LANCASTER, S.C. — Lancaster County Council gave initial approval to the county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan with a number of changes at its first reading Monday, March 25.
In a 6-0 vote, councilors and county development services director Allison Hardin discussed changes to the plan recommended by the county’s planning commission. This included 45 replacements, 43 insertions and 29 deletions from previous drafts of the 2040 plan.
Some of the changes include the incorporation of a list of outside plans from entities, such as the county and the S.C. Department of Transportation, as well as the addition of a new supporting action to support the implementation of recommendations from the Lancaster County Hazard Mitigation plan.
The unanimous vote included an amendment to add the planning commission’s recommendations and a review of the concept of concurrency.
Councilor Allen Blackmon was not present at the meeting.
The PanhandleThe Panhandle region has experienced the strongest growth in the county, due to its proximity to the North Carolina state line.
Part of the solution to address problems in the Panhandle includes limiting growth in areas without proper infrastructure, a funding stream to enhance public safety and working with the Lancaster County School District to address overcrowding.
Public accessibility and transportation were also addressed, with proposed solutions to add more public areas along the Catawba River, requiring future developments along the U.S. 521 corridor to be pedestrian-oriented and the possibility of the Charlotte Area Transportation System providing public bus transportation to the region.
Greater LancasterHome to the county’s seat of Lancaster, the greater Lancaster region has also seen its population shifting and growing over the past few years, with a steady growth in jobs.
Part of greater Lancaster’s solutions in the plan include a downtown Lancaster revival through a partnership with the city, renovations of existing neighborhoods, and coordinating with groups such as the I-77 Alliance to address growth, with a continued focus on job growth.
Transportation is also addressed, with plans to have better pedestrian access to areas such as USC Lancaster and downtown, prioritizing the Lindsay Pettus Greenway and Carolina Thread Trail and a corridor plan for S.C. 5 and S.C. 9.
Southern LancasterCompared to areas such as Indian Land and Lancaster, municipalities such as Kershaw and Heath Springs have seen their populations decrease. The southern area of the county has fewer jobs and more large parcels of land, due to its agricultural history.
The plan suggests all future development should be focused around the municipalities of Heath Springs and Kershaw, where public infrastructure and services are available.
Access to health care, employment and commercial goods in this area are limited, compared to the northern end of the county.
The plan also suggested increasing agricultural production, educating people on the benefits of land conservation, improving water systems and regular check-in meetings between Kershaw and Heath Springs to help set up potential growth down the road.
ConcurrencyThe topic of concurrency was one of the issues that came up among councilors at the first reading of the 2040 plan.
According to Hardin, the concept comes into play when a proposed development in an area must meet certain standards before being approved such as community infrastructure, highways, and space available in nearby schools.
If it wasn’t able to meet those qualities or if the county didn’t have the resources, then the project would face a strong chance of being rejected.
Depending on the circumstances, Hardin says that concurrency could be used in any part of the county.
“We would study it countywide and see where it would be appropriate to be used and if it’s appropriate to be used,” she said.
Council Chair Steve Harper expressed concern over the idea, largely due to the probability of high housing prices.
“If you read about concurrency, one of the consequences is that in different places they have been active in, the housing prices have actually gone up because there’s less competition in the parcels of property that’s going to be approved,” Harper said.
Councilors Terry Graham and Jose Luis expressed much different views on the topic.
“The number of people I’ve talked to says concurrency is common sense. I believe that most people in Lancaster County would agree that it is common sense to not do the developments until we have infrastructure,” Graham said.
Luis pointed to the limited resources families in the Panhandle have due to growth.
“We don’t have the facilities for the schools right now for the current students that we have and we don’t have school facilities for the growth that is anticipated,” he said.
Despite understanding, Harper still feels concurrency could have long-term ripples.
“I’m concerned that it could have a negative consequence. I believe that council should always have the last say-so on any project that is presented to us,” he said.
