Builders seek smaller buffers around Lexington County streams and ponds

Builders are pressing Lexington County to allow homes, shops and offices to rise closer to many streams and ponds.

Their goal is to ease a ban on tearing out trees, bushes and greenery within 100 feet of waterways, a standard adopted to reduce pollution from erosion.

“It’s overkill,” said Earl McLeod, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Columbia. “It makes land that might be developed undevelopable.”

County leaders are looking at smaller buffers, although the county public works staff warns that any change would make it harder to protect waterways.

Providing extra landscaping through buffers is “one of the strategies” their report said is needed to meet clean water standards.

County Council members – who have the final say – promise that any change will not worsen water quality.

“We’re not going to do anything that adversely affects the environment.” County Council Chairman Johnny Jeffcoat of Irmo said.

The 100-foot buffer has been in place since 2008. Builders estimate it removed 8,400 acres from possible development. That puts about 13 square miles – less than 2 percent of the 758-square-mile county – off-limits for homes, stores and offices.

The county requirement mirrors what federal officials set separately along Lake Murray and the lower Saluda River.

Buffers became the choice to stop erosion after county leaders concluded that silt fences – strips of black plastic – collapsed too often.

Landscaped areas serve as natural filters lessening the flow of dirt, fertilizer and other material from lawns, forests and roads that contaminate streams and ponds. Supporters call them an easy way to lessen pollution significantly.

Builders say smaller strips with additional greenery – perhaps no more than 35 feet wide – should be sufficient.

The buffer plan also prevents consideration of alternatives such as artificial wetlands when 100-foot strips are impractical due to a tract’s shape or terrain, builders say. Allowing some flexibility could satisfy much of builders’ concerns, some council members say.

“There may be ways to get it done by tailoring things to specific sites,” Councilman Jim Kinard of Swansea said.

This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Builders seek smaller buffers around Lexington County streams and ponds."