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
COLUMBIA – Lifelong Blythewood resident Margaret DuBard was honored recently by the Richland County Council for her 17 years of service on the County Conservation Commission. DuBard, who lives in Cedar Creek, was a member of the founding Board of Directors and the first vice-president of the Commission.
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).
BLYTHEWOOD – After multiple community and council meetings over the last year about a proposed controversial double-lane traffic circle that would impact the entrance to Cobblestone Park and the retail, restaurant and office businesses located on University Village Drive in Blythewood, the pot was still boiling Tuesday during a Blythewood Town Hall meeting held on the issue at The Manor.
With more than 50 people in attendance and many of them addressing the issue, the problem is not solved, but Richland County government appears to be digging its heels in to proceed with construction of the traffic circle as well as widening Blythewood Road to five lanes.
The proposed $10.5 million project is part of the Richland Penny Tax program and extends less than a mile along Blythewood Road from Syrup Mill Road East to the Southbound I-77 ramps.
The posted project overview on the richlandpenny.com website shows the existing roadway would be widened to a five-lane section with two travel lanes in each direction and a two-way left turn lane, which is a paved 15-foot median. Ten-foot shared-use paths are proposed on each side of the roadway for the length of the project to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. A double-lane traffic circle is proposed near the intersection of Community Road and the entrance to Cobblestone Park.
During a public project meeting held at Muller Road Middle School on March 22, by representatives from the Penny Tax Program, a large group of residents, primarily from Cobblestone Park, turned out to question the safety and effectiveness of the traffic circle.
Responding to a phone call from The Voice inquiring about the results of resident input on comment cards after the Muller Road meeting, Project Manager Ben Lewis was clear.
“The plan is to move forward with Option A – the 5 lane, offset, shared use option,” Lewis said.
Twelve residents spoke at the Tuesday night meeting with the majority being Cobblestone residents speaking out against the creation of the traffic circle.
“It appears the Penny Tax Committee has chosen an inadequate, short term fix for a longer term issue,” Cobblestone resident and former Town Councilman Tom Utroska said, reading from a two page letter in which he addressed a number of issues including how tractor-trailers would negotiate 270 degree turns on the circle without causing major backups.
Another Cobblestone resident, Bethany Parler, said she was concerned about the large number of out-of-area visitors to the Cobblestone golf club and restaurant who would not be familiar with how to negotiate the traffic circle which requires drivers leaving Cobblestone Park to cross two lanes of traffic on the circle before turning left toward I-77. She urged the Town of Blythewood concentrate on the McNulty Road to Main Street, Langford Road traffic problem and move the Blythewood Road project to number two on the agenda.
There was a moan from the audience when Mayor J. Michael Ross suggested the hypothetical possibility of a fatal traffic accident happening while the project was on hold.
Courtney Levett, another Cobblestone pointed to the traffic circle installed on Piney Grove Road in Columbia where, he said, there had been a lot of damage to the curbing and 3 foot tall reflective sticks by traffic trying to negotiate the turns.
“I would like Richland County to delay their decision until this can be further explored,” he said, indicating that he felt that the issue had divided the town. His suggestion to let the Town vote on it was met with applause from the audience.
But Ross countered.
“Almost three thousand people live in the town limits,” Ross said, “and the only people who’ve called me have been my [Cobblestone] neighbors. These projects are to better the whole town of Blythewood,” Ross said.
Former Blythewood High School teacher of the year Allison Byrd cautioned the County about how they use tax dollars. She suggested pausing the traffic circle project until a study could be done on the installation of a traffic light at Syrup Mill Road to slow down traffic.
Larry Sharpe, who owns large parcels on each side of the section of Blythewood Road that would be impacted by the traffic circle an opposes the project, talked about the influence that industrial growth on Community Road and near Syrup Mill and H.R. Horton’s continued building in Cobblestone would have on the traffic circle. He also talked about the problem that would be created with motor homes or trailers and boats trying to navigate the circle.
But not all Cobblestone residents were opposed to the project, including Buddy Price, a 19-year Blythewood resident.
“Every year it has gotten worse, and it is getting less and less safe,” Price said. He said he would have preferred a stop light be installed but he expressed support for the plan and encouraged the council to move forward quickly.
Mike Switzer, Executive Director for the Blythewood Chamber, said he hopes the plan will go forward. He said he had spoken with the businesses on University Blvd. Drive and the Food Lion Shopping Center and that they were concerned with their customers being able to get out onto Blythewood Road.
“Cobblestone residents have a back way to those merchants,” Switzer said. “How would you feel if the merchants closed?” he asked. “The Town will lose a lot of revenue if that happens.”
At the suggestion of Ross, David Beatty and Ben Lewis from the Transportation Penny project followed up on questions that had been raised during the meeting.
Beatty shared the history of the Penny Tax Resolution all the way back to its inception in 2012.
“There were just 2 projects for this area and it is very restricted. We can’t create new projects beyond those covered in the referendum,” Beatty said. “The current DOT traffic count is 11,000 a day and is projected to be 16,000 a day in 20 years.”
Ben Lewis, the project manager for the Blythewood project, said that federal standards don’t currently warrant a signal at the intersection of Syrup Mill Road and Blythewood Road as previously suggested. He also said it is not possible to put a signal instead of a traffic circle at the Community Road and Blythewood Road intersection because there is a minimum spacing requirement between signals of 1300 feet and it is only 730-750 feet to the traffic circle area from the signal at the I-77 ramp.
“The benefit of a roundabout [traffic circle] is that it slows speeds,” Lewis explained. “It reduces severity of accidents by 80% according to DOT statistics and 100% in South Carolina.”
Regarding Utroska’s suggestion to restrict tractor-trailer traffic, Lewis said SCDOT makes those calls and that the heavily populated urban areas are most likely to be qualified.
Richland County Council Chair Joyce Dickerson encouraged the Blythewood Town Council to be open-minded regarding the traffic circle.
“When projects go on hold,” Dickerson warned, “the money will be spent somewhere else.” She cited an Irmo area traffic circle project that had citizen concerns when proposed, but that, she said, had turned out to be very successful.
“As Richland County grows, what you put in place now will work down the road,” she said.
Looking back to the council meeting in May of 2012, Ross suggested that if they had known how things would have turned out, that council would likely have taken the McNulty Road project as their first choice.
“But that isn’t possible now,” he said.
The next step, Lewis said, is be to begin rights-of-way acquisitions. He said plans are still to begin construction in the fall or winter of 2019.
BLYTHEWOOD – As controversy heated up over a proposed traffic circle that would impact the Blythewood Road entrances to Cobblestone Park, Palmetto Citizens Bank, the Food Lion shopping complex and two properties owned by Blythewood businessman Larry Sharpe, Richland County Penny Tax officials took a step back this week to again receive citizen input on the issue. But, at the end of the day, David Bailey, one of several members of the county-hired program development team who met with citizens Thursday evening, was less than yielding.
“We can look at it again, but that’s not going to change what works best at this intersection,” Bailey said.
Larry Sharpe, left, and David Bailey of the traffic development team discuss the traffic circle. | Barbara Ball
The County had planned to formally present its case for a final draft of the traffic circle during a public hearing at Muller Road Middle School on Thursday, but decided to forego the formal presentation at the last minute and, instead, hosted what Bailey explained as an informal question and answer session with residents after it became obvious in recent weeks that many of the residents do not want the traffic circle.
Cobblestone Park resident Bethany Parler repeated at that meeting a worry she expressed earlier this month at the Town Council’s annual retreat – that the circle will not solve the traffic problem in that area and might even contribute to a bigger problem.
“If you look at the plans,” Parler said, pointing to one of several renderings and diagrams set up in the school gym, “you will have to turn left out of Cobblestone, then shoot across two lanes of moving traffic, then merge to the right to get on to the interstate while cars are merging onto the circle from Community Road.”
David Bailey, a representative of the program development team hired by the County, did not disagree with that scenario.
While Parler, Sharpe and others reminded Bailey that the circle was not part of the referendum (Master Plan) for the town, Bailey agreed with that also.
“But the referendum identified that Blythewood Road should be widened from I-77 to Syrup Mill Road and it does not get down into the specifics of how each intersection should be improved within that corridor,” Bailey said. “So as part of our engineering study, we’ve looked at each intersection to see if a signal needs to be added and what other improvements could be made to improve traffic and safety. We determined that a traffic circle would be the better improvement at the intersection of Cobblestone and Community Drive,” Bailey said.
Sharpe suggested holding off on the project and evaluating it a little more in light of the growth that would be coming to that area imminently.
“You have all this industrial area [between I-77 and Ashley Oaks] and much of it almost under contract, you have Cobblestone, D. R. Horton is building another 300 homes in back and another developer is coming in with 200 homes [on Blythewood Road near Cobblestone Park],” Sharpe said. “I don’t see, with all this traffic, how a traffic circle will help. In the mornings, there is no break in the traffic for cars to get onto the circle. It’s all bumper to bumper.”
“If traffic is going to back up from I-77 to Syrup Mill Road, it’s going to back up whether we have a circle, a traffic light or no traffic light. We can’t help worst case conditions,” Bailey said. “But this traffic circle will help by slowing traffic down and making people yield. It will give breaks in the traffic,” Bailey explained.
Town Council discussed on Monday evening the possibility of holding a special workshop on the issue sometime in April, and Mayor J. Michael Ross said public input would be invited.
“I think we are going to have to come up with some alternatives, some other ways to deal with traffic in this area,” Ross told The Voice following Thursday evening’s meeting at Muller Road Middle School. “Maybe we can come up with something.”
BLYTHEWOOD – Rimer Pond Road and LongCreek Plantation area residents sat stunned for several seconds Tuesday evening after Richland County Council voted quickly and unanimously, 10-0, to deny a commercial zoning request the residents have fought for the last four years.
The residents had anticipated this would be their most difficult fight. Their own council representative, Gwendolyn Kennedy, wasn’t backing them. She was the only council member to vote against them last year. Worrisome, too, this was the first time the residents would not be allowed to address council about their concerns prior to the vote.
The Rimer Pond Road case was first on the docket and things moved quickly once the residents arrived and took their seats, almost filling the 140-seat chamber.
As Council Chairwoman Joyce Dickerson gaveled the meeting to order Tuesday evening, there was an elephant in the room – Kennedy’s seat at the dias was empty. The residents were puzzled what that would mean for them.
But the palpable clue that the night would be theirs came soon from Councilman Chip Jackson, a Councilman who had come to Blythewood to hear their concerns prior to the December meeting.
“In the absence of the District 7 representative, I’d be willing to make a motion for the purpose of discussion,” Jackson said. He followed the second of his motion with words that hung in the air, savored by the residents.
“My motion is to deny,” Jackson said, referring to Hugh Palmer’s request to rezone 5.23 acres at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road West from Medium Density Zoning (MD-RS) to Neighborhood Commercial (NC).
“I feel strongly about this situation and how the process is working. I believe that the process for approving zoning changes is flawed and needs to have its guidelines reworked. I shared these comments with Ms. Hegler (Director of Richland County Planning and Development Services) and she’s indicated that in the code rewrite, they are going to do that, but in the interim, I want to state my views and concerns.”
Of the several concerns Jackson addressed about the zoning process, he said it does not accommodate and weigh community support and non-support for any zoning requests. He also said the process does not accommodate support or nonsupport by the school district if properties are affected by a zoning request.
Because these and other processes are not in place, Jackson said, “we have situations like this one tonight in which Council is being asked to make difficult decisions without the kind of input that I believe is critical and fair. Because of that, I cannot make a decision without those levels of involvement and participation,” Jackson said.
Councilman Jim Manning became eloquent in his comments.
“I hate to vote against business development in this county.”
“I hate to vote against someone selling their property to make money.”
“I hate to vote against businesses opening because somebody may rob them.”
“I hate to think a county council would get in to the area of determining if certain businesses are needed.”
“I hate to think we would do things to stifle growth that helps to financially support our school districts.”
“I hate to think our staff spent so much time and energy to create a comprehensive plan and we would disregard it.”
“I hate to think that the owner has adjusted the request based on what they have heard at public hearings previously in chambers in the past.”
“However, when I saw the number of people that showed up the Tuesday night before Christmas and have continued in their efforts to communicate with me as a council member through 100s of emails over the course of a couple of months and repeated that again, I have to go with the power of the people,” Manning said.
Councilman Bill Melanowiski weighed in on whether the Richland County Planning Commission’s tie vote (as in the Rimer Pond Road case) should be interpreted as no recommendation at all or as a recommendation of denial of the zoning request.
“In commenting on [Richland County Planning Director] Tracy Hegler’s response regarding the tie vote of the Planning Commission, if we have a tie vote on Council, it is a denial of the request. So why wouldn’t the same rules apply to the Planning Commission’s tie votes?” Melanowski asked.
Dickerson then called for the vote on the motion to deny. Except for the absent Kennedy, the vote was unanimous for the residents.
According to the rules of Richland County Council, Palmer cannot bring a new Neighborhood Commercial zoning request for the property to Council for a year.
BLYTHEWOOD – Residents in the Rimer Pond Road area will be headed to Richland County Council Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. to once again fight commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road.
Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoning is requested by Columbia resident Hugh Palmer for 5.23 acres his family owns at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road West, across from Blythewood Middle School. Palmer’s son, Patrick Palmer, a commercial realtor with NIA Avant, had the acreage listed for sale for $350 million about two years ago, but Palmer told The Voice that he has since taken the listing down.
Tuesday night will be the fourth time in as many years that the residents in LongCreek Plantation, Eagles Glenn and other neighborhoods along Rimer Pond Road have come to Council chambers to fight Palmer’s commercial zoning requests for that same property. But it will be the first time the residents will not be allowed to address Council members prior to Council’s vote. That scenario is due to a maneuver by their own Council representative, Gwendolyn Kennedy, who initiated moving the vote to a second public hearing where residents will not be allowed to address Council at all. Residents this will make the uphill battle even tougher for them.
Council’s first vote was set to take place immediately after the residents addressed Council during a public hearing on Dec. 19. But after they had finished speaking, Kennedy, who is the only member of Council who voted against them last year on the commercial zoning issue, called for a deferral of the first vote to the Feb. 27 public hearing. Had she made her motion to defer prior to the residents addressing Council, they would have been allowed to speak at the Feb. 27 public hearing.
“Not being able to address Council before they vote, and remind them why we do not want commercial zoning in our area, puts us at a huge disadvantage,” Rimer Pond Road resident Trey Hair said. “The maneuver blindsided us and is to Palmer’s advantage. Even if we had seen it coming, there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. When we have been able to talk to Council members before a vote and explain why we don’t want commercial zoning on our road, why it would soon eat away our residential community, they have seen us through. Since we won’t have that chance this time, it’s scary,” Hair said.
“We’ll just hope the better angels and Council look out for us once again,” another resident on the road, Michael Watts, said.
At issue is that there is no commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road which is the gateway to several neighborhoods including LongCreek Plantation, Eagles Glen and Coopers Pond. Besides the neighborhoods, Rimer Pond Road is lined with family farms, churches and large acre residential properties.
While Hugh Palmer has hired a lobbyist to sway council members and tried to convince Council and residents that the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) businesses planned for the site will be neighborhood friendly, residents say the reality is that once the commercial zoning is in place, the property owner, whoever that turns out to be, is free to bring the highest NC use allowed by the zoning, including a convenience store with gas pumps.
Residents also cite other corner lot owners in the area who have let it be known that once a commercial zoning is approved on the road, they will be waiting in line to ask for commercial zoning as well.
At a community meeting in LongCreek Plantation last week concerning the proposed commercial zoning, residents quoted Richland County Sheriff’s Office statistics about how crime follows commercial zoning uses and how crime increases incidents that involve law enforcement at schools when they are next to or across from commercial entities.
While residents will not be allowed to speak at Tuesday night’s meeting, some Council members have said they have been inundated with emails from the community. And residents say they also plan to make their presence known Tuesday night by wearing red. Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross, Councilman Eddie Baughman and others in the community who do not live on the road say they plan to attend Tuesday night’s meeting.
“We want them to at least know we are there,” said longtime Rimer Pond Road resident Mary Lee. “Hopefully they will see us, remember our cause and vote for us.”
The commercial zoning request will come before County Council on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers in the county building at Harden and Hampton streets. Call 576-2172 for a meeting packet.
Town Councilman Eddie Baughman lends his support to almost 200 community members who oppose commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road. They met at the Windermere Club to help their County Council representative Gwendolyn Kennedy understand their plight. | Barbara Ball
BLYTHEWOOD – Almost 200 residents in the Rimer Pond Road, LongCreek Plantation and Eagles Glen neighborhoods showed up, many wearing red in solidarity, at the Windermere Club last week to express to their County Council representative the myriad reasons they do not want commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road.
Columbia resident Hugh Palmer has requested Neighborhood Commercial zoning for 5.23 acres his family owns across from Blythewood Middle School. Neither Palmer nor his son Patrick attended the meeting. Patrick Palmer, who recently resigned after serving 12 years on the Richland County Planning Commission, actively promotes the rezoning request and had the property listed with his real estate company two years ago for $3.5 million.
Richland County Councilwoman Gwendolyn Kennedy, who represents the area where the commercial zoning is requested, did attend and heard two hours of impassioned pleas from residents. Blythewood Town Council member Eddie Baughman and Mayor J. Michael Ross also attended and called on Kennedy to keep commercial zoning out of the area.
Asked at one point by Jerry Rega, the meeting organizer, if there was anyone at the meeting who wanted to speak in favor of commercial, no one did.
Patrice Matthews said a convenience store could be in her back yard.
While the residents were of one accord, they had a tricky course to navigate. Although Kennedy represents the area, she is the only one of the 11 County Council members who voted against the residents last year when the issue came before Council.
Until this meeting, Kennedy has not accepted or responded to invitations to meet with the residents. Many residents who emailed Kennedy said they never got an answer. Kennedy confirmed at the meeting that she leaves that to her 10-year-old grandson.
Speaker after speaker told Kennedy they did not need or want commercial conveniences brought into their area.
At one point, Kennedy asked the incredulous audience, “Have these thoughts been expressed previously?”
“Once this property is zoned commercial of any kind, one of the criteria for future zoning will be, ‘Commercial zoning is next door or close by.’ Then you have to consider it,” one speaker said to Kennedy. “And the properties on the corners around this property are just waiting.”
LongCreek Plantation resident Tracy Courson handed out pages of annual security statistics compiled by the Richland County Sheriff’s office that show how students under 17 are more likely to be involved in incidents involving the police when schools, even elementary schools, in proximity to commercial entities.
Examples of schools not located next to commercial entities include Blythewood Middle School with 7 such incidents and Round Top Elementary with 14 incidents. Examples of schools that are next to or across the street from commercial entities include Sandlapper (52 incidents), Dentsville Middle (91 incidents) and Rice Creek Elementary (67 incidents).
LongCreek Estates resident Patrick Whiddon rattled off the numbers of murders, shoplifting and robberies that occurred at the Sharpe Shoppe, Domino’s and Circle K, all in the Lee Road/Longtown Road commercial area; as well as crimes committed at commercialized corners on Hardscrabble with Spinx, CVS and Walgreens.
“I work in law enforcement,” said one attendee, “and more crimes happen in areas with commercial buildings.”
“While Mr. Palmer says gas stations are not allowed under Neighborhood Commercial zoning, which is the zoning he is requesting for the property across from Blythewood Middle School,” Woodlake Farms resident Shannon Fields said, “convenience stores with gas pumps are allowed. It’s the same thing.”
“This property that Mr. Palmer wants to zone commercial is in our back yard,” Patrice Matthews said. “Once you bring commercial zoning next to homes, you open the gate for other things besides homes, churches and schools to come in to our neighborhood. It’s a slippery slope. I’m nervous about it.”
One Coatsbridge resident who said the Palmers’ property borders her property said her family is military and her husband is deployed.
“My children and I are there by ourselves for long periods and I would not feel safe living next to a convenience store,” the woman said, her voice trembling. “This is not what we want for our family or our community. You were elected to help provide safety for us, take care of us. If you vote for this commercial zoning, you are not taking care of us.”
Another woman pointed out that there are many empty commercial buildings strewn about the outskirts of the neighborhood, and that more commercial businesses are not needed.
“We don’t want another Hardscrabble nightmare on Longtown Road,” Mary Hoffman said. “There are already many empty stores and offices nearby. We don’t need commercial zoning out here. We love that it’s still semi-rural, and we want to keep it that way,” Hoffman said.
Blythewood Councilman Eddie Baughman, who also serves as Mayor pro tem, said commercial development on Rimer Pond Road would not improve the quality of life for anyone in the room.
“These folks’ commercial needs are provided for in Blythewood, the Sandhills, on Killian Road and Hardscrabble. We, as the Town of Blythewood, support these residents. They don’t want or need this proposed commercial zoning,” Baughman said as he was drowned out by thunderous applause.
Scott Galloway asked Kennedy what the decision maker will be for her when she votes.
“I base my decision on how it [commercial zoning] will affect the community and how it will benefit Richland County,” Kennedy said. She said the County staff had shown her the feasibility of going ahead with Palmer’s rezoning and what needs to be done in the area.
Asked how the commercial zoning would benefit the county, Kennedy said she would hear what County Zoning Administrator Geonardo Price had to say on that at a separate meeting. Pressed for an answer, Kennedy said the things that would be good for the county were written on a paper she held in her hand.
When asked to reveal what things were on the paper, Kennedy declined to answer.
Asked if she had heard from any residents in the affected area who were in favor of the commercial zoning requested by Palmer, Kennedy was hesitant, then said she had not.
“You have the chance to do the right thing and vote for the people or you have the chance to vote for the landowner who stands to make $3.5 million,” Hair said to Kennedy.
“I encourage the community to flood County Council members with emails every day,” Ross said after thanking Kennedy for her attendance. “Do it over and over, telling them that you don’t want, don’t need commercial zoning out here. It just does not fit.”
Because Kennedy waited until after the residents had spoken to defer the vote on the matter during a County Council public hearing on Dec. 19, residents will be in the unique position of not being allowed to address Council prior to its first vote on the requested commercial zoning during the Tuesday, Feb. 27 meeting.
“That is a huge blow to our efforts,” Hair said. “But all the council members except Ms. Kennedy voted with us last year and, really, Council has been with us every time this issue has come before them. They have never let us down, and we are trusting that they will be with us again, and Ms. Kennedy, too.”
The commercial zoning request will come before County Council on Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., in Council Chambers in the County building at Harden and Hampton Streets. The agenda and packet for the meeting should be available from the County the week prior to the meeting. To obtain a copy of the agenda and the entire meeting packet via email, call Tommy Delage at 576-2172 or email him at delaget@rcgov.us or call 576-2190.
COLUMBIA – For the second year in a row, Richland County has invited county residents to participate in what the County calls the rewriting of the County’s Land Development Code (zoning ordinance) and regulations. A flier announcing meetings, on Feb. 5 and Feb. 7, states that residents’ input will help guide the rewrite.
But some residents who attended those meetings last year claimed during public presentation at Richland County Planning Commission and County Council meetings in the fall of 2017 that they never heard back after making their suggestions for changes and new directions for zoning. Indeed, County officials concede there have been no reports on the results of last year’s meetings.
Tracy Hegler, Director of Planning and Development for Richland County, told the Voice prior to a Planning Commission meeting last September, that no reports would be forthcoming until the second group of meetings in February, 2018.
Last year’s meetings came just after Richland County Council voted against a request by Hugh Palmer for commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road. During that process, residents were unhappy to learn that the County’s Comprehensive Plan (a document directing future zoning in an area) designated future development along Rimer Pond Road as suburban (medium density zoning), not rural as it is currently zoned. Much of the controversy surrounding the Palmer’s commercial rezoning request is focused on that issue.
Much of the land in that area is made up of farms and large acre properties that back up to LongCreek Plantation. The residents from both areas have expressed to Richland County Council and to the Planning Commission during the past several years a desire for properties in that area to remain rural in the future. They said that once commercial zoning is approved for one property, it will spread down the road, destroying the neighborhood’s quality of life and even safety.
“Right now, in some areas, like Rimer Pond Road, the people who live there are not liking what the county has planned for their area in terms of zoning,” Ashley Powell, Community Planning and Development Services Manager, said last year. “We want to protect the character of the neighborhood that the people moved out there for. We need to amend (the Richland County Comp Plan) based on the feedback we get from the people.”
But residents in the Rimer Pond Road area have said in Richland County public meetings that they are looking for the mapped-out long range vision for their area to change from suburban back to rural. Nothing on the County’s website weplantogether.org indicates the County has taken any actions to make that happen. Some Rimer Pond Road area residents have asked Council officials during public meetings this past year how they will know the County is actually going to implement their suggestions.
The County has announced again this year that the two February meetings will be held as part of an ongoing process to put into action the County’s Comprehensive (Comp) Plan which was last updated in 2015.
“The next step is the rewrite of the Land Development Code,” Powell said. “The Code is what punches that Comp Plan (vision) into action (law). This Code undergirds the vision set forth in the Comp Plan with enforceable standards for development. This moves the County from envisioning the kind of place where we want to live, to creating it,” Powell said.
The County’s press release states that to learn more about the implementation of the 2015 updates to the County’s Comprehensive Plan, visit weplantogether.org. But there are no discernable updates from last February’s meetings on the site to indicate residents’ suggestions are being implemented. And there is no specific information as to changes residents in the Rimer Pond Road/LongCreek Plantation area or any other area say they want in the long term for their area to be zoned.
Two code rewrite meetings are scheduled:
Monday, Feb. 5, 6 – 8 p.m., at Council Chambers, 2020 Hampton St., Columbia. The meeting will be live-streamed to the libraries in Blythewood, Eastover and other locations that can be found on the project website, weplantogether.org. The meeting can also be viewed online on RCTV or at rcgov.us.
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2- 4 p.m., at the Community Room at the Decker Center, 2500 Decker Blvd., Columbia.
COLUMBIA – During a Richland County Council public hearing on a request for commercial zoning on Rimer Pond Road Tuesday night, a parliamentary faux pas and a bizarre motion from the Rimer Pond Road area’s own council representative resulted in a confusing deferral to Council’s Feb. 27 meeting.
Michael Watts addresses Richland County Council members Tuesday night.
After an hour into the meeting that included testimony from Rimer Pond Road area residents streaming to the microphone to speak against Hugh Palmer’s request to rezone 5.23 acres on Rimer Pond Road for commercial use, Chairwoman Joyce Dickerson announced the public hearing closed and called on Councilwoman Gwen Kennedy, the representative for Rimer Pond Road, to make a motion.
Kennedy, who in the past has voted against her constituents and in favor of Palmer’s commercial rezoning requests, made a motion that appeared to momentarily stun the audience and council members as well.
“I’ve been listening to everything and I make a motion to deny (the rezoning request),” Kennedy said.
Another council member seconded the motion.
“The motion has been properly made and seconded,” Dickerson said. There was a pause as Kennedy looked toward the audience and appeared to exchange glances with Palmer.
“I’m sorry,” Kennedy said, “I’m making a motion to defer it.”
“You want to remove your, uh…” Dickerson said, turning to Kennedy.
“I want to find out what people in this area want. I’m going to make a motion to defer this to the next meeting, uh, so that I can hear from some more of the residents because I’ve not heard from but a few. I’d like to hear. I move to defer this,” Kennedy said.
Without revisiting the original motion and second as would be required by Roberts Rules, Council passed the deferral 7-3.
“Do you want to have another public hearing?” Tracey Hegler, Director of Planning and Zoning for Richland County, asked Dickerson.
“No, we will not have another public hearing,” Dickerson said.
“Wait,” Hegler said. “You’re not going to have another public hearing?
Dickerson then told a resident that there will be another public hearing, but that no one would be allowed to speak.
While Council would not be required to allow the public to speak at a second public hearing, multiple public hearings are allowed on an issue and could be held at the discretion of Council. A vote can be taken at that meeting without allowing the public to speak if County Council so chooses.
It was the fourth time in as many years that Palmer has requested some type of commercial zoning for the 5.23 acres at the intersection of Rimer Pond Road and Longtown Road West, across from Blythewood Middle School.
When Palmer’s third commercial rezoning request came before Council in February 2017, Kennedy left her seat at the dais during the meeting and followed the Palmers’ lobbyist, Boyd Brown, into the hallway outside the chambers. After about five minutes they returned and Kennedy made the motion in favor of Palmer’s request. She was the only member of Council to vote in favor of the rezoning, which was denied.
Approximately 60 residents from Rimer Pond Road, LongCreek Plantation and Eagle’s Glen neighborhoods attended Tuesday night’s meeting, but only 14 of the 32 who signed up to speak were allowed to address Council since total speaking time on the issue was limited to 30 minutes. The residents’ mantra was repeated by almost every speaker – “We don’t need it. We don’t want it.” None of the residents from the Rimer Pond Road area spoke in favor of commercial zoning on the road which is made up primarily of farms and large acre properties.
“We are extremely opposed to this,” said Michael Watts who said his family has lived on Rimer Pond Road for generations. “Mr. Palmer made a business decision to purchase this property in about 2007 and he has made plenty of money on it. The County even bailed him out on 35 acres of it. So, as a profit motive, he’s got his profit. How about a people motive? Maybe you could do what the people want out there, which is no commercial,” Watts said.
In 2015, the Palmers had the property listed for $350,000 per acre. After The Voice published that information, Patrick Palmer notified the newspaper to say he would no longer be listing the property.
Palmer brought along three supporters, all in the building industry – Jacob Rabon, a civil engineer from Lexington; Bill Flowers, a developer from Columbia and Earl McLeod, with the Columbia Home Builders Association – who spoke to the advantages of commercial development in the rural area.
Palmer‘s son, Patrick, told Council that numerous residents in the Rimer Pond Road area had called to tell him they are in favor of the rezoning, but he said they didn’t want to come out to a public meeting. At the February 2017 meeting, lobbyist Boyd Brown, speaking on behalf of the Palmers, said he had in his possession a petition with 125 signatures of people who supported commercial rezoning on Rimer Pond Road, but none of the alleged supporters showed up at that meeting.
“Richland School District is in favor of this (rezoning),” Patrick Palmer told Council. But LongCreek Plantation resident Jerry Rega countered that claim.
“I spoke with the administrators of both Round Top Elementary and Blythewood Middle School, and they are opposed to this commercial rezoning,” Rega said.
“If the School District supports this commercial zoning, then I would think a representative of the District would have been here to speak in support of it,” resident Michael Lacey said.
Palmers’ three supporters also urged Council to follow the guidance of the County’s planning staff who recommended the rezoning to both the Planning Commission and County Council. The three touted the staff’s professional perspective of the rezoning and their degrees.
“Your planning staff, professionals in the County, that do this for a living and have degrees in this, are in favor of this as well,” Patrick Palmer told council members.
“I urge Council to listen to your planning staff and vote in favor of this commercial rezoning,” developer Bill Flowers said.
“Neighborhood Commercial zoning was, in fact, developed for just this type of development,” McLeod said, urging Council to follow the County’s comp plan (Comprehensive Planning Guide) that he said serves as a road map for future development.
But several of the residents said the comp plan for future growth in the Rimer Pond area is out of sync with what the area is.
“We’ve been coming down here for 25 years telling you want we want and it never makes its way into the comp plan,” resident Michael Watts said.
Rega, a resident of LongCreek Plantation, also addressed the County’s comp plan, waving his copy in the air.
“The comp plan says, specifically, that it is not intended to provide site level guidance,” Rega said. “I’m tired of people coming from outside our area claiming to know what we need,” Rega said, addressing Palmers’ Columbia and Lexington supporters from the building industry.
“I moved here for the rural setting. It’s peaceful. It’s nice. It’s where we live. We simply have no need for commercial conveniences in our neighborhood,” Eagles Glen resident Chris Henchy said.
“We don’t need anything but for that corner to stay a cell phone tower,” West Lake Farms resident Elizabeth Mull said. “Please don’t let this go forward. We love where we live. We don’t need commercial coming any closer.”
Representative Joe McEachern also spoke to the quality of life the residents enjoy in their community and urged Council to consider that when they vote.
But Hugh Palmer, who was granted his request to be allowed to have his named moved down the speaker sign-up sheet which gave him the advantage of having the last word of all the speakers, encouraged Council to vote for his commercial rezoning request, saying the area is changing.
“Whether folks in the area desire that or not, the area is changing,” Hugh Palmer said.
The next public hearing on the commercial rezoning request will be held in council chambers at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27. To request an emailed packet for that meeting, call 803-576-2174 the week prior to the meeting.
