CLEMSON, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – Clemson City Council approved the first reading for a proposed student housing development that would bring hundreds of new student beds and retail space to the area.
The proposed development would be on Pine Street. It is a student-housing apartment complex with about 555 beds across 159 units.
It would also add about 6,000 square feet of retail space and more than 200 parking spots, 31 of them for the public.
The development had received a positive recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission, and a public hearing was held last month.
Council approved the first reading of the project. Three voted in favor, three voted against and one member abstained. That vote is counted as a yes, so the motion to approve the first reading has passed.
Several neighbors spoke against the development.
A council member said the development could help with traffic problems.
“I think if this project moves forward, this would enable us to get traffic patterns in both of the downtown neighborhoods sorted over the next couple of years,” the council member said. “Keep in mind, this project, even if it was approved in the next reading, it wouldn’t be built for another two to three years.”
Neighbors voiced opposition to the project.
“You are elected by these very people to be our voice, and we haven’t wavered through the whole planning process, through this whole process,” one neighbor said. “We don’t want this.”
Another neighbor said there are other places for the development.
“There’s so many other places you could put it, and there’s so many other things you could put here that would make more sense, but this is a historic neighborhood,” the neighbor said.
One resident said they lived in Pinehurst when they were in college and it got busy fast.
“And now you’re wanting to put five times that in this little tiny square, and it’s wild,” the resident said.
The first reading has not fully approved the project. It will go to a second reading.
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