Selling the farm, an eBay superstore, a daycare, goats. York County gets an earful

Ken Alexander sat while a dozen Lake Wylie residents pleaded with York County Council not to allow more development in their community.

Then, he stood up and made the case why his property is different.

“I’ve lived in Lake Wylie 58 years,” said Alexander, who with sister Kelly Goldberg and two other owners want to rezone 125 acres on S.C. 557, between Mill Creek Commons and Oakridge Road. “The property that’s in question, all of these tracts have been in our family more than 200 years.”

Once a large farm, family members of eight properties on both sides of the highway want to recombine them and rezone it for sale. More home, apartment and condo developers “than I care to even discuss” have approached the landowners, Alexander said.

“Lord knows, we have enough of those in Lake Wylie,” Alexander said. “I have no intentions of wanting to have condos or multifamily projects built on our farm.”

Instead, he said they want it rezoned to allow commercial growth and take out the possibility, which usually comes with it, for apartments.

“We need businesses in our area,” Alexander said. “We’ve been approached by doctors to build doctors’ offices, or an urgent care center in Lake Wylie. We’ve been approached by several restaurant chains, some business developers for where people can work, live and play in a general area.”

Prior to Alexander and family making their case, several residents spoke out on an unrelated but nearby plan where M/I Homes wants to add more than 200 houses on 222 acres. Neighbors said traffic on the highway is dire, left turns can’t be made, schools are filling and the environment is suffering from the level of community growth facing Lake Wylie.

Property owners say a commercial development “hopefully will be less of a traffic burden” than residential growth. Plus, Goldberg said, it fits the site.

“My property is beside a Lowe’s, a Bank of America and a Japanese restaurant,” Goldberg said.

Property owner Ed Jackson agreed the plan is “a good alternative to more residential growth.”

“Commercial development does a lot more to pay its way,” he said.

Council heard the case during a public hearing Monday night, but didn’t make a decision. The Lake Wylie site was one of many to come up for a hearing before county planners or the county planning commission review them, letting Council in on the discussion in advance of having to cast a final vote.

Other rezoning requests

The Lake Wylie site wasn’t alone.

Near Fort Mill, Orangepaw Properties owns almost 4 acres at 1383 Gold Hill Road across from Spicewood Drive, near Harris Teeter. A home is there now. Rezoning would allow the property to split into potentially two businesses.

A property representative told Council the intended uses are “a daycare facility and potentially medical office.” The daycare, he said, would be a “well-respected, national chain.”

The site would have a 20-foot buffer from existing homes, including fencing.

Near Tega Cay, Oz Custom Built Homes is looking to rezone more than 10 acres at 1712 Gardendale Road.

“We’re still looking to develop and build a low-density neighborhood on 10 acres, and this change in the zoning would not allow modular homes,” said Oz owner Scott Nesmith. “We’re wanting to build custom homes on this property.”

Near Clover, Three R Properties and Southbend Industrial want to rezone an acre site at 2744 Meadow Road to serve what its owner says is the largest eBay store of its kind in the South.

“We go into factories, and we buy their equipment when they close, and we turn around and bring them to our facilities in Clover,” said owner Gary Rohrer. “And we turn around and sell them on eBay, all over the world.”

Southbend Industrial will store small manufacturing equipment with some truck traffic. The site has been home to textile, furniture and carpet store sites for 40 years. Southbend bought it, along with surrounding property, late last year. The property needs a new listing as light industrial to allow the new owner to continue there.

“The intended use of the property is to unload equipment into the (two existing) warehouses, and store until sold,” said Duane Christopher, company consultant. “He does not intend to use it for retail or any other type of use for the foreseeable future.”

Other projects that generated little interest from neighbors include 5 acres on Marshall Road in Rock Hill, allowing for residential use, and one person addressed York County’s zoning change needed to put a new trash and recyling site on Fort Mill Parkway.

James Ferebee brought perhaps the most unusual, if relatively minor, request.

“My son started a homeschool project and had a few goats,” he said. “Then it kind of grew, and it became a little enterprise.”

That property, 4 acres at 531 Neely Store Road near Rock Hill, now has goats, sheep and turkeys. The 30 animals exceeds current zoning but isn’t uncommon in the area where Ferebee lives. After listening to more than an hour of development details and, at times, residents concerned about changing communities, Ferebee’s request added a little lightheartedness.

“We’re going to have zero impact on infrastructure,” he said, to laughter from the crowd Monday night. “We’re going to have zero impact on parking. We’re going to preserve the natural, rural environment and feel of all our neighbors.”