SC County Consolidations

[Spartan]

An interesting idea; I know it would require some legal and perhaps constitutional changes in SC - the Virginia arrangement with independent cities is part of their constitution, unique to VA. "Towns" in Virginia are part of the county they are located within, whereas "cities" are essentially counties unto themselves.

The legislature can approve an upgrade - the town of Galax (in Grayson and Carroll Counties) became the Independent City Of Galax years ago, and it can also be part of a consolidation, though this is more complex: the Independent Cities of Suffolk and Nansemond were merged with Nansemond County to form the City Of Suffolk, which technically would've been a legislatively-approved merger of three "counties" into one "city" covering 800+ suare miles.

Given the annexation laws in SC and the ease of incorporating small suburban outposts, I think the Gaffney-Cherokee move is very forward-thinking for a number of reasons. Cherokee is a small rural county along a state line between two swiftly growing urban areas of more than a million people. This would allow for a streamlined planning and management of the growth that comes to Cherokee (it will hit them from both directions eventually), a way to set an acceptable pace and even out county-wide infrastucture needs now and in the future. Aesthetically - again - you have one set of standards, avoiding a patchwork of sprawl-rural-urbanist-strip mall-etc chaos. The kind of duplication of services that almost bankrupted Jacksonville-Duval (and it's vast pre-consolidation patchwork of towns, cities and municipalities) wouldn't occur.

As the I-85 corridor urbanizes, and a thread of development fills in between Anderson SC and Durham NC, Cherokee's planning now for what might not materialize for a few decades (but will eventually) is a move that will make for a solid future.

Interesting thoughts. Incorporation in SC may appear to be easy on paper, but when it takes place in an urban area or near an existing city a whole storm of politics gets thrown into the mix. Take a look at what is going on in the Charleston area with the Town of James Island reincorporation process.

In the Upstate, two towns put incorporation on the ballot, and both were shot down (Boiling Springs in Spartanburg and Taylors in Greenville).

I agree that consolidation in Cherokee County is a great idea, but its hard to say what the people of Cherokee County will think. Cherokee is not always the most forward thinking place.