County council considers Highway 11 development moratorium

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S.C. Highway 11, also known as the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Byway, connects a constellation of state parks and visitor destinations: Table Rock State Park, Nine Times Preserve and Keowee Toxaway State Park, just to name a few.

Pickens County Council moved a six-month temporary moratorium on construction along the unzoned highway forward last night for a last and final reading next month.

If passed, the ordinance will halt the issue of development and construction permits for new manufacturing and commercial uses, as well as fir residential projects with more than 10 homes, while the Appalachian Council of Government and Pickens County Planning Commission seek public input and finish a report on development recommendations for the area.

After council fielded mixed opinions on the ordinance, Councilor Alex Saitta, who requested the moratorium, pressed council to omit any wording that implied the county would enact new development standards after the six month period.

“I think it’s too early to have any conclusions about what we will do and what we won’t do along Highway 11,” he said, adding that public input should be taken into account first.

Saitta suspects the reports and public comments may spur on construction standards along the highway, but didn’t want to assume anything yet. As indicated by the amendment, neither did the council.

“I’d like to get a report,” he said. “I’d like the planning commission to give us recommendations. I’d like to get ACOG’s recommendations and I’d like to get more feedback.”

He reiterated that the moratorium will not prohibit landowners along S.C. Highway 11 from building a house or a barn on their lot for six months – just from building out a subdivision, strip mall or manufacturing facility.

“My focus is on the residents that live along Highway 11,” Saitta said. “They’re not really mentioned in any of this, but they should be mentioned.”

Several councilmembers echoed Saitta’s concerns about property right protections for residents along the highway.

“I agree on making sure people understand we are trying to help the landowners,” Councilor Trey Whitehurst said during the meeting. “People a lot of times like to say we don’t care about property rights, but we do, and I think we should make that a point in this.”