Public praises Land Management Ordinance proposal

Aiken County's proposed Land Management Ordinance received an unexpected friendly reception during a public hearing Tuesday.

The six speakers who addressed the Aiken County Council during the public hearing largely presented ideas to strengthen the document, which will serve as a footprint to help direct future development in the unincorporated portions of the county.

Aiken resident Ed Giobbe said he wanted to see the Council include tree protection provisions in the ordinance and to extend the area covered by mandatory utility tap requirements to 2,500 feet.

"It will encourage people to build closer to lines, rather than spread out into the County," Giobbe said of the tap regulation proposal, which appeared to received a warm reception from Council.

Jane-Page Thompson, who also supported protecting trees, said she would like to see the LMO document address road construction standards in known flood areas.

"Improving the quality of roads should be important," Thompson said.

Thompson, however, praised the overall document.

"This is a great step forward in protecting Aiken's future," she said.

Professional land surveyor Ben Christensen said he was concerned that Council could include language in the document requiring costly tree surveys and the surveying of land when property transfers within a family.

Christensen said there are currently not enough surveyors in Aiken County to handle the existing volume of business, let alone a massive increase.

"There are countless tracts of land that have never been surveyed and don't have one now," he said in speaking of some of the current records held by the County.

Questioning a transitional zone established in the LMO document was Jimmie Tabor, who said the proposed Office/Residential zone caused him some concerns.

Aiken resident Martin Buckley said he would like to see the Council consider extending the zoning regulations imposed by municipalities for two miles or more beyond the incorporated areas, which would provide more consistent enforcement of regulations.

"We need it, and we need it badly," Buckley said in praising the proposed LMO document. Horse owner Bill Allen, whose farm is on Oak Ridge Club Road, said he was concerned that a proposal in the document would place restrictions upon already regulated things, such as the storage of manure.

He said regulating such things in cities and other areas where space is limited is needed but doing so on large tracts is not practical.

"To extend that into the County doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense," he said of manure regulations, which he was assured would not impact the area's rural zonings.

Comments received during the public hearing will now be incorporated into the LMO document before it is formally adopted by Council.