2nd Public Hearing on Proposed Rezoning in the Town of Cheraw

Cheraw, SC – On Thursday, June 13, the Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing to review and discuss the proposed zoning/rezoning requests. Afterward, it will make its recommendation to Council. RS3 Planning Collaborative, LLC's Mr. Rodney S. Tucker will be taking the lead on this project. Again, the proposed zoning/re-zoning proposals comply with SC Codes § 6-29-760. Simply, property owners have been notified along with property owners within 300 feet of the proposed re-zonings in addition to the public hearing announcement in the Link's general circulation page on May 15.

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Proposed is confirming the Town's General and Neighborhood Commercial Zoning Classifications. The Town, around 2012, made several re-zonings and change the zoning nomenclatures from C-1 to Neighborhood Commercial and C-2 to General Commercial. It [the Town] violated SC Codes § 6-29-760 by committing one or more infractions – not advertising 15 days before the public hearing, notifying property owners of the re-zoning, or inadequately posting zoning notices. Consequently, several property owners successful argued their properties were zoned illegally. This effort officially addresses any discrepancies and finalizes these zoning designations. Furthermore, this proposal removes cemeteries and passenger terminals from General Commercial permitted uses and adds single-family and duplexes to Neighborhood Commercial's permitted uses. This reflects an overwhelming number of existing single-family homes

Old St. David's Church & Cemetery (272 001 008 002, 272 001 008 003, and 271 014 006 001) is one of the Town's historic landmarks listed among the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, the church and a portion of the cemetery is zoning Core Commercial.
Another portion of the cemetery is zoned Manufacturing. Core Commercial does not permit cemeteries or churches. Manufacturing is not an appropriate zoning designation. Consequently, the Town proposes to re-zoning the three parcels Open Space which accommodates churches and cemeteries.

This round of re-zonings addresses specific zoning discrepancies.
A portion of CMC Building Supply's property (258 013 002 005) is zoned General Commercial. Another is zoned Office Commercial. For consistency and continuity, the Town proposes to rezone the Office Commercial to General Commercial to match the portion currently zoned General Commercial. Properties owned by now/formerly Kimberly M. Boan (243 000 003 021) and Wilkerson Enterprises Inc. (243 000 003 023) are zoned General Commercial. The Town proposes to change the zoning from General Commercial to R-1A Single-Family. When the aforementioned properties were zoned General Commercial, the Town was not aware they have restrictive covenants prohibiting non-residential land uses.

The Town is seeking to rezone its Water Plant (21 009 010 010 and 271 009 011 009) from Manufacturing to Open Space. Open Space permits governmental uses. The Town feels the manufacturing designation is not appropriate going forward.

The property now/formerly owned by George W. & Ralph Martin (21 009 003 007) is zoned C-1. This zoning classification was replaced by Neighborhood Commercial. However, the property owners challenged the legality of the Town's previous zoning effort due to one or more infractions of SC Codes § 6-29-760. Consequently, the Town changed the property's zoning designation back to C-1. The proposed re-zoning corrects the previous mistakes, making the property consistent with the surrounding Neighborhood Commercial zoned properties.

Lastly, the series of zoning requests are to assign zoning designations to several properties discovered as being within the Town's corporate limits. This discovery was made during the Town and Chesterfield's Assessor Office boundary confirmation for the US Census. Below are the affected properties and zoning designation requests:

Properties now/formerly owned by Prentiss Cox (259 015 001 003), Margie Riley (259 012 004 013), Olin L. Graham (259 016 001 002), and William I. Quick Etal (259 016 001 003). These single-family homes are residential in design and character similar to homes designated R-1 Family. The proposed assigned zoning designation is R-1 Family.

First Free Will Baptist Church (258 013 005 001) will be assigned Office Commercial designation. The Office Commercial zoning designation permits places of worship as land use.
Carolina Power's properties (259 000 000 004 and 259 000 000 062) will be assigned Open Space zoning designation. The Open Space permits utility facilities as a land use.

Property owners and stakeholders are welcome to attend the public hearing on the proposed re-zonings and other matters at Planning Commission's Thursday, June 13 meeting at 6 pm. The public hearing will be held in Town Hall's Courtroom. Please contact Rodney S. Tucker, Planning & Community Development & Planning Director, at 843.537.8400 or rtucker@cheraw.com for more information. Special accommodation requests for persons with physical, hearing, or other disabilities, should be made 48 hours in advance of the meeting.

Download: cheraw-zoning-ordinance.pdf