Orangeburg City Council – St. Matthews Road rezoning plan inches closer to reality – speakers differ on opening land to business

The zoning change would allow a wide variety of business and retail establishments to locate on the St. Matthews Road properties.

The three parcels of land are located between Stuart Street and CPM Federal Credit Union. They are 1070, 1080 and 1090 St. Matthews Road. The three properties cover a total of 1.47 acres.

Council voted 4-3 for second reading approval last week to a change in the zoning from office/institutional/residential (O-I) to B-1 (general business district).

Voting for the rezoning were Mayor Michael Butler and council members Liz Zimmerman Keitt, Dr. Kalu Kalu and Annette Dees Grevious. Voting against were council members Richard Stroman, Jerry Hannah and Sandra Knotts.

“We have voted on other areas and this is no different from how we voted before,” Butler said. “We will control what goes there. We will not put anything there that will hurt those people, hurt that neighborhood.”

Butler said he cast his vote after talking with the city’s attorney, visiting the neighborhood and talking with individuals in the neighborhood.

The effort of property owners to have the zoning changed goes back several years.

Owners tried to have the property rezoned to general business about four years ago, but council rejected the request at that time.

The owners again tried to get the property rezoned to general business more than two years ago, but a divided city council denied that request during an April 2022 meeting.

In January 2023, a divided council voted 4-3 to rezone the parcels from single-family residential to office-institutional.

City council was scheduled to vote on the zoning change in November and December of last year but never did.

Council will have to approve one more reading to finalize the change. The Orangeburg Planning Commission has been supportive of the change.

An O-I classification only allows offices, while a business zoning allows a broader range of land uses.

Prior to city council’s second reading approval, several spoke at a public hearing on the zoning request.

Former Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller said the desire to change the zoning away from residential conflicts with council’s initial long-term desire to grow the city’s residential population.

“As we take away residences and turn them into businesses, that just defeats the purpose of trying to grow the city,” Miller said.

There are several vacant properties that can be used for business within a half-mile radius of St. Matthews Road, he said. There are more vacant buildings and sites on Russell Street.

Randy Shuler, whose wife owns one of the parcels, asked for fair treatment.

“The only thing we have asked is to be treated fairly,” Shuler said. “We want to be treated just like the ones on Chestnut that is right down St. Matthews Road. There is no difference on that end to our end. We basically have commercial all in front of us and behind us.”

Glenda Shuler, who owns the property, said the property owners on Pecan Way Terrace decided to change the covenant and restrictions of the area about ten years ago.

“There are still restrictions on what can or cannot go there,” Glenda said. The covenants and restrictions currently in place do not allow a nightclub to locate on the property.

“It cannot be anything that is going to draw a large amount of people, like late-night hours. It cannot be a nightclub, it cannot be a skating rink,” she said.

Dantzler Street resident Paula O’Neal grew up in the neighborhood as a little girl and purchased her grandmother’s house.

“We need to leave homes for people that can buy them and live there,” O’Neal said. “We have so many abandoned places that businesses can go.”

O’Neal said she lives one street behind the proposed zoning change.

“The street is already a racetrack” O’Neal said, noting a dog was killed on the street recently. “The cars that run up and down that road and the speeds they go are insanely fast.”

O’Neal said her child and other children are in the neighborhood.

“We are a family and we want a family neighborhood,” O’Neal said.

She also has concerns about an increase in crime.

Hannah thanked O’Neal for her courage to speak.

“I feel your emotions,” Hannah said. “You are courageous.”

Councilman Richard Stroman said the city had the area studied years ago and it was recommended the area would be conducive to a change to office/institutional and not business. He supported the change to O-I.

“I didn’t think this would ever come up again,” Stroman said. “We will not have control 100 percent on this property if it is zoned. They will get a building permit that could get turned down, but council will not have any control over it.”

City attorney Michael Kozlarek said any development that would go onto those properties would have to follow the city land use development process before being able to open.

He said any additional covenants and restrictions put on the property outside of the city’s ordinance would either have to be enforced by a property owners association or a mechanism of enforcement within those covenants.

“The city may not necessarily have any enforcement mechanism for private covenants with respect to the neighborhood,” Kozlarek said. “Covenants may have an additional separate mechanism that is private to that area.”

Kalu said cities such as Columbia, Charleston and Greenville all have businesses that share space in residential areas.

“If you are against it, what is the problem of allowing those buildings to be used as a business,” Kalu asked his fellow council members.

No one answered his question.