LEXINGTON, S.C. — Lexington County Council took public comment Tuesday on a package of zoning changes that would carve the unincorporated county into three residential overlay districts, with denser building near Columbia and tighter limits around Lake Murray.
Ordinance 26-14 revises sections 14 through 16 in the county zoning code. The hearing was set for 5 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Dorothy K. Black Chambers at the county complex, with written remarks due the day before.
Under the draft map, the eastern band around Cayce and West Columbia would allow the highest housing density, generally one to four units per acre and as many as 200 homes in a project, with typical lots of about a quarter-acre to half-acre. Planners say that zone already sits on four-lane corridors and interstate links into the Columbia metro job market.
The middle overlay, centered on the Town of Lexington, would lock in matching standards with the town, generally capping houses at four units per acre while allowing townhomes and multifamily buildings up to 12 units per acre. Shoreline setbacks would protect views along Lake Murray and parts of the Saluda River.
The Lake Murray overlay would stretch across much of the western county, including Batesburg-Leesville, Gilbert and Summit, and would hold most new houses to one or two per acre. Supporters said clearer rules could save remaining farmland. Critics asked whether lake-focused limits should reach inland towns and whether new traffic-study triggers for projects of 10 homes or more would slow needed housing.
Lake Murray and the Dreher Shoals Dam, finished in 1930 and run by Dominion Energy, already sit at the center of Lexington recreation and drinking-water planning, which is why lake-edge growth has been a county focus for years.
