(Richland PIO) – The County’s Planning Commission has set a tentative schedule for additional work sessions to discuss rewriting the County’s 2021 Land Development Code (LDC).

Open to the public, the added work sessions will provide opportunities for community review and input on the recently restarted mapping process. The LDC work sessions are tentatively set for:

• Monday, Aug. 1 – immediately following the regularly scheduled Richland County Planning Commission meeting, which starts at 3 p.m.
• Monday, Aug. 15, starting at 5:30 p.m. There is no regular Planning Commission meeting beforehand.
• Thursday, Sept. 8 – immediately following a regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting, which starts at 3 p.m.

Work sessions that immediately follow regular meetings can be expected to begin about 4:30 to 5 p.m. Dates and times are subject to change, with public notice given.

All meetings will be in Richland County Council Chambers at the County Administration Building, 2020 Hampton St., Columbia, and can be streamed live via the County’s YouTube page: www.youtube.com/user/richlandonline.

More on the LDC, and Next Steps

The County’s LDC governs the types of uses, location and size of a development within various zones, as well as establishing the procedures for reviewing development proposals. The LDC also controls various development and subdivision standards and the division and platting of land, as well as road layout and other infrastructure requirements.

Richland County’s current LDC was adopted in 2005. As the County grows, changes to the LDC are necessary to accommodate evolving and future needs.

County Council adopted a new LDC text in November 2021, but it is not in effect because it requires approval of an amended zoning map, which has not yet occurred.

While the Planning Commission began reviewing the staff’s initial zoning map recommendation in March, County Council recognized that there was still confusion among some community members about what these changes might mean. As a result, the County chose to restart the LDC and zone mapping process to allow the public more opportunities to review and respond to potential changes before the new LDC goes into effect.

Read more about the major differences between the old LDC and the newly rewritten version: https://www.richlandcountysc.gov/Portals/0/Departments/Planning/LDC%20Rewrite_Big%20Changes%20to%20Expect%20in%20the%20New%20LDC.pdf.

Find updates and public notices regarding the LDC rewrite: https://www.richlandcountysc.gov/Government/Departments/Planning-Development.

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