City Council Approves Annexation for New Drayton Apartment Development, Hears Proposal for Downtown Electric Scooters

A new multifamily development near Drayton Mills Lofts cleared its first hurdle at a recent city council meeting where the council voted unanimously to approve annexation of a parcel across the street from the redeveloped historic mill.

In her presentation to council, Associate Planner Rachel Grothe noted that the proposed development will still need to go through typical city site plan review in order to adhere to requirements of the approved R-6, General Residential zoning. A full traffic study will also have to be funded by the developer to assess any potential congestion and safety issues.

Council also heard an overview of potential plan to bring electric scooters to the downtown area from a Texas-based company called Blue Duck. The company’s scooter share program is similar to those that have caught on in cities throughout the country in recent years. Riders would use an app on their phones to locate a scooter and would pay $1 to begin the ride and $.25 for each minute of use. Destinations within the city would be limited by geofencing, meaning that the scooters would not function outside certain boundaries.

If approved by city council, the scooter system could be ready to launch by September. Council would also have to take up the decision to allow the scooters on the roadway or only the sidewalk. Representatives from the company shared details of their proposal that would bring a fleet of 100-125 scooters, which would share the current stations used by Spartanburg’s BCycle bike share program and would operate from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. City council will take up the proposal formally at a later meeting.

For more from the recent Spartanburg City Council meeting, see the full video below.

Spartanburg City Council meeting, August 10, 2020 from City of Spartanburg on Vimeo.