RS3 was quite familiar with this client from our contracted professional services, serving as the Town’s Planning & Community Development Director. Part of the scope of work was to correct the Town’s 2012 rezoning debacle by its then staff, making hundreds of the Town’s zoning classifications and text amendments illegal. The other was updating and rewriting the town’s zoning and subdivision ordinance. Zoning recommendations included:
- Mixed-use downtown to encourage second-story apartment and condos reflecting the town’s historic design.
- Limited mixed-use in a portion of its national registry historic district. Low intensity uses include office conversions, art galleries, and small boutiques with parking in rear.
- Strengthening historic district guidelines to protect against demolitions through neglect and boarded-up properties, compromising historic integrity.
- SC 9, its major commercial arterial, afforded development flexibility to include retail/office/ and commercial/multifamily applications.
- Signage redesign transitioning from the 70s bigger is better model. Highlighted were appropriate height and area signage promoting urban design.
Planning Forward 2035
Comprehensive Plan
City of Bennettsville | Bennettsville, South Carolina
REFERENCE Holly H. Swann, Manager of Planning & Zoning | 843.479.9001 | holly.swann@bennettsvillesc.com |Completed: May 2019
Friendly smiles and waving hands to passersby frame the Town of Chesterfield. A town with a population south of 1500 contracted with RS3 to update its comprehensive plan. We discussed one of the Town assets is its location. It is centrally located within Chesterfield County and serves as the county seat. It is within two hours drives from Monroe, NC, Charlotte, NC, Florence, SC, and several urbanized jurisdictions. We drilled down on its appeal to visitors. The underutilized gem is its incomplete amphitheater. There is an amphitheater within a 20-mile radius of the town. The town’s amphitheater had seating but no stage, and lighting and sound system. We magnified its tourism potential particularly as part of its major park – Craig Park and integrated walking trail. Highlighted recommendations included:
- Reclaiming an abandoned, dilapidated mill as a Brownfields project for housing.
- Creating senior or mixed-income housing on the former Chesterfield High School site.
- Partnering with the Chesterfield County School District to develop a vocational program to meet local and regional job demands.
- Increase its sewer capacity, which hampers future growth. Recommended is a spray field to address limited capacity in addition to inflow and infiltration issues.
Bennettsville is posed to be a regional influencer particularly with the impending Interstate 73. Over the past 10 years, the city has experienced a considerable decline in population and economic growth. Not surprising is its high poverty rate. Our effort homed in on transitioning Bennettsville from a place to a destination. One of the keys was to connect its parks through a pedestrian/bike network. Lake Wallace is the epicenter of its recreational activity. The lake offers boating, hiking, fishing, and swimming. Connecting this water feature with a pedestrian/bike network traversing through downtown and several neighborhoods is an economic catalyst. Other keys were to:
- Convert a flooding hazard area neighborhood into a greenway as an esthetic landscape feature and minimize flooding.
- Promote new construction efforts to reclaim vacant and salvageable housing to relocate displaced families and create mixed-incomed housing.
- Use New Market Tax Credits and adopt its Bailey Bill ordinance to ignite investment into downtown.
- Incentivizing investors and contractors local hires to address low wages and employment.
- Partner with Northeaster Technical College and Bennettsville Downtown Development Association to foster business growth through an incubator program.
RS3 Planning Collaborative, LLC
Zoning & Subdivision Ordinance Update
Town of Cheraw | Cheraw, South Carolina
REFERENCE Tina Ellis, Clerk/Treasurer | 843.537.8400 | tellis@cheraw.com |Completed: June 2019
Contracted Planning & Development Director
Town of Cheraw | Cheraw, South Carolina
The Principal, then Planning & Development Director with the City of Hartsville and Neighborhood Planner with the City of Greenville, worked with the Planning Commission, steering committee, and other stakeholders to develop the below projects.
- Butler Corridor Plan, Hartsville, South Carolina
- Hartsville 2020 Comprehensive Plan, Hartsville, South Carolina
- Vista Project, Hartsville, South Carolina
- Nicholtown Neighborhood Master Plan, Greenville, South Carolina
- Green Avenue Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, Greenville, South Carolina
- Dunbar Street Corridor Master Plan, Greenville, South Carolina
- West Greenville Master Plan, Greenville, South Carolina
- 2000-2004 & 2005-2009 Consolidated Plan, Greenville, South Carolina
Navigation Chesterfield
Comprehensive Plan
Town of Chesterfield | Chesterfield, SC
REFERENCE David Huntley, Town Administrator | 843.623.9099 | cftadmin@shtc.net |Completed: October 2019