined Sandy Level Baptist Church in 1856 when I was 27, and remained a member until the day I died. We were building a new meeting house, this very one that still stands today. Cynthia and I gave $700 to paint it. I served as Clerk for almost 50 years! In those days whites and blacks, slave and free attended church here together . . .”

After the Bookharts built a school for girls on the grounds where Cobblestone Park now sits, a teacher at the school suggested naming the school The Blythewood Female Institute after the surrounding beautiful woods. And from that, of course, the town was called Blythewood.

BLYTHEWOOD – Willie James Belton, 78, and Jeanette Belton, his wife of 51 years, were sitting down to a late lunch in their home on Boney Road about 1 p.m. on Monday when gusty winds dispensed by a weakening Hurricane Irma sent a giant tree crashing into the roof of their home.

“It made the whole house jump. Like that,” Willie demonstrated with a jolt of his body. “I never went through anything like that. Scared me, I couldn’t think what was happening.”

Inside the home, boards poke through the living room ceiling and the bedroom ceiling is cracked and bulging.

“We didn’t sleep in the bedroom last night,” Jeanette said on Tuesday, pointing to a large section of damaged ceiling directly above the bed.

“It looks like it might fall through,” she said, looking up at the ceiling with a worried look.

Nevertheless, the Beltons said they don’t plan to leave the home they have shared for all their married life.

Even though the damage was daunting, inside and out, Willie said they plan to repair the house and stay there.

“I built this house before we got married,” Willie said. That was in 1966. “I’m from Fairfield County, but I’ve lived in Blythewood for 57 years.”

It had been an idyllic cottage when it was new. The Beltons raised their four children. One of their daughters, Terry Belton, lives next door and helps look after her mom and dad who is partially disabled.

But repairing the home will not be a simple thing since the couple does not have insurance coverage on the home.

“That’s ok, we can get it fixed. We have friends and family in the construction business. We’ll make it,” he said, with a convincing smile.

An SCE&G crew showed up about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday to repair an electric line that strung across the Belton’s front yard, hanging low, from a pole across Boney Road to their daughter’s home next door.

While the Belton’s are worried about the damage to their home and the cost to repair it, Willie is undaunted.

“When we get that tree off the roof, I’ll get it cut up for wood for the stove. We’ll get it fixed,” he repeated, then paused, looking down at his hands, then up. “We have friends and family. We’ll be ok.”