Counties need to pass zoning to protect all property owners

The issues of poultry farms and landfills are continuing to create controversy in the Pee Dee.

On Monday, Darlington County Council voted not to impose a moratorium on a planned factory-type turkey farm after County Attorney Jim Cox told members council had no legal authority to do so.

Opponents of the planned turkey facility in the Pocket Road community asked council earlier this month to impose a moratorium on such facilities until the county adopts a comprehensive zoning plan.

Cox told council that with no such zoning ordinance pending before council, a moratorium would violate state law. The county still has no zoning ordinance on its books.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has regulations for issuing permits for proposed poultry farms in the state, and a county’s zoning determines whether some permits ever get issued. DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick has said the agency doesn’t regulate the zoning of a proposed poultry farm.

Meanwhile, in Williamsburg County, council approved second reading Tuesday of a contract with MRR Williamsburg LLC to put a landfill in Nesmith, as the company recommended. The site is called “Big Woods” and is situated along the CSX railroad, about midway between Nesmith and Turkey Creek Road.

Williamsburg County has a consent agreement with DHEC allowing it to continue use of the present landfill near Salters, as long as progress is being made on the new site, which is expected to be up and running in three years.

The site selection seemed to have caught many Nesmith residents by surprise, as the first public mention of the plan occurred at the county council meeting Aug. 26.

A special community meeting will be conducted at 6 p.m. Thursday at Nesmith Baptist Church to answer questions about environmental concerns. Then, council is expected to have third and final reading on the landfill contract at 6 p.m. Oct. 2 during its regular monthly meeting.

And although a proposed landfill near Wallace is on hold in Marlboro County, another landfill has been proposed in Clio. A waste management company from Florida approached the Marlboro County Planning Commission about creating a construction and demolition landfill.

On June 24, Marlboro County residents overwhelmingly voted “no” to the proposed 900-acre Wallace landfill in a non-binding referendum.

In response to DHEC’s approval of MRR Sandhills LLC’s request to build that landfill, Marlboro County Council filed a lawsuit against DHEC asking it to revoke the approval, or at least stay the process, which would prevent MRR from moving forward in the permitting process. On Jan. 2, however, DHEC granted a request from MRR to extend the approval to May 1 in light of MRR’s “diligent effort to obtain the necessary permit.”

DHEC approved a demonstration of need for a solid waste facility and said the maximum allowable amount of waste permitted per year would be $1.48 million tons. DHEC stipulated the approval of the document in no way bypasses the county’s zoning consistency laws previously in place.

There’s that word again: zoning.

Zoning often is used to create and protect the value of real estate, as well as establish land-use guidelines.

A lack of it hurts the health and economy of the region.

There may always be conflicts between residents who oppose poultry farms and landfills and those who are trying to establish them in the Pee Dee.

But at least with appropriate zoning in place, they’ll know where they stand.