LEXINGTON, S.C. — A zoning hearing will be held in a few weeks to discuss limiting home development in some parts of Lexington County.
“This should have been done years ago,” said Darrell Hudson, the District 3 county council member. “Redoing my district was top of my priority list when I got into office. It’s not because of how I felt, I listened to the citizens.”
Hudson says those he represents say overcrowding in their area are affecting them in a negative way. He’s hoping to limit the amount of homes that can be built on each acre of land in District 3 as well as a piece of the Corley Mill Road area.
“We’re building these box homes on top of each other, eight, nine, ten-feet apart. Absolutely no setbacks so you can barely park two cars in the driveway,” explained Hudson. “We’re smashing people into Lexington and right now we don’t have the infrastructure to handle what we have.”
In 1987, Hudson says that was the last time the zoning ordinance was changed which limited how many homes could be built on one acre of land.
“Most people don’t believe this but the builders and developers can put twelve house and acre. It’s a lot of people, a lot of cars, a lot of dogs, and a lot of cats on twelves houses per acre. That’s not the issue. It destroys the resell value of the other houses that are around you,” said Hudson.
The councilman says he found out the home that he’s lived in for the past 20 years had depreciated $80,000 after trying to refinance it. He claims it’s depreciated because of all the homes built around his.
“It’s just not fair to our citizens. I’ve been here all my life and a lot of these builders are great guys but they didn’t grow up here,” explained Hudson. “They don’t know what we’re destroying and I do. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, the only complaints I have gotten so far is the developers, that’s it. That tells you it’s motivated by one thing, their pocket books.”
Hudson hopes by limiting the number of homes on each acre from twelve homes to four, it will help create smart growth in Lexington and also create more space to build roads to improve traffic flow.
The next reading of this ordinance will be April 23rd. It will take place at the Lexington County Administration Building at 6 pm. For more information on the hearing, you can call 803-785-8121.
If you have any other stories you would like Street Squad Lexington to cover, reach out to Nic on Twitter @NicJonesReports or on our Street Squad Lexington Facebook page.