In 1980, the population of Gwinnett County, GA was 166,815. During the middle part of the decade, Gwinnett was the fastest growing county in the nation and by 1990, the population had more than doubled, to 352,910. In 2000, the county’s population stood at 595,584 and by the end of 2025, the county will have over 1 million residents.
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “That’s all very interesting, but what does Gwinnett County Georgia have to do with South Carolina?” To paraphrase Yogi Berra, “Gwinnett County is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore”.
At this point in time, Oconee County is reminiscent of Gwinnett County 40 years ago- largely rural with a smattering of commercial and industrial sites. (That’s the déjà vu component). And like the Gwinnett County of the past, Oconee County is beginning to see a significant increase in population (as are other South Carolina counties) and potentially a transition from largely rural to largely suburban. As Gwinnett County demonstrates, such transitions bring with them higher real estate prices and when left unchecked, traffic gridlock and significantly higher crime rates.
Oconee is certainly not the only South Carolina county poised for significant growth, but being a former resident of Gwinnett and a current resident of Oconee, the parallels are striking. Like Gwinnett, Oconee offers excellent access to Interstate 85 which is a big draw for large commercial and industrial businesses. Easy access to interstate highways is critical for companies that ship finished products and receive raw materials by truck. (It’s not coincidental that BMW and Michelin along with a number of other businesses and host of warehouses are located along Interstate 85.)
Within Oconee, commercial/industrial development has been hampered by lack of sewer. To address that issue, the county council passed a $25 million bond issue to pay for sewer expansion along I85. (The South Carolina Public Interest Foundation, among others had filed a lawsuit over the use of the money, arguing it was unconstitutional, but a judge recently ruled that the time for contesting the bond has ended prior to the lawsuit being filed.)
With sewer construction no longer impeded by legal issues, Oconee will soon have sewer along the interstate and an influx of commercial and industrial companies won’t be far behind. Part of the justification for sewer expansion is that it will bring new well-paying jobs to the county. It will also bring an influx of people who will be moving to Oconee to be close to those jobs. They will be joining existing groups who move to Oconee to enjoy the county’s lakes, rivers, mountains and natural beauty.
The influx of companies and people will bring unprecedented growth to Oconee, just as it did to Gwinnett. Growth cannot be stopped and attempts at doing so are ill-advised. But if any shred of the existing character of a county is to be preserved, a policy of smart growth must be followed. (Smart growth refers to a planning protocol that seeks to ensure that growth does not destroy the character of an area, and that the necessary infrastructure is in place, or scheduled to be constructed.)
Historically, that has not been the case in Oconee County, which led to the creation of Advocates for Quality Development, (AQD) a 501 (c) (4) non-profit organization where such policies have been promoted by private citizens as opposed to the county council. The genesis of AQD was a developer’s proposal in 2006, to build six 13-story residential towers on land served by a single, narrow two-lane dead-end road.
Ultimately, the economic recession killed the project, but Advocates for Quality Development continues to push for smart growth- in spite of continual pushback from the county council, the members of which seem to consider AQD as an enemy. The conflict arises from the council members’ position that if a property is in the control free zone, the landowner should be able to do whatever he or she wants with it. They apparently consider the impact of a major change in land use on owners of neighboring properties to be irrelevant. Although AQD may not have its desired impact on the county council, it is a stakeholder with a number of other state and local organizations that have a direct impact on development. (Residents of other counties in the state with control-free zoning would do well to consider forming a group like AQD or establishing a subchapter.)
In spite of AQD’s continual push for smart growth, it took a hard lesson for the council to learn a lesson about the perils of uncontrolled development. When a developer requested that the county pay for a sewer system that would be required before an apartment complex could be built, the council denied the request, apparently thinking it had killed the project. However, the developer then went to the Oconee County Joint Regional Sewer Authority, which subsidized construction of the necessary sewer system. The subject property was in the control free zone and consequently, the council was powerless to stop it or require any changes. Subsequently, the planning commission proposed, and the council passed, an ordinance requiring minimum lot sizes- ¼-acre if the property is served by sewer or ½-acre if it is served by a septic tank.
Hopefully the ordinance, and the lesson that led to its approval, will serve as an engine for smart growth that will prevent Oconee County from becoming the South Carolina equivalent of Gwinnett County. Otherwise, it will be déjà vu all over again.
The post Déjà vu All Over Again – A Tale of Two Counties appeared first on Palmetto State Watch Foundation.