The public hearing portion of Monday night’s Fairfield County Council meeting seemed much like a repeat of the Fairfield County Planning Commission’s meeting earlier this month, as dozens of Jenkinsville residents turned out against two different property owners requesting to have their land rezoned from RD (Rural Development to I-1(Industrial).

Betty Scott Bell requested to have approximately 11 acres at 292 Alston Rd rezoned from RD to I-1 so Concrete Supply, based in Lexington, can place a batch plant on the property.

Unita Pearson requested to have seven acres at 8205 State Hwy. 215 S. rezoned from RD to I-1 so Midlands Concrete can place a temporary batch plant on that site.

Both companies are hoping to secure a bid from the Shaw Power Group to provide concrete for the non-nuclear construction taking place at the VC Summer Nuclear Power Plant in Jenkinsville. The Shaw Group will set up two batch plants on site to provide concrete for all the nuclear-related construction.

Resident after resident addressed the council for three minutes each on why they were against the batch plants being set-up in their neighborhoods.

“No one in Jenkinsville wants that traffic or that noise,” said Ernestine Rabb, whose 94-year-old mother lives near the Pearson property.

Other residents, including daycare owner Roberta Gay, also appealed to council to not allow a batch plant to be placed in “their backyard.”

Gay said her “business will fail” if the rezoning request is approved because her daycare is located near the Pearson property and parents are not going to want their children exposed to the fumes from the site.

Jenkinsville Mayor Gregrey Ginyard also spoke against the Pearson request, stating that the entire surrounding area is residential and that it should remain that way.

Jenifer Barnes, one of many residents speaking out against Bell’s request to rezone a portion of the old Alston Wood Yard, said she did not move to Jenkinsville to live next to an industrial park, that she moved to the area because of its natural beauty. She also indicated to council that some of the residents may not vote to reelect them if they approved Bell’s request when she said, “just because Dr. Pinner and Ms. Bell are two of the larger property owners in the area, they’re not the only property owners in the area, and they’re not the only people that vote.”

The council held the first reading of both ordinances during the meeting.

Council member Kamau Marcharia thanked the citizens for attending the meeting, while at the same time criticizing the council for not being more concerned about the matter.

“Not one council member has asked me what I think about it or what my constituents think,” he said.

Marcharia added that he would like for the other council members to be a little more concerned about things that are going on in other districts besides their own.

Only one person signed in to speak against Quay McMaster’s request to rezone .60 acres at 325 Elm St., Winnsboro, from R-1 (single family residential) to B-1 (limited business). The homeowner operates a home daycare on the property and wants to expand the business.

There are 71 uses for properties zoned B-1, including banks, jewelry stores, convenience stores, bed and breakfasts, beauty shops and daycares.

Former attorney Ernest Yarborough spoke to council during the public comments portion of the meeting, to urge them to “stay out of this conflict” between Sen. Creighton Coleman and Rep. Boyd Brown and the Fairfield County School District.

On Monday morning the legislative delegation held a press conference in front of the Fairfield County Courthouse to introduce new legislation that addresses how the school district handles its finances.

“The legislative delegation has fired a shot that hurdles in the biggest racial dilemma this county has witnessed in 30 years,” Yarborough said.

According to Yarborough, he saw an elected official being one of the biggest cheerleaders of the bill, which creates a finance committee that will have sole authority over the school district’s budget-making process.

“I’m not worried about whether or not this legislation is going to go forward...I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll treat everyone in this room to a steak dinner if you win,” Yarborough said. “It ain’t going to happen...not without a fight, a struggle.”

The former attorney implied that Coleman and Brown are picking on the school board because all of its board members are black except one.

“We going to play the race card,” Yarborough said, adding that the legislation is going to divide the county.

During the press conference Coleman identified Deputy County Administrator Davis Anderson as a potential point-man to help the newly established committee.

County Administrator Phil Hinely said on Tuesday that Coleman did ask for the county to assist the finance committee.

“We were asked to help, and we said yes,” Hinely said.