Approximately 50 residents attended an informational meeting held Tuesday at Whitefield Baptist Church to hear about growth in Anderson County and planning for it. The meeting for residents of County Council District 7 was the second hosted by Councilmember Cindy Wilson.
Residents heard information on changes that have occurred in the County since 2016, when the last Comprehensive Plan for the county was done. Anderson County is in the early stages of the process of updating their ten year Comprehensive Plan which will be finalized in 2026.
Councilmember Wilson began the meeting stating that Hwy. 29 was a prototype for I-85 and is “an important corridor”. Some major improvements have been made over the last few years including the new Cherokee Road bridge and interchange, with two new roundabouts on intersecting roads and one on Hwy 29 at Welcome Road.
Wilson talked briefly about a new road configuration under construction at Bowlan Road, Old Williamston Road and Hwy. 29 near the Jockey Lot, an area that has seen numerous accidents over the years.
Chip Bentley of Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG) presented information on the recently completed US Highway 29 Corridor Study.
Anderson County Planning and Community Development Administrator Joan Holliday talked about the Comprehensive Plan and presented information related to growth in the county.
The Comprehensive Plan focuses on ten areas: Land Use, Population, Natural Resources, Transportation, Housing, Resilience, Economic Development, Priority Investment, Community Services and Facilities.
During his presentation, Bentley said the Hwy. 29 study focused on Hwy. 29 from I-85 to River Street in Anderson. It looked at stretches where Hwy. 29 is four lane and two lane, intersections, congestion and makes recommendations for improvements. The recommendations will be made to SC Department of Transportation SCDOT for short term, mid term and long term planning for the corridor.
Planning for the Hwy. 29 corridor currently is to have it develop as commercial.
Bentley said that planning for Hwy. 29 will need to accommodate future growth including capacity for freight and passenger traffic, pedestrian and bicycles, reducing curb cuts and intersections.
One factor being looked at is the speed of traffic coming off I-85 on a four lane through a mostly rural area which becomes more commercial and more congested on two lanes approaching the Jockey Lot area and on into Anderson.
Bentley said the study looked at 23 locations as of 2023, of which many are currently acceptable. One exception is the Rogers Road intersection which received an “F”. Bentley said that over the next 20 years, most of the locations looked at on the corridor will border on failure. “In 2045 it really begins to fail”, he said.
A priority of the study is safety. According to Bentley, the study showed the Hwy. 29 corridor had 963 crashes over a 5.5 year period, with 7 fatalities and 13 with serious injury. Forty four percent of those were rear end crashes, Bentley said. Twenty three percent were angled crashes. “The bulk were in the middle part of that corridor,” he said.
Access management and how to improve intersections is another focus of the study. Also looking at Internal connections, parking lots, mixed use areas, pedestrian and landscaping, capacity issues for long term.
Bentley said the ACOG study was done to identify problem spots along the corridor and will be presented to SCDOT. “We are just presenting information on these projects, he said. Once SCDOT begins planning there will be “full input on each individual project” according to Bentley.
The Hwy. 29 traffic study complements planning for the County Comprehensive Plan, which is required by the State to be done every ten years.
County Planner Joan Holliday talked about the Comprehensive Plan and growth in the county.
She said the Plan is to inventory existing conditions, provide a statement of needs and goals and a guide for implementation strategies with time frames. Once completed it will be presented to County Council for final approval.
Input received from residents at the information meetings will be used in the new Comprehensive Plan.
Holliday said Anderson County has a population, as of 2020, of 220,036 people. “Anderson County has grown every decade except the period 1820 to 1830”, she said.
While the Powdersville and Piedmont areas have seen explosive growth for years, Holliday said Pelzer and Williamston are beginning to be more dense and Belton is seeing some growth in population.
“The over 60 population is the fastest growing,” she said.
Anderson County is also seeing a lot of economic development. Holliday said that the low cost of living, low cost of land, the County airport, proximity to the Inland Port and rail and highway system in Anderson County are attractive to developers.
“County Council will have to look at all of this and balance it,” she said. “We will have to decide where we want it.”
Holiday said that Anderson County has more prime farmland than any other county in the Upstate. Most of the southeastern and western part of the County is currently slated to remain agriculture.
Land use is a big part of the Comprehensive Plan and a concern for many residents.
County Planning Commission member Dan Harvell said that the Comprehensive Plan is a guide for County Council and the Planning Commission. He said that zoning is a tool that provides “more teeth” in development and restrictions, especially with residential subdivisions.
District 6 Councilmember Jimmy Davis, who represents the Piedmont/Powdersville area agreed, stating “the only tool we have is zoning precincts”.
Residents were given stickers to show their priorities for the future which were placed on posters representing each of the ten areas of the comprehensive plan. Input received will be used in the planning process.
Anderson County will hold additional public information meetings in each Council District through 2025 and into 2026. Information received will be used for the draft Comprehensive Plan which will be presented to County Council in mid 2026. The final Comprehensive Plan should be completed and approved by Dec. 2026.
