Posted on 08/13/2006 11:47:43 PM PDT by Lorianne
Couple’s proposal to turn their historic property into a subdivision draws fire ___ CAMDEN — Two hundred and twenty six years after American patriots fought British loyalists here, another battle is raging in Camden. This time it’s over the direction of development in the historic town.
At the center of the battle is a 65-acre tract known as Beechwood. Owners Dan and Joanna Beresford want to build a subdivision with more than 100 homes on Knights Hill Road, not far from the Carolina Cup steeplechase course.
The city annexed the property last month, and the developers will ask for a zoning change to clear the way for the project. Opponents say the proposed development will ruin the neighborhood’s gentrified character.
But Beechwood is just one small battle in the war over creeping development as sprawl from Columbia and Charlotte stretches its fingers toward Camden.
The dispute reminds Joanna Craig, executive director of the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site and a planning commission member, of arguments during the Revolutionary War. The Patriots wanted their voices heard in the development of their new country, she says. So, too, do opponents today.
“It all goes back to the beginning of our nation,” Craig says, “and those things keep coming up.”
In the 1½ years since the Beresfords announced their development plans, vocal opposition has erupted from some of the city’s most affluent residents. Those residents have formed a preservation group, hired a lawyer and retained a public relations firm to support their cause.
Along the way, one developer has dropped out of the project, people have packed City Hall meetings, the Camden newspaper’s opinion page has hosted a war of words, and opponents have launched background investigations into the Beresfords’ newest business partners.
The feud has created awkward moments in the city of 7,000 where people on both sides rub elbows at the country club and on boards of local civic organizations.
Ralph Cantey, owner of Traders of Camden package store, says he has customers who have tried to pin down his position. But, as a business owner, he tries to stay in the middle.
“I can see both sides,” Cantey says, “but it’s an uncomfortable situation.”
‘SPECIAL PIECE OF LAND’
The Beresfords bought Beechwood in 1991, shortly after Dan Beresford retired as an executive from RCA in New Jersey. The Beresfords chose Camden because friends familiar with South Carolina often had spoken of its horse industry and historic charm.
The family fell in love with Beechwood’s large, two-story mansion and its 65 acres, which offered room to ride horses, shoot trap and hunt.
“I saw the property and knew it was a special piece of land,” Dan Beresford says.
A driveway lined with live oaks leads to the house, which can’t be seen from the road. Beechwood is across the street from the Camden Country Club and less than half of a mile from Springdale Race Course, home of the Carolina Cup steeplechase.
Beresford, 69, says he always planned to develop the land, and with his oldest child in college, now is the time.
The Beresfords’ first development partnership fell apart.
Next, they partnered with a family friend of Joanna Beresford.
The couple invited businessman Ted Samaras to invest in the project. Samaras, an international business consultant, recruited George M. Bailey, an Annapolis, Md., developer to join the effort.
The Beresfords, Samaras and Bailey are equal partners in the development. The group will spend about $9 million to ready the land for houses, Bailey says.
Their latest Beechwood development plan calls for 108 homes. The Beresfords plan to build a new house for themselves on the property and sell the Beechwood mansion.
However, the Beresfords’ team must obtain a zoning change to move ahead with its plans.
‘THE WAKE-UP CALL THAT WE NEED’
Meanwhile, opponents continue to make their case against the proposed development.
After the city annexed Beechwood, residents opposed to the development formed Preserve Camden With Responsible Growth.
“It’s the wake-up call that we need to get proactive in the direction this city is going,” says Woody Cleveland, a Camden resident who is on the group’s board of directors.
The group wants to partner with the city to re-evaluate its long-term development plans. Camden is a unique, historic town that should not succumb to rapid development, Cleveland says.
Already, the group’s influence has prompted the City Council to amend its zoning ordinance. The move has delayed the Beresfords’ request for a zoning change.
The proposed Beechwood development is too dense for the area, Cleveland says. A cluster of houses would destroy beautiful, pristine countryside, he says.
Preserve Camden also fears the housing development would increase traffic on Knights Hill Road, which splits the Springdale training areas, Cleveland says. Already, jockeys must wait at a traffic light to access flat tracks and steeplechase courses on either side of the road.
The group has asked for a study to determine how the development would affect traffic. Dan Beresford says the study is in the works.
Finally, Preserve Camden says the Beechwood plan does not match zoning of other properties in the area, and it violates the city’s current long-term growth plan.
“If the city of Camden is going to adopt new urbanism,” Cleveland says, “it needs to be adopted by the city of Camden, not by a whim of a single landowner and his developers from Maryland.”
ATTRACTIVE CHARM
Opponents recognize the lure of money offered for undeveloped tracts of land.
On a recent driving tour, Becky Kline, a local resident, rode past the Camden Training Facility, where trainers teach thoroughbreds to gallop around a quarter-mile track.
Kline, who owns two horses, fears the day could come when the horse industry disappears.
“There’s some concern that one day this will be more valuable as a housing development than a horse-training facility,” she says. “We don’t want to lose some of those things that have made Camden unique.”
Indeed, Camden is rich in history.
It lays claim to being South Carolina’s oldest inland city. A Revolutionary War battle between Gen. Charles Cornwallis’ British army and Baron Johannes DeKalb’s Continental troops was fought a few miles outside town. A Civil War diary written by Camden resident Mary Boykin Chesnut is considered one of the world’s best historical diaries.
After the Civil War, Camden gained popularity with wealthy Northerners who discovered the sandy soil was good for horse racing and the surrounding woods provided plenty of room for fox hunting.
Families with names such as DuPont and Buckley began building big houses in Camden, where they would spend the winter racing horses, hunting and socializing.
Over the years, wealthy families have continued moving to Camden. The tradition of summering in places such as Vermont and Cape Cod continues.
Those families have invested in Camden, helping add things such as a fine arts center that few small towns could support. Many of the town’s wealthy residents believe their longtime interest in Camden has earned them a voice in its direction, and they were outraged when Camden City Council annexed Beechwood against their wishes.
“You’d think the people who’ve put a lot of money into the town would be listened to by City Council,” says Austin Brown, co-chairman of Preserve Camden. “It’s like they were deaf to the people who’ve helped Camden financially over the years.”
‘ELEPHANT IS STANDING BEHIND US’
City Councilman Nick Lampshire says the Beresfords have a right to propose development on their property, and they deserve to be heard by the city.
“I don’t think the council will pass anything that gets to us that is not appropriate for that site,” he says.
Several Preserve Camden members say they realize Beechwood will be developed sooner or later. However, they want to be involved in the decision-making, saying Beechwood’s development could be the catalyst that changes the face of Camden.
Already, Camden is on the cusp of change, Lampshire says:
• The City Council learned Tuesday that a Charleston company intends to develop 850 acres on the outskirts of town.
• In neighboring Lancaster County, the Sun City Carolina Lakes retirement community will bring more traffic to Camden.
• Developers are eyeing 3,500 acres near Lake Wateree about 20 minutes outside town.
Those projects — combined with an expected increase in troops assigned to Shaw Air Force Base in nearby Sumter — will have impact on Camden’s growth, Lampshire says.
He fears too much focus is on Beechwood.
“We’re looking at the mouse, when the elephant is standing behind us,” he says.
‘THEY’VE GONE TOO FAR’
While most in Preserve Camden say they want to help guide the city through impending change, others have resorted to tactics that haven’t been as genteel as the lifestyle they want to protect.
Opponents conducted background investigations into Bailey and Samaras, the Beresfords’ business partners, digging up everything from Samaras’ bankruptcy in the mid-1990s to Bailey’s 2001 arrest for drunk driving.
Bailey and Samaras say those troubles have nothing to do with their ability to develop Beechwood.
“How far are they going to take this? Are they going to want to investigate the people who want to buy houses, too?” Samaras says. “I don’t blame all of Preserve Camden. They’ve got some zealous leaders, and they’ve gone too far on this.”
Beresford says he tries to ignore much of the controversy swirling around his plans. After all, he intends to stay in Camden.
He belongs to the Rotary Club, is on the Kershaw County Fine Arts Center board of directors and belongs to the private dining club Springdale Hall; all of those activities, plus the nature of small towns, bring him in almost daily contact with his opponents.
“They’re free to do whatever they want,” he says. “A lot of what they’ve done is really off the wall. The investigations? That’s ludicrous.
“To me, they want to preserve what they perceive Camden to be. But if you look at their proposals, they won’t do anything for Camden as far as housing needs.”
Opponents have suggested building large houses on large lots at Beechwood and asked Beresford to drop plans for patio homes. Preserve Camden’s Cleveland offered to buy the property so he could build small, five-acre horse farms.
Beresford says his development plan will open a market of affordable, upscale homes for young professionals and older people looking to downsize.
“It’s not as though we’re developing the property and moving to Florida,” he says. “We’re going to live here.”
‘DESIRE TO FIND A COMPROMISE’
Craig, the planning commission member, says now is the time for Camden residents to think about what is best for the city, not for individual property owners. She voted against Beechwood’s annexation.
“I certainly want to make sure we look at every avenue to not only establish a benchmark for today, but to guide where it will be in 10 years,” she says. “This will be a total missed opportunity. In 10 years, there will be total regret if we don’t have some thoughtful planning.”
Already, the community has come together to fight changes it did not want.
In the late 1990s, a corporate landowner tried to develop the historic Camden polo field — the third oldest in the nation — but neighbors managed to place it in a conservation land trust where it is protected from growth.
And, the preservation community has gone to battle with the owners of Sarsfield, a home built by Chesnut, the Civil War diarist. The planning commission shot down a proposal to subdivide the land in 2004, but the issue now is tied up by lawsuits.
The Preserve Camden group says now is the time to write a long-term plan that can protect Camden’s charm while still allowing for growth.
“If structure isn’t developed now, there’s going to always be stress between developers and the community and government,” says Rudy Kohn, a Preserve Camden member. “It needs to be done now and not in 20 years when everything has been developed.
“There is a desire to find a compromise. (Beresford) has a right as a landowner to try to make money. He is trying to work with what he thinks is a good plan, but it is upsetting to many others.”
First off, Daniel Beresford is NOT from New Jersey--he is from Bloomfield Hills, MI. He only lived in NJ for 6 years.
Secondly, as the daughter of Daniel & Joanna Beresford I think it is important to inform the public that my family is very supportive of the horse industry. My parents owned race horses, my brothers and I competed succesfully on the A circuit in the hunter, jumper, and equitation divisions.
I myself am urging my parents to consider retiring some of my ponies to our future home that we plan to build alongside the Beechwood development. So, there maybe horses living on this development.
So let me get this straight, your parents are going to support the horse industry by taking a horse farm and turning it into condos? Goodness, I'd be worried what they would do if they hated the "industry."
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