City to study expansion of downtown overlay district

The official definition of "downtown Aiken" could be broader soon, thanks to blessings received Monday night from the Aiken City Council.

Council gave its approval for a plan to study expanding the current Downtown Overlay District to include an area bordered by Richland Avenue to the north and South Boundary on the south, covering the southeast portion of the Old Aiken Master Plan.

According to City Manager Roger LeDuc, most of the work required of the City would involve informing property owners within the district of the impending change and collecting their input before a public hearing can be held and final approval is brought to the Aiken Planning Commission and finally City Council. That process could take three to six months before an ordinance is finalized, LeDuc said.

If approved, properties within the expanded Overlay District would be subject to review by the Design Review Board and architectural design guidelines similar to those now in place for the downtown area and the Historic District. LeDuc said the guidelines likely would have to be amended to include components for light industrial properties, fast food restaurants and highway commercial businesses that currently exist in the area not covered now by the overlay district.

In other action, the City Council:

• adopted a memorandum of understanding with area newspaper publishers, who plan to place modular newsracks in 11 locations around downtown, but the final locations won't be determined until a sample box can be ordered and examined in various locations to gauge the visual impact on the business district;
• approved first reading to an ordinance designating Pine Lawn Cemetery on Hampton Avenue as a landmark on the Aiken Historic Register;
• adopted a 56-page set of architectural design guidelines for residences in the Downtown Overlay District;
• amended the zoning ordinances to give the Design Review Board authority to review all new and renovated single-family homes in the Downtown Business District;
• gave first reading to an ordinance to annex a lot along Richland Avenue with General Business zoning that would be developed as a car wash;
• gave first reading to an annexation request for a single-family home on Two Notch Road; and
• delayed action on a plan to rezone a four-block area along Colleton Avenue to RS-10 Residential Single-Family until more signatures could be secured from property owners wanting to rezone.