09.22.2017 | GREENVILLE JOURNAL | 5
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OPINION Views from your community
Are Greenville County’s growth policies adequate? By H. G. “Butch” Kirven Jr.
Increasingly, people are coming to Greenville County Council to express their frustration with the effects of largescale suburban developments on local roads, landscapes, utilities, and services. Citizens feel overwhelmed by the volume of development and by the massive scale of cutting and grading being done. People are concerned about how all this is changing their lives. Since 2010, Greenville County’s population increased by about 50,000 people. That’s another Simpsonville, Mauldin, and Travelers Rest put together. High-density residential areas are essential to meet the needs of our growing population, but they should be located where the roads can handle higher traffic volumes, utilities already exist, and sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and mixed-property uses are encouraged. Bringing infrastructure to locations where high-density developments make sense is more cost effective than the current pattern of simply building new subdivisions in the outlying areas. That pattern brings sprawl. Sprawl is caused by redundant developments expanded over areas where infrastructure is inadequate and where semi-rural and low-density neighborhoods are established. It consumes land faster and less efficiently than compact, mixed-use developments situated where adequate infrastructure and services are available. Subdivisions tend to become obsolete faster as newer developments come on line farther out. Sprawl is also more expensive for taxpayers due to the higher costs of extending utilities, roads, and services over a large area. It is detrimental to achieving cohesive and complete communities that retain their desirability generation after generation. How best can we plan for continued population growth in Greenville County? What neighborhood characteristics do people value most and want to see in new subdivisions? Is it worthwhile to help some areas retain their rural characteristics? How can we encourage a range of housing types, including affordable housing? Is it good public policy to promote
a balance of development types and land uses so that people may choose to live, work, shop, learn, and recreate more conveniently and efficiently? The county has a responsibility to help shape land-development policies attuned to the citizens’ interests and preferences. It is also in the public interest to encourage a balance of development types, because commercial and other nonresidential property taxes subsidize services provided for owner-occupied residences. Greenville County’s comprehensive plan, Imagine Greenville County, is in its eighth year. It is effectively outdated. A few area plans have been approved for certain districts and sections that reflect citizens’ preferences and interests in those areas. Area plans are a useful, but limited, tool that would be more effective when aligned with a full array of land-use policies including zoning, drainage, subdivision and land development regulations, codes, etc. Such a policy alignment has not been done in the past. It should be done going forward. Over the next two years, a new comprehensive plan will be created with public participation to focus on a vision for Greenville County out to 2030. Two years is too long to wait. If the goal is to match the public’s concerns with practical solutions to guide the development industry in meeting the demand for new housing, interim steps are needed. It may be time for a temporary moratorium on residential rezoning and new subdivision approvals to allow for immediately needed measures to be considered and adopted. The current situation is not satisfactory for citizens or builders. Much more can be done to ensure growth meets demand in ways that preserve and promote the great quality of life enjoyed here – now and into the future. That’s in everyone’s interest. H. G. “Butch” Kirven Jr. represents Greenville County Council, District 27. He is also the council chair.
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