Residents ask for better roads, fewer homes from comp plan

As York County’ comprehensive planning process nears completion, residents are hopeful the changes will make a difference, but they still need to see it.

The plan, requiring York County Council approval, will be used for future land-use decisions. The update Thursday night at the Banks Trail Middle School in Fort Mill came out of 15 advisory group meetings, 14 stakeholder group meetings, six community open houses and thousands of visits to the plan’s website yorkforward.com.

Planners say the edits will increase land aimed at future commercial growth by 17 percent and reduce medium to high density residential space by 50 percent countywide. Both goals were requested by many residents, mostly in high growth areas such as Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie.

“It’s not like Lake Wylie hasn’t been participative in the process,” said Kris Frazier of Lake Wylie during the last public open house on the plan Feb. 25. “There are some changes that are being made. I think a lot of people agreed maybe we got started too late.”

Frazier saiddiscussions like the comprehensive plan update are useful, especially in Lake Wylie where there is no town or city government to make land planning decisions.

“They’re our government,” Frazier said. “County council is our avenue to get involved.”

Margaret Blackwell also had concerns about how many new residences are coming to the Lake Wylie area. She and neighbors have been outspoken at the county level for more than a year asking for housing restrictions or limits.

“What concerns me most is we’re going for quantity and not quality,” Blackwell said. “Raise the standards and lower the density.”

Allison Love, also a stakeholder group member for the comprehensive plan, and Doug Meyer-Cuno, both of Lake Wylie, cite booming residential growth as a reasonthey are running for the Dist. 2 York County Council seat.

Meyer-Cuno said he’s received calls since a proposed housing development freeze came up recently at a Council meeting.

“Most of them come from developers who wonder what’s going on,” he said. “The residents are much more in favor of it.”

Love said she hasn’t heard from developers, likely due to the strong stance she and others took asking Council to reduce residential density.

“I haven’t had any calls from developers, because they know where I stand,” she said.

While the comprehensive plan update won’t meet all the goals expressed by residents, Love sees it as a step forward.

“A lot of effort has gone into it,” she said. “I’m concerned about talk this will be a static document. I really want something we can stick to.”

Erika Andrew moved to Fort Mill township almost 20 years ago. Many moved here, she said, for the hometown feel that traffic along major roadways has all but erased.

“It’s the congestion due to the extreme (building) density,” Andrew said. “You’ve got neighborhood after neighborhood that’s townhomes and apartments, and right beside it there’s another neighborhood that’s townhomes and apartments.”

Andrew agrees with a building freeze. The New York native also would like to see roads designed for more cars to keep traffic moving. Andrew said she and her husband would joke they’d moved to the middle of nowhere, but not anymore. Quality of life isn’t lost, she said, but could be without planning.

“Definitely in jeopardy,” Andrew said. “Nowhere caught up with us with a vengeance.”

Also from New York, Linda Ferrell moved to Fort Mill 11 years ago. She, like many Thursday, focused on roads.

“It’s the congestion,” she said. “I go out between 9 and 9:30 (a.m.) and other than that I don’t go out because of the traffic.”

Ferrell said even successes, like bringing jobs to Fort Mill when LPL Financial and The Lash Group announced plans for Kingsley, can create issues if roads can’t keep pace.

“That’s 5,000 cars on our highways,” she said. “That’s 5,000 more cars of congestion.”

Maria Overcash also is concerned about the traffic new businesses bring. She said U.S. 21 needs to be four lanes.

“We’re growing so fast the infrastructure just can’t keep up,” Overcash said. “It’s just, put in another house.”

Jim and Georgette Sheehan moved to the Waterside neighborhood in Fort Mill late last year after almost 70 years each in Michigan. Jim’s brother lives in Tega Cay, so the couple visited the area for 30 years before moving.

“We used to visit when there was nothing here,” Georgette Sheehan said.

The change over time, they say, has been stark.

“At times we’ve come back and haven’t recognized it,” Jim Sheehan said.

As new residents, they understand why people want to move here. Yet challenges like road construction and housing density are important.

“Like everybody else we see all the growth and wonder how it’s going to be managed,’ Jim Sheehan said.

Georgette Sheehan said meetings like Thursdays are welcome.

“They’re attempting to manage it, so that’s encouraging,” she said.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Residents ask for better roads, fewer homes from comp plan."