1/11/07

New Council
Blakely, Frierson, Richardson sworn in
By Cathy Gilbert

CATHY GILERT/Manning Times
As County Council Chair Dwight Stewart looks on in the background, Judge Tommy Cooper swears in Council members (from left) Billy RIchardson, W.J. Frierson and Benton Blakley.

Three of Clarendon County Council’s five members stood before semi-retired Judge Tommy Cooper Monday night, and vowed to uphold the laws of the land and especially of Clarendon County.

Cooper addressed the three, Benton Blakely of District 3, W.J. Frierson of District 2 and Billy Richardson of District 1, reminding them they, like their counterparts in Columbia and the District of Columbia, are the legislative branch of our three-pronged government.

“You are tasked with making the laws by which we live,” Cooper said. “By comparison, your administrator, Bill Houser is the executive branch and sees that your laws are carried out. I am part of the judicial branch that makes decisions when those laws are challenged.”

Blakely is beginning his third term in office, while Frierson and Richardson are each beginning their fourth terms. Blakely faced no opposition throughout the campaign cycle. Frierson and Richardson both faced opposition in last year’s June primary.

Other business for the County Council Monday centered on re-zoning issues.

A parcel of land owned by Dr. Clarendon “Butch” Coker on Hwy. 301 just west of the City of Manning limit faced second reading and a public hearing to re-zone it from residential conservation to neighborhood commercial. The Planning Commission has recommended the re-zoning. The neighborhood commercial designation allows businesses such as a healthcare facility to operate in a mixed area containing residences. No citizens stepped forward in either support or opposition to the re-zoning and the ordinance to re-zone passed on second reading. A third reading will be required in February for the ordinance to take effect.

Two zoning issues that were hotly debated at the December meeting passed on third reading and became effective. One dealt with a parcel of land near Brogdon and Tearcoat Roads in Alcolu that is adjacent to the current Grant Forest Products site. The other is for four parcels of land adjacent to the mega-site property near I-95 and Hwy. 527. Both ordinances were to re-zone the land from agricultural to industrial PUD (Planned Unit Development). The PUD will allow the Planning Commission to deny some uses normally allowed in industrial zoned sites, such as adult entertainment venues.

The Council also approved a $5,000 allocation to the Town of Turbeville to be used as a match for their $20,000 S.C. Dept. of Commerce grant for developing a marketing plan for the Turbeville downtown corridor. Council had previously assisted both the City of Manning and the Town of Summerton with similar allocations. Council chair Dwight Stewart commended Mayor Ginie Turbeville on the work done so far on the District 3 downtown area.

“You are certainly spending your money well,” he noted.

Following a brief executive session for a legal briefing, the council moved into the Clarendon County Transportation Committee to discuss road paving.

Administrator Houser explained that three roads – Indiana Road in District 3, Brogdon Road near Alcolu and Haseldon Road, off Hwy. 260, leading into Pine Knolls subdivision – still remain on the 2006 paving list.

“We are also scheduled to pave the Sardinia Service Center,” Houser explained.

Houser said he projected having just enough paving funds to finish the three leftover roads and the service center.

“I don’t think financially we would be able to do anymore than these three and the center,” he explained. Paving funds come from state gas taxes, known as C-Funds.

“By March, I project we will have $750,000 in our C-Fund account and the cost to pave these three roads and the center is right at that amount,” he said. Funds received in April, March and June would be needed to purchase crush and run gravel and culverts used to maintain county dirt road.

The Transportation Committee will reconvene in February to determine the next paving priorities, regardless of whether the funding will be available.