West Pelzer to develop comprehensive plan

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By Stan Welch

Anderson County Planning Director Michael Forman met with the West Pelzer Planning Commission Tuesday night to introduce himself and to begin the process of helping them develop the town’s comprehensive plan.

The Town, according to Mayor Blake Sanders, is almost starting over, since the existing plan has not been updated, as required by state law, in almost twenty years. “The last time the plan was reviewed and updated was in 1998. Obviously, a lot of things have changed since then, so we have a lot of work to do. Thank goodness that the county, at the request of Councilwoman Cindy Wilson, has offered to assist us. Most towns either hire a consultant or do their own. We’re serving as a kind of guinea pig in that sense, but the plus side is tremendous for the town.”

The update, which is supposed to take place once every ten years, interspersed with a less thorough review every five years, is far ranging and is intended to develop and define a town’s vision of its future. Such issues as land use, municipal services, and even a review and revision of the town’s ordinances and how they can be tailored to shape that vision will be eventually addressed.

Sanders said that this first meeting is essentially an introduction of the two parties. “We have no plans to take any actions at this point. We’re in the information gathering stage. Michael will basically tell us what we need to be thinking about while the county assembles our information. In a couple of months, we’ll get together again and start to work on the task before us.”