Members of North Augusta city council will vote on ordinances for two proposed development projects, including one that will be the largest the city has ever had.
Planning and Development Director Tommy Paradise outlined the new information and requests during council’s July 11 study session. The projects will be in two ordinances that will be on the July 18 meeting agenda for first reading.
First up was the Highland Springs development, a 1,368-acre property bounded by S.C. Highway 25/Edgefield Road, Ascauga Lake Road, Belvedere-Clearwater Road, Blanchard Road and S.C. Interstate-520/Palmetto Parkway.
Paradise said there is already a development plan for this project, but it is based on the original proposal created more than 20 years ago. Although the last interest in developing the property stalled in 2018, the first mention of the project actually dates to 2001. So, the plan presented to the planning commission was drawn under requirements that date back to the mid-1990s.
Paradise said he and his staff have been working with the developer to try to get them to conform to current requirements. Some things the developer didn’t want to give up but agreed to some of what the city would like to see.
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“The old plan had 100 and 200-foot buffers around the perimeter. He wanted to reduce those to 40 and 50 feet, which would be it with our current code. The original version had a maximum he could build out 7,900 residential units. There’s actual reduction in the number of houses, he can build the 5,000. Build 1,189 apartments, he agreed to reduce that to 1000,” he said, adding it appears the apartment will be broken into separate buildings with roughly 300 units each.
A few requests concerned Paradise, including to reduce the front setback for a single-family home from 25-feet to 20-feet, to increase the height restrictions on single-family homes and townhomes from 35 to 40 feet and increase from 45 feet to 50 feet for condominiums and apartments.
Councilmembers were also concerned about the homes having front facing garages. Under the current standards, that is not permitted in North Augusta, but the development plan for this project is based on previous standards that did allow front facing garages.
Paradise said the developer was asked to build under current standards, but he said the developer called that “a deal breaker.”
Also planned for the mixed-use development are commercial and industrial section. About 3.2 million square feet of industrial area, a village square covering about 555,000 square feet and that same amount of space allocated for commercial development.
Already under construction at the edge of the tract are the Aiken School District’s Highland Springs Elementary and Middle Schools, which were included in the $90 million dollar bond referendum voters approved in 2018.
Corey Murphy, the district’s chief officer of Operations & Student Services, gave trustees a construction update at the July 12 meeting.
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“A lot of site prep is still going on out there and construction is continuing with concrete with masonry concrete and underground electrical plumbing. As well as in wall mechanical plumbing and electrical rough in. All slabs on grade and complete the roof structure for area II is also in progress,” he said. “We’re still shooting for August 2023 as the move in date for the middle school.”
North Augusta councilmembers also received the first, formal presentation of the plan for Bluegrass Place, formerly known as the Mealing tract. The project, just under 52 acres, is at East Martintown Road and East Buena Vista Avenue.
Paradise said meetings with the developer yielded a plan to build single family, detached homes, but they would be as rentals, similar to Sweetwater Commons near Edgefield Road at exit five. However, they want to build the homes on a single lot. Paradise told the developer that is not what had been approved.
“So, basically, what they’re requesting in the general development plan changes is tract A changes the single family from being owned on single family lots. There’ll be on one lot of record, 52 units. On track F, which is the single family attached, would be on one parcel, one lot of record and would be rentals,” he said.
Councilman Ed Presnell said he would not support that plan.
“I’m not a fan of that at all, because that means eventually, you know, you could have someone come in and buy it that doesn’t care. It could run downhill. I will be against that. I mean, there’s just no way,” he said.
The development would also include an apartment complex with approximately 300 units. The plan also calls for professional and commercial properties, senior living and about four acres of greenspace.
The July 18 meeting at the North Augusta Municipal Building begins with the Public Power Hour at 5:30 p.m. followed by the council meeting at 6 p.m.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
