Revised Windsor Forest expansion plan eases residents’ minds

Some Windsor Forest residents said a revised subdivision expansion plan will keep them safer by excluding a proposed emergency access road they feared could bring pedestrian traffic and crime into their neighborhood.

The Florence County Planning Commission on Tuesday gave its unanimous approval to a revised sketch plan that doesn’t include the road from Parson’s Gate, which is in the subdivision, to West Darlington Street.

Kim Roberts, president of the Windsor Forest Neighborhood Association, said the developer also won’t have to monitor the proposed road as the subdivision’s sixth phase is under way.

“It’ll reduce the traffic in that area and the crime rate,” Bobby Griffin, the association’s vice president, said.

Last month, before a crowd full of Windsor Forest residents, the planning commission unanimously approved developer Bubby Floyd’s sketch plan to add 14 lots to the subdivision.

The additional road would have been a 30-foot-wide emergency access easement designed to support a 75,000-pound fire truck.

In terms of access, Windsor Forest currently has two entrances along Hoffmeyer Road and adjoins the Grove Park subdivision, which has three entrances along the same road, Roberts said last month.

The commission on Tuesday also recommended approval for the rezoning of two properties south of Florence.

The first rezoning request was for a parcel on Whippoorwill Road in Effingham, where the applicant sought a residential zoning that would allow a mobile home for her niece.

The second request was to assign a commercial zoning for 1133 E. Howe Springs Road, which is zoned residential but is home to Medford Painting & Repair as well as a real estate management company.

The commission also approved a sketch plan for the proposed University Centre subdivision at East Palmetto Street and Price Road, near Francis Marion University. The development would take place at what is now an unzoned, abandoned mobile home park.

The plans involve splitting more than 41 acres into eight lots. The front lots would be sold as commercial properties, while the rear section would be used for an apartment complex.

In other business, the commission:

Voted 8-1 to approve a sketch plan for the second phase of the Highgate Village subdivision, which will include 103 lots on nearly 30 acres between Hoffmeyer Road and Interstate 20.

Unanimously approved a waiver to allow an access easement of 30 feet in width rather than the required 50 feet to split residential property at 224 Powell Circle near Johnsonville.