Well-attended Fair Play community meeting

Great change is coming to an Oconee County un-incorporated community bisected by the I-85 highway. That’s the community of Fair Play.  Those who sat in a church sanctuary last night heard ambitious plans to develop two industrial park properties, acquire high-speed internet access, make a community master plan and, finally, after decades of talk, lay piped sewer in the ground.  As Tim Mays of the Fair Play Community Association put it, the creation of a zoning overlay can empower the community to guide development and what it will look like.  Mays foretold of a mustachioed young man who he predicted would be the star of last night’s meeting.  That would be handlebar mustachioed Blake Sanders, the mayor of West Pelzer whose day-time job is planning and architecture.  Fair Play is part of the center of Oconee County’s strong agricultural base, but it’s never had a master plan for the future.  Sanders gave the audience examples of how master plans can benefit small towns, such as what Walhalla, Travelers Rest, and Jonesville have seen.