The downside of development was on full display last Monday as three county residents described to the Laurens County Council what it’s like to live beside a huge housing development under construction and in the move-in phase in Northern Laurens County. In this case, the major issue was fireworks. Residents described a Fourth of July when horses were terrorized, when law enforcement couldn’t do anything, and when people firing the fireworks allegedly became belligerent. As Council Member Kemp Younts said of an encounter between a long-time resident complaining about night-time fireworks and a person “enjoying” the explosive tradition, “she was cussed out like a dog - that’s not right,” in describing the resident who expressed concerns.
This new subdivision has a Homeowners’ Association but it’s not really up and running, as it was described to the council; and even if the HOA did ban / restrict fireworks around houses, people would just move to a large open area of the subdivision and continue firing. In the absence of the HOA there was nothing the Sheriff’s Office could do about it - contacted by concerned people, the HOA said, basically, when it happens after hours, call the law. There was no clear answer as to whether the county has a fire marshal who could ban fireworks when the dry conditions could lead to a wildfire.
The Issue -- how do new homes fit into the fabric of the community of established homes - is something that’s being confronted throughout Laurens County. And, we confess, we do not have answer, the issues are as diverse as people are diverse. In Northern Laurens County, it’s farms vs subdivisions - and it includes property rights, the right of people to sell their land to whomever offers the best price. In Laurens it potentially can be how will 180 townhomes on the Watts Mill site fit into a neighborhood of existing mill houses, renovated and some new houses, and a small subdivision, on narrow streets. In Clinton it’s Impact Fees - is it right to charge a developer more money after a 2-year wait to get a subdivision started off the Springdale Road by-pass. Lake Greenwood has its own set of issues. Joanna could have issues if there was any development going on there. Upper Eastern Laurens County can’t have any development because of the Sumter National Forest.
You can hear the Northern Laurens County residents asking the county council for help in the video of the July 8 meeting posted on the county website. They describe horses running in terror, a giant sewer company asking for an easement, development issues like two-way traffic on roads barely able to handle one lane - as one resident described it, “I didn’t ask for any of this.”
Sure, communities have growing pains; and the residential development in the north end has made Laurens County flush with cash (residential property taxes), which could translate into expanded services. When the County Council adopts the 2023 Comprehensive Plan, things could potentially get better.
Or not. Just watch a while longer to the council meeting video and hear local super-volunteer Debbie Vaughn explain her concerns when she read the plan’s portion titled Cultural Resources - she is especially concerned that a proposed Museum / Visitor’s Center in the ground floor of the under-renovation Historic Courthouse will convince the council that the current Laurens County Museum is no longer deserving of a local tax-funded appropriation - this coming after a basically private-funded effort placed a world class museum in downtown Laurens, hiked tourism, and saved a historically significant building.
The County Council has many complex issues that confront it. And, it matters to the citizens of Clinton because we pay county taxes. What happens if the Watts Mill project needs some help and the county decides to “kick in” some money (streets, curbs, gutters, pipes etc.) - at least some of that will be tax money coming from Clinton (to the benefit of Clinton?). We have our own set of challenges looking forward to developing the former Whitten Center property, in the right way, so that it maintains the environmental wonder that is the backside of the Whitten Village - and, there are so many small cottages out there not being used, couldn’t these help young families escape the burden of artificially high rents? Obviously, the answer is “no” - otherwise it would already have happened.
Listen, we are not anti-development. That’s obvious, because more people means more potential subscribers, and we are in favor of planned, managed growth. Our cities and county have invested in professional planners, while maintaining the local influence of “regular citizens” planning commissions, and that is a good thing. And, there is a chance that the Laurens County 2023 Comprehensive Plan - for which there will be a Public Hearing on July 18 - could be a unifying factor, could be just the chance we need for different areas of the county to talk to each other, could be a way to recognize that one size does not fit all - what Northern Laurens County needs in regulating growth is not necessarily what Clinton needs in attracting growth, and the “impacts” that come with that growth. We will never have zoning - but the cities’ experiences with zoning are proof enough that it would not be a cure-all for the county. Clinton has zoning, and yet we made the Bush River Resort jump through like 15 public-hearing hoops before it could get a simple building permit, we are making a high density development on East Main Street turn itself into a planned district development for no apparent good reason, we are adding substantial costs to what would have been about 260 houses just off the bypass between Eastside Elementary School and Clinton High School. At some point, developers are going to know “it’s just not worth it” - and, yet, it is.
It IS worth it to invest in Clinton - what other small city are you going to find that invests so much in its people, that has 2 colleges and 1 nearby, that has an orphange that extends its family-support mission throughout the Southeast, that has a village that embraces the most severely differently abled people in our state, that provides substantial support for elder-care, and trains the next generation of pharmacists and occupational therapists. To developers, we say, you play a role here. Partner with us, even as we explore our way in partnering with you.
