COLUMBIA – The rezoning request for a residential development that could bring as many as 500 homes to the Heins Road area in Blythewood has been deferred until November, according to Richland County Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson.
The request was recommended for approval to Richland County Council by the County’s Planning Commission on Sept. 8. A public hearing was scheduled Sept. 22, but when a large crowd showed up to protest the rezoning, Dickerson called for the hearing to be deferred until October to give time for representatives of the developer, Drapac, Inc., to meet with residents who live near the area to be rezoned. That community meeting took place Oct. 1.
After the developer could not answer some of the questions posed by residents at that meeting, including how many homes were to be built in the development, Dickerson said she would schedule another meeting before the next County Council meeting on Oct. 27.
But in an email to The Voice on Oct. 14, Dickerson said that “because of the problematic flooding in the area . . . please be advised that the applicant (Drapac, Inc.) has made a request to defer this item until November. Therefore there will not be any action on this item as previously presented.”
Dickerson told The Voice that she would let the community know when another community meeting would be scheduled, and that it would be held before the County Council’s Nov. 23 public hearing.
