LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — Members of the public spoke out in favor and against a new ordinance that would bring new stakeholders to the table in Lexington County.
It was a crowded room inside of the Lexington County Council chambers on Wednesday as members flooded in to voice their opinions on the proposed ordinances. According to council chair Beth Carrigg, the county is looking to add more stakeholders to the conversation when developers are looking to add housing to the rapidly expanding area.
"We are looking to gather input from our stakeholders, sheriff's department, fire service, EMS, waste management. It's really important that we have criteria that we can look at, like the school districts are imperative to how we develop and expand our growth," she adds. "For the safety and the integrity of everyone who lives here, we believe that concurrency is in the best interest of the citizens of Lexington county."
People spoke out for hours in support and against the idea during a public comment session on Wednesday. Liesha Huffstetler thinks the idea would help maintain county services, especially for those moving into the area. "If you can not support 5000 to 10,000 more people, it's foolish to bring them in because you're not going to have the services that they need it's not fair to them either," She explained.
John Allen spoke during the public comment session and said the new rules are crucial to responsible development. "Growth is incredible for a town, and development is beneficial for a town, but when it is done irresponsibly it can be totally detrimental to the town. We don't want to be Myrtle Beach 2.0," he said.
Raymond Wright says the county already doesn't have many affordable housing options, and this would make that even worse. "You're absolutely making housing unaffordable and unattainable for your average middle-class American. So people want to live in this community, and we have a responsibility for our side to do this responsibly," he said.
Carrigg tells us the council will be taking up the ordinance again, but did not give a timeline for when that would be.