BERLIN – The Worcester County Commissioners voted 4-3 to change aquaculture from a permitted use to one requiring a special exception in areas with estate zoning after a lengthy discussion centering on the South Point community.
What started as a question of whether aquaculture should be a permitted use or one allowed by special exception turned into a debate over what could be done about an aquaculture operation planned for the waters off South Point.
In the end, those who voted against the change said they did so because the proposed legislation wouldn’t just affect South Point.
“When we make these regulations, we can’t do it for one area and not another,” said Commissioner Judy Boggs, who joined commissioners Jim Bunting and Virgil Shockley to vote against the change. “It impacts people over the whole county.”
The legislation passed Tuesday changes aquaculture from a permitted use in districts with estate zoning to a use allowed by special exception, according to Ed Tudor, the county’s director of development review and permitting. It also increases the minimum lot size for an aquaculture facility from five acres to 15 acres.
Residents of the South Point area of Berlin voiced their support of the new regulations. Resident Ellen Zajac said members of the community didn’t want large commercial aquaculture operations set up there and would have the opportunity to object if they were only allowed by special exception.
“We feel it’s appropriate and provides property owners with a venue to voice their concerns,” she said, adding that one aquaculture operation has already started in South Point. “A bill like this would protect us from future problems.”
Commissioner Bud Church said he was aware of the current situation in South Point, in which a resident was working with the state to set up an oyster farm in spite of neighbors’ objections, and thought it unfair. He said that aside from the actual operation on the water, neighbors had to watch as the lot associated with the aquaculture farm was filled with related cages and equipment.
“It’s tens of thousands of cages they’re going to need to harvest,” he said.
Bunting was quick to point out that limiting aquaculture to a special exception use in estate districts would affect areas in Bishopville with that zoning.
“We’re not here to decide about one individual,” he said. “It’s for the good of the county. This is not the proper avenue to stop one individual.”
Zajac said the change would make the estate district more “neighbor friendly.”
“I don’t understand why this wouldn’t be helpful anywhere,” she said.
Shockley brought up the issue of deed restrictions in South Point. He suggested someone enforce the restrictions on the property in question to prevent the commercial aquaculture facility.
County attorney Sonny Bloxom cautioned against Worcester County getting involved in that enforcement.
“It’s a bad road to go down,” he said, adding that there were too many deeds with restrictive covenants.
Church asked the residents present if they could hire an attorney to enforce the covenants in this situation. They said it wouldn’t help because the owner of the property could simply buy another lot in South Point that didn’t have deed restrictions.
Boggs suggested waiting to address the aquaculture issue during the next county zoning review. She said she traditionally voted against zoning changes unless there had been a significant amount of public notice and input.
“It impacts so many people and the process is out of kilter,” she said. “I think we need to wait.”
Commissioner Jim Purnell, however, said he doubted anyone would want to live next door to the aquaculture operation and introduced the motion to pass the legislation.