Jane Page's Blog

Aiken is a small charming Southern Town where the character of the City is defended like historic buildings and ancient trees.  With the building boom and rising popularity among newcomers to live "Downtown," the existing buildingscape and diverse charm were being threatened by gigantic new homogeneous multiuse buildings.  With a zero setback in the Zoning, even existing windows in the neighboring buildings were being walled up as the new construction attached to existing foundations.  As citizens protested these types of buildings, the City had no way to disallow the permits, unless a change in the Zoning or Building Ordinance occurred, simple solution, right?

It took over 2 years and thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours and too many meetings, but the change was adopted as follows:

Proposed Amendments:  City Council had asked the Board to consider possible amendments to the Old Aiken Design Guidelines for the Old Aiken Overlay District regarding building setbacks in the Downtown Business DB Zone.  See attached memorandum from the City Manager.  At the August work session, the Board reached consensus that the following wording was acceptable:

In the DB district, a new building or addition should be set back from an adjacent building when the proposed new construction is determined to need appropriate separation from such adjacent building.  This determination may take into account any public safety issues raised by the Building Official or City of Aiken Department of Public Safety.    AMENDMENT ACCEPTED

These simple words will protect building owners' rights to safety, light and air.  They will safeguard the buildingscape and preserve the character of our beloved town; so why did it take so long? 

Well, at first the approach was to assign actual numbers of feet to the setbacks. However, when looking at what other Cities in the State have assigned, Aiken did not seem to be a fit for a hard and fast 10 feet, for example.  This issue and others like it tested our planning commission to the point of the resignation of the chair.  This left the recommending body lost and without direction.  The only recourse was to go back to City Council and ask them to override the past recommendations and send the issue to a different public body for governance. 

The elastic nature of what was adopted will serve the City in a way that no firm number could have and will allow for positive development in keeping with the integrity of existing structures.

The photos and amendment text are from the City of Aiken website.  And the final lesson learned is that Citizenship is not easy, but it is rewarding.  I hope that the hours, dollars and brain cells exhausted over this issue, in Aiken, will help another City adopt a Right to Light and Air clause in their regulations.