City Council - Regular Meeting

Our regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. See you then.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the August 24th meeting of the Aiken City Council. If you are inclined, please rise for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, send down upon those who hold office in the city of Aiken the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people. In your name we pray. Amen. Chief, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Good evening, Council and Mayor. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

As the meeting begins, I will review the guidelines. Meetings are public forums in which many opinions are expressed and the business of the city must be conducted. As such, discipline, honorable, and professional decorum is paramount. Courteous and respectful communication is required. During public meetings, all questions and statements from the public should be directed to the chair. If you wish to speak, raise your hand and I will recognize you. Please approach the podium and state your name and address. In order to allow an opportunity for everyone who wishes to address Council, speakers should limit their comments to the subject being discussed. Each speaker will be given five minutes to address an issue and may only address an issue once unless questions from Council are posed to the speaker. During the non-agenda public comment section, each speaker has three minutes and can only speak once. We now move to additions and deletions to the agenda. I recognize Mayor Pro Tem Kay Brohl for this item.

Thank you, Mayor Milner. Good evening, everyone. We're glad to have you here this evening. There are no additions or deletions, Madam Mayor, so I move that we accept the agenda as it was printed.

Thank you. She made the motion. Councilman Brohl made the motion. May I have a second?

I second. It's your voice.

Oh, girls and boys. I heard him first, so Councilman Messina made the second. All those in favor? Thank you. The minutes were provided to Council for review prior to the meeting. Is there a motion for approval of the minutes?

So moved, Madam Mayor.

Councilman Waldo made that motion. I second. A second from Councilwoman Morgan. Any comments or changes? All those in favor? There are two presentations tonight. The first is the presentation of the Municipal Association Achievement Award. Hi, how are you? Desiree Fragosa from the Municipal Association of South Carolina. Come and tell us about that.

Hi, good evening, Mayor, members of Council, Steward, Mary, Lex, always a treat to see you all. My name is Desiree Fregoso, and I am the Field Services Manager for the Lowcountry with the Municipal Association. I am here this evening to present to you all with the local presentation of this year's winner for the Public Works category of our Municipal Achievement Award. It is my pleasure to present to you all, formally, before you all in the community, receipt of this award. We presented this officially, formally, to the mayor and the staff at our luncheon in Greenville earlier this, well, last month. Feels like it was ages ago, right? at our luncheon where a lot of our members, representatives from other cities and towns were there and hopefully got inspired. We have a little video that we want to show you all that we shared with folks at the luncheon that explains the award and explains the project that won this award.

Public Works Category, the City of Aiken. As with many cities in a fast-growing state, Aiken has faced development that puts pressure on its infrastructure and its existing community character. Through a partnership with the Aiken Land Conservancy, the city purchased 2,657 acres around Aiken's Mason Branch Reservoir, placing it under a conservation easement and permanently protecting this critical drinking water source from development.

embrace the conservation efforts for the people that are coming to Aiken because a lot of them are interested in outdoor recreation and one of our major concerns is having clean drinking water and with this this conservation effort that will be definitely provided to them.

When the property known as the Brunswick tract was listed for sale and was under consideration for private development including commercial space and 4,300 housing units, the city decided to purchase it for $5.25 million. It used fund reserves and engaged in some inter-fund borrowing to be paid off over 10 years to do this. With a $1.9 million grant to help manage the land from the SC Conservation Bank, the city was able to preserve the property in its entirety.

This conservation partnership is essential to the city for our future growth and for our current residents. People move here because they value the nature that we have and the beautiful natural resources and planning for the future growth that's coming. South Carolina continues to be on the top growing list in the country of population growth and so we need to be forward thinking about how we're going to preserve these natural landscapes that people value. In addition to that, it protects our water source. We need to provide clean, quality water utility for our customers and protecting this land while it's It's a challenging thing to do. It's expensive and it requires some resources. It allows us to make sure that we're protecting this utility and providing the quality that our customers expect.

By protecting a water source, the project contributes to Aiken's focus on water infrastructure resiliency, an effort that also recently included a new $70 million water treatment plant and upgrades to aging downtown water infrastructure.

Conservation is rarely a bad idea. I haven't seen many instances where a community regretted conserving land. In turn, I've seen many instances where communities and municipalities have regretted not conserving land. The other thing is The water quality benefits of this project can't be overstated. Not only is the reservoir protected, which is the source of drinking water, so are the wetlands that feed it. So are the wetlands that come out of it. So is the frontage on Shaw's Creek that provides, you know, habitat and water resources to folks downstream all the way to the Edisto and in turn the Atlantic Ocean.

By protecting the land from development, the City is able to promote forest health, offer passive recreation access, provide groundwater recharge benefits to four aquifers, and protect wildlife habitat. The City is working with the ALC on several grant projects to improve songbird habitat and reforest native longleaf pines.

Congratulations. This project, as you all know and can see, stands as an incredible example of responsible stewardship and strategic planning and really highlighting the importance of partnerships. So congratulations, and I hope that you continue to be forward thinking and pursuing projects that improve the quality of life of the community here in Eagan.

Thank you so much.

And I would like to say, Madam Mayor, this project is one that individually means a lot because it goes back up. 10 years. I invited Dr. Harry Shealy here to come tonight because he played an instrumental role along with several other people. Laura Bagwell, Joanna Sampson, Sharon Richardson, Alan Conger, Rhett Coleman, and Ben Christensen surveyed the property. 93 corners they had to stake, which is a pretty large undertaking for the $25,000. hundred acres, and many others. Staff-wise, I know Mary Catherine Laughton, who now works for the MASC, when the property was purchased, and then Mary Tilton have done a good job with shepherding this, and Peter Klein, hence. has been such a wonderful advocate for the project. And it's something I think we're all very proud of. And I know it started with Harry coming, gosh, 10 years ago when John Klim was city manager. And it took about four years to get this to fruition. And I know at one time, Harry and I were probably the only people that thought that it could happen before we broached the subject with council because it was a big deal, $5 million investment. I just knew there would be in the community – concern and aggravation, but there was none. And that was very gratifying. And I know, Peter, your first day on the job was when we voted to put the entire property in a conservation easement with the state. And that is leading to a lot of great things that we're now sort of working on discussions with the Forestry Commission and preservation of other property that is adjacent to this that's not owned by the city, but certainly the community writ large will benefit from. And it's just a wonderful thing. And also, it's nice to see the city of Aiken's name on there four times out of the last five years. We won this award and we want it We've won it almost 25 times, 24 times since 1990, so why not make it 25 times?

Thank you for that. Our next second presentation is a quarterly report on the water treatment plant.

Oh, yes. I guess we should take a photo down front with everybody getting the trophy here at home just as we did out in the lobby of the hotel.

Get behind him. Mayor. In front of him. Mayor. Mayor. Right here. Okay. All right. All right. All right.

can provide some good perspective of just how long it took to get here.

Stewart was mistaken about when we started, I started my interest in when Fred Cavanaugh was elected mayor back in the 90s, I think. I took him out there to show him that, and I said, Fred, the city needs to acquire this, at least get some easements around Mason Branch Pond, and nothing happened. In 2000, the property came up for sale and I came to council and tried to convince them that they needed to buy it. because of the water. That was my main emphasis. And if nothing else, to save the riparian area around the creek, but nothing happened. And then John Clem came, and we tried one more time, and it was very successful. But the interest in that land has been there since the 90s, I think. So I just wanted to give some perspective to it. But my first time out there was with Fred Cavanaugh. I said, Fred, the city ought to buy this land. He said, but he didn't say anything. And I want you to know that in 2000, we could have gotten 5,000 acres for $5 million instead of 2,500 acres for $5 million. That's what the price was. So thank you, and I appreciate you all doing all this stuff. Thank you for giving me a chance.

The second presentation is a quarterly report on the water treatment plant construction. Nicholas Winkler, assistant project manager from Harper General Contractors, will give us our report.

Yeah, so as you said, I'm Nicholas Winkler with Harper General Contractors. I'm happy to give a presentation on the progress of the Shaw's Creek water treatment plant that we're happy to build. Here's a little bit of an outline for the presentation. My hope is that it helps paint a picture as to the progress on site so far. Last time we gave a presentation was January of this year. You can see that photo on the left is from that time and then the photo on the right is from a couple weeks ago. Hopefully you can see some pretty substantial progress, especially with some equipment being installed and some buildings nearing completion, especially with the admin building, the chemical building, and the electrical building. And hopefully overall the site just looks a little more complete. Here's an aerial view, very similar photo. However, this photo shows in the bottom right-hand corner the utilities building area. You can see Back in January, the two slabs for both storage building one and two have now become complete buildings that are nearly done, as well as a good amount of stone in preparation for asphalt. What you cannot see in this photo that hopefully you find interesting is to date we have installed approximately 7,200 linear feet of pipe that is just below ground pipe. So moving on to key accomplishments, I do want to recognize that in addition to Harper, there's been a good number of trade partners to help us get to this point. I've looked into the numbers today. As of last Friday, 116,000 man hours have been spent on this project since we mobilized December 9th of 2024. So what's been accomplished to date, some chemical equipment has been installed since our last presentation. Pretreatment equipment has been installed, which you can see very well in this photo. You can see the flocculators at the head of the plant moving to the sed basins, which is plate settlers and track backs, as well as the wash water troughs, which are the green equipment in the five bays closest to the metal building. In addition, all the structural concrete is complete. Still got a little more concrete, but it's not structural, so that's exciting. And the utility and administration buildings are both dried in, which is a huge accomplishment for our team. Looking ahead. As I touched on we will be paving at the utilities building here in a couple weeks and then from there we will move to the plant site which is what you can see in this photo here. Following that we will do permanent fencing as well as tying the raw water pump station into the treatment train which will allow us the water needed to do plant startup. So we'll work through some photos. Hopefully I can provide a little context or explain what's going on in these photos to give some understanding. Here we've got the filter pipe gallery. So this is where the water comes from the filters themselves and then goes to the clear wells for storage. The filters are located on that common wall on the right and then the wall on the left on the other side of that is the bulk chemical storage area. Here we have the high service pump station and raw water pump station. You can see all the flange piping is done as well as all 10 pumps have been set. So there's a lot going on in this photo. In the foreground, you've got the two clear wells for storage. You've got the high service pump station. And then on the right, you have the chemical building. Just to the left of that is the chemical storage area, which is connected to the treatment train, which is at the heart of the plant. And then the administration building to the right of that. And then if you can make out in the photo at the very top, that's the utilities building area with the two storage buildings. Here you've got another photo of the chemical building and admin building left to right, respectively. This was taken a couple weeks prior to the previous photo, which is why there's no roof on the metal building in the back. Here we have the interior of the utilities building. You can see that we've got door frames and windows installed, as well as casework and lighting. We've still got some flooring to put down, but this building is getting pretty close to being done. So the building we were just in is that brick building kind of in the center of the photo. That's the utilities building with the two storage buildings just behind it. And like I said, this area is pretty close to being ready for pavement, which will really make this part of the site look complete. Moving into schedule. So our original contract duration was 791 days. To date, we've had nine weather days. We have not asked for those to be added to the contract at this point. So we're still working with the 791 days. 623 have elapsed, which means there's only 168 days remaining for our target date of substantial completion, February 8th of 2027, which we still feel confident in. Are there any questions?

Madam Mayor, so we're on target and on budget, right? That's right. That's what we love to hear. Yeah.

How many million gallon storage is there? Storage, two million gallons. Two million.

Oh, million each? Or is it? Yeah, one million per tank. All right, thank you.

Thank you very much. And now we open the floor to public comments on non-agenda items. Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker and for a total of 30 minutes. Yes, sir. Good evening.

I've got to watch myself. Last week I kicked out the speaker. So anyway, good evening, Madam Mayor, Seed Council. My name's Kurt Johnson, 111 Stonington Lane, Aiken. I am the pastor of Wash Sheet Ministry, and we are the outreach for the homeless and the ones that are getting to that point. One of the things I want to bring up today is it's probably 95 degrees out here today. We are coming up on a winter. And the way that they're trying to track it, it's going to be a wetter and colder winter for us this year. So this is something that we need to be proactive about. And this happens to go with the city. and our other partners. But we want to make sure that we don't run into situations we've had in the past where we've still got people out on the street because there's no room in the end. So that's one thing that we want to discuss over the next couple months so that we can see what we can do. to alleviate some of that issue. The other issue that we've had in the past is people living in hotels during the masters. A lot of these people, they're one, just a one paycheck, not paycheck, but they only have one paycheck coming in for the adults. And they've got kids living in the hotels too. So what we're doing, and we're gonna talk with our other partners, but we want to see what we can do to come up with some shelter for these people while the Masters is going on. And the reason we wanna do this is so that they don't have to go to Columbia to get a place to stay and then possibly lose their job here. We've got some ideas about that, but these are things that we want to talk with all of you about. So we will be calling you out. This week, we're still seeing a lot of influx of people that aren't from here. So if you see them, please call. Please call so we can start doing something. Councilwoman Morgan called me last week so that we could find out about a gentleman. We found out he was still in jail, so that was probably a good thing for him. But there are people out there, and they're not bad people. They've done some bad things, and they're in a bad situation. But there's a possibility that we can start working with them so that we can get them off the street. So that's all I've got. Anybody?

No.

Thank you. All right. Good evening, Lex.

Good evening, City Council.

Does Mr. Council? Yeah.

LEX PERRY, PASTOR OF C4 IMPACT, 1526 SOUTH BOUNDARY AVENUE SOUTHEAST. I WANTED TO SHARE FIRST OF ALL SOME GOOD NEWS, PRAISE REPORT. BY THE WAY, MAYOR, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR VISIT. Greatly appreciate that. We always have open-door policy that anybody can come by and visit and see us. We always enjoy having you there. So far as a van, from Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church did donate a van. We got a little work to do to it, but looks like we'll have that on the road next week. Crazy guy. So we'll be able to transport some more folks. That's a 15 passenger van. So that's a wonderful thing. Last month, we had a scheduled 133 rides last month, and we are on target to do more this month. But this is going to enable us to do that a little bit easier and having someone who's designated to drive. And it's going to give us a little bit more time to do more of the case management that we need to do. We have three openings currently. People are interviewing for them, by the way. But at the moment, we have three spaces open. As Kurt was alluding to, we are trying to change gears a little bit. We do have another house that we could possibly move in, but I'm kind of holding off on that just a little bit right now, because we need to start preparing for the winter. We do have, I have a proposal that I'd like to send you all, if you're willing to receive it. Some ideas that we have so far as the winter months coming up as an overflow, as well as for the masters. We're always thinking, very forward thinking about these things, and so you can always count on us to try to come up with some answers, because we are your front line. We're going to have some ideas. Is it perfect? I'm not saying it is. But if you'd be willing to look at it and give us your ideas or some feedback from it, what we can and cannot do, that would be wonderful. Okay, so I'm just asking if you would be willing to at least look it over to see what's possible is all I'm asking from you. And I know that Mr. Johnson wants to say something.

Madam Mayor, Mr. Biedenbaugh, distinguished council members, I'm Rob Johnston, 916 South Boundary, and I'm here to talk about the bigger picture. We all know we have a problem. I was introduced to Lex and C4 Impact only within the last two weeks. And after my 45 years in Atlanta and time here, I have not met any agency that's willing to do the heavy lifting from somebody that's homeless, jobless, friendless, hungry. They're at rock bottom. And I've only seen one situation where one person was willing to do it all. And I think their goal is to make everyone who's in that category a productive citizen of Aiken, taxpaying with self-dignity and respect. And I was so impressed with what they're doing, I had to run my big mouth up here Because I have no complaints, no request, but I want Aiken to be the best that it possibly could be. And it all starts and ends with how we treat our fellow Aikenite. And there is a great want. Count on me to help. Thank you all.

Madam Mayor, can I say something?

Yes. God works in mysterious ways. I was trying to help Diane. Diane wanted to do a fundraiser for C4 Impact. And I was telling her about Rob and Pam Johnson. And I said, I'll introduce you to them. They're on vacation now, but when he gets back, I'll introduce you. Well, Diane prepared a letter telling you about c4 impact now i didn't know rob was going to be here tonight diane but when i looked out and saw rob sitting with you guys i'm like oh my god that ain't nothing but the lord because he came from the back and sat right next to you you've always already made the connection and i'm gonna tell you rob johnson is a man of his word If he say he's going to help, he's going to help. So y'all in the right place at the right time. And Rob, so will you. Thank you so much.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Sherry Taylor. I live at 910 Barnwell Avenue Northeast in Aiken. I'm here to get some clarity on who is responsible to mow a strip of land that abuts my property. When purchasing our house, we were told that we were not responsible for mowing this piece of land because we did ask. We were looking for a small piece of land. After a month, the strip had not been mowed. I spoke to a city of Aiken worker when I noticed he was mowing the median on Barnwell Avenue Northeast. I asked him about the mowing on Williamsburg. which I live at the corner of Barnwell Avenue Northeast and Williamsburg. I asked him about that strip there, and he told me that he would go get his supervisor. His supervisor was down the road. He brought his supervisor down, and forgive me, but I can't remember his name. And I asked him about it, and he told me that they expect the homeowner to mow this. So I called the realtor, the listing agent, and tried to get some clarity from her again. I said, you told me that this was not our property and we're not responsible to mow it. And she said, well, the South Carolina Department of Transportation is supposed to do that so my husband and i went to the south carolina department of transportation and we were told that williamsburg street is not on their list either to mo so i'm just looking for some clarity on this um you know it's it's like an eighth of an acre and You know, we moved here because we had a small plot. We have less than a quarter of an acre. We don't have much to mow. We don't want much to mow. And I just want to know who is supposed to keep this up.

Well, I know that staff will find out for you.

Okay. All right. I appreciate that. Thank you.

One more time, I don't see anyone else. We will go on to approval of the consent agenda. Mr. Beanbow, will you please read the titles of the items on the consent agenda?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. We have eight items for tonight's consent agenda. No one has reached out and asked that any of these items be addressed or pulled off the agenda by the appropriate time. Those items are the following. An ordinance to annex property located at 1121 Conger Drive and zone the same, residential single-family RS-15. Second is an ordinance to annex property located at 108 Smallridge Street and zone the same, residential single-family RS-10. Third, an ordinance to annex property located at 505 Chatham Street and zone the same, residential single-family RS-10. Fourth, an ordinance to annex property located at 608 Timber Lane Road and zone the same residential single-family RS-15. Fifth, an ordinance amending the zoning of real estate located at 1213 Park Avenue SE from LI Light Industrial to RML residential multifamily low-density. Sixth, an ordinance amending section 44-85 of the Aiken City Code regarding grease, oil, or sand and fats, oil and grease control. Seventh, an ordinance to amend section 4.6.1 of the Aiken City of Aiken Zoning Ordinance regarding parking space requirements and multifamily properties. And eighth, an ordinance to amend Section 5.2.2 of the City of Aiken Zoning Ordinance regarding historic property designation. That is the consent agenda this evening, Madam Mayor.

I thank you for all of those. Is there a motion, please? So moved, Madam Mayor. Councilwoman Price made the motion. I'll second that, Madam Mayor.

Second from Councilman Brohl.

Since there's no comment on the consent agenda, we will go straight to a vote. All those in favor? Thank you. We now have approval and discussion of appointees to various city boards, committees, and commissions.

Mr. Beaton, go ahead.

Thank you. For boards and commissions this evening, we have... Sorry for the pregnant pause. The reappointment of William Hall to the General Aviation Commission. That is before council this evening.

Thank you. Do I have a motion to accept his nomination?

So moved, Madam Mayor.

Councilman Waldo and second from Councilwoman Morgan. Comments from the public? Comments from council? All those in favor? Thank you unanimous are there any nominations to consider at our next meeting.

Yes, madam mayor. I would like to reappoint John Owen to the general aviation commission.

And madam mayor, I would like to reappoint Angela Fleming to the community development committee and doctor and Sir Mo Arthur to the general aviation commission.

Madam Mayor, I'd like to reappoint Joshua Bowling to the Parks and Recreation. I'd also like to appoint Harrison Howell to the Housing Authority.

Mayor, I'd like to reappoint Josh Raines to the Recreation Committee.

Thank you. Got all of that? The next item under old business is second reading and public hearing of an ordinance to approve a concept plan for property at Whiskey Road, Stratford Drive and Mammoth Pass.

Thank you. You have read the title of the ordinance. We do have this project before council. And at the last meeting, we had discussion regarding the property. We sent the traffic study we received one week ago today, as well as the on-call engineer's comments. We supplied the comments to the agenda packet by our on-call engineer. They're dated August 16th of 26. The full study was over 100 pages, so to conserve paper, we provided a link to you to review the study and members of the public. I know we received, Councilman Waldo sent questions to us to review that we attempted to answer. And I'll go over, if I may, the questions and the answers. The question, he asked the city attorney to clarify whether traffic safety is existing infrastructure, cumulative development impacts and plan, but not yet completed roadway improvements or factors the council may consider in its decision. And essentially, the city attorney, in a very short sense, said yes, you can consider those. He... Let's see... Also, could we summarize how the intersection performs under the 2030 build scenario without the planned DOT improvements, particularly any significant changes in level of service delays or queues? And we answered based on a conversation with the traffic consultant that it will not have a significant impact to those to the level of service to laser cues this proposed development. What is the timeline and funding status for the planned DOT improvements at Whiskey, Powder House, and Stratford Hall Drive? DOT, and again, they tell us that they will start those improvements in 2028, so that's over a year from now. SEDOT identified prohibitive turning movements at Whiskey Road and Mammoth Pass and recommended a raised median. Is that improvement required as part of this development? Who is responsible for it and when will it be completed? And that was a condition put on as part of this process by the Planning Commission and the developer will be responsible for paying for and installing that raised median on Whiskey Road that would prohibit full turning movement out of the property there. And if readily available, can public safety provide the five-year crash history for Powder House Road, Stratford Drive, and the adjacent Mammoth Pass area, including total crashes, injuries, and fatalities? And the answer was, according to public safety records, zero. and that answered questions that Councilman Waldo asked of Council just in the last day and we were providing answers throughout the day. Also, as I stated, we've provided this summary. We know there's representatives here from the applicant. This project was approved by planning at their meeting on July 14th and it will by a vote of five to two with the conditions read into the record at the last meeting and uh council heard this for first reading uh on August 10th and approved by a vote of four in favor and three opposed to bring it forward for a second reading and it's now before you for a second reading in consideration this evening madam mayor and council thank you do I have a motion to um

approve this concept plan.

Madam Mayor, I make a motion to accept the concept plan.

Councilman Messina made the motion. I'll second, Madam Mayor. Second from Councilwoman Broll. Any comments from the public? Good evening.

Good evening, Council.

Again, my name's Ben Dingus. I'm with Holbarrett, and I represent the developer. This is Steve Jenkins with McKnight Engler on behalf of the developer, and we are seeking approval of the conceptual site plan for the subject property. The only concern that we are aware of relates to the traffic impact of the development in general and not a specific tenant use or tenant in general. There has been no public objection or opposition to our intended development. And in fact, we've received vocal support at the planning commission meeting on July 14th. I don't believe there was any public comment on the August 10th meeting. Developer met with the Springstone and Stratford Hall HOA to understand and address concerns, and it is our understanding that all of those concerns have been met and addressed. The developer engaged Kimley Horn, and you guys have a copy of that extensive traffic study that has been reviewed by the SCDOT and Aiken City Traffic Consultant, and they've identified the median as an appropriate mitigating measure for the traffic. We're here to answer any questions that you guys may have about our proposed development.

Thank you very much. Any other comments from the public? Yes, sir. Good evening.

Hello, Council. Clayton Clarkson, 125 Gatewood Drive, Aiken, South Carolina, 29801. This is actually my first time speaking to Council, so thank you all for the opportunity with that. Speaking of thanks, thank you, Councilman Waldo, for speaking up about the traffic issues on Whiskey at the last meeting. And speaking of the last meeting, I know there was some other things that went on around the 2% hospitality tax in regards to the parking garage. And I remember one thing that you guys talked about that really struck me. I remember... Ms. Morgan, Ms. Price, Gail, a few of you talked about the process with that when it came to transparency, when it came to communication, public input. And that's what I think might be good for Whiskey Road right now because we're going to have – Later on in the agenda, another development coming up on Whiskey Road, right off of Hunter's Glen, just a couple hundred yards from this development. Do they need to have this kind of not full traffic report? Do they need to have the accident reports from public safety? You know, what are we looking for? Might there be a moratorium? Might there not be? Just a little bit more information. clear understanding about what we're looking to do. I know things are, it's hard to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time because we're constantly getting new developments in while simultaneously trying to figure out a process. I just want to know whether it be my capacity as a planning commissioner or whether it just be a citizen, what council is looking for or not looking for when it comes to developments that should or should not happen on Whiskey Road. I don't need to talk too much about this specific development because I think it's been talked about agnosium for years. You all have that information, but it's more just about that general process, because we saw that process worked at the last meeting. There's certainly people who spoke against certain things when it comes to that 2% or for it, but I don't think anybody would say that process was bad or that they weren't heard or that they didn't know what was going on, and just kind of having that in other areas of the city might be nice as well. Thank you all.

Thank you very much for your comment. Any comments from council?

And there are yes says this project is in my district on I had been aware know on my past tense on the planning Commission about other types of developments that have been proposed for this one corner and the the concerns of the adjacent neighborhood concerning that. The one thing that strikes me here, after seeing several different types of intensive developments here, it appears from what's being proposed this evening is a very low intensity use from a traffic perspective. A dental office or a medical office, a small drive-through coffee, that's going to be probably 7 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. I'm not sure who buys coffee after that. A medical office doesn't have hours late at night or weekends. So I think what's being proposed this evening for this one sensitive corner is the best, I think, that we're ever going to see. And I think we should embrace that for its less intense traffic generation. The developer has agreed to limit access to the site. You only have access from Mammoth and the back area. They've agreed to a barrier along the entrance by Mammoth, so you can't make the left turn in into the site. So I think they're doing everything that would be required of them. There's also a comment at the last meeting concerning Why don't we wait until the DOT does their work? I looked at the traffic report, and it looks like the improvements that are being proposed are not really on point for here. They're going to improve a northbound right turn lane. Well, it has nothing to do with this. They're going to improve a westbound approach, which has nothing to do with this. There's two other recommendations in terms of northbound and southbound left turn lanes, which really have very little to do with this. I think the key that I know the Planning Commission has extensively reviewed this and has granted approval. And one answer to Mr. Clarkson is that one of the comments that were raised at the last meeting is trying to change the process of the Planning Commission and that traffic impact studies are required at the application stage and traffic, the comments from our own traffic consultant are received prior to them coming here. So when it comes to the city council, we say okay, they prepared a traffic study, our traffic consultant has reviewed it, our traffic consultant says yay or nay. And that's a big help for us to understand if the traffic's gonna work. So what we've seen from the Beale Engineering is that they have no concerns on the project. It was a very extensive report from Kimberly Horn. My background is in traffic engineering, and I was quite impressed with the extent of their analysis and also the Beale review. So from my perspective, I think it's a good use for this property.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Yeah, I want to, Madam Mayor and Council, clear about my position with this project, because I think it's a little misconception about no way, shape or form do I believe this is a bad development. But I do believe that. It's a bad timing for this particular project. But I support, you know, responsible growth in private investment in Aiken, and my opposition is not directed at a developer or the business that's being proposed. Staff has advised us that individual projects is not expected to significantly change the level of service, delays, or queues, which I received today, so I appreciate staff's for gathering that information, but my concern is bigger than just the one project. Significant roadway improvements are already planned for this area, and we still do not have an updated timeline for their completion. The traffic review also identified prohibited turning movements and recommended a physical safety improvement. And I think at some point we have to stop looking at Whiskey Road as one parcel at a time. One project may be manageable, but also we have to consider what continued development collectively means for this particular corridor. So that's why I believe council should have a serious conversation about that. A temporary moratorium and other appropriate planning tools that allow us to comprehensively evaluate growth, traffic, safety, infrastructure along Whiskey Road. So I support growth, but infrastructure keep up with the pace of growth and not continuously chase it. So for me, it's not yet. And again, this is not a bad development at all. I just believe that it's bad timing. So for that reason, I will go up and know tonight.

Thank you. Yes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to comment a little bit about our safe streets for all initiative. because I think we all know, especially those of us new to council, how much traffic on Whiskey Road was a concern for pretty much everybody. And we have some good news. We've won an award to get Safe Streets for All to look at what has happened between Whiskey Road, between Pine Log and Chukar Creek. Just for the record, they know that there's been 11 people killed or seriously injured. It's called a KSI crashes during a study period. We know we have a problem, and I know we can work together to do it. Nobody's against growth, but we are about to open up the Powder House Connector, the Tribute Parkway. We don't really know the influence on that at this time. We really don't. And what I'm reading is we have been awarded some money to look at that, to identify this high injury network and to make a serious plan to be accountable, to look at it so that suicide lanes are not bad. And I know... We're going to be doing that. And there's going to be a cost to it. But we need to have those discussions about it. Because I know a lot of people don't like to go past Pine Log. Now, I will thank Mr. Russ for telling me to go out and look. And I did, and some other people in this room. I drove it. I drove it a lot. I didn't know all the residences were back there. I was delighted to see how lovely they were. And then I tried to figure out what's the right thing to do. And I realized it really isn't Stratford Hall that's the problem. Because as Russ explained to me, they have the unnamed road. There are different options for those residents to come and go. And it makes sense. And it is better than some of the plans that were voted down previously, the Parker's Kitchen plan. But I am concerned that it isn't just the Stratford Hall side. It is that major intersection at Powder House. And I'm not sure we're being really responsible about fixing it first. And I've read a lot of the work that was done. I was appreciative of the traffic studies. But like Councilman Messina said, you know, we got it a week ago. We need this beforehand. And I'm requesting that we get some of this Safe Streets for All policy studies that they tell us what we need. They do. Excuse me. Go ahead.

I just wanted to clarify. The council adopted the action plan for the Safe Streets for All. Yep.

and the implementation grant that we received which is the 10 million with match we'll go to those specific things that were identified as safety concerns along whiskey road so we we're working toward it and and i think that's the transparency and accountability we need to have as we look at the numbers councilman messina said how many new residences in that area quite a few Not in this specific area. Planned, planned.

Not on Stratford, but the whole. It's more on the north side.

Yeah, and on the Tribute Parkway.

And Tribute Parkway.

Yes, and that's gonna flow in. So my concern is that we need to take a look and be a little better about, not against this development whatsoever. especially given the length of time. But I also think I kept looking at different time frames they were saying when they were going to implement the traffic corrections. And I am concerned about council having a really good idea with a responsible developer about what's going to happen and why. So it's not against you all. It's about are we planning appropriately? Do we really understand that that median is going to be four feet tall? I'm sorry, what is that? The four foot tall. I mean, there's a lot going on here.

Well, they have agreed to that.

Yeah. That's right. And I think there's some things that we need to know. When is it going to be done?

I assume it will be done prior to occupancy.

It will be part of the civil plan.

That'll be a condition of the approval.

Right.

Right. If it's required by planning, they can't go and just do whatever they want. It's required.

They would not get a certificate of occupancy. That's right. So all the traffic improvements have been done.

And what I want to add to this is I don't disagree with doing a study of whiskey, but I agree with Commissioner Messina. We're looking at this, and all we have to base most of this on is what we have seen in our experience and Pete has more experience than any of us, and the fact that we've had a traffic study and our traffic engineer, so if we're not going to trust them and follow what they say, then we just don't do anything. And, you know, I'm not... willing to do that we pay people to give us this advice and having been a planning commissioner i was a planning commissioner for seven years before i was a council person this is a good development and there have been others that have been rejected that's water under the bridge but i'm looking at this and judging it fairly and i'm going to support it tonight Thank you.

And I just want to add one more comment to that. The work that they put in to get us all the information for this project, well taken, and I really do appreciate that. But my concern is I have a constituent base that is very, very concerned about the whiskey corridor right now. And I have to bring their concerns with me as I make that decision. So I just wanted to put that on the record as well.

Madam also in that regard my constituent base is directly affected they live on Stratford and The fact that they were not very enough vocal at the Planning Commission meeting. They're not vocal tonight the developer and has met with them I'm aware of that home Association and They have to agree that this is the least intense traffic generation that they're ever going to see here. I And so I would prefer to approve this than wait till someone comes in with another Parker's Kitchen and another gas station or whatever and try to force it down our throats. Take something that's low key, it works, it doesn't, they directed traffic away from the intersection by the way of their egress points. It's a very low generation. project, a traffic generation project. Again, our traffic consultant has stated it's acceptable. So if any council member has a question of that traffic report, please raise it right now.

my biggest concern with the traffic report is the increase from the tribute parkway once it opens up and how that's going to affect everything along that that area and i'm not i i'm not saying what i'm voting yay or nay i am saying that as a council person and as a person responsible for what we hear in the community traffic is a problem

And I think the city should do a corridor study, traffic study. And I still question the tribute study. But now that we have more and more impact, yeah, let's do that with any future build-out analysis on Whiskey Road specifically looked at. But we have an application before this evening that Again, I can't say it enough times. It's a low generation, trip generation number. I can imagine not approving it.

And may I add one more thing, Madam Mayor? If I'm, Ms. Moultrie, please correct me if I'm incorrect, but in reading the Beale Engineering, it says This is currently in the engineering phase by SCDOT. It's also included in the arts transportation improvement program. The preliminary engineering is happening right now. Right of way acquisitions are planned for fiscal 2027. $360,000, and construction plan for 2028, $1,560,000. Okay, so that's construction in 2028. This particular development, it says on the page before, will not be completed until 2030. So that intersection should be well underway or finished before this particular development comes into fruition. Am I understanding that correctly? That's the way I would read that. Thank you very much.

In addition to that, there is a note on that bottom of that other intersection improvement. It does say note that in recent discussion with SCDOT, the timing and phasing for that intersection has not been fully determined yet. There is a note on there.

But timing and phasing is something you can do rarely to a cookie. I used to do that for a living. It's a very, very simple process to do. I can do that tomorrow, maybe.

I just feel like I have to say something, that this parcel of land is for sale. So previously there was a business that wanted to come and the people of Stratford were very upset. And if I saw a room here full of people that were belligerent and upset and scared about something, I would be much more inclined to vote against. However, I think this is a very good project, and I do have to say that Aiken is growing, and if there's a parcel of land somewhere that looks like it can be used for a project, it's going to get sold. So that is my feelings. Thank you. We'll take a vote now. All those in favor? I have, Council, there'll be four for the project. I think Lessee's got her named. No, Lessee, Lessee. Are you? I'm sorry, five for the project, and all those vote against.

I'm sorry, abstain.

So Councilman Waldo is our opposed, and Councilman Morgan is abstaining. Thank you so much. That is the vote count. Thank you, gentlemen. The next item under old business is second reading of an ordinance to amend the concept plan for 199 Willow Run Road. Mr. Beanbow.

Thank you. This is an ordinance amending the concept plan for property located at 199 Willow Run Road and owned by SBCA Albrecht Center for Animal Wellness. This project does require a concept plan approval to allow a... Accessory building, detached accessory structure for residential use as well as meeting space on this almost 10-acre parcel. And council heard this at first reading August 10th and approved it unanimously to second reading. And that was after the Planning Commission approved. unanimously recommended approval at their meeting in July. This is before council tonight for second reading, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Is there a motion to amend the consent plan?

I so move.

Councilwoman Diggs and a second from? I'll second, Madam Mayor. Councilwoman Bruhl. Are there any comments from the public? Any comments from Council?

All those in favor?

Thank you. Unanimous. Fourth item under old business, second reading of a master bond ordinance providing for the issuance and sale of hospitality fee revenue bonds of the city of Aiken, defining the terms and security for such bonds and other matters relating thereto. Mr. B.

Thank you. We do have second reading, and this is a master bond ordinance, as you described, providing for the issuance and sale of hospitality fee revenue bonds of the City of Aiken, defining the terms and security for such bonds and other matters related thereto. This is the master bond ordinance, that following this would be a series bond ordinance but what we have is amending the master bond ordinance which will allow a series bond ordinance to be issued for construction of a parking deck and related matters so I guess we'll be doing the master bond ordinance first and followed by a series bond ordinance so I know Mr. Pope is here, who is our bond counsel. And I think there might be more questions as it relates to the second reading of the series ordinance. But we need to have the master bond ordinance for consideration first. And this is second reading of that, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Is there a motion to accept this? I so move man a mayor Councilman role. Made the motion. 2nd from Councilman Waldo. Comments from the public. Comments from Council. All those in favor. Thank you unanimous. much like the other, this is the final item under Old Business, second reading of a series ordinance of the City of Aiken, South Carolina, providing for the issuance and sale of hospitality fee revenue bonds in the aggregate principal amount of not exceeding $7 million. Mr. Beanbow.

Thank you. This is a series ordinance of the City of Aiken, South Carolina, providing for the issuance and sale of hospitality fee revenue bonds in the aggregate principal amount of not exceeding seven million dollars authorizing amendment to the parking deck development contract and amending the fiscal year 2026-27 budget of the city of Aiken to appropriate funds for the parking deck project and providing for other matters related there too. What we have is this is part of the development agreement that was passed in December 2025. The project We're looking at now – I mean, the cost is very – I got another number that's lower than the $11.35 million that was updated in the memorandum. But we are looking to put down – four and a half million dollars. The source of the funding is interest that has accrued from plutonium funds for this down payment. We would look at financing either 10 to 20 years depending on when we get when the request for proposals come in in the next few weeks. Our hope is we would be able to finance this over a 10-year period. We're optimistic that based on expected cost and annual payments, that will fit in with what we would be looking at with revenue from Again, the cost should not rise above this $11.35 million. I had a meeting at 4 o'clock this afternoon with Oliver, and that number, after some value engineering, has gone down. back to around 10.9 million, based on some value engineering. Again, being very cautious, they have contingency in line items and contingency in just as a overall line item in the budget. So again, we have this before you this evening for second reading, and I see Mr. Pope has moved up here to the front. there are any questions about the mechanics of this. Certainly, we would come back to council assuming this passes with the RFP and a recommendation for council's approval. Okay, so we would go ahead and report that to council. This accounts for that, but I'm going to let you take over.

Madam Mayor, members of council, nice to be with you, Gary Pope. Two things I wanted to just note in the ordinance. First is A, this delegates authority to you as city manager and the mayor to execute the transaction within the parameters that are set forth in the series ordinance. The other item I wanted to note was that in section 4.01, not 4.01, 4.03, we currently note $4 million being appropriated. And if that's 4.5 from the agenda, we would just want to make sure that figure is adjusted in that document if we need to.

Yeah, if we... The number... that's the thing is the number keeps again, it's based on cost of materials and value engineering. Um, I do believe maybe adding an up to 4.5 would be the appropriate approach because of material costs. However, uh, after today and there'll be some additional value engineering, uh, coming up, um, I I'm optimistic that it'll be in that 4 million number.

Okay. I just wanted to note that. And for Gary, however, we need to do the amendment. Um, if you do want to take it to four and a half, that's the will of council or leave it as is. I just didn't want to, I just didn't want us to pass it at four and then immediately.

Yep. Yeah. Again, I guess to kind of cover ourselves, um, think we would be okay leave again after the report I got about four and a half hours ago I think we would be okay leaving it at four million but based on a call last week that's why the number increased did you want to add anything to no I think we'll be fine as as written in the ordinance

Okay, then. Do I hear a motion?

We would need a motion and a second.

Do I hear a motion? I so move, Madam Mayor. Thank you.

Councilwoman Roll? Second. Councilman Waldo, second. Comments from the public? Comments from council?

I have a clarification, Madam Mayor. in the first paragraph regarding...

That number's gone back down. Okay. It's gone up. It's up about $150,000 now, I think we quoted. It's about $10.9 million. Again, when I wrote the memo, I had a meeting with everyone and, you know, with cost of materials, with inflation. it had gone up. However, they value engineered out a good amount of money, almost half a million, conservatively about half a million dollars to get it down to 10.9 million. And again, that was information I received about four o'clock this afternoon, right before we stepped into our work session. So I do believe that leaving the down payment, leaving the ordinance written as four million plus, this information, I feel comfortable with how we have everything laid out for council this evening. And I don't believe the number will, I think we're pretty fixed at 10.9.

So you don't think it's gonna fluctuate with this?

If it does, it might fluctuate slightly down. Okay. But I don't believe it will fluctuate upwards But I guess if I could say with 100% certainty, I would, you know. But I feel very comfortable saying that. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from the council? All those in favor? Thank you. It's unanimous. We now move to new business. The first item is first reading of an ordinance to rezone five acres located at 102 Gaston Road Northeast from industrial to planned commercial and approve a concept plan. Mr. Bedenboe.

This is an ordinance. Thank you, Madam Mayor. An ordinance amending the zoning of property located at 102 Gaston Road Northeast from I industrial to PC planned commercial and approve a concept plan. The applicant has, uh, is proposing some duplex residential buildings with approximately 20 units. The commercial zoning would be due to the plan to do short term lodging and in accordance with the council policy from october of 2006 since it is over five acres and the provision of utility services it must comply with the pc or planned commercial zoning which requires a concept plan to be reviewed by the planning commission and approved by city council there would be the applicant is proposing to build four duplex units two units with two bedrooms and two units with three bedrooms Guests that frequent Highfields will find on-site lodging an enhancement for their stay. With the city paved road access off of Gaston Road, guests find easy access in a quiet environment. And with short-term event-driven guest occupancy, the trip volume will be minimal. Once guests arrive, they will be on the 75-acre facility and can access their stabled horses or the concert venue on foot or by golf cart without access to public roads. The parcel is currently developed with an office building, which will remain. The concept plan proposes a parking area in the middle of the duplex buildings which appears to provide 16 spaces, which is two less than the parking text amendment recently approved by council on first reading and subsequent second reading tonight on the consent agenda. The plan does not provide for passive or active recreation, but the parcel is adjacent to Highfield's equestrian and music events facility for which the housing is associated. PC projects require any freestanding signs to be monument type. The location of the proposed duplexes and parking lot will significantly reduce existing tree canopy. An existing tree survey and landscaping plan will be provided will be required to confirm that the tree canopy will be replaced by conserved and proposed new trees. The concept plan shows a shared driveway with the existing on-site office building which services Gaston Road, which is serviced by Gaston Road and pedestrian traffic between the two properties since they're interconnected with the event center would be anticipated. They have city sanitary sewer and water lines available. Sewer capacity will be contemplated and considered for approval by Aiken County's Public Service Authority. The concept plan does not denote the proposed open space percentage, but staff estimates about 75% of the property will remain undeveloped. The concept plan shows a minimal 30-foot separation between the proposed duplexes, which complies with those separation standards that are required. The property is not adjacent to any properties owned or used residentially, so landscape screening buffers are not required. A planting strip varying in length between 10 feet and 25 feet and street trees are required along Gaston Road frontage. and daily trip generation will depend upon events at the adjacent event center. Those present at the Planning Commission's August 11th meeting unanimously voted to rezone from industrial I to PC planned commercial with the following conditions. The number of parking spaces and parking lot dimensions comply with the applicable zoning ordinance standards. Second, that either the existing single lane section of the driveway be improved for two-way traffic with SCDOT permit are striped and posted for one-way movement. Third, that an all-weather pedestrian path be provided along the duplexes in the northern property line. Fourth, that the development complies with the required minimum building setbacks. Fifth, that the development complies with all applicable tree preservation and landscaping standards of the zoning ordinance. Sixth, that the applicant submits a revised concept plan stating the conditions of approval. And seventh, an agreement stating the conditions of approval signed by the applicant. And this is a consideration of an ordinance to rezone five acres at 102 Gaston Road Northeast from I Industrial to PC Plan Commercial and approval of the concept plan with the conditions recommended by the Planning Commission. As before you this evening.

Thank you so much. Do I have a motion to accept this?

I so move.

Second.

Wait now. Have a second. Oh, Councilman Morgan made the motion. Gail made the motion.

I'm sorry.

Councilwoman Diggs made the motion and Councilman Morgan second the motion. Are there any comments from the public? Are there any comments from Council? I personally would like to say I think this is a fantastic idea and great use of space and thank you for. Planning this. And repurposing a property. Yes, of course.

Yeah, it's a great it's the Biddle property, is that right? What a wonderful way to celebrate what you can have. Right next to high fields. I mean, it's awesome.

This is Rick Cram. Yeah, I know.

Richard Cram, 118 Surry Circle. Good evening. Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council. We acquired the Biddle Real Estate Office last winter and have been trying to figure out what would be the great purpose for that. My daughter graduates from UGA this December and wants to be a CPA, so I think that that's going to lend a place for her to maybe put up a shingle.

...historic resource survey and was not given a designation, even though it is located... Do I have a motion, please?

Madam Mayor, I so move.

Councilman Morgan made the matter may before we do that.

I need to recuse myself because of being a board member.

OK. Thank you for saying that. Councilman Price is going to be absent for this.