Residents push to zone parts of Greenville County, hoping to stifle unwanted development

A group of residents in the southern part of Greenville County are pushing to protect the area’s rural character–through zoning. Zoning or land regulation could be the difference between having a farm next door, or a 700-home subdivision.

Empowering Residents Through Zoning

“Ensuring that they understand what they can do as a landowner to protect themselves from developers coming in and putting in subdivisions etc.,” said Alyson Ghizzoni-Burns, explaining the goals of Zone Rural. The majority of District 26 is unincorporated and the organizers of Zone Rural say their effort is all about helping people understand what that means.

However, not everyone agrees with their approach. The organization came to be in February, after a large RV park project was approved. Both the northern and southern ends of Greenville County are void of land regulations. This means developers have little restriction for what they can build.

Support from County Councilman

“Any elected official cannot do anything, cannot help you. If they can pull a permit on his own property they can do it,” said District 26 County Councilman Rick Bradley. Zone Rural gained the support of Bradley, who’s been assisting them in their efforts. “I ran on trying to slow down growth and get where we can manage it a little better and get some infrastructure down here so I think this is a first step,” said Bradley.

Methods for Zoning Property

There are three methods for zoning property: Residents in the area can vote through a referendum, get 25% of property owners to sign a petition, or request county council to create the zoning.

“Several of us don’t understand the motivation,” said former councilman, Lynn Ballard. Ballard and some others fear the group will take the county council approval route, which could “blanket” or area zone parts of the district. That could limit property owners’ say in how the land is regulated. Some people also worry if zoning would decrease future property value and having to pay fees if re-zoning is needed later on. Ballard feels petitioning is the best avenue.

Transparent Process

Zone Rural says their meetings are to get a gauge of what people want. “Come forward tell us what zone classification they would like to zone their property and we will collate all of that data for the county and then push that through county council for official votes,” said Ghizzoni -Burns.

For more information on zoning click here and view the county’s Zoning Ordinance.