Residents worry about plan for 550 homes, restaurants, retail, hotel along Lake Murray

Many in the community are riled by a new development set to bring a combined 550 houses, townhomes and senior-living units to an unused spot along the shore of Lake Murray.

But while concerns have been raised about traffic along the two-lane road in Irmo where the development is slated to go, the mayor of the town of about 12,000 said the project will allow for investment in local infrastructure and keep higher-density proposals from taking over the property.

Taking up 65 acres centered at 2947 Dreher Shoals Rd./S.C. 6, plans for the Water Walk development call for 308 single-family homes and townhomes (148 on 21.5 acres and 160 on 14 acres) along with 242 senior-living units on 15.1 acres.

Plans also call for 13.2 acres of commercial space, with the project website noting that the developers hope to include “dining and retail options in a walkable, open-air setting, ideally attracting local favorites from around South Carolina plus new regional concepts.”

Developers also hope to have “a small boutique hotel with a rooftop patio to provide a venue for community events, weddings and celebrations with views of the lake.”

After receiving feedback at a public information session hosted by the town last month, the developers, Charleston-based Material Capital Partners, asked to delay their appearance before the Irmo Planning Commission from July to August , meaning the earliest Town Council could approve their request to change zoning for the land would be September.

“We are not doing any interviews about the project as it is still in the early conceptual and planning stages,” Sam Tate, a senior associate with Material, said in reply to an email from The State, noting that the same project details on the Water Walk website were shared at the public meeting. “We will update the website regularly as the project progresses.”

Online comments against the project — including many of the more than 100 comments on the town’s Facebook post announcing last month’s public meeting — have centered on impacts to traffic and infrastructure, with many complaining that traffic along Dreher Shoals Road, which connects the Lake Murray Dam to Ballentine, is already too thick.

“Nope! Just that simple,” Barry Wiseman commented on Facebook. “(S.C. 6) already needs to be widened and there is no way in hell it should happen before that and even then it would need to be fewer units. Make it only accessible by boat.”

“Too much traffic, too much density. It doesn’t fit within the current surrounding homes and development,” another Facebook user, Kaz Zimmer Burnz, commented. “I don’t see any benefits for anyone other than the developer with this type of density!!”

Irmo Mayor Bill Danielson said the public needs to be further educated about the project, which he said appears to be a good option for the site. At present, the property is zoned such that more than 700 residences could be placed on it. Pushing Water Walk forward will mitigate that impact, the mayor said, with fewer residential units and an emphasis on catering to senior citizens who might start out in one of the independent residences and then transition into the senior-living section of the development.

Danielson added that Material has experience with this kind of development emphasizing seniors. The company’s website details seven other residential developments it’s completed, ranging in size from 82 to 240 units. The mayor noted that the homes won’t be inexpensive, as they’re expected to sell for somewhere between $400,000 and $800,000 apiece.

Danielson said the developers are putting money aside to help with upgrading roads, including widening parts of Dreher Shoals Road and adding turn lanes and potential traffic lights. The project moving forward will likely allow the town to more quickly improve the road, which is maintained by the state.

“I sit on the Central Midlands Council of Governments and I’m on the executive committee, and we just now this past year authorized a $250,000 expenditure expenditure for a complete analysis of the widening of Dreher Shoals Road from the dam to Ballentine,” Danielson said. “That’s 10 years away. This might happen within three.”

The mayor pointed out other ways the developers are looking to mitigate the project’s impact, noting that the property’s tree line along the lake should remain intact.

“The master plan incorporates a series of pocket parks and ecological corridors to support wildlife and native plant species,” the Water Walk website details. “Neighborhoods will be laid out around a network of walking and biking trails. Existing tree line buffers along the boundaries of the property will maintain current view corridors.”

Danielson said he’s excited for the potential boost Irmo could get from the dining, retail and hotel components of the development, explaining that the town doesn’t collect property taxes.

“It will be a place for for everybody to recreate, to go to dine, out to shop. It would be pretty upscale, so I’m told,” he said.

“Hopefully it will offset the cost of us servicing that area with police and fire, with the tax base from the businesses,” the mayor added. “That’s really all the town gets out of that from a financial picture.”