How the City of Aiken is poised to expand via a creative annexation trick.

by Don Moniak
August 9, 2025
Updated August 13, 2025

The City of Aiken could soon expand to its east via a 650-foot-long, 10-foot-wide strip of land that it purchased in 2020. The strip of land will enable annexation of 66 acres between Toolebeck Road and Charleston Highway ( State Hwy 78); across the road from the AGY Plant. The property (Figure 1) is proposed for development of a 157-home subdivision called Toolebeck Commons.

The process by which this innovative expansion has come about began in 2020. 

At its August 24, 2020 meeting (pages 34-40), Aiken City Council approved the provision of sewer service* for 247 homes on the Toolebeck Road property.

During its September 14, 2020 meeting, Council approved a $5,000 purchase of a strip of land from property owned by Dominion Energy (Figure 2) that would enable annexation of the Toolebeck parcel and proposed subdivision. That sale was finalized in December 2020.

The City Manager’s memorandum (Page 148) read that: 

“Council has been very clear that the City should grow through targeted annexation. Recently, Council authorized the provision of sewer service to a future residential development of +/- 60.6 acre as on Toolebeck Road that is currently not contiguous to the City of Aiken. As a condition of sewer service, the property must be annexed once contiguous. I reached out to Dominion Energy to purchase a small strip of property that is +/- 0.15 of an acre for $5,000 that would allow for continuity between our existing corporate limits to this undeveloped property.  Dominion has agreed to the sale.

 I recommend Council approve this transaction…costs would come from Economic Development funds.”

The resolution passed unanimously and without question.

According to the meeting minutes the purchase was considered a step towards city expansion to the east: 

“Councilman Girardeau thanked Mr. Bedenbaugh for checking on purchase of the property so other property can be annexed. He said it is part of the movement to grow to the east.”

Between the time of Council’s approval and the closing on the purchase, a proposed cost-sharing agreement for the sewer expansion failed to materialize and the development was shelved.

As it turns out, the developer was unaware that this purchase and annexation effort was in the works. According to its narrative (Page 33), for the currently proposed 157-home subdivision:

“This purchase by the city was never mentioned during the City Services request process. If the city had been forthcoming with their intentions, the applicant would have waited until the purchase by the city was completed and an annexation petition would have been submitted instead of going through the City Services request and now the Annexation request wasting everyone’s time and fees.” 

This is not the only time the City has found a creative way to expand via annexation. Nor is it the only time that a third party found fault with its methods—which have continued to contribute to the fragmented and irregular shape of the city’s boundaries.

As reported in Who Bought This Property, the annexation of the new Steeplechase Foundation property was enabled via the February 2020 purchase of a 0.4-acre parcel of land by the Aiken Corporation. In exchange for this $40,000 purchase, the City forgave $246,600 in loans to Aiken Corporation.

In January 2021, Generations Park was annexed via another 10-foot wide strip (Figure 3) that had been obtained to facilitate a sewer line. This occurred two years after the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SC DOT) threatened to nullify a misguided attempt to annex via a highway right-of-way. The City had annexed Generations Park via the right-of-way in 2018 and was compelled to repeal that annexation in 2019.

(The city’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Toolebeck Commons annexation and concept plan requests on Tuesday, August 12th, at 6 p.m. in the Aiken City Council chambers at 111 Chesterfield Street S. )

Update.

The Planning Commission’s August 12th meeting took a few unexpected turns, ultimately resulting in a 3-2 vote against a Motion to Approve the Toolebeck Commons subdivision.

The Motion was made by Caleb Connor, and included the amendment that Condition #3 would be removed from the list of requirements. Condition #3 required the developer to create an access point at Woodward Drive, which is now a dirt road, and improve it to City standards.

The developer, on the other hand, proposed to having that access be for emergency access only. Connor advocated this approach in response to concerns by area residents over converting a rural dirt road into a paved road and thus ruining the agricultural integrity of the area.

The Motion was not seconded by any Commissioner, so Chairman Ryan Reynolds took the unusual step of seconding it. (Presiding officers are not supposed to make motions nor second them).

Commissioners Reynolds and Connor voted to approve without Condition #3; and Commissioners Roscoe Epps, Peter Messina, and Sam Erb voted against it.

Erb had expressed the opinion earlier that two access points were needed. Messina expressed the same opinion, but went much further by stating his opinion that the concept plan did not meet the requirements of Planned Residential zoning. Specifically, the density was too high relative to the surrounding properties and landscape.

This is the second subdivision in three months to be rejected by the Planning Commission. However, the developer can move forward to City Council, which can agree with or overrule the Commission’s recommendation. The developer could also agree to provide a second entrance point, and this would alleviate half of the concerns raised against the project. I predict Council will approve this one if it is brought before it.

Footnote

* Because the property is in the Montmorenci-Couchton Water District, the request was only for sewer services; but not drinking water services.