The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt another blow to the controversial proposed development of over 4400 acres south of Columbia once known as Green Diamond. The property is off Bluff Road adjacent to the Congaree River. The proposed development depended in large part on the flood hazard determinations of FEMA. (The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 directs FEMA to make these determinations, and such decisions control whether insurance will be available for development.)
 
In 2001, FEMA determined that the majority of the proposed development would be in a floodway, which would essentially make it impossible to obtain insurance without significant changes to existing levees, and that such changes to the levees would threaten already existing development on the Lexington County side of the Congaree. It was essentially a death-nail to the project.

A challenge was filed in the Columbia division of the U.S. District Court to FEMA’s determinations by the developer Columbia Venture LLC. Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, which is located in area, joined in the challenge as the FEMA determination could adversely effect future development at the school. (Full disclosure – my children currently attend Heathwood.)

In 2005, the District Court ruled that although Columbia Venture had actually received notice of the 2001 floodway determinations, FEMA had not properly published notice of these determinations in the Federal Register. The District Court therefore vacated FEMA’s flood hazard determinations, esentially telling FEMA to start over. (This would not necessarily have changed the ultimate floodway determination, but would give Columbia Ventures and others another opportunity to convince local governments to challenge FEMA’s determinations and perhaps sway the outcome.)

Earlier this month, however, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s opinion, holding that Columbia Venture was not prejudiced by the late publication in the Federal Register. Columbia Venture LLC v. S.C. Wildlife Fed’n, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6932 (4th Cir. Apr. 3, 2009).  The reversal reinstates FEMA's 2001 floodway determinations.

There are still appeal avenues for the developer, but the scope of proposed development has already been scaled back tremendously. The City of Cayce is in the process of annexing part of the property (now called “Vista Farms”) and has been trying to devise its own development plans. Although there is a proposal under consideration to expand the already-existing Columbia waste-water treatment plant, another large portion of the property has already been sold for farmland. Therefore, it appears that most of this land will remain undeveloped.