County to Consider 74.6-Acre Development at Midway/Crestview

By Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

On Tuesday night, Anderson County Council will consider a proposal from Falcon Real Estate Development to build a 170-180 single-family subdivision at the corner of Harriet Circle and Midway Road/Crestview Road.Area of proposed subdivision.

The proposed development would include between 170-180 houses on 74.6 acres on the property which stretches from just north of Midway Elementary School to the intersection of Midway/Crestview. 

The property is owned by Larry Kowalski, and many will remember the Kowalski store at the corner of that intersection.

The "Preston Trails Subdivision" (which is named after a project on which the developer's father worked in Texas 40 years ago - and has no relation to former Anderson County Administrator Joey Preston), would feature entrances on both Harriet Circle and Crestview Road. 

The houses built in the area along the Crestivew entrance would likely be between 2,000-3,000 square feet, while the houses built closer to the Harriet Circle entrance would be in the "low 2,000" square feet category, according to Phillip Day, the developer with Falcon Development. There are currently no estimates on the prices of these houses.

"We're prepared to work with the community and county on any traffic concerns," Day said. "We went back and worked with our engineers to give up enough land to widen the roads and create a roundabout or whatever is needed."

The request to rezone the area, approved by the Anderson County Planning Commission, from its current "Planned Development" status, to an Innovative Zoning District Status. The current zoning would allow for two-acre commercial component, allowing up to 10,000 square foot at ground level for retail store and shops. It would also allow for 146 single-family detached and 56 single-family attached (duplexes), and approximately 6.95 acres of reserved for open space. 

The new zoning would permit no commercial componet, and no more than 180 residential lots (single-family detached houses). The proposal includes approximately 25 acres reserved in open space, with maximum efforts to preserve existing vegetation/trees around the perimeter property line and along the creek. The proposal also includes a walking trail system, sidewalks on both sides of internal roads, and additional amenities within the common areas including a fire pit area, dog run area, a playground and sidewalks to Midway Elementary School. The sidewalks would connect with the sidewalks to be built by the county and the South Carolina Department of Transportation to connect the school with the East-West Parkway. 

The owner will also work with the developer of the adjacent Bronson Ridge subdivison to provide pedestrian interconnectivity between the two developments.

Anderson County Councilman Craig Wooten, which represents the area of the proposed development, said the plan to rezone for this project is a good one.

"The developer has given us room to widen the roads, and we've talked to (Anderson County Assistant Administrator) Holt Hopkins said that having that option would allow for adjustments at a later date," Wooten said.  "The property owners are going to do something with this property, and they voluntarily offered to do something that would work. Everybody I've talked to seems to think it's a good idea."

Wooten said some have asked him to do something to ensure there will be no traffic problems before approving the project, something he said is not practical.

"You can't do all the infrastructure on the roads to guarantee traffic is going to be good before a project is built," Wooten said. He added that consideration is already being given to either traffic lights or a roundabout at the Midway/Crestview intersection.

"If we can be part of the impetus to go ahead and get something done at that intersection, we want to be part of that," Day said. 

Falcon is currently building a similar development, Hunter's Crossing, in Powdersville.

"In every situation I've ever seen, when people get their house built, they want to pull up the ladder, and that's just natural," Day said. "But ther entire Upstate is growing like crazy, which is good, but we are trying to be careful here and create something here people want to live with quality of life and things like walking trails, and green space."

Anderson County Council will vote on the project as part of the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse downtown. Full agenda here.

"People want a sense of community, to get out with their neighbors, to see children playing, and those are the kind of neighborhoods we want to create," Day said.

Day said if council approves the rezoning, work on the project would begin immediately.