Local Radar

Planning Commission votes to zone without notification
Commission loses all credibility built over the years
web posted November 11, 2005

EDGEFIELD – The Edgefield County Planning Commission threw away all the hard earned credibility of the last five years Thursday night by turning against promises made on how zoning would be handled in Edgefield County. During the regular meeting the commission was discussing the report from the Zoning and PUD committee when Vice Chairman Roger Timpson stated the committee had not met since the last meeting however they had received the map of the area in Lake Trenton that had been requested for zoning.

Vice chairman Timpson stated he wanted to bring the map and the new Rural Residential zoning classification up for discussion. Before that could be undertaken Chairman James “Fab” Burt stated Ms. Nadine Horne had a letter, he believed, that she wanted to present to the commission on the matter. The Lake Trenton group, who attended the scheduled uneventful meeting in masse, read a prepared statement requesting zoning and their approval of the proposed Rural Residential zoning classification that was to be studied and presented at a later date.

Ms. Horne read; “To The Edgefield County Planning Commission, We, the Girls Scouts of the CSRA, Courtney Road Neighborhood Watch, Lake Trenton Property Owners Association, and Pace’s Creek Neighborhood Association, humbly request zoning. We request Rural Residential with Table two setbacks.”

Howard Gibson, who had prepared information and a map of the area, stated he also had the previously inserted petition garnered during the chicken farm debate. The number of property owners included in the map is 232 and the number of verifiable signatures of property owners from the old petition was 85, or one third. The group submitted 125, but only 85 were actual property owners; some were renters who are not allowed to sign.

Of the large parcel owners, who were not represented on the petition at all, accounted for over 10% of the total. Their stake is much greater under the legal definition of “free landholders”, whereas their opinions are to be taken into consideration according to the amount of property they own with greater weight.

Commissioner Bernadette Hudson asked if the petition was in fact the old petition which was garnered from the chicken house issue, which was for a separate issue and not the new zoning classification. Howard Gibson, Director of Building and Planning stated it was in fact the old petition. The Planning Commission had requested, as a body, that a new petition and letters be gathered from the newly suggested classification and zoning regulations at last month’s meeting.

Mr. Gibson stated that the Commission had to send a letter to inform each property owner of the Public Hearing required before zoning. In past meetings the Commission stated the process would be “slow and deliberate,” and that they wanted all citizens notified since the new classification could be used anywhere in the county and that all affected property owners in the immediately affected area would be notified before the matter would be added to the agenda for a vote to get comments.

Vice Chairman Timpson suggested that the new Rural Residential zoning classification be on the table to be used all over the county, not just Lake Trenton.

Commissioner Hudson asked, “Is there something pending that I’m not aware of?” due to the issue being pushed without the public being informed the matter was even to be discussed. “Not that I am aware of,” Mr. Gibson responded. “There is nothing on the ‘back burner’?” she asked. “Not that I know of”, Mr. Gibson said.

Mr. Gibson stated he would notify Mr. Cato, whose planned chicken farm sparked the whole debate, “even though he is not a property owner.” Mr. Cato has entered a contracted purchase agreement on the property as stated in previous meetings and interviews.

Vice chairman Timpson wanted to make the motion to accept the mapped area and the new zoning classification and pass the item on the County Council. Mr. Gibson stated the motion needed to be in two motions; one to accept the map and the other to accept the new zoning.

Commissioner Hudson stated she did not understand what the commission was doing, “are you looking to vote on adding a new category already?” She pointed out that the classification has not been discussed nor has it made it out of committee to even be before the commission for a vote.

At that point the persistently absent commissioner Jim Oliver, who has attended only four meetings this year stated, “We have been working on this for over a year now,” which drew the ire of Commissioner Hudson. “At the last meeting,” Commissioner Hudson told Mr. Oliver, “which I believe you weren’t here, we decided that we were going to take this slow.” She added that the Lake Trenton group agreed. “Now I feel like whoa, I must have missed a meeting somewhere. Now we are ready to take motions and take a vote?”

Mr. Gibson asked if the commission wanted to hold a public hearing on the matter or pass that responsibility on to the County Council. After a convoluted debate the vote was to pass the responsibility of the public hearing on to the County Council.

In the end the commission ignored all promised notification to the public before zoning would be discussed, much less instituted, and voted to not only create a new zoning classification but to zone the Lake Trenton area and all 232 property owners with a third of owners supporting the measure.

Ms. Nadine Horne stated “we won!” admitting that they did not have a majority of the property owners behind the measure. She said that they would find the majority before the public hearings.

Commissioner Bernadette Hudson said she was not aware all of this was going to be on the agenda, which it was not. “The entire Planning Commission and the Lake Trenton group agreed, in public, that we were not going to rush to a vote on the matter,” she said. “I don’t know how this came about. I was in the dark. It was not on the agenda,” she said. 
 

Featured Dining

Little Mexico

Special Sneak Peek invite and Review

Sportsman's B-B-Q
Breakfast Buffet $5.95
Thursday - Sat urday
5 am - 10 am