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Plantersville plan has fatal flaw, Conservation League says
5/9/2008 | Today's Georgetown Times Online Edition
Published on 3/27/2008
By Tommy Howard
thoward@gtowntimes.com
To Nancy Cave, the draft proposal for zoning the Plantersville area of Georgetown County has a fatal flaw. She says it's a good start, but large timber tracts "are all zoned at suburban densities, or one unit per acre."
In a flyer being circulated around the county, Cave says "That zoning will not protect rural Plantersville from sprawl, but instead will surround you with it."
Public meeting
Director of the North Coast office of the S.C. Coastal Conservation League, Cave and Amy Weinmeister of the organization are urging people to come to a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday. The meeting will be at the Plantersville Elementary School.
The Georgetown County Planning Commission will be holding the public meeting. Chairman Jeff Kinard said everyone who wants to speak will be given the opportunity to do so. At the same time, he says, if a previous speaker has made the same point he asks that comments not be repeated.
Ruin the villages
Cave said despite months of meetings and conversations, potential sprawl has not been alleviated. The undeveloped tracts still would be zoned at one house per acre. Even taking into account unbuildable wetlands, she said, there could be 11,000 homes built in the area if the timberlands were to be developed into single-family homesites.
"Not only that, there's no graduated zoning." She's referring to the idea of higher density in the various villages, with lower density / larger parcels as housing moves away from a central neighborhood.
"That will ruin the villages," Cave said. Costly infrastructure and higher taxes will mean "People in the villages will not be able to afford to continue to live there."
"If they get sewer and it comes up (Highway) 701, across Exodus Drive to Jackson Village, then it would be a hop, skip and jump to provide sewer to the undeveloped timberlands that border the villages," Cave said.
"Unfortunately, I think this is zoning based on land ownership rather than on good land planning."
She's convinced that Georgetown County would allow "big box" stores, such as the 169,000-square-foot Lowe's that was proposed to be built on a 19-acre parcel at the South Causeway to Pawleys Island several years ago. She recommended to Planning Director Boyd Johnson that there be a limitation on the size of stores.
The proposed zoning ordinance includes a 90-foot setback along the two-lane Highway 701. "I think that would be very, very tight and very dangerous," she said.
Rural lifestyle
She said the zoning map doesn't match the text of the proposal, which includes the statement: "Area residents want a rural lifestyle and are generally opposed to high density development."
If stores like a Wal-Mart are allowed, and housing of even one house per acre, that could result in thousands of houses and that is high density, she said, even on one-acre lots.
"What appears to be happening is the urbanization of the 701 Corridor," Cave said.
"People on the Waccamaw Neck should be as concerned about this zoning as people in the 701 Corridor area, because this type of zoning is going to cost the county money in significantly-increased infrastructure."
Infrastructure costs
Cave and Weinmeister cited an updated study done for Dorchester County on the costs of new housing.
The "Assessment of the Fiscal Impact of Growth ..." was published in February 2008 by the Strom Thurmond Institute of Clemson University.
On the second page of the report, authors Charles Taylor and William Molnar state, "Much of the research analyzing the fiscal impact of growth has concluded that residential development does not pay for itself."
The study is available online at: http://www.dorchestercounty.net/docs/Dorchester%20Co%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf.
The authors expect that growth would cover operating costs, but would not also be able to cover capital costs for infrastructure.
Dorchester County has enacted a transportation sales tax that will help in that area.
Skimming through the 150-page report, the authors conclude there's no simple answer. The two school districts in the county and the Town of Summerville would face deficits in the millions of dollars over the next 20 years, while the rest of the county would likely have enough funds for operating costs, but not for capital costs.
Consequences
Considering the local zoning proposal, Cave said "It's not good land use. It does not tend to look at the consequences of what's happening. It will change the whole area.
"They say the residents want a rural lifestyle, and that's not a rural lifestyle."
As the county prepares to zone Plantersville and the Highway 701 Corridor, as well as the rest of the unzoned areas of the county, "The question to ask is, do you really want this to be rural? Do you want to keep this or don't you?"
As new people move in, Cave wonders, will they complain about roosters crowing, hunting dogs barking, agricultural spraying, prescribed burning in wooded areas and other rural activities?
Looking at the proposed zoning map, she continued, there's a huge area west of Highway 701 that is to be zoned Forest Agriculture. That allows commercial uses and one house per acre. "It's an invitation to suburban sprawl," she said. "We would suggest it would be better to have gradual density changes."
She suggested the MR-10 zoning for the villages may well be appropriate, but said that zoning should then go to one house per 5 acres, then one per 15 acres. "At least, have some kind of buffering."
Voice opinions
"I am very concerned. I think it's incredibly important for people to get to the March 31 meeting," Cave said. "They need to look at the maps and voice their opinions."
"I hope the Planning Commission not only hears their comments but listens to them."
"There needs to be a public dialogue, not only people on the 701 Corridor, but from the Waccamaw Neck and throughout the county," Cave said.
"I'm just amazed. After a year of angry meetings and citizens being very vocal about the area, we see nothing too different in the zoning."
Other growth
There's something else that people on the Waccamaw Neck and throughout the county ought to consider, Cave said.
The Georgetown Hospital System is looking for a location to build a new hospital. While their staff won't yet say if they've found a site, they indicate they are still looking along the U.S. Highway 701/S.C. Highway 51 corridor. That's the same area where the new YMCA will be built, with groundbreaking expected soon. That will be on land just off Highway 701 in a portion of the proposed Crown Pointe development. That project will add thousands of homes if built out and some 2 million square feet of commercial space.
There are also strong indications that Lowe's plans to build next to the Georgetown Wal-Mart on Fraser Street/U.S. Highway 701.
Those properties just a little north of the city limits of Georgetown "will put enormous pressure on traffic," Cave said.
"We have not seen any real discussion for improvements on roads. They've talked about Highway 17 improvements for years and have not done anything about it," she said.
Enough's enough
"We have enough housing," Weinmeister said. She mentioned Crown Pointe, Peru Plantation, Beneventum and others. They are already on the plans, she said.
In fact, there are more than 15,000 lots approved throughout the county in addition to what's already built.
"We are not going to see an influx of people moving in" to fill those permitted developments, she asserted.
She noted that the City of Georgetown "Now sees themselves in a hole because they have to take money from their electric department to provide infrastructure."
"If Georgetown County Water and Sewer District is able to get sewer to go into the villages of Plantersville, that will allow the type of urban development that will cost all of us a lot of money," Weinmeister said.
Charleston County zoning sets limits, generally using creeks or rivers as borders between one type of density and another. Weinmeister said such a practice could easily be adapted to Georgetown County with graduated zoning.
In Charleston, that results in suburban areas being right next to rural areas, but with there also being a definite change in zoning.
"I hope that some City Council folks will weigh in on this," Weinmeister said.
Cave wondered if it's in the minds of members of the Planning Commission and County Council to have the 701 Corridor become a commercial area.
"It's hard not to see that they are almost forcing development to go up 701," Cave said.
What's coming?
The Five Points area of the City of Georgetown -- where U.S. Highways 17, 701, 17A and 521 come together near the Georgetown Ice House and the golden arches of McDonald's -- is already heavily congested, Cave said.
There are approved planned developments for 15,000 housing units throughout the county. "But, the reality is, no one has any money." She doesn't expect all those lots will have houses built on them.
"But, the reality is, the hospital is coming. Lowe's is coming. The YMCA is coming."
