Greer residents sway city council to deny rezoning request

GREER, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A crowded room at Greer’s city council meeting Tuesday night, the topic on the table--a request to rezone a residential plot of land to industrial zoning, allowing developers to build a manufacturing plant.

“How this got this far, is beyond me,” said a resident.

The room was packed and emotions were high.

“How about a community center? How about a park? How about a church, anything?” said another resident.

Dozens of residents around Abner Creek road showed up to vent their frustrations.

“When I first heard about it I thought to myself, there’s no possible way this could be going through,” said Ben Griffith, a Greer resident.

The request was to rezone a plot of land near the intersection of Abner Creek and Brockman-McClimon road. The land is surrounded by dozens of homes and hundreds more are under construction. Developers wanted the land to expand on their plan for an industrial manufacturing plant.

“It was just going to be a huge monstrous building, ugly and hideous,”  said Joel Austell, Greer resident who recently bought a home in the area.

The problem? The building proposal would be just yards away from residents’ homes. Not, one, not two, but 15 people spoke out at the meeting.

“It’s nice to live in a community where everyone is unified and can stand up for something that is obviously wrong,” said Austell.

Other concerns were about traffic, road conditions, safety, home values and noise. The council passed the request in a 4-3 vote during the first hearing, but tonight’s frustrations might have made a difference.

“I think the council saw that passion tonight,” said Griffith.

Council denied the request, 4 to 2. An ideal ending for these residents, but one favorable vote left some with ill feelings.

“Pretty disheartening to see that the mayor of our city voted to put an industrial complex right in the middle of our residential area,” said Griffith.

Council members did warn residents that the area around that intersection is growing, so this will likely not be the last rezoning request for this part of the city. We’ll stay on top of future plans for this area.

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