Beating the Dead Horse

All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

Last week, I saw it questioned why Edgefield County was still beating the dead LMO horse with taxpayer dollars. This week I want to make it clear we do need some changes to protect us. 

I personally want protection from these high density HOA subdivisions that keep popping up. I don’t want Edgefield to turn into Grovetown. We moved here to be rural and that is the charm of Edgefield. Now that I have watched enough, I realize there is NO zoning that can protect me from high density growth. The developers have found a loophole in asking for rezoning as PD for their high density HOA subdivisions. And neither zoned or unzoned areas are safe. I do know that our County Council COULD refuse these Planned Developments even for no cause. I know that our County Council could require a minimum 1 acre lot size or even higher for these PD developments. We have two developers, on video, admitting they would not develop if the minimum lot size was 1 acre. We all know there have been many subdivisions built in our county in the past with much larger lot sizes. Why the sudden shift in development to such small lot sizes in a rural area? This is not fitting for our rural landscape. I also know that the minimum lot sizes in our ordinances for the zoned areas could be increased to 1 acre or higher to protect us. Then the minimum lot size for all unzoned areas could be required in our ordinances to be a minimum of 5 acres.There are changes and updates that need to be done. But it DOES NOT require the whole county be zoned in one fatal land grabbing over reach of our county government.

Edgefield county it is time to bury that dead LMO horse. It stinks and the citizens are complaining. It is time for a funeral. Let’s have a good old pyre right on town square and put this LMO to bed once and for all. And then let’s move on and protect our citizens one baby step at a time. Let’s work on county transparency in an effort to rebuild the trust that was lost during this LMO fiasco. Let’s join hands and work with the citizens to protect our very special and loved rural landscape.

Victoria Smith

Email notothelmo@yahoo.com to join the movement.