BLYTHEWOOD – Rezoning requests for four large-acre Blythewood 29016 properties came before the Richland County planning commission on Feb. 3 and are scheduled to come before Richland County Council for a public hearing Tuesday, Feb. 25. The first of three required votes on the rezoning will be taken at that meeting. Of the three required meetings, the Feb. 25 meeting is the only one where the public will be allowed to speak for or against the proposed rezonings.
The four rezoning requests include: a 14.03-acre property at Wilson Blvd. and Turkey Farm Road, where the developer proposes to bring commercial and retail businesses; a 198.84-acre property at 800 Mount Valley Road combined with 64.84 acre property at 812 Mount Valley Road, where the developer proposes to build 600 single family homes; and a 10.55-acre property at 624 Langford Road, where the owner is requesting to divide her property into four two-acre parcels and a larger parcel.
PC Recommends Commercial Zoning
The county’s planning staff recommended approval of the rezoning of 14.03 acres at the corner of Wilson Blvd. and Turkey Farm Road from HM/RT (Homestead/Residential Transition) to GC (General Commercial) saying the rezoning complies with the 2015 Comprehensive Plan which allows commercial and retail development on the site.
Four Blythewood residents spoke out against the rezoning at the Feb. 3 planning commission meeting.
“The water from this particular property is going to hit Hawkins Creek watershed,” said nearby resident Jeanette Robinson. “My property is at the end of this watershed and every time a development is approved on this watershed, my property gets hammered. It is being severely damaged. I have begged this county to stop the nonsense.”
Robinson said there is a conservation easement just above her property and that the drainage from the watershed drains through that conservation.
“That conservation easement was put there to preserve,” she told council members. “Richland County is not doing a good job preserving. The county does not have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the traffic from this proposed development. I don’t know when the county is going to look at its infrastructure instead of just rubberstamping everything,” Robinson said.
The Planning Commission voted 5-2 to recommend the requested GC rezoning to council, who will hear the proposal on Feb. 25.
100’s of Homes
The 2015 Richland County Comprehensive Plan for the two large-acre parcels at 800 and 812 Mount Valley Road designates this area as Neighborhood (low density). The county’s planning staff concluded that these properties should not be rezoned from AG (Agriculture) to R3 (Residential 3) because R3 zoning is not compliant with the objectives for Neighborhood (low density).
Representative for the developer, consultant Brandon Pridemore, appearing before the Richland County planning commission on Feb. 3, conceded that the requested R3 zoning does not comply with the comprehensive plan, but he said he’s looking at the big picture of what’s happening in that area with Scout’s arrival.
“These properties are within half a mile of Scout and we felt this would be a good opportunity to supplement the housing needs that will probably be coming with Scout,” Pridemore has not been clear about the number of units per acre the developer plans to build but says it will be relatively low density. What we’re building will be complimentary to what’s there.”
Mount Valley resident Mark Johnson and other neighbors agreed that a lot of development and expansion is going on because of Scout.
“But a lot of us that live here don’t want that additional traffic and neighborhoods,” Johnston said. “These two parcels are fed by dirt roads and most homes in the area sit on 3-5 acres. We enjoy the rural, the woods, and the animals.”
Johnson pushed back against what Pridemore said would amount to low density development, noting that R3 zoning allows the developer to build up to 6 homes to the acre and 1,800 homes for the entire development.
The planning commission agreed with the residents, however, voting 6-1 for disapproval of the proposed rezoning of both Mount Valley parcels.
Langford Road Request
Property owner and Blythewood resident Carol Crooks requested that the planning commission recommend that 10.55 acres she owns on Langford Road be rezoned from AG (Agriculture) to HM (Homestead) so that she can divide the parcel into three two-acre parcels and another larger parcel.
“I’m not a developer and I don’t have [immediate] plans to sell these parcels,” Crooks told the commissioners. She said she wants to be able to sell them separately when she might need money to pay for repairs on her own home across the street.
Several of her neighbors came forward to support Crooks’ rezoning request, and no one opposed it.
While the requested HM rezoning did not technically comply with the comprehensive plan, it offers less density than the current zoning, and the commissioners voted unanimously to recommend approval of Crooks’ request for HM zoning.
Public Hearing Feb. 25
All four rezoning requests will go before the County Council on Tuesday, Feb. 25, for a public hearing and first vote on the requests. This meeting will be the only opportunity for the public to address council concerning the rezonings. The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in the county council chambers at 2020 Hampton Street in Columbia. Those wishing to speak must sign up prior to the beginning of the start of the meeting.
