I have the honor of serving on the Planning and Development Committee of Greenville County Council. I am writing to identify current challenges and propose a path forward for growth.
As a councilman, I share my constituents’ concerns about inadequate roads, traffic, increasing surface-water problems and “cookie-cutter” subdivisions. However, as a conservative with a core value of private property rights and free enterprise, I believe in the lowest taxes and retaining the freedom to do business. I also believe people should be able to buy a home they can afford. And the owners of the land sold for those subdivisions, in many cases owned by Greenville County families for generations, often a considerable part of their nest egg, have a right to use their land with a minimum of interference from government.
Our challenge is in how we grow. We want a county in the future that we can be proud to call our home and especially our children’s home.
All residential subdivisions require county approval. County planning staff analyze applications and make suggestions to the developer, add requirements, and make a recommendation to the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission, an independent, quasi-judicial board that does not include council members, approves or denies the application based on the ordinances and policies adopted by County Council.
At last week’s Planning Commission meeting, frustration boiled over. While the complicated confluence of private property rights and free enterprise with the legitimate government public interest of protecting health, safety and welfare through land-use regulations will always bring disagreements, it became clear to me the need for greater clarity and certainty for all involved. The public feels like it does not have a voice, our staff is frustrated, and applicants are saying they are being left at the altar after following all the rules.
Toward that end, Chairman Willis Meadows has agreed to have me organize a workshop with stakeholders to understand the key problems in the process and determine how we will fix them. We will focus on solutions that result in clarity and certainty for everyone. Stakeholders will include: council members, who will represent the public; our staff; landowners; and representatives of the homebuilding industry. The public will be able to watch the workshop via streaming.
I look forward to the opportunity to serve and lead this effort.
Steve Shaw is the District 20 Councilor on Greenville County Council. He is a practicing land-use and real estate attorney and holds an earned Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of Florida.
