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Planning Commission rejects zoning
ordinances Edgefielddaily.com web posted July 22, 2005 EDGEFIELD - The Edgefield County Planning Commission held its regular scheduled meeting Thursday night at the Council Chambers. Two items were listed on the agenda, the hotly contested zoning ordinances inserted into the last council meeting and Paxton Place subdivision. Absent from the meeting was member Jim Oliver. Commission member Dick Harper noted a mistake in the minutes of the last meeting and needed to be changed to reflect his absence from the meeting. As written they showed he attended the meeting. The commission voted to approve the minutes with the correction. Upon reaching the New Business items Planning Commission member Bernadette Hudson made a motion that the planning commission not recommend the proposed zoning ordinances to the county council. Vice-chairman Roger Timpson seconded the motion and the commission voted not to give a recommendation to the council. Commissioner Norman Stephenson opposed the vote. As part of the request, Hudson asked for the County Council to allow the Planning Commission the needed time to review any such ordinances as set, “by the Planning Commission”. Building and Planning Director Howard Gibson introduced a new development request to add new home sites near Pine Ridge Country Club. Mr. Gibson explained that there would be no new roads needed for the development and the developer was presently working with DHEC on retention and drainage issues. Mr. Gibson suggested the commission approve the new development. Commission member Tracy Freeman said the new development was being inserted by Don Adams and this was his second development in the county. The commission voted to approve the development under the condition it met DHEC approval. Mr. Gibson also gave the commission, as information, the fact Mr. Don Adams had purchased land in the Shanks subdivision. There has been a CDBG grant given to extend water and sewer to the area and stated the development “is a great asset to the town” and he felt it would also be an asset to the county as well. Another subdivision Mr. Gibson discussed was one that had been approved by the commission in the past but was just getting underway at the corner of Five Notch and Murrah Road by Tim Campbell. “Right there where a lot of houses have been built, but this goes in behind them,” Gibson said. Zoning Administrator Guy Mueller said he had handed out to the commission a copy of, “the new Comprehensive Planning Manuals,” and there was a lot of good information contained in them. Mr. Mueller also said the latest legislative manuals were distributed. With all business concluded Chairman James Burt opened the floor to guests who had signed up to speak. Mark Roberts, who along with Nadine Horne have led the charge in the fight against the chicken houses intended to be placed in the Lake Trenton area, was the first speaker recognized. Mr. Roberts began by saying one speaker at last night’s public hearing from the chicken industry stated under the new setbacks you could not place a chicken house on the property anywhere in Edgefield County. “I pulled a plat of some land owned by Amick Farms in Edgefield County to see if that contention was true, and sure enough it was,” Roberts said. Mr. Roberts directed the commission’s attention to the newly passed vested rights ordinance and said he believed if the ordinances passed the county “would be in violation” of the vested rights ordinance. Roberts handed out suggestions he has come up with for setbacks as an alternative to zoning. Nadine Horne was next to speak and stated again that she had changed her position of supporting the ordinances, “it’s not my right to zone people I don’t even know, this is not what we want to do,” but that she still felt the county needed to address Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s). She fully supported the proposal submitted by Mr. Rogers. Mrs. Horne also said she would like to see the state pass a “disclosure law” where locations of chicken houses or fields fertilized by manure were given to prospective buyers of homes or land. Mrs. Horne stated if she had been advised of the chicken farm underway she would have never purchased her property in Trenton nine months ago. Jerry Poss, a consultant with the South Carolina Poultry Federation, handed the commission members a summary of a report done by several groups, “including the Association of Counties, the Sierra Club, Coastal Conservation League,” and “numerous groups” which resulted in the findings becoming state law three years ago. He suggested that if the county undertook any zoning that the planning commission look to the state laws as a guide. Chairman Burt thanked the public for coming and offering their input and asked the commission if there was anything further. Commissioner Stephenson, a zoning advocate, stated he would like to ask Zoning Attorney Roy Bates, who is a paid consultant to several counties seeking to implement zoning or administering it, a question as to what his opinion would be to the proposal of using setbacks to control land use by the county rather than zoning. Mr. Bates stated zoning was the best way to control land uses and he did not think Edgefield County had proper control of land use with a great majority of property in the county being unzoned. He said there were definitions in the present ordinances which were unclear. Bates stated the county was able to provide the protections through the present ordinances but that zoning was a far better plan. Mr. Bates said that currently disputes over land use would go before, “some judge who doesn’t understand zoning is going to have to deal with it.” In order to provide full disclosure; Edgefield Daily.com has been requesting confirmation of “zoning specialist” Roy Bates being added to the agenda of the planning commission meeting for weeks. Due to information we received saying Administrator Wayne Adams had asked Mr. Bates to appear, and that he was going to be paid to support the contested ordinances, we felt it imperative to ask. Building and Planning Director Howard Gibson has consistently replied no “person” was on the agenda. Mr. Gibson sought us out tonight upon arrival at the meeting to explain that Mr. Adams had approached him a little after 4:00pm Thursday to have Mr. Bates added to the agenda. Mr. Gibson declined. Adams then asked that the commission vote to add Mr. Bates to the agenda to support the zoning, the commission declined. By Commissioner Stephenson asking for an opinion of Mr. Bates he was able to successfully grant Mr. Adams his request to allow Mr. Bates to offer his support of zoning the county in spite of every attempt of the commission to refuse such an improper request. Commission member Hudson asked Mr. Bates if the county was able to use the current land use ordinance to enforce setbacks in order to control undesirable uses and Mr. Bates confirmed that “a stand alone ordinance” would in fact be enforceable. Commissioner Hudson asked about the county being able to define CAFO’s but Mr. Bates said he was not familiar with some of the definitions and regulations concerning them but that the county, “could not adopt an ordinance that had a definition in it that was in conflict with State law.” She said that since Mr. Bates was working with Mr. Adams at the present time she would like to see his opinion on that section of law. Vice-chairman Roger Timpson stated that a comment was made last night at the public hearing on the zoning ordinances that he wanted to acknowledge. The comment was that the present planning commission has been handling the current issue of the proposed zoning of a section of the Sweetwater Road area in the proper manner and that the commission had earned the trust of the people of Edgefield County. Something that most agree had been lost in the zoning of 2000. For that, he said, he was much appreciative as he and Chairman Burt were both on the commission during that time. "We realize there were mistakes made during that time and we have made a concious effort," under the new commission to prevent the same from happening again Timpson said. "You are doing a great job," the citizen who was in attendance said. Return to Main Page
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