Rock Hill planning commission backs partial rezoning to expand Emmett Scott campus parking

Rock Hill’s planning commission recommended approval of a narrowed rezoning request Wednesday to enable expanded parking for the Emmett Scott recreation campus and the McGirt Auditorium, while declining to approve the full set of parcels sought by the city.

City staff said the rezoning petition (M-2025-1) would reclassify a group of parcels along Crawford, Taylor, Tim and Carol streets from Neighborhood Commercial and single‑family zoning to Office/Institutional to match the campus and allow parking expansion tied to ongoing McGirt Auditorium renovations. “The total number of parking spaces…there’ll be 388 parking spaces,” city planner Sean said during presentation of the site plan, noting the auditorium will seat more than 800 and that the parking calculation uses a standard of one space for every three fixed seats.

Commissioners and nearby residents pressed staff on access, pedestrian crossings, buffers and lighting. Owner Raymond Massey told the commission he signed an easement by phone and said he had not been shown the full site plan; he said construction noise and the prospect of parking on both sides of his house would materially affect his family property. “I really don’t like it,” Massey said, adding he had not received full notice before agreeing to the easement.

After debate, an initial motion to rezone the entire set of parcels failed. The commission then adopted a narrower recommendation — rezoning the parcels immediately north of Crawford Road (including 804 Crawford, 809 Taylor and two Tim Street parcels, among others) — by a 6–1 vote. Commissioners who supported the narrower motion said they were uncomfortable approving parcels immediately adjacent to Massey’s home without clearer evidence of full notice and impact mitigation; staff said the package was intended to align zoning across the campus and facilitate scheduled auditorium events.

Staff told the commission the rezoning is intended to match the campus’s existing institutional zoning and to allow needed parking while retaining some property ownership and easements, including a plan to maintain the house at 835 Crawford Road while using the rear of that lot for parking by easement. The proposed Tim Street abandonment would be absorbed by the parking plan and include a gated closure to prevent through traffic except for emergency vehicles. Staff also described a 10‑foot landscaped buffer and a six‑foot solid fence to separate nearby homes from parking areas and said exterior lighting within 100 feet of a residence must be off between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for safety lighting.

The commission’s recommendation is advisory; city council will consider the ordinances on the calendar provided by staff. The narrowed rezoning approved by the commission will move forward for council consideration; the commission recorded its concerns about public notice and asked that those concerns be included in the minutes for council review.

City staff said they will verify final ownership, closing status and any outstanding acquisition documents before second reading and encouraged affected property owners to raise issues with their council representatives ahead of the council hearing.