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BLYTHEWOOD – After months of discussing updating the Town’s fees schedule, Town Administrator Gary Parker recommended adding fees for a landscape/tree removal plan, a tree fund and for a design review or architect’s fee to cover the cost of design reviews by the Town’s consulting architect who advises the Board of Architectural Review on matters that come before it. Parker proposed a review fee for landscape/tree removal plans – $500 for a commercial plan review, $1,000 for a subdivision plan review and an optional $550 fee for a tree fund.

Those fees did not set well with several home builders, two of whom appeared before Council to ask members to delay making a final decision on the fees. Jon Covert, representing the Building Industry Association of Central South Carolina and a local custom home builder, said he and the Association’s staff had reviewed the proposed fees.

“We are asking you to delay the second reading on this for 30 days so we can come meet with staff and talk about how this all works and how it relates to the previous landscape ordinance,” Covert said.

Home builder Earl McLeod also addressed Council, asking for a delay, “so we can talk with the Town about the fees with respect to the $550/tree fund fee and what that really means in terms of people trying to buy homes in this area.

While Council voted to defer the final vote for 30 days and meet with representatives of the Building Industry Association, Mayor J. Michael Ross reminded the speakers that the issue had been on the table for almost a year and that no one had come forward until now, just before the final vote.

“I would encourage people to not wait to start worrying about something until it comes up for last reading,” Ross said.
Council also deferred vote on an application fee for review of a zoning map amendment. Parker proposed reducing that fee from the current $5,000 to $250, closer to the Town’s actual costs.

In a related matter, Council voted to provide for fees and charges for the use of park facilities as follows: soccer field and amphitheater, $30 for residents and $35 for non-residents; multi-purpose field, $25 for residents and $29 for non-residents.

BLYTHEWOOD – Although Town Council will not have to take any action to proceed with the construction of an investment shell building proposed by Ed Parler, the Town’s Economic Development Consultant, it did take a significant step forward with the design of the building Monday evening, voting unanimously to contract with architect Ralph Walden to design the shell, prepare construction drawings and bid out the construction at a cost of $18,900. That cost does not include construction oversight.

Since the summer, Parler has urged Council to construct a spec shell building on the Town Hall grounds with grant money the previous Council was awarded five years ago by Fairfield Electric Cooperative to construct a high end restaurant in the same location. The current Council voted to abandon those plans and, Parler said, $342,490 of the original $456,881 grant remains. He wants to see that money, which must be spent on an economic development project, used to construct the shell building. Parler said he estimates the Town will have to float about $133,000 for about 90 days to make up the difference, then pay itself back from the proceeds of the sale of the shell.

Parler said the hard construction costs (infrastructure and construction) of the shell are eligible for the grant money, but the soft costs (engineering, fill dirt, grading, survey and other associated costs) would have to be borne by the Town.

“Going forward with this project,” Parler told Council, “I suggest we contract for the architectural design and engineering (with Walden) now, so we can have bid documents ready by the end of October in anticipation of awarding a construction contract at the November meeting. In December we will send out a Request for Proposal and hope to consummate a sale by February.”

Parler told The Voice he is comfortable with the timeline and confident of the sale.

When asked by Councilman Bob Mangone to explain the difference between the previously planned restaurant and the shell project, Parler said, “The (previous) restaurant was of much greater quality than the shell we are planning now.”

In a memo to Council, Walden wrote that while the exterior of the structure will be similar in design to the town’s former train depot, it will be built on piers and will be primarily framed with common wood framing, including the roof and that the exterior siding would not be the more expensive ‘architectural’ thick wood siding appearance that had been planned for the upscale restaurant, but rather the standard Hardee horizontal siding.

Walden said the deck and railings would be made of No. 1 treated lumber and that it would be smaller than previously planned. The non-functioning chimney will be eliminated and the walk-in cooler/freezer, if provided by an end user, will be outside the building alongside the rear. The ‘box’ will be painted to match the building color. He said windows and doors will be standard ‘clad’ type units, not special order.

Walden said the 3,800-square-foot shell building would be suitable for a restaurant, professional office or a side office and small food establishment. He said the end user would have to spend another $100,000 to $125,000 for additional finish work on the building.

Parler told Council previously that the plan was not for the town to own the building but to sell it. No vote will be required of Council for the project until it contracts to sell the building.

 

BLYTHEWOOD – A proposed 500+ housing development in Blythewood along Heins Road will be the topic of conversation this week when Richland County Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson brings together three groups: Blythewood residents who object to the development being located across the street from their rural properties, members of the Richland County Planning staff who are recommending the rural Heins Road location for the mega development and the developer who is seeking to bring the development to fruition.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Oct., 1 at The Manor in Blythewood and is being hosted by Mayor J. Michael Ross and Councilman Eddie Baughman.

At issue is a request by the developer, Drapac Group, represented by attorney Robert Fuller, to rezone 202 acres on Heins Road from Rural (RU) zoning to Residential Estate (RS-E) zoning, which would permit up to 529 homes, each built on lots of less than half an acre. All the surrounding property, according to a report by the Richland County Planning & Development Services Department, is zoned RU, much of it home to horses and other livestock. RU zoned districts are not permitted to have lot sizes less than three-quarters of an acre. Without the zoning change, Drapac could only build 267 Homes on the 202 acres.

When the issue came before the County Planning Commission on Sept. 8, residents from the Heins Road area pleaded with Commissioners to recommend leaving the zoning RU.

The Richland County Deputy Planning Director/Zoning Administrator Geonard Price and his staff, however, recommended the Commission approve the RS-E zoning, saying the development would not be out of character with the existing surrounding development pattern in the area. They based their recommendation on the County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, subtitled ‘Looking Forward to Future Growth,’ in which the Richland County Council determined in 2009 that it would be appropriate for the rural Heins Road area to have low density residential as the primary use. Neighbors in the area told The Voice they were not aware of such a plan for their area.

“These areas serve as a transition between rural and medium-density areas,” according to the staff’s report, “and are opportunities for low density traditional neighborhood development.”

The Planning Staff also determined that the proposed development would present no traffic problems for the area, pointing out in its report to the Commission that traffic information indicated only 600 average daily trips on Heins Road, a two-lane undivided road. But Heins Road residents told the Commission that the traffic bottle-necks on Langford Road as it enters Blythewood, causing long delays.

Resident Carol Ward told Commissioners, “We already have to alter our route to work and take all the back roads to be able to get through the traffic.”

Ross, also pointed to traffic as a problem.

“This development worries us from the amount of traffic that could be channeled onto Langford Road, then onto Blythewood Road into downtown Blythewood. We already have delays and congestion in the mornings and evenings on these roads,” Ross said.

The Commission, voting 6-3, recommended the rezoning to County Council, but when a number of Blythewood residents attended a public hearing earlier this month at Richland County Council on the issue, Dickerson, the area’s Council representative, called for a deferral of the rezoning request until she had time to meet with residents and the developer.

In an email to Ross, Dickerson said, “it is my unwavering desire to maintain the rural character of that community.”

 

RIDGEWAY – How much is Ridgeway’s police presence in a prime piece of downtown real estate worth? Perhaps not quite as much as Town Council would like, once Norfolk Southern takes its cut.

In a special called meeting Tuesday night, Council debated the pros and cons of relocating the Police Department from 160 Palmer St. (Ridgeway’s “Main Street”) to either the vacant building at 128 Palmer St. (formerly Just Around the Corner) or into the Century House at 170 S. Dogwood Ave., and then renting out 160 Palmer St.

Councilman Russ Brown put the suggestion up for discussion Tuesday night shortly after Council agreed to recommend replacing the heating and air system at the police station with a single window unit. That move, Brown said, would save the town $500 a month on utility costs at the station. Leasing the building out to a business, Brown said, could net the town an additional $600 a month. But not without a hitch.

“If we rent that building, some of that is going to have to go to the railroad,” Mayor Charlene Herring said during the debate. “The (rent) would have to be higher and I don’t know if anyone would want to pay that high a fee for that small a building.”

According to the terms of the lease the Town signed earlier this year with Norfolk Southern, which owns the land underneath the police station, half of the rent would go to the railroad company. In addition, the Town would be on the hook for a one-time fee of $750 for subleasing any of the buildings that currently stand on the railroad’s property.

“That’s the cost of doing business,” Brown said. “You (Herring) wanted that lease and now we’ve agreed to it, we’re going to have to give up some of that money.”

Herring’s biggest argument against relocating the Police Department, however, was the value she said the Palmer Street presence had.

“Sometimes when you save money, what do you give up? The visibility there is so important, especially in a small town,” Herring said. “We could move it to Just Around the Corner, but it’s just not as visible. I think it’s still the best option to keep it on (Palmer) Street.”

Councilman Doug Porter agreed with Herring’s visibility argument, as far as moving the department into the Century House, but said he would consider a move to the former Just Around the Corner location.

“I agree it’s good to have a (police) presence on Main Street,” Brown said, “but we do have two patrol cars. We could park one on (Palmer) Street and park one here.”

One benefit of moving the police station to the Century House, Councilman Heath Cookendorfer said, would finally be access to the internet for the department – something for which he has long been a proponent.

“We are so in the Dark Ages here in the town,” Cookendorfer said. “For our police officers to not have internet is a disgrace.”

The Town would also benefit from the department sharing utilities with Town Hall, Brown said.

“The most beneficial place is here (the Century House),” Brown said. “Main Street is a big draw, and right now you’ve got a building (the police station) that sits empty 90 percent of the time. Police do most of their work out on the street.”

The Century House, Cookendorfer agreed, would just be a “placed for him to do his paperwork.”

“It makes the most sense moving here,” Cookendorfer said. “But, we don’t want to make a rash decision.”

“I think it’s something we need to study,” Herring concurred. “We have some data to gather, some more research to do. We don’t have all the facts about how much we’d get if we did rent that building.”

Brown suggested renegotiating the Norfolk Southern lease in an effort to reduce their piece of the action.

“At the time we signed the contract, (renting the police station) wasn’t a consideration; now that it is they may be able to reconsider it,” Brown said. “If we’re good tenants with them they may consider making an exclusion or an amendment to the contract to reduce that expense they charge us.”