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COLUMBIA – Rimer Pond Road area residents barely dodged another commercial zoning bullet Monday afternoon when the Richland County Planning Commission failed to muster the votes it needed to recommend that County Council approve commercial zoning at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road West. Commissioners voted 4-4 on the rezoning request. The tie vote means the Commission will not send any recommendation at all on the issue to Council.

It was an uphill battle for the residents who have fought repeatedly, over four years, against as many requests by Hugh Palmer to rezone 5.23 acres on Rimer Pond Road to some level of commercial zoning. Prior to the meeting, County staff had sided with Palmer, recommending approval of the rezoning request, saying the requested Neighborhood Commercial zoning designation complied with the County’s comprehensive land use plan for the area.

But LongCreek resident Joe Johnson said the requested commercial zoning was not compliant with the comp plan which states, on page 197 of the plan, “the NC zoning district is designed to be located within or adjacent to residential neighborhoods where…small neighborhood oriented businesses are useful and desired.”

“That’s your rules,” Johnson told Commissioners. “Is it desired?” he asked the audience.

“No!’ they answered in unison.

More than 20 residents protesting the rezoning addressed Council with passion and information for almost two hours at the public hearing. About 50 residents attended.

Palmer, representing his family’s land which, about a year ago, was listed at $350,000 per acre, said last February that he was requesting commercial zoning because the property was unusable as residential property for which it is zoned – Medium Density Residential (RS-MD).

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

Palmer had already sold an adjacent 28 acres with 100 lots zoned RS-MD, a zoning he had requested and received in 2008.

But resident Michael Watts suggested on Monday that the Palmers had already made a profit from the land and that the cell tower was there when they bought the property 10 years ago and had it rezoned RS-MD. Let’s look at it as it is. It’s all about the dollar bill,” Watts said.

“The area is growing and changing. Anyone who understands that knows that. Council knows that,” Hugh Palmer told Commissioners Monday.

“It’s very simple,” Patrick Palmer, said, promising no more than a 6,000 square-foot building with four 1,500 square-foot bays with commercial uses that he suggested could include a UPS store, a Subway, a coffee shop and dry cleaner drop-off. “These are uses that are ideal for neighborhoods,” Patrick Palmer said.

“What we have here is like a business with obsolete inventory,” Windermere resident Jerry Rega told Commissioners. “They are buying and selling land and they now have an obsolete inventory and they want you [Commissioners] to bail them out after they made a ton of money from the rest of the property.”

“He asked for and got RS-MD, and he needs to live by that,” Trey Hair of Rimer Pond Road said. He also noted that, “It’s the applicant’s job to show up here today. He could profit from that. I had to take a half day off work today. We are just residents opposing commercial zoning in our area. Let the residents decide what happens to our community not one developer deciding. We don’t want it. We don’t need it.”

That mantra was repeated many times during the meeting by disgruntled residents who said they were tired of fighting the Palmers in an effort to keep the neighborhood character intact.

“I moved here from Ohio and wanted a country feel,” resident David Wallace said. “And that’s what we have today. These proposed changes will impact our community. I left work to be here because it’s important to us. This matters to us. It’s where we live.”

“Commercial is a crime magnet,” Catherine Raynor told Commissioners. “Look at any live TV and you’ll see our Circle K, our BP station, the Dollar Store. Do you want to replicate that two miles around the corner? Once you open the flood gates, you can’t close them,” Raynor said. “I never wanted to come here and speak. We’re grateful for what you do. But it’s different now. Our neighbors are upset, outraged [over the commercial zoning requests] and they are getting worn down,” Raynor said.

“Before we moved from Ashley Hall subdivision to Westlake Farms, I used to sit on the back porch and look at the back side of Hardscrabble Road. Then a gas station was built in back of our house. When we heard the first gun shots, we decided to move out here to avoid such things.”

While both the County planning staff and the Palmers tried to convince the Commissioners that Neighborhood Commercial zoning complies with the comp plan for the Rimer Pond Road area, Hair said the comp plan is out of touch with his neighborhood.

“After the vote in February defeating the last proposal commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road, Ashley Powell, Manager of Richland County Planning Services, started a series of public workshops to include residents’ input on the county growth plan rewrite. Powell was quoted as saying, “The Land Development Code is the zoning law regulating how land can be used. It’s what punches that comp plan (vision) into action (law). But 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,” Powell said.

“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.”

But, 10 months after the meetings, there have been no reports on the results of those meetings issued by the County.  Tracy Hegler, Director of Planning and Development for Richland County, told The Voice that no reports would be forthcoming until after the second group of meetings which she said would be held around next February. At that point, the results of the first meetings will be made known and the public can then have further input.

Putting a finer point on why any level of commercial zoning is not right for the Rimer Pond Road area, Benny Sullivan of LongCreek Plantation said Neighborhood Commercial is not much different than General Commercial. Both can have convenience stores with gas pumps, also known as gas stations.

Only one person, besides the Palmers, spoke in favor of the Palmer’s zoning request. Vickie Brooks said she did not know the Palmers, but agreed with everything they said.

“The time is right for a small building. I’d love to see a dry cleaners or Fed Ex. We have all these neighborhoods and we have nothing to serve us,” Brooks said.

Last month, Brooks identified herself as a realtor at a Blythewood Planning Commission meeting where she was applying for commercial zoning on a 2-acre corner lot on Wilson Boulevard in the Dawson’s Pond neighborhood near the end of Rimer Pond Road. She denied planning to sell the land for a service station but said she wanted to bring in a doctor’s or a dental office since there were none in Blythewood. Those Commissioners voted unanimously against that zoning, saying that Blythewood has three doctors’ offices and three dentists’ offices. Brooks has not yet brought the request before Town Council for a vote.

As the meeting wound down and Commissioner David Tuttle moved for the Commissioners to vote to send the request for commercial zoning to County Council with a recommendation for approval, Commissioner Heather Carnes came to the defense of the residents.

“I have sat through many of these [Rimer Pond Road zoning] discussions and I have found this case to be horribly difficult,” Carnes, an attorney, said. “One of the inherent natures of Neighborhood Commercial zoning is that it is inconsistent. It drops itself into residential areas. I used to work in Blythewood and I know this area. I find it unique in that it is nothing but residential with unbelievable commercial all around it,” Carnes said.

“Listening to you guys tonight – and I know what this area is like – I stand opposed to this rezoning. To me, the Blythewood area has created something very unique with the fact that there is no other commercial. It’s partly why I wouldn’t want to live here,” she joked. “I’m a city girl. But I appreciate that you guys love it. It is what it is,” Carnes said.

“I came in today expecting to support this zoning. As I look at Neighborhood Commercial, I appreciate what it does for communities, I think Neighborhood Commercial is a great thing.” she said.

“Even so, in this particular situation, given what Rimer Pond Road is and that there is no commercial zoning for, like, forever, in this area, I will vote against the request for commercial zoning.”

After the residents’ applause and cheering died down, Carnes was joined by commissioners Prentiss McLaurin, Wallace Brown and Karen Yip in voting against the request for commercial zoning.

Voting to recommend commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road were Beverly Frierson, David Tuttle, Christopher Anderson and Stephen Gilchrist.

County Council will vote on the zoning request on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. in Council chambers, at 2020 Hampton Street, Columbia.

Richard Hodges of the Winnsboro Lions Club was recently named 2016-2017 “Lion of the Year.”  In addition to having served as club secretary for three decades, Hodges also heads up the club’s eye exams and glasses provision program and serves as chaplain for the club. Winnsboro Lions President Bill Haslett, right, presented a “Lion of the Year” plaque to Hodges during a recent club meeting.

A financial report that Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Chairwoman Brenda Portnall said would be a full disclosure of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce’s funding and expenditures for the eclipse events held in Doko Park last August, fell short of Councilman Tom Utroska’s expectations Monday evening.

While general categories of revenue and expenses were listed in the report, no receipts for any of the Chamber’s roughly $20,000 expenditures were included. The Chamber received $13,000 in accommodation tax (A-tax) funding from the Town and $6,165 from vendors and sponsors after it requested and received the A-tax funds from the Town.

Three of the councilmen did not comment at all on the report. Councilmen Malcolm Gorge, Larry Griffin and Mayor J. Michael Ross told The Voice they had not yet read through the report which was delivered on Friday prior to the Council meeting on Monday evening.

Utroska first addressed attendance numbers for three weekend events prior to the eclipse event on Monday. He and, earlier, Councilman Eddie Baughman, said the numbers were disappointing. When applying for accommodation tax funding for the three weekend events, Chamber Executive Director Mike Switzer told Council he expected to draw at least 3,000 visitors for those events, 90 percent of which would be classified as tourists.

“I don’t see [in the report] how many people were in attendance Aug. 18, 19 and 20,” Utroska said, “or what percentage of them were tourists.”

Switzer said attendance was only about 200 each night, taking no responsibility but blaming the low attendance on the warm weather. He said he didn’t know the percentage of tourists.

“We did our best and that’s what you got,” Switzer said.

The Town also awarded the Chamber $1,900 to market and advertise the three weekend events and $6,600 to market and advertise all four events.

“How many Facebook followers did you have when you were promoting the event and how many do you have now?” Utroska asked.

“I don’t know,” Switzer answered.

“I would like to have that information,” Utroska said.

According to the social media statistics in the report, the Chamber spent $75 on the eclipse event and received 104 Facebook response. Copies of a sampling of daily Facebook posts were included in the report. There was no other documentation identified as Facebook expenditures.

“You paid staff $7,500 for the events. Who is the staff?” Utroska asked.

“Kitty Kelly and myself,” Switzer answered.

Switzer initially said that Kelly received about two-thirds of the $7,500, then changed that to three-fourths.

The Chamber reported the following revenue/expenditures for the Aug. 18, 19 and 20 weekend events and the Monday eclipse event.

Revenue:

$12,950   Town A-tax funds

        915   Vendor fees

     5,250   Sponsorships

 $19,115   Total revenue

Expenditures:

Staff                          7,475.25

Amphitheater         2,400.00

Musicians & DJ     2,185.00

Marketing               1,113.10

Movies (2)              2,318.00

Eclipse Glasses      2,750.00

Waste                          755.00

Prize Money               850.00

Security (RCSD)        600.00

Parking                       200.00 

Misc.                            191.68

 Total:                  $20,838.03

Controversy over the funding and expenditures first arose two weeks prior to the eclipse event when it was learned that the Chamber had not provided items it was funded for and the eclipse glasses provided by the Chamber were unauthorized and had to be recalled.

After publishing a scathing letter in which she criticized Councilmen Tom Utroska and Eddie Baughman for not praising the Chamber enough for the success of the events and expressing disappointment that the Chamber didn’t keep its word on certain things that Switzer promised when requesting funds from Council, Chamber Chairman Belinda Portnall was effusive Monday night repeating several times that the Chamber’s work was phenomenal and that the event was phenomenal and that the chamber had a tremendous turnout.

But, after thanking the Chamber for organizing the events and praising them for their work, Ross weighed in further.

“The events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday lacked the numbers we thought we’d get,” Ross told Switzer. “For the money we spend, we like to get results and the food vendors didn’t do that well.” Ross said.

“And Monday’s attendance [for the eclipse] was a no-brainer. You probably didn’t have to do much – it was the eclipse! And some people just stumbled on us,” Ross said. “But it was great.”

Fairfield County approved reorganizing the structure of both the management of the County airport and the community planning organization. Both moves were recommended by the Administration and Finance Committee prior to the meeting.

Under the reorganization, the Fairfield County Airport will no longer be under the management of a Fixed Based Operator. Those duties will be handed off to a new Airport Director who will report directly to the County Administration.

Prior to the change, the FBO was in charge of managing the Fairfield County Airport and collecting fees on hangar rentals and fuel. He was paid by the County. The fees that the airport generates yearly, about $61,036 will now be used to cover the $60,000 salary of the new Director.

“We are taking all those back and bringing it in house,” Taylor said. “We’ll have a manager in house, use all those fees to pay that person’s salary and then rent back space to the current FBO and treat him more as a vendor and allow him to use space for mechanic services and things like that.”

According to Council’s Request of Action, the airport was deemed to be sub-par in safety levels and overall professionalism by an operational assessment performed in June.

The County also unanimously approved a motion to separate the positions of Planning Director and Certified Building Official, both of which are currently held by a single county employee. This reorganization had already been budgeted for.

“A Planning Director generally is proactive, and looks to secure funds for community revitalization projects,” Taylor said. “A Certified Building Official handles code enforcement and ensures projects are being built up to the proper codes and ordinances.”

“We’re suggesting that we split those duties and hire, and we did budget this also, a true Planning Director and have our current Planning Director concentrate on building code and code enforcement,” Taylor said. The reorganization is already in process.

 

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.”