When you drive around Aiken County, you will see roads, houses, infrastructure, parks, schools, and all of the other things you’d expect to see in any community around the United States. While these may seem somewhat random, County and City-level zoning and planning decisions influenced the location of these amenities. Zoning concerns legislative classifications of land use that dictate, to a large extent, what goes where in terms of development. Planning represents the implementation of a Comprehensive Plan, an overarching plan that guides the way a specific geographic area develops through time. Often, Aiken Land Conservancy (ALC) operates independently of these zoning and planning decisions. We simply conserve what we can, when we can. Increasingly, though, we are focusing on planning and zoning as these two elements deeply impact our natural and cultural resources, our ability to conserve land, and our overall quality of life.
This year is a big one for both zoning and planning here in Aiken County. The City of Aiken has embarked upon its first update to its zoning regulations since 2005. With the help of a consultant, they will be looking at how land use in the city limits proceeds in such a way that economic growth continues while the high quality of life Aiken residents enjoy continues as well. Aiken County officials are working to update their ten-year Comprehensive Plan at the same time. The 2025-2035 Comprehensive Plan is due to be completed by, or shortly after, the end of 2024. This update, and public input into this update, is required by law but is also essential to ensuring that Aiken County looks inward and outward as it considers how it’s going to grow over the next decade.
Public input is not only legally mandated, but allows for future work to reflect the community’s vision. Aiken County, for instance, has stated that there will be various opportunities for the public to provide input into the Comprehensive Plan prior to it entering its final form. Aiken Land Conservancy will promote these opportunities and strongly encourages all of our supporters to get involved.
Simultaneous with these efforts, ALC has engaged the American Farmland Trust (AFT), a non-partisan group dedicated to farmland conservation, to produce maps, a report, and recommendations to help protect the productive working lands and equestrian operations of Aiken County. These lands have disappeared at an alarming rate, despite their importance to Aiken County’s economic vitality and quality of life. Already, AFT has produced maps that highlight the conversion of working lands to other uses in Aiken County and where opportunities for protection currently exist. Furthermore, they’ve worked with ALC staff to facilitate a listening session, where a variety of community and business leaders, agricultural producers, and conservation colleagues provided input that will guide the maps and reports produced later.
Without strong zoning regulations, a robust comprehensive plan, and engaged citizens, ALC’s conservation efforts, as well as the broader community, will not reach their full potential. This is why we have committed ourselves to these causes and why we’ve been reaching out for your help to turn that commitment into action. As the saying goes, it takes a village—and that couldn’t be more true.