RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — Monday night Richland County leaders hosted their first public meeting for their 2025 Comprehensive Plan. Staff members and an outside consulting group got to hear ideas from locals about what they'd like to see in the future.
At the Richland Library off Assembly Street, residents were able to voice their opinions about conservation, housing and transportation.
All of the feedback will then go into creating the new plan.
While the roadmap is just now beginning, residents came by the dozens to have a say in what they want Richland County to look like in the next 10 years.
"I'm very concerned about our area. The 29203 area. We've got a lot of benefits and so forth not being put in our area. The area in which I live in used to be like the creme de la creme. Now we notice that the crime level is up. People are not keeping their homes up like we would like for them to be, and so we just wanted to try to make sure that our community is at the table whenever we start looking for the planning for the next 20 years. So it was very important for me to see where the direction seems to be going," Mary Singletary, one resident said.
Locals of all ages and backgrounds filled the library to make comments, and use visual aids to show county leaders exactly what they want for the area.
"I was impressed with all the various table displays and interactive aspect to it," said Harrison Greenlaw, resident and president of the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods.
Out of three phases to complete the plan by the end of next year, the county said right now they're in phase one, which is all about discovery and feedback. Phase two is consolidating and presenting ideas, and phase three is refining and creating the new plan.
Synithia Williams is the Richland County Director of Community Planning and Development.
"A lot has happened since 2015. We adopted the first 2015 plan, we had the flood a few months later, we've lived through COVID. So there's been a lot of things that have changed since the comprehensive plan was last updated and we want to make sure we capture all of those changes as we look into the future of Richland County," Williams said.
Residents wrote comments about making the county more pedestrian friendly, eliminating food desserts and increasing affordable housing.
One longtime resident, Benjamin DuBard, said he hopes the county pays attention to his hometown community of Cedar Creek in North Central Richland County, maintaining its rural nature.
"Urban development with amenities I think is a great idea, turning that development back towards areas such as Dentsville, that need to be redeveloped, that have gone into decline," DuBard said.
Richland County said they'll have at least three more in person meetings in January about the comprehensive plan.