Kershaw County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt the county's comprehensive plan on its third reading, a document council members and public speakers said will guide zoning and infrastructure decisions for years.

Lynn Conte, a resident who signed up for public comment, urged council members to consider long-term traffic and growth impacts if they approved the plan. "Today, you get to cast your final vote on the third reading of the comprehensive plan which will determine updates on county zoning and land development regulations that will impact our special community," Conte said. "This is the first time this has been addressed in 20 years. If you think about this, 20 years from now, this is gonna impact your grandchildren."

The nut graf: The plan establishes countywide priorities for public services, infrastructure, economic development and land use; council members said adoption begins the next phase of work, including targeted zoning and code updates and periodic reviews.

Council members said the plan is the product of more than a year of public meetings and review by the planning commission. Councilman Shoemake, speaking at the meeting, thanked residents and the planning commission for their input and said the plan was not perfect but was a foundation for future work: "I think this is a good comp plan. It's not perfect." He added that the county can revisit and amend the plan and zoning if inconsistencies appear during code rewrite work.

Councilman Tucker, calling in remotely, urged colleagues to treat the document as a living instrument: "Remember, this is a, a living document, so let's not let it suffocate. Let's breathe air into it as we need to as things change."

Council members also discussed traffic and which agencies set traffic standards. Shoemake noted many traffic issues fall to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (S.C. DOT) and said the county is examining whether higher local standards for development review are feasible when the zoning code is rewritten.

The council voted unanimously to adopt the plan at third reading; the clerk recorded a yes from the remote member, Councilman Tucker. Planning staff and the council said the smart-growth committee and planning staff will follow with zoning and land-development regulation updates tied to the new plan.

Ending: Council members emphasized the plan will be revisited as needed. The county clerk confirmed the plan passed unanimously at the Oct. 14 meeting; staff said next steps include implementation work by the planning staff and the county's rewrite committee.