On August 16th I attended a Planning Board Meeting where homeowners living
on or near Harvest Way off of Central Avenue stood in opposition to a
rezoning of a Harvest Way parcel from R-1 to B-3 General Business.
Most feel it's a lost cause to oppose the "Good Old Boy" system but some,
myself included, feel that you fight for just yet lost causes even harder.
If you follow the bottom left margin's "Town Comprehensive Plan" link on the
Town's website at www.Summerville.sc.us, it leads to a link entitled "Future
Land Use Map #2." The map shows the area between Butternut Road and Old
Orangeburg as a "Medium Residential Neighborhood District," which the
"Future Land Use Element" page defines as a district that "promotes single
family neighborhoods of medium density."
Most Central Avenue frontage parcels between Butternut and Orangeburg were
historically farm lands transitioning to residential. Then in October 2007,
without any zoning hearing, published notice or onsite notice, Town Council
voted to violate the Town's comprehensive plan and destroy the area's
residential character by secretly spot zoning 8 parcels from County R-4 to
Town B-3 at the time of annexation.
Now, I sat and listened at a Summerville Planning Board rezoning hearing as
developers sought to use those secret B3 re-zonings as justification for
encroaching even deeper into residential areas. I know a bit about that
myself.
Why was I there? I live across the street in Senrab Farms where on October
14, 2009, without any zoning hearing or published or onsite notice, Town
Council annexed and re-zoned a parcel from County residential to Town AC,
allowing a recreational business to operate inside our subdivision.
While I've filed suit challenging the Town's secret re-zoning practices, it
seems that important evidence which was in the Town's possession is either
missing or has been destroyed, including tape recordings of the two Town
Council annexation/re-zoning meetings and also a written request I filed
with Town Clerk Lisa Wallace on February 27, 2009, asking that the Town
"please place my name on the mailing list for notification of all requests
for zoning changes in my neighborhood."
Town Council is playing fast and loose with our homes and lives. Why did
taxpayers pay for a master development plan if Council is free to engage in
spot zoning that ignores it?
S.C. Code of Laws Section 6-29-760 states, "Before . amending any zoning .
maps, the governing authority or the planning commission, if authorized by
the governing authority, shall hold a public hearing on it, which must be
advertised and conducted according to lawfully prescribed procedures. If no
established procedures exist, then at least fifteen days' notice of the time
and place of the public hearing must be given in a newspaper of general
circulation in the municipality or county. In cases involving rezoning,
conspicuous notice shall be posted on or adjacent to the property affected."
In that they write and pass laws themselves, (ordinances) it's frightening
that a majority of Town Council members read the above State law as implying
that a public hearing and published notice need not occur if the Town's
zoning map is amended at the time of annexation. And how do they avoid the
final sentence's requirement of conspicuous notice when rezoning? They
fictitiously pretend that County zoning simply does not exist and thus there
was never any zoning change.
I urge Summerville Planning Board members to write or appear before Town
Council and as our planning experts, alert Council that failure to hold
public zoning hearings and follow South Carolina zoning law is both
destroying the Comprehensive Plan and the residential character of existing
neighborhoods.
Additionally, I urge Town Council to close the "Blueblood Farmland Rezoning
Loophole," which allows lifelong friends having old family farmlands just
outside the Town limits to annex and secretly rezone them to General
Business (B-3).
I warn all living near the Town limits to keep an eagle's eye on the zoning
classifications of the properties around you. You simply cannot trust Town
Council to alert you . Also, if you need to resort to the Courts for
protection, keep your other eye on the evidence needed to prove your case.