Midway Subdivison

Public participation is vital for our local democracy and the public needs to know both sides of the issues if it is going to help steer solutions and make an informed vote. Whether it is the newspapers or concerned citizens, someone has to make the effort to shine additional light. Most elected officials only reach out to the public during campaigns, and those that speak publicly after they are elected, just promote what they’ve done or tell half the story.

Case in point the county government’s approval of a 324-house development on the western side of Midway Road in Pickens. It is way too big for that area.

Now there are less than 150 houses on Midway Road and the roads that contribute to it. This will more than double that, adversely effecting that community and side of town.

The average daily car passes on Highway 178 from Midway to Fox Squirrel Ridge Road is about 5,200. From Fox Squirrel Ridge to E. Baker is 9,100 (the new high school added about 2,900 car passes). From E. Baker to Main Street is 10,400 cars per day.

You don’t need SCDOT statistics, though. Anyone who drives Highway 178 to Ingles or during school start and end times knows adding a 324-home subdivision will make the congestion intolerable. Our elected leaders want all this growth and aren’t thinking about quality of life of those already living here.

When I unsuccessfully ran for county council, I warned about this. Twenty years ago, we had a handful of small local developers who would buy like 20 acres of land in or around Pickens, then clear and grade it, put in the roads, curb, gutter and stormwater ponds, and then sell 30 lots or so. Modest in size -- low impact subdivisions.

Not today, though. You see one-off houses going up on existing roads, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a new subdivision of any size in 29671.

Too much cost and regulation when it comes to that infra-structure, and all the inspections, delays and approvals. All that has to be in, inspected and approved before selling one lot. In sum, it became too costly and risky for smaller developers who don’t have tons of upfront funding, so they disappeared and with them the low impact subdivisions of 30 to 40 houses they used to build. Very bad.

That left only the large developers who have access to large amounts of funding. They have the staying power to cut in new subdivisions, put in the costly infra-structure and deal with the inevitable delays. However, they build many homes and sell them at higher prices. Partly, because that is what larger developers do, plus the high margins and volume offsets the higher costs. I don’t like it, but that is how over-regulation ran out the smaller developers and changed things for the worse.

What we got in the past was 7 subdivisions of 35 to 40 house each spread around the Pickens area, built by smaller developers. What we will get going forward due to the regulation is one subdivision of 325 in one place, built by one developer. So it is not surprising this Midway subdivision is not 35 homes, selling at $150,000. But instead it is 324 homes averaging $300,000 to $500,000. And who can afford that? It is bad all around on this issue.