An increase to downtown Aiken's building height limit will go to City Council for a vote.
On Tuesday, the Aiken Planning Commission voted 6-to-1 to recommended increasing the height limit to 75 feet, with Kent Cubbage voting in opposition.
City officials started the conversation over whether to increase the downtown building height limit earlier this year, after local hotel owner Neel Shah presented his proposal to gut and revitalize Hotel Aiken on Richland Avenue. The City of Aiken has used its current height limit rule since the 1970s that no building be constructed higher than about 50 feet.
But Shah, who was in attendance Tuesday, plans to build a six-floor addition adjacent to Hotel Aiken, meaning downtown Aiken's height limit must be increased. That addition will include queen- and king-size rooms, a dining area and a possible exercise room on the bottom floor.
Four residents, two in person and two through letters, spoke against increasing the height limit. Aiken resident Randy Wolcott, also a member of the Hitchcock Woods Foundation's board of trustees, spoke in opposition to changing the building height limit as it would "change the character of this town."
"I've lived here for 25 years, I love this town, I love the history and the tradition of this town and the work that's been done to keep the downtown a wonderful place to be," he said. " ... I think it's a mistake to increase the height over the tree height."
In the work session, Commission Chair Liz Stewart acknowledged that increasing the building height in downtown Aiken has its "pros and cons," but asked the Commission to focus on finding a balance for Aiken by maintaining downtown's "ambiance" and making sure the downtown is both resident and business-friendly.
In other business, the Planning Commission:
- Unanimously recommended a request to rezone 1139 York St. from industrial to general business. The request is for a proposed Waffle House restaurant to be located to the right of McDonald's in the former auto sales lot.
- Voted 6-to-1 not to recommend to City Council to request sharrows, or shared lane markings, for vehicles and bicyclists on a portion of Silver Bluff Road. Commission member Susan DeBruhl was the only vote in favor of the markings.
- The Aiken County Urbanized Area Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, an advisory committee to the South Carolina subcommittee of the Augusta Regional Transportation Study, asked for the markings to be installed on both travel lanes of Silver Bluff Road between Richardsons Lake Road and Indian Creek Trail.
All recommendations will go to City Council for the first of two votes 7 p.m., Monday, June 22.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. An Atlanta native, she has a mass communications-journalism degree with the University of North Carolina Asheville. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.