Lake Wylie responds to county’s proposed housing development freeze

Following York County Council’s unveiling of a proposal to freeze new housing development in some of the county’s fastest growing communities, Lake Wylie leaders and residents voiced their opinions.

The ordinance proposed at the Feb. 15 Council meeting would stop the county from issuing new housing plats for any property within “the Fort Mill or Bethel townships.” It would halt any new construction of multi-family and single-family homes until the county has completed a study of how public facilities and roads would be affected by new residents in the Lake Wylie and Fort Mill areas. Details of the plan aren’t expected to be ready for Council vote until the April 4 meeting.

A freeze would be temporary, but Councilman Michael Johnson of Fort Mill, who proposed the measure, couldn’t say how long it would be in effect.

“I want to create a plan that would have an automatic trigger (to stop a new development from going in),” Johnson said. “If we have an adequate public facilities ordinance, it would say ‘you’re not allowed to build unless these criteria are met.’”

The areas affected have seen some of the fastest growth of new residential construction in recent years, causing concerns from existing residents that the areas are being overdeveloped, especially in terms of additional traffic.

Susan Bromfield, president of the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce, sees both sides of the housing freeze.

“It has pros and cons,” she said. “Of course the pros are, it gives them a pause to examine what’s going on, as fast as things are happening.”

The main drawback, and the reason the Chamber won’t support a long-term freeze, is the role new homes play in a growing community.

“The people in the community are what drive the business,” Bromfield said. “You have to have the residents to have the customers, to create jobs, to create economic development, to create prosperity. You have to have a balance.”

Following a board meeting Feb. 17, the chamber sent a letter to Council members citing concerns about the proposal. The letter recalls overlay and other prior efforts to slow or manage growth, all supported by the group. The letter states it would be “understandable” for a short-term freeze on new, large-scale residential projects but not on smaller projects or where local builders already purchased property for construction.

“No one wants to kill jobs, stop economic development, prevent people or builders from building new homes,” it states.

Bruce Henderson, who represents the Lake Wylie and Clover areas on Council, said talk of a freeze is the latest in a long recurring discussion.

“I’ve been talking this talk for the longest,” he said. “At one point it looked like it was gaining traction, but it died.”

In 2014, Henderson called for a moratorium near Lake Wylie. His motion failed.

“It was a last ditch effort to get some of these people to realize how important it is,” Henderson said.

However, he said, the entire Bethel area is too large to consider for a moratorium. More needs to be done to take high density development away from the lake, he said, but certain areas like Five Points have room for growth.

“If there’s anything even remotely close to a moratorium, it should be more to where the problems are, and only where the problems are,” Henderson said.

Wording on the new proposal will be critical. One option Henderson could support would be reduce the number of permits issued.

“That’s not stopping growth,” he said. “That’s managing the situation.”

Local reactions

Candidates running for Henderson’s seat - Allison Love and Doug Meyer-Cuno - weighed in. Filing for the seat opens in March. Henderson announced last month he will not seek re-election.

Love, vocal for several years at Council meetings requesting a slow down of development in Lake Wylie, said she is happily surprised to learn the county is considering a housing freeze.

“I think it’s a great idea because I thought it was a great idea two years ago,” she said, referring to the push by about a dozen community members for rezoning along Bonum Road near the lake and supported by Henderson.

“Where were they two years ago?” Love asked of the latest plan. “I think it’s very needed, and I think we need to be sure our utilities and infrastructure are caught up with development already.

“I’m not for stopping development, but we need to step back, look at where we are and decide where do we go from here,” she said. “It would have been a lot more effective had it happened a lot sooner.”

Love’s neighbor Meyer-Cuno, also running for Council, said while he agrees with the concept, without knowing specifics he said he couldn’t make a final decision.

“I’m for growth, but it should be sustainable and not chaotic, and we’re in chaos mode,” he said, adding part of the reason for that is there is a plethora of homes being built, but “we have a limited number of resources to manage the process.”

Former councilman Perry Johnston, who held the seat from 2003-06 and owner of Dock Masters Marine Construction, said Council should look at the Unified Development Ordinance.

“I’ve always favored an adequate facility ordinance, certainly we can’t outrun our infrastructure,” he said. “However, what they need to look at is the UDO and make a move on it. Study it. It’s very complex.”

The UDO combines zoning with regulations, including what can be built and how it can be built, green space and other details.

“If they (Council) slow down building through a moratorium they have to be ready to initiate a response to get it going again,” he said.

Looking ahead

John K. DeLoache, staff attorney for the S.C. Association of Counties, expects to hear of more proposals like this floated around the state.

“Last time there was a wave of similar actions in 2008 in the Lowcountry,” DeLoache said. “It became less of an issue when development (and) housing sales came to a halt.”

An adequate public facilities ordinance, which York County had discussed previously and will need to pass in order to restart development, is needed to make sure the area can keep up with growth, DeLoache said.

“Breakneck development causes more problems . . . traffic, is there adequate water and sewer?” he said. “With the growth in the York County, Lancaster, Fort Mill areas I can see why they want to explore it.”

Similar proposals have been floated elsewhere. Neighboring Lancaster County last year approved a nine-month moratorium on rezonings in Indian Land, which has seen similar growth pressure in recent years. Rock Hill recently completed a year-long moratorium on new apartment construction, which led to a slew of rezonings to limit where multifamily housing could be built in the city.

York County is currently in the process of drawing up a new, 10-year comprehensive plan to address growth issues in the county and adjust county’s zoning and planning ordinances for future growth. A final version of the plan will be presented to the public at an open house 5-7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at Banks Trail Middle School, 1640 Banks Road, Fort Mill.

Bristow Marchant and Don Worthington contributed.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie responds to county’s proposed housing development freeze."