Aiken, South Carolina

Zoning Ordinance
   

For the City of Aiken, Duncan Associates revised and updated the community's zoning ordinance. Begun as a railroad town, Aiken was laid out with a series of tree-lined parkways and boundary streets that give the city much of its character today. An historic "winter colony," originally settled as a health resort area, now serves as a vibrant residential core adjacent to the downtown. Aiken has a strong equestrian community, from polo. The nearby Savannah River Site, run by Westinghouse, provides a substantial number of local high tech jobs. In 1997, Aiken was named an All America City.

The South Carolina Comprehensive Planning Enabling Act of 1994 required the City to revise its regulations to ensure consistency with state statutory changes. The code revision project stream-lined the procedures for review of projects, included consideration of site plan and design review issues, and revised the conditional use and special exception review processes. Criteria used by various boards and commissions were enhanced to provide for consistent decision-making. The City's equestrian residential districts were reviewed to ensure than nonconforming use provisions will not eliminate the ability of equestrian areas to thrive. Aiken was also trying to ensure that future development within the community respected it historic neighborhood character. Traditional residential development standards, such as narrower streets, smaller lot sizes, accessory apartments and mixed-use development were considered for newly developing areas. Impediments to sound neighborhood design (excessive parking requirements, lot restrictions that create homogeneous subdivisions, etc.) were removed during the drafting effort.

Period:     January 1998 - August 1999           Contact:    Ed Evans
Team:       Duncan Associates                                          Community Development Director
                                                                                   713.420.5397