Downtown business district expansion moves forward
By JIM FAILE
A proposal to expand Hartsville’s downtown central business district by rezoning an entire downtown city block and some additional properties nearby is expected to go before Hartsville City Council for preliminary approval on Sept. 14.
The Hartsville Planning Commission approved a recommendation to rezone the whole 300 block of South Fourth Street and South Fifth Street from M1 (manufacturing or industrial district) to B1 (central business district). The vote Tuesday was 3 – 0 to send the recommendation to council.
The panel also voted 3 – 0 to recommend the rezoning of five parcels on Railroad Avenue and Chinaberry Street, including Gardner’s Fertilizer & Farm Supplies at 317 Railroad Ave., and two other adjoining parcels be rezoned from M1 to B1 and that two vacant parcels behind the Gardner’s property be rezoned from M1 to P1 (professional).
Commissioners Richard Boiteau, Bobby McGee and Teresa Mack voted to recommend the changes. Members Dr. Glenn Chappell and Adam Mathews were not present.
Ordinances implementing the changes will be presented to council on first reading at its regularly monthly meeting on the 14th, said Brenda Kelley, planning and zoning administrator for the city. A public hearing on each ordinance and final approval on second reading should take place in October, Kelley said.
The change in the zoning designation will not require any changes in the current uses or appearance of the properties, Kelley said. But the B1 designation gives the city greater control over what does happen on the sites when and if those uses do change or if the buildings on those sites are altered or removed.
The downtown block is currently occupied mostly by warehouses except on the Fifth Street side several small businesses face Fifth Street.
The block is bordered by Laurens Avenue on the north, Davis Street on the south, Fifth Street to the west and Fourth Street to the east.
The block is across Laurens Avenue from the Fairfield Inn, burry Park and Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar in the former Cargill property.
While no manufacturing operations exist on the site, the current M1 zoning designation would allow such uses. Commission Chairman Richard Boiteau said the goal of rezoning the property is to better protect and control the growth and appearance of Hartsville’s downtown as it develops.
“We’re trying to keep Hartsville’s downtown viable,” Boiteau said. “We just want to keep real manufacturing out of those areas.”
Goz Segars, who together with business partners owns the warehouses on the block, said during the public hearing that he was not opposed to the rezoning. He said he recognized that rezoning to B1 would enable the city to more effectively control future development in the block.
“I feel like it’s a good move for the city,” he said. “We recognize that the use of the property now is not the highest and best use.”
But he asked for some clarification over whether the buildings could continue to be used as warehouses if the tenants changed.
Boiteau said that under the language of the city’s zoning ordinance, those uses could continue. “Those uses would be allowed to continue even with a new tenant,” he said.
Segars and his partners bought the property in the 1980s, he said. “We saved it from becoming a real bad area,” he said.