Lexington County is considering a sweeping rewrite of its development rules that would divide unincorporated areas into three separate zoning overlays, each with its own limits on housing density, lot sizes and whether roads and schools get reviewed before new homes go up. The proposal has already cleared one County Council vote in September, but two more readings stand between the plan and reality, and residents who packed a public hearing earlier this month are not convinced the rules go far enough to protect roads, schools or emergency services from the pace of growth.
Three Districts, Three Sets of Rules
The plan would create the Neighborhood Residential District, the Central Lexington County District and the Lake Murray District, each governing a different slice of the unincorporated county, according to the Post and Courier. Robbie Derrick, Lexington County's planning and GIS director, outlined the proposal during the October public hearing and confirmed the amendments include the three new overlays, as reported by WLTX. The Neighborhood Residential District would cover roughly the eastern half of the county, including areas around West Columbia, Cayce, Springdale, Pine Ridge, South Congaree and Red Bank, per the Post and Courier's reporting. The Lake Murray District, meanwhile, would cover portions of western Lexington County and the lake area, aiming to encourage lower-density development and protect communities around the lake, the station's report notes.
Density limits in the Neighborhood Residential District would hinge on road classification: four dwelling units per acre on arterial streets, three on collector streets and two on most local residential streets, according to the same account. Duplexes would be confined to arterial and collector streets with a cap of six units per acre, while three-or-more attached residential units would only be permitted on arterial streets, up to eight units per acre. Attached residential developments in the district would also be capped at 200 units overall, per WLTX's reporting.
Lake Murray Density Limits
The Central Lexington County District would set a minimum lot size of one-quarter acre for most new single-family homes and a minimum road frontage of 75 feet, though smaller lots could be allowed if additional design requirements are met, WLTX reports. New residential developments with road systems would have to provide streetlighting, and developments of 30 or more lots would face additional architectural standards under the proposal.
The Lake Murray District's density rules would limit most houses to one to two homes per acre, with up to four allowed on a roadway designated as a boulevard, according to The State.
Concurrency Reviews at the Center of the Fight
The most contested piece of the plan involves concurrency review, the county process that evaluates whether public services such as schools, law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services and solid waste can support additional development, per the station's report. The Central Lexington County District would apply concurrency requirements only to developments of 20 or more lots. The Post and Courier reports that under the policy, concurrency for law enforcement, fire, EMS, solid waste and schools shall not be reviewed within the Neighborhood Residential District, and that in at least one proposed overlay concurrency would apply only to developments of 20 or more lots. A traffic impact study would still be required for new housing developments of 10 or more dwellings, and for existing developments expanding by at least 50 percent, according to The State.
That shift alarmed residents at the October 13 hearing. Melinda Snelgrove, a retired educator who lives in the area covered by the Neighborhood Residential District, urged council members to reconsider removing existing concurrency requirements, questioning why the county would drop infrastructure reviews from areas under tremendous development pressure. She cited school capacity, emergency response times and planned residential lots as reasons to retain the reviews. Teresa Ellisor supported several of the proposed changes but urged council members to maintain concurrency reviews in areas experiencing substantial growth, arguing that concurrency should apply countywide or across most of the county because services and roads are shared.
Longtime Residents Describe a County Transformed
Kathy Shumpert, who has lived in eastern Lexington County for about 30 years, said she wants her community to remain as it is and described growth in the area as having become excessive. Cheryl, who moved to Lexington County from Massachusetts in 2004, said traffic has become immense and that new housing is being built without first figuring out how cars will move around, according to WLTX's reporting. Lexington County residents more broadly are questioning whether roads, schools and emergency services can keep pace with the development already underway, the station notes.
Those concerns track with county-level numbers. Lexington County still has 7,000 homes in its permitted pipeline, and recent policy measures are not intended to curb those already-approved projects, per the Post and Courier's earlier reporting. The county approved a little over 1,300 housing permits in 2023, down from 1,629 in 2020 and nearly 1,800 in 2021, while the average home price in Lexington climbed from $190,000 in 2019 to $290,000 in 2024, according to Zillow data cited by the outlet. A lack of housing inventory has kept upward pressure on prices even as sales have seen a double-digit decline over recent years, the Post and Courier reports.
School capacity adds another layer to the debate. Lexington County School District Four's enrollment has held steady at around 3,500 students annually for more than a decade, but five proposed residential developments could add nearly 1,200 homes and more than 1,600 students to the district, according to the Lexington Chronicle. District officials project that influx could push enrollment up by 45% to 50%, even though current facilities can only absorb about a 25% increase, or roughly 925 additional students, the Chronicle reports.
Builders Warn of Higher Costs
Homebuilding industry representatives raised their own concerns at the hearing, warning that lower housing density and larger lots could drive up costs and make homes less affordable. Larger lots could require more land per home, potentially increasing development costs and putting pressure on prices paid by buyers.
County planning staff have acknowledged the ordinance could still undergo further revisions before final approval. The amendments, formally known as Ordinance 26-14, would apply only to unincorporated areas of the county and would not affect properties within municipal limits. Lexington County leaders have been working on the proposed changes since last winter, and the measure received its first approval from County Council in September, with two more votes required before any new rules take effect. Separately, the Lexington County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that Council consider amendments to the zoning ordinance, a related landscape and open-space ordinance, and updates to the land development manual, according to Citizen Portal, which reported that the commission also asked Council to reevaluate concurrency matrices, consider architectural standards and revisit overlay boundaries.
