Big wins last night at Greenville County Council

I am very excited to share some great news regarding last night's Greenville County Council meeting:

• First, the Historic & Natural Resources Trust was funded at $2M over the next two years! This will allow Greenville County to leverage other state and federal dollars to help meet demands for increased access to outdoor recreation, greenspace equity, and quality of life as Greenville grows.
   
• Second, in a 7-5 vote, Council reinstated staff recommendations to replace Article 3.1, strengthening the ordinance previously weakened by an ad hoc council committee. The ordinance -- which will advance to 3rd reading on August 17th and replace 3.1 if adopted -- calls for new rural conservation subdivision design standards, continued protection for rare species, and stronger traffic management requirements for new residential development.

THANK YOU to each and every one of you who helped support advocacy on these important issues in any way -- contacting Council, attending last night's meeting (or previous meetings), holding signs to show support, etc.

We encourage you to THANK Council today (contact info below) for supporting funding for the Trust and reinstating county staff's recommendations for replacing 3.1. (To send a group email to members, click here.)

Also, mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 17th, when the Article 3.1 replacement will be voted on at final reading. We will need to fill council chambers again to ensure the gains from last night are not lost!

Finally, below is media coverage on these two very important issues from the Post & Courier Greenville and Greenville News:

• Greenville County reverts to staff's replacement for troubled development rule (Post & Courier Greenville)
   
• In reversal, Greenville County budgets $2M for conservation and preservation trust (Post & Courier Greenville)
   
• Revisions to key land-development rule advance after impassioned appeals from residents (Greenville News)
   
• Reversing course, Greenville County Council provides $2M to land-preservation panel (Greenville News)

How do I contact my Council member? 

You can find county council member contact information here and below. Don't know who represents you? Enter your address here to find out.

To send a group email to members, click here.

Joe Dill (District 17)
jdill@greenvillecounty.org
864.380.6534

Michael Barnes (District 18)
mbarnes@greenvillecounty.org
864.877.9457

Willis Meadows (District 19)
WMeadows@greenvillecounty.org
864.419.8419

Steve Shaw (District 20)
SShaw@greenvillecounty.org
864.553.9713

Chris Harrison (District 21)
CHarrison@greenvillecounty.org
864.467.4917

Stan Tzouvelekas (District 22)
stantz@greenvillecounty.org
864.467.4958

Xanthene Norris (District 23)
XNorris@greenvillecounty.org
864.271.6798

Liz Seman (District 24)
LSeman@greenvillecounty.org
864.501.4126

Ennis Fant (District 25)
efant@greenvillecounty.org
864.467.2787

Lynn Ballard (District 26)
LBallard@greenvillecounty.org
864.243.0014

Butch Kirven (District 27)
BKirven@greenvillecounty.org
864.228.9300

Dan Tripp (District 28)
DTripp@greenvillecounty.org
864.962.1093

If you'd like to receive updates and action alerts such as this one directly in your inbox, join our Greenville County Land Planning & Policy Issues email list at upstateforever.org/email.