County Council Votes Down Solid Waste Facility

Amid concerns from residents, Lexington County Council on Tuesday voted to deny an application that would have allowed a solid wood-waste processing facility along Belo Road. 

Tristar Land Co., LLC, of Columbia, had applied to the county to construct a facility at a working sand mine on nearly 17 acres of land along Belo Road near the center of the county. The company planned to create a wood-chipping and composting facility on the site. County Solid Waste Management Director David Eger said the facility would process wood wastes that could eventually be used as fuel, soil medium, and erosion control, among other uses.

The company had received preliminary approval from council already, but at a public hearing last month upwards of 18 residents from the mostly rural residential area told council members the project would add to already dangerous traffic levels and conditions created by dump trucks entering and leaving sand pits on the site.

Further, many residents fretted about water and air pollution the site might create, not to mention visual blight, and a decrease in their property values.

Several residents also questioned the need for such a facility at all, noting there were three other facilities within a few miles of the site that already do what Tristar envisions.

Frank Townsend of Batesburg was the only council member to vote in favor of the application

In other business, the council agreed in a 7-2 vote to extend the county's monthly $8,400 subsidy of local bus service. The payments will continue through Nov. 30 and the current level of service left intact while the county finalizes an austerity plan to reduce costs. 

Councilmen Bobby Keisler of Red Bank and Brad Matthews of Irmo voted against the subsidy extension, saying that fares should be increased instead. 

Under the proposed plan, which will need approval from the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority, morning and evening routes would be reduced from two to one in the Cayce-West Columbia area and end pickups at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

Rising fuel costs will swell the county's costs to $250,000 without the proposed cuts, a price county leaders say is simply too much to bear. With the cuts, the county expects to save $100,000.