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Resident urges halt to Inverie Point site work, citing grading and runoff concerns
Summary
A Linxside District commissioner and nearby homeowner told Greenville County officials the Inverie Point subdivision grading will raise new houses 7–10 feet above neighboring backyards, harming privacy and risking runoff; he asked the county to halt work and regrade the site.
Richard Matthews, a Linxside District tax-district commissioner and resident of Taylor, South Carolina, asked Greenville County officials to halt site work at the Inverie Point subdivision, which is being built on the former Linxside Golf Course, until grading and runoff concerns are resolved.
"We're asking that the site work be halted until this is rectified," Matthews told the meeting. He said residents retained a professional engineer, John Cook, who reviewed the grading and hydrology and made recommendations that, according to Matthews, were not acted upon.
Matthews said the development's current grading would leave new houses "7 to 10 feet above our backyards," harming privacy and devaluing property. He said neighbors have spent about $15,000 on landscaping and privacy fencing that would be affected, and that lot-placement details and the minimum setback requirement (five feet) left homeowners uncertain about where houses would sit relative to existing yards.
Matthews outlined the sequence of county interactions: newspaper coverage and letters in February 2022, review with the planning commission in September 2023, and continued unresolved concerns. He said residents have spent hundreds of hours researching zoning, traffic studies and development ordinances over more than four years and feared the county could be exposed to future litigation if the grading is not corrected now.
The remarks were made during public comment; the transcript contains no planning-commission action or county vote during this meeting to change the project's grading or approval. Matthews asked the county to address grading and runoff before construction progresses further to avoid additional taxpayer expense on potential lawsuits.
Matthews identified his professional background — master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina, an MBA, and 40 years in product design and project management including managing a $50,000,000 construction project — to explain his technical engagement with the issue.
The county did not record formal action on the Inverie Point site work in the meeting transcript; any regulatory or enforcement steps would require follow-up by planning staff or a formal agenda item at a future meeting.
