2025 State and Local Advocacy Priorities

At Upstate Forever, we believe that everyone in the Upstate should have access to clean drinking water, healthy air, and safe green spaces. We believe that the Upstate’s growth should be directed to existing urbanized areas with established supporting infrastructure, and that we must take special care to ensure residents – especially historically marginalized communities of color and those less affluent – are not displaced in the process. Finally, we believe that economic development, while critical, need not come at the expense of natural areas, farms, forests, or current residents’ quality of life.

The Upstate is growing! Where and how that growth takes place will have direct impacts on residents’ quality of life and the region’s natural assets. We all have a stake in how we grow!

Below are the issues we're advocating for in 2025 and the reasons we've chosen to prioritize them.

ADVOCACY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

LOCAL PLANS AND POLICIES THAT PROTECT NATURAL ASSETS, EXPAND MOBILITY AND HOUSING CHOICES, AND ALIGN WITH THE COMMUNITY’S VISION

In 2025, we are working to influence and mobilize community support to advance proactive planning and smarter land development policies with a focus on critical initiatives in several of the Upstate’s most rapidly growing cities and counties:

• Greenville County – Riparian buffer & open space protection, five-year comprehensive plan update, and budget
  In January 2025, a reshaped Greenville County Council voted to reconsider the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) adopted in December 2024 to help realize the vision of the county’s 2020 comprehensive plan. The UDO is the product of a four-year initiative to overhaul the county’s outdated zoning and land development regulations to better meet the needs of our growing county. In 2024, the county also launched a process to draft a county open space plan, as well as a five-year comp plan review. In early 2025, Council will begin the critical work of developing a new two-year county budget.
  
  In the coming year, we’ll be advocating for Council to reinstall a largely intact, improved UDO that removes the two-year sunset clause for riparian buffer requirements and strengthens open space requirements for subdivisions in unzoned areas. We’ll also advocate for adoption of an open space plan with implementation strategies & timelines to ensure ample, equitable open space county-wide; a five-year comp plan update that strengthens the county’s vision for sustainable growth; and a county budget that supports open space, affordable housing, and public transportation at current or increased levels.
  
  Additionally, we are engaging residents at a grassroots level and working with neighborhood leaders, with a focus on communities of color, to explore new strategies that ensure policy outcomes align with community goals.
   
• Spartanburg County – Performance Zoning Ordinance (PZO) overlay districts
  We are cultivating support among residents for performance zoning policies that prevent sprawl and better protect agricultural & rural areas in Spartanburg County. In 2020, Performance Zoning replaced the county’s Unified Land Management Ordinance (ULMO) in the southwestern region of the county. In 2025, we are collaborating to explore strengthened overlay districts to better protect agricultural and rural areas in southwestern Spartanburg County.
   
• City of Greenville – Open space & affordable housing incentives and five-year comprehensive plan update
  Greenville City Council adopted the Greenville Development Code in June 2023 to ensure a new, more sustainable way of growing in the years ahead. In 2025, we are working to ensure that requirements and incentives to expand open space and affordable housing options, including the density bonus program, are working as intended. We are also advocating that the city’s five-year comp plan update supports a higher density urban form, expanded mobility & housing options, and ample, equitable open space & tree canopy.
   
• City of Fountain Inn – Zoning and land development ordinances
  In 2024, Fountain Inn City Council adopted its INNvision comprehensive plan and moved quickly to begin a process to overhaul zoning and land development regulations to help realize the community’s vision and goals. Throughout this process, we are advocating for policies that increase housing choice, enhance open space standards, protect tree canopy, and strengthen subdivision requirements & design guidelines.
   
• City of Anderson – new Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance (UDO)
  We are monitoring, engaging, and encouraging citizens to actively participate in Plan This City, an initiative to create a new Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Our advocacy is focused on adoption of an actionable comprehensive plan that serves as a foundation to enact policies that reduce sprawl, including higher density urban forms, expanded mobility & housing options, and open space & tree canopy protections.
   
• City of Spartanburg – Zoning and land development ordinances
  Plan Spartanburg, the new comprehensive plan adopted by Spartanburg City Council in 2023, is expected to guide an overhaul of the city’s land use policies in 2025-2026, especially existing zoning and land development regulations that perpetuate inequitable outcomes for people of color.
  
  Our advocacy in 2025 is focused on ensuring policy updates that support more diverse housing choices, improved transportation options, and resiliency to move the city toward a more equitable, sustainable future.

ACROSS THE UPSTATE

Strengthened floodplain protections

In view of the catastrophic losses caused by Hurricane Helene in the Upstate and Western North Carolina, we are advocating for strengthened floodplain protections, including measures to deter residential, commercial, or industrial development in floodplains, and encouraging the establishment or expansion of buyout programs for properties with existing structures in flood-prone areas, especially in rapidly developing counties.

Local funding for conservation

The Upstate’s outstanding quality of life is largely dependent on its blend of vibrant communities, beautiful outdoor places, historic resources, and easy access to trails & nature. Local governments can – and should – play a key role in protecting such critical community assets, including allocating funds for protection. Doing so attracts state & federal dollars to benefit our community and provides an opportunity to address greenspace inequity by adding more parks in neighborhoods lacking safe and accessible places to enjoy nature. In 2025, we would like to see more Upstate counties establish – or increase – their commitment to conservation through local dollars.

ADVOCACY AT THE STATE LEVEL

South Carolina continues to experience rapid growth, ranking as the fastest-growing state in the US in 2023 and reporting $8 billion in economic investment in 2024. We are at a critical juncture for determining how to balance our state’s growth with demand for the very ecosystem services that attract this investment, keep our drinking water clean, buffer against flooding, and provide a sense of place for so many residents.

To ensure our diverse natural systems and communities are protected from the anticipated impacts of growth and a changing climate, we will work to advance policies and programs that support climate resilience, protect water resources, preserve rural landscapes, and prioritize community health.

In 2025, we will work with coalitions of advocates, business leaders, utilities, elected officials, and state agency staff to advance common-sense policy changes through legislation, utility programs, and state agency action.

BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES WITH LOCAL PLANNING TOOLS

The completion of the State Resilience Plan by the SC Office of Resilience (SCOR) in 2023 provided a blueprint of how to build resilient communities at local, regional, and statewide levels. In 2025, we will continue to work with the agency and statewide partners to advance the Plan’s recommendations with a particular focus on initiatives that would enhance resilience in the Upstate. With Upstate Forever’s expertise in Watershed-Based Planning, we will work with SCOR and our regional partners on their new Watershed-Based Resilience Planning Program to ensure local governments and communities have the resources they need to implement plans that enhance local resilience to flooding and projects, such as microgrids, that increase community resilience from storms and peak electric load events.

Our state’s leaders are looking to foster additional economic development and the resilience of the power sector. Each of these initiatives will drive growth to the Upstate’s cities, surrounding neighborhoods, and rural areas. We will use these conversations to explore thoughtful mechanisms to increase the availability of affordable and workforce housing across the region and expand access and use of planning tools, such as concurrency programs, that help local governments meet the needs of their communities.

IMPROVING ACCESS TO LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION

While there is growing interest among landowners in land protection, many cannot afford the upfront expenses required to protect their land — fees for appraisals, attorneys, and stewardship endowments, for example. One of the tools we use to address those barriers is funding assistance from the South Carolina Conservation Bank (SCCB). With the current rate of development combined with the clear need for more public access to natural spaces, it is critical that the budget for SCCB grants reflects the expanding interests by landowners, land trusts, municipalities, and other land protection groups. This year, we will continue to support full funding for the SCCB and share direct impacts of funded conservation projects with lawmakers. Building on the success of the 2024 Working Agricultural Lands Preservation Act and establishment of the Working Agricultural Lands Fund, we will continue to support dedicated funding for the Fund and work with Upstate farmers and the SC Farm Bureau to promote use of the program.

South Carolina currently offers income tax credits for individuals who place their property under a conservation easement, proportional to the acreage conserved. While this is an important incentive to encourage participation in land conservation, the credit hasn’t been updated in over 15 years. We support legislation that increases the tax credit in an amount that keeps up with the rise in land values across the state.

ADVANCING CLEAN ENERGY AND ENSURING UPSTATE COMMUNITIES HAVE A VOICE IN ENERGY PROJECTS

The Upstate has played an outsized role in South Carolina’s economic development boom, a trend that is expected to continue over the next few years. How and where we build the energy infrastructure necessary to power new and existing industry are essential questions both local and state leaders need to consider to ensure residents don’t bear the unnecessary financial and environmental costs of this energy buildout.

Through thorough permitting and public input processes, we can avoid potential conflict between communities and utilities and prevent history from repeating itself in the Upstate communities that have experienced pipeline leaks and fuel spills, contaminated rivers and drinking water, property loss, harmful emissions, and high energy bills. Another solution is enhanced coordination among local governments, utilities, and communities to ensure future land use plans match with utility plans. We will work with state lawmakers to improve legislation aimed at expediting energy infrastructure buildout and will introduce new measures for accountability, public input, and the protection of private property rights.

Our current energy landscape is showing strain, as reflected by intense rate hikes passed along to customers, constraints on fuel supply, and incoming industries expressing concern over the lack of access to clean energy options. Adding to this, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ranked South Carolina as one of the least energy efficient states in the country. We should do everything in our power to “fix the leak” to reduce residential energy bills and mitigate the growing demand for energy.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to transform the way we generate and deliver energy while balancing affordability, reliability, and clean energy goals. Through direct engagement with energy providers and collaboration with other energy advocacy groups, we will continue to discuss solutions that hold utilities accountable, increase investment in energy efficiency, solar and battery storage, and minimize financial burdens to customers. Through our involvement at the Public Service Commission and SC Statehouse, we will advocate for more effective utility regulation, ratepayer protections, investments in clean energy resources, public accountability, and incentives for the adoption of clean energy by residents and industry.

ENSURING RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT OF OUR STATE’S WATERWAYS

With South Carolina’s rapid population growth and industrial expansion, water resource management is at a pivotal point. The SC Department of Natural Resources initiated the State Water Plan in 1998 to ensure sustainable water use over a 50-year horizon. Efforts were bolstered in 2018 with the creation of River Basin Councils (RBCs), which develop localized, stakeholder-driven plans for the state’s eight major river basins to be included in an updated State Water Plan. Upstate Forever serves on three RBCs to ensure the plans reflect a balanced approach to water management while protecting the Upstate’s critical waterways and the species that rely on them.

Consensus among RBCs, other stakeholder groups, and even the US EPA have pointed to inadequacies in the 2010 Surface Water Withdrawal Act’s regulatory framework for current and future demands. The WaterSC working group, created by Executive Order 2024-22 as a continuation of the work initiated by SC DNR, will serve as the new forum for regulatory and legislative solutions to this challenge while updating the State Water Plan by December 2025. As a member of WaterSC, Upstate Forever looks forward to engaging with stakeholders to ensure sustainable and equitable water use for all sectors. We will also continue to educate lawmakers and the legislative Surface Water Study Committee and Senate Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee on issues related to surface water management.

If you have any questions about our State and Local Advocacy Priorities set for this year, please contact Lisa Hallo at lhallo@upstateforever.org.