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Tag: E-Capital

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.