Olanta's Future

The drafted Future Land Use Map for the Town of Olanta was presented last night at the Town Hall meeting.

About 30 people packed into the Town Hall to hear a presentation on what the Future Land Use Plan is, how it looks and what it would allow within the Town of Olanta.

At first, there may have been some confusion that I was there to say that businesses were coming into the Town and here is where they are going... but it's not that easy. Really, the only thing that the Future Land Use plan will do is to say if a particular type of company would come into town, this plan includes potential zoning of where it could locate.

I wish I could have been the bearer of such great news like "a handful of businesses are coming to your town." But for the most part, many of the residents that attended last night said they have opened and closed businesses in Town while others say that Olanta is mostly a Town where people live, not work.

Still other residents who caught up with me afterwards relayed their concern about current commercially designated areas that are kept from opening for one reason or another. It sounds strange to me why owners would not want to rent their property out, but there may be some things I'm missing.

Overall, I was impressed with the group's understanding that the Future Land Use map is a reflection of the current zoning in the Town. Further, they were happy with how their Town is planned. In the whole Comprehensive Plan scheme of things, that has been the general reaction from residents about the plan. Most of the big changes may be in a push to create a county-wide zoning.

Zoning is the regulatory part of land use: what uses can go in specific places. Zoning is crucial in areas of increasing population density and creates a certain amount to predictability for adjacent landowners, municipalities whom would offer services and the State or County whom may need to provide capital improvements such as resurfaced roads or drainage in an area.

Also with county-wide zoning, we could show businesses such as concentrated animal farming operations (chicken, swine and turkey farms) where they could potentially locate. As you may already know, Darlington County is facing this very issue.