Council meets to discuss Sartor Drive
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Darlington City Council met in closed-door executive session at 6 p.m Thursday, August 11 to discuss the Sartor Drive Annexation with builder of the proposed rental home properties Keith Evans, City Manager Howard Garland, and City Planner Lisa Chalian-Rock.
Several residents met in the waiting area.
After the meeting ended, council opened chambers and invited residents in, telling them that the builder will consider changing the proposed building projects zoning from R-8 to R-10, which is more in keeping with the neighborhood the property adjoins.
A vote on the proposed annexation and proposed zoning will be brought before council at a later date.
Mayor Hines said the builder has told council he would build only five houses at a time, not all at once.
A previously scheduled open meeting on Sept. 6 will be rescheduled to allow the builder more time to redesign. A new meeting will be scheduled, with proper notice to residents who wish to attend.
Councilwoman Elaine Reed said after the meeting: “This process went well. We want to build better relationships with residents, and will do so through transparency. The residents requested to be heard, and in doing so we can work together to grow the city.”
Residents of the neighborhood in attendance will meet with their fellow neighbors and share their thoughts with the News & Press after they have had a chance to discuss. “One good thing about all this is that we have gotten closer as a neighborhood,” said one resident, who did not wished to be identified.
The nearly 8 acres of land that the housing development that Evans proposed to be annexed into the Darlington city limits is located off Barfield Drive, bordered on one side by lots 1 – 9 of the Springdale subdivision. In a plan provided to members of council and the media during the July meeting, seventeen house on each side of the road were sectioned off, with 12’ between a group of three, and 30’ between the next trio, ending with two at each end of the short road.
According to the residents that attended the August 2 and August 11th meetings, those homes are entirely too close together for comfort and would cause many problems with traffic in that small neighborhood.
According to city planner Lisa Rock when she addressed council and citizens in the packed council meeting on August 2, Evans was attempting to fill a need for rental homes in the area. She stressed that being annexed into the city limits versus the county would mean that the city could provide more protection to the community by using the city’s zoning ordinance and land development codes – versus having no say if it remains county property.
Council will hold a meeting to discuss the proposed Recreation Complex on Tuesday Aug. 23; we will update readers on the outcome of that meeting on our website,and have a full story in the August 24th issue.
