Some of the Orangeburg Country Club’s neighbors fear the construction of a service entrance will destroy the tranquility of their residential neighborhood and are questioning how such a project could happen in a residentially zoned area.

But Country Club officials say the heavy work is temporary and that the proper construction, surveying and zoning permits were obtained.

“There are several issues there and what we have been met with has been the silent treatment,” Moore Road resident Patty Pickens said. “To blatantly put a maintenance facility in a residentially zoned area is a total disregard for the law.”

The club was purchased earlier this year by Pin High Visions, a subsidiary of Orangeburg-based Zeus Inc. It is overhauling the golf course, clubhouse and general ambiance in an effort to enhance the club’s viability and attractiveness.

Some Moore Road and Putter Path residents have expressed concerns that the service entrance will increase traffic, add noise and commotion and bring in unwanted visitors.

The project includes the construction of three buildings — a shed that will house golf carts, a maintenance and equipment shed and a facility to house fuel and lawn products such as the fertilizer.

The Country Club already has golf cart and maintenance facilities on its campus, but they’re being relocated to allow for the expansion of its driving range, said John Worley, president and CEO of Pin High Visions.

“We considered other areas in all of this property we have out there but there was not another good place to put them,” he said. “There will not be any vehicles coming into the club off of Moore Road that have not been going down Griffith Road forever. This is not new traffic.”

But this does not bring comfort to some residents.

Moore Road resident Patti Horger, who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 13 years, says any increased traffic, especially with trucks, is asking for trouble.

“The amount of S curves is terrible,” Horger said. “Even a UPS truck going down here is horrible. It will change the whole character of why people bought and built on this road.”

In a letter dated Sept. 24 to Orangeburg County Administrator Bill Clark and County Council, residents asked for “all construction to cease immediately until a review of building permits and zoning issues” were addressed.

“Moore Road is not equipped to handle traffic resulting from a service entrance,” the letter stated. “Heavy trucks are an immediate danger for small children in the neighborhood along with the usual traffic of the residents.”

Club owner Frank Tourville said the heavy construction, truck traffic and noise are temporary.

“There won’t be any more construction except they will come in once a week to get the garbage and bring in some food on occasion,” Tourville said. “The massive influx of trucks is almost over with.”

Worley said when all is complete, there will be the occasional delivery truck down the road.

“It is not going to be any different than the same trucks that have been coming down Griffith all along,” Worley said. “At one point there was some concern that that road would be an open thoroughfare so that members could enter the club from that direction. That won’t happen.”

Residents sat they still have questions they want answered.

In a letter dated Sept. 28 to council and Clark, residents asked a number of questions, including whether the project received the proper zoning compliance certification, tree removal permits and grading permits. Council said the matter would be looked into to ensure the county’s zoning procedures were appropriately followed.

By late Friday afternoon, Clark said a draft of a letter was complete for delivery to Moore Road residents, but the letter was under review by county attorney D’Anne Haydel. Clark said the letter would be released after the review.

“We are totally within the letter of the law,” Worley said. “We are totally within our rights to do what we are doing out there.

“If we were not within our legal rights, we would not be doing it.”

Tourville echoed this sentiment.

“We worked hard to make sure that we got all permits,” Tourville said. “We did them all.”

Horger says this may be the case but she is not sure.

“There is a communication problem,” she said. “It is such an unknown. We don’t know what he is going to do. They have not been communicating with us.”

Worley said the company has reached out to concerned residents, though he declined to provide the names of those contacted.

Resident Laura Bryant, who lives next to the construction, says she does not understand how such a project could happen in a neighborhood she has lived in for the past 11 years. Bryant says she has not received any contact from either Worley or Tourville.

“How can the county allow this commercial site to be placed beside my home?” Bryant said. “It will definitely affect the marketing of my home. I am faced with a dilemma that I never wanted.”

But Worley said residents have some misunderstanding about the nature of the project and have “embellished“ its scope and impact.

He said the facility near Moore Road will have about six parking spaces and not the rumored 25 spaces.

He also said club employees will not use Moore Road to access the property.

Worley said there will be buffers to shield residents from the facilities.

“We actually did a setback so that we would have additional room for buffering,” Worley said. “We could have come all the way up against the edge of the right of way and put our buildings up there. You can plant things underneath the power lines in the right-of-way.”

Tentative plans are to plant Leyland cypress trees as buffering. The area will also have fencing, lighting and security cameras.

In the meantime, Pickens is awaiting the county’s response to the neighbors’ questions.

“We still have no answers and construction is still going on,” she said.

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

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