Union County planning board recommends denial of Gold Branch age‑restricted rezoning

The Union County Planning Board recommended denial Tuesday of a conditional rezoning request from RA‑40 to RA‑4 for a proposed age‑restricted residential development called Gold Branch, after several hours of testimony by county staff, the developer and dozens of residents.

County planner Bjorn (last name not specified in the record) told the board the petition (identified in the packet as CZ2024‑008) would rezone roughly 400 acres in Goose Creek Township to allow single‑family detached homes on lots as small as 4,000 square feet under a conditional site plan. The developer proposed 727 homes in a gated, private‑street Crestwood community marketed for buyers 55 and older, with a capped rental rate, HOA governance and a private, decentralized wastewater system that would discharge to a roughly 20‑acre drip field (with a second, reserve drip field of similar size).

Board members and staff said the project would add more than 3,200 daily vehicle trips to nearby roads, increase density well above the county’s 1‑unit‑per‑acre rural residential guidance and rely on private sewage infrastructure and HOA maintenance. After discussion, the board voted to recommend denial of the rezoning; the packet and staff presentation state staff’s recommendation was also denial. The planning board’s recommendation will go to the Union County Board of Commissioners for a final decision at a hearing the county will…