Lake Wylie overlay passes first test

The latest plan to manage growth in Lake Wylie isn’t home yet, but it passed its first test Monday night.

York County Council voted 5-2 to pass first reading on an ordinance limiting residential and high-density growth near the lake. Two more readings and a public hearing are needed to finalize the plan.

Coming weeks will be critical to the plan. Several members who voted for first reading said they wouldn’t support a second without substantive changes. Members who voted against said cleaning up language and standards in the ordinance could earn their approval.

“There’s a lot of stuff in this I don’t like, but we have problems,” said Councilman Robert Winkler. “We have issues with roads. We have got to do something about it.”

A full ordinance hasn’t been written yet, but the in-name-only passing Monday night offered hints at what might be in one. The ordinance would create an overlay district in Lake Wylie and beyond, for properties within a mile of the water.

Apartments, townhomes, condos, hotels and motels would be scratched from four zoning districts and allowed only through conditional zoning. For properties more than 10 acres, no more than 35 residential units could be built within a given year or 25 percent of the land disturbed, whichever comes first.

Exceptions could be made for property transfers among family members.

Concerns with the plan

Chairman Britt Blackwell and Councilman William “Bump” Roddey voted against, as both did a residential building freeze for the Fort Mill Township in April. Some of their concerns involved problems the ordinance could run into with state law.

“Conditional zoning isn’t really something that’s allowed in the state,” said Audra Miller, county planning director. “That sounds like a special exception, and that needs to go through the Zoning Board of Appeals.”

Miller said all the high-density uses described could become special exceptions, new development standards for them could be put in place or they could be removed from all zoning districts and a new zoning for them created.

What the county can’t do, she said, is pick and choose zoning standards without a clear reason why.

“We’ve always got the issue of exclusionary zoning,” Miller said.

The 35 residence cap could be an issue, too. Several ongoing developments in the Lake Wylie and Fort Mill areas are “vastly exceeding” that annual limit now. To enact that number or another, there would have to be some basis for it defined.

“When we’re picking these boundaries, there has to be an articulated and substantiated reason as to why you picked these boundaries and what is the angle, what specific quantifiable thing are you trying to achieve,” Miller said.

For Roddey, there are too many questions with the latest plan and no long-term solution in it.

“I’m not convinced enough to say I’ll vote for it,” he said.

Roddey pointed to past hospitality tax allocation votes saying he isn’t opposed to helping Lake Wylie residents with concerns, he just sees comprehensive planning and other efforts as better for addressing growth issues here.

“It has so much in it that brings legal questions,” Roddey said.

After hearing considerable public input, Blackwell said he too understands frustration coming from Lake Wylie.

“I get it,” he said. “If I lived on the lake and I saw what used to be a cove, now I can walk across because there’s nothing but mud there now, I sympathize. I understand, yes, let’s fix that.”

But, he said, the county shouldn’t overreach at the expense of property owners and any plan to reduce construction has “got to be logical to me throughout.”

“I can’t support this as-is with all the holes in it, hoping it will get changed,” Blackwell said.

Councilman Chad Williams, a yes vote who expressed several concerns, wondered why the county would look at a building freeze in Fort Mill and an overlay in Lake Wylie. He would be in favor of a more unified growth plan.

“Having a moratorium here and an overlay here doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense,” Williams said.

He would rather see the plan from a few years back, where Lake Wylie residents submitted input on a document that was voted down by the county planning commission before reaching Council. Overlay plans have come and gone since.

“I really hate that we’ve had two more since then,” Williams said. “I hate starting over when we’ve got a basis to go from.”

Williams agrees something needs to be done now.

“I do agree that we’ve been talking about it a for long time and we need to do something,” he said. “I just don’t want to do something just so we can say we did something.”

Case for the plan

Several members, even no votes, said the language moving high-density development away from the lake is something they could support. Plus, several said, it’s time.

“We need to be serious about these types of things,” said Councilman Michael Johnson.

Johnson proposed the freeze, essentially a moratorium, in Fort Mill. Neither his plan nor the Lake Wylie one, alone, will solve growth problems.

“I did so not because it was an answer, but because it would give us time to get the answer,” he said.

The 35-home cap concerns Johnson, as do legal concerns. But continued tweaking of the ordinance and budgeting for new growth standard tools in coming months, he said, can help his district and the Lake Wylie one.

“Our budget reflects zero priority for controlling growth, as of right now,” Johnson said. “We have an obligation to change that.”

Councilwoman Christi Cox said the group sometimes has to “take a step to start moving.” She sees the overlay in the same light as the building freeze, both with possibility for negotiation by second or third reading.

“I find it very difficult to see how anyone who voted for the freeze could vote in opposition to this request that is less than that,” Cox said.

Councilman Bruce Henderson has proposed overlays and similar growth management tools before, without success. Again, he is hopeful.

“I’ve pleaded,” he said. “I’ve begged. I’ve done everything I possibly can.”

The latest plan streamlines growth management and hits the areas needing it most, he said. It doesn’t involve as much land as past overlay proposals, or as many different restrictions.

“This is more simple,” Henderson said. “It’s smaller. It’s more straight to the heart of the matter. It’s dealing strictly with the problematic areas.”

Resident input

The public hearing hasn’t been set, but several Lake Wylie residents used the general public input opportunity Monday to advocate for the overlay.

“I’m here to ask about hitting the pause button,” said Mary Williams with Lake Wylie Civic Association. “Moratorium, overlay, watershed – whatever it is, whatever we can do to stop growth just for a bit…I beg you to please take action.”

Billy Hagner said the time for talking about an overlay is done.

“This issue has been extensively discussed for several years now,” he said. Now it’s time to do something.”

Hagner worked last year on a watershed overlay plan. Unlike Henderson, Hagner would like to see more area covered.

“This will only take care of a small area,” he said. “There’s a lot more area, almost down to Mount Gallant Road, that needs to be under this overlay.”

Margaret Blackwell is a familiar voice for Council, having many time asked for tighter development restrictions in Lake Wylie. She said many others don’t approach the group as often as she does because they “feel it’s useless” since nothing happens to limit growth.

Margaret Blackwell showed petition signatures and messages from throughout the county calling for reduced sedimentation and other issues related to construction.

“Please protect this county’s most valuable resource,” she said.

John Lockwood, president of the Allison Creek Homeowners Association, told Council they shouldn’t neglect how valuable the lake is to all county residents.

“The asset that Lake Wylie and the Catawba River gives to York County is tremendous, and it’s an asset that is appreciated all over the state,” he said.

Ellen Goff, board member with the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, said asset is both environmental and economic.

“We’ve been working on this type of proposal for years,” she said. “It probably predates many of y’all’s service to this body.”

Jim Martin, a resident more than 40 years, said increased construction in recent years is having a noticeable impact.

“The construction going on there is a disaster,” he said. “It’s growing too fast. The roads can’t handle it, the people can’t handle it and the river can’t handle it.”

Doug Meyer-Cuno, a candidate to replace Henderson on Council after this year, likes both the moratorium and overlay ideas. He believes the overlay plan from two years ago is stronger, but the current one is a step forward.

“I have less footage of water on my dock than I did a couple of years ago, four years ago,” Meyer-Cuno said. “I have a friend specifically from nine years ago to today, he cannot use his dock simply because of erosion and silt.”

Chris Christopher showed sediment pictures, saying they are common after heavy rains with so many local construction sites.

“We need a pause,” he said. “We need to take a look at this and be responsible for what we do.”

Hagner, like others, said time isn’t on Lake Wylie’s side. He hopes Council will be.

“We need to start leading on this before it’s too late,” Hagner said, “if it’s not already.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie overlay passes first test."