KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Those visiting Kershaw County and planning to stay at campground or RV sites may soon be able to stay longer than 3 months.
“It is huge,” says Christopher Renfroe, owner of Renfroe Ranch Campground.
Renfroe has been advocating for the county to change the current policy, which only allows guests to stay 3 months at a campground before they must leave.
“I would say 80% of our traffic to 90% of our traffic in income would more than likely come from longer than 3-month stays,” Renfroe said.
He says many who come to a campground like his are either construction workers or new residents looking to build, and once they realize they can only stay for 3 months, they might take their business elsewhere.
“It makes it a lot harder, especially being a new small campground. We have a lot of transient workers that come through needing way more than 3 months, so they go to our surrounding counties which offer long-term camping,” Renfroe added.
Councilmember Derek Shoemake says several campgrounds are excluded from the current ordinance of only 3 months, as they were grandfathered in before a previous council made the change.
Now, the county is taking steps to change that ordinance again, ensuring small businesses like Renfroe Ranch have room to grow.
“We voted to send through Planning and Zoning a change to the ordinance that would take 3 months and expand it to 9 months," Shoemake said. "It would also add a record-keeping requirement so it would be easier to know when someone was staying at a campground.”
Shoemake says Planning and Zoning will look at the request or take away provisions altogether allowing someone to stay as long as they like. He says he supports extended stays, but doesn’t want to throw out all rules.
The new draft is expected to be taken by council in August.