Greenwood County Council delays Beasley Home Project rezoning after packed public hearing

Greenwood County Council voted 6-1 on Feb. 17 to delay a final decision on a proposed rezoning for roughly 46.48 acres at 615 Old Abbeville Highway after a packed public hearing in which neighbors urged the council to gather more data on traffic, stormwater and school impacts.

Tina Escalona, a designated spokesperson for Greenwood County Residents for Managed Growth, told the council she and the group's organizers asked the council to postpone approval of the Beasley Home Project “because we don't feel that you guys have had the opportunity to gather all of the data and to review all of the data,” citing prior reports of erosion and silt running into ponds. “We want you to delay that approval until you have all of the information regarding an environmental review,” Escalona said.

County planning staff described the applicant's proposal as a master-plan residential (NPR) development for two parcels that together total about 46.48 acres. Carol Coleman, planning staff, said the developer originally proposed 107 lots (about 2.3 dwelling units per acre by a mathematical calculation) and had reduced the maximum during planning commission review to roughly 103 lots; she also explained constraints such as a transmission-line easement and wetlands and noted the developer proposed 20-foot perimeter buffers and roughly 10 acres of open space within the plan.

Several speakers described concerns about emergency-response capacity. Jan Johnson, a retired Greenwood EMS paramedic, said crews are already overworked and understaffed and that adding more units will increase wait times and hold calls. “We waited 16 minutes,” she said of a past emergency; “they held the call for over 7 minutes before it was ever dispatched because they didn't have a truck to come.”

Developer representative Joseph (Joe) Gallino, vice president of development, said his company is family-owned and that the firm will provide required soil-erosion controls and a stormwater plan (a SWIP) and that certified staff will implement BMPs. He said a traffic study would be included with the submission and that, depending on findings, the project might require turn lanes or other road improvements.

After closing the public hearing, Councilmember Mister Timmons moved to delay voting until traffic- and environment-related questions are answered; the motion was seconded and carried 6–1. The council did not take a final vote on the rezoning ordinance at the meeting; staff said the traffic study and other follow-up will be required before the item returns to the board.

The next procedural step is for the applicant to submit required engineering documents and a traffic study; the council will revisit the measure after those materials are reviewed.