An Orangeburg County developer is planning to construct a townhouse complex on Columbia Road just outside the Orangeburg city limits.

The plans for the $3.5 million Spring Valley Heights development, which is located near Spring Valley Circle, Sparkleberry Hill Road and Longwood Drive, call for the construction of about 20 for-sale units and 24 for-rent (and possibly for-sale units depending on market fluctuations).

Development officials say the townhouses will be upscale.

However, some residents are concerned the townhouses will negatively impact their property values and quality of life. Some residents have also questioned the legality of the townhouses going into a single-family residential district.

Project officials and county planning officials both say the owner of the property, which is primarily single-family residences, has the legal right to develop the property as he sees fit.

Orangeburg County Deputy Administrator Harold Young said the restricted covenant on the property (as single-family residential) was removed earlier this year, allowing the development to move forward.

Young said typically any new subdivision development requires the approval of a majority of the residents in the subdivision, but in this case a clause was in place allowing the original owner of the subdivision to build other types of residences without having to consult residents.

Clyde Jeffcoat, project manager for Patel Construction LLC and spokesperson for the project, echoed Young's comments, noting that covenant restrictions have been removed.

Jeffcoat said project developer Steve Patel of Courtesy Management had the opportunity to build a service station or a commercial project in the area but chose rather to build the townhouses because it is a residential area.

"He is trying to make something nice out there," Jeffcoat said, noting the rental units will each have 9-foot ceilings, will be two-story with the first-floor exterior being brick and the second floor possibly stucco or vinyl. "Mr. Patel is very concerned and interested and knows people are not happy with townhouses ... but there might have been a service station there."

Project developer Courtesy Management is currently constructing the Best Western President Inn and Suites on U.S. 601 near Interstate 26. The company also owns and operates a number of hotels in the area.

The project architect is John C. Berrick of Columbia.

Jeffcoat said there are two lots of about 1-1/2 acres in front of Spring Valley Circle and Sparkleberry Hill Road that will house two buildings with 10 units each. The two- to three-bedroom units will have 2.5 baths. The units will range from 1,200 square feet to 1,400 square feet. The 1,200-square-foot townhouses will sell for $125,000, with the 1,400-square-foot ones selling for $140,000.

Jeffcoat said the townhouses will have a covered patio, a front porch and fencing around the property, with landscaping. The complex entrance will be off Columbia Road.

"We could have put 30 units there," Jeffcoat said, again noting the project's sensitivity to the area.

The other approximate 2-acre lot, near Sparkleberry Hill Road and Longwood Drive, will be developed with four buildings with six units each. The 1,200-square units will have 2.5 bedrooms and 2.5 baths with the property entrance from Longwood Drive. The design of all the units will be uniform.

The development is expected to be complete by March 2008.

But some, though not all, residents in the neighborhood are still concerned.

Sparkleberry Hill Road resident Dwayne Smith acknowledged that while he does not know much about the project beyond it being a townhouse development, he is concerned about how the development will impact the neighborhood.

"It worries us that if you release all the restrictions on the land, basically anybody can do anything they want now," Smith said.

Smith said there is also the uncertainty as to the nature of the townhouses -- will they be low-end or high-end.

"To bring in apartments, we are worried we will lose the equity and value of the houses in the area," Smith said, noting Realtors have said property values could plummet in some cases up to about $40,000. "We are worried that with two churches in the vicinity and if you bring in low-end apartments, there may be riff-raff with people drinking and partying going on."

Tina Goddard, Longwood Drive resident and listing agent for the townhouses, says initial concerns were that the property entrance would be off Longwood Drive (and adjacent to her property) and not off Columbia Road.

Goddard said the complex will provide more open space and safety by eliminating the tree cover. Goddard said a privacy fence will be placed around the development as well.

"I would prefer single-family residences, but my idea is let's look at the best-case scenario here," she said.

Goddard said the townhouses will be selling for what is comparable in property values for single family residences in the area.

"The town home is pulling on the higher end," she said, noting property values in the area should increase, not fall.

Harry Fleming, who is now retired, has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and has plans to live the remainder of his days there. The plans to develop will change the reason "we bought in the first place," he said.

"It is a pretty nice community," he said. "People are concerned. They keep their property up. But we can see this thing going downhill. Where will this thing be five to 10 years from now?"

Fleming said he as a retiree and homeowner has a vested interest in the community. He is centrally located to his children and has recently made upgrades to his property with the intention of remaining.

"When you put rental units in, you don't get that same type of interest," he said.

Eleven-year Spring Valley Circle resident Miriam James said when she first arrived, it was a wooded and quiet area, "child-friendly and away from the road and away from noise."

"It was a family neighborhood where children could play," she said. "It was sort of secluded. Now I can look out my window and see the highway."

James said the most upsetting point of the entire matter is the way the project was done sneakily "like a thief in the night" without any knowledge on the part of the neighbors until the land was being cleared.

"My main concern is the depreciation of the value of our property on our house," James said. "I don't care if you call it a townhouse, it is just a glorified apartment."

James said she "feels like my hands are tied" and that residents have been without a voice.

"This should not have gotten to this point," he said, requesting that the developer come and talk with the residents in the area. "I want to stick it out but if it gets to the point where there is nothing we can do, I told my husband maybe we should consider moving."

Columbia Road Church of God pastor Keith Vaughn, whose parsonage is also in the area, said it was the church's perception that the property, which is adjacent to the church, had development restrictions.

"They seem to be a little broader," Vaughn said. "We felt a little violated because we felt like we were covered under the original homeowners only to find out that we would have no say-so and that we would have to accept it."

Vaughn said the residents would have liked to have worked out an agreement where patio homes could be developed but not apartments.

Vaughn said there was some discussion about possibly pursuing the issue from a legal perspective but at this point it does not appear they have legal rights to move forward.

There is also the element of the unknown.

"We have no way to know if these will be townhouses and less expensive or what," Vaughn said. "We don't know exactly what he is doing or exactly what they will look like."

Vaughn said he would have welcomed the property owner and developer approaching the residents in the neighborhood about the development plans before they began.

Spring Valley Circle resident Allen Brown, who has lived in the neighborhood for two years, said he and his neighbors don't need this (townhouses) to move into their area.

"Anybody could come in and buy those things," Brown said, adding his concerns that none of the residents were informed of the project and the unfairness of the owner of the subdivision ("who is not even a resident") to change it without consultation. "We have a nice neighborhood. There are some neighborhoods where you can't sit on your front porch and walk through your street. We don't need this."

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.

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