The Commissioner — Fall 2005

Commission Profile

Land Use By and For the People

Anderson County, South Carolina, Planning Commission

"Land use in our county starts with community," says Clint Wright, vice chair of the Anderson County Planning Commission. "In other places zoning is from the courthouse to the people. Here it's from the people to the courthouse."

Of the 426,587 acres of privately held land in the county, roughly 20 percent is zoned. Zoning is not countywide. "Each precinct has to vote in zoning before we can enforce it," says Wright. "I believe we have one of the more unique zoning laws, but it works for us."

There are pluses and minuses to zoning in Anderson County, says Alva Goodwin, chair of the planning commission. On the upside, citizens have a real voice in the land-use process. Alternatively, "there are times when people stand before us wondering why we can't deny a project," he says. "Unfortunately for them, what's proposed is in an area that's not zoned."

In areas with zoning, requests for rezoning generally start at the council district level with what are known as zoning advisory groups. These groups exist in each district in which a precinct elects to be zoned. Currently five of the seven districts have zoning. "Once that panel hears the case, it votes yes or no," says Wright, "and then it comes to us."

The planning commission serves as advisor to the county council. "The role of the commission," Wright adds, "is to cut through the emotion and the NIMBY arguments and give county council members all the requisite information so that they can treat it as a business decision."

Wright, who served eight years on the county council before stepping down, knows how highly charged zoning hearings can be. "As a councilman, I was threatened just twice," he says, "and each time it was based on a zoning vote."

"Making a tough decision" is one of the things Jeff Ricketson, the director of Anderson County's planning division, appreciates in a planning commission member. "You can't just duck a decision," he says. "You have to be able to hear all sides and, in the end, vote your conscience."

Many of the votes these days have to do with subdivision plats, says Goodwin. "Our population is growing so quickly that the need for new housing is great," he says. "No matter what our views, we lean heavily on the planning staff for information and analysis," and "we seldom vote against the recommendations of staff."

The county's planning commission, which began in the mid-1980s, was revamped five years ago when the county moved from five council districts to seven. The number of commissioners dropped from 10 to seven and a two-term limit was adopted. While Ricketson regrets some loss of institutional memory, he supports the limits, noting that new commissioners often bring a fresh perspective.

The planning commission's mission also includes an educational component, say both Goodwin and Wright. "We're trying to reach out and keep the community aware of where Anderson County is going and what we need to do," says Goodwin. With rampant development anticipated over the next few years, the commission is looking to update the county's comprehensive plan. "We have a kind of crystal ball role," says Wright. "Where are we going? Where are we growing? We need to bring together all our communities in order to determine our path."

"Decisions that were made here 50 years ago are, in some cases, just now coming to bear," says Wright. "Our challenge is to figure out how to improve the quality of life for those who really need it and not completely change things, because there are some who like things the way they are."

Not Atlanta ... Yet

"Given that we're growing and we're automobile oriented, traffic congestion will worsen unless we change current development trends," says Jeff Ricketson. Over the next 10 years, 16,000 people are expected to settle in this predominantly rural part of northwestern South Carolina, raising the county's population to 190,000. "Congestion isn't as big a problem here as in larger areas such as Atlanta, and we aim to keep it that way."

As the planning commission works to update the comprehensive plan, Ricketson is optimistic that the county can increase transit opportunities and become more walkable. "Our main roads are showing signs of congestion because so many subdivisions are being built with large lots, cul-de-sacs, and no real connectivity," he says. Ricketson notes that some developers are hesitant to connect their subdivisions to anything but a major road. Developers don't like connections because they can't control what will go on in what they are connecting to, he says.

Regional connections also need to be made, according to Clint Wright, vice chair of the planning commission. "The new ICAR complex in Greenville County is expected to bring 10,000 to 20,000 jobs. This is a tremendous economic issue for the region," he says. ICAR is Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research, now under construction at the intersection of I-85 and U.S. Hwy. 276. Corporations — such as BMW and Michelin — have committed to a presence on the 407-acre campus. Clemson's goal is to make ICAR the premier automotive and motor sports research and educational cluster.

"With that kind of economic growth, housing is going to become a real issue," says Wright. "It's about time for us to take a hard look at the real demon of planning — urban sprawl. People talk about saving farmland, but what they don't get is that to save farmland, you have to create density. And that means no more one-acre lots."

New approaches are needed, says Ricketson, "especially ones that encourage more compact development and mixed uses." The county's current zoning ordinance "has rigid separation of uses," he explains. "Some people want that and like it, but in many cases it leads to inefficient development patterns."

Calling the update of the comprehensive plan "timely," planning commission chair Alva Goodwin says his panel is "reaching out to the community so we can determine what it is that Anderson County is going to need before it really needs it. We've got to figure this out — set and reach goals — before everyone's sitting on top of us. Now is the time to act."