WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man died at Palmetto Richland Hospital in Columbia last week, just hours after being shot during a fight outside a housing complex on Crawford Street.
Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey said Riley Gadson Jr., 32, of 409 ½ Crawford St., was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. Oct. 9 while undergoing emergency surgery to repair a damaged artery in his left thigh.
According to Winnsboro Department of Public Safety Chief Freddie Lorick, Gadson sustained the fatal gunshot wound at approximately 9:20 p.m. on Oct. 8 during an altercation that broke out in a common area outside a housing complex at 317 Crawford St. Lorick said it is believed that Gadson was involved in the fight with two suspects – Rondell Timothy Trapp, 30, of 317 Crawford St.; and his brother, Latroy Elmore Trapp, 35, of 315 Crawford St. The suspects pistol-whipped Gadson during the fight, Lorick said, then shot him through the inside of his left thigh. Rondell Trapp, who according to the incident report has an alternate address of 111 Calhoun St., is believed to have been the shooter, Lorick said.
Public Safety officers arrived at the scene 16 minutes later to find Gadson lying on the ground, surrounded by a large crowd of bystanders. Gadson was “agitated,” the incident report states, and wanted to get up, but he was being held down by several people while one person tried to administer first aid, applying pressure to the wound. An ambulance arrived a short time later and transported Gadson to Palmetto Richland where he later died in surgery.
Investigators recovered two 9MM shell casings from the scene, Lorick said. The fatal gunshot passed through Gadson’s thigh, Lorick said, but no bullet fragments were recovered around the crime scene.
At press time, both suspects were still at large. Rondell Trapp is described as a black male, 30 years old, standing 6-feet tall and weighing 165 pounds and wearing sideburns. Latroy Trapp is described as a black male, 35 years old, 5-feet 8-inches tall and weighing 140 pounds.
Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to call WDPS at 803-635-4511.
BLYTHEWOOD – On Monday evening the Planning Commission will discuss a site plan for The Pointe at Blythewood, a 56-unit apartment complex proposed on Main Street in the Town Center District (TCD); decide whether to recommend TCD zoning for a 4.56-acre parcel at 121 McLean Road and address proposed height limits and flat roofs on buildings in the TCD.
Affordable Housing
The Commission will consider whether to approve a site plan for the development of a 56-unit apartment complex on Main Street. The tenants will be low- and moderate-income residents, Town Administrator Gary Parker said.
“This will address the goal in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan of attracting affordable house to the community,” Parker said.
He said the core commercial area is the appropriate for multi-family housing. The developer, Prestwick Companies of Atlanta, has received financing approval from the S.C. State Housing Finance and Development Authority.
Rezoning is not required for the apartments according to the Town’s Planning Consultant Michael Criss.
Rezoning Request for TCD
After the owners of a 4.56-acre parcel on McLean Road requested the property be rezoned from Rural (RU) to Town Center District (TCD) at the September Planning Commission meeting, the property’s neighbors who were protesting the rezoning for commercial use agreed to talk with the realtor representing the property owners about purchasing it. With that, Commission deferred a recommendation on the request, suggesting the principals of the parcel meet with the neighbors and try to come to terms – either for the neighbors to purchase the property or for the applicant to bring the rezoning proposal back to the Commission at a later date. That matter will be heard Monday evening.
Building Heights; Flat Roofs
Mayor J. Michael Ross has proposed an amendment to the Town’s zoning ordinance that would repeal the requirement that new structures must be two stories and, instead, allow single-story structures in the TCD. One other proposed amendment of the zoning ordinance to be taken up by the Commission would prohibit flat roofs on single story buildings in the TCD while allowing them on multi-story buildings. Additionally, corner buildings at six specified intersections shall have a storefront treatment along each corresponding street. Town Council considered this proposed amendment at their Sept. 28 meeting and has forwarded it to the Planning Commission for a recommendation.
The Planning Commission meets at 6 p.m., Monday at The Manor.
By Sunday morning portions of Rimer Pond Road had been washed away exposing lines that had been buried under the road for water, sewer, gas and fiber optic cable, some of which were broken when the road caved in. The center portion of the metal barrier along the road was left hanging loose.
These National Guardsmen showed up Tuesday morning at the Christian Assistance Bridge to help load cases of water for families in the community picking up food and water from the CAB office on Blythewood Road. At right is CAB board member Ken Trogden. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
BLYTHEWOOD – Shortly after 10:30 Tuesday morning, the board members of Christian Assistance Bridge (CAB) in Blythewood posted a sign in front of the building at 126 Blythewood Road offering free food and water to residents in the community who have been affected by rising water, loss of power or other problems resulting from the torrential rains in recent days.
“Not only did people start coming in for assistance, just about as many stopped by to see what they could do to help,” said Bill Sullivan a CAB board member. “It was unbelievable! One woman stopped by to find out what we needed and I told her that we could use tuna, chicken, peanut butter, pasta and sauce. She left and in a few minutes came back with her car packed with these things.”
Several truckloads of bottled water soon arrived, then more water and more food. Later that morning, 10 or so National Guardsmen showed up in Humvees to help load the water into vehicles of those families picking up supplies.
“It was heartwarming to see such a community effort,” Sullivan said.
While Blythewood homes were not subjected to widespread flooding, a number of homes in the community use Columbia water, which will have to be boiled for some time. But Sullivan said CAB does not need clothing at this time, only food and water. He suggested those needing clothing should contact Sandy Level Baptist Church’s clothes closet at 803-754-1299.
A number of churches in the community have been checking on their members in the aftermath of the flooding, trying to find out who needs assistance.
Sullivan said CAB will be open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. this week at least through Thursday and possibly until the end of the week. For more information, call CAB at 803-786-1903.
A pair of vehicles plunged into the raging waters Sunday as a 20-foot section of Highway 21 near Lake Elizabeth collapsed under their wheels. The occupants were rescued as the record breaking storm changed the landscape of the Midlands. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD – By now, no one needs to tell you how bad it was. “Catastrophic” just doesn’t quite measure up. Residents of Blythewood and Fairfield County also need no reminder by now of exactly how fortunate they were, as the brunt of the storm described last weekend by Gov. Nikki Haley as a “One thousand year event” struck largely to their southern flank.
By Sunday afternoon, downtown Columbia had accumulated 11.65 inches of rain. Gills Creek amassed 18.39 inches. Fort Jackson nearly 15 inches. Further south, Mt. Pleasant was looking at 24.23 inches. Kingstree, 17.53 inches.
The list goes on and on. And so did the rain.
While homes in the Blythewood area were spared the kind of damage seen just down I-77, flooding caused damage to many local roads. According to the Blythewood Fire Department, Russ Brown Road was washed out in the 1200 block; part of the bridge on Lorick Road near Folk Road was washed out; Fulmer Road near Blythewood Road was washed out; and Langford Road at Trading Post Road was washed out. The bridge on Langford Road at EJW Road is also out.
Just outside of Blythewood, Highway 21 at Lake Elizabeth simply caved in.
As of Monday, torrents of water from Lake Columbia in LongCreek Plantation were still gushing through the spillway under Longtown Road and into the LongCreek Equestrian Center. Roads into the Center as well as the pastures there were inundated with water.
The Rimer Pond dam breached, washing out a portion of Rimer Pond Road.
And while there is, as the saying goes, water everywhere, drinking water is another matter. City of Columbia water customers – those who were fortunate enough to actually have running water – remained under a boil advisory as of Tuesday.
Fairfield County experienced much less damage, although some roads in the county are out.
“We were very lucky,” Fairfield County Sheriff Will Montgomery said Tuesday. “We have a couple of roads down, but we dodged a bullet for the most part.”
All lanes are blocked on Cow Horn Road from West Peach Road to Highway 321 S. River Road from Westshore Drive to Kingfisher Drive is also out. Highway 213 between the Broad River Bridge and Jenkinsville Road, meanwhile, was open to traffic again as of Tuesday evening, but expect temporary daytime lane closures.
Approximately 800 Winnsboro electric customers were without power during the height of the storm, according to department director William Medlin, but all power has been restored.
Yes, it was bad. And for a great many, it could have been worse. Those wishing to volunteer to assist Richland County victims may contact the County’s hotline at 803-929-6000.
At a community meeting last week at The Manor, Heins Road resident Laurie Rossdentsher discusses with neighbors a map of a proposed residential development that they fear could adversely affect the tranquility of their rural properties. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
BLYTHEWOOD – About 75 Blythewood rural property owners attended a community meeting Oct. 1 at The Manor in Blythewood to get answers to their questions about a mega housing development proposed on 202 acres off Heins Road near their homes.
Even though the developer’s team was there to answer their questions, the property owners left two hours later without the primary piece of information they came for – specifically, how many homes the developer planned for the development.
The meeting was hosted by Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross and facilitated by the area’s representative on Richland County Council, Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson. House Rep. Joseph McEachern, who represents the area, also attended.
Near the end of Thursday night’s meeting, McEachern weighed in on the side of the audience, telling them at one point, “This is just a proposed plan they (the developers) have. They don’t have to do this (re-zoning). If (Council) gives them this zoning, their proposal could change. Is that right?” McEachern asked, turning to Columbia attorney Robert Fuller who is representing the developer, Drapac, Inc., an Australian based real estate investment and development company.
“That’s right,” Fuller answered.
“I think you’re being short changed,” McEachern told the audience, “to be asked to support something you don’t have the numbers for. I would be adamant against supporting this (project) without this question being answered. I’m not sure I ever came to a meeting to discuss zoning when the (developer) didn’t have the numbers,” said McEachern who served as the County Council representative for the area before being elected to the House.
Drapac, Inc. has the 202 acres under contract contingent upon the rezoning of the property. The company has applied to Richland County to have the parcel rezoned from Rural (RU) zoning that would ordinarily permit about 267 homes on lots no smaller than .75-acres to Residential Estate (RS-E) zoning that could allow as many as 529 homes on lots as small as .30- or .25-acres (see box.)
“I don’t see where I am going to raise my hand to approve 500 homes,” Dickerson assured the crowd in her opening comments, referring to how she might vote on the matter. “However,” she continued, “I will be willing for you all to come together and find a compromise and see what we can do and work together to get the most out of the property for the community and for the developer.”
Joel Tew, a spokesperson for Michael Drapac, who owns the company and opened a U. S. headquarters in Atlanta three years ago, told the audience, “We aren’t trying to change the zoning because we want to build more houses. We want to change it so we can build something special. That’s the only reason we want to change the zoning.”
Asked by members of the audience if Drapac, who remained in Melbourne, Australia on business, would be content with 250 homes on the property, Tew answered, “No. Based on our preliminary analysis, we do not believe the project is economically feasible at 250 homes.”
Fuller further told the audience, “What you may not like to hear is that under the current RU zoning, by utilizing the land development regulations and the open space design standards now allowed by the County, the developer could build 334 homes right now without asking for a zoning change.”
Asked if the developer would be content with building that number (334) of homes, Fuller answered, “No.” Asked about holding the number of homes to 350, the answer was still, “No.”
“Drapac is looking for something between 334 and 500 homes that the community can live with, the County can approve and that we can make work financially,” Tew explained. But, he added, “We don’t have that silver number yet. Michael’s philosophy is that everyone in business has to have a reasonable return on their investment. That’s the rules, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He doesn’t apologize for being in business, for making a profit and a fair return for his investors,” Tew told the audience.
Fuller told the residents, “The (Richland County planning) staff has already agreed that RS-E zoning would be the appropriate way to develop the property to get the most planning into the development and maximize the opportunities for the Beha family (who owns the property) and the community as a whole.”
He also pointed out that the Planning Commission recommended the requested RS-E zoning to County Council with a 6-3 vote and that RS-E zoning complies with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (adopted by the County Council last year) for the area.
There was criticism from the audience that the Planning Commission vote and recommendation took place during the middle of a work day when most of the people who live in the area of the proposed development had to be at work.
“You say you want to build a better community,” one unidentified resident said. “You’re talking to homeowners, not home buyers. We feel we have that community here in Blythewood already.”
After an extended applause of support for the speaker, Tew countered, “Before you were a homeowner, you, too, were a home buyer.”
“But we didn’t ask for a zoning change when we moved out here,” the speaker answered.
Residents also had questions about the effect of additional traffic the proposed development would produce. Resident Carol Ward questioned the traffic study on record for Heins Road. Planning Commissioners, at their Sept. 8 meeting, referenced a County staff report, based on a 2009 traffic study, stating that Heins Road operates at a low level of traffic, only 600 cars per day. Ward said Commissioners were asked if the traffic study could be extended further out to reflect current traffic on Langford Road that bottlenecks as it travels into Blythewood during heavy traffic hours.
“(The Planning Commissioners) said they are only required to look at the traffic on Heins Road and that Heins Road could accommodate the increased traffic,” Ward said.
Tew answered that the traffic study would, indeed, include more than Heins Road and that Drapac would adhere to the requirements of any such traffic study. But Dickerson pointed out that a traffic study for the area would not be done until the rezoning request is finalized.
McEachern told residents that they had a legitimate concern about the traffic on Langford Road.
“I can’t give you much comfort about roads,” McEachern said regarding improvements to be paid for by the state. “We haven’t even been able to get Blythewood Road taken care of.”
Lorraine Abell, who lives not far from the proposed development, addressed other areas she said would be adversely affected by that development and others it might spawn in the area – the need for more schools, which would bring higher taxes, the need for more law enforcement and an increase in the crime rate.
“These weren’t even discussed,” Abell said. “We wouldn’t have even been here tonight if we had been given more information before we got to this point.” She also pointed out the irony of a slogan written on the wall in the Council chambers – Uniquely Rural. “I think we’re losing that.”
Early in the meeting, Fuller told the audience, “We are here tonight to tell you that, at the end of the day, we will tell you what we do intend to do.”
But it was not to be at the end of that day.
Before adjourning the meeting, Dickerson told the developer’s team that she wanted them to get back to her with a final number of homes very soon so she could schedule another meeting with the residents and relay that information to them before Oct. 27, when the public hearing and the first of three votes by County Council would take place in Council’s chambers.
That meeting will be the only time residents will be allowed to address County Council about their concerns over the rezoning.
BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD – Last weekend’s storms, which wreaked havoc across the Midlands, also spurred a shuffle in upcoming athletic schedules at area high schools. Football fields are drenched, and with many schools remaining closed throughout the week, no practices have been held.
Blythewood High School has moved Friday’s football region opener at Spring Valley to Monday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. No makeup date was announced at press time for the Blythewood-Westwood volleyball game, originally scheduled for last Tuesday.
Fairfield Central’s long anticipated football showdown with Newberry will not be played Friday. At press time, Athletic Director Terrell Roach said the game was tentatively rescheduled to Saturday, but a kickoff time was not available. A makeup date for last Tuesday’s volleyball match at Newberry was also not available at press time.
Richard Winn Academy saw the biggest schedule changes. While the Eagles will play football Friday at Wardlaw Academy as scheduled, last week’s game at Carolina Academy will now be played on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. The football game at W.W. King Academy, scheduled for Oct. 23, has been cancelled entirely. Last Tuesday’s volleyball match against Ben Lippen has also been scrubbed and will not be rescheduled.
Westwood’s football schedule was still in limbo at press time. The one thing athletic director Jason Powell knew for sure Tuesday night was that this week’s region opener at Lugoff-Elgin would not be played on Friday night.
Readers are encouraged to visit the web pages of individual schools for updates. Changes will also be posted on The Voice’s webpage, blythewoodonline691.broadstreet.us/, as they are received.
