Committee - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. So, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. Thank you. Good evening.

I would like to call the Committee on Justice and Public Safety meeting to order and ask that Ms. Jenna Lee Walls provide the invocation and for Councilman Tommy Newell to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

If you will please bow your heads. Dear Lord, we thank you for another day and for another opportunity to talk about important things impacting our county. Lord, we pray for our council. We thank you for how they serve us, Lord. We pray that you would give them wisdom in all they discuss tonight. Let everything we say and do glorify you, Lord. In your name we pray, amen.

Amen.

Has this meeting been properly noticed via the Freedom of Information Act?

Yes, sir, it has.

Thank you. First, we have a recognition item. With Coroner Darnell Hartwell, meet us at the podium.

I know I saw you now.

We've been blessed in Berkeley County to be honored with a few awards this year, but tonight we're honoring our coroner, Donald Hartwell, with the South Carolina Coroner of the Year Award, or he has been awarded that, and we're recognizing him. The South Carolina Coroner of the Year is the highest honor bestowed by the South Carolina Coroners Association. It recognizes a coroner with exceptional leadership and dedication to public service, and a significant contribution to advancing medicalogical I think after three years I've got that word down, death investigations in the state. It's presented annually at the SCCA's annual conference, and the award celebrates a coroner who has demonstrated outstanding service to their community, improved the quality of death investigations, and enhanced public trust in the profession. Congratulations to this year's recipient, Coroner Darnell Harwell.

Just want to tell everybody thank you. Just a few quick moments. Again, I just want to, I was always taught that Man gives the award, but God gives the reward. And I just want to thank y'all for this opportunity. I want to thank Supervisor Cribb and his staff. I want to thank council. Without them, we won't be successful. Again, this is just not an achievement for the coroner's office, but this is an achievement for Berkeley County. This is the first in the history of Berkeley County that we was able to bring an award like this back home. Again, it just, a testament of the great work that we do here in Berkeley County, the families that we serve. Many of you know that it can be somebody's day to day and it can be ours tomorrow. But my office strives to give compassion, professional services to our residents of Berkeley County and make sure that we take care of our families. But again, this is a great achievement, not again for Team Berkeley. That's what I want to look at is Team Berkeley. There are so many departments that I'm not going to try to name that I have worked with since I got elected. And again, we are successful in the coroner's office. Berkeley County is successful because of our administration, our counsel. and all the members and all the team players that we have here in Berkley County. So our director heads, our elected officials, Please go back and take this message that the coroner's office is very fortunate and blessed to be able to work alongside you and provide the exceptional services that we do here in Berkeley County. Today, I have a few of my staff that's here as well. We have one of my predecessor, retired coroner Bill Salisbury, George Oliver, who was another coroner that I worked for, couldn't be here today. But again, my entire career was here in Berkeley County. This is all I serve as the people of Berkeley County for over 20 years. I started out as a volunteer and worked my way up. And again, this is my home. These are people that I know, these are people that I work alongside. So again, it is an honor, it is a privilege, but it's also a blessing to be able to be here before each and every one of you today and bring this award back home to Berkeley County. The last thing that I want to say is that, again, my entire career here in Berkeley County, some of the things I have seen over the years, again, the coroner's office made coroner of the year. Sheriff Lewis made sheriff of the year. Chief Ben Warren made firefighter of the year. There has been a time in Berkeley County history where the wind blew wrong. We were calling for other agencies to come in and help us here in Berkeley County. But now today, I'm proud to be able to see how we are able to help other counties because we have the experience, we have the resources, we have the technology here to be able to offer assistance to other people and kind of be able to take care of ourselves here in Berkeley County. So again, thank you. Thank you all for the opportunity.

One, two, three. Keep smiling.

Next, we have approval of the minutes from the regular committee meeting held on June 8th, 2026, and the special committee meeting held on June 22nd, 2026, which have been distributed. I have a motion and a second. A motion and a second. And corrections to these minutes. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? The minutes stand approved as presented. Next, we have agenda items. Major Bobby Shuler, we have the State School Resource Officer Program Award, 2026-2027.

Good evening, Council. This is in reference to the State School Resource Officer Program Award. We've got this grant award for the last few years. Move for approval.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Any discussion?

All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? That motion carries. Next, Chief Waring, Fire Services Training Tower. Walk slow, hoping you get a motion.

Good evening. We'd like to request to spend $850,000 of the state allocation funds that were granted to Berkeley County.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mr. Chair. Yes.

These were grant funds of $1.1 million we got and the bid come back at only $850,000. Is that correct?

Yeah, yeah. So we had 1.1 million to spend on the training tower purchase. The other 467,000 went towards the renovation of the classroom. That was already completed. The 1.1 million, the 850 is coming out of that. The rest of those funds are going towards the land prep and concrete that we have to do before we build the actual tower.

And this is all based on a state grant we got, correct?

State allocation funds from 2024. Thank you.

Any more discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? That motion carries. Second. Next, we have consideration prior to second reading. Bill number 26-31, an ordinance to amend the Code of Ordinances. Move for approval. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? That motion carries. Next, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Motion is second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? We are adjourned.

Good evening. I'd like to call the Committee on Operations meeting to order. Ms. Clerk, has this meeting been properly noticed via the Freedom of Information Act?

Yes, sir, it has.

First is the approval of minutes on the regular committee meeting held on June 8th, 2026, which has been distributed.

Move for approval. Second.

Any corrections? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay.

The minutes stand as approved and as presented.

Next, I have a recognition item, a U.S. DOT bill grant. Supervisor Cribb.

Thank you, Councilman Newell. I want to ask a few people to come up if they would. Ms. Amanda Deaton, Brian Murda, Mandy Ware, if y'all could come to the podium. And also Daniel Brock, Mark Lester, and Shannon Meter. Is everybody here? Awesome. The county recently applied for a federal build grant to help with one of our transportation projects. The Highway 176 widening phase two basically goes from the Nexton Park interchange all the way down to Jedburgh Road. It's a highly competitive grant process. There were over 1,200 applications. 127 projects out of the 1,200 got approved. To give you another idea of the scope of it, there was 1.73 billion in funding, and there were 14.5 billion in requests from around the country, and these come from all over the country. So we're constantly putting in for grants. This team's had a lot of luck on some other grants recently, but not 22 and a half million. So we thought it'd be fitting to thank them tonight and recognize them for their efforts. This is our internal sales tax team and HNTB, a consulting firm that we're working with on the project. So very successful. The phase two of 176, these funds will pay for about 40% of that project. So if you're not familiar with our county sales tax program in 2022, the voters voted on it to continue the penny sales tax, estimate that it will bring in over $550 million in the seven year period. We have a lot of major projects and very specific projects that we're doing on that referendum. So getting state funds and getting federal funds is absolutely critical to getting these projects done. And we'll spend every penny of our money on roads. So for example, by getting this 22 and a half million, that puts us in the ballpark of 50 to 55 more miles of road we could resurface all because we went after and put in a competitive application and got that grant. So it makes a real difference. Nobody gets to keep this money. It doesn't go into some other department or anything like that. It stays in the road program. So we wanted to thank our team for their efforts tonight and the collaboration. Councilman Newell and I flew to DC to advocate for this project. And I thought it'd be fitting to mention that tonight. We met with Senator Scott, Personally, we met with Representative Mace's designee, but we spent the most time with Senator Graham, actually a lot more than we thought we would get to spend. And while we were there, he asked us who we had just met with at USDOT, and we had a business card of who we had just met with, and we handed him the business card. And he immediately contacted that office saying, hey, I got some people here and they're going after this grant and I want y'all to know this project is important to me. And don't think that didn't mean something with 1,200 projects being in the kitty and 120 something being awarded. So aside from Councilman Newell looking very intimidating in that meeting, we had a... We had a lot of luck in getting it. So we wanna thank the entire team and the process. And again, and just so the public knows also, US 176 is a state maintained federal highway. So we were going after federal dollars to help try to widen and fix a federal highway. So we think that also made our application very competitive. So y'all set the bar high, can't wait to see what next grant you're gonna get us. We've gotten grant money so far, federal money and local money for Black Tom, Black Tom Extension Intersection, we're getting ready to start. Black Tom, Cooper Store Road, we're getting ready to start. And there's one more, Amanda.

We got Clementsbury Road multi-use path, and then we also received funding for Old Mount Holly and Royal Road at Farmington Treeland as well this year.

So in this one referendum, we've had a lot of success so far, and we're going to keep applying. So anyways, we wanted to thank you for your efforts and congratulate you on helping us obtain the $22.5 million. It's going to make a big difference. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Cribb. That was not intimidating. I look like Santa Claus. Next, we have a presentation from the One-Cent Sales Tax Program Manager, Ms. Amanda Deaton.

Good evening. I'm going to give an update on our One-Cent Sales Tax Program. So since my last presentation, we've had three projects that have completed construction. Our first one is our Henry Brown Boulevard Extension Phase 1A. This project is at the intersection of Red Bank Road and Henry Brown Boulevard. This project was managed solely by SCDOT. Our second project is US 176 Phase 1 Widening. And our third is United Drive. This is one of the five major resurfacing projects that are part of the 2022 referendum. So in addition, we do have a couple of projects that are under construction. The first two are 2024 and our 2025 local resurfacing. These two resurfacing packages will be completed by the end of this year. Our 2026 local resurfacing package will start construction in the next couple of weeks. And so to date, we have over 89 miles of roads that have been under contract for resurfacing as part of the one cent sales tax program. Our last project is Sangaree Parkway. We have 10 turn lanes that are under construction along the parkway. And so next are just two slides of both of our 2024 and our... widening project. In addition, there are two realignment components for Dawson's Branch Road realignment. We are working on right-of-way acquisition, and then we're working on the final design for the Strathmore Road realignment. Our Jedburg Road Improvement Phase Two. This project is realignment of Jedburg Road into US 176 at Black Tom Road. We are working on right away plans. North Cedar Street Extension. Our traffic study is underway and will be submitted to the town of Somerville and Dorchester County this week. Old Mount Holly Road improvements. We are working on right of way plans for this project. Also this year, CHATS provided $500,000 to go towards construction for this project. U.S. 176 Phase II, we had a public meeting back in January of this year. We are also working on right-of-way plans, and as just mentioned previously, this project was awarded $22.5 million through the BUILD grants. Our US 52 at 176 project, I have this project broken up into kind of two separate projects. One is a short term and one is a long term. For the short term, there are two phases. Our phase one, we are working on right away acquisition and final construction plans are under review. Phase two, we are working on, we have the right away plans and they're under review as well. Our long-term improvements for this project, we did just issue notice to proceed back in May and we're working on the environmental studies. For the US 52 corridor improvements, the traffic study and phasing plan have been completed. Moving on to our intersection projects, both Black Tom Road at Black Tom Road Extension and Cooper Store Road at Black Tom Road Extension. We held a public meeting for both of these projects back in March, and right-of-way plans are under review by DOT, and once we receive approval, we can start acquiring right-of-way acquisitions. River Landing Drive at Seven Farms Drive. This project is currently being advertised with a bid opening tomorrow, and then we'll be coming to county council for award on the 27th. Royal Road at Farmington Treeland Drive. We had a public meeting for this project back in January. Right-of-way plans are under review by SCDOT, and once we receive approval, we can begin right-of-way acquisition. Again, similar to Old Mount Holly, CHATS has provided $500,000 for this project to go towards the construction. Snake Road at NAD Road. Right-of-way plans are underway. Tanner Ford Boulevard at Tanner Hall Boulevard, right-of-way acquisition is underway, as well as final construction plans. The next two intersection projects are along 52. Both of those, preliminary design is underway. And then our last US 52 intersection, which is US 52 at Stephanie Drive at Windsor Mill, right-of-way plans are underway. Other transportation projects, Clements Ferry Road multi-use path, the construction bid documents are with DOT for review and approval. Once we get approval, then we can go ahead and advertise this project. The next two projects are intersection improvement projects along Old Highway 52. Both of those projects are currently advertised for construction with the bid opening tomorrow, and I will be presenting those on the 27th for award. Oxford and Trinity Bridges. So, preliminary roadway plans and bridge plans have been reviewed, and we're just waiting for some feedback on some additional analysis that was performed to determine the path forward. River Reach Drive, these improvements are being constructed as part of the D.R. Horton project. D.R. Horton is currently going through the City of Charleston's permitting process. Sangaree Parkway improvements, as I mentioned, a portion of this project, which are the left turn lanes, are under construction, but we're also working on preliminary plans for the multi-use path. Yeomans Hall Road improvements, the traffic study has been completed and it's currently under review. Moving on to our major resurfacing projects. So Bushy Park Road County actually provided a match commitment letter for SCDOT's grant application back in February for this project. This would include resurfacing all of Bushy Park Road. The next three, Gravel Hill Road, SC45, and Harris Town Road, those projects are currently being evaluated.

Excuse me, ma'am. Yes. You said they were being evaluated.

So yes, staff met with our program management firm last Thursday, and them and Danny Thrower actually did a site visit. So we're working on determining what the limits would be and preparing the packages for those.

Okay. No conclusion dated in mind as far as

No, it should just be, it'd take probably just a couple months for us to get all the packages pulled together, encroachment permits. As those are DOT rows, we would have to get encroachment permits for those as well.

Okay, thank you.

For our local resurfacing program, we are going to be reevaluating all of our county and city roads at the end of this year. So the last evaluation was done in 2023. Also for our 27 local resurfacing package, we will start preparing that package third quarter of this year. Our dirt to pave program, so Benjamin Drive, Collins Hill Drive, Constitution Avenue, Rice Hope Roads, and also Strawberry Roads, all of those projects are being advertised. Bid opening is tomorrow, and I will be presenting those on the 27th for award. And lastly is our 2022 dirt to pave program. We have preliminary plans underway for Dennis Ridge Road, Judy Hill Drive and Saint Julian Drive. The remainder of the roads excluding George Street will be chip sealed by our in-house forces. And that is the end of the updates. Are there any questions?

Any questions? Thank you, Ms. Madden.

Thank you.

Next, we have the 2026 CTC local resurfacing. Mr. Danny.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had procurement send out an invitation for a bid for 131 roads totaling 41.85 miles. Bids were received on July 2nd. And these roads were submitted from the County Transportation Committee for resurfacing. all throughout Berkeley County. These roads will be managed by Berkeley County on an encroachment permit for the state road systems and through the normal process for the county road systems. We had three bids come in. We recommend awarding a low bid to Banks Construction in the amount of $14,478,648.31.

Move for approval.

Second.

Any discussion?

Mr. Chair. Mr. Obey. Mr. Thorough, just to clarify, these are the roads being paid for CTC funds which comes from the state, correct? Yes, sir. Thank you.

Mr. Danny, how many miles is this?

41.85 miles. And that's averaging about 346,000 per mile. That's a pretty good rate.

That's a good rate.

Any further discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. Thank you. Next, we got Waterfront Park existing hall roof and floor change orders. Mr. Bryan.

Good evening. Looking to approve a change order for the waterfront park existing hall renovation for the roof as well as the floor.

Move to approve.

I got a motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

We got a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. We're done.

Good evening. I'd like to call the Committee on Community Services meeting to order. Ms. Clerk, has this meeting been properly noticed via the Freedom of Information Act?

Yes, sir, it has.

First on our agenda is approval of the minutes from the regular meeting, which was held on June 8th, 2026, which have been distributed. Move to approval.

Second.

Any corrections to these minutes? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Minutes stand approved as presented. Next, we have a presentation item, the Community Development Block Grants, CDBG for 26, a check presentation. Ms. Williams, Ms. Blackmon.

Good evening. Tonight's presentation commemorates the kickoff of the Community Development Block Grant 2026 program year. The awardees have been vetted by the Grants Department, an outside consultant, and the advisory board. The awardees have agreed to ongoing monitoring and income verification as required by HUD. AT THIS MOMENT, I WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD AND ASK THAT YOU JOIN ME UP FRONT. MS. BRIA BACHMAN, OUR BOARD CHAIR. MS. KRISTEN SMALLS, OUR VICE CHAIR. MS. ANNE BURCH. MR. DAN GUZMAN. Holly Simpson. Ms. Lisa Kearns. And Ms. Jackie Adams. THESE MEMBERS SERVE ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS, PRIMARILY DURING THE APPLICATION AND AWARDEE PROCESS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO YOUR COMMUNITIES. NOW FOR OUR AWARDEES. WHEN YOUR ORGANIZATION IS CALLED, PLEASE COME TO THE FRONT. MS. ASHTON WILL PRESENT YOUR CHECKS, AND YOU WILL WALK DOWN TO SEE MS. SANDRA. CHANGE LIVES MINISTRY, $98,500. PINEVILLE ED TOWN PARK, $108,425. THE WASA MASA TRIBE VONDERTOWN INDIANS, $75,000. AMERICA ACADEMY, $98,750. The Kane-Hawaii Community Center, $100,000. Berkeley Seniors, Goose Creek Senior Center, $75,000. Pound of Bono, $50,000. TOWN OF ST. STEPHEN, $75,000. OUR COUNTY ALLOCATED FUNDING, FIRE DEPARTMENTS, $200,000. and our Berkeley County Park improvements, $134,601. At this time, we're going to ask Ms. Jenna to take our picture.

Ain't nobody squeezing in. You might have to go out in the parking lot.

You gotta back up some more. Yeah.

If we look at you, it looks great.

So next we have consideration of a resolution, a resolution authorizing the County of Berkeley, South Carolina to enter into an intergovernmental cooperative agreement with units of local government pursuant to provisions of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 as amended. Ms. Williams.

Yes, sir. Every three years, the county must re-qualify with HUD. It requires us to go into an IGA with our municipalities. All six municipalities has agreed to opt in for the next three years.

Move for approval. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Ms. Williams, just to clarify, it's the partnership with us and the other municipalities that gives us the ability to have these funds to award them out every year. Is that correct?

Yes, sir. It makes us an entitlement community.

So yeah, so we appreciate the other municipalities joining in so we can get these funds every year to be able to pass them out to these great organizations within the county. So if you're the municipalities that are here and represented, thank you for joining in with us to be able to get these grants. And for those that live in the other communities and other municipalities, thank them for joining Berkeley County so we can get those funds and qualify.

Supervisor Crewe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the benefit of the public, how does one become eligible to receive these funds? And basically, to become an entitlement county, your population has to be over 200,000 people. So when Berkeley County exceeded 200,000 people, and I believe we're somewhere around 275,000, 280,000 now, each year we get roughly around $1.1, $1.2 million in And the other point of note is these are dedicated funds that have to be spent on projects like this, in LMI areas, or it has to be something that benefits seniors or adults with disabilities. So those are the categories it has to fit in. And if you're a staunch supporter of public safety, police fire, you name it, none of this is general fund money that gets taken out of any other department operating in the county. It's dedicated funds that comes to us from the federal government to actually use for projects just like what was in front of us. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. We stand adjourned.

Good evening. I'd like to call the Committee on Land Use to order. Madam Clerk, has this meeting been properly noticed via the Freedom of Information Act?

Yes, sir, it has.

Thank you. First on the agenda tonight, we have the approval of the meeting minutes from the regular committee meeting held on June 8th, 2026, which have been distributed. Do I have a motion?

Move to approve. Second.

I have a motion by Councilwoman Stern, a second by Councilman Owens. Are there any corrections to these minutes? Not hearing any, all in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? The minutes stand as presented. Next up, we have considerations prior to first reading. First up is bill number 26-37, an order to modify the official zoning and development standards map of Berkeley County, South Carolina. In regards to Tristan Simmons of Universal Towing on behalf of Robert Rick Turt for TMS numbers 161-15-00-011, a plus or minus 0.6 acres located on South Live Oak Drive, Kendall Wood Lane, and Black Tom Road in the vicinity of Monk's Corner from the manufactured residential R2 District to the general commercial GC District and County Council District 6. Ms. Simmons.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The applicant is seeking this rezoning in order to operate a towing company on the premises, which falls outside of existing site grandfathering. In order to bring the activity into conformance, the applicant not only must receive rezoning approval, but subsequent to that, pursue and obtain a special exception for primary use outdoor storage from the BCA. Upon review, staff recommended approval. Planning Commission did as well in a unanimous vote. There were no stakeholders present in opposition to the request at the time of the meeting.

What's the pleasure of counsel?

Mr. Simmons, or Mr. Chair.

The West.

Mr. Simmons. This is the corner of Blacktown Road and 17. Correct. This has been an auto repair tow yard for as long as I can remember. Is that correct?

When we looked into the prior usage, we found it to be related to boat repair. But we can certainly study the prior usage with the applicant, of course. By seeking the rezoning to general commercial, the applicant would not be limited by the grandfather clause.

Move for approval.

Motion, is there a second?

Second.

Motion to second. And Ms. Simmons, one quick question. Look at this drawing. The other two lots behind it, those are zoned general commercial as well?

Behind the subject property, those are zoned R2.

R2, okay. Which color is, all right, general commercial is the purple all around. I see. Thank you.

Any other questions? Mr. Chairman. Mr. Newell. I remember seeing them wash cars there at one point.

I've seen him do it, but just about everything with a car.

Yeah. So it's not anything bad. Can't put a gas station there.

Any other discussion? I have a motion by Councilman West, a second by Councilman Pinckney. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries.

next up we have um consideration uh again for first reading is bill numbers 26-38 an ordinance to modify the official zoning i'd like to make a motion because so many of these are interrelated that we combine 26-38 through 26-50 and please correct me if i have the wrong numbers

No, Mr. West, that is correct. So what we are combining, for those in the audience, there are multiple different properties to rezone for the Cane Bay rezoning. So I'll briefly read them all out. We'll be combining bill number 26-38 through 26-50. 26-38 is for TMS numbers 180-00-03-025, 179-00-00-053, 179-00-00-054, which is plus or minus 56.66 acres, which is a portion of TMS numbers 179-00-00-036. 180-00-03-088 and 180-00-03-089 going from a planned development to a planned development. The next TMS number would be 39, which is 180-00-03-021, a plus or minus 3.48 acres going from a PD to a different PD. Next is bill number 26-40, which is TMS numbers 180-00-03-087, which is plus or minus 37.87 acres going from a planned development to a new planned development PD. Next up is bill number 26-41, which is TMS numbers 180-00-03-001, which is 314.41 acres going from a current plan development to another plan development. Next up is bill number 26-42. TMS number is 180-00-03-008, 180-00-03-007, 180-00-03-006, 180-00-03-005,

Hold with me here.

180-00-03-004, 003, 085, 056, and 055, which are plus or minus 177.5 acres going from Flex 1 to a PD. Next up is bill number 2643. TMS numbers 180-00-03-067, 080 and 079, which is 22.69 acres going from residential R2 to a PD. 26-44, TMS numbers... 180-00-03-076, and 195-00-00-033, 798.75 acres going from flex one to the plan development PD. TMS number, bill number 2645, which is one TMS number 180-00-03-029, 18.31 acres going from general commercial to the PD plan development. 26-46, one TMS number being 180-00-03-038, 7.05 acres going from residential R2 to the plan development PD. Bill number 26-47, TMS numbers 180-00-01-004 and 057, which is plus or minus 13.87 acres going from Flex 1 to the planned development PD. Bill number 26-48, TMS numbers 180-00-01-071 is 3.16 acres going from... Flex 1, rural neighborhood commercial to planned development PD. Next is bill number 26-49, which are TMS numbers 180-00-01-041, 049, and 048, which is a total of 7.27 acres going from general commercial to the planned development PD. And lastly is bill number 26-50, which is bill numbers 180-00-01-003, 042 and 043, which is 3.31 acres going from residential R2 to the planned development PD. I have a motion to combine all those together by Mr. West. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Owens. All in favor of combining these together for discussion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Mr. Chairman, note my recusal.

Please note Mr. Newell's recusal. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right. We already did that. Sorry. all right so miss simmons um please tell us about um all these um rezonings um this is a little bit different than what we normally have this is obviously a big rezoning and a big a big adjustment to our current plan development and some additions to that plan development so staff has put together some notes for council to understand and i think we also have the developer coming up here as well to explain a little bit about the plan development he's doing miss simmons

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The applicant is seeking a PD rezoning that supports 5,500 dwelling units of varying types and a variety of commercial, institutional, and other uses developed in a neo-traditional context with an accompanying development agreement that will route separately. Upon review, staff recommends approval subject to conditions, and Planning Commission recommended approval in a vote of four to two. The subject assemblage is held under multiple zoning districts, and the department estimates that the buy-right zoning yield within this assemblage is around 5,700 units. I would like to preface that that is simply an estimate to it. This also accounts for remaining entitlements within Cane Bay, which we estimate to be around 3,900. Furthermore, roughly half of the property is zoned in base zoning districts, and we estimate the yield that is supportable to be around 1,800 dwelling units therein. This estimate is based on gross acreage. It does not account for development limiting factors, and as I mentioned, it is simply that, an estimate.

Ms. Simmons. Oh, sorry. Just to clarify, the 5,700 number there is what he can build today without any permissions from the county?

Correct, that's our estimate.

And so he's wanting to build, if you go back a slide, if my math serves me correctly, 220 less?

Correct.

Okay.

While the applicant can develop by right, doing so would not yield the vision, mixture of uses and housing types, interconnectedness, walkability, and mitigation contemplated in the current proposal. The PD contemplates a mixture of uses, new traditional design elements, set asides for open space and public facilities, diverse housing options, multimodal transportation options, interconnectivity, and other elements that are not achievable in the present zoning. In short, the item before you offers an improved development pattern, mitigatory framework, and based on our estimates, less density than what could be accomplished by right. Furthermore, the gross density is 2.7 units per acre, which is less than the density supportable in our current R1, R2, and R1MM districts, which is three dwelling units to the acre, which also is held under the option to go up to 3.5 dwelling units to the acre under cluster subdivision. So 2.75 dwelling units is actually less than what R1 and R2 and R1MM are held to.

Ms. Simmons, again, sorry. I know there's been a lot of chatter on this. So just to re-clarify what you just said, the gross residential density is 2.75 units per acre. If you were to zone this to just plain, all over the plain R1, if my memory serves me correctly, those are 14,000 square foot lots. And on these that you just did on my quick math, it's around 17,500 square foot lots. So these are bigger. in this plan development than what it could be if he were to rezone it to an R1, which is the standard residential zoning throughout the county. Is that correct?

The density is less than what can be achievable in R1. The PD also supports a variety of lot sizes and housing types, which is also not achievable in R1.

But on average. Got it. Thank you.

Should the PD and DA be adopted, these regulatory documents will ensure that development occurs in a manner consistent with Lake Village's new traditional development intent and impacts are mitigated as set forth therein. Furthermore, these regulatory documents will apply to both the master developer and his assessors, establishing predictability for all parties. Also contained in the suburban communities growth corridor and mixed use center future land use designations, the one Berkeley comprehensive plan supports the integrated mixed use development intended by the proposal. And as you can recall, the comp plan was developed through a robust public engagement process that spanned over 18 months. To touch on the mitigation, I would like to share the preliminary development terms. These terms are subject to change pending continued negotiations led by legal and the administration. So to start, as it relates to traffic infrastructure, the applicant has committed to contributing $10 million toward traffic infrastructure. The applicant is held to make intersection improvements at 17A connections per the traffic impact analysis. The TIA is also required to be updated every five years. The PD design standards support bicycle and pedestrian accessibility as well as interconnectivity. There are no interconnections intended within Wynwood, and the applicant is willing to assure this in the regulatory documents. Three accesses are intended to be county maintained. The remainder are intended to be privately maintained.

Ms. Simmons, just to make sure I got all this right, to understand what he can do now and what he's proposing to do. So based on what you said earlier, it sounds like if he didn't do any type of development agreement based on his by-right, he can build a few more houses depending on whose numbers we use, your numbers or his numbers. I know there's some difference in there, but regardless, It sounds like he can build a few more houses than what he's wanting to do, but then if he were to just do this subdivision by right, would he be required to do a $10 million contribution to infrastructure or would he be held to no interconnections to Wynwood or anything like that?

No.

So in coming together with this PD, he's going, I don't know if above and beyond is the right word, offering to take the harder road in terms of giving this money for infrastructure and agreeing not to have any connections to Wynwood as opposed to just building it by right?

Correct.

Okay.

keep going mr chairman i got a quick i got a quick clarification too that obviously when you build a new community you got to put a lot of infrastructure in those costs are not part of the 10 million the 10 million would come to the county to be used for infrastructure in the area correct whether it be intersection of 17a and black tom road or next and parkway widening or something in that region it's not the dollars that the developer is going to have to spend in addition to that correct that is my understanding so that's 10 million on top of what they're already required to develop within the community as well as mitigate for their traffic impact assessment thank you

Yeah, so he's gonna have to do all his traffic studies and mitigate all those impacts on all the surrounding areas. And in addition to that, he's given us $10 million for infrastructure as we see fit to spend. Correct. Thank you.

In addition, the regulatory documents contemplate explicit timelines and triggers for certain external roadway connections. As it relates to schools, the applicant has agreed to a residential unit school development permit fee of $1,850, as well as a reservation of roughly 30 upland acres for a school site. As it relates to emergency services, the applicant has agreed to a residential unit emergency services permit fee of $500, as well as the reservation of a 2.5 acre emergency services facility site.

Ms. Simmons, just to clarify again, because I'm trying to do my math over here. If he were to build it by right, does he have to give anything for schools, for school permit fee or for a site for a school? No. No. Emergency fees. So the $500 roughly equates to right about $2.7 million. If he built by right on what he can do right now tomorrow, does he have to give us that fee or set aside land? No. Okay. Thank you.

For water and sewer, the applicant has agreed to reserve a 25-foot easement corridor for future expansion. The applicant is, of course, required to construct utilities and facilities, including any necessary system upgrades to serve the project. Also, the HOA and master developer, excuse me, the HOA or master developer are required to internalize roadway repair activities resulting from utility maintenance, and that's due to the fact that utilities will be placed under the roadways.

Mr. Chair. Mr. West. Ms. Simmons, could you explain what internalized roadway repair activities means?

Sure. So because the utilities will be placed under roadways, should we conduct any necessary roadway maintenance, if the utility maintenance occurs on a public road, we will restore the road so that it's drivable and bill the HOA or master developer as applicable. And so we will receive reimbursement for those repair activities as it relates to the roadway. For private roads, we will conduct the necessary utility maintenance, but the HOA or master developer will be responsible for conducting the necessary repair work to the street. public road we get reimbursed private road is their expense right the applicant is also committed to provide 50 affordable micro units dispersed throughout the throughout the development details will be will continue to be fleshed out as it relates to storm water detention facilities will be designed to the 100-year storm event and account for drainage received from cane bay As it relates to open space and buffer yards, the PD contemplates a nature overlay which amounts to roughly 20% of the assemblage and is held to supplemental performance standards intended to retain its naturalized condition. And where there is no nature overlay, the applicant most recently has agreed to provide a 15-foot buffer along the Wynwood community. In addition, the applicant is willing to establish a residential improvement district with the county, which will serve as another resource to generate revenue to offset impacts associated with the project.

Ms. Simmons, just for clarification, the residential improvement district, that's much like we see from Nexton that we approve every year?

It's very similar. I will say I'm not involved in those communications. I will defer to my colleagues to speak more on that.

The residential improvement district, that's much like what we see in the Nexton development?

Exactly like that, yes, sir.

Thank you. And I think a quick point, I know we've had discussions internally. I think I'd like to see the attainable housing number be at least 250 versus the 50. So hopefully the developer would be amenable to that between now and the final reading.

Our latest draft negotiations include an increased number for that as well as several other terms that you see listed here.

Okay, thank you.

That concludes my presentation. The applicant has a presentation that will follow this one, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys may have.

Just real quick, so that's a lot of information and I know I asked a lot of questions back and forth just trying to understand the difference between what they can do now by right versus what he's proposing. If perhaps by the next meeting you can get us a one pager together laying out what he's got the right to do now versus what he's willing to do, it sounds like there's a lot of that he's willing to do that he doesn't have to do. So I just like to see that kind of just in plain black and white for me to be able to understand what he can do versus what he's willing to do. Thank you. Mr. Grambling. Mr. Graham, for you and your team, if you just, for the record, state your name and address.

My name is Ben Graham, President of Graham Brothers Real Estate and Development. My address is 32 Charlotte Street, Charleston. Thank you. I'd like to start by saying thank you for allowing us to come tonight. Appreciate the opportunity. We've worked diligently with the county staff, with Ashley and Allison and team over the last 18 to 20-something months on coming up with this plan, and we are We appreciate the opportunity and all the hard work they put in. Also want to congratulate y'all. That was impressive tonight to take a look at these grants. 22.5 million up there and then the grants that were received in other places. Very impressive by all the people that worked on that. What we got, we got our team here tonight. I've got Mike Wright from DPZ, I've got Thomason Hutton here, Mark Cherry on our staff, and Martin Grambling from our staff as well. So I'm going to turn it over to Mike White, and he is going to, he's our land planner from DPZ, and he will present the project.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Michael Weick. Address is 125 Hart Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland. I'm going to skip through a bit of this since Allison hit some of the big stuff. You know the site. It's bounded on the north by Blacktown Road, on the east by 17A. Fairwinds Boulevard connects through and connects 176 through to 17A. We have multiple connections. including five new connections. I don't know why that image is not showing, but that gray box is a zoom in of the master plan. The proposed master plan is structured around creating a walkable neighborhood with a robust network of streets that include sidewalks, on-street parking, and street trees, the streets all designed to lead to meaningful locations. The plan includes a diverse mix of building types and open spaces. The building types are more dense at the centre of the neighbourhoods, less dense at the edges, and with large single family types at the periphery next to neighbouring neighbourhoods at the edges. There's two major town centres that we're proposing, or neighbourhood centres that we're proposing in the master plan. One is at the north end of the Big Lake, and really offers a unique opportunity for waterfront dining and commercial activities. You can imagine nighttime dining, watching the sunset across the lake there. And in a couple next slides, I'll show some details. But the other neighborhood center is anchored to 17A, which would be a more traditional neighborhood square, surrounded by mixed-use multifamily buildings there. The one thing, the big important thing that we did here, which is uncommon, is oftentimes when people develop around water, they really privatize the water. They back the lots to it, and the only people that know that the water exists are the people that live on the water. What we've done here, which is unique, is we've actually amenitized the water. We've made it public and accessible to the people, the residents that live here. And really, in addition to not just running the streets along the water and opening it up to the residents, but we also include a series of open spaces along so that not just the people living directly on the water can have views of it, but there's open spaces that bring those views much deeper into the site. So this is an illustration of what we envision.

Michael. Real quick, going back to that slide, and I'm more of a visual person, so pardon me for that. I know we had a resident, or a group of residents in the Wynwood community reach out. I know, I think Allison said it too, but this shows here. So there are no roads, trails, bike paths, connectivities, or anything like that to the Wynwood community?

That's correct.

Okay, thank you.

So here you can see the vast amount of open space and really pulling views multi-blocks deep into the neighborhood so that there are a lot of houses that we can capitalize on giving them views to the water. You can see on the bottom part of the slide, and I'll show you on the next slide actually, how we're carving open spaces from the water and pulling those views in. Not just are we pulling the views in, but we're providing opportunities for great open space for kids to play, people to hang out and gather as well. These, that sucks, these are zoom-in plans of the village center at the north and the one along Cane Bay Boulevard, but this is more meaningful anyway. So this is the illustration that, the 3D illustration that illustrates the town center at the north looking out to the lake. You can envision, you know, the nice thing about what we did is it's, as Alison said, multimodal, so cars are welcome. but we've also created a trail network and connected sidewalks so pedestrians can walk there, bicycles, you can ride your bike there, you can take your scooter there, you can even kayak up to there and enjoy a nice evening facing out to the water. You can live there too, you can live above the retail and always have that view going at night. This is the other neighborhood center anchored to 17A, the more traditional one. which would be framed by mixed-use buildings, retail on the ground floor, residential above. There's the opportunity to do smaller units, what we call live-work units, which are smaller footprint. Retail allows retail to incubate before they can grow into and move into bigger footprint retail spaces. The creation of streets is very important, especially creating a network of connected streets that helps disperse the traffic so we don't have a lot of congestion. We, like I said before, we're adding five new access points to 17A to help with that distribution of traffic. connecting Fairwinds to 17A, and our code and our PD has a lot of standards for connectivity, both vehicular, street design, and pedestrian trails, networks, and sidewalks. As you saw in the other slide, we've worked really tirelessly on the open space design. It's all intentionally designed scaled for the use and intensity that surrounds it. None of the open space is the same. more urban area, it includes more paving. If it's in a less urban area, more rural area, it's a lot more softscape, less hardscape. Really taking advantage of the views, the natural topography of the site, the slopes, especially of the island there. There's opportunities for amphitheaters and playgrounds and tot lots and a whole host of open space activity throughout. The plan on the bottom left that is a gray box is a zoom in of the Wynwood neighborhood area, which would be a much more rural character, which these slides show, taking advantage of a lot of water, trails, not connecting out, connecting in, and smaller houses on bigger lots with much more rural type landscape and open spaces. The lakefront character varies a lot throughout, but what remains consistent is that the public is always able to access it. And so you may have a condition where there's the lake, a trail, a path, then the street, then the houses. There may just be a pedestrian promenade with houses facing directly onto it and everything in between. We're writing standards that... civic spaces be reserved so you can see the little, I don't know, finger that goes into the water, you know, could become a really nice open space for the residents to be there, as well as including opportunities to launch boats, kayaks into the water, non-motorized watercraft.

Michael, if you can go back to that slide, I'm going to scare folks for a second. Mr. Gremlin, in this picture here, I see you've got an American flag there. If you put an American flag bigger than what's at the Berkeley County boat landing, you have to match that at the Berkeley County boat landing.

Mr. Chair, while we're on that slide and looking at the water and talking about water access and public amenities, is the public allowed to this? You mentioned residents would enjoy this, or the rental of the pavilion spaces or the community centers. Is this going to be open to the public, or is it going to be residents only?

I can speak to that, Martin Gramling of Gramling Brothers. It's a mix. So in the north part of the plan where you saw the big town center with the restaurants, bars, all that stuff, similarly with the other town center that you saw, of course that's open completely to the general public. People can come up there, eat, drink. They can use the trails there and the parks there. If you go back to that slide with the open space, you'll see another very large, what we call our central park on the island there that certainly is intended to be open to the public. As you go south of there toward the southern end of the Big Lake, just because of the, frankly, the existing rights that people in Cane Bay have, some of those lake banks will be restricted to lakes of Cane Bay residents.

So unlike conventional zoning, we, in this scenario, we started with the vision that we wanted. Then we wrote a code that would allow it to be built, which included the regulating plan, which lays out the different zones across the plan, not dissimilar to a zoning map. And then we write rules for public realm standards and private realm standards. And I'll just flip through these quickly, but our standards include building height, how building is measured, how much of the house or building sits occupies the front of the lot, the size of the lots, how garages are allocated and loaded, where they can be rear-loaded, where they can be front-loaded, requirements for continuous sidewalks, requirements that the waterfront be accessible, a mix of building types throughout the different zones by really limiting the more intense uses to the more intense zones and limiting where those happen. the right sizing of sidewalks, so wider sidewalks in the urban areas where there's retail, less wide sidewalks where there's not retail, with trees and planters versus trees and grates, how open space is designed based on its context, how parking is sized and controlled, curb radius, projections, how awnings can project into the right of way, which is very important because in urban areas, it helps make a more comfortable walk by protecting you from the sun and the rain. And we also have requirements for signage and lighting, as well as setbacks. And so here's the regulating plan with the different zones and the form standards for each of those zones, which I won't go into detail. But that summarizes the plan, and I'll turn it over to Mark and Martin to talk about the key points.

Thank you, Mike. Martin Gramling, 24 Pitt Street in Charleston with Gramling Brothers. I'll be honest with you guys, what I was gonna talk about, I think Allison hit very well. I don't wanna waste your time. I think really the rest of this is what she's gone over. I don't think we need to go over it more. I'll just say that we've had a lot of meetings, some public, at least four large public meetings, and some more private with different landowners and different communities. I think most of those have been productive. As Allison mentioned, there's been some changes to the plan that come out of that, specifically in terms of buffering and so on. And we'll continue to have those conversations as the plan evolves. But thank you very much for your time.

I got a quick question. I don't know if maybe Allison can answer that or Mr. Gramley, one of your teams. So if I remember correctly, you know, for every amount of houses that you build, you're going to have to do the traffic impact analysis to address any of the traffic impacts on the roads that are going out there. Do you know yet on any of those intersections that will require signalization, such as the one in front of the Cypress Ridge neighborhood on 17A or

I'll defer to Mark on that, our head of development and chief engineer. He knows that better than I do.

Yes, sir. Mark Cherry, 2738 Coquina Drive, Johns Island. We are actually looking at signalization at Oakley Road intersection, at the Pinecrest intersection. We will have one that will be north of Oakley Road and then The two that are south of Oakley between Oakley and Pinecrest, those we'll be looking at basically as the development goes that'll be looked at from an intensity standpoint, whether those would be signalized. But we do, although DOT is the one that determines whether we actually get a signal, we believe that those three will meet warrants from day one. And then the other two will be looking as we develop in the intensity looks that they may be included signalized as well.

or you don't want to hear me say this, but hopefully we can get DOT to change some of their formulas and we can get all those intersections signalized.

Yes, sir. Our intent is to build these intersections for a for right from the get-go to handle 5,000 units. The additional units, we would, once we get to, if we exceed that threshold, then we would make further improvements. But from day one, each of these intersections will be built to the full mitigation.

So let me, I heard what you said, but let me clarify it again in my own words. So as you start the neighborhood, if you get approval to start it, you're going to build these intersections to the full capacity versus building it for a thousand homes and then come back in three and four years. That's correct.

We are not phasing those. We're building them from the get go as per the TIA at that build out.

Very good, thank you.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Chairman. Supervisor Karib.

I'd like to ask Mr. Ben Grambling to come up to the podium. I got a question. And it might be a lot of people's questions. It makes you wonder that if by right you can build what you're asking to build here, potentially even a few hundred more. I know you originally came to us with like 6,500 units, so we appreciate you paring it down to that number. Because one of my concerns from the beginning was I don't want to add any density. We're working hard on infrastructure and it doesn't make any sense to anybody. But the question, if I'm sitting in the audience or I'm listening, I would go, Why would someone who could build that many units subject themselves to a moratorium process, four public meetings, six county council meetings, $10 million for roads that you don't currently have to do, land for schools, money for schools, money for a new fire station? What is... Is it to create a better product or something better for the community? Because that would be, I think, a logical question that many people would ask. Because there's nothing easy about the moratorium process or the public meetings or any of this when, by right, without asking permission for anything, you could build more units than what you're gonna build. Now those renderings, if that comes to fruition, That's a beautiful community. I don't know that we have anything like that in Berkeley County. So is it that vision? I mean, what is it?

Mr. Supervisor, I'll tell you, to be honest with you, there's probably been a couple of times during this process where I asked myself that same question. But you answered it, really. This is a one-time opportunity to do something that's unbelievable. And Once again, this is not, we're not adding a community, we're making an existing community better. And it's gonna give a lot of people an opportunity to live, work, and play in an area, to stay in this part of Berkeley County instead of going other places. And yes, you're right, it's not an easy process. And we appreciate the way the county's worked with us side by side to get this done. And it's not been easy for either one of us, really. But it's been, It's been a learning experience for all of us, and also the opportunity to work together. And I truly believe that this is gonna be a fantastic community, and it's not just gonna be fantastic for the residents that are in it. The additional grocery stores, but these waterfront shops and places to gather, to have something to eat, to grab a drink, to grab a coffee, to have your kids have ice cream. It'll be a place that a lot of people can enjoy. And we wanted to do this right. We really did. We've been here developing for over 20 years. In this same community, the same people that you see right here have been doing it the whole time. And we hadn't left. We hadn't sold out to a conglomerate from someplace else. We've just been right here doing it. And this is our last piece. It's our best piece. And... We wanted to do something we can be proud of. We're proud that we're able to give back on this. We're proud that we can be able to help with the roads. We're proud that we can be able to help with the schools. We're proud that we can be helped with EMS. And we appreciate the opportunity for y'all to allow us to do it and continue to work with you.

Let me just clarify something too real quick, make sure I got it right by staff. So, and maybe for council's benefit and the public's benefit. So it's not very often we've had a development agreement, but so this development agreement is still in draft form. So if it were to pass tonight and continue on through the readings, there's still some negotiating points to this agreement and stuff like that as well. And then also from what I've learned on council and I know Councilman West and I did a lot of education on this a month or so ago. A development agreement is just like a contract. So if we approve this development agreement for 5,500 homes and such, he can't build one home more than that. So it's like a contract. So don't think if this gets approved, it makes it through three readings that he can do something more. It's a physical contract with the county. for him to do what the contract says and he can't do anything different. Likewise, if he were to go just to a regular zoning, an R1 zoning or something like that, then there is no contract. He can build to the limits of that zoning, but this is a specific contract, again, that we'll continue to negotiate if it gets passed over the next three readings and make sure we got everything in there that we've talked about. Again, I think it'd be interesting for staff to put together that side-by-side comparison just to see what he can get with regular rezonings versus this development agreement to show what I saw here tonight seems to be a lot more above and beyond what Supervisor Cribb talked about versus what you could do. So if all that's true, I really do appreciate doing that for the community and not going out there and building just... 6, 7,000 homes just doing it and leaving. So be curious to see where we go from there. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman.

Supervisor Cribb.

One final point. And earlier we combined those 26 through 38 to 26 through 50. So there's quite a, the plan development had a lot of pieces of land within the plan development. And when this first came up, I remember you having a conversation going, if I can do something like this, I'm not gonna build out my existing entitlements that I'm allowed to. And I think my statement was, well, we're gonna codify that. We're not making promises here. We're gonna, if you get this density or you can develop it that way. So I think it's 2638, 2639, 2640, Those three speak to amending the existing PD and agreements to where it combines the new parcels with the old parcels and sets a new density for that block?

Yes, sir, that is correct. And we'll also speak to it explicitly in the DA.

but there's no point in time in the future where the developer can come back and go, wait a second, I still had 3,000 units in Cane Bay proper or the original agreement. That is rectified in this agreement. That's correct.

One last question, too, I thought of. Mr. Graham, what's the time frame for this? One to 15, 20, 25 years? What's your estimated build out?

All right. Our development agreement that we've been speaking to with the county would be a 25-year development agreement.

Okay, so this will happen between now and the next 25 years. Thank you. Any questions from council? What's the pleasure of council?

I think you've answered one of my big questions from District 6. I mean, the Wynwood community's adamant about not having any connectivity to this, which is counter to what I thought they may take a position on. I thought they would want a road to drive to the restaurants, to drive to the lake, but they've expressed that they don't. They don't want anything to do with you. That's right. And I think you've said it multiple times tonight that there's going to be none.

As per their request, yes.

As per their request, none. But I had two questions about the fire site and the school. Are the taxpayers paying for those two, or are you giving those to the EMS and fire and the school?

Those are a donation given to the fire station and the school.

And then here we have a big talk in the real estate community about the missing middle, about downsizing and people needing smaller homes than they did 10, 15, 20 years ago. This 4,000 square foot, five bedroom, four bath isn't necessarily high demand right now. The micro units in here are 50. Have y'all given any more consideration to how many more micro units you'd be willing to consider?

Well, I heard what somebody mentioned earlier that I feel like That's up for some discussion, actually.

But we can handle that before, if it passes tonight's second or third reading, we'll have a clear, defined answer on that.

Without question.

OK. Let's see. You all had a parking garage in one of those illustrations. My concern with this is, is it going to be there? The last thing that people want to do when they go to one of these community centers is try to find somewhere to park on a residential street with cars everywhere. What's y'all's plan with, I know we haven't talked about this at all, but it jogged my memory when I saw one of the images. Do you have a parking plan that is gonna be adequate for the number of people that are anticipated to be at this place?

We have an adequate parking plan without doubt. It would meet the county standards as far as parking and what we've agreed to inside our HUD.

I don't have any further questions at this time.

Mr. Chairman, I know I said I only had one other thing. Supervisor Cribb. But in the many years of doing this, I've often, I've been in meetings and I've heard existing communities say we don't want roads connecting to the new communities and we don't want sidewalks or trails. And the roads, there's usually never a change in mind on that. But a lot of times these new communities go in and Johnny in this neighborhood is friends with Joey in this neighborhood, and he or she can't jump on their bike, and so I don't know if this conversation has been in depth with the community, but if a trail system went through there and it was stubbed out somewhere close to where if there was ever a change of heart, in the adjacent community to be able to get on your bicycle or go for a walk. I don't know if that's a hard no, but the temperature on that often changes when the reality hits going, hey, we don't have cars coming through and that's really the biggest concern. But kids playing with kids or going for a walk and are accessing recreation that way is typically something that will be asked for on the front end or maybe after the fact. So I don't really even know if there's a convenient potential connection point for the future. But did that, during the community meetings was it No sidewalks, no trails, I know no roads is kind of a no-brainer, but it was all the above. It was pedestrian access, it was everything. And maybe the thought is, pedestrians leaving this highly concentrated, interrupting our rural setting, not so much. Yeah, we might like to get to go that way, but we're also at risk for it becoming part of the jogging path, you know, people riding their bikes all through our rural community.

Mr. Supervisor, I think that was the concern of the Wynwood community. It's kind of hard to have it both ways because if you've got it there, then you can either come or you can go. So... What we took from our meetings with the community is that they did not want any connectivity of any kind. And it's hard to, if we're putting that in our development agreement, then it's kind of hard to come back and retrofit that.

Yeah, I'm not appealing or fighting for it at all. I'm just in case it hadn't come up.

It was something that I feel like that they asked that not happened because they didn't want any of the people that'd be living in this community coming through them in any type of way, whether it be by car, bike, or pedestrian.

Supervisor Kribbe, I don't disagree, but I do think you're right. I think in 15 or 20 years time, it'd be a group of folks coming to us with a request to amend the development agreement to put some type of walking trail for the kids to be able to play and such.

It wouldn't shock me. Well, they may create their own path.

True, too.

They already have.

Any other discussion? What's the pleasure of counsel on this?

Does that move for approval?

Second. A motion by Councilman West, a second by Councilman Stern. Any other discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor of approving bills number 38 through 50, please say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Next up, we have bill number 26-51, an ordinance to amend Article 2 definitions, Article 4 use table, Article 5 urban residential zoning districts, Article 6.

Move for approval.

Second.

I have a motion by Councilman Newell, a second by Councilwoman Stern. Ms. Simmons, if you could take 20 seconds and run through what this is again. I know, just to remind folks, we put together a team, helped me here a year ago, nine months ago, to look at all of our zoning districts and come back with recommendations. We also had some workshops where Council got together and put together our top priorities, and I think we went one through 12 or 15 or something. And these are the first ones that are starting to come back to us. So 20 seconds, tell us what this one's about real quick.

Sure. These text amendments seek to expand allowances for accessory uses to include expanded accessory dwelling unit allowances. The 65% accessory structure limitation has been expanded to 85% and eliminated for suburban residential zone lots that are one acre in size or larger to align with the allowances we have in our rural zoning districts. In addition, we have expanded allowances for ADUs, which are tiered based on lot size. The larger the lot, the more square footage a lot owner can have for an accessory dwelling unit. To align with that tiered structure, the setbacks also adjust. So for the larger the accessory dwelling unit, the more or the greater the setback.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Supervisor Cribb. And this obviously doesn't change PDs, any of the large-scale community plan developments. This is the areas outside of that and outside the municipality.

Correct. It's just base zoning areas.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

Mr. Chair.

Mr. Newell.

To clarify, this wouldn't affect anything in the New Hope, I mean the Sheep Island area?

Nothing held under a PD, so just base zoning areas.

With that situation with some of them, I want to count the ADUs as additional dwelling units. I just want to make sure that this didn't help them. Thank you.

Mr. West.

Two things. One is the 6%. How are we classifying that or taxing it? If you get an ADU and you put it in your backyard and you've got grandmama or your kid who's home from college, does that trigger a reassessment at 6% versus the 4%?

So when I posed that very question to the assessor, I was informed that any residence that is rented for more than 72 days per year is assessed at 6%. OK.

So you're not getting the 6% per relative?

Right. It's only if the unit itself is rented out for more than 72 days per year.

OK. So it's tied to its commercial usage, essentially.

Correct.

OK. And then there are always unintended consequences of these things. I mean, I think I proposed this idea a few years ago that we needed to look at it. What do you mean by PD? So we have these old neighborhoods that are all throughout Berkeley County. They're all 40, 50 years old now. They're on a half acre.

we talking about applying to those districts but not like Fox Bank or Brick Hope and those are the ones excluded not the ones that have been here forever and that are on our one zoning it would apply to areas across the county that are zoned in base any districts so non PD districts so r1 r2 etc and then of course our rural zoning districts everything doesn't have PD in front of it correct

Mr. Newell. So tall pines, sangaree, college park, this would affect them?

Correct.

And just a reminder, we currently have an accessory drilling unit ordinance or article. This is just amending some of it based on the conversations we've had over the last couple years.

Lots that are less than 14,000 square feet are held to the current size allowances. So essentially the ad you cannot exceed 25% of the heated or livable square footage of the primary dwelling up to a max of 850 for lots that are 14,000 to just under an acre the allowance is expanded to 50% with a cap of 1250 square feet and lots that are one acre in size or larger the allowance is expanded to 75% and with a maximum square footage of 1,650, and of course the setbacks tier. So in that scenario, the unit is held to primary structure setbacks.

Mr. Chairman, one last question.

Yes, sir. Mr. West.

Is this GLA? This doesn't include gross building area, or does it include measure by livable square footage? So if you had an 800-square-foot apartment with a two-bay garage, the garage is not counted in that?

It's just the livable square footage.

Okay.

lest you turn the two-car garage into a man cave. Correct?

We've added definitions for livable square footage as well.

Does it have man cave in the language?

Right.

Any other discussion? Hearing none, I have a motion from Councilman Newell, a second from Councilwoman Stern. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up, we have Bill number 26-52, an Orders to Amend Article 2 Definitions, Article 6, Rural Zoning Districts, Article 4, Use Table, Article 13, Innovative Site and Subdivision Design, and other amendments related thereto of the Berkeley County Zoning and Development Standards Ordinance as amended to establish a transitional- Move to approve.

Second.

I have a motion by Councilwoman Stern, a second by Councilman Newell. Ms. Simmons, again, 30 seconds on this real quick, unless anybody has questions.

So these amendments seek to create a conservation subdivision option for rural areas of the county. This option is only available within a new zoning district, the transitional agricultural zone. So in order for someone to pursue the conservation subdivision, they would of course have to seek a rezoning to this new TAZ district. Essentially how it works, if a applicant is able to demonstrate conformance to prescribed requirements for open space set-aside, which includes allocation of first, the primary protected areas, and then second to that, a set aside of at least 50% of the developable area. They are then eligible for what we're calling dimensional flexibility, which is a minimum lot size reduction to 16,000 square feet, flexible lot width frontage and lot width to depth ratios, as well as reduction in setbacks to the standard established for lot size 6,001 to 999 square feet. Also as a condition for development, these areas have to be served by public water.

So let me, you said a lot, let me repeat back to you in Phillip terms what she said. So this is, I know a lot of times we have rezonings for flex wanting to go from flex to R1 and it scares some of us because you can go from a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet all the way down to 14,000 square feet, but then if they cluster, they can get down to an average of 7,000 square feet, is that right? Correct. So this is putting a new zoning classification in place where we take whatever they could have built on a flex piece of property and saying, Hey, if it's a hundred acres and you couldn't build any more than, you know, call it 90 homes that you can rezone to this, but still build no more than 90 homes, but able to do it on a smaller square, do it on a smaller acreage. That way you can preserve green space, preserve buffers and setbacks and such.

Correct.

Thank you. Mr. Mr. West.

I would encourage everybody else on council to look heavily at this and to be in favor of it. One of the things that we are losing in Berkeley County is green. If you pull up a map from 20 years ago and you look at Berkeley County, it is less green than it was. There are more rooftops, more commercial than there ever has been. And any opportunity we have to create buffers and green space and developments that otherwise would not we need to look at it with a great deal of concern and care to make sure that something like this happens that we protect it if you look at where you were 20 years ago and can look at the map where we're going to be 20 years from now it'll be a lot different and the only way it's going to be different into good is if we conserve green space as if we cluster homes we've been on smaller lots create green space, which is buffer yards from neighbors, from roadways, and really get denser. You get denser, you create more green space, and we'll actually be able to look at a map and see green in Berkley County. So I'm excited about this. I hope it passes, and I hope you all take a bigger look at it.

Any other discussion?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Pinckney.

I think that same consideration should be given going forward when we're talking about wide open space and green space. And we need to jump at that opportunity. You know, if it presents itself, regardless to who districts it's in. Ditto? Okay. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Not hearing any, I have a motion by Councilwoman Stern, a second by Councilman Newell. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up, moving on to some older business. We have considerations prior to second reading. First up is bill number 26-32, an order to modify the official zoning. I have a motion by Councilman Pinckney, a second by Councilman Owens to go from Flex 1 to RNC and County Council District 7. Any discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up is Bill number 26-33, an Orders to Modify the Official Zoning and Development Standards Map. Move for approval. Second. A motion by Councilman Pinckney, a second by Councilman Owens to go from Flex 1 to RNC and County Council District 7. Any discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up is bill number 26-34, an ordinance to modify the official zoning approval.

Second.

I have a motion by Councilman Pinckney, a second by Councilman West to go from general commercial to flex one in County Council District 6.

Any discussion?

Discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up is bill number 26-35, an ordinance to modify the official zoning and development standards map of Berkeley County, South Carolina. Motion by Councilman Pinckney, a second by Councilman Owens to go from Flex 1 to Light Industrial and County Council District 7. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Next up, we have considerations prior to third reading. First up is bill number 26-28. Move approval. Second. A motion by Councilman Pinckney, a second by Councilman Owens to adjust dimensional standards and density standards in County Council District 7 on PDOP. Any discussion? Mr. Chair. Mr.

Chair.

Mr. Owens.

um did we get the uh information that we were supposed to get prior to third reading i will say the applicant has been working in good faith with with the engineering department to produce the final tia i have not received it yet but i'll follow back up with them so what do i need to do do i need to withdraw that motion

But either that or we can give them two weeks to get it to us by third reading of council. And if they don't have it by then, we'll table it. We'll postpone it until the next county council meeting. Thank you, Madam Clerk. So you're good. Good.

Okay.

Any other discussion?

Mr. Chairman.

In this house. Who drives the crib? Make sure that... when you give them that deadline for Ms. Amanda, not like the Tuesday or the Wednesday, week after next, and also if they don't meet that deadline, they're waiting a full month, we won't do a special council meeting two weeks later. Thank you. Mr. Newell.

Make sure the developer has a 1-800 number that these people can call to complain about the noise and the tractor trailers that they're going to have to deal with with this development.

Yes, sir. Any other discussion? I motion by Councilman Pinckney, I second by Councilman Owens. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Aye. That motion carries. See, that's it for third reading. Next, we have considerations of a resolution, a resolution to modify exhibit one, review inspections and other service fees established in section 47.1, development review fees of the Berkeley County Code of Ordinances in accordance with ordinance number 20-12-50. Ms. Simmons.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The amendments that are on your agenda tonight seek to adjust fees for various exempt plots as well as major subdivision submissions. We also seek to eliminate a framework that resulted in double-feeing for infrastructure construction plans submitted with commercial single site development submissions. And then we also seek to adjust expedited residential plot plan review permits, as well as waivers, variances, appeals, special exceptions, and applications for rezoning ordinance, text amendment, and comprehensive plan, and future, comprehensive plan, future land use map amendments.

And Ms. Simmons, when's the last time we updated or looked at these fees?

We amended the fee table a couple years ago when we launched third party review, but we initially adopted the fee table in 2020.

So we haven't updated it in almost six years. Correct. It's the pleasure of council. I motion by Councilman Newell, second by Councilman Owens. Any discussion? Not hearing any, all in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries. I entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Councilman Newell, I think I heard. Second by Councilman West. All in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? We stand adjourned. Thank you.

I would like to call the committee on public utilities meeting to order. Ms. Clerk, is this meeting done properly? Yes. Thank you, ma'am. Before I get started, I would like to give a point of privilege to Supervisor Griff.

Yeah, I wanted to welcome and recognize Mayor Alan June from the town of Bonneau for being with us tonight. I believe you got sworn in back in May? And you're already going back with a check?

That's a huge win to you guys. Thank you.

Well, thank you for coming, and thank you for serving, and thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you, Supervisor. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right, first is the approval of minutes from the regular committee meeting held June 8th, 2026, which has been distributed.

Move for approval. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Are there any corrections to these minutes? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? The minutes stand approved as presented. Next, we have a few agenda items. First, Pump Station 66 electrical system upgrade. Move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Next is Ferguson Water Works Water and Analytics System Renewal for Berkeley County Water and Sewer. Good thing Marshall didn't have that. Mr. Chris.

Yes, sir. We're requesting approval to renew the support contract for the, basically it's the water meters and connectivity for approval.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next, we have consideration prior to first reading, Bill number 2653, an ordinance to amend.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Mr. Faney got out of this one tonight. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you.