Equestrian community to go before City council

Plans for an equestrian-themed community at the end of Chukker Creek Road will go to Aiken City Council later this month without a recommendation from the Planning Commission.

The commission voted 5-2 not to recommend the 114-acre development that would build 270 homes around shared-ownership stables, pastures and riding trails. The problem, according to commission chairman Ed Woltz, was in the specifics - or lack thereof.

"I think this is a great plan. This is something that Aiken needs," said Woltz, one of the commissioners who voted against the development. "That said, I'm concerned we don't have more details."

Developer Ron Monahan, who now lives in Colorado but said he met his wife in Aiken, presented a three-page plan that outlined the concept for the development, including a map of the 270 lots and planned green space. However, Woltz and commissioner Kay Brohl expressed worries that Monahan did not have elevation drawings of prospective homes, even though such renderings are not required under planning ordinances.

"We've have a lot of builders come up here and say, 'Trust me,' but I feel like we're a little short on information here," Woltz said.

Mike Randall, identified as a former city planner in Boulder, Colo. and contracted by Monahan to create the development plan, said they are working with a number of local builders to offer a wide variety of home plans. Sample elevations had not yet been solicited from those builders.

"This will not be a single-flavor development," Randall said. "We're not in competition with Woodside for $750,000 or $500,000 homes on every lot. We're talking about a place where everybody in this room can afford to purchase a home in a quality equestrian development."

The unique features of the development, Monahan said, are a shared barn and pasture areas, which would accommodate up to 50 horses, and more than four miles of riding trails carved in around the perimeter of the residential areas. The plan includes 28.8 percent green space.

The trail network raised concerns among residents of East Pleasant Colony Drive inside Woodside Plantation, who said that a planned 50-foot buffer zone around the development is not enough cushion between their homes and the proposed new community.

Judy Miller, a resident of Pleasant Colony Drive, spoke against the new development and recommended a 75-foot buffer zone and at least 200 newly planted pine trees be required between the Woodside properties and the new community. Questioned by commissioner Wilkins Byrd, Miller said she was led to believe by Woodside Development that the land beyond East Pleasant Colony, where Monahan is proposing his development, would never be developed.

Woodside Development CEO Pat Cunning told the Commission he had discussed the proposed new development with Monahan and would plant additional trees and create a berm along the Woodside side of the property line to provide more buffer.

Randall said he and Monahan planned to bring a more detailed plan to City Council in hopes they will approve it despite the lack of a Commission recommendation.

"We'll do exactly what they said and provide the architectural detail," Randall said. "We feel that an equestrian community is an idea that fits perfectly into Aiken."

In other action, the Planning Commission voted to recommend denying developer ADIZ Inc.'s request to remove requirements for a bicycle/pedestrian path from a development on the south side of Spencer Drive, and approved a variance request by the Fermata Club to build a detention pond within five feet of the Palmetto Golf Club property line, instead of the required 25 feet.