COLUMBIA – For years, folks in rural Richland County who chose to live on dirt roads have continued to enjoy that lifestyle so long as 25 percent of the people who live on the road object to the road being paved, according to Chapter 21 of the County’s Dirt Road Paving Ordinance 043-14.
Last month, however, the county’s interim transportation director, Michael Maloney, asked the County’s Transportation Ad Hoc committee to recommend that County Council amend the Dirt Road Paving ordinance by removing the section in Chapter 21 that allows 25 percent of property owners on the road to decline a road paving project.
The amendment, Maloney said, would allow the County to proactively pursue and complete the paving of Richland County dirt roads. The amendment could affect more than a hundred dirt roads in Blythewood 29016.
The requested amendment to the ordinance will shift the priority to the larger number of residents who might request their dirt road to be paved rather than to the lower number of residents who might resist the paving work, according to county officials.
Kim Murphy who lives on a dirt road and frequently advocates at Richland County Council meetings rejects the county staff’s notion that the majority of people on dirt roads want their roads paved.
“I think the majority don’t want it paved. If the county feels the majority of people who live on dirt roads want their roads paved, then the county could increase the percentage from 25% to 51% instead of deleting it all together,” Murphy said. “Then, if the majority wants a road paved, those who did not would not be able to get 51% in support of not paving it. This is a power grab by the county.
The committee unanimously supported Maloney’s proposed amendment, and sent it to council with a recommendation for approval.
Committee member Don Weaver, however, questioned the county’s motivation and tactics in achieving their goal to pave the dirt roads.
“So we take out the 25 percent clause, then what kind of feedback do we get from the owners? Do we just mail out and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to pave your road in 60 days and that’s it?’ Weaver asked. “I understand lessening the requirements for y’all,” Weaver said, “but I’m concerned about the feedback from the residents.”
“If we’re going to pave the dirt road,” Maloney said, “it would be a lot like we do with the resurfacing. We put out notices of what we’re about to do. This is a capital improvement.”
Under Weaver’s questioning, Maloney conceded that the department “would be okay with leaving some of that in, like the return receipt. And it does have a time limit of 30 days,” he said, “which is good. But the last sentence, for sure, we would take out that last sentence that creates the denial [of the paving by 25 percent].”
Maloney said a dirt road is more expensive to maintain than a paved road, citing the cost of personnel and equipment, but did not include other costs associated with maintaining a paved road such as the periodic need for large amounts of materials needed to maintain paved roads.
He told the committee that he would provide a report comparing those expenses, but did not present such a report at either the first or the second reading by County Council.
“I can’t believe our council representatives are doing such an about-face. They must not know how valuable dirt roads are to the majority of residents living on them,” Murphy said. “Though I think the current 25 percent clause is best, if they really think the majority want it paved, increase the threshold to 51%, but don’t do away with it completely. Otherwise, it feels like the County wants unfettered access — for whatever reason — to pave dirt roads and take land for 50 feet of right-of-way.”
“Why would they think residents would want to trade a slow-speed country dirt road for a high-speed paved road with traffic and potholes that would facilitate the construction of dense housing subdivisions or multi-family developments?” Murphy said.
Maloney also explained that the ordinance provides for takings of the right of way by the county. He said the county would be able to take roads for paving and “may pay the property owner for the land.”
When first reading came up for Maloney’s proposed amendment to delete the 25% denial specification, Councilman Jason Branham tried to intervene prior to the vote.
“I wondered if 50% would help us get more into that principle or that realm of majority rule where, unless more than 50 percent of the homeowners object to it, then the paving should be able to proceed,” Branham suggested.
Councilman Jason Branham voted against Maloney’s proposal, but the other council members voted for it.
Branham later asked Maloney if going from 25% to 51% would facilitate more of the projects that are on hold and Maloney said it would add some, but he did not have a number.
“Once we get past first reading, we can talk about 51%, 75%, 80%…,”Council chair Overture Walker said.
Not only did Walker not bring it up at second reading, but second reading for the proposal to delete the 25% clause was passed unanimously with almost no discussion. Branham was not present.
Third and final reading on the proposed amendment is expected to be held July 18 in county council chambers, at which time the vote will be preceded by a public hearing.
WINNSBORO – Two of Winnsboro’s finest have officially been named Chief and Deputy Chief of the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety.
Kevin Lawrence was sworn in last September as Interim Chief of WDPS, and last month he was elevated to Chief. Veteran Fairfield deputy Oren Gadson was named Deputy Chief.
Lawrence, 40, studied criminal justice at Charleston Southern University and is a 19-year veteran of law enforcement.
Prior to being hired by Winnsboro, Lawrence spent two years as an investigator with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department. Prior to that, he served a short time as a deputy in Aiken, where he grew up and began his law enforcement career.
Lawrence previously worked for 12 years as a deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department under Sheriff Leon Lott in Columbia, serving in numerous law enforcement areas, including the Community Action Team, the burglary suppression team, on the narcotics team, as a public information officer, and in drug enforcement.
From 2016 to 2018, Lawrence was a popular deputy on the cop show, LIVE PD.
After two years on the show, Lawrence worked in the criminal investigation division of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department before coming to Fairfield County.
“Kevin came highly recommended, and I felt his background in all levels of law enforcement made him well prepared to take on the challenges of some of Winnsboro’s crime issues, particularly the drive-by shootings our Town was experiencing at the time,” Town Manager Jason Taylor said.
Taylor said he is pleased with the progress in the department since Lawrence took over.
“Kevin has brought new vitality to the WDPS. He has demonstrated himself well. The department has greatly improved and has been more active in drug and traffic enforcement,” Taylor said. “I am pleased.”
Gadsen Named Deputy Chief
Oren Gadsen, who grew up in Fairfield County, worked 29 years in law enforcement, before being named Deputy Chief of the WDPS last month. He has served in the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department, the Chester Police Department, the Fairfield County Detention Center and the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety.
In addition to his experience working in criminal investigation, undercover drug investigation, field training and other areas of law enforcement, Gadsen is also a certified firefighter.
Lawrence says Gadsen completes what he calls his great team.
“He not only has the law enforcement credentials for the job, but he grew up in Fairfield County and knows everybody,” Lawrence said. “That’s important to our work. He’s been doing this job in Fairfield County long before I came here and he provides a wealth of knowledge.”
Lawrence said he’s proud of the team he’s put together in Winnsboro. Quickly establishing priorities for his department, Lawrence said he wants his officers to not just enforce the laws of the town but he wants them to talk to and get to know the people they meet every day.
“One of our main jobs as officers is to brighten someone’s day,” he said.
“As Chief, I’m only going to be as strong as my team, and I’ll put the team we now have in place up against anybody’s. I knew that to be successful in this job, I would have to have the right people around me,” he said. “We have that team.”
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Schools Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green has announced that he will retire at some point during the next school year.
He made the announcement Wednesday evening.
Green has served the Fairfield County School District for 11 years. During his tenure, he guided the construction of a new career center and launched a dual enrollment for high school students that would allow them to graduate high school with an associate’s degree from Midlands Tech.
“I’m at the point now where I have done with what I’ve been charged with doing here,” Green told WLTX-TV news.
He said he will stay here long enough to help the district through the transition to a new superintendent. He said he is writing a book and plans to do some consulting with other districts.
BLYTHEWOOD – New proposals concerning road widening and new road and rail extensions to the Scout Motors development were shared with the Blythewood Planning Commissioners at their regular monthly meeting on Monday night.
One proposal, explained by Brooks Bickley of the S.C. Department of Transportation, is to relocate the Boomer Road entrance to U.S. 21 about 150-200 feet towards the Town of Blythewood, then re-route U.S. 21 from that new Boomer Road intersection southwestwardly through the former Google property, to just past the Fairfield Electric power station where it would tie back in to U.S. 21.
Under that proposal, Farrow Road would also be realigned to intersect with the re-routed U.S. 21. The newly proposed connector road from the Scout plant would then pour into a point along the rerouted section of U.S. 21 where additional turn lanes would be added, according to Bickley.
“The rail spur that’s going to feed the Scout development was originally proposed as an at-grade crossing on U.S. 21,” Bickley said. “In order to avoid an at-grade crossing there, one alternative is to take the re-routed section of US 21 over the rail.
The new connector road that will be coming from the Scout plant, over the newly proposed Exit 26 interchange on I-77 (between Exit 24 and Exit 27) would then tie in to the rerouted U.S. 21.
“Another part of this project for S.C. DOT would be the widening of I-77 northbound,” Bickley said. “That widening would start just north of Exit 24 where it actually necks down from three lanes to two lanes in the northbound direction. We would continue that third lane north to give additional capacity to I-77.”
The proposal also calls for the rerouted section of U.S. 21 to be widened to 3 to 5 lanes.
Thomas and Hutton is contracted by Richland County to do the widening work on Blythewood Road between Syrup Mill Road and Muller Road, with an extension of work (turn lanes primarily) to continue a short distance on Muller Road. Thomas and Hutton are also contracted with the county to widen Community Road to four lanes and to construct the new county road from the Scout plant east across the proposed I-77 interchange to U.S. 21.
The County’s Penny project includes the current installation of a new roundabout at the Community and Blythewood Road intersection.
“So this is going to be the new north axis that the county will own,” Bickley said. “We don’t have a lot of details on the proposed Exit 26 interchange yet, but Norfolk Southern will be installing the new rail line which will come from the other side of Highway 21 down across and into the site,” Bickley said.
“We’re in the process of doing a traffic study right now that should be to us in the next couple of weeks,” he said. “Once we have that traffic study it can give us final recommendations of what actual improvements need to be done and where.”
Bickley said the traffic count was finished before school ended and that S.C. DOT is just waiting on the calculations to be finalized.
BLYTHEWOOD – A special exception has been requested from the Board of Zoning Appeals for a cluster single-family development to be approved on two parcels at 11017 Wilson Boulevard in Blythewood. The property is located just south of the former Dinkins used car business on Wilson.
Chandler Roy, representing the Pulte Group in Columbia, said 140 single-family homes are planned for the properties if the special exception is approved.
One of the parcels (TMS # R15200-03-29) is 89.65 acres, and the other parcel (R15200-03-08) is located at the entrance to the larger parcel, and is 1.38 acres. Together the two parcels that make up 91.03 acres that are zoned D-1.
The special exception that is being requested is 153.150 – 155, a Conservation Subdivision Design.
“We are proposing to implement the conservation subdivision design as outlined in the ordinance,” Roy said in his application.
Roy told The Voice that, under the conservation subdivision design, the 140 homes would be built on half the property, approximately 45 acres (less about 10 acres for roads) and the other half of the property, which is wetlands, would meet the ordinance requirements for green space.
The proposed development, Roy said, will embrace the existing open space characteristics of the area.
“Our design will allow for more open space to remain on the overall track by condensing the footprint of the lots and roads,” Roy stated in the application. “The standard requirements for the current zoning will result in less open space and a bigger footprint by lots and roads.”
In 2017, the Town’s council voted to have no lots smaller than 20,000 square feet in size. The information available puts Pulte’s proposal at about 8,000 square feet per lot, more or less.
Roy came before the BZA On Dec. 12, 2022, with the same request, but did not have a conservation easement in place.
Ray Fatone made a motion to defer the special exception and have the applicant come back with a conservation easement written up and a public workshop to further discuss. The motion passed 4-0.
According to a public notice published by the Town, the BZA will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m., Monday, May 15, 2023, at Doko Manor, 100 Alvina Hagood Road in Blythewood.