Homeowners fighting planned apartment complex in Summerville

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - People in a Summerville neighborhood are fighting developers who want to build 228 apartments. The apartments are planned for the entrance to South Pointe Estates which is located off of Highway 78.

On Thursday, more than a dozen homeowners came out in the rain to make it clear they don’t want the apartments. Developers want to build them where trees now sit on both sides of the road.

“It was a buffer zone for our nice secluded neighborhood, which all of a sudden now we get this bombshell dropped on us,” resident Danny Shaw said.

Opponents of the apartments have several concerns. One is increased traffic.

“The traffic is already so bad on Highway 78 that it will back up to our neighborhood in the afternoon of people going uptown,” resident Susan Richerson said. “It takes 20 to 30 minutes to get uptown most days because of the traffic.”

The homeowners also are concerned that the apartments will lower their property values and ruin the character of the neighborhood.

“People come to visit, say how nice, this is a wonderful place. Well it won’t be if we have this on our front end, and what we present to anybody that might come by,” resident Tom Clark said.

The apartment complex is far from a done deal. It’s a long process.

On Monday the planning commission will consider the zoning and annexation of the land. A public hearing will be held during that meeting.

The opponents plan to be there to make their case as they try to keep the status quo in their neighborhood. Ultimately it will be up Summerville Town Council to decide if the developers or the opponents win.

“That’s the reason we live in Summerville. It’s a small hometown feel and that’s being overlooked in the development of our area,” Richerson said.

We have reached out to the developers for a comment but have not heard back.

Copyright 2020 WCSC. All rights reserved.