A request to rezone land near Lugoff-Elgin High School for commercial use has prompted Kershaw County Council to ask the county planning and zoning commission to look into establishing some additional zoning categories.

Council Chairman Austin M. Sheheen Jr. said that at a meeting last week, council “sort of held the request in limbo” until the planning commission responds.

He said council “felt that if it could be determined that commercial activity such as doctors’ offices would still be proper in the area,” it should have the ability to approve office zoning for the land but prohibit other commercial uses — something it can’t do under the county’s current zoning ordinance.

At a public hearing last month, Lugoff residents opposed rezoning a 15- acre tract on U.S. 1 from rural to development district, which would make it available for commercial or industrial use.

Residents contend that commercial development of the tract would lower property values and could cause problems for the school, especially if stores were part of the development.

The rezoning request, which had received first reading from council before the public hearing, was up for second-reading approval last week. But when Sheheen opened the floor for motions, nobody made one. After a discussion, council agreed to ask county planners to consider adding more zoning categories.

Tom Haff, a Lugoff resident whose home is adjacent to the proposed development district, said he was pleased with council’s decision.

“I’m glad to see that County Council is in tune and sensitive to the people in Lugoff and responsive to their requests,” he said. “I also feel we need a more adequate zoning ordinance.”

Haff, who has helped lead a fight against the rezoning, said he would prefer that the land stay rural, but that limited office space might be a viable alternative, “depending on what they’re talking about and what kind of impact on the community it would have.”

Sheheen said council members believe the Lugoff rezoning request exemplifies a need for additional zoning options. Under the current zoning ordinance, which was adopted about four years ago, all land in the county is zoned rural or development district.

Rural land may be used for residences or farming, and development zone land may be used for any commercial purpose, including stores, offices or industries.

Overall, the law has worked well, but a problem has been that if council zones land as a development district, it has to accept any kind of development, Sheheen said.

“We need more zoning choices,” he said. “Some things might not be objectionable and some might be. Once you commit land to a development zone, you have no control over what goes there. We need some refinements so that we can have more control over what kind of development you can have.”

If the zoning law is amended to provide more types of zones, the landowner who made the Lugoff rezoning request could accept the new system and move forward under it, Sheheen said.

The request was made by Catherine Oliver, administrator of the estate of her mother, Sallie Jones. Ms. Oliver’s attorney, Edward M. Royall of Camden, said the land has been in the family since 1924.

Ms. Oliver originally requested a zoning change for nearly 29 acres. After she reduced the proposed development district to 15 acres, the planning commission recommended the request to County Council.

Sheheen said a number of areas in the county already are zoned as development districts, including major corridors.