BLYTHEWOOD – After almost 13 years of not being developed in accordance with its Planned Development (PD) zoning designation, the 143-acre property on Blythewood Road, known as Red Gate, is on the brink of being rezoned by Town Council.
The Town of Blythewood code of ordinances places a time-specific condition upon the established PD zoning district, with a mandate for the planning commission to initiate a rezoning under certain circumstances. The commission determined at its Aug. 3 meeting that the Red Gate property falls under those ‘certain circumstances, which are:
If the responsible party fails to begin, fails to progress, or fails to complete development as agreed in the descriptive statement, Town Council may charge the developer with violation of the Zoning Chapter, may rezone the property, or may take any combination of these actions. In any event, if the planned development is not initiated within 2 years of its establishment, the planning commission shall initiate the rezoning of the property to an appropriate district classification in conformity with the comprehensive plan.
The majority of the property, which lies between Syrup Mill and Muller Road, is owned by Arthur State Bank. A small portion of the property, 2.41 acres is owned by Sharpe Shoppes.
The original PDD (Planned Development District) zoning was established in 2007 under the jurisdiction of Richland County. The property was subsequently annexed into the Town of Blythewood with a PD zoning designation. The PD development was to be comprised of 232 single family units, 300 multi-family apartment units and 36 acres of general commercial.
The planning commission voted on Aug. 8 to recommend that town council rezone the property to D-1 Development district, a zoning designation that provides for large tracts of land located primarily on the fringe of urban growth where the predominant character of urban development has not yet been fully established, but is predominantly residential or agricultural with scattered related uses. Council will meet at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 8, for first reading of the zoning fate of Red Gate.
