Category: Government

The Planning Commission took a strong stand against recommending high density zoning in the town during their meeting Monday evening. The Commission denied two rezoning options presented by D.R. Horton to rezone the 98-acre Wilson property just north of the Town Center District on Wilson Boulevard. The first option requested a mixed use Planned Development District (PDD) with much smaller lot sizes to be determined by the builder. The second option requested a combination of R-8 (8,000 square foot lots) and R-5 (5,000 square foot lots). The land is currently zoned Development (D-1) which allows development of 20,000 square-foot minimum lot sizes.

The applicant, represented by Jordon Hammond, D.R. Horton’s Land Acquisition Manager, asked the Commission to send recommendations to Council on both zoning options.

The Town’s Planning Consultant, Michael Criss, pointed out, however, that the PDD request might have some flaws, explaining that a PDD is a customized zoning map peculiar to a particular property with a specific site plan for the commercial development. Criss said, however, that D.R. Horton had failed to include a specific commercial site plan in the request packet, and suggested that using a PDD zoning designation could be a way for a developer to get smaller lot sizes and more homes than in traditional zoning districts since unconventional and smaller lot sizes can be carved out in a PDD. Criss said this could be an issue the Commissioners might want to consider.

“State statute says a developer can use the PDD zoning to get smaller lots, but PDD also means mixed use and has a commercial component to it,” Criss said. “There is a 1.7 acre commercial area at the entrance, but is that an adequate amount of commercial land use for 98 acres to qualify for mixed use development?”

“We feel, at staff level, that the minimum lot commercial space should qualify for true mixed use land development,” Criss said. “Because the developer has omitted a specific commercial site plan in the packet, we don’t know what kinds of commercial uses might be planned.”

“Since the statutory language specifies a unified site design, doesn’t that tell us the PDD concept should include not just residential but also say what the commercial land uses are going to be?,” Town Administrator Gary Parker asked Criss.

“Yes, and not just a listing of the uses, but a depiction on the site plan,” Criss said. “And if the Town Council should approve this as proposed, we would need to find a means whereby the commercial component would be assured by the completion of the development.”

In his presentation, Hammond discussed the higher density that is possible for the property.

Commissioner Donald Brock challenged whether the density that could be approved for the property, should be approved.

“If you left it up to homebuyers looking to move to Blythewood, the answer would be absolutely yes,” Hammond said. “The demand for homes out here and in Cobblestone is huge. We’re in touch with homebuyers every day and the demand for this area is more than the density we’re proposing.”

“Yes,” Brock said, “but I don’t know if the demand for yards you can mow with a weed eater is there. Your rezoning request is a very nice masking job, but it’s nothing more than that. It’s skirting the requirement to get the high density zoning that you’re looking for. We have a two-land road out here and a rapidly growing town, and you’re attempting to cram as many homes as you can into a small area. Never mind the increased traffic, increased stress on first responders, police and fire or the school that is currently closed to choice. Bethel-Hanberry Elementary is maxed out and you have to be zoned for it to go there. The 56 units at the apartments that just came in is zoned for it and this development will probably be also. That’s probably almost 300 more children,” Brock said. “You will ruin what is attractive about Blythewood. This is not downtown Columbia.”

“Development is coming to this area,” Hammond countered, “whether it’s inside or outside the town. This is an appropriate way for Blythewood to control growth during a time when you’re going to grow. This is an opportunity for the town. We will improve Wilson Boulevard, and we want to be a part of this growth.”

“You can develop the land under the current R-20 zoning as it’s zoned,” Brock said.

“The property owner is not going to agree to that. And we would miss a demographic which we believe is missing in this market – someone looking to spend less than $350 on a home,” Hammond said. “The reality of the economics to develop 20,000 square-foot lots is that it would not be economical for us to develop it.”

“I stand with Mr. Brock on this,” Chairman Bryan Franklin said. “I think a 20,000 square-foot lot is a decent size.”

As Franklin was preparing to call for a motion, Hammond said that if the Commission recommended R -8 zoning, that he would be fine with that.

“I’m prepared to make R-8 the option,” Hammond said.

Nevertheless, Franklin called for a motion, and Commissioner Brock made the motion to recommend denial for a PDD to Council. The motion passed unanimously.

“You asked for feedback,” Franklin said to Hammond, “this is feedback. It’s not that we don’t understand your position and your business, but in our role here, the growth in Blythewood is so explosive that we need to pause and be responsible. People say to us, ‘You need to fix the roads before you approve another 300 homes.’ That’s where we’re coming from, as well as trying to satisfy you.”

“If you want unchecked growth,” Brock added, “go to Lexington. To put a lot of high density zoning in our town without first developing the infrastructure creates unnecessary stress for the current and future residents. It’s something I don’t think Blythewood can handle right now.”

Hammond asked the Commissioners to, “Imagine you’re the land owner. It’s value to them. You’ve got the power. You’ve got stuff in town to fund. How are you going to fund it? We’re a source for that revenue. R-20 is not viable for us.”

A motion was made to also not recommend option two for both R-5 and R-8 zoning. The vote to deny was unanimous.

The issue will go to Council for a vote on April 24.

Council voted Monday evening to pass first reading on what it called a temporary ordinance that will prohibit mobile vending stands in the Town Center TC District until agreement can be made on a broader, permanent ordinance.
Town Administrator Gary Parker said the new ordinance exempts those vending stands that are in lawful operation at the time the ordinance becomes law.
“This is a short term, stop gap solution to the issue of regulating mobile vending stands that gets to the core of the problem,” Councilman Malcolm Gordge said. “We need to cover more, but I think this makes it clear what our view is.”
“What you see (the new ordinance) is another iteration of the input I’ve had from Council,” Town Attorney Jim Meggs told Council members about the ordinance he presented for Council’s vote. “But this doesn’t address meal trucks or other vendors.”
The new ordinance amends the current ordinance, defining an itinerant merchant as “any person who engages in selling or offering for sale any goods, wares, merchandise or services of any kind from a vending stand. It also defines a vending stand as “not permanently affixed to real property…and which operates under one itinerant merchant or succession of merchants for more than 30 days in any calendar year within the Town of Blythewood.”
The ordinance also states that vending stands “must be removed from the district each day when not open for business and manned by at least one attendant.”
While the ordinance exempts “any vending stand in lawful operation when the ordinance becomes law,” the coffee vending merchant located in the parking lot of Bits and Pieces consignment shop, and that has been the main focus of the issue for several months, would not fall under that exemption since it is no longer mobile. Owner Matt Beyer told Council at the February Council meeting that the coffee trailer had been made stationery and could not be moved.
“Any lawful vending stand businesses must get a business license from the Town and also meet all applicable building code requirement and DHEC regulations,” Parker said.
“Our intent is for this to be a temporary ordinance,” Tom Utroska said. “We expect the Planning Commission to come up with a long term solution to replace this one.”

RIDGEWAY – During its regular meeting Thursday evening, Council scrapped a plan it initiated last month to tap the Town’s hospitality tax revenue to publish a book chronicling the Town’s history and then funnel the profits from the sale of the book into the general fund.

After being informed by the state’s Municipal Association that, according to state statute, any profits from a book funded with H-tax revenue would have to be returned to the H-tax fund and not to the general fund, Council voted unanimously on at its March meeting to rescind last month’s motion.

There was also a backlash from merchants about the use of hospitality funds for the book.

Merchant Robbie Martin, who owns both the Cotton Yard Market and Palmer Street Market, asked Council during scheduled public comments to save the hospitality tax revenue for much needed restrooms merchants want built in the former police station on Palmer Street.

“I think the hospitality tax, to me, is being collected from people that come to Ridgeway and we want to make it more hospitable for anyone that visits here. Using it for anything other than something that gives back to the people that are actually funding it seems like it’s not as appropriate,” Martin said.

Mayor Charlene Herring cited concerns from local merchants as well, stating that she had met with them the evening prior to the Council meeting.

“The merchants are concerned that we are spending some of the hospitality tax money even though the money belongs to the Town. We should save that (money) for the restroom facilities. I would like to see it come out of the general fund just from the conversations I had with the merchants last night,” Herring said.

Councilman Heath Cookendorfer disagreed.

“The hospitality money is paid by a select few, not by the masses,” Cookendorfer said. “It is the Town’s money to spend as they see appropriate, so I would rather see it come out of the hospitality money than the general fund. That’s my opinion, because it is going toward tourism.”

Council narrowly passed, by a 3-2 vote, a new motion to withdraw money for the book’s publication from the town’s general fund and return any profits from the book’s sales back to the general fund as prescribed by state statute. Council members Angela Harrison and Heath Cookendorfer voted against the new measure.

“Right now I think our money could be better spent on other things,” Harrison said. “We’ve got a lot of projects going on in town and we don’t know how long it would take to sell those books to actually recoup what we’re taking out. I think that was my main question, I’m not against the book itself, it’s just we’re not sure how long it will take to get the money back.”

Herring explained that a Ridgeway history has been in the works for years and is one of the Historical and Cultural Committee’s top priorities. She told The Voice that the Town got bids from three printers and that By Far Graphic Design of Columbia submitted the lowest bid, $2,271, to publish 125 copies of a 100-page paperback history of Ridgeway. The cost to the Town would be $18.17 per copy which would include $1,200 for printing, $975 for designing pages and scanning photos and $95 tax. Herring said if the Town sells the book for $20 per copy, the total profit would be $229.

“If we price it higher, then our profit would increase,” Herring said. “I hope it will be on the market prior to Christmas.”

The other two bidders were Another Printer ($3,000 +) and R. R. Donnelley ($1,200 plus $55 per hour for scanning photos.)

 

Fairfield County’s 911 emergency call service has been upgraded to provide callers with more assistance during a crisis.

“We’re now called Emergency Medical Dispatchers, or EMDs,” said Phyllis Watkins, Emergency Management Director in Fairfield County. “Before, it was just ‘911 Dispatchers’. The difference is that we can now give life-saving instructions to the caller while they are waiting for EMS.”

This change resulted from new NHTSA certification for the dispatchers and the integration of software technology and touch-screen devices to aid them during emergency calls. Now, when someone calls 911, the dispatcher uses the touch-screen device to select from an array of emergency situations, including trauma, stroke, cardiac arrest, seizures and animal bites. The program then guides the dispatcher through a series of questions and answers to determine which specific actions the caller can take in order to help the person who is experiencing the emergency.

“With this new system,” Watkins said, “we can help the caller respond to the emergency even if they don’t have any medical knowledge. For instance, if a child called and said ‘my mom isn’t breathing’, we can talk to that child and give them instructions for helping her until the ambulance service arrives.”

Watkins said the new system will increase the chance of survival in medical emergencies.

“In the past,” she said, “when someone called and asked, ‘what can I do?’, we weren’t certified and didn’t have the capability to tell them to do anything else. But now, when they ask ‘what can I do?’ we have a protocol to talk them through it until the EMS arrives.”

Another new upgrade is that 911 can now be contacted by text message, though this is available only from cell phones that have service through Verizon, Sprint, AT&T or T-Mobile.

“But sending a text to 911 should only be used at times that you absolutely cannot make a voice call,” Watkins cautioned, explaining that the service is designed as a solution for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or who have a speech difficulty, or for situations where texting might be a person’s only option. “If you need to contact 911 and you can talk, it’s better to call instead of text.”

WINNSORO – County Council members dispensed with a lengthy agenda in less than an hour Monday evening. A highlight of the session was a unanimous vote to upgrade the County’s aged economic development website to the tune of $29,000 with a $695/month maintenance contract.

“This was not a budgeted item,” County Administrator Jason Taylor told Council, stressing, however, that it was urgent the site be updated. “We have $7,000 in the current economic development budget and we can use that to start with and then, with Council’s approval, budget the remainder in the upcoming fiscal year.”

Created in 2010, the site is out of date and no longer communicates an accurate perception of Fairfield County, Taylor said. Compared to other counties’ economic development websites, it is obsolete, he wrote in the County’s request for bids.

Earlier this month, County resident Randy Bright reminded Council of the inadequacies of the County’s languishing website that had not been updated in more than six years. However, Taylor had already put out a request for bids to have a new website built that will specifically target economic development for the County.

“We had six companies respond to our request for qualifications,” Taylor said. “DuBose Web Design, a local company, submitted the winning bid. We looked at their work and thoroughly vetted them. They came highly recommended for this kind of website.”

Chairman Billy Smith (District 7) also pointed out that DuBose had built and maintains the economic development website for the Central South Carolina Alliance, with which the County is affiliated.

Council unanimously approved the bid.

More Purchases

In response to a request from the County’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department, Council voted unanimously to purchase four sets of Hurst battery-powered Jaws of Life for $36,276.21

“It was the lowest of two quotes,” Taylor said. “The purchase was budgeted at $36,537, so we saved $260.79.”

Council also approved the purchase of 15 Dell Rugged laptop computers for the Sheriff’s Office at a cost of $34,587. One other bid came in at $34,775. Taylor said the laptops were already budgeted under the current fiscal year and are under state contract.

“We issue about 52 laptops to the deputies and try to replace about 13 of them each year which comes out to a laptop lasting about four years,” Deputy Terry Smith told the Administrative and Finance Committee earlier in the evening. She said the old laptops are turned over to the IT department where the hard drives are destroyed and the laptops are sold at auction.

Tweaking Ordinances

After unanimously passing first reading of two ordinances by title only – one to reclassify the zoning on four parcels in the County’s new industrial site at I-77 and Highway 34 from RD-1 (Rural Residential District) to I-1 (Industrial District) and another to increase the terms of office on the Fairfield County Library Board from three-year terms to four-year terms – Council passed second reading to revise Sec. 1-20-C of the Roads, Highways and Bridges ordinance to allow road crews to pave short roads when paving longer roads that are connected to the short roads, even if the short roads are not yet scheduled for paving.

Bill Coleman, engineer for the Fairfield County Transportation Commission (CTC) told members of the Administrative and Finance Committee last month that the changes would result in a cost savings for the CTC.

Taylor told Council that Coleman would be present at third reading to answer questions and discuss the proposed changes to the ordinance.

Happy Ending

The happy ending to the evening came with Taylor’s announcement that he had met with Town of Winnsboro officials who had requested a meeting between the Town Council and County Council.

“They want to explore with us how we might work together to more efficiently provide services to our citizens,” Taylor said.

During County Council time, Councilman Neil Robinson (District 6) said he would look forward to working with the Town.

“A lot of my constituents live in the town and I think we could both benefit from working together on some things,” Robinson said.

“We’ll be glad to get with the town,” Smith responded. “I’ll work with Ms. Locklair on this to set something up soon.”

JENKINSVILLE – After voting 5-1 on Feb. 6 to pass a water rate increase without specifying the amount of the increase or when it would go into effect, Jenkinsville Water Company’s board of directors enclosed a note in water bills last week announcing a rate hike of 26 percent ($23 to $29) for residential customers on the first 2,000 gallons. The rate increase for commercial customers is set at 41 percent ($27 to $38) on the first 2,000 gallons and 67 percent (from $6 to 10) on each additional 1,000 gallons. Residential customers will continue to pay $5 for each additional $1,000 gallons used, and all customers will continue to pay a $1 monthly impact fee.

While the new rates have not been discussed or voted on during a public meeting, Board President Gregery Ginyard told The Voice on Tuesday that the board discussed it in executive session at the March 6 meeting and voted for the increase following executive session during that meeting. However, the agenda listed only “contractural, personnel and legal matters” for the executive session, and a recording of the meeting reveals no vote was taken by the board on a rate increase following executive session and no mention of the new rates was made during the meeting.

“I don’t know when the vote was taken,” board member Preston Peach told The Voice Tuesday. “I was not at the meeting in February.”

While Peach did attend the March 6 meeting, he was vague on Tuesday about how he learned about the amount of the rate increase or when and by whom it was decided.

The note in customers’ bills said the rate hike is scheduled to go into effect next month due to “the need to offset increased operating costs, meet the growing demand for water and to make investments needed to increase production.” The note did not specify any particular increases in operating costs or water demand that had been experienced by the company.

The rate hike has evolved mysteriously following questions from customers during public comment at the annual meeting about whether the company is in trouble financially.

In discussing the rate hike but without any numbers during the February meeting, Ginyard said the company was passing on Mid-County’s rate increases. Board member the Rev. Leon Thompson voted against the rate hike.

“Mid-County has passed it, but we just didn’t have the paperwork in front of us to actually call out a certain number,” Ginyard said after the meeting. “We’re going to look at the number from Mid-County and it will come out. So we voted to actually look at what the numbers are with Mid-County and stuff to try to keep pace of them.”

However, the board did not vote to “look at what the numbers are.” The board voted “that the rate increase be accepted as discussed,” Ginyard said, reading out the motion before the Feb. 6 vote.

After the meeting, Ginyard said the rate increase had been discussed at previous meetings. But Mid-County Water has not passed along a rate increase to the Jenkinsville Water Company since July of 2016. That increase – of just 1.4 percent – reflects the increase passed to Mid-County from Winnsboro when Winnsboro’s 2016-2017 budget was adopted.

 

JENKINSVILLE – In February, James Green, Jenkinsville Water Company’s licensed water operator, began including in his monthly well production reports, the number of gallons of water billed to customers each month, a number he had not previously reported during the water company’s monthly board meetings. Water production in recent years, has hovered consistently around 3.5 million gallons per month, but there has been sketchy or no reporting on total gallons of leaks and gallons.

Green reported at the Feb. 6, 2017 meeting that the company had produced 3,459,070 gallons of water from local wells and purchased 1,840,000 gallons from Mid-County. Green said customers were billed for 5,041,801 gallons. He reported 265,269 gallons were leaked. At the March 6, 2017 meeting, Green reported that the JWC produced 3,210,260 gallons of water locally and purchased 817,000 gallons from Mid-County, billing customers for 5,106,022 gallons – over a million gallons more than the company produced that month.

Following the Feb. 6 meeting, Peach offered to explain the inconsistency in those numbers to The Voice.

“That might seem like we charged the customers for more water than we produced,” Peach said, “but we had more than a million gallons in storage.”

Asked why that million gallons of stored water had not been accounted for in previous water reports, Peach told The Voice that he didn’t know.

According to a sanitary survey on Jenkinsville Water Company conducted on Aug. 1, 2007 by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), and obtained by The Voice, JWC’s total storage capacity at that time was 655,000 gallons, far below the million gallon storage capacity.

Asked on Tuesday by The Voice in a phone interview if the company had increased its storage capacity since that time, Ginyard said it had not. Asked how the company could store a million gallons of water, Ginyard said he didn’t know.

“Mr. Green would have that information. You’ll have to ask him at the next meeting,” Ginyard said, ending the interview.

 

 

 

RIDGEWAY- The town of Ridgeway’s proposed new water tower officially has a home now, but it does not yet officially have a name.

Following executive session Thursday evening, Council unanimously passed a motion to approve a one-acre plot of land behind Geiger Elementary school as the site for the new tower. The Fairfield County School District Board of Trustees voted last month to deed the acre of land to the Town for the tower. The Board’s agenda packet included a graphic rendering of the new tower emblazoned with the name, ‘Geiger Elementary.’ While the name on the tower was not discussed during the public session of Ridgeway’s meeting Thursday evening, Mayor Charlene Herring told The Voice following the meeting that ‘Geiger Elementary’ is a suggestion that has been floated, but that some people in the town would like to see ‘Ridgeway’ on the tower. She said Council would vote definitively on a name for the tower at a future meeting.

Council also voted to award Civil Engineering of Columbia (CEC) the contract to build the structure. The cost will be $510,753, with about $39,800 of that amount going towards engineering costs. While bids were sought from eight firms, only two responded, Herring said. The other bid, for $851,000 was submitted by Hanna Engineering of Florence.

Funds for the tower comes from the town’s $500,000 Rural Infrastructure Authority grant, but the city must cover the additional $10,573, including the service road to the tower. However, there are hopes Fairfield County will assist in the payment of funds that exceed the original $500,000 RIA grant.

More Fencing

After voting in February to fence separately the new Ridgeway playground and the old Ridgeway School arch at a total cost of $13,457, Council changed course at its March 9 meeting, voting to enclose the entire park and arch area with a single fence at an additional cost of $14,792, bringing the total cost for fencing to $28,249.

“Citizens expressed some concern about closing the areas rather than making them open,”Mayor Charlene Herring said. “The purpose was you don’t have to a fence for the playground, but you want to eventually just for protection, especially our playground backs up to a road that’s an access road.”

Ridgeway received grant funds totaling $20,135 from the Municipal Association to stabilize the arch and fence both the arch and the proposed playground nearby. After spending $15,135 on the arch, it only had $5,000 left for fencing. Council agreed to make up the difference in grant funds with money taken from one of the Town’s CDs. Some, if not all, of the Town’s contribution could be

reimbursed with phase two of a Parks and Recreation (PARD) grant in two years.

“We have about $28,061.61 left in the PARD grant,” Herring said. “And it could be more than that after we finish phase one.”