Lancaster County planners oppose new subdivision requests to add nearly 270 homes
Developers sent plans to Lancaster County that could add almost 270 homes in two new neighborhoods. But county planners have concerns with both of them.
The county planning commission meets Tuesday. The commission will hear two cases county staff planners recommend against, despite both of them at one time being future phases for an existing neighborhood.
Those cases are:
▪ True Homes applied for a plat to build phase 11 of the massive Edgewater neighborhood between Lancaster and the Catawba River. It would include 104 homes and 49 townhomes at Edgewater Parkway and Gateway Drive. Lancaster County Forfeited Land Commission and B&C Land Holdings own the property.
Edgewater is a more than 6,200-acre mixed-use development the county set up in 1999. Initial plans were for 16,000 homes and a golf course. The property has long been split into different owners, phases and neighborhoods.
The True Homes piece is one of 11 phases that combine for more than 2,700 acres and up to 5,913 homes allowed on a portion of Edgewater. There are 1,279 built or in development homes of that total, on half of the listed phases.
The phase up for a decision Tuesday is 47 acres. It includes 22 acres of open space.
The planning commission and county staff approved the proposal in June, pending some smaller changes requested by planners, utility and fire service providers. True Homes had 60 days.
Now planning staff recommends against the proposal because the outstanding comments still haven’t been addressed.
▪ Pinnacle Homes applied to rezone 60 acres on the southeast corner of the Bailey and Flat Creek roads intersection. The site is east of Lancaster. Submitted plans show a new subdivision with 115 homes.
The Whitehall neighborhood, built in 2001, is immediately north of the property. The plat recorded with the county lists the property up for rezoning as phase two of Whitehall. Aside from the existing neighborhood, the property is surrounded by agricultural areas.
The proposal would connect the new homes, on property that doesn’t have frontage on Bailey or Flat Creek roads, to the existing Whitehall area, potentially through the smaller neighborhood road, Fairmeadow Road. The project also would require extension of utilities like sewer in the area.
County planning staff recommends against the rezoning due to concerns over utility, road connection and traffic study — one hasn’t been done yet.
Prior to Pinnacle Homes, B&C Land Holdings owned the property. B&C is one of the same owners of the Edgewater phase also up for a decision Tuesday.
Managing Lancaster County growth
Lancaster County continues to grow.
This spring the U.S. Census Bureau released new data showing Lancaster County with the third highest growth rate among South Carolina counties in the past two years, at 8.9%. That population estimate put Lancaster County up more than 4%, or more than 4,000 people, in just a year.
Still, the county won’t approve just anything.
In September the planning commission, following staff recommendation, voted against plans to rezone property for a new private school in Indian Land and a 76-home subdivision on almost 40 acres at Fork Hill Road and Little Dude Avenue in Kershaw.
The Sands at Kershaw was proposed for vacant land with an abandoned building, once zoned for potential worker housing for Haile Gold Mine. Wetland, buffering, road and other concerns led to the denial.
Planners looked more favorably on two projects last month.
The third section of Riverchase by LGI Homes and The Pinery at Edgewater both got recommended approvals for projects after prior approval time frames to begin construction had lapsed. They combine for about 430 homes.
The Pinery project is 78 acres near the Edgewater section that is up for a decision Tuesday. The Pinery is also by True Homes. It was approved in 2021 but work hadn’t begun with the allowed two-year window, which brought it back for a decision in October. It’s the former Bridlewood West neighborhood plan.
Indian Land is the largest residential growth area in Lancaster County, but Edgewater holds its own to the south. Last year True Homes got an approval from the county for more then 800 homes and townhomes there.
