Some welcome Elloree growth; supporters speak in favor of development

After hearing from those opposed to a planned residential development near Elloree, Orangeburg County Council heard Monday from some who welcome the growth.

Councilman Johnny Ravenell, who lives near Elloree, said he believes the development will be good for the town.

“It will be growth,” he said. “There will be more people involved. Elloree is like some of these other small towns. It is vanishing, they are dying. A lot of people want things to be as it was and stay like it is, but there is a lot of growth among us.”

“You have to look at growth very hard. … Smart growth means a lot,” Ravenell said.

Builder D.R. Horton Inc. has asked to develop property near the town of Elloree at Tee Vee Road and Cleveland Street for single-family homes.

County Council tabled a decision on the proposed development earlier this month after hearing concerns from several property owners in the Canebrake Court community. The residents said they’re concerned about unsustainable growth for the town, the lack of proper infrastructure, increased traffic and the impact on wildlife.

None of those opposed to the development spoke at Monday’s Orangeburg County Council meeting as the issue was not on the meeting’s agenda. The matter is expected to be on taken up during council’s April 3 meeting.

According to conceptual plans submitted, the project would include the development of about 169 acres of land into a residential subdivision over the next eight to 15 years.

The plan would include about 332 houses with about half-acre lots.

Initially the plan was to build 332 homes on the 332-acre parcel. After hearing concerns from property owners, D.R. Horton pulled out 86 acres that would be adjacent to the Canebrake community. This will bring the total down to 246 acres.

When 59 acres of wetlands and 18 acres of a wetland buffer are taken into consideration, about 169 acres that can be developed. Of this 169 acres, about 25 are a pond.

The proposed development has been denied twice by the Orangeburg County Planning Commission and, if denied by County Council, the developer would not be able to submit another rezoning request for a year.

The Canebrake community was built in 1973 and consists of about 33 property owners.

Kristie Anderson, president of the Elloree Business Association, told County Council on Monday that “Elloree has slowly continued to decline in merchants and residents over the last ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty years.”

Anderson said some public statements made by those opposed to the project were not entirely accurate.

She noted the allegations that the Town of Elloree could not handle the water and sewer demand expected from the development are misleading. Some in opposition claim boil water alerts are common in the town.

“The Elloree water system has reported this is all incorrect,” Anderson said. “Per the water system, all of the last three months’ boil water alerts were due to contractors in town doing infrastructure (broadband) that we desperately need.”

Anderson also noted she has talked to three banks and none have an interest coming to the town. The town’s only bank, South State Bank, closed in August of last year.

“We don’t have the population, or the deposits, or merchant deposits to make a bank worth coming to Elloree right now,” she said. “They are waiting on the population to grow.”

Russell Anderson addressed traffic concerns, noting two bridges that were washed away from past flood events and which provide access to the town are going to reopen in the near future.

He noted the reopening will mean travelers through Elloree will have four different directions to go.

“Technically, they won’t all be going right past the Canebrake subdivision,” he said. Anderson is in real estate and is renovating a historic building in Elloree to serve as a live theater venue.