Residents oppose rezoning for proposed Meadowood swim school; committee holds request and directs staff to draft zoning amendment

The Business and Development Services Committee of the Mauldin City Council held a request to rezone a 1.45-acre parcel at the intersection of New Neely Ferry Road and Meadowood Drive and directed staff to draft a text amendment to allow the proposed indoor swim school in the existing OD (office) district.

The proposal before the committee would have rezoned the site from OD to C-2 to allow development of an indoor swim school offering 30-minute, one-on-one lessons. At the committee meeting, staff reported the applicant expects initial operations to run roughly 2–7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.–1 p.m. on Saturdays, with about five simultaneous one-on-one lessons per 30-minute session at start-up and capacity to grow to about ten such lessons per session.

Staff member David Deerhog, presenting the item, said the proposed swim school “appears to be consistent with the level of intensity of other uses that are typically allowed in the OD District” and told committee members that the use would likely generate fewer peak-hour trips than other uses already allowed in OD, such as banks, day cares and small offices. Deerhog noted the parcel is designated in the comprehensive plan as a “neighborhood center,” a category more aligned with C-1 than C-2 zoning, and warned of the legal risk of a C-1 rezoning on a parcel under two acres as potentially constituting spot zoning under South Carolina precedent. He also described petition and protest thresholds in the city’s zoning ordinance, saying owners of three properties within 100 feet had filed a formal written protest, representing 33% of properties in that buffer; that protest, Deerhog said, means any council approval would require at least five affirmative votes of the seven-member council.

More than a dozen Meadowood residents addressed the committee during public comment, raising similar concerns about traffic congestion, emergency access on the subdivision’s single in/out roadway, the safety risk of a retention/pond feature, and the project’s aesthetics. Pearlie Harris, who identified herself as a Meadowood resident of 50 years, said, “I’m 89 years old … I’m definitely opposed to this,” and described the neighborhood as largely residential with limited roadway capacity. Resident Samuel Neely described repeated stormwater and standing-water problems in the neighborhood and said, “Changing the zoning opens it up for a lot of things.” Other speakers raised the prospect of future, more intensive commercial uses if the parcel were rezoned to C-2 and asked the committee to “hold the line” on OD zoning.

The applicant’s engineering firm, Seaman Whiteside, represented by civil engineer Nick Myers, told the committee that driveway location will be constrained by SCDOT and that the on-site stormwater retention area will be fenced and no larger than necessary. Myers said enhanced landscape buffering and privacy fencing were possible mitigation measures but that the site’s topography and the adjacent road network limited access options.

Planning Commission members had recommended denial of the rezoning by a 5–1 vote; Deerhog said the commission cited a lack of information about building design and site details. In response to neighborhood concerns, staff offered an alternative: leave the zoning as OD and pursue a text amendment to the OD district to allow an indoor one-on-one swim school either by right or as a conditional use subject to standards such as maximum building size, landscaping/screening along neighborhood streets, and driveway restrictions.

Councilmember Matney moved that the committee hold the rezoning request in committee and direct staff to draft a text amendment carving out the swim-school use in the OD district with design standards; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Committee Chair Allgood announced the motion carried. Deerhog said staff would draft the ordinance and return it to committee per the motion.

The committee’s action holds the current zoning in place and starts a process to draft specific ordinance language that could permit the swim-school use within OD subject to additional standards; it does not change the underlying zoning or approve a project construction plan. The record on the rezoning includes a neighborhood petition of 65 Meadowood residents and the formal protests noted by staff, which affect the threshold of council votes required if and when a rezoning is forwarded to full council.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to hold the rezoning in committee and direct staff to draft a text amendment to allow the swim-school use in the OD district (moved by Councilmember Matney; seconded). Outcome: motion approved by voice vote; committee held the rezoning request and directed staff to prepare a text amendment.