The Aiken County Sheriff's Office has cleared another obstacle in its exploration of possibly moving its headquarters in the wake of Tuesday's Aiken Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
The board gave 7-0 approval to a special exception to allow Beaufort Street's former Food Lion building, at Wire Road, to be explored as a potential host site for the Aiken County Law Enforcement Center. Laurence Ogletree, the board's chairman, expressed his enthusiasm for wisely filling one of Aiken's "empty big boxes."
Board member Bud Coward made similar comments, describing the proposal as being a "great use" of an "ideal facility."
Included at the Beaufort Street site could be offices and other work space for deputies, support staff, the crime lab, dispatch staff, traffic court and the bloodhound tracking unit.
A memorandum for Tuesday's meeting noted, "Proposed ancillary uses are a telecommunications tower and a 15,300-square-foot building that would contain a vehicle bay, (and) kennels, as well as miscellaneous office and support rooms." The overall facility would reportedly play host to about 100 employees and have a maximum parking demand of 130-150 vehicles, the memo noted.
The meeting included a question-and-answer session between the board and Andy Merriman, Aiken County's assistant administrator, addressing such concerns as after-hours and weekend security, exterior lighting and barking dogs.
Also addressing the board was James Matthews, who described himself as a lifelong resident of the neighborhood surrounding the sheriff's office. Matthews expressed support for the proposed relocation mixed with particular concern about traffic and how the lack of sidewalks near the former Food Lion could represent a safety threat.
"I know it's going to be better for you all to have more space. The main thing that I'm here for is the roads — the infrastructure," he said.
The meeting's results also included unanimous approval of a request to allow an exception for adding an accessory apartment to a home at 804 Legare Road, and 5-2 approval of a request to allow construction of a porch at 241 East Middlebury Lane.