If I can help you with an issue, please let me know.  Thank you for reading and for allowing me to serve our District!

February Monthly Breakfast:

As you may know, once a month I have breakfast at a local restaurant to give folks a chance to stop by and ask questions.  I will be at Toast in Tega Cay on Friday, February 19th from 8:00 am to 9:00 am.  Come by, grab some coffee or a bite to eat and find out what is going on with the County.  Hope to see you there.

Future Growth and Making a Plan:

I have spent the past three years attempting to find ways to better manage growth.  While we have made significant progress in reworking our zoning ordinance and creating density caps, there is much work to be done.  Many people have asked how the County approves neighborhoods when the new homes have a negative impact on our roads.  Due to our ordinances and State law, the County has not been able to consider the effect a neighborhood may have on our roads when determining whether permits should be granted.  For almost 15 months now the County has been working on a Comprehensive Land Plan but we do not believe it will be finished until the summer.  While we are doing our due diligence, growth - often not smart growth - continues to happen.

This past Saturday the County Council met for our yearly strategic planning meeting with staff.  During the meeting I voiced my concerns and asked everyone to help solve the problem of how to balance good growth with the ever increasing infrastructure needs in this area.  I requested that staff prepare an ordinance to be voted on by Council on or before the first meeting in April.  This ordinance will require the County to implement the Comprehensive Land Plan and adopt an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and/or complete a roads study to determine the impact of residential building on our infrastructure.  Until those things have been completed, the County will cease to issue preliminary or final plat approvals for residential homes, including apartments, townhomes, condominiums and single-family homes.  The County needs time to implement the right rules and ordinances to insure smarter growth.  This temporary stay in plat approvals will give us the time to catch up and bring the needed tools to bear. 

SCDOT Roads Report: 

Last week, SCDOT released its latest report on the "State of the SCDOT."  The SCDOT maintains over 41,000 miles of roads - the 4th largest state maintained system in the nation.  The Department estimates that 9% of the interstate system is in poor condition but nearly half of the primary and secondary system is in poor condition.  To see a complete copy of the report click here.

Road Repaving:

Last month I gave you the initial roads that I intend to repave within District One.  As you may recall, I was given $500,000in new c-funds (I also had some funds left over from last year due to cost savings) and an additional $1 million in State funds.  The State funds came with the caveat that they could only be used on State roads, which greatly diminished my ability to make much needed repairs.  Despite that, here is a list of the roads that I have funded for 2016:

State Funds:
 
Coltharp Rd
Garrison Farm/Vernon
Luckadoo Rd
West Way
Fern Forest Ct
Gardendale Rd (1/2, I hope to repair the entire road with additional 
funds in future years)
 
              Total:  $1,000,000
 
C-funds:
 
Lake Vista Blvd
Caroland Drive (partial)
Horse Shoe Trail
Vandora Springs Rd
Tega Cay Dr (Chelsea Day to end)
Tega Cay Dr improvements
 
              Total:  $666,057

Burned Homes and the Morningstar Tower Update:  

If any of you travel Gold Hill Road regularly you will have noticed the house that burned over two years ago.  The County asked the Court to be allowed to demolish the house over a year ago but due to an ongoing criminal matter, the house could not be destroyed.  That matter has now concluded and the County has been contacted by the insurance carrier for the owner.  At this point the insurance carrier has begun the process of paying penalties/fines and back taxes on the property.  The County believes that this is the first step in having the house demolished.  I have been pushing for the County to take action and will continue to do so moving forward.

The lawsuit between the County and Morningstar regarding the tower has been appealed to the S.C. Court of Appeals.  The County was successful at the circuit court and as a result Morningstar has appealed.  Typically, it can take 16 to 18 months for a ruling to be issued from the Court of Appeals.  As this case moves through the system I will keep you updated.

Roads Update:  

I update road projects every other month in this newsletter.  Throughout District One, the County is involved in numerous road projects to improve the flow of traffic.  Here is the most recent timeline update of some of the projects impacting our area.  Changes from one update to the next are indicated in italics:

SC Highway 160/Gold Hill (SCDOT Project) - $8,599,525
Will create two (2) dedicated left turn lanes in each direction and widen intersection
Construction work has begun
Completion Summer 2016

Hubert Graham Way (Pennies for Progress 2 Project) - $7,431,618
Will create an alternate way to Hwy 160 closer to entrance of Tega Cay
Construction work has begun
Completion late 2016/early 2017

SC Highway 160/Zoar Road (Pennies for Progress 3 Project) - $6,885,581
Will create left turn lane on to Zoar Road and four (4) lanes to NC line
Anticipate construction to begin Summer 2016, Completion Summer 2018

Gold Hill/I-77 (SCDOT Project) - $12,449,811
Will create a diverging diamond interchange to improve traffic flow
Federal Highways has given approval, 70% Plans to be approved by January 2016
Right of way purchase to begin early 2016
Anticipate construction to begin Fall 2016, Completion late 2018/early 2019

US Highway 21/SC Highway 51 (Pennies for Progress 3 Project) - $22,425,371
Will 5-lane Hwy 21 and Hwy 51 from Springfield Parkway intersection to NC border
50% Plans submitted to SCDOT
Right of Way acquisition planned for 2016-2017
Anticipate construction to begin 2017, Completion 2019/2020
 
Potential Exchange Projects with SCTIB (SC State Infrastructure Bank) - $115,000,000
Improvements to I-77 and Carowinds Boulevard
Improvements to I-77 and Gold Hill Road (additional improvements beyond diverging diamond)
Improvements to I-77 and Hwy 160
Improvements to I-77 and Sutton Road
Improvements to I-77 and Celanese Road

York County is in the process of submitting an application to the SCTIB Board for approval of the intersections listed above.  RFATS has already approved funds to be used for engineering work.

Anticipate construction to begin 2020, Completion 2021/2022 (if funding approved by SCTIB)

Interview with Patti Mercer and Talk of the Town:  

Last month I encourage you to watch a taping of Talk of the Town and an interview that I did with Patti Mercer.  For those of you who missed it, I would again recommend you taking a look.  In the interview I was able to lay out some of the road projects currently going on within District One as well as my thoughts on growth.  If you are interested  click here. 

Speaking With Groups
Around The District:
If you are involved with a local group or HOA that would like for me to attend a meeting to provide a County update, please let me know.

Facebook:
I have a Facebook Page for Councilman Michael Johnson. Please "like" the page to receive updates during the week from me on Facebook.

Email Updates: 
If you know of people in or around District 1 who do not receive my updates but they would like to get them, please email their names and email addresses to me.
Small Business Help -
SC Dept. Of Commerce: 
The South Carolina Department of Commerce has helpful information for small business owners and employees.
To learn more, go to http://sccommerce.com/sc-business-network.

Road Issues:
If you see a road problem, call the SCDOT at 327-6186 or York County at 628-3200 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please email me at [email protected] or call me. Generally, most paved roads in the County are maintained by SCDOT. County roads are typically identified by a green sign, with small white numbers on the right hand side near the bottom.