On June 24, 2022, we filed an appeal on behalf of Citizens for Quality Rural Living from the Greenville County Planning Commission’s May 25 decision to approve LyonJay’s preliminary subdivision proposal for River Preserve.

The proposed development, located at Woodside Road and Wasson Way in rural Simpsonville just south of Highway 418, borders the Reedy River and Woodside Creek and includes plans for 210 single family homes. The development also plans to utilize individual septic tanks, even though the Reedy River eventually empties into Lake Greenwood, an important source of drinking water for residents in nearby counties.

Citizens for Quality Rural Living (CQRL) is a non-profit group comprised of Greenville County property owners and residents in the area near where River Preserve is proposed and who are deeply concerned with the rapid development of rural land.

The appeal argues that the Planning Commission unlawfully approved River Preserve by failing to require a proper evaluation and delineation of waterways, wetlands, and the water quality buffers mandated by the regulations, and by accepting a traffic impact study that analyzed two nonexistent intersections in violation of unambiguous requirements of the Land Development Regulations. The Planning Commission also violated CQRL’s Due Process rights by considering and approving the River Preserve preliminary plan after repeatedly accepting revised plans submitted by LyonJay beyond the set deadlines and failing to make these revised plans available to the public.

‍

Case Updates

On November 4, 2023, Circuit Court affirmed the Planning Commission's decision. We filed a petition for rehearing, followed by a notice of appeal in early February of 2024.

In June of 2024, the developer withdrew its subdivision application, which means that any new applications would have to comply with new ordinances requiring a 1.5 acre minimum lot size for septic tanks and increased riparian buffers. We are relieved that the developer has backed away from a bad project and are assessing our next steps.