Unregulated Residential Growth in Franklin County a Concern for County Commissioners

In Anderson, SC city officials are facing the problem of too much residential growth too fast, which according to a report on Fox Carolina Tuesday, is causing a major problem for school systems there that are now dealing with overcrowding and no funds to expand.

That’s just one of the scenarios facing Franklin County with the onset of new residential growth and the Board of Commissioners say they must find a way to get ahead of it before it overwhelms the school system and county resources.

At their regular meeting Monday evening, County Commissioner Ryan Swails brought his concerns about unregulated residential growth to the Board.

Swails said there are a number of new subdivisions either already in the building stage or are planned in the county, along with a new upscale subdivision and a new townhome community coming to Lavonia.

“We’ve noticed an influx of new life, new housing, new people coming to the area. A lot of them coming to the Lavonia area, and the Carnesville area but we’ve started some new housing developments in the county as well,” he told the Board. “And this is pretty new territory for all of us, I think. I think we’re all trying to figure things out and what to do with this growth and how the county will look in the next five, ten, fifteen years. I guess my question that I’m asking myself and maybe the rest of you, is the county quite ready for all of the growth that we’re seeing?”

Eddie Wester echoed Swails’ concerns and said while the residential growth is good, the County must be prepared.

“I’ve said all along I’ve been a little worried about the way this growth has really taken off and we’re becoming a bedroom county for Banks, or Hart or Stephens counties because of all of the industrial jobs that are there currently,” he said. “The growth concerns me about our EMS. We’ve been on the threshold for about two years of where we’re going to need to build a new EMS station and furnish it… This is going to push it over if we continue to see subdivision after subdivision wanting to come in. I’m not against subdivisions whatsoever. I’m just concerned about us as a county being prepared…we’re not there yet.”

Wester said the County infrastructure is not adequate to support large subdivisions.

Swails suggested the County begin working on expanding or improving several important areas such as infrastructure and county services.

“We’ve got to consider utility expansion for the parts of the county that aren’t receiving those services. There are emergency services that we provide to all of our county. For instance, our fire department. The vast majority of our fire departments are volunteer-based. I think we have to consider response time; especially larger housing developments where lots are smaller and houses that maybe are closer together. It doesn’t take much of a fire for it to jump from one house to another, and then you have a very serious issue. We also are considering facilities expansion.”

Swails said he, Commissioner Wester, and County Manager Derrick Turner are already talking about what needs to be done to make the county judicial system adequate.

“We need a prison expansion of some sort. So, we have that as well to consider, he told the Board.”

Swails also suggested increasing lot sizes in new county subdivisions from the current 1 or 1.5 acres to 2 acres, noting someone building on two acres would likely be building a bigger house.

Currently, the lot size requirement for homes with water and sewer in the county is 3/4 of an acre, homes with water and septic the requirement is one acre, and for homes with well water and septic, the requirement in the county is 1.5 acres.

Planning and Zoning Director Scott DeLozier said however, most developers would not look at building in Franklin County if it required a two-acre lot size.

However, he said developers building on smaller lots would likely be willing to pay for extending infrastructure to new subdivisions.

“If you have a less restrictive lot size and you have water and sewer, that’s going to attract developers.  And say, if this area doesn’t have sewer or it doesn’t have water and they (developers) know they can get a 3/4-acre lot size or a 1/2-acre lot size,  that entices them to potentially run it (water and/or sewer) at their cost. And that’s also another way for the County to expand infrastructure. Then, you start getting developers who will say, ‘well we’ve got sewer here and we’re not very far from it. Well let’s just bite the bullet and run it.’ So, we’re also benefiting from it. Infrastructure dictates growth,” he explained.

Another suggestion was to add impact fees to the new residential ordinance as a way to bring in the extra revenue that will be needed as the population grows.

Commissioner Robert Franklin recommended also raising tap fees for new water customers noting surrounding counties charge much more than Franklin County.

After more discussion, County Commission Chair Jason Macomson, with the Board’s approval, directed DeLozier, County Manager Derrick Turner, and County attorney Bubba Samuels to research lot sizes, tap fees, and impact fees over the next two months and come back to the Commission with their recommendations.