Florence County planners want Quinby to reconsider rezoning

FLORENCE — The Florence County Planning Commission wants Quinby town officials to reconsider a request to rezone more than 21 parcels as residential although the land includes businesses and farmland in addition to homes.

“It sounds to me (like) this is a very broad brush, to go R-1 with everything,” commissioner Cecil Cunha said Tuesday night, when the commission deferred the request until next month.

He was referring to R-1 residential zoning, which Florence attorney and developer Gary Finklea called “the most restrictive zoning there is.”

“When you zone (property) R-1, you hurt development; you hurt the value of the property as well,” Finklea told the commission.

Quinby on Dec. 4, 2007, annexed the property into its town limits although it hadn’t received a recommendation on the proposed zoning from the planning commission, as required by state law, county Planning Director Bill Hoge said.

The property is located along East McIver Road and East Old Marion Highway.

Chris Clarke, whose family owns Florence Fences on East Old Marion Highway, said he wants his family’s 30 acres to receive a different zoning designation. He said he uses some of the land for rental property and also wants to be able to re-establish a mobile-home park there.

Finklea, who owns property adjoining the annexed land, suggested an RU-1 zoning that would accommodate agriculture as well as single-family, duplex and manufactured housing.

Farming is not a permitted use in R-1 zones, although it could be grandfathered in, Hoge said.

Rayshaw Gaddy and Yvonne Jones are two of the owners of 33 acres of farmland along McIver Road that was annexed into Quinby. They said they didn’t hear about the RU-1 zoning during a hearing in Quinby.

“It wasn’t explained like that the first time,” Gaddy said.

Gaddy and Jones said they hope all property owners in that area can get the zoning that suits their land’s use.

Hoge said South Carolina has two procedures that set annexations into motion:

• Every property owner involved signs a petition, or
• A petition is signed by 75 percent of the property owners, who must also own 75 percent of the value of the property to be annexed.

It was unclear which procedure was used in the Quinby annexation.

Finklea told the commission the request is an example of why many people tell the commission they have no idea how their property received its zoning designation.

“What’s occurring here is a dangerous precedent to what could happen anywhere in the county,” he said.

In other business, the commission recommended approval of a request to change the commercial zoning of Johnsonville property. The proposal is to allow a manufactured-home dealership at 362 N. Georgetown Highway, now occupied by two used-car lots and a liquor store.

Florence County Council will introduce the rezoning ordinance at its December meeting.