‘They don’t realize what’s happening’: Could York County road rule limit new homes?

York County is considering a rule some say will help traffic and make roads safer while others say it will drop property values and limit what landowners can pass on to their children.

“This is going to affect a lot of families and their property values,” said Tony Smith of Sharon. “I see there’s a lot in the western side of the county. This is going to affect a lot of people.”

York County gave preliminary approval Monday night to a rule defining a major road and how much frontage properties need to build homes on it. Final approval could come Nov. 19.

“It gives you that time to work out all the differences,” said Councilman Michael Johnson.

Residential building on a major road now requires at least 100 feet of road frontage. The new rule would require 350 feet or more. It also would add major collector roads, which in combination with the frontage, has some residents concerned.

Cheryl Boyd of Smyrna doesn’t understand why McGill Road, where she lives, would be included.

“There are more roads, in my opinion, that are considered major roads than minor roads,” she said. “The nickname for it is ‘Snake Road’ because it’s so curvy. I don’t know how that could be considered a major collector road.”

Boyd said the new rule needs “a little more thought and input.” She said more property owners would be upset if they knew what the county is considering.

“They don’t realize what’s happening to their property until they get ready to do something with it,” she said. “I know that firsthand from selling real estate.”

Boyd said she knows of a family inheriting a 125-acre tract now in probate. Requiring more than triple the road frontage to build homes would affect them, she said.

“It’s going to affect what that family can sell that property for and affect their inheritance,” Boyd said.

On Cameron Road in rural York County, for instance, Smith sees hypotheticals that don’t work out well for landowners.

“That’s a lot of farmland out there,” he said. “You’ve got a 15-acre tract zoned agriculture. The farmer is getting old. He wants to cut two tracts off of it and give to his kids. Well, if he doesn’t have 1,100 foot of road frontage, he can’t cut two tracts off to give to his kids.”

Yet, some Council members see reasons for a new rule. Councilwoman Allison Love said if a road is too curvy for residents to think of it as a major road, imagine having residential construction on it.

“The worst thing that you could put on a road that’s like that is curb cuts,” she said.

Councilwoman Christi Cox said she lives on a road that would be affected and shares concerns. But, she said, there are reasons.

“The reason why this was brought up was to address some major concerns that are happening in an area where basically developers are getting around what the intent of the existing ordinances are,” Cox said.

Someone owning 8 acres, zoned for up to four homes, might end up with twice that many by splitting properties and working around zoning requirements.

“It’s resulting in a major road problem that will prevent the county from being able to grow healthy in the future,” Cox said.

Councilman Chad Williams agrees the issue of passing down property to family members, which could include subdividing, should be addressed. He also agrees there are ongoing county concerns making the new rule useful.

“This was a first attempt to address serial lot splits, which we need,” he said.

Councilman Robert Winkler represents Smith and Boyd and said roads in several districts are impacted, and not all of them should be.

“If you go ride those roads, they’re not major thoroughfares,” Winkler said.

Major roads include principal arterials (I-77, S.C. 5, S.C. 49, S.C. 160) and minor arterials (Mt. Gallant and India Hook roads in Rock Hill, Gold Hill and Pleasant roads near Fort Mill, S.C. 557 and Pole Branch Road in Lake Wylie). The new rule would include major collectors, too, in listing major roads as those “designed principally to move traffic within the county, not to access property.”

Major collectors include roads such as Cel-River, Museum, Reservation, Eden Terrace and Herlong Avenue in Rock Hill. They include Dobys Bridge, Legion and Regent Parkway near Fort Mill. They include similar roads spread throughout western York County.

The rule would use South Carolina Department of Transportation road classification listings to deem major roads, though Council also could designate any “high volume, newly constructed roads” as major roads.

Winkler, who along with Council Chairman Britt Blackwell voted against the new rule, brought up the possibility of a homeowner who lives on a corner lot of a dirt road and major road. Because of where that property owner has his frontage, building would be limited.

“There’s a lot of other implications on this that we may not always think about,” Winkler said. “We’ve got something that’s zoned one-acre minimum, but he can’t do one-acre minimum lots.”

Part of the concern Winkler and Blackwell have involves what’s called pending ordinance doctrine. It means once a rule starts its way through the approval process, which can take months, the county can deny an application that doesn’t meet the new rule even though it hasn’t yet been approved.

“I hate pending ordinance,” Blackwell said. “I think it’s not transparent to the public. I think it’s unfair to ramrod an ordinance down your throat without having it fully vetted. That’s what a pending ordinance does.”

Still, he understands why it was used for the potential new rule.

“This need was there,” Blackwell said. “Because there is an issue with curb cuts and problems with traffic.”

County staff will look at lot splits, common driveways and other concerns before a possible final decision next month. Yet minor tweaks may not solve concerns, such as what development does to a road and community when it exceeds what should be allowed.

“It impacts that safety of the folks that are driving down that road,” Cox said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 3:07 PM.