Hello REALTORS®,
As local governments spend the surge of COVID money, balancing their budgets is getting more difficult. Budgets have dominated our local government agendas—except in Anderson County.
In the last year, Anderson County government has been especially busy with development-related ordinances, considering 16 ordinances and adopting 11 of them.
- Piedmont Area Development Plan (enacted)
- Reduce summary plats from a maximum of seven lots to four lots (enacted)
- Amend stormwater design manual (enacted)
- Limit residential construction densities on steep slopes
- Require utilities to be identified on preliminary plats, and require utilities to issue capacity letters to the developer before the Planning Commission considers the subdivision (enacted)
- Change the way planning staff reports their preliminary plat recommendations to the Planning Commission (enacted)
- Increase stormwater fees (enacted)
- Require a 100-foot undisturbed “area” (buffer) around new residential subdivisions (enacted)
- Limit how often a property owner can apply to subdivide their property for a residential subdivision (tabled)
- Apply buffer yard requirements of the zoning ordinance to unzoned areas of the county (enacted)
- Increase landscaping and buffer requirements for large-scale industrial and commercial developments (enacted)
- Update the stormwater requirements for grading of steep slopes (enacted)
- 6-month moratorium on large-scale residential development (25 lots or units or greater) (tabled)
- Review and permit townhome (single-family attached) communities like multifamily communities (tabled)
- Increase minimum lot size for lots using septic systems (tabled)
- Require a foundation survey for single-family homes (enacted)
The riparian buffer ordinance (8.) was enacted on May 20. Development sites with streams that drain more than 50 acres, which is almost all of them, are required to have a 100-foot buffer on both sides of the creek or river. The ordinance exempts manmade ponds and lakes like Lake Hartwell. It also exempts existing development. It is notable that Greenville County, where this idea originated, has not enacted the buffer ordinance and Pickens County limited the buffer to 50 feet. While Anderson County Council may table an ordinance, their rules allow for the ordinance to be brought back up. That just happened with the townhome ordinance.
Anderson County hired a consultant to do a full review and update of its development and zoning related ordinances, a process that is expected to last 18 months. Chairman Tommy Dunn has encouraged council members to allow that process to work rather than continue to propose new ordinances on a piecemeal basis.
Is More Zoning Coming to Anderson County?
I reported about a month ago on zoning, or the lack of zoning in the Western Upstate. Anderson County uses the precinct method for instituting zoning. If 15% of residents in a voting precinct sign a petition, a zoning ordinance for that precinct will be initiated and a referendum will be held. In 2023, the Fork 2 Precinct near Lake Hartwell approved zoning with 70% voter approval.
There are more petitions being circulated in council districts 2 (Glenn Davis) and 3 (Greg Elgin. Two of them have been certified, both in district 3: Shirley Store and Neals Creek. The county hosted an informational meeting this week, and a special election is set for August 12.
Impact Fees
An impact fee is charged when new development creates new demand for infrastructure. Water and Sewer are the most common impact fees. Together, where water and sewer utilities are offered, the utilities impose $6,000 to $8,000 in impact fees on new homes, and more for commercial and industrial development—a lot more.
Federal courts have ruled that there must be a “nexus” between the impact fee and what it buys. Courts have also ruled that the impact fee must be proportional to the payor’s impact on the infrastructure.
The South Carolina Development Impact Fee Act implements those court rules. One way state law does that is to require local government to spend impact fees within three years. The rationale is that the payor should receive the benefit of what they paid for within a reasonable period. Local governments have been promoting legislation to give them more time.
Two of the county’s five school districts (Anderson 1 and 3) recently called for Anderson County Council to enact a school impact fee. Pickens County Council debated a roughly $3,000 impact fee last year, but the county council ultimately did not approve it.
Only two impact fee ordinances are in place in the Western Upstate beyond those for water and sewer:
- Clemson has charged an impact fee of about $1,000 per house since the 1990s, which was grandfathered from complying with state law. But Clemson updated their ordinance in 2023 to increase it to almost $10,000 per house. Their ordinance now complies with state law.
- Central also has had a small impact fee since the 1990s, which also has been grandfathered. They recently increased their impact, but did not bring it in compliance with state law.
I expect we’ll see more impact fee proposals in the future as cities and counties search for new sources of revenue as their budgets get tighter. You can read your association’s policy paper on impact fees by clicking here.
Support RPAC
You and your association can influence how your government affects you and regulates your industry.
Elections are an important way that your association represents you and helps make a strong market for real estate. Elections are also an important way that you participate in your government. Your association’s objective is to help elect candidates who share the Realtor position that a vibrant and healthy real estate market is vital to a vibrant and healthy economy. Of course, you must balance your personal and business interests when you vote.
More than 90% of Realtors in the Western Upstate are registered to vote, which is amazing. But just 32% supported RPAC in 2024.
You can help your industry by supporting RPAC. It’s easy. Your association includes a voluntary contribution to RPAC on your annual dues invoice. Pay it, and you are an RPAC supporter. If you haven’t supported RPAC this year, I encourage you to do so by clicking here.
Michael Dey, Director of Government Affairs