Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie Real Estate

The Tega Cay City Council decided to delay changing the water restriction ordinance until they meet to discuss it again on October 20th.

Right now Tega Cay is still on a one day a week lawn watering restriction. My latest post on Oct 1 reported Rock Hill, Fort Mill and York County have temporarily eased water restrictions by allowing residents to water their lawns 2 days a week until November 30th.

Jonathan Allen of the Fort Mill Times reported Wednesday…

At a special meeting held Wednesday, Oct. 1, city council members discussed following Rock Hill’s lead, but tabled the issue because they couldn’t decide if the ordinance governing the restrictions allows enough wiggle room to change them without changing the ordinance. The council plans to reopen discussion on the restrictions at its next regular meeting Monday, Oct. 20.

Jonathan further reported…

Mayor Bob Runde, who opposed allowing once a week watering last spring, again voiced objections to allowing more water usage during a persistent, severe drought. He also said he didn’t believe the city could go to a modified Stage 2 drought without changing the ordinance, which would require two council votes.

I reported on September 18th the US Drought Monitor run by the University of Nebraska has just changed our rating from severe to moderate. I checked the drought monitor today and we have moved to “abnormally dry”. In addition the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group (CW-DMAG) published a news release on September 26th, 2008 The CW DMAG supports limited, temporary relaxation of outdoor water use restrictions. I am wondering where Mayor Runde is getting his information that we are still in a severe drought. Abnormally dry yes but severe no.

So if (more…)

On September 18th I wrote a post contemplating whether cities within York County like Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay will ease water restrictions with the recent rain activity (Will Recent Rains Lift Tega Cay and Fort Mill SC Water Restrictions?). Although the Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group has not posted online a news release easing the water restriction, the Rock Hill Herald reported today the advisory group did give the ok. This is good news to landscapers and those of us seeding our lawns for the fall.

Tuesday the Rock Hill city council passed a temporary amendment to the current restrictions allowing landscape watering to occur twice a week until November 30th 2008. Rock Hill water customers with odd numbered addresses can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Even numbered addresses can water on Thursdays and Sundays. The change applies to lawn watering, car washing, and pool/fountain filling. Rock Hill has not yet updated their website information.

If you live in non incorporated areas of York County, your water restrictions are similar to Rock Hill’s temporary plan. Here is a link to York County’s website water restriction info.  New water restrictions York County

Fort Mill’s website (more…)

If you don’t know, the Tega Cay sign ordinance bans many types of directional signs in the city limits. Real estate signs are allowed on the seller’s property with limitations but directional signs like open houses or branded company signs pointing the way to homes for sale in a neighborhood are not allowed at any time. So why are some real estate companies or agents not following the ordinance or the city enforcing the sign ordinance?

The picture above was taken on Saturday September 27, 2008 is an example of a non-compliant real estate directional sign. The sign has been up every weekend at the corner of Beachwood Cove and Shoreline Parkway pointing traffic on Shoreline Parkway to a home for sale on Beachwood Cove. The sign is up as I write this post Sunday morning. By the way, this was not the only directional sign up this weekend.

So why am I writing this post? First of all this is a personal commentary from me and not solicited or approved commentary from Carmen or Century 21 First Choice. I am frustrated with the lack of compliance and cooperation from the city, real estate agents, and their brokerage firms. Here is a little background to my story.

At one point in the past Carmen called the city admin office and was told it was ok to put signs up on the weekends. Trying to perform her best for her clients, Carmen purchased and put out directional signs every weekend for marketing open houses and her listings in Tega Cay. Directional signs are a standard effective practice in the industry. She never thought it was not allowed because of what she was told and you can see several other directional signs in Tega Cay most weekends.

At some point a complaint must have been voiced and Pete with Century 21 First Choice asked Carmen and all his agents to comply with the sign ordinance. Carmen being good business citizen and resident is complying.

So why do we continue to see signs up every weekend from other companies? Are these agents or companies not being asked by the city to comply? Is there an unfair standard on who is allowed to put up directional signs or simply a lack of communication and ordinance knowledge? (more…)

I see many inquiries coming into Carmen’s blog asking for the distance between Charlotte North Carolina and Fort Mill South Carolina. As you may have read in Carmen’s market research posts (Fort Mill SC Rank 6 Out Of Ten Fastest Growing Metros), the Fort Mill and Tega Cay area is part of the Charlotte NC MSA (metropolitan statistical area) for census and other analysis basis. I guess you could say Fort Mill and Tega Cay are close enough to be considered suburbs of Charlotte. So here are the distance and drive time facts related to the distance between Charlotte and Fort Mill.

Fort Mill is located south of Charlotte of interstate 77. The North Carolina and South Carolina northern border on interstate 77 is 7.8 miles or 15 minutes drive time from downtown Fort Mill. The western NC/SC border on Highway 160 is 6 miles or 8 minutes drive time to downtown Fort Mill. The eastern NC/SC border to highway 521 is 6.6 miles or 11 minutes drive time to downtown Fort Mill.

Tega Cay is located 6.2 miles or 11 minutes drive time from downtown Fort Mill. Downtown Charlotte to Tega Cay or Fort Mill is approx 18.9 miles or 23 minutes drive time. If you live in Tega Cay or Fort Mill and work in south Charlotte near Westinghouse and Interstate 77 the distance is 8 miles and 11 minutes Drive time. (more…)

The city wants to stop temporary home rentals shorter than 90 days. Tega Cay residents have complained to city officials about temporary home renters. Their complaint is about renters renting homes for or a week, weekend, and sometimes daily.

The Tega Cay city council discussed adding an amendment to the current zoning ordnance that would specifically prohibit renting a home for less than 90 days. The council was divided based on their discussion. Some of the council members claimed enforcement would be the challenge with the possible new amendment.

It’s hard to believe that Tega Cay would be a weekend resort destination like Myrtle Beach. Maybe that is not a fair comparison. (more…)

We have had a good amount of rain recently in the York County, Fort Mill, Tega Cay area. Duke Energy is reporting Lake Wylie to be a half a foot higher than the targeted lake level. The US Drought Monitor run by the University of Nebraska has just changed our rating from severe to moderate. So do we need to continue the restriction of watering our lawns one day a week? (click to see see updated post Oct 1, 2008)

The Lake Wylie Pilot reported Rock Hill officials will relook at the water restrictions for lawn and plant watering at the end of the month. Fort Mill officials say they will hold the course with the current stage 3 restrictions.

I would image that Fort Mill, Tega Cay and other area communities will keep their (more…)