Is Lexington County about to deny first development under new review process?
A proposal to put almost 100 homes near a Lexington County interstate is getting a closer look because of the potential impact it could have on surrounding schools.
Lexington County Council is reviewing plans for the new subdivision, called Avanti Townhomes, which would bring 83 townhome units to 22 acres southwest of the town of Lexington, near where Longs Pond Road crosses Interstate 20, near the Baneberry subdivision. The move comes as the county moves to tighten its development standards.
As part of the concurrency review process the county adopted last year, county staff asked the Lexington 1 school district to weigh in on how all the new houses would affect its schools in the area. The concurrency process brings together various government bodies and agencies to assess how new growth will affect public services. Lexington is the only county in the state to have adopted such a holistic approach to its review process, although it has yet to lead to a proposed project being rejected.
A questionnaire for the county showed that Deerfield Elementary, where any children in the new subdivision would go to school, currently has room for zero new students and would need to add up to three portable classrooms if new homes move in, at an estimated cost of $300,00 to $450,000. The installation process would take an estimated 12 months.
The total estimated fiscal impact on the school district would be $584,080.
The school district based its figures on the assumption that 75% of the 83 homes in the development would house families with two children, adding 124 students to local schools. The additional students could require at least six more teachers and a new bus, the district estimates.
“These are just a few examples in order to demonstrate how a handful of new students can impact the number of employees needed,” the district said.
Lexington 1 is currently wrapping up projects from its 2018 bond referendum, and has no plans for any additional construction at this time, the district said.
“[I]f other developments occur in the same attendance area, new construction would be required at both the middle and high school sites,” said the questionnaire submitted by the Lexington 1 school district.
Avanti would be a relatively rare example of higher-density townhome-style development moving into the Midlands. The county council this week voted to add consideration of the project to its Sept. 9 agenda, along with a review of 118 new townhomes going into a new development at Walkers Trail, off of Highway 378 across from Mariners Creek Drive.
Simultaneously, Lexington County Council is considering a new proposal that would require any development with at least 150 homes to have two entry points for the development (a threshold currently set at 200 homes). Starting at 300 homes, a subdivision must have three access points, plus an additional exit for every 200 lots above 500. That would mean four access points for a development of 700 homes, five for 900 homes, and so on.
At a public hearing on the measure Tuesday, speakers in favor of the proposal framed it as a public safety issue. Resident Laura Touchberry said that first responders would be better served by having more avenues into large subdivisions, while Cara Ann Lindler said more outlets could provide alternative routes for traffic in emergencies. When a car accident recently closed Barr Road, Lindler said, the roads through the Barr Lake community served to redirect traffic.
“The traffic congestion still occurred, but it would have been worse without alternative routes,” she said.
But Allan Goff saw that as one of the downsides of the proposed policy.
“It would invite more cut-through traffic on streets that were not designed for it,” Goff said, adding that the change would go beyond what the international fire code requires while causing more disruption to connecting streets.
Jason Wilkie said a second access point for larger lots might be reasonable, but “that third, fourth, fifth point is going to make tracks of land undevelopable,” he said. “Most aren’t going to have enough frontage to get that number of access points.”
Neighborhoods like Governor’s Grant or Saluda River Club “couldn’t be built under this ordinance,” Wilkie said. “There’s not enough road frontage.”
.jpg)