Sparkle City Headlines: Ban would limit business sites

Another great story by Jason Spencer at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, and on a delicate attempt by the County to address a silly issue that could have been avoided years ago if the local government would have just bitten the bullet on zoning.

The head of Spartanburg County Council’s Economic Recruitment and Development Committee said Tuesday that he will call for an immediate moratorium on any commercial development that abuts a residence or residential subdivision until design standards for such projects are in place.

Councilman David Britt told the Herald-Journal this just hours after the county issued building and grading permits to a developer who plans to put a Dollar General on Country Club Road.

“This is not going out and zoning property. This is protecting property to the max,” Britt said.

… Controversy erupted earlier this month when developer Tab Patton of Woodruff put a sign up at the corner of Country Club and Andrews roads announcing a Dollar General was coming. Country Club Road and the area surrounding it encompasses a broad socioeconomic range, and homeowners, many at the higher end of that range, were upset by the news — upset that they hadn’t been notified, that they couldn’t stop it, that it didn’t “fit in” with the neighborhood and that it would cause property values to drop.

Which is to say, of course, that this is de facto zoning. It’s site-specific, random and politically inconsistent, but it’s still basically an attempt to informally zone without actually owning up to that fact. Or to be accountable, and to establish standards which would have to be applied to everyone equally. Instead, we have what appears to be the County acting at the behest of a privileged few, and basically making up rules as they go along.

But don’t take my word for it …

Patton accused the county of making up rules as it went along because of public pressure.

“We’re moving ahead,” he said. “I don’t ever expect controversy when I follow the rules of the county. They’ve gone in and changed the rules just for this specific project.”

It’s a good thing this has happened, because it’s forcing a much-needed conversation to continue forward. Without zoning — real zoning — this kind of thing is going to keep happening. County residents are going to have to decide if they want a random collection of buildings and businesses that actively interfere with each other, as wealthy few who oppose the Dollar General claim would happen in “their” neighborhood, or, instead, if it’s worth a little extra hassle to have a plan to decide in what manner the county will grow. But that means admitting that the rights of the community are as important as those of individual landowners.

And, as Christopher George noted recently, without some kind of plan, you end up with a kind of mindless sprawl which could be easily avoided with a few common-sense rules.

But because no one is willing to do that, we end up with this nonsense — a “moratorium on any commercial development that abuts a residence or residential subdivision until design standards for such projects are in place” — which is a fancy way of saying “zoning, but only on things we don’t like.” It’s inconsistent, it’s unfair and it’s a weak way of postponing a decision that the County will have to tackle eventually.