Storage units fail to pass muster

A board of judges for Oconee said no last night to a special zoning exception to allow a large storage unit business on SC 130/the Rochester Highway in the vicinity of Newry and a number of lakefront home developments.  It was a highly emotional issue that played out for two and a half hours inside the chambers of the Oconee County Council.  But, in the end, the county Board of Zoning Appeals decided that the project Keowee Climate Controlled Storage failed to meet the required criteria to make an exception within a lake overlay district.  There were a few testimonials on behalf of the quality of the storage units that were proposed, but the board heard opponent after opponent speak concerns about the impacts that a commercial entity would have along a two-lane roadway bordering Lake Keowee.  There was also concern about how a complex of storage units would blend with another developer’s intentions to rebuild the dilapidated Newry mill into apartment living.  Decisions of the appeals board may be challenged in the circuit court.