Aiken City Council gives final approval to Silver Bluff grocery store

Nov. 29—The Aiken City Council gave the final approval for a proposal to build a 47,270 square foot specialty grocery store near the Village at Woodside Monday evening.

The council voted unanimously to approve the second reading of an ordinance annexing 4.72 acres of land on the corner of Silver Bluff Road and Village Green Boulevard, zoning that land as planned residential and amending the concept plan of the Village at Woodside.

The ordinance allows for the construction of a 47,270 square foot specialty store with seven smaller 1,400 square foot outparcels.

The new area will have three points of entrance and exit: a full access on Silver Bluff Road, a right-in and out only also on Silver Bluff Road and a full access off of Village Green Boulevard.

Each member of the city council spoke before the vote to approve the ordinance.

Andrea Gregory, whose district includes most of Woodside, said she felt the community in the village was concerned about four things: light pollution, noise pollution, safety and security and traffic.

The light pollution is addressed by the city's code requiring less than two lumens of light at the property line.

Brad Shaw with Peach Properties said during the public comment period that it would be likely there would be no lumens of light at the property line.

The noise pollution and the light pollution are also addressed with the installation of trees and shrubs between the residences on Magnolia Lake Court and the store.

Two fences and the topography make accessing Woodside difficult from the grocery store according to Kent Baldwin who represented Silver Bluff Development Company at the meeting.

A traffic study needs to be approved by city staff and the South Carolina Department of Transportation before construction can begin.

She said the developer, Silver Bluff Development Company, worked to address those items after meeting with concerned residents after the Sept. 26 first approval of the proposal.

The other members of the council said they supported the item because Woodside and the Village had been developed better than the plans called for and they were certain that would continue with the proposal.

Twenty people spoke during the public comment period of the ordinance.

Eight people including Preston Rahe, Marie McFadden, Corey Harper, Dione Campbell, Jerry Hawkins and Don Moniak said they were opposed to the proposal.

Eight people including Michell Campbell, Ruthie Graham, Kevin Pethick, Bill Reynolds, Dick Brown, Al Hunter and Jim Locklear said they were in favor of the proposal .

Three people who spoke were affiliated with the developer: Kent Baldwin, Buzz Rich and Brad Shaw.

And one person, Tori McQuinn, said she did not have an opinion on the project but would like to know the name of the grocery store.

The council also approved the second and final readings of ordinances accepting the city's 2021-2022 fiscal year external audit report and adopting changes to the city's building code recommended by the South Carolina Building Council.

The council voted unanimously to appoint Charles Cummings to the Recreation Commission and issued a proclamation recognizing the completion of the city's COVID-19 loan program with zero defaults.

There was also a worksession held at 5 p.m. for the council to receive information from Phinizy Center for Water Sciences about its efforts to measure the quality of the water in the Savannah River and to begin discussing and receiving public input on what to do with the city's plutonium settlement funds.

The council received legal advice regarding redistricting in an executive session between the worksession and the regular meeting.