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Tag: Crickentree

  • Dickerson leads vote to defeat TROS

    COLUMBIA – Without providing documentation guaranteeing a promised 250-foot buffer between Crickentree residents and an undetermined number of homes proposed on the adjoining former Golf Course of South Carolina, Blythewood’s representative on County Council, Joyce Dickerson, led the charge on third and final reading Tuesday night to rezone the golf course from Traditional Recreational Open Space (TROS) zoning to Low Density Residential (RS-LD) zoning.

    The vote was 8-3 with council members Calvin “Chip” Jackson, Allison Terracio and Jim Manning voting against. The county planning commission voted last spring to recommend that council not approve the request.

    While the property owner, investment firm E-Capital, has proposed no more than 170 homes on the property, the zoning designation allows for several hundred homes. Robert Fuller, attorney for the firm, has said it plans to flip the property to a developer.

    Over the last year, Fuller and the developer proposed deed restrictions to protect the environment of the Crickentree neighborhood from what could be a much higher density of homes on the golf course property. Those deed restrictions never materialized.

    During 20 minutes of discussion, Jackson, Terracio and Manning said they were dismayed that Dickerson had not produced documentation that would establish the 250-foot buffer in perpetuity as residents had been promise.

    Jackson reminded Dickerson that the meeting had been deferred from July to September to allow her and E-Capital sufficient time to finalize plans with the neighboring Crickentree community and provide documentation of those agreements.

    Dickerson said it was her understanding that the 250-foot buffer would be placed into a conservation easement. When Manning asked if that had been done, a member of the county said no documentation for the easement had been filed with the conservation commission.

    Several county council meetings over the last year have been marked with dissension between some members of council and the residents who pleaded their case. At one point Dickerson accused the residents of sending her threatening emails. She dismissed the emails as not that important, however when asked by The Voice to produce them.

    Jackson said he had hoped council would do the right thing. He expressed concern with the out-of-control growth in the northeast and said he had hoped for a deferral of the matter until everything had been properly worked out.

    “This is too important to rush this kind of decision through,” Jackson said.

  • County Council casts second vote approving rezoning of golf course

    COLUMBIA – On Tuesday night, Richland County Council cast a second vote in as many weeks in favor of a rezoning that could turn a former golf course bordering Crickentree neighborhood into hundreds of homes. A third vote, to be taken Sept. 17, will be the final say on the issue.

    The 9-1-1 vote came after Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson, who represents the Crickentree area, presented a plan for developing the 183-acre golf course property that she said was a compromise reached during talks that occurred on July 2, between six Crickentree residents and E-Capital, a Texas investment firm that purchased the property out of bankruptcy last year.

    But Crickentree resident Dr. Traci Cooper, who, along with the majority of Crickentree residents, opposes the rezoning, said she was shocked when she heard the plan presented by Dickerson.

    “That was not a compromise reached at our meeting,” Cooper, one of the six negotiators, said following Tuesday night’s council meeting.

    Dr. Traci Cooper, right, rallies her Crickentree neighbors outside Council chambers Tuesday night following a second defeat by County Council. | Barbara Ball

    “That was an exploratory meeting that started out very healthy with both sides putting all their options on the table. But no conclusions were reached,” Cooper said.

    “We proposed a map with a 500-foot buffer and a maximum of 140 homes. The E-Capital representative, to his credit, listened to us and said he would take the options we presented back to his planner to see if they would work and that E-Capital would get back to us. We were to have another meeting that never materialized. That’s what Ms. Dickerson should have presented to council, because we had not yet heard back from E-Capital and no consensus had been reached.”

    In an email sent hours after the July 2 meeting to inform his fellow residents of the status of the evening’s negotiations, Crickentree resident Russ St. Marie wrote, “We offered a 500-foot buffer option that would have allowed E-Capital 138 homes. However, Mrs. Dickerson said she would not support a 500-foot buffer.”

    In that email, St. Marie wrote that Dickerson had agreed to doubling the 150-foot buffer to 300 feet.

    The next day, July 3, residents received an email from Dickerson indicating an agreement had been reached at the July 2 meeting for a 250-foot buffer and 205 homes.

    “We did not hear back from E-Capital, so we sent a letter to Ms. Dickerson on July 7 reiterating our proposal but heard nothing further from either Ms. Dickerson or E-Capital until she announced her plan to Council last night,” Cooper told The Voice on Wednesday.

    “The negotiations were cherry-picked and presented as an agreed-upon plan. How were the other council members to know her plan was not something we had agreed to?” Cooper said.

    “Our proposal is a win-win for everyone,” Cooper told The Voice. “They still get to build and make a profit of about $24 million, and we get something that we want. I hope they [council] will look at our plan.”

    Dickerson told The Voice on Wednesday that she left the July 2 meeting with the understanding that a consensus had been reached for 205 homes and a 250-foot buffer.

    “I wasn’t going to make E-Capital give up any more homes since they were giving another 100 feet of buffer,” Dickerson said.

    “While I don’t doubt what Ms. Dickerson is saying was actually discussed [with residents], I would like to see it in writing,” Councilman Calvin ‘Chip’ Jackson said after Dickerson made her proposal to council.

    Jackson moved to table the issue until specifics could be worked out and sent back in writing to council.

    “I don’t see why there is such a rush to do this, why can’t we defer it until the August meeting, until the details are worked out and if not, then it can be deferred again until the details are worked out and presented to this council,” Jackson said.

    Jackson’s motion to defer failed.

    Council voted 9-1-1 to approve the rezoning with Councilwoman Allison Terracio voting against and Jackson abstaining.

    On June 25, the council voted 7-3 in favor of the rezoning requested by E-Capital. While the county’s planning staff recommended the requested rezoning from Traditional Recreational Open Space (TROS) to Low Density Residential (RS-LD), the Planning Commission voted twice against recommending the rezoning to Council.

    The third and final vote is set for Sept. 17 at County Council Chambers.

  • Dickerson led 7-3 vote to rezone golf course for homes

    More Than 120 Crickentree Residents Attended to Oppose Rezoning

    COLUMBIA – Richland County Council dimmed the hopes of more than 120 Crickentree residents who were in attendance at a public hearing Tuesday night, that council would save their quiet, treed, large-acre neighborhood from hundreds of homes being built on a former golf course along the border of their neighborhood.

    At the urging of their county council representative Joyce Dickerson, Council voted against them, 7-3, Tuesday evening to approve the first reading of a request by Texas investment firm E-Capital to rezone the 183-acre former golf course property from TROS (Traditional Recreational Open Space) to RS-LD (Low Density Residential).

    While the County planning staff recommended the zoning, the county’s planning commission voted 5-2 on June 3 to recommended that council reject the rezoning request on the basis that “a substantial portion of the property in question is zoned TROS and in light of the stated purposes within section 26-85, including preservation of conservation and open space, and to lessen the potential diminution of property values and to provide for a community-wide network of open spaces.’

    Councilman Bill Malinowski said he had researched TROS zoning and that he found it had been created by the Richland County Conservation Commission for government owned land only and that it would not be appropriate zoning for a golf course.

    E-Capital’s attorney Robert Fuller spoke at the beginning of the public hearing, but he did not mention the number of houses proposed on the property or the width of the buffer promised as he had done in past meetings.

    “E-Capital’s silence on the number of homes and width of buffer promised leaves the residents in the dark, now, as to what the company plans to build,” Resident Russ St. Marie said following the meeting.

    In previous meetings the numbers have ranged from 249 homes down to, more recently, 207, but according to the county’s planning information on the rezoning, as many as 672 (less 20 percent for infrastructure) could be built on the 183-acre parcel under RS-LD zoning.

    According to the County’s Planning/Zoning Director Geonard Price, the developer would be allowed to build the maximum number of homes allowed and would not be held to the promised amount.

    Before calling for the vote, Dickerson took the opportunity to vent her feelings about the Crickentree residents, Blythewood town government, LongCreek Plantation neighborhood and others.

    Without further explanation, Dickerson said she had watched as Round Top neighborhood “has been squeezed by Crickentree and LongCreek Plantation.”

    And she didn’t stop there.

    “I have been challenged with numerous threats and correspondence containing fabricated information, for instance, that Blythewood requested to put a park…that community is not in Blythewood. So for someone on Blythewood planning commission to tell you they can put a park there, that’s fabricated information,” Dickerson read from a prepared speech.

    Crickentree is located in 29016 which is in the Blythewood community, but not the town limits.

    When asked if she would provide the threatening emails to The Voice, Dickerson said she would have to check with the county’s attorney before she could share them.

    Dickerson also reported that she had received many emails urging her to vote for the rezoning. However, no one except the E-Capital representatives spoke in favor of the rezoning during the public hearing.

    Noting that residents had said over the past year that if the TROS in their neighborhood were rezoned, it could cause a domino effect for other nearby golf communities, Dickerson pushed back.

    “I am not looking at Windermere, Woodchuck [sic], Spring Valley, Wildwood, Longtown [sic]. All of you seem to be in a gated community with deed restrictions on some of your properties.

    Due to a large turnout, many of those residents who came to the meeting were held in the lobby until near the end of the meeting. They were told by a security officer that seating was over capacity. Some left while others, including The Voice reporter, were not allowed in until the proceedings were almost over.

    Council will have two more votes on the issue. Tuesday night was the only opportunity residents will have to publicly address the issue before council.

  • RC Council to vote on golf course zoning

    BLYTHEWOOD – Tuesday night’s Richland County Council meeting could be a turning point for the residents of Crickentree concerning a rezoning request they oppose for the 183-acre golf course property that adjoins their neighborhood.

    The meeting will include a public hearing on the issue and the first of three votes to deny or approve a request from the property’s owner, E-Capital Management, to rezone the property from Traditional Recreational Open Space (TROS) zoning to Low Density Residential (RS-LD) zoning.

    While the council has three votes, the first vote – yay or nay – more often than not portends the final outcome. If council members vote against the rezoning on the first vote, that’s the final vote. If council votes to approve the rezoning, it will have two more votes. If the second is a vote for approval, the third vote will determine the outcome.

    If, like the last time it came before council, E-Capital pulls the request before it is considered, the request could return as another zoning classification, perhaps Rural (RU), and re-enter the rezoning cycle.

    The residents and the rezoning applicant will only be allowed to express their concerns prior to the first vote.

    Tuesday will be the second time around the block for a rezoning request. It was initially recommended earlier this year by the county staff for Medium Density Residential (RS-MD) zoning, but subsequently recommended for denial by the Planning Commission. On April 23, E-Capital’s attorney Robert Fuller pulled the item from council’s agenda before it came up. After a new zoning request for RS-LD was recommended by the county planning staff in the Spring, the Planning Commission balked again, recommending on June 3 in a 5-2 vote that Council deny the rezoning request.

    The ball is now back in council’s court. The issues are still myriad.

    Some residents say TROS is not subject to rezoning.

    Resident Russ St. Marie said chapter 26 of the county’s zoning ordinance directs that TROS zoned properties and their current uses are to be preserved and protected.

    Planning Commissioner David Tuttle, one of the two Commissioners who voted for the rezoning, disagreed. He explained that TROS is just like any other zoning classification that comes before council.

    “Prior to the creation of TROS zoning,” Tuttle said, “golf course properties within neighborhoods were subject to being reverted to their previous zoning without coming before council. The purpose of TROS was to insure that the property would go before council before it could be rezoned.” He said that process served as a protection for adjoining property owners, that it gave the neighbors a say in the rezoning process.

    Fuller reasoned that the RS-LD zoning, allowing 3.63 homes to the acre, is the same as the current Crickentree property zoning, Low Density Residential.

    County zoning administrator Geonard Price pointed out, however, that Crickentree lots are actually larger with 1.04 homes to the acre, possibly making Low Density zoning of the golf course property incompatible with surrounding properties.

    “In RS-LD zoning, lots would be restricted to no less than 1,200 square feet,” Fuller told the panel. “We would restrict the number of homes to 207 with a 150-foot buffer between the golf course property and the Crickentree neighborhood. This is the only way the owner can make anything of it.”

    The issue will go before County Council at 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 25 for first reading and a public hearing.

  • Crickentree residents take 5-2 PC vote

    Rezoning Request Now Heads for Richland County Council

    COLUMBIA – In horseracing terms, it’s pretty close to a hat trick.

    More than 50 residents of Crickentree and other Columbia area golf course communities pulled off a third upset in their quest to stop the rezoning of a former golf course property that borders their neighborhood from Traditional Recreational Open Space (TROS) to a residential zoning classification

    This time the win came at Monday afternoon’s Richland County Planning Commission where the panel voted against recommending Low Density Residential (RS-LD) zoning to council with a vote of 5-2.

    In April, the Commission voted against rezoning the property to Medium Density Residential (RS-MD) by a vote of 7-1. The third victory, of sorts, occurred last month when the applicant, E-Capital, withdrew its rezoning request for Richland County Council’s consideration just minutes before the matter was to be discussed and voted on.

    The county planning staff recommended approval before it went before the Planning Commission on Monday.

    Robert Fuller, a Columbia attorney representing E-Capital, reasoned that the RS-LD zoning, allowing 3.63 homes to the acre, is the same as the Crickentree property zoning.

    County zoning administrator Geo Price pointed out, however, that Crickentree lots are actually larger with 1.04 homes to the acre.

    Resident Russ St. Marie said chapter 26 of the county’s zoning ordinance directs that TROS zoned properties and their current uses are to be preserved and protected.

    “TROS zoning is just another zoning designation,” Commissioner David Tuttle, one of two commissioners voting for the rezoning, said. “It’s just another zoning classification.

    “In this zoning, lots would be restricted to no less than 1,200 square feet,” Fuller told the panel. “We would restrict the number of homes to 207 with a 150-foot buffer between the golf course property and the Crickentree neighborhood. This is the only way the owner can make anything of it.”

    The issue will go before County Council on Tuesday, June 25, for first reading and a public hearing. This is the only meeting that residents will be allowed to speak to the issue.

  • Rec plan may be on the table

    BLYTHEWOOD – As homeowners in Crickentree brace for a second rezoning request that could allow as many as 600 homes to be built on the 183-acre former Golf Club of South Carolina, Town Councilman Bryan Franklin announced to council last week that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for residents.

    Franklin said he met with the executive director of the Richland County Recreation Commission, the board chair and two Crickentree residents – Traci Cooper and Russ St. Marie – about the residents’ desire to have the golf course property either remain green space or be used as a much needed recreation facility for youth in the Blythewood area. The latter, however, hinges on the county purchasing the property from the owner, E-Capital, a Texas investment firm.

    “The discussion was very productive,” Franklin said, adding that the Richland Conservation Commission had already sent a letter to council in November 2016, in support of the resident’s desires for the property’s Traditional Residential Open Space (TROS) zoning to remain in place. That letter asked county council not to rezone the property, but to leave it as a conservation district, Franklin said.

    “The Recreation Commission committed to write a similar letter to county council before the June 3 planning commission [makes a recommendation to council on the issue]. We’ll have those two support letters, many letters from Crickentree residents and any emails the mayor and council send. County council will have all that documentation before they weigh their decision of how to vote,” Franklin said.

    E-Capital’s second application for a zoning change, this time for Low Density Residential (RS-LD) zoning. would allow 3.63 homes per acre. A previous request by the company for Medium Density Residential (RS-MD) zoning was withdrawn last month shortly before county council was to take its vote.

    The residents have appeared at several council meetings since February, even before the issue appeared on the agenda, asking that the property retain its TROS zoning for use as a recreation facility. Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson, who represents the Crickentree community, was quoted in The State newspaper last month, saying, “The County is not purchasing that property.”

    The newspaper also quoted Dickerson as saying that it caused ill will that Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross approached the Richland County Recreation Commission about purchasing the property before the first rezoning request was filed. The mayor skirting County Council and pitching a plan to the recreation commission for land not in the Blythewood city limits was out of bounds, Dickerson was quoted as saying.

    “If he wants a park, he can put it in there,” she said of the city of Blythewood.

    Ross said Dickerson was probably just frustrated.

    “As we work with the recreation commission, we’ll keep the county council informed so they don’t feel like we’re running an end-around as I believe the state paper quoted,” Franklin said. “All we’re doing is when you have a recreation desire in the community, it’s very logical that you go to the recreation commission first, not directly to the Richland County Council,” he said.

    “We desperately need sports fields out here,” Franklin said. “In Blythewood, if your children play soccer, you have to go all the way to Polo Road to play. So you get home from work at 5:30 and have to pick the kids up and drive from here to Polo in all that traffic. It’s difficult to make it on time.”

    “Hopefully the county will agree to purchase it,” Franklin said.

    “This is what a local government getting involved in an area outside the town should do – promote what is best for the town,” Ross said. “It does affect all of us in this area.”

  • E-Capital files for new zoning request

    BLYTHEWOOD – Texas investment firm E-Capital has filed a second application for a zoning change of the Crickentree Golf Course. The request this time is to change the golf course’s current Traditional Residential Open Space (TROS) zoning to Low Density Residential (RS-LD) zoning.

    Low Density zoning allows for 3.63 homes per acre on the 183-acre property.

    Two weeks ago E-Capital withdrew a request before County Council to rezone the TROS to Medium Density Residential (RS-MD).

    The new rezoning request will first go before the Richland County Planning Commission on June 3 at 3 p.m. That body’s recommendation will then be sent to County Council on June 25, for a public hearing followed by the first vote on the issue.

    “That meeting will be the only time that citizens can voice their opinions in person to County Council,” Crickentree resident Michael Kosca said.  “If Council votes for RS-LD, we could end up with 600 homes in our back yard.”

    Both meetings are held at the Richland County Administration Building at 2020 Hampton Street.

    “Our primary concern right now is to reach out to the other golf courses who are also at risk of losing their TROS zoning and being developed – Woodcreek, Windermere and others,” resident Russell St. Marie said.

    The TROS ordinance was passed by Council in 2007 when golf courses in Richland County began to struggle financially, and developers began eying them for residential development. The purpose of TROS, according to the ordinance, was to ensure “the preservation of conservation, recreation, and/or open space; and to lessen the diminution of property values from the loss of open space commonly provided for in a community; and to provide opportunities for improved public and/or private recreation activities; and to provide for a community-wide network of open space, buffer zones and recreation spaces.”

    For those reasons, residents say they want Council to leave the TROS zoning in place.

    Planning Commissioner Heather Cairns also clarified that TROS pertains to golf courses with a neighborhood component, not to golf courses in general.

  • Crickentree flies past first hurdle, 7-1

    COLUMBIA – Crickentree residents appeared before the Richland County Planning Commission on Monday to protest the rezoning of the failed Golf Course of South Carolina from Traditional Residential Open Spaces (TROS) to medium density residential use (RS-MD). The golf course shares a border with Crickentree.

    After hearing from 13 of approximately 75 Crickentree residents in attendance, the Commission voted 7-1, against the County planning staff’s recommendation for the Commission to approve the rezoning.

    But the win is only the first step in the residents’ effort to defeat the rezoning bid. The Commission’s recommendation of disapproval now goes to County Council which will hold three readings (votes) on the issue.

    Foreclosure

    Foreclosed on last August, the golf course property is now owned by Texas investment firm E-Capital.  At issue is whether council will leave the TROS zoning and the rural environment of Crickentree in place or replace it with a zoning classification (RD-MS) that county staff says complies with the county’s comprehensive land use plan and that allows up to 600 or so homes to be built on 8,500 square foot lots.

    Residents argue that while the proposed medium density zoning might comply with the comp plan, medium density and its uses are not consistent with that of the established and proposed developments of adjacent and nearby subdivisions.

    The TROS ordinance was passed by Council in 2007 when golf courses in Richland County began to struggle financially, and developers were eying them for residential development. The purpose of TROS, according to the ordinance, was to ensure “the preservation of conservation, recreation, and/or open space; and to lessen the diminution of property values from the loss of open space commonly provided for in a community; and to provide opportunities for improved public and/or private recreation activities; and to provide for a community-wide network of open space, buffer zones and recreation spaces.”

    For those reasons, residents speaking on Monday asked Commissioners to leave the TROS zoning in place.

    Attorney Robert Fuller, representing E-Capital, laid out a plan for the property to be developed under medium density zoning, but promised that no more than 237 homes would be built, not the 600 or so allowable under that zoning classification. He also promised there would be a 150-foot tree and landscape buffer separating the proposed new homes from the large-lot Crickentree.

    Fuller said of the 237 homes, only 90 would be built on 8,500 square foot (medium density) lots and that the remaining 140 would be built on 12,000 square-foot (low density) lots.

    Commissioner Heather Cairns interrupted Fuller’s presentation to clarify what she said was the commissioners’ responsibility in considering the request.

    “I want to remind us [commissioners] that while a plan is being given to us [by Fuller], that [plan] is not what we are to consider,” Cairns said. “What we are [to consider] is, ‘Should 186 acres be rezoned into something that’s allowing 8,500 square-foot lots over its entire existence?’”

    She said the Commission cannot approve zoning based on a promised development plan.

    “I appreciate the drawings,” Cairns said to Fuller. “but that is not something we can even decide.”

    Plans and Promises

    Residents addressing the Commission agreed.

    “Proposed and planned are the key words,” resident Carol Lucas said. “We can’t bind them [to those limitations]. A developer could purchase the property and build [more] homes. “

    “The promises made to the community [by the land owner] are not enforceable by the county,” Deborah Real reminded Commissioners.

    Resident Russell St. Marie challenged Fuller’s promise for how the property would be developed.

    “E-Capital is on record that they have no intention of developing this property,” St. Louis said. “They merely want to change the zoning and sell it to a developer.”

    Resident Iris St. Marie said that when she and her husband purchased their golf course lot in Crickentree, the 2015 comprehensive land use plan presented a very different 20-year future.

    “It likened TROS to conservation. Subdivisions that were planned for commercial or residential development were discouraged in TROS,” St. Marie said.

    Arguing for TROS

    Many of the residents claimed that the current TROS ordinance indicates that the County wants the land to remain as recreational, open space, that TROS is a protective ordinance.

    Resident Michelle Kelly went further, saying that TROS was meant to protect the property owners and surrounding property values.

    Iris St. Marie referenced an article that she said quoted the County’s zoning director Geonard Price as saying: “The intent for TROS was not to include developable land, but to protect the golf course within the community.”

    Commissioner David Tuttle disagreed, saying that he was in the room when TROS was being worked out. He said prior to TROS, if a golf course was no longer used for a golf course, it automatically reverted to the underlying (previous) zoning without going through a notification or rezoning process.

    “The protection implemented by TROS was to create a barrier whereby you have to go through certain notification and rezoning steps to rezone,” Tuttle said. “It was never meant to be a permanent zoning.”

    “So was TROS designed to protect golf courses?” Commission Chairman Stephen Gilchrist asked Price.

    After a pause, Price responded, “I’m unable to answer that.”

    Gilchrist later asked Price if TROS was designed to protect open space.

    “Yes, according to the purpose statement [of the TROS ordinance],” Price said, quoting from the statement, “…in order to insure preservation of conservation, recreation and open space.”

    Cairns also clarified that TROS pertains to golf courses with a neighborhood component, not to golf courses in general. While Cairns said she could support some level of residential zoning for the golf course, she could not support the level of medium density.

    “When other people’s property that you reap benefit from changes, it’s a bad day,” Cairns said.

    Commissioner David Tuttle made a motion to approve the requested zoning, but that motion died for lack of a second.  Commissioner Beverly Frierson then made a motion to recommend that Council disapprove the requested RS-MD zoning. That motion passed 7-1 with Tuttle voting against.

    The next meeting is a public hearing before County Council set for April 23 in County Council chambers at 2020 Hampton Street. That is the only meeting where residents will be allowed to address the issue.

  • Crickentree residents to plead case before PC

    BLYTHEWOOD – A request to rezone the former Golf Course of South Carolina property from Traditional Residential Open Space (TROS/RURAL) to Medium Density (RS-MD) is set to be heard by the Richland County Planning Commission on Monday, April 1, at 3 p.m.

    The property is owned by Texas investment firm E-Capital which purchased the mortgage on the now foreclosed golf course last August. The 183-acre property consists of two parcels and borders the Crickentree subdivision with access to Langford Road. Cricketree subdivision is accessed off Kelly Mill Road.

    Attorney Robert Fuller, representing Texas investment firm E-Capital, is expected to ask the Planning Commissioners to recommend MD zoning to Richland County Council with the promise to build only 249 homes. That number is down from 480 homes he proposed last fall.

    But at a joint meeting of the residents and E-Capital in February, Richland County Zoning Administrator Geonard Price explained that no matter how few homes the developer promises to build, he will be allowed to build up to 949 homes on the property under the requested MD zoning if it is approved.

    E-Capital representatives have told residents that E-Capital does not plan to develop the property, but sell it to a developer.

    Crickentree neighbors, who have met on three occasions with E-Capital since last Fall, say they fear the rezoning to higher density  will lower the value of their homes and increase what they say is already intolerable traffic congestion in the Blythewood area.

    The County’s administrative planning staff (employees) have recommended that the Planning Commissioners, who are appointed by Council, approve the rezoning.

    According to the planning staff’s zoning district summary, the minimum lot area for RS-MD zoning is 8,500 square feet. Based on a gross density calculation, the maximum number of units for the site is approximately 949 dwelling units.

    The planning staff, in recommending approval of the RS-MD zoning for the golf course, states that the proposed zoning is consistent with the 2015 County Comprehensive Plan that designates this area as Neighborhood Medium Density.

    However, the planning staff also concludes that approval of the request for RS-MD zoning may promote a housing density that is not consistent with that of the established and proposed developments of the adjacent and promote subdivisions (Hunters Run, The Park at Crickentree and Crickentree.

    Planning Commission’s vote to approve or disapprove will only be a recommendation to County Council which will then hold a public hearing and first vote on April 23. This is the only time residents will be allowed to speak to the issues. If the vote passes to rezone the property, there will be two more votes in May and June.

    To address the Commission at the April 1 meeting, citizens should arrive about 15 minutes early (12:45 p.m.) to sign up on the speakers list, ‘for’ or ‘against’ the rezoning. No one can sign up after the sign-up sheets are picked up.  The meeting is held in Council chambers in the County building at 2020 Hampton Street in Columbia. For more information, call the County ombudsman at 929-6000 to direct your call to the planning staff or Concerned Citizens of Crickentree at 803-719-1242 or visit SaveGolfCourses.com

  • Crickentree working toward Council votes

    COLUMBIA – When a room full of Crickentree neighborhood residents appeared Tuesday night at Richland County Council to speak out against Texas investment company ECapital’s request to rezone the neighborhood’s golf course from TROS to medium density residential, several Council members pushed back, saying it was not the practice of Council to allow residents to speak twice on an item for which a public hearing would be held.

    When sixteen residents were called forward to speak during citizen’s input on a section of the agenda allowing input that ‘Must Pertain to Richland County Matters Not on the Agenda,’ Councilwoman Gwen Kennedy, who represents the Rimer Pond Road area of Blythewood, leaned over to whisper to Chairman Paul Livingston who nodded in response.

    Following the first speaker, House Representative for District 77 Kambrell Garvin, Council Vice Chair Dahli Meyers warned speakers that, “If you speak tonight, you will not be allowed to speak at the public hearing. You cannot speak twice [on a public hearing item].”

    Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson, who represents the Crickentree neighborhood, quickly agreed.

    “If you speak tonight, then when this item comes before us on the fourth Tuesday in April [for a public hearing], you will forfeit your opportunity to speak a second time,” Dickerson told the Crickentree neighbors.

    Councilman Bill Malinowski, however, who does not represent the district, asked the parliamentarian to clarify the agenda item.

    “It says, ‘Must pertain to Richland County matters not on the agenda,” Malinowski pointed out. “It doesn’t say, ‘…and not on something that in the future would require a public hearing.’ It says if it’s not on the agenda, so why can’t they speak tonight and again at the public hearing? This doesn’t prohibit them from speaking both times,” Malinowski said.

    At that point, Dickerson switched her stand in favor of the residents, but called on the county attorney, Larry Smith to clarify the agenda language.

    Smith avoided clarifying the language, instead stating what Council had done in the past.

    “If they speak to an item that may not be on the agenda, but that does require a public hearing, you usually don’t allow them to speak twice,” Smith said.

    Malinowski pushed back.

    “That has been the practice but for the sake of the public, we need to clarify our wording a little better so when they see the agenda, they know their options,” Malinowski said.

    Meyers then called on Crickentree resident Michael Koska to speak.

    “I was advised by staff that we would be able to speak at all the meetings. We’re here. We should be allowed to speak [both times],” Koska said. “I’m begging you to let us speak.”

    Meyers said he could speak but did not make it clear whether he could speak again at the public hearing. When Koska sought clarification, Livingston interrupted.

    “Thank you for your input,” dismissing Koska who then sat down.

    Malinowski interceded, making a motion to wave the rules, since the people, he said, were advised by a County staff person that they could speak at all the meetings.

    “They took the time to come down here today. If they wish to come speak a second time, I ask that we allow them to speak tonight and again at the public hearing.

    Councilman Jim Manning agreed.

    “If the public walks in, looks at the agenda and reads that, they should be able to speak.”

    After Malinowski’s motion was seconded, it passed with all voting for the measure except Kennedy, who did not vote, and the speakers were allowed to proceed.

    In addition to neighborhood speakers that included former NBA player Xavier McDaniel, Garvin reminded Council that the zoning request for medium density would allow up to 900 homes on 183 acres.

    “That would not fit within the character of the Crickentree neighborhood or the surrounding community,” Garvin said. “That would be detrimental to the community.”

    A public hearing will be held in Council Chambers at 2020 Hampton Street in downtown Columbia on April 23 at 6 p.m. For information about the rezoning, call Michael Koska (803-719-1242) or Richland County Planning (803-576-2190).