It’s not hard to see the growth that’s coming to Aiken’s Silver Bluff Road.
Savannah River Mission Completion, the liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site, recently opened an office building south of the Food Lion shopping center. A self-storage unit building is being built farther south.
Still farther south, apartments, a grocery store and other buildings are planned for the Village at Woodside and, to the north, a Tidal Wave Auto Spa is planned for the southwest corner of the intersection between Silver Bluff, Pine Log and Hitchcock Parkway.
The Aiken City Council is looking to take more control over the growth that could follow these developments.
The council, upon the motion of Andrea Gregory and a second by Ed Girardeau, unanimously voted Monday to request the Planning Commission develop an overlay district for Silver Bluff Road from its intersection with Whiskey Road ( corner with Honey Baked Ham ) to either Richardson Lake Road (Village at Woodside) or Beaver Creek Lane (just south of Glenwood Drive).
An overlay district establishes additional requirements for a developer looking to bring a business to a property in a specific geographic area. For example, the city’s Whiskey Road Overlay District has requirements for signs and improvements for infrastructure such as sidewalks.
“I just want to say that this is a step in the right direction,” Gregory said. “I think I’ve said it three times today [and] at the last meeting, too. It’s tough when we get a development and we don’t have a concept plan because it’s just not required. It makes really difficult to address all the various civil components. We want to support development but I think it’s important we look at all the parameters.”
The second and final reading of an ordinance annexing and zoning 404 and 408 Silver Bluff Road was approved earlier in the meeting.
Planning Commission Chairman Ryan Reynolds sent a letter Dec. 6 asking the council to ask the commission to develop an overlay district similar to Whiskey Road.
