BLYTHEWOOD – Derek Pugh has been appointed to a vacancy on the Blythewood Planning Commission. Pugh previously served on the Board of Zoning Appeals. According to his bio, Pugh enjoys mapping out strategy for the town with other community leaders.
A resident of Abney Hills neighborhood, Pugh previously served as the Programming Supervisor for Richland County Recreation Commission where he designed, implemented and supervised summer camp and after school programs.
Pugh holds a Bachelor’s degree from Benedict College and a Master’s degree from Webster University. He will serve a three year term as a commissioner.
BLYTHEWOOD – Two Cobblestone Park residents, both with banking backgrounds, were appointed to the town’s Planning Commission by Council at its June 24 meeting.
Page
A resident of Blythewood since 2015, Erica Page hails from Atlanta by way of Elgin. A graduate of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, Page has been in mortgage banking for more than 20 years. She is one of only four women in South Carolina to hold a national designation as a Certified Mortgage Banker from the Mortgage Bankers Association out of Washington, DC.
Page is married with two children who attend Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School.
Ed Kesser retired in 2014 from the banking industry. After graduating from The Citadel in 1969 with a degree in business administration, he served four years in the Air Force.
Kesser
Kesser began his banking career with Bankers Trust in 1973 and retired from Bank of America as a Regional Commercial Executive. He later joined BCI Lending, serving as Executive Vice President with responsibility for business development and commercial lending.
Kesser also holds a Master of Science Degree in Management from the University of Arkansas. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma National Commercial Lending College and the University of Virginia Darden School of Banking. Kesser is a Leadership Columbia alumnus and has served on numerous local boards.
One additional seat remains open on the Planning Commission. To apply, contact town hall at 754-0501.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Planning Commission voted Monday night to table a request by Richland County to rezone three connected parcels west of I-77, totaling 163 acres, to Limited Industrial 2 District (LI-2) zoning. Tiffany Harrison represented Richland County’s Economic Development Office at the meeting.
Richland County Economic Development Office is requesting to rezone 163 acres of property in the town to Limited Industrial 2 (LI-2) zoning. | Ashley Ghere
The parcels, currently zoned Development (D-1) are bordered roughly by Blythewood Road to the north, Community Road to the east and Ashley Oaks neighborhood to the southwest.
The three parcels are part of approximately 1,000 acres of potential industrial use. Two years ago, at Richland County’s request, council rezoned approximately 600 acres to the south of the 163 acres to Li-2.
On March 25, town council voted to update the town’s Master Plan priorities listing Economic Development as a number one priority. From that list Council voted to define a possible technical village within the 1,000 acres.
“The LI-2 zoning district allows a wider variety and greater intensity of manufacturing uses than the Limited Industrial (LI) district but not the most intense manufacturing uses of the Basic Industrial (BI) district,” Town Administrator Brian Cook explained to the commission.
But the long and varied list of manufacturing businesses that are allowed to operate under the LI-2 zoning designation did not set well with many of the 20 or so residents who attended the meeting.
Those uses include textile manufacturing, computer and electronics, pharmaceutical and medicine, aircraft, motor vehicle body and trailers, plastic and rubber products, certain steel and aluminum products, forging and stamping, machine shop, small arms ammunition and many other types of manufacturing as well as a number of kinds of services, warehousing and gas stations.
A complete list of allowed and conditional uses is available at town hall and on The Voice’s website (blythewoodonline.com).
Both Harrison and Blythewood’s Economic Development Director Ed Parler assured naysayers that the list does not include dirty manufacturing.
“This is the highest and best use of this property,” Parler said, noting that it would provide jobs and revenue for the town.
Asked by newly appointed commissioner Ed Kesser if the County has a master plan for the industrial acreage, Harrison said there would be covenants and restricts put in place, but that the priority is to get the properties rezoned. She said Richland County can’t move forward until the zoning is in place.
“A lot of these kinds of manufacturing you’re not going to want in your neighborhood, Commission Chairman Donald Brock said, looking over the list. “And what if you get the zoning, but don’t get the cleaner manufacturers to come here, then will you take less desirable ones?” Brock asked.
“We don’t want to limit uses too much,” Harrison said. “We want to keep it broad.”
“I feel like we’ve been kept in the dark,” Tom Utroska said, echoing others in the audience. “I’m not opposed to LI-2, but you need a better explanation before you make a recommendation to Council,” Utroska said to the commissioners.
Heeding that advice, the commission voted 4-2 to table the item until the August meeting.
Planning Commissioners recommend allowing sandwich board signs in town.
BLYTHEWOOD – The prohibition of sandwich board signs in the town has long been the bane of many shop owners in Blythewood. Those days may be over if a recommendation made to Town Council last week by the Planning Commission comes to fruition.
At the June 3 Planning Commission meeting, Town Administrator Brian Cook proposed an amendment to the current sign ordinance for options that would allow all the town’s businesses to advertise with sandwich boards so long as the signs meet certain size requirements and are set up and taken down at specified times.
The signs can be any A-frame sign consisting of two boards hinged at the top hanging back to back.
Sandwich board sign regulations were added under a section for exempt signs. One sandwich board sign can be permitted to an onsite commercial owner/operator only during the hours when the establishment is open. The sign can be no larger than three feet tall and two feet wide, with a maximum of two sign faces.
Town’s PC recommends prohibiting feather flags.
Cook said the town can remove any sign that causes interference with vehicular or pedestrian traffic, or in the event of any emergency situation, or that interferes with any work that is to be performed on the public sidewalk and/or right-of-way by or on behalf of the town.
In all instances, the amendment specifies that the sign shall be placed on the business’ lot, at least five feet outside of right of way, shall be constructed of a material and weight to ensure general stability and shall not block visibility.
While sandwich signs are currently prohibited, many businesses such as Bloomin’ Bean Coffee Bar and others have set them out for the last few years with little interference from Town Hall.
That’s not to say that a business can stake out other types of signs in front of the business.
Cook clarified that feather flags, which have been popping up around town the last couple of years, are prohibited under the amendment.
Other prohibited signs, according to the proposed ordinance, include “any sign (other than a government sign), banner, feather flag, festoon, or display placed on any curb, sidewalk (except where otherwise permitted in this subchapter), post, pole, hydrant, bridge, tree or other surface located on, over or across any public street or right-of-way, or any banner, placed on stakes on a property, unless a permitted temporary or grand opening banner, otherwise permitted.
The proposed sign amendment was approved unanimously and will now move to Town Council for the first of two votes on June. 24 at The Manor.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Planning Commission decided last month to hold further discussions this month on an intensely debated process that would allow the town to rezone three separate parcels located on Blythewood Road between Syrup Mill and Muller Roads. The properties, originally zoned Planned Development District (PDD) under the jurisdiction of Richland County, were later annexed into the town and have sat dormant since 2007.
Those ‘further discussions’ on a forced rezoning by the Town were not necessary Monday evening as developer Harold Pickrel, III (HVP3 Development, LLC) of Elgin S.C., proposed developing the property under a Planned Development (PD) zoning designation, and with less than half the dwelling units previously proposed. After considerable discussion about projected growth and traffic congestion the area, the commissioners voted unanimously to recommend rezoning to PD.
The three areas include two zones referred to as Red Gate Farms I and II and are owned by Arthur State Bank. A third area at the corner of Syrup Mill Road and Blythewood Road is owned by Sharpe Properties.
The original plans under the PDD were to develop Red Gate I and II into housing communities. Plans for Red Gate I included 143 acres with a proposal to build 135 single family units and 23 acres of general commercial, while the Red Gate II plan proposed building 97 single family units and 300 multi-family units with 13 acres of general commercial.
These numbers projected a total of 232 single family units, 300 multi-family apartment units and 36 acres of commercial.
Pickrel proposed downsizing to 138 single family units and remove all 300 multi-family apartments.
The new plan establishes the 138 single family units on 74 acres with 76 units constructed on a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet and 62 units constructed on a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet. It also downsizes the area designated for commercial from 36 acres to 28 acres. Pickrel said he would also reserve approximately 40 acres of open space for a lake and walking trails.
Both the Planning Commission and citizens voiced various concerns regarding the traffic issues that would worsen with another housing development.
“I have sat there for 20 minutes or longer trying to make a left turn [off Syrup Mill onto Blythewood Road] at rush hour,” Commissioner Sloan Jarvis Griffin III said.
Council Chairman Donald Brock expressed concern about Mueller Road Middle School being in the midst of the area affected. “The worst thing we could do is cause more problems,” he said.
Pickrel promised to hire an SCDOT traffic engineer to do the traffic study. They will do the study of both Muller and Syrup Mill Roads and do them during school and at all different hours,” he said.
Larry Sharpe talked about his experiences with the SCDOT engineers.
“They keep saying there is not enough traffic to install a light,” Sharpe said. “The Penny Tax was supposed to fund 5 lanes through there,” speaking of Blythewood Road.
Doug Shay expressed his concern with more residential development in general.
“It’s all over the place,” Shay said. “And it is not being controlled. Schools are bulging at the seams. This is an opportunity to do it right. We need to police it properly,” Shay stressed.
Pickrel promised to hire an SCDOT traffic engineer to do the traffic study.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that Council rezone of the 143-acre property with the downsized residential plan.
The next evening, during a Town of Winnsboro council meeting, council voted to issue a Water Capacity Availability and Willingness to Serve Letter to HVP3 Development for 138 residential lots and a maximum daily demand not to exceed 41,400 gallons per day.
Blythewood Town Council will take the first of two votes on the rezoning on June 30 at The Manor.
BLYTHEWOOD – Although it was not specifically an agenda item, the agreeable response by a builder to a request made by members of the Mt. Valley Road area at the February Planning Commission meeting was a highlight at Monday night’s meeting.
Last month, residents asked that public access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road be closed. The heavy construction traffic was destroying the only entrance to their homes, residents told Commissioners. Resident Charles Bayne made the request during public comment time in February and appeared again at the March meeting.
Frank Berry, on behalf of Essex homes, presented a plan Monday evening that designated the secondary access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road as an “Emergency Only” access point to be secured by a double-swing gate, supplied with a Supra Lock Box for key access by emergency vehicles. The E911 has updated GIS in CAD for future response of emergency vehicles. Otherwise, secondary access onto Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Road will be stopped by the yet-to-be installed gate.
In the meantime, Berry said a ‘No Entrance’ sign has been placed at the emergency entrance. Berry said the gate has been ordered and that he is awaiting delivery.
“I anticipate it will arrive within 45 days,” Berry said.
The main item on the agenda was the request for approval of the Abney Hills subdivision Phase 3 sketch plan. Phase 3 totals 17.39 acres with 31 lots averaging 16,027 square feet.
With 33 single family homes, Phase 3 is expected to be built out by 2021, Berry said. It will have access on Valley Estates Drive in Phase 1 which is built out with 90 lots. In Phase 2, construction on 52 lots is underway. Future phases across the creek have the potential for 192 lots and a build out date of 2024. The remaining phases of Ashley Oaks (across Fulmer Road) are known as Phases 8 and 9 and include 159 lots.
The findings of a traffic impact study conducted in November 2018 indicate that no road improvements need to be considered for Phase 3 (2022 build) Berry said.
The sketch plan was approved unanimously as presented but contingent on the gate being installed as described at the secondary access on to Valley Estates Drive from Mt. Valley Drive.
Chairman Donald Brock announced that Planning Commission member Michelle Kiedrowski has resigned from the Commission.
BLYTHEWOOD – Mt. Valley Road residents are asking the Blythewood Planning Commission to close off public access to the south side of the road from the Abney Hills area, saying the heavy construction traffic has nearly destroyed the only entrance to their homes.
Charles Bayne appeared before the commission Monday night to make the request after he said he had taken all the necessary steps to resolve the issue on his own with Essex Homes.
In his previous conversations with Frank Berry of Essex, Bayne said he had been promised that construction traffic would cease and that a ‘No Entrance’ sign would be placed at the secondary entrance to Abney Hills where the third phase of construction has been taking place.
Bayne said no sign had been placed by the time of the meeting, and that just one week ago he had seen a cement truck driving along the one and a half lane dirt road. He said the ruts caused by the heavy traffic makes for a driving disaster after a single day of rain.
“The county has had to come scrape the road twice since December and it has already become a slick clay mud hole again,” Bayne stated.
The biggest question that looms over Bayne’s struggles is the legality of the commission’s ability to block off the road. According to commission chairman Donald Brock, Mt. Valley Road is a private road with limits on who may access it, but also poses limitations to the authority of the town and county. Bayne said the county does have a maintenance agreement for the road, but that it only applies to scraping and some rock distribution upon request of the residents.
“What we have to collectively figure out is what can be done, legally, that will be satisfactory,” Brock stated.
One option that was tossed around during the meeting was to install a gate activated by a key or “squawk box” that would allow emergency vehicles access to the road under emergency circumstances.
Bayne and another resident who owns sixth tenths of the roadway agreed to the gate, but Bayne has no ownership in the road and he said he doesn’t know who else has ownership in it.
No action was officially taken, however, as Brock said he wished to give Essex Homes a chance to speak on the situation.
A representative of Essex is expected to appear before the commission next month.
BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council approved three new appointees and re-appointed two others to the town’s boards and commissions on Monday night.
Cruise
Mark Cruise, a resident of Cobblestone Park, was appointed to the Planning Commission. Cruise is a three-year resident of the town and is the owner of Governance4Good, a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations.
Cruise is an officer on the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a member of the Blythewood Rotary Club.
Because of a previous commitment in November, Cruise will not begin his term until Dec. 1.
Griffin
Sloan Griffin III, also a resident of Cobblestone Park, was appointed to the Planning Commission. He said he moved to Blythewood a little over a year ago from the Greenville/Spartanburg area where his career was in fire service and emergency management.
Griffin is employed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control in emergency preparedness covering the PeeDee area.
“I thought I would jump in and help the town as much as I can with my knowledge and expertise,” Griffin said.
Coleman
Alisha Coleman, a resident of Lake Ashley for the last four years, was appointed to the Board of Architectural Review. An architect, Coleman holds a master’s degree in architecture from Clemson University.
“Ms. Coleman has already done some work for the town,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said. “She created some conceptual drawings of our vision for the farmer’s market in Doko Park.”
McLean
Jim McLean, a resident on Sandfield Road, was re-appointed for another term on the Board of Architectural Review. A lifelong resident of the town, McLean has served on the Planning Commission and is a previous Council member. McLean serves as vice-chairman of the BAR.
Ray Fantone, a resident of Lake Ashley, was also re-appointed for a second term on the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Coleman, Griffin, Cruise, McLean and Fantone will take office Nov. 1. All appointments are for three year terms.
BLYTHEWOOD – Mayor J. Michael Ross called a special meeting of the Blythewood Town Council Monday night for ‘Consideration of removal of a Planning Commissioner.’
Ross said he had learned that Commissioner Robert Cappadona no longer lives in the town.
Cappadona
“According to the municipal planning commission chapter 150 of the SC code of ordinances, sec. 150.03 states that all candidates applying to the commission shall be electors that reside in the Town,” Ross said.
To comply with the statute, council voted 5-0 during the 10-minute meeting to remove Cappadona from the Commission.
Cappadona, who has served approximately 10 years on the commission, remains on the Blythewood Facilities Board, according to Ross. The Facilities Board’s members which include Columbia Mayor Stephen Benjamin, were responsible for signing off on the $5 million bond that was levied to build the Doko Park facilities. Those board members also recently signed off on the bond’s refinancing. Cappadona previously served on the Town’s economic development board which is now disbanded.
Cappadona was the focus of discussion last month when his absence was blamed for the commission not having a quorum for consideration of a Hilton Hotel Home 2 Suites.
While four of the seven Commission members were absent, Cappadona had confirmed with the town clerk that he would be present. The other three had confirmed they would not be attending and were not expected.
The meeting was delayed for half an hour while the commission chairman and town clerk tried to reach Cappadona. Without his presence, the commission’s business could not be conducted. When Cappadona did not answer or respond to the calls, the meeting was cancelled.
At that meeting, representatives for Hilton Hotel’s Home 2 Suites had made trips to Blythewood from Atlanta and Seneca to resolve commissioners’ questions from the August commission meeting concerning traffic access to a 1.93 acre site where representatives of the hotel chain are requesting to build a four-story, 88-bed hotel building adjacent to I-77 and behind San Jose’s restaurant.
Following that meeting Ross released a list of all members of the town’s boards and commissions and their attendance records.
Cappadona and several others had missed more than half their meetings this year.
“In an effort to update the Town’s records, we sent all commissioners emails asking for their current addresses and other contact information,” Ross said. “Mr. Cappadona did not respond, but later he did and he gave us the address of 1107 Rushing Road. That is not in the Town of Blythewood,” Ross said.
Ross added that Cappadona had not resigned as of Monday night.
“So we are going to vote for Mr. Cappadona’s removal from the planning commission since he does not live in the town limits,” Ross said.
Following the vote, Ross asked Town Administrator Brian Cook to attend the Planning Commission meeting which was to follow the Town Council meeting, to inform Mr. Cappadona, if he should attend, that he cannot vote or even take part in the meeting as a commissioner.
BLYTHEWOOD – Third time was the charm for representatives of the Hilton Home 2 Suites who appeared before the Planning Commission Monday night requesting approval of a site plan for a four-story, 88-bed hotel they hope to construct on a 1.93 acre lot between I-77 and San Jose’s restaurant.
While serious concern was expressed by commissioners about the hotel’s lack of a direct access to Creech Road and the traffic impact the hotel would generate in an already traffic-challenged intersection at Creech and Blythewood Roads, the plan was approved 4 – 1 with Commissioner Marcus Taylor voting against.
Ed Parler, Blythewood’s economic development consultant, spoke up for the project saying it fits with the overall plan for the town.
“The hotel is the highest and best use for this piece of property,” Parler said. “There are no property taxes [in Blythewood], so bringing hospitality taxes, accommodation and sales taxes and state share value revenue means it will be the highest economic benefit for Blythewood.”
Parler further cited the traffic study that was initially requested by the Planning Commission and initiated by engineer Roger Dyar on behalf of Carter Engineering, as of low significance.
Based on the review of the site and Dyar’s analysis, he concluded that: the site will produce 496 additional trips per day; that the overall effects on the peak hour traffic flow would be minimal and that traffic flow should be acceptable at the proposed access point onto Creech Road. At this location, all exiting traffic will make a right turn and then make a u-turn at some point to the south on Creech Road.
The study also recommended that a triangular island be constructed at the access point onto Creech Road to force all exits to be right turns.
Dyar said the details of this design will be handled by the site civil engineer and will need to comply with SCDOT Access and Roadside Management Standards and Highway Design Manual standards.
“I think Paragon [the hotel’s parent company] has done everything they could to make the intersection as good as they can,” civil engineer Jeff Carter of Georgia-based Carter Engineering Consultants said.
Tome Morgan, the project architect, said he expects construction to take 9 to 14 months.
Paragon hotel company owner Ricky Patel said the hotel will create 16 full time jobs and six part time jobs.
Immediately following the Planning Commission meeting, the Blythewood Architectural Board (BAR) met to consider a request from the hotel’s representatives for a Certificate of Appropriateness.
Morgan displayed the elevation plans for the project and discussed material selections with the Board.
Morgan said the two prototype renderings of a modern design that Home 2 used elsewhere are stark and use hardy board architecture.
“I did not think they would be well received in a place like Blythewood where citizens care about architecture,” Morgan said. “Instead, we have designed a building covered with Cherokee moss town brick with a pewter colored mortar, hardy board and hardy shake shingles with dark bronze colored metal around the windows,” Morgan explained. “The rich colors create a three-tier approach as opposed to the modern look.”
A feature that seemed to please the commission is a fence between the hotel and the interstate made with brick columns and wrought iron connecting sections.
While Blythewood’s architectural advisor Ralph Walden said the building was well designed with nice features and more interest than the two neighboring buildings, he suggested replacing the hardy plank shakes with a darker brick than the moss town brick.
The motion to approve a COA with changing the hardy shakes to a darker accent brink and to bring the brick up to the top of the first floor passed unanimously.
Town Administrator Brian Cook explained that the approval would be conditioned by staff approval of a final landscaping plan and any required engineering specifics, the inclusion of a fence along the I-77 ramp and Blythewood Road, signage options and by subsequent approval of SCDOT, SCDHEC and Richland County, water/sewer provider and any other applicable reviewing entity.
