What is concurrency? Here’s what you need to know about SC efforts to control growth

As more people move into South Carolina, local governments have to make sure the roads, sewers and schools can serve the growing population.

One way to make sure jurisdictions have the necessary resources to meet demand is through concurrency policies, which allow local governments to delay new development while its infrastructure can’t support it.

While some jurisdictions, like Lexington County, already implement concurrency in their permitting process, some state lawmakers worry they don’t yet have the legal authority. Bills in the General Assembly would give jurisdictions permission to delay development, while creating rules for the programs aimed at protecting property rights.

Here’s what you should know about these concurrency proposals.

What are concurrency policies?

Concurrency allows local governments to delay developments, like a new subdivision of homes, when the needed resources have not been built, but policies differ across jurisdictions. It’s a tool to help local governments plan new development, rather than just allowing new housing where there aren’t adequate resources, like roads or sewers, said Zach Bjur, the land and water policy director at Conservation Voters of South Carolina.

“What concurrency does is it gives leverage, it gives clear legal authority for local governments to say, ‘Wait a second. We can’t proceed because we don’t have capacity,’ ” Bjur said.

What resources do jurisdictions consider for concurrency?

Roads, water, sewer, fire and police are common “core” resources required in concurrency policies, said state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort. Davis has been steering a concurrency bill through the South Carolina General Assembly. However, some jurisdictions may also consider public schools, recreational facilities or other community resources.

Lexington County, which adopted a concurrency policy last year, takes school attendance data into consideration when permitting new development to prevent overcrowding. Currently, there isn’t a state legal limit on what can be considered under concurrency, but Lexington County worried it could face a lawsuit over its use of attendance data.

Proposals in the South Carolina legislature may dictate which resources could be considered.

Last month, Davis said his bill would only allow local governments to deny permits based on “core” infrastructure, excluding schools. State Rep. Spencer Wetmore’s, D-Charleston, bill leaves the decision up to jurisdictions, she said.

Why are SC jurisdictions considering concurrency policies?

As South Carolina’s population grows, infrastructure has to keep up with all the new people. Concurrency can be a method for local governments to plan for growth.

“It is an effort to give local governments another tool to prevent development from outpacing the existing infrastructure’s ability to accommodate it,” Davis said.

South Carolina grew more than any other state in the country by percentage between July 2024 and July 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in January. The state added nearly 80,000 new people. While some rural counties have seen a decline in population, many jurisdictions around the state have more residents.

Symantha Melemed, an Aiken County resident and horse farm owner, told lawmakers she worried undirected growth was straining local resources.

“We want to keep Aiken County what people are moving here to see,” Melemed said. “We want to have growth. We want to do it in areas where we have infrastructure, and we want the builders to pay their fair share, and not just the taxpayers.”

Will SC lawmakers greenlight concurrency this year?

While some counties and municipalities have already implemented concurrency, South Carolina lawmakers want to give local governments explicit permission to enact those policies. The bills ensure existing programs are legal.

Proposals also include guardrails for how jurisdictions can use concurrency in an effort to balance property rights and the demands of growth.

Bills in the House and Senate, sponsored by Wetmore and Davis respectively, don’t require any county or town to implement concurrency. Legislation signals local governments can legally pause development, if they follow the necessary procedures.

For example, Wetmore said her bill would require jurisdictions to base a permitting denial on previously documented deficiencies in infrastructure. This could be done through a capital plan.

“A local government couldn’t say, ‘Well, I heard somebody say that they were stuck in traffic the other day, so my vote is going to be against this because I don’t think we have enough road capacity,’ ” said Tyson Smith, a Charleston-based planning consultant. Smith said he drafted the House bill.

Both bills are still in early stages of the legislative process, but the Senate bill passed out of its initial panel last week. Last month, Davis said he was hopeful a concurrency bill could pass this year because of the bipartisan support from every region of the state to control growth.

Will concurrency policies stifle growth?

Developers warned the policies could stifle growth and drive up the price of housing during hearings for the bills. Delaying permitting could drive up costs of construction, which could be passed along to the consumer, Mark Nix, executive director of the Home Builders Association of South Carolina, told lawmakers last month.

“What it [a concurrency policy] does create is an opportunity to stop growth,” said Mike Satterfield, the CEO of Haven Homes in Lexington County.

New housing developments need essential infrastructure that may not be immediately available, like sewer and roads, Bjur said. Plus, Wetmore said her bill would require municipalities and counties to document deficiencies, so developers could have an idea whether their plans have the infrastructure to support it in advance.

Concurrency may also allow developers to shrink their initial plan. For example, if a jurisdiction only has the capacity for 25% of a proposed development, they could build a quarter of the planned units until the infrastructure is built.

Does concurrency take away property rights?

Concurrency may allow local governments to say “no” to planned development, even when the property is zoned for the project at hand. It raises potential concerns, and litigation, over property rights.

Proponents of the policies argue concurrency can give developers options, even if a permit is denied. The jurisdiction will have to plan to address deficiencies, which means developers will have to wait until the resources are available, Davis said.

“With concurrency, you’re saying to the developer, we recognize you have these rights,” Davis said. “We recognize that this development is going to happen at some point but just not now.” Or, developers could adjust their project to fit within the existing available resources, he said.

Developers could also negotiate to pay for their share of the new infrastructure, but those payments could not overlap with other impact fees, Smith said.

This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM with the headline "What is concurrency? Here’s what you need to know about SC efforts to control growth."