Planning commission approves McConnell Landing preliminary plan after reconsideration, adds traffic and environmental conditions

The Greenville County Planning Commission voted April 22 to approve the McConnell Landing preliminary plan for 89 single-family lots on about 87.2 acres after first agreeing to reconsider the application.

The proposal, presented by applicant representatives, proposes a density of approximately 1.01 units per acre and includes two internal roads, two detention ponds and roughly 55.46 acres of open space. Staff recommended approval with conditions drawn from the project’s traffic impact study; those conditions include realigning McConnell Road to create a T intersection at the site access and standard engineering and permitting requirements. After a motion to reconsider passed 8–1, the commission approved the plan with additional conditions requiring an updated environmental review (seasonally appropriate habitat assessment to be completed between March and August) and an expanded traffic study that explicitly includes traffic generated by a nearby apartment project and any mitigation that study requires.

Why it matters: Residents from adjacent neighborhoods pressed the commission in forceful public comments, saying McConnell Road is narrow, often in poor condition and currently unsafe for additional traffic. Multiple speakers described blocked roads and concerns for emergency-vehicle access; at least one speaker said heavy equipment and in-progress building activity have already affected the corridor.

Residents’ objections were described in detail during public comment. Elizabeth Murray of 6 Sturgeon Bay Drive said, “St. Mark’s Road cannot handle it — it’s ridiculous. There’s 338 apartments going in nearby and this is only adding more traffic.” Others recounted circumstances in which two vehicles could not pass safely and said road maintenance and geometry limit options for safe entry and exit.

Paul Harrison, speaking for the applicant, told commissioners the plan is for a “single-family for-sale product” and said the developer had supplied the traffic study and updated materials to staff ahead of the reconsideration. He also noted proposed intersection improvements at St. Mark Road and Wade Hampton Boulevard being permitted nearby that may reduce some future regional impacts, but he acknowledged that the additional traffic study condition offered by commissioners was reasonable.

Staff’s transportation consultant noted the TIS was prepared per SCDOT guidelines, used buildout volumes to 2030 and concluded no turn lanes were warranted at the site access under the study assumptions. Commissioners and the traffic engineer disagreed about the study’s assumed background growth and whether the separate nearby apartment project’s trips should have been layered into the analysis; the commission required the expanded analysis as a condition.

Commissioners also required that the applicant update the environmental/habitat assessment on a seasonally appropriate schedule before land-disturbing permits, citing the January field survey’s limitations for detecting migratory and seasonal species. Staff committed that updated environmental materials and the Article 22 plan adjustments will be submitted before land-disturbance permitting.

The commission’s final vote approved the plan with the stated conditions; the motion passed after commissioners accepted staff’s standard conditions plus the two additional items (updated environmental assessment and expanded traffic analysis tied to mitigation if required). The commission directed staff to include all updated plans and technical memoranda in the administrative record sent with the recommendation to county council.

Next steps: The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the Planning & Development Committee of county council for its May review; the conditions approved by the commission will be part of that recommendation packet.