Dear Editor,

Mr. Gibson seems to think we should always go along with what government wants. The Pickens County Taxpayers Association has just done a great deal of good for the property owners of Pickens County by pointing out injustices in the development standards Ordinance and requesting there correction.



On Ben Trotter’s motion, the ordinance was amended to say if your home or business is damage you have much more freedom in its repair and replacement. If the provision had gone through as written and your home or business was damaged by fire or other event, you would have to start over as if the repair or construction we completely new and this runs up your cost. You could have run out of insurance money.



On Ben Trotter’s motion shooting ranges were exempted for a noise requirement because there is no reliable was to measure the noise. As an engineer I can say this is the case. That means shooting ranges and those that will be built in the future will have a much better chance of being built and successfully operated.



On Ben Trotter’s motion “to protect the right of property owners to use their property” was added to the purposes of the ordinance.



On Ben Trotter’s motion to reduce the set back and measure them from the property line passed. Set back have been the main complaint the development standards. The reduced set backs mean the property owner can make greater use of his property.



On Randy Crenshaw’s motion the requirement that you would have had to obtain County approval to repair your drive way was deleted.



On Neil Smith’s motion the size of business signs was increased to give businesses much more flexibility.



On Neil Smith’s motion the separation distances for sexually oriented businesses are increased from 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet. That means that sleazy businesses will be less likely to reduce the value of your home.