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A planned complex with more than 300 apartments will move forward in Irmo the Town Council decided on Tuesday.
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There will be some modifications to meet the concerns of an adjoining neighborhood that would be connected to the apartments’ parking lot.
The planned development on a 22-acre site off of Columbiana Drive was approved in a 3-2 vote after several neighbors expressed their opposition to the plans from Greenville-based Long Key Development. Mayor Bill Danielson was joined by Barb Waldman and Mike Ward voting in favor, with Phyllis Coleman and Gabriel Penfield voting against.
Before Tuesday’s vote, residents of Stanford Ridge Court and Battery Road — which will be a secondary entrance and exit to the apartment complex — raised concerns about potential traffic impacts and other disruptions to their residential neighborhood if the plans went through.
Chris McCoy told the council he’s lived on Battery Road for 21 years, on the other side of a woodline from the future apartments.
“It’s pretty much a dead end,” McCoy said. “It affords us a lot of peace and the ability to use the road without worrying about traffic. Our kids can play outside… This would really disrupt our way of life.”
Frances Jackson said she chose to live in the neighborhood because of its seclusion, which she feared would be disrupted by traffic coming into and out of the apartments.
“Just imagine 300 people going to work in the morning and coming home,” Jackson said.
In response, Seth Peterson with Long Key Development said the Battery Road connection would be secondary to the entrance on Columbiana Drive. It would be closed by a locked gate that would only be accessible to emergency responders.
“It would not be open to residents or add traffic to Battery Road,” Peterson said.
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Peterson also said the developer would adjust plans so that apartment buildings are oriented toward Columbiana and away from an existing wooded berm that separates the property from the neighborhood. Long Key plans to market the apartments for people making between $50,000 and $90,000 a year, with discounted rates for residents based on their income and whether they are over the age of 55.
Council members also expressed concerns about the development.
“I’d be more likely to welcome it on a larger existing road,” Penfield said. “There’s no one driver who blames themselves for traffic, but if you’re in traffic, you are traffic… We’re seeing more development than ever before and there’s an expectation that more are coming.”
Coleman questioned how affordable the apartments will be for existing residents of the area, especially since Peterson said rent would be around $1,300 a month.
“Seniors who got paid in South Carolina are not going to have $50,000 a year in income,” she said.
Irmo Town Council initially approved plans for the apartments at its last meeting in July. The proposed apartment complex would include a swimming pool, gym, clubhouse, coworking space and 641 parking spaces.
The area near Woodspring Suites was once zoned for manufacturing and the site of a clay mining operation until about 2023.
A traffic study by the town looked at the impact the apartments could have on Lake Murray Boulevard, College Street, Columbiana Drive and Broad River Road. The study determined that no major physical changes were needed, though traffic signal timing modifications were recommended.
But representatives of Long Key Development said at July’s town council meeting that they planned to add right turn lanes into and out of the development. Peterson said at Tuesday’s meeting that a left turn lane off of Columbiana Drive would also be added to the plans.
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