City Outlines Parkway Development as County Officially Expresses Opposition

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Both Anderson County Council and Anderson City Council met this week, and there was a rare crossover as the county asked the city to reconsider annexation and development plans along the East-West Parkway.

City council, with the shortest agenda in memory, approved replacing three aging buses on the transit system with more modern, electric trolleys. The prototypes look promising. City council also gave final approval to their new comprehensive plan, a vision document for the future, which includes goals for housing, economic development, transportation, infrastructure, parks, recreation and tourism. It also offers guidance on land use and development, which includes opening the door for annexation of land along the East-West Parkway for widespread development, including a 22-acre plot near Kings Road, eight acres of which would contain multi-family housing development under name of Compass Cove Phase planned development district.

Plans were submitted to the City Planning Department this week for the eight-acres, but no plans for the remaining acres on the property. The retention pond of the new development would back up on the north end of the property toward Hartwell Lake. The plans show pedestrian walkways from the connector trail, trees surrounding the edge of the property where the multi-family housing would be built and a tree-lined area connection to the buildings which would split the remaining acreage into plots of 5.1 areas and 10.3 acres.

The 1–3-bedroom apartments would range from 750-1,233 square feet.

City Council would have to give final approval before work can begin. At the March 24 council meeting, which sent the annexation proposal to planning, the councilman who represents the district with some land adjacent to the parkway expressed some concerns.

Councilman Kyle Newton said that to date he has not seen anything presented which he would desire for that area and recognized the essential quality of life challenges facing growing communities.

“Quality of life requires green space and recreation for any communities looking to thrive, and that is something we have to protect,” said Newton at the March meeting. “There are a lot of things you can go back and fix, but that’s not one of them. Any time you make a decision that takes away any kind of green space or trail space or anything like that there’s not going back on those kinds of decisions. That’s why foresight and planning are so important; those are things that need protection.”

Meanwhile, the County Council passed a resolution on Tuesday expressing opposition to the city’s proposed annexation of the 22 acres off the East-West Parkway near the Beltline Connector.

Resolution, put forth by Councilman Chris Sullivan who represents the district which includes the parkway, stated several reasons for the move.

The first was countywide residential opposition to high-density development along the East-West Parkway and desire for “thoughtful planning to preserve its current character.” The resolution called for a pristine corridor protecting the significant green space and recreational amenities to enhance the natural beauty of the area and quality of life for citizens.

County Council views the Parkway as an asset of the entire county’s 220,000 residents, not just those in the City of Anderson, which has close to 30,000 residents. The resolution said the parkway’s vital route for commuting, recreation, and essential services should not be threatened by development. Since the opening of the parkway in 2013, the goal of the county has been to preserve the area as a scenic route free of commercial development. Concerned property owners who initially opposed the parkway were given assurances of this vision of the future of the land by county council, assuaging some concerns of development along the three-mile stretch of road. Tuesday's resolution said allowing development was a violation of trust.

A county resolution is essentially an on-the-record statement of concern and holds no legal standing in stopping annexation by the City of Anderson.

The area of even more concern looking ahead is the intersection of the parkway at Concord Road, which is listed in the city’s comprehensive plan and prime for annexation and development.

Part of a more complicated issue on development standards, this story is developing. The City of Anderson, which passed new development standards in 2023 which are just going into effect with some of the new developments. Anderson County has hired a consultant to update and revise building and development standards countywide with the goal making such rules clear to the landowners and developers.