Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

2025 meeting of the Charleston County Board of Zoning Appeals, known as the BZA. The board members who will hear your case tonight are to my right, we have Mr. Truslo, Mr. Brown, Mr. Sidell, Mr. Neil will be here shortly. Uh we will have Mrs. Jack Jessica Smith here shortly and we have Mr. Jordan two miles left. So, thank you for being here. Um staff members present are Sally Brooks will be here shortly. She'll be sitting here. Uh, Miss Genesis Clark is here, Mr. Cohair, and Miss Jenny working. Uh, Kelvin Huy to my right is our BCA attorney. Because the hearing tonight is a public factf finding meeting, we are in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act in SC code 62970. 15 days prior to this hearing, an announcement was printed in the posting courier. A sign was posted on or near the designated property and a notice was mailed to the applicant or the applicant's representative to property owners within at least 300 feet of the property and to parties in interest. Persons, organizations, and the news media have requested declaration of our meeting have also been notified. Board members, the meeting notes for the October 6, 2025 public hearing were sent to you. Are there any changes? If not, I would entertain a motion to approve. I

so move. Mr. Trudeau with the first, Mr. Brown with the second. Any discussion? All in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I."

I. There are none opposed. So, the motion carries. Our case rulings from this and any BCA meeting are available for public review and inspection during normal business hours at the Charleston County Zoning and Planning Department. The Board of Zoning Appeals is a quasi judicial body that has final decision-making authority on the following matters. Appeals of zoning related administrative decisions. The BZA is authorized to hear and decide appeals only on zoning related matters. Where is where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, or decision or determination made by an administrative official in the administration or enforcement of any zoning related regulations. A twothirds vote of the quorum present is required to overturn the decision of the planning director in an appeal. A special exception is an exception issued by the BCA authorizing a particular use in a specified location within a zoning district upon demonstrating that such use complies with all the conditions and standards specified by the zoning and land development regulation ordinance, otherwise known as Zeldar. The BCA must find that the special exception request meets all six of the approval criteria in the ordinance in order to grant the special exception. A simple majority is required to grant a special exception. A variance is a relaxation by the BCA of the dimensional regulations of the ordinance where such action will not be contrary to the public interest and where owing to the conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of the actions or situation of the applicant, a literal enforcement of this code would result in an unnecessary and undue hardship. And such variances in such variance is consistent with section 6-29-800 of the code of laws of South Carolina title 6 chapter 29. The BCA must find that the variance request meets all seven of the approval criteria in the ordinance in order to grant the variance. A simple majority is required

to grant a variance. Our purpose tonight is for interested parties to be heard in order to assist the board in gathering evidence pertinent to each case. If the members of the BCA feel the need for further information to clarify a case, the board has the authority to subpoena witnesses. It must be understood that the rules of your neighborhood or subdivision are binding and that we can take no action that will negate their jurisdiction over your property. In addition to your testimony, our board has been presented with written information submitted to the submitted to the staff by the applicant or by the applicant's agent for each case. The information is now considered to be evidence and is entered into the permanent record of this body. It is assumed that it is complete, true, and accurate. In addition, we have been presented data assembled by staff for the purpose of clarifying the location of the applicants the application's effect on surrounding property. Our board is empowered to approve, approve with conditions, or deny a special exception or a variance request. We are also authorized to defer a case should there be a need for additional information. The BCA's final decision will be mailed within 10 working days of this public hearing. It will be mailed via certified mail to applicants and via via US mail to neighbor and community interest notice list. If an applicant's request is approved, the applicant should contact the Charleston County zoning and planning department staff to discuss the next step in the process. Variances and special exam exceptions granted this evening are valid for 12 months after this meeting and a one-year extension may be granted only if construction or development has commenced or is being diligently pursued. However, if an applicant's request is disapproved and if the applicant wishes to appeal the decision of this board concerning the case, appeals must be addressed to the circuit court, SC code 629820 states that the appeal must be filed by the applicant within 30 days after decision of the board is mailed to them. Failure to file

an appeal within the time limit deprivives the court of the jurisdiction to hear the matter. Because this is a quasi judicial body, everything said in this meeting must be complete, true, and accurate. All of the information provided to the BCA is considered evidence, and this board may certify contempt of circuit court if false statements are made, either in writing or orally. Each person who wishes to address the board will be sworn in by the BCA secretary before they provide testimony or evidence. In order to expedite this procedure, those wishing to speak will please stand as a group, and Mrs. working will administer the oath. Please stand and raise your right hand. I will say the oath and you will say I do.

I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Thank you.

All right. Thank you for that. I will now call each case by case number. Staff will present facts pertinent to the case limited to five minutes. I will then call the applicant. The applicant will stand and state his or her name and current address for the record before presenting testimony pertinent to the case limited again to five minutes. I will then ask all those speaking either in support or in opposition to the case and they will follow the same procedure for identifying themselves and are limited to two minutes each. The applicant will then have a chance to reply to any opposition again limited to two minutes and then the BZA will make a motion to close the case to the public. Finally, the BCA will make a motion concerning the application stating specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. Tonight, we will hear one old business case and nine new business public hearing cases. Before we start with the first case, we do want to entertain a motion to modify the current agenda. We have two cases that are currently slated to be heard at the close of the evening and those would be cases BZA 092500905 and BZA 092500906. We would like to move those in front of or to be heard following BZA25 092500899.

I make a motion. Second. So, we got a motion by Mr. Sidell and a second by Mr. Brown. Question. Yes, sir. Mr. Jordan, why are we doing that? Uh, the the case in the middle for the Charleston water systems is currently listed as cases three, four, five, and five, six, and seven on your agenda. That will all be heard together. So, we'll push that to the end so that those so that not everybody in this room that's interested in what could be a lengthy discussion has to necessarily sit through that.

Thank you. All right. All in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. I. The It's unanimous. So, thank you for that change. With that, Miss Working, if you would start with our old business case, BZA072500882. The applicant and property owner Luke Wetzel Harper requests a variance to reduce the required 15 foot interior side setback by 7 feet to 8 ft for a proposed single family residence at 3862 Alighty Road, which is TMS number 61400767 in the east area of Charleston County. The subject property and adjacent properties are located within the special management S3 zoning district. On September 8th, 2025, the board heard the applicant's request to reduce the required 25- foot front streetside se setback by two feet to 23 and the 15 foot interior side setback by 9 to six. The board deferred the case due to several public comments in opposition, including a petition with 60 signatures and multiple residents vote voicing their concerns at the meeting. Following the meeting, the applicant revised the site plan to request a reduction to the interior side setback only. The re revised plan also reduces the driveway width from 20 feet to 18 ft and shifts the home approximately 2 feet northeast to further mitigate the requested variance. The property and surrounding properties were designated as a 10mi community historic district designation on June 21st, 2022. On January 11th, 2024, the properties were reszoned from Loency Residential R4 zoning district to special management S3. The 0.25 acre property is is vacant. This is the location map. Uh the zoning

ordinance requirements for the interior side zip, the 300T radius map, aerial. Uh we posted the property on October 14th, 2025. a white road. This is the revised site plan the plat. And regarding the approval criteria, staff stated that it meets 1, two, five, and seven, and that it may meet three, four, and six. Um, the board may approve approval conditions or deny the case based on the VCA's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary to make an informed decision. Um we do not have any um requested conditions or recommended conditions for this case.

Are there any questions for staff? Mr. Sadel. Uh yes. Is it possible to show the the previous submission and then side by side to see what the how they have changed. Is that what that is? Okay. What page is that in the on the PDF? I don't you'll have to I'll find it. Yeah, there's no side. Oh, there's no side by side in the thing.

Yeah, that's that's right. Sorry, just the slide made it a little bit bigger for you. But basically, again, just um reducing the driveway width from 20 to 18 and then they shifted um two feet to the northeast the house. That's the major change plus pushing it back the two feet. Okay. Thank you. To meet the um front setback, Mr. Neil. Yeah, thank you. Sorry for my tardiness. Um Mr. Working, uh there are numerous comments that came in in opposition or public comment is 20 pages, but how many comments were there? Do you we have a number on that? Uh yes. Um I did have that. I should have had

How many were in favor? How many were opposed or they were all opposed? I just didn't know. I saw the pages. I just didn't know the number of people. Um there were 13 um public comments in opposition. Seven of those comments um and the petition were received for the original hearing. So the 60 signatures were from the original hearing. So it went from 60 to 13. No, there were so there were um four extra comments. I think there were four what? Five extra. Yeah. 13 total. 13 total. And how many were in opposition? All 13. And the previous one had 60.

Well, that's the petition, correct? Oh, the petition had 60 and then 13 additional and seven last time. Oh, okay. So, for a total of 13. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Miss Working. Were there any opposed that had flipped from being opposed to supporting the application now? Um, not aware yet. Um, I do know that he was planning on meeting with him this weekend. So, our deadline for public comment was Friday at noon. Okay. Any other questions for staff? Is the applicant present? If you would come forward and state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve your request.

Good evening. Thank you all for uh taking the time to hear me. Hey, my name is Luke Wetszel Harper. I'm the owner of 3862 Abe White Road. Um, we currently live at 412 Carriage Lane and Mount Pleasant 29464. Um, a brief background about myself. I was uh born and raised in Bufort, South Carolina, about an hour and a half from here. Um, my wife Taylor, who's here, is was born and raised in Mount Pleasants about about 10 minutes from the property. Um, graduated from Wando High. Um we met at the University of South Carolina and both graduated in 2021. Um we um purchased this property in February of 2025. Um we love the area, love the location. It was, you know, close to where my wife grew up and has spent her entire life and it's close to the marsh, which I've called home for my entire life as well. Um after reviewing the floor plans and looking at our site plan options, um we came to the conclusion that it would be, you know, best for us to pursue the ability to receive a variance for the left side setback. Um due to the narrowness of the lot, it being 60 feet wide and um a 15 foot side setback on each side of the property significantly reduced the ability to um to build something that was suitable and in our opinion reasonable for that piece of property. Um we obviously came in front of you all in September and and presented a lot of these facts. Since that point, um, like, uh, Jenny said, we adjusted our site plan to shift the the home two feet back into the property to mitigate the front setback issue. Um, we decreased the width of the driveway from

20 to 18 and shifted the house 2 feet to the right to, um, minimize the the side setback that we're requesting. Um, we also had the opportunity to um speak with some members of the 10mi community after the hearing in September. Since then, we attended a uh 10 mile community meeting. That was, I believe, three or four weeks ago. Um, and, you know, got to meet some members of the community and kind of hear their concerns and, um, you know, kind of what they've been dealing with from previous developers in the area. Um, and then this past Sunday, we met on at the property with with several members of the community to review what we were, you know, planning to do with the the land that we purchased. Um, so again, like we touched on uh briefly already, um, we're requesting a 7 foot uh, variance on the left side of the property to construct a single family home with a driveway on the right side of the property. That'll be 18 feet. Um, we're taking the time to time and energy and investing in going through this process because this is, you know, this is a primary residence for us that we're planning on living in for years to come. And, um, we'd like the opportunity to build something that is suitable to our needs and is, in my opinion, a reasonable use of the property given the dimensions. um you know the the lot is less than 60 ft wide and we have a a storm drainage easement that's at the rear of the property. So um these two kind of constraints that are are outside of our control that we're not able to change at this point is kind of the main driver for us requesting the ability to ship the home. Um,

another small fact I would say is, you know, our our site plan, we currently have a 27% pvious coverage. Um, that includes the home and the driveway. The home is currently only taking up 70 17% of the property. Um, so I I believe that's a a fair amount. Um yeah, in conclusion, you know, I think that this is a request that is reasonable for us and we're hoping for the opportunity to, you know, move forward. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Harper. Uh we'll start with Mr. Neil.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, or Mr. Acting Chair. Um first question, I just want to make sure I'm I'm clear. I I somewhat remember this from the last time we voted on things or deferred it. You're not the developer that split these lots up. You're just the owner of lot three. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Yeah, we purchased. So, you don't own the other lots next door. You just you came in and bought the subdivided lot that turned into lot three. Yes, sir. That's correct.

All right. Miss working. If somebody can pull up the last plan and the revised site plan, I think there's just a clerical error or a submission here. I just want to make sure for the record we're on voting on the right thing. So on page 21 on our computer slides here, the it looks like the previous submission shows lot two, yet in the new submission it says lot three. And I wanted to make sure that we're talking about the same lot first before we go further. Is that just a error on the submission of the thing? Can you see what we're talking about here? I I can't see it. Um, we make sure that he can see that so he can acknowledge

we're talking about. I mean, we were requested to update the lot number and I I can't remember if that was before the September 8th. So, I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page that it's the middle lot, same TMS. Yeah, they they do have the same TMS numbers. Yeah. And that's that's why I was just making sure I just um because the one of the original uh plats shows lots two, three, and four, right?

And I wanted to make sure we're we're not talking about anything else. So, I'm trying to understand your and and maybe you can expand for me. I'm trying to understand what your hardship is pertaining to this lot. I understand what you're trying to do, but what is your hardship? What are you not able to do? Or can you have a smaller house? Can you move something around? Tell us why you need this variance. Not you need seven feet, but why do you have to have it? I mean, can you Is it because you built the you're trying to build a house, it won't fit on there? I mean, tell expand a little bit more detail on why.

Um, so like I said, I believe the the cause and what created the undue hardship is the width of the lot. Um, and how that restricts. All right. Let me expand a little bit more on what I'm trying to have you explain to us. And maybe you don't have an answer, which is fine, too. Okay.

Have you looked at other options? Have you looked at other designs of the house? Have you looked at putting uh the porch somewhere else or or you can have a little bit you can put the the driveway somewhere else? I mean, what have you done other than, oh, we're going to need a variance if we we come up with this plan? I'm trying to understand what have you done. Is this your last resort or or is this you need a variance because you want to do it this way?

Um, you know, I I believe the the floor plan that we selected is about as narrow is the narrowest floor plan that we could find. Um, we did look at options of of shifting the house over and centering it and, you know, having a front driveway and kind of changing some stuff around and pushing it back. Um, because I mean, it looks like you could move the house. And I'm not an architect or an nor an engineer, but it looks like if the house was moved to the center of the lot, you just have a little bit more narrow driveway and that's what's pushing everything over because you've got a screen porch in the back and you've got a cover porch in the front. So, it looks like because of the layout of the house is why you need the variance.

Um, again, I I believe that we believe it's the most reasonable layout for what we're looking for long term with the property. Um if we were to center the house on the lot and move it back, it it cuts the the area down. Um where we we have access to the backyard. We have, you know, the ability to to fence it in the way that we're looking to. And um it it create it creates a a hardship that I I believe you're right. we could adjust to fix, but I I don't believe that it's the the best use of the property, nor I don't believe that it's what the property would be intended to use with that width. If it was slightly wider, it obviously wouldn't be a problem to to move it over slightly.

And Mr. Chair, if I can follow with one final thought on it, is is there a septic tank there back there in that area that's going to limit your use of the yardage? We have a a drainage easement that is between 30 to 40 feet at the back of the property. It's a variable width drainage easement. Right. But there's a you still got a good bit of yardage in the backyard, but none of that's being used for septic tank or uh we don't have a septic tank next. So, you're going to be on city. You're going to be be on the city water. City water is is what we're Yes, sir. Okay. That gets me, Mr. Uh uh the square footage of the house uh the total square footage would be 2100 square foot. Okay. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Um one question related to that and then we'll get to Mr. Jordan over here. If I remember correctly, when you purchased this lot, you had a platform from 2023 that showed um 5 foot setbacks, side setbacks. Was that factored into your decision for purchasing the lot and you f you found out later that the setbacks were larger because of the um historic district overlay?

Um it it did. You know, that was I think it we looked at the S3 um requirements and there's width and length and other issues that it it had that you know we reached out to Charleston County prior to purchasing it. Obviously, this is a huge investment for us. So, um we reached out to say is this a problem? Is this going to be something we can work through? what is, you know, and we were told the lot dimensions are not a problem. The lot is going to be grandfathered in off of the recorded plat that I believe was on the slideshow as well. Um, the setback requirements on the side you would have to adhere to, but you would have the opportunity to file a variance bill, which is what we're doing obviously. Um, and that was a factor into us. You know, I think having 30 foot setbacks on the side of a 60 foot lot makes it incredibly difficult to build something that is going to be long lasting and, you know, utilizes the property the way that it was designed to be used. Um, so to answer your question, yes, that did factor in at the time that we purchased it.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. So based on what I heard you say, it's my impression, and please tell me if I'm right or wrong, but you have listened to some of the concerns this board had, and obviously you have had discussions with the staff. So would you say it's fair to say that you at this point have made a good faith effort to try to take care of as many concerns as there are out there? Absolutely. Yes, sir. Okay. And I applaud you for that as one because so many people don't do that and they walk out here mad and they don't realize that if we can and there's some way that can be can be done. We we want to help people not hurt people. So thank you for doing that. To bring that to the attention of this board, Miss Smith,

I noticed most of the public comments were from the previous submission. Uh, do you think that in your outreach to the local community that you've changed some minds around you? Um, yeah,

I I believe so. Like I said, I mean, we we spoke for 15 or 20 minutes to the a couple of the members who were here at the last um hearing in the parking lot, got to know them, and then we've been to a 10mi community meeting at the um center off of Seaside Road and um or Seafood Road um and then we met with them on on Sunday. And yes, I I think that we've been able to, you know, make a lot of ground. I don't think that the changes to zoning that they're petitioning for are designed or meant to impact what we're doing. I think they're trying to obviously stop some of these multi-billion dollar housing corporations that are coming in and and building subdivisions. So, um, we spoke with them. You know, my wife knew went to Wando. she knew a lot of the people that they knew and you know we had a a very good relationship and um I I think that that they I think that the temperature has changed between the piece of property and the community um since we purchased it and since we've had the opportunity to get to know the members

thanks any other questions down here uh Mr. Mr. Truso, go ahead. You nodded at me twice.

Uh, thank you for coming. I recall when you were here before and I want to echo what Mr. Jordan said about reaching out, uh, talking to your members of your community because one of the concerns we have or factors is what impact this will have on the community. Um, in that vein, how does the size of your uh, proposed home compare to others in the community? Um, I believe it compares Well, there's I think there's a varying size. You mean the size square footage of the home? Yes. I'm I believe it's in line with what's currently in the community. I mean, there's a

a pretty large gap. There's a home that's 22,000 square feet that's right across the street from where we are. And then there's, you know, homes that are 800 square feet. But I I think that we are in the majority um you know for square footage homes in that area. I think it's a very reasonable and um like I said we're taking up 17% of the property with the home. So it's you know I think it's a very reasonable home and I think it fits in well with the area. Um that answers your question.

I think I think that uh that does answer my question. And I was trying to see if it was going to uh perhaps have an adverse um impact on the community. One of the questions was asked was I think was well how does it compare to the size of what was your square footage? I live in a community where we see some some you know really big huge houses next to small ones and then they're on short-term rentals and go you know you'll see 20 cars parked in the front front yard some days. Um, you've answered my question. Thank you very much. And I want to again echo the comments of Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Sadel.

Mr. Harper, thank you for your presentation. Um, the width of the driveway, you you we you reduced it, but it's still uh 18 ft wide. Are you planning to park cars on that? There's no garage for your property. Is that correct?

No, we do not have a garage listed. Um, we're planning on parking our cars. Like I said, this is going to be a long-term property, so like to have the ability to park more cars in the future. Um, I would like to have vehicular access to the backyard. You know, I have used trailers for work and I'd love to own a boat at some point, be able to put it in the backyard without having to drive around the house. And um that was that was our main decision when designing the driveway was a a one for future use and then two for accessibility right

to the property. Did you look at I'm not trying to design your your house for you, but did you look at parking instead of using the driveway for parking, you you just used a a narrow path for the car and then parking in the rear of the house, which would allow you to center the house more in the in the lot and avoid the variance request. We we did and again that it would cut down the usable area for our our backyard and you know relatively substantially. We did look at that as an option. Um and it is not the option that we would obviously prefer to do. We'd like to be able to have a full backyard and be able to use it for storage and um whatever other you know things that we want to use in the future um without having to park our cars back there. Um so yes sir we did evaluate that but again I believe that's a you know an undo and unnecessary way to design the property um given with the way it's currently laid out.

Okay. Thank you. Do we have any other questions for the applicant? All right. Thank you Mr. Harbor. That's it. Yep. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? All right. Please come forward, state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve the application.

Hey, my name is Taylor Diaz. My address is 254 River Oak Drive, Mount Pleasant. Um I and the property owner directly to the Sorry, directly to the left of um Luke's property. My uh address we're building a home is 3858 A White Road. So my property would be the one most affected by the by the variance. I've intentionally um Luke and I have been talking for a while because we kind of bought our lots around the same time. So, we've intentionally shifted our house all the way to the left side of our property. Um so, there'll still be a lot of distance between the homes, but um yeah, we believe, sorry, I'll speak for myself. I believe that that the house it's a reasonable size. As Luke said, there's a there's a broad spectrum of houses, um, styles, you know, sizes, elevations. Uh, their house, the 2,000 square ft is not dissimilar to any other house in the neighborhood. The house that we're building next door is actually going to be um almost 2,800 square feet, so it'll be quite a bit smaller than ours. Um, there's only four other houses at the moment on that street. Uh, very minimal impact. I think the lot was it was zoned at a time with R4 setbacks. Um they actually tried to divide I have a halfacre lot. They tried to divide it into into two. So there was going to be four quarter acre lots. Um I was blessed that they chose not to do that. So I have a half halfacre, but it's just it's a lot there. There are two lots right there that would never be approved under current S3 zoning and certainly not with the zoning overlay. um doesn't even meet they don't even meet the minimum uh square footage requirement under the new overlay. So just in in the position he's in at the moment. The lots have been the plats have been approved. They've been subdivided and he's just trying to work

within you know the the uh the restrictions that are in place. I have been um at 10 mile community meetings as well. Um, I've been, you know, going through my own process of of going through historic preservation committee to get our home approved, which was was approved by the committee last month. Um, and I was at a meeting yesterday with uh with uh two of the community um leaders and from all my my interactions with with them, uh my takeaway is that they they're wonderful people and they're very sympathetic to uh the issue that those two lots present. specifically Luke's lot. I think they're very sympathetic. Um, but as Luke mentioned, their concern, their concern isn't this specific lot, but more it's Dream Finders. It's LAR homes. It's the developers that are trying to come in and put houses on top of each other. and the S3, the zoning overlay, it specifically is meant, and this is directly from the community leaders themselves, that that all this stuff is meant to prevent developers from building faster than the infrastructure can absorb the new homes. Um, obviously that's not what Luke's trying to do.

Your your time is up, unfortunately. I'm sure we'll have some questions for you, but first, can you can you tell me what your last name was? Diaz. Diaz. Can I can I mention one pertinent thing real quick? Sure thing, Mr. Diaz. So, there was a misunderstanding at one point because um it came up with mine that I think a lot of the backlash was because there was a history with Nest Homes who owned those three prop the developer that developed those three properties and owned them previously. So, so I can't speak for everyone, but I know in my personal journey with preservation committee, a lot of community members were still under the impression that these three lots were being built by a large developer. So,

okay. All right. Well, thank Mr. Diaz, hold well, hold one second. I might have questions for you. Um, one, I do want to confirm your lot, if looking at this map, is the one ending ending in 2550, correct? Uh, it is. So, you're on the side where the variance is being requested, and you're the individual most directly affected by the request. Okay. Mr. Chair, can you can you pull up the the flat that has all three so we can confirm? That was literally my question. I can't pull it up, but hopefully Miss Working can. So, yeah, that one. So, we're talking lot two on this slide, correct? I own lot two and our our home is going to be all the way against our setback on the left side. You have a question. Okay, Mr. Neil, go ahead. All right. Thank you. So,

sorry about that. So, yeah, that is my exact question. So, although you're going to put a 2,800 foot house, you're going to move it way to the left side. So, I mean, your lot is considerably bigger than the applicant's lot. Um, but my question was more geared I just wanted to confirm that my question was more geared about the meetings that you attended. Were there because there's no homes that are across the street. So having somebody that is going to be directly impacted by a variance is wonderful. So thank you for taking the time to to uh educate us on this and showing up tonight. My question is about the meeting. Um, were there other homeowners there that were that were objecting? Are they in the community or were the like lot number three or excuse me, lot number four that's vacant, not being built? I mean, have you heard any comment from any of that or any push back?

Yeah, lot lot number four is actually owned by a good friend of mine um who's actually my agent representing me on lot two. Uh he's he's completely in favor of what Luke's trying to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Diaz? All right. Thank you for your time. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? All right. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this application? If there's no one here to speak in opposition to this application, we shall close this case to the public. And at this point, I will ask the board members if they have any other questions for staff.

All right. Well, with that, I will entertain a motion. Mr. Sadel.

Uh, Mr. Chairman, I move that in the case of BZA072500882 that we have approved this variance request. You've heard testimony uh from Mr. Harper uh that uh and additional testimony from another property owner in the vicinity. uh and through that and through the submissions I conclude that all uh of the variance requirements have been met. Uh first of all that there is an extraordinary and exceptional conditions containing to the pertaining to the slot. We've heard testimony with regard to size and at the applicant has uh made effort to reduce the variance request since the last time a presentation was made it made for the case. Uh the conditions do not appro apply to other property in the area. Uh it meets that criteria. The unnecessary prohibits and restricts usage of the property. Uh the size of the home um is not an extraordinary size uh and in keeping with some of the other residents in the in the area. The variance will not be substantial detriment to adjacent property or the public good. We've heard testimony from Mr. Diaz that has says he has no problem with the variance which adjoins his property. It will not establish a use that's not permitted in the zoning district and the need for the variance is not result of the applica applicants actions. I think he's explained that his home h wants to entail reasonable use of his rear yard and I think um it's not uh extraordinary action

uh required to adjust for that. So and it will not substantially conflict with the comprehensive plan. So I move that we approve. Second. Are there any special conditions recommended by staff on that one? I think there were, were there? No. Okay. All right. So we have a a motion by Mr. Sidell, a second by Mr. Jordan. Is there any discussion? There being no discussion, all those in favor, please raise your right hand say I. I.

I. That is unanimous. So congratulations. Your application has been granted. You will hear from staff within uh they'll mail a decision to you within 10 working days and they'll let you know the next steps in the process. So, thank you for your time this evening. Thank you. Nice work.

All right. Our next case this evening is case BZA 092500898. The applicant and property owner, David Gregory of Riding Ranges Outdoors LLC, requests a special exception to establish a short-term rental property extended home rental at 3626 Berry Hill Road, TMS number 2770600116 on John's Island in Charleston County. The subject property and adjacent parcels to the east and northeast and the south are located within the lowdensity residential R4 zoning district. While properties to the north west lie within the city of Charleston jurisdiction. According to Charleston County Records, the property contains a single family residence of approximately uh 1,420 square feet of finished living area with three bedrooms constructed in 2013. The applicant proposes to utilize the residence as an extended home rental by making all three bedrooms available for rent, providing five on-site parking spaces in compliance with the Charleston County zoning and land development regulations ordinance, zeldar, and accommodating a maximum seven guests. The property is not owner occupi owner occupied and therefore does not qualify as a limited home rental and it must be reviewed as an extended home rental in accordance with Zelda requirements. Here is the location map. This is the zoning ordinance section pertaining to STRs in the R4 residential zoning district. The 300 foot radius map aerial. We posted the property on October 14th of 2025. There are pictures of the subject property single family residence and its parking. adjacent properties, Berry Hill Road, the site plan, the tenant notice, and the plat. Regarding the three approval criteria,

staff stated that it may meet criteria 1 through three. The board of zoning appeals may approve approve with conditions or deny case based on the BCA's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary to make an informed decision. In the event the board decides to approve the application, the board should consider the following conditions recommended by staff. One, prior to the zoning permit approval, the applicant shall complete the STRP limited site plan review process. Two, the use shall comply with all requirements of article 6.8. Three, the property shall not be used as a short-term rental for more than 144 days in aggregate during any during any calendar year. And four, the property owner shall be responsible for ensuring that tenants comply with the Charleston County noise ordinance. Any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Hair. Do we have any questions for staff? Mr. Neil, no questions for this one. All right, man. Mr. Hair, you're getting off easy on on this particular one. All right. Is the applicant present? If you would come forward, state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve your application. Hello, my name is Kevin Salin. I'm the owner's representative for this one and I live at 2158 Golf View Drive in Charleston, South Carolina, 29412. Thank you. Go ahead.

Yeah, so I've reviewed the application um and I believe it to be true and correct. Uh I will live within 10 minutes of the property and yeah, that's about it. Are are you the applicant? No. Are you the applicant's representative? Yes, sir. Okay. Um, well, we're going to need some more information, I guess, to approve this particular request. Can you let us know things like how he intends to list it? And if I remember correctly, this applicant is um serving abroad at the moment or Yes, sir. stationed elsewhere. I don't know where that might be. And he wants to rent it out while he's deployed. Correct. Correct. And yeah, this is a family home. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Okay. So, it's a family home. He's deployed. And who will manage this property for him? I will. You'll manage the priority form. All right. Um, Mr. Jordan, you want to start with your normal questions that you ask where you read my mind. So, you said you live 10 minutes away. Yes, sir. Suppose there's a the neighbors are complaining about noise at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. You going to get up and go over there? Uh, I'll probably call the cops first, but yeah. Going to do what, sir? Call the police. Notify the police. That's a good move. But what are you going to do as a as a representative? Go to the property. Okay. Um, and uh do are you going to answer the phone or is your recorder going to answer it? What's that?

Is when somebody when they call you the neighbors, are you going to personally answer it or is your recorder going to answer it? Yes, sir. I'm going to personally answer. We don't I don't have any employees. Good man. Thank you. This is a small familyun business. I'm not trying to be large. Thank you. Do you manage other properties in the area? Yes, sir. A handful. Okay. Mr. Setup. Um, has the applicant or have you talked to the neighbors around uh this property to inform them that you're planning to rent it and that um given them your name to contact in case there's some issue with people who are short-term rentals for the property?

Uh I haven't done so, but I'm happy to do so. Uh we have friends that are on Berry Hill Road. uh you know were involved in the community there. So, but I'm happy to do so. Um I have spoken to I believe it's the adjacent property uh who they notified us that the U mailbox had been hit. So, we were able to respond there and get that repaired. I think it's a good idea because if they get a lot of complaints, it'll be hard to get it renewed going forward. Right. Okay. Absolutely. Any other questions for the applicants agent? What? Mr. Jordan, what about uh parking? The parking? How many people can park on this? It's a It's a really nice size lot with a large driveway. Five cars can easily park. Yes, sir.

And how many bedrooms? Three bedrooms. Three bedrooms, two bath. And to that to the comment about noise as well, we do post uh the noise ordinance inside the rentals just so that everybody's made aware. And in communication through Airbnb, we also have that in the listing. So, it's a very clear point of communication there not to break that noise ordinance. Thank you. It's helpful to us as managers, too, because I don't like those 3 a.m. calls. I would not like them either. No. All right. Any other questions for the applicant? All right. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir.

Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Is there anyone else here to speak in opposition to this application? All right. This application is closed to the public. Is there are there any other questions of staff? With no questions for staff, we'll entertain a motion. Don't all jump at once. Mr. Truslo, please.

I'll make um Mr. Chair, I move that in case 092500 [Music] 898 that we approve the application for a special exception subject to the recommendations of staff. Uh this uh we have jurisdiction over this matter. It's been properly um uh posted, noticed. The requirements that we must consider are set forth in Zelda section 6.8.2 C 1 through 3. We've covered all of those in this application and the presentation. The matter has been thoroughly investigated by staff. Uh I would I would find do find that this application is compatible with existing uses in the vicinity and it will not adversely affect the general welfare character in the immediate community. No showing has been made to the contrary. Number two, adequate provision is made and exists for such items as setbacks, parking, um fencing to protect adjacent properties. Number three, this complies with the applicable rules, regulations, laws, and standards, and ordinances that that apply to this matter. This is going to be a short-term rental limited to 144 days while the owner of the property is in the military and is deployed away from the area. So, that is my motion. U the uh again, the recommendations are made by staff or

special conditions made by staff. Okay. Second. All right. We have a motion made by Mr. Truslow and a second by Mr. Neil. Is there any discussion? There being no discussion, all in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. I. I. Are there any? Mr. Neil, did you vote? I You seconded a no, but that doesn't necessarily mean I voted yes.

Okay. All right. So, that that passes unanimously. Congratulations. Your application has been um approved. Uh staff will contact you within 10 days via certified mail with the final decision. Please contact them for the next steps in the process. Thank you for your time. All right, Mr. Hair is up with our next case, which is BZA 092500899. The applicant and property owner Susan Gizlen requests a special exception to establish a short-term rental property extended home rental at 14 or 45 Grimble Road extension TMS number 431 010000007 on James Island of Charleston County. The subject property and adjacent properties are located within the special management S3 zoning district. According to Charleston County records, the property contains a single family residence of approximately 2,940 square ft of finished living area with three bedrooms constructed in 1950. The applicant proposes to utilize the residence as an extended home rental by making four bedrooms available for rent, providing six on-site parking spaces in compliance with the Charleston County zoning and land development regulations ordinance, Zeldar, and accommodating a maximum of eight guests. The property is owner occupied. Um the owner has pre previously obtained a limited home rental um permit in 2020 um 2022, 2023, 2024 and currently here in 2025. Um LHR permits allow for up to 72 days um rental days per calendar year in aggregate. Here is the location map. This is the zoning ordinance section pertaining to short-term rentals in the S3 special management zoning district. the 300 foot radius map, the aerial. We posted the property on October 14th

of 2025, pictures of the subject property, surrounding properties, Gremble Road, uh photographs provided by the applicant, the site plan, the tenant notice, and the plat. Regarding the three approval criteria, staff stated that it may meet criteria one through three. The board of zoning appeals may approve approve with conditions or deny case based on the BCA's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary to make an informed decision. In the event the board decides to approve the application, the board should consider the following conditions recommended by staff. One, prior to the zoning permit approval, the applicant shall complete the STRP limited site plan review process. Two, the use shall comply with all requirements of article 6.8. Three, the property shall not be used as a short-term rental for more than 144 days in aggre aggregate during any calendar year. And four, the property owner shall be responsible for ensuring that tenants comply with the Charleston County noise ordinance. Any uh questions? And

thank you, Mr. Hair. Looks like Mr. Neil has a question for you. Yeah. Um, if staff can pull up I'm on slide 28 of 30 of what we get to look at. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Really quick. So, I'm looking at these two pages and seeing the dotted line for building setbacks going right through the middle of Is that the shed or is that the house or both? So, um, the one on the, if you're looking at the left, is the the first structure that was put on the property. Those two other darker sections that you see on the right were two additions. Um, one she got a permit in 2022 or 2020 for and then the other was in 2022 to expand the house. But I don't

Were there variances put in for any of those varian? Let me fast forward to why I'm asking because I obviously we're not here for a variance on those properties. But if the building on the far right screen is going to occupy any people then I don't know you know what's next door. I'm just trying to understand we could be having noise issues and stuff like that since they're already in a setback and then we have other complications. So I'm just trying to understand before the applicant gets up here um where where I'm going with it. I'm not a 100% sure what side of the building she plans to short-term it out. That might be a good question for her, but I don't see in our system where she went for any variances regarding setbacks.

And then my final question, Mr. Chair, is um do we have a number of how many rentals uh short-term rentals are in this general vicinity? Yeah, within the 300t radius, there was zero that were within the county jurisdiction. There was one that was in the city's jurisdiction. That's great information. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Are there any other questions for Mr. here, Mr. Jordan. How about within a mile? Are there any mile or two? I I don't believe, sir. From what I looked, I don't think there was any. Thank you. All right. Any other questions for staff? All right. Thank you, Mr. Hair. Is the applicant present? If you would come forward, state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve your application.

I do have copies of my my little five minute speech, but um M you can just ask if you want them. That's just go ahead and read it into the record and pull the mic down so we can hear you, please. Is this better? Yes.

Okay. I'm Susan Gizllison at 1545 Grimmel Road Extension. Uh, this is why you should grant this variance. My property is in an old James Island neighborhood, 5 minutes from Folly Beach, Spy Glass. The apartment complex is on the corner, and I live a short distance down the road in what was a small cinder block cottage. uh which was rented on Airbnb by previous the previous elderly owner. So the location is rental and friendly familyfriendly. My son lives two minutes away with his wife and his two kids seven and nine. He came to Folly uh he came to live on Folly Beach in 2004 to go to college at Trident Tech transferring uh to get a degree finally in research electrical engineering from the Citadel. So, his graduation party and wedding were on Folly Beach. They um uh with a room with room for my other three kids and and their kids to come for fun and dinner. The elementary school is on my road. This location is where my family is. I put up a modest addition making twocar garage, uh new living quarters, and a family room attached to the old cottage, the original cottage. I have uh rented parts of that to on Airbnb for five years. I'm a superhost. I have a 4.85 star rating. I am also a super uh South Carolina property manager in charge lency. There have been no problems in these five years. None. My neighbors accept me and we watch over each other. Uh one gives me his pecans. The other one has removed an old trailer house and cleaned up an empty place with his grandson and family moving in. So, my presence has come to improve the property values and build community. I'm here. I bought this place to bring my family together and to make my lifelong

dream of creating a self-sustaining home come true. I designed the house. I designed the circuitry. I designed the water collection system. I planted fruit trees. and I even built a small uh greenhouse with my granddaughter. I signed up for a solar plan in order to use those federal and state incentives that reduce the total cost by 30%. But not for long. They disappear at the end of this year and I need to continue making money right now. If I rent with this extension 144 days, not just 72 a year, I can pay when there's lots of usage from the renting. I can also sell electric from my collected electricity while I'm not renting, while I'm not using all that power and shutting down my extra circuits. Dominion is in a contract to buy back at an agreed retail frozen fixed rate for the remaining life of this solar system. Three experts have run the numbers verifying that this will work uh if I can just rent more days. I want I want to live in a self-sustaining house and lay low in my later life. My legacy is to dare my kids to do more than me. Maybe we all need to recognize this new modern business model where a senior like me at 77 can age, pull her family together, and make a living all in the same place. Sorry, this is like pretty important. Um, pull herself uh pull herself together, pull her family together, and make a living all in the same place while contributing to the community in equality ways, including continuing to pay Charleston County hospitality taxes in the new easy online payment system. Oh, yeah. My grandson, Leaf, just

graduated from Fort Lewis Engineering School in the Four Corners area of Colorado. Also a research electrical engineer. I I must be a good example for him, too. I um please help me make this timely last stage of my really cool dream come true. If there are any questions, please ask. Oh, yeah. I'm I'm going to be there at 3:00 in the morning and my son is only 2 minutes away. And if there are any problems, we'll fix them. Thank you for your time and consideration. After all this work that we've done, we should have some of the good ideas happen.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. And and I'm sorry if I butcher your last name, but Galisa G. Icelanders keep their father's first name and Gizla is a very common first name like Robert. So it's Gizla Sun. Gizla Sun. All right. Thank you so much, Miss Gizla Sun. Um, one I think question that's answered in our staff report, but you you have rented this property out in 2020, 222, 23, 24, and 25 as a limited home rental. And have you had any issues during that time? No,

I've I've I've had uh cleaning help uh back me up. I've done all the um filling in all the loose cracks and crannies of anything that could go wrong. I just got the HVAC. I've got the whole new addition up and running. And now I've been jammed into trying to get the solar system in really fast before I lose this $30,000 incentive. And uh I would have taken another year to try to do that. But right now I can do it mathematically. I can do it on my social security and renting for 144 days. And uh I'm I I asked my son to go over the numbers so that maybe I made a mistake. And then I also had my uh friend's son who has a big solar company in Iowa go over the numbers. and um

we need to stay focused on on your application for the extended home rental. I appreciate the additional information about the well the deal will be uh worth doing and that's why I need the extension to do it. Okay, Mr. Neil, thank you. Um back to that same question I asked our staff. Can you staff full effect picture? Yes. So if the applicant can see we're looking at monitors down here that's why we don't have to turn back just so you know. But if you can see the uh the picture on the right um the exist where it says existing building I see the entryway and stuff like that. Are there is that the layout where the bedrooms are and stuff like that where they're going to be or is that where you you were going to be or whoever?

That's the two bedrooms are one in front and one in back and the bathroom is in the middle and it's got a 4 foot uh property uh of my property to the next door neighbor's driveway and his property. That's a driveway next door. Yeah, it's it's next door car and we uh we have advertised to rent without any events with no no you know everything is uh in the uh advertisement for the place that there is no it's a place to come to rest and and be protected.

And I just wanted to follow up on what the chair said. Um, you have no violations from the county on noise ordinance or any any issues with the property. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Mr. Jordan, you good? Mr. Trus, question. Okay.

There may have been a a typo. Thank you for coming and you made an excellent presentation. I noticed in in one of the reports that that uh your home has three bedrooms, but you're asking for um uh permission for four bedrooms there. Are there three bedrooms in this application for a special exception? Are you asking for three bedrooms or for four bedrooms? Four. The original unit has two bedrooms and the new above the garage apartment has two bedrooms. And then we do have room for the eight cars. So So there are four bedrooms. Yeah.

All right. I understand. Thank you. All right. Mr. Brown, do you have any other questions, Mr. Truso, or are you good? No, I'm done. All right, Mr. Brown. Thank you for your time tonight. Um, just so I'm clear, there's four bedrooms. Is there a fifth? And that's where you're living or are you living on site or not?

I have a family room. Uh, the cottage is here. There's a a what could look like a breezeway in between the two, which is sort of an entry with double doors and then sliding doors in the patio out in back in the middle. Then there's a twocar garage with a family room and then above it is a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms in the upstairs apartment. I just was. So, are you living in the house while you're renting it out or you're going to live? I will live in the family room and I have a Murphy bed that comes down.

So, it's not really a bedroom. It It's a kitchen and a bathroom and a family room with table. Okay. So, there's two other bedrooms in the cottage and two bedrooms in the new addition. You're in the middle and you'll be there while it's being rented out. you live there most commonly like a couple and their kids or um maybe two couples would is the normal customer. I just was I couldn't understand where you were living in all that but I understand now. Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant?

All right, Miss Geese, thank you so much uh for your time this evening. Let me see if there's anybody else here to speak in favor of your application. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this application? We have no one to speak in opposition. So, we'll close this case to the public. So, you can go ahead and take your seat now. Thank you. And I'll ask the board if they have any other questions of staff. No other questions of staff. So, we'll entertain a motion. Mr. Neil has a question.

So, I I think I'm following up on my fellow commissioners here thought process. It's owner occupied. So is is is what were what she's applied for for the four bedrooms. So is it is it a requirement that she will have to be there in that Murphy bedroom cuz I thought I heard testimony that she is staying down the street in another uh center block house or something like that or is there not a requirement there or what is this is the addition hold one second you you've had your chance we'll we'll call you back up if we need to. This is a question for Mr. Hair for the extended home rental. does not have to be own or occupied. Either way, um I'm not sure if she's

if she's there all the time or where she's staying at, but on the tax record, she's claiming the property as her legal residence. So, that's why we still stated that it's owner occupied. And then regarding the bedroom question, we were just going off the tax record and it was stating three bedrooms, but I think it's might be just need to be updated because she's done some additions every time. Yeah, that's fine. That that addresses my question. Thank you, Mr. Hair. Thank you, Mr. M. Neil. Thank you, Mr. Truslo. And thank you, Mr. Hair. Is there a motion? I have a motion, Mr. Trusa.

I made the last motion, so I'd please me to make this one. I think it'll be um efficient. Uh in case 092500899, I would move that we approve the application for a special exception. And for the audience, we have to the law requires us to state in each case the even if it's the same thing, we have to still re repeat these. Uh if there were an appeal, we would have a complete record. So, please bear with me. I've moved to um to approve this application for a special exception for short-term rental. Um it's all based on the same criteria stated before. There's been proper notice. There's jurisdiction. The criteria are set forth in Zelder 6.8.2C 133. All of those um criteria have been met clearly. Uh I would make my motion subject to the four recommendations made by staff specifically in this application. Uh I find that it is compatible number one with existing uses in the vicinity and uh will more importantly will not adversely affect the general welfare of the character of the immediate community. I would note in that regard that this property has been successfully rented for many many years without problems. We have somebody on site and and a son who close or live close by. Um number two, adequate provision is clearly made and exists for such item as setbacks buffering fences. There's parking for six uh vehicles. Number three, this complies with all applicable rules, regulations, laws, and standards of the of the ordinance. So, the application is in proper order. I find that a compelling reason has been made to approve. That's my motion.

Thank you. We got a second by Mr. Brown and a motion made by Mr. Truslo. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand, say I. I. I. All right. your mo your uh application has been granted. It's passed unanimously. So, you'll hear within staff within the next 10 days about the next steps in the process. Thank you for your time this evening.

All right. Uh All right. For those of you that were not here at the beginning of this meeting, we have moved, I think, five cases to the end of our meeting tonight, and those are the ones related to the Charleston water system project. So, at this time, we will go ahead and hear case BZA 092500905, which will be presented by Mrs. Working. Oops, I got to find it. Hold on. almost there. Sorry.

Sorry to throw you off at the last second. Is this working? Right. The um applicant and property owner, Lewis Delun Luna of Ediso Island Youth Recreation, represented by Emma Strong of Davis and Floyd, Inc. requests a variance to allow the removal of a 30-in DBH diameter at breast height Grand Laurel Oak Tree to accommodate construction of a roadway providing access to the proposed Edestto Youth Recreation Center at 1642 Clark Road, which is TMS number 0800000023 on Edestto Island in Charleston County. the subject property and um adjacent parcels to the north, east, southeast, west, and west are located in the agricultural preservation AG10 zoning district while adjacent parcels to the south are located in the agricultural residential AGR zoning district. The applicant is currently in the site plan review process for the proposed um Edison Youth Recreation Center. This is the aerial um sorry this is the location map showing where on edestto the property is located. Um this is the zoning ordinance related to grand tree removals a 300 foot radius the aerial zoomed out. Um we posted the property on October 14th 2025. This is pictures of the laurel oak. Um, and then there were two other trees that were approved for removal. So, we don't need to be concerned about those, but they're

they're mentioned on the site plan. I'll show in a minute. Um, so this is the one that needs the variance. This one, the elm was approved by our arborists and as well as the red maple park road hog crawl plantation road. Um this is the overall site plan and then this shows those trees. So, um, everything was approved except for the Laurel Oak and then the plat. Regarding the approval criteria, um, we stated it meets one, two, three, and five, and it may meet four, six, and seven. The board may approve approval conditions or deny the request based on the board's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary in the event that the board needs more information. Um the board should consider the following conditions recommended by staff. One, prior to zoning permit approval, the applicant shall complete the site plan review process. Two, the applicant shall mitigate the removal of the 30-in DBH tree by one of the following meth methods. A submitting a mitigation plan for review and approval indicating the installation of canopy trees no smaller than 2.5 inches in caliper equaling inch per inch inch for inch replacement. B depositing funds into the Charleston County tree fund as described in section 926 of the Zeldar or C a combination of both A and B. Mitigation shall be completed prior to tree removal. And three tree barricades constructed of chainlink fencing shall be installed along around all protected trees within 40 ft of disturbance prior to any construction pursuant to section 924 of the Zeldar. The applicant shall retain a certified arborist to monitor and treat all grant

trees within 40 ft of disturbance throughout construction. A copy of the tree preservation plan shall be submitted to the zoning staff for review and approval prior to zoning permit issuance. And that concludes my report. And do you have any questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. Working. I know Mr. Neil would like to kick us off again. Mr. Chair, um, so I'm just cleaning up some issues that I have questions on. Is your mic on, Mr. Neil?

I apologize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, the questions I'm trying to track down, thank you for clarification on the 55 in red maple we don't have to worry about and the 26 in American elm. And I don't even know what American elm is, but that doesn't matter cuz we're not going to bring it up. So, we're on the 20 the 31in laurel oak. I didn't hear what grade it is, but I also have on our notes, it's a 30 inch. So, is it 31 or 30 in? Because if they're going to do mitigation, we got to get the inches correct. It's It's 30 in. It's a 31 inch. Let me see. because there it looks like their paperwork the slide I'm looking at slide 28 of 29 shows 31 inches yeah this is what our arbors measured as 30

okay and he's it was a B-grade it was a B-grade okay that's good Mr. Mr. Chair thank you all right thank you Mr. Neil any other questions for Mr. working. Miss Smith, I I doubt you know, but do you know the age of the tree? Because I know laurel oaks are shortlived. Okay. He did talk about Sally. I don't know if you know what it's called, but the way the roots are. It's basically like kind of like a swamp tree. Um you could see like the trunk of the tree. It's kind of interesting, but I don't know the word for it. You don't have a It's called fluting, Mrs. Working. Just so you know. Yes. Fluting. There's an expert. Any other questions for Miss Working? I have one for staff but not Miss Working for our arborist.

That's fine. Is that all right? Um the grade of B. What did you do the report on it or was there just taking the report from from say I was wondering why it's why it's a B? Is it uh disformed or shaped or dying or whatever? I didn't do the report. I do need to be sworn in. Oh, you Oh, sorry. Because I did have to come in late. I swear to tell the truth and everything that's the truth. I do. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Brooks, for clarifying that.

I I didn't um Kyle went out there. Um I imagine the B-grade was there. Usually, if there are any defects, they would just be minor small defects. Um the I imagine the B-grade was probably due to this situation with the roots that are kind of buttressed out. Yeah. Um, and that's typical for something in like a wet wetter area. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, M. Mr. Neil. And to confirm, this tree is within the wetland crossing that's proposed for this. Um, let's see. Yes, it does look like it is. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for staff?

All right. Is the applicant present? All right. All right. If you would come forward, state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve this application.

Good evening. My name is Lewis Duna. I live at 10009 Long Branch Road, Gleyville. I lived in uh Edestto Island for about 10 years prior to moving. Uh I am a board member of Edestto Island Youth Recreation. um one of the co-founders with uh Mr. Middleton and uh the authorized representative. Thank you so much for hearing this. Um I'll try to give you a brief summary of why we're doing this, what we're trying to accomplish. Edisto Island Youth Recreation is a 501c3 nonprofit all volunteer organization which really has two uh main functions. One is to provide free sports programs to the kids in the local area that includes Zenesto, Hollywood, Ravenel um and uh also to build and maintain facilities for these sports programs. That's really the purpose of the organization. We received, we were really blessed with a green belt grant um to purchase 145 acres on Clark Road, Edisto Island. That property has a conservation easement which allows active and passive recreation. Uh it allows farming and uh it restricts further development. The property was originally nine lots and those were dissolved. So, it's now one big lot. We uh spent a lot of time and effort on optimizing the location where we're crossing the wetland. We had uh uh landscape architects, professional

engineers, a we hired an arborist and uh surveyors amongst others. We also had uh a great deal of support from the Edestto Island Open Land Trust from Tom Austin who might be speaking here tonight. Um we optimized the location based on impact on neighbors, impact on uh trees and impact on the wetland. The location we took we feel optimizes all those features. We have approved we have received an approved US Army Corps uh nationwide permit that allows us to cross this area. Um we are disturbing about 0.4 acres of property of of wetland out of I think I believe there's about 37 acres uh of wetland on the property and there's 145 acres total. Um like I said we we have a conservation easement which has strict requirements that we must follow. We also have a green belt contract which we have to follow and we have a county contract and all those things are recorded with the deed. So uh when we selected uh this this driveway approach uh crossing of the wetland we had an arburous look at the trees and uh I think um like what was discussed earlier the uh the drainage ditch the trees are in the vicinity of the drainage ditch and they're not water trees. I'm not an arborist so I'm not speaking from any uh um area of expertise on this but they they are all impacted by the water and

our arborist felt that they were all uh not fully healthy in his report. I think the report is in the package you have. So, we felt pretty good about the location we picked based on the impact on the wetland and uh again the impact on trees and impact on neighbors. It's in an area that's pretty well shielded from any of the neighbors. And just one last thing I want to say, this recreation area has uh many features which do not exist on a public access for uh uh manner on Edesto Island and the surrounding communities such as a playground. Really isn't a full modern playground that's fully public accessed. We we will have one. Uh we will have an outdoor basketball court. Uh we will have a uh uh multi-purpose field that could be used for soccer and uh other sports. Um so and and there's also and that's what is the first phase of the project basically those elements. Second phase of the project will be um a uh gym community center that will be uh you know added to the property. So uh I just want to say that I was blessed to work with uh Mr. Gino Middleton who's sitting on the back row um next to Al Jenkins. And um I when I first moved here, I couldn't believe the lack of, you know, uh recreation programs for the kids. And Gino's been fighting his whole life for this. Uh pretty amazing person. And I, like I said, I was blessed to really work for him. And uh with with the programs we have, we'll be able to expand some of

them. We'll be able to restart a soccer program. Um we'll, you know, be able to do other things like lacrosse. Um there will be walking trails along around the uh the property uh for the community to use. Um so it's going to be a great thing. It's going to be a transformational project. So that's all I have. All right. Thank you, Mr. Deluna. Um I'll go Well, I'll let Mr. Neil start. Go ahead.

Mine's very brief. I I applaud you for what for the mission that you're on. Um if you have dealt with the Army Corps of Engineers and working with mitigation credits across a wetland, then that answers all the questions I would always have of did you think about a process? You've had to jump through every process. So I applaud you for it. I don't need to hear anything else on this project. I'm good. It's true. I don't know if that's a compliment for what I do for a living or if that's it.

All right. Any other questions from the board? Mr. I had one and this is a a friendly question, but are you okay? Uh there's a a staff recommendation for tree medic mitigation. You cut one down, you plant 10 more. I'm not sure I would uh in this unique situation have required that. But are you okay with that? Yeah, absolutely. Actually, if you look at our site plan, I believe it shows a lot of trees being planted. Um okay. So, we're going to, you know, we're going to make sure we do that. I think we'll probably exceed what's there. Thank you. Thank you.

And Mr. Duna, can you confirm that when you guys went through the core of engineers permitting process, the location of the road crossing? In my experience in dealing with that particular agency, they will push you to the narrowest portion of the wetland so that you can cross to the other side. Did they do that in this particular case? Uh I I think our presentation to the Army Corps was pretty much the wording I used tonight. You know that we we had a lot of professional people look at the crossing and we picked one of the most narrow areas if you look at the wetland uh uh map. One of the most narrow areas and uh the one that had the least impact on trees. But um I think if we had picked, let me put it this way. We we we disturbed 0.4 acres, we had to pay $51,000 in a wetland credit, right?

So if we had disturbed more, that would have also impacted money that we want to spend on the kids. Does that answer? It does. Yep. Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? Mr. Jordan, I just want to make a comment. Y'all probably expect me to jump up and down as usual to in defense of the tree, but the more I sit here and think about it, this is something for the young people and this is for the future. In this case, I think even the tree would agree. Thank you. To get out of the way for the young people so they can have a future. So, I would be for it. All right. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. All right. Thank you for your time this evening. Thank you so much.

All right. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Please come forward. State your name and address for the record. and tell us why we should approve the application.

Yes. Good afternoon everybody. His name is uh Gino Middleton. I'm resident of Eddie Stow. Uh Steris Road 8062 Eis Road. Um I call him my brother because we met about 10 years ago. That's how long we was fighting this this battle. When we first started this battle, we simply started off because of the of the crimes and um as y'all remember like 108 years ago all the violent downtown and violent in North Charleston, violent all over the places. We sit around and we had about maybe 3 4 months of studying everything. We look at all the violent and he asked me the question said, "How long this been like this?" Well, I said, "Well, it's it's getting better for some reason." And we don't have no answer for it really because as we speak um he spoke about we talk about the kids every so often on edge somebody gets strike down by a car. I get a chance after I retired to see the c to see the senior citizen trying to walk the road to get some kind of exercise. They don't have a they don't have a a decent building that they could go into um and exercise in safety. Um we witnessing um drug population is steady taking over and many of them kept talking and then we start visiting the local politician.

At that time, we talked to every elected official who had anything to do with that area until the day we still are getting support from those people after they got voted out of office. But um this the politician that we have to deal with now brought us to this point. Um we in junction with um with park and wreck they came on board and Miss Patty um great person. We involve ourself with a lot of people not from this area but know about building parks and know about building our area and and and making things better for everybody. this tree. I'm all country boy. Um we cut down a bunch of tree like that to get prepare for next year for wood and and not telling nobody how way to look at it. But that's how these trees birth. I love nature. My favorite bird is a bluebird. Blueb bird love live oak trees and stuff like that. No bird would even land in that tree. And I mean, I'm just being I'm just being honest with you. And and as hard as in the heart as a small group, a small group, a mans and lady for the last 10 years, we've been working and my brother back there and I said, I said, Jack, this don't make no sense. Oh, you know, we got to follow guide rules and regulation. Every single thing that we done

on Clark Road to prepare for this point is done exactly what y'all guys want us to do. We did not break not one single rule. I'm the rule broker and they keep me keep my foot to the fire and said we got to do this. So guys, I'm asking you, I'm begging y'all, please help us out with this. All right, Mr. Middleton, we do greatly appreciate you being here this evening for your comments tonight. Let me see if any of my board members have questions for you. There are squirrel squirrel. You don't have to answer that.

I'm out of here. No, we we do appreciate everything you guys are doing for the community down there. And this is this is definitely a worthwhile project. So So if there are no other questions from the board, we'll have to see if there are any others that want to speak in favor of this particular application.

Let me let let me um say one more thing. I remember that that really bothered me. We had to pay a substantial fee to the Army Corp Engineer. We are a nonprofit organization. When we started Eddie Starland Youth Recreation, me, Jack, and his wife, we got a charge card. Mike charge card for 1,500. And for the next for the for the for the next three years, that's all the money we had for about maybe 60 kids. And we spend money to take these kids out. These kids main hold back are these kids is angry? Their self-esteem is real low because it seemed like the rest of the district like district 23, we at the very end. It's like everybody forgot about them. So guys, um appreciate y'all letting me stand up here and ramble. Um but that's the honest God truth.

All right. Well, thank you Mr. Middleton. We really appreciate what you're doing. Uh, thank you, sir. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? All right. Please state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve it.

Tom Austin, uh, 4593 Kings Point Road, Megot, South Carolina. Uh, I'm here to voice my support for this project. Um, but not just my support. I'm bringing the full unanimous support of the board of directors of the Edestto Island Open Land Trust who holds a conservation easement on the property. Um, I think first month I was on the job, um, I met with Jack and Gino and I tried to find them a home for these recreation facilities on Edesto Island. And I had the honor of being able to help them write a green belt grant in 2020 to be able to purchase this property. I wrote the conservation easement myself. We recorded that in 2021 and I've been working with them for the last eight years um, to make something happen out there. We have spent multiple years and uh probably a full year of permitting work trying to figure out how to cross this wetland in the best way possible that would have no impacts to any of the conservation values or to any of the grand trees on site. Um but just the fact of the matter was there was there was no way to get across the wetland without either exponentially increasing the wetland impacts or having to take out grand trees. So the solution that we have in front of us is the the best compromise that is available. Um it's probably about a 70-year-old uh laurel oak out there on the bank of that canal that was dug I think in the 60s. Um and um from our end from as the conservation easement holder um we want to avoid permanent impacts to wetlands as much as possible. Um we don't take the removal of grand trees lightly on Edesto Island but that tree could be blown over by a hurricane or struck by lightning next week and if we go and fill in a full acre of wetlands that is not coming back. So putting this crossing where we can minimize the impacts to the wetlands and minimize damage to the fewest number of grand trees possible because they are up and down the entirety of that canal because it has been forested since for the most part before the 60s. Um this is the best option that we have available to get across that wetland. Um minimizing damage to those wetlands and

minimizing the number of grand trees impacted. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Austin. Let me see if there are any questions for you. Nope. So, thank you so much for your testimony tonight. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Is there Yes, ma'am. Please come forward. State your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve.

Uh, my name is Patty Nishu. I reside at 706 Fox Pond Drive in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 29464. I represent uh Charleston County Parks who's a partner. Um the group was so passionate about getting this project done. They contacted us about four and a half years ago and we've been on board ever since. We have worked very diligently to do the wetland mitigation to um follow all the uh land trust uh conservation rules, the green boat rules and I just wanted I don't I can't say anything better than anyone else right now. I think it the the case has been made, but I just wanted to let you all know that Charleston County Park and Recreation is fully behind this project.

Miss News, thank you so much. And we're very excited to hear that CCPRC is on board with this as well. There any questions? All right. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Is there anyone to speak in opposition to this application? Please state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should not approve the application.

Mil main. I'm at um 2048 Hog Crawl Plantation Road. The property butts up against us. Um, I don't have a problem taking a tree down, but have they did a wildlife study yet with the whistling tree ducks in our neighborhood? I've been on this piece of property where they they what they want to develop since I was my daddy formed it. And I remember when that canal they're talking about, the chain gang claimed it. That's how long it's been. The last time that ditch has been cleaned and you know there's a lot of wildlife there. Is it just Davis and Floyd just went straight ahead on the surveyor cuz it's easy. They gotund and something acres there. You can't tilt a little bit. You know, you might take a little bit more wetland. Save a tree. I mean, I'm all against I mean all for it, but you know, if that's what you got to do, you got to do. I mean, green space gave got the property. What are you supposed to do? Take care of the space. I mean, all the neighbors back there are against it. I'm sorry. I'm the only one that showed up,

right?

I mean, I was fighting it against to start with cuz Parks and Recreations already got a piece of property on that stove. They haven't done nothing with it before they got this piece. You know, it's just a vicious cycle and that's a middle of nowhere. Right now, you in a middle community. I had kids raised on edge still. I've been on edge still 61 years. Second generation now. I got third and fourth generations there. We all live on the same piece of property. You know, all this is going to happen. I don't know what it's going to happen to us because we hunt. We shoot a lot. When they have the big sports events, what are they going to do? Make us stop. I just y'all I know I'm only one man. My voice might go a little bit. It might go far, but I hope it goes a long ways. I mean, because we're not going to stop shooting when they having events. I mean, why should we? I've been on this piece of property for 30 years my house has been there, you know.

Can you show us on the map where your property is in relation to the um um the park site? See, it says Hogra Plantation. I mean, they have nature trails and all that besides I mean, what number was he referring to? I'm not sure. uh we I own 039 and what's the other one right there? 096 096 both of those pieces and I own the road right away.

All right, Mr. Neil, you have a question? Yeah, just a follow up on on being a neighbor. So, tell me a little bit more about the 039 and 096. You said you live there. Are you Is this a honey plantation or you reside on one of these parcels the whole time? I reside on the the little piece on in the corner. I live in the little piece and it's in the corner. That's where my house is. Okay. My wife's parents just passed. We just inherited the other piece. So if we agriculture, we farm it. We hunt it. So what's on 096? Do you know what the zoning is? Let me see what

This is the part where you said you just inherited. Is there any structures or anything? Yeah, we got a house. We Yeah, I got my son lives there. With his grandchild. I mean, we got two houses there. One on each piece of property. I mean, I got a granddaughter there. It's 18 months old. Yeah, that answers my question. Thank you. All right, Mr. Sel. No, I I just it was just I guess a clarification um for the speaker is that you know we're here to decide a variance about a tree and the use of the property is beyond our purview. That's not something that we can address.

How about the whistle and tree ducks? Has anybody did a study on them? They are protected species. You cannot even shoot one and we've got a bunch of them over there. I mean and the the woodpeckers and stuff. I mean there's Has anybody did any studies? They just came in and like railroad it in. I see. Okay, I understand your point. I mean, let's do a study first before we say, "Yeah, that's where they can do that tree, you know." Okay. I mean, because where tree ducks go? They go in the big trees. All right. Mr. Sadell, you have any other questions? No. Thank No, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Jordan,

just for the record, sir, did I hear you say at the beginning you're not opposed to taking this tree down? What's that? Did I just for the record, did I hear you say at the beginning of your if they got to? But why? What? I mean, why take that one when you might move over and get a little bit more? I mean, but you did say you want a road straight or you want a road crooked? You did say you're not opposed to it. I'm not opposed to it if that's what they got to do. Thank you. But I just I just think though they need to do more homework. Thank you, sir. All right. Well, we definitely appreciate you voicing your concerns tonight. is a big part of this process as we go through about a tree. I know.

Yeah. And as far as wildlife studies, if any would have been required, it would have happened during the federal permitting process for the wetland crossing where a lot of those details are um evaluated during that process. We're unfortunately restricted to this particular tree and the request has been made, but definitely thank you for coming out and voicing your opinion. I mean, I'm the only one we'll stand up for. All right. Well, thank you so much.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in opposition to this application? All right, we will then Oh, hold on. The um applicant has the right to rebuttal. So, if the applicant would come forward and if you so choose, respond to the um to the complaint that's been made or the opposition to to your project. I really don't have too much to say, but I will say that um there's been a a great deal of engineering spent like hundreds of thousands of dollars on this property uh to look at the wetland crossing, to look at drainage, um and all the things that go into the SP PR. Uh so that that's that's been done. Um Patty who spoke from Parks and Wreck uh is the landscape architect and uh she's really been the project manager for this licensing effort um permitting effort that we're doing and uh we haven't left a stone unturned is all I can say. Um we've really looked at everything.

Thank you. Well, thank you Mr. Dlu and hey Mr. FL one one thing could you confirm the majority of the impacts that are occurring for this are actually on the opposite side of the property from where the um um from where the the um I forgot the neighbors property was located correct

yeah um again we were the property was divided into nine lots originally um which would have had a huge impact and what green belt liked what we were doing because we were putting a conservation easement on the property restricting further development but allowing these features. These things are going um basically in the center of the property and they're pretty well shielded from uh from the neighbors. And this crossing uh is is the is is a off the off an area where it's not going to have a lot of impact on uh people going back and forth to their homes. So I don't know if that answers your question.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Dylan. Any other questions? All right. Thank you for your time this evening. This closes the public testimony portion of of our hearing. So with that, are there any questions for staff before we entertain a motion? No. Well, then we'll entertain a motion. All right, Mr. Neil.

Yeah, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Um, I will make a motion for uh for case BZA 092500905. I'd like to make a motion to approve the variance request to allow the removal of the 30-in DBH Grand Laurel Oak tree. Um, I feel that after um testimony for the applicant that uh it meets all the seven criteria for um make sure I'm on the right one. Yes, for the variance. Um item number one, there are extraordinary exceptional conditions pertaining to this piece of property. We have seen uh the layouts here. They have they have obtained something that is very difficult and that is a wetland permit. as the chair knows uh that is very very detailed uh application to approve. So uh I feel comfortable that that getting something that that extraordinary it clearly meets item number one. Uh item number two these conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity uh it clearly meets that they're they're putting this in the middle of the property. The tree is uh really not going to affect anything on the on the I don't know if that's west but the the adjacent neighbor. So, um there's nothing else like this since it was nine lots pulled alto together. Uh criteria number three, because of these conditions, the application of this ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict utilization of the property. Testimony was already given that their the mitigation that they've had to obtain from the Army Corps of Engineers was the the minimal um to make this happen. So they've looked at every option of the road access and unfortunately the road access is going right through the middle of this tree. So they've got to remove this tree. The authoriz criteria number four, the authorization of a variance will not substantially detriment to the adjacent property or the public good. Again, the testimony we just had, the rebuttal

testimony, um to the far right of the plat that I'm looking at here on this item, uh there all the fields are to the right of it with uh buffer to the adjacent property and then interior of that is the road and the variances for the tree. So again, there's even more uh buffer away from the adjacent property owners. Uh criteria number five, the board of zoning appeal shall not grant on variance in effect to which to allow the establishment of use not permitted. This is this zoning district is ball fields and sports and it's um also got to adhere to much higher authorities uh including conservation easements and things like that. So it clearly meets that criteria. Number six criteria, the need for the variance is not the result of the own applicant's own actions. Um they're threading a very fine needle here um with the dictation from their conservation easements, the uh county parks and recreation uh the green belt and the army corps of engineers. So it clearly is u taking a grander scale here to thread this needle to approve this variance. And the last criteria granting of the variance did not substantially convict with a comprehensive plan or purpose of this ordinance. And it clearly is going to meet meet that criteria being the use. Um it's got community support. Um I think this is a there are staff conditions on this one.

Yes. That we need to include as part of my motion. And I am done with that. I'm I'm going to give the second to Mr. Sadell. So no motion by Mr. Neil, second by Mr. Sadell. Is there any discussion? There being no discussion, all those in favor, please raise your right hand and signify by saying I. I. I.

That is also unanimous. So congratulations, your application has been granted. You will hear within from staff within 10 business days about the decision and contact them for the next steps in the process. So thank you for your time this evening and good luck with the project. All right. Uh board members, do you have one more in you before we recess shortly and then then we'll take a break before the um Charleston water system. So the next case is case number BZA092500906 which will be presented to us by Mr. Hair. The applicant and property owner Ronald Wade BS is represented by Newman Jackson Smith of Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarboro request a variance to reduce the required 50ft critical line setback by 13 ft resulting in a 37 foot setback to allow construction of a proposed swimming pool.

Hey Mr. Hair, give me one second. Hey, can you gentlemen step to the outside to have the conversation, please? Thank you so much.

All right. Thanks, Mr. Hair. Please proceed. Um they request a variance to reduce the required 50-ft critical line setback by um 13 ft resulting in a 37 foot setback to allow construction of a proposed swimming pool and deck and to accommodate existing stairs at 7722 house Lane TMS number 06900000022 on Edestto Island in Charleston County. The subject property and adjacent parcels are located within the agricultural preservation AG10 zoning district and the islands at Blue House Plantation subdivision which was platted in 1985. Um Charleston County adopted the critical line setback and buffer requirements in 2001. This is the location of the map uh location map. Uh the subject property contains 1.57 acres of Highland. According to Charleston County records, the single family residence was constructed in 1986. Here is the ordinance requirements for the critical line setback and buffers. The 300t radius map, the aerial, we posted the property on October 14th of 2025. Here are pictures of the rear of the property where the pool and the deck will be constructed as well as the um existing stairs that are encroaching into the setback blue house lane survey of the property, the site plan and the plaque. Regarding the seven approval criteria, staff stated that it may meet one, two, four, and seven, that it may not meet six, it does not meet three, and that it meets five.

Can you repeat three and five? Yes, Mr. Her. Mr. Heron, it may meet one, two, four, and seven. It may not meet six, and it does not meet three. It meets five. It meets five. Yes, sir.

The board of zoning appeals may approve approve with conditions or deny case based on the BCA's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary to make an informed decision. In the event the board decides to approve the application, the board should consider the following conditions recommended by staff. One, prior to commencing construction, silt f silt fencing shall be installed along the critical line and maintained for the duration of construction. The applicant shall use storm water mitigation measures such as rain barrels and rain gardens to reduce the flow of storm water into the marsh. Uh three, the required 30 foot uh 35 foot critical line buffer shall be maintained in accordance with the Charleston County uh Zeldar section 4 point uh 24.7 and four any encroachments shall be limited to the footprint areas shown on the submitted site plan. And then here are the uh staff recommendations. Uh any questions?

Yep. Go ahead, Mr. Neil. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so I just did a refresher course on the change of the critical line buffer. I know something changed in 2005 or 2010 and people bought properties. Is this is this one of the ones that's subject to it was a change after they already bought the property and it's not fair to them or is this um it was 2001. Mhm. I do not know when they purchased it, but I think it was more recent. Okay. So, if they bought it after 2001, it wouldn't they're not being they're not subject to the rules being changed on them. They bought it when they knew that the rules were right.

Yeah. Our records show they bought the property in 2023. 2023. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Any other questions for staff? All right. Is the applicant present? Get a lawyer. if you would state your name and address for the record and please tell us why we should approve this application.

Thank you very much. My name is Jack Smith. I'm at 747 Old Central Way in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Uh I'm an attorney with Nelson Mullins, Mr. BS. The applicant is here. Uh we certainly appreciate your time and consideration. He would like to say thank you and he will certainly abide by the staff conditions and we will provide the information on attachment A to the application went through the criteria and why this is a reasonable request that should be granted in your discretion. Thank you. the uh fact that he bought it after that um regulation came out in 2001 doesn't obiate the fact that it was built in 1986 well before that. So we didn't really create that and it is a second home. It's for recreation. A pool is a very natural neighborhood recreational amenity. where it's going to be located is really the issue here and where it's going to be located and what impact does that have is I guess what you were trying to discern from all of this how is this uh impact anybody or anything so we'll first say that the critical area um impact zone the first 35 ft that's kind of from the uh state agency's perspective and the county adding to the that to make it 50 feet is really a water quality issue and so we understand completely why that's in place and why that buffer is important. We take that seriously. And so the house uh being con built where it was, there was not really room to put it in the middle of the backyard like you typically would have it full of sun all around it. It was squeezed up against the house uh by the existing steps into the house up to the second floor and it's in a location that provides for uh observation and safety. is it's one of those situations where if

you tried to put it way over on the side that's on the neighbor side. So there is another house over there and it would have more impact on neighbors there. But it's also where the um uh air conditioning unit and the propane tank and the other utilities are. So it' have to be set out pretty far and not be very visible from the home and therefore be a safety factor. U where it is is right where the stairs go up to the second floor. Those stairs were built apparently in 1986 based on the old aerial photography. So the two feet of that structure was already it became inside that buffer when the buffer was set. Uh so we are including that for technical reasons to make sure that is also approved. But in looking at where else it could go, it could either go on the side or it can go here. Here because it has literally zero negative impact on storm water. It's it's a hole in the ground that holds water. So when it rains, most of that water is going to go into the pool. The little bit that will go off of the concrete decking around it, of course, will go through the vegetated buffer before it ever gets to the critical area, the waters of the state. And it's going to be filtered, but it's also going to be clean. You're not going to put messy things around your pool. So I think that from a a standpoint of does it affect your neighbors? No. it might affect a neighbor if you move it over to the other side. Uh, is this a reasonable accommodation of uh factors that should go into looking at where you sight a pool because of the the safety and ability to put it right where you can observe it from the decking from the porch. You can hear from there. You can get to it quickly with those stairs leading right to that little deck beside it. And so we believe that it meets all the criteria uh and should be approved. This is, I think, one of those discretionary moves that we ask the this type of board

to make because it is a a recreational home, if you will. It is where someone would come to relax and get away from the city. Mr. BS works hard in his business, a restaurant business, and he and his family have this to escape to. They recently got it and are interested in making the most of it for their recreational but also for their safety and having it located in that location is really the best place looking at all the alternatives. It really wouldn't fit on the driveway side on the roadside and on the other end you know in the front of the house would be pretty much kind of isolated but also really visible from the road. the road comes around there and there's no screening on that side. Where it is now, there can be some privacy because the porch um steps that come down will also shield it from that road and help it be private and shield it from any impacts on that side. We'll be happy to answer any questions. Mr. BS is available for questions that I might not be able to answer.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Let's see. Mr. Neil, we'll start with you again.

I'm busy tonight. Thank you, Mr. Sure. Um I mean I I I get why they're trying to put the location there. Again, the critical line buffers are set not by us. That's why, you know, we're having these variances. So looking at the schematic working, could you bring up uh I'm on the layout of the pool. Yeah, there you go. Thank you. And it's got the setback lines of 30. Yeah, perfect. So, I heard you mention a couple of times about the safety element of of a pool and being able to watch grandchildren, things like that, and I applaud you. I totally understand that. But this is a big piece of property, and I'm trying to understand why it and let me go all the way through before you answer if you don't mind. Why you can't put the pool on the left side of the house because even if you turned it sideways and it went parallel with the house, you still got access from the deck and the porch. if people were sitting on the deck and porch to watch things. Now granted, it might go out a little bit and you still might need to have some encroachment into the uh setback line, but you wouldn't have to go all the way behind the house with it. You could just be into the critical setback line of the width of the pool, not the whole length of the pool that you're you're going to. So, it might be a small variance. I just I'm bringing that up because you also mentioned that there's other things uh out there for the for utilities and things like that. I don't really know. Maybe you can expand on that a little bit, but are you drawing in to where the pump stations and all the facilities that are going to be needed for this into this drawing or is that going to go out out further as well? But I mean, you could also go on the right side and maybe you can see that from the uh from the driveway, but I really don't buy into the argument of the screening because you've got a fence all the way around this or existing fence all the way around the side anyway. So it it would be screened and I don't think there's an argument from the neighbors on this size of the property. So just kind of educate me on that argument that

you're making.

Uh I'll try again. The uh the fence of course isn't a screening fence. It's a wire open fence so you can see right through it. There's there's no screening. It's just a an enclosed fence so to speak to keep it private. The driveway side uh would be right on the street and really no privacy for use of the pool. I mean, you could see see it right there. Um, there are, you know, people that come and go in that area and so that would also be um a factor that could be considered. But the main thing is that backing it up over there, it would be certainly less visible and less safe and a lot harder to get to should someone need assistance in that pool on that side. So, the use of the pool by the family is really centered on where it can be safely used. And like I said, it was squeezed up against the house if we would put it over beyond where the utilities are. So, it would be safe to have it uh and and maybe only have a smaller variance. It would still not meet that criteria for being where it needs to be. In most places where you have a a pool, you're going to put it where it's in the center of where your visual space is, your U space is in the backyard. Putting it over to the side is really inconvenient, but it's also a much closer and could have an negative noise impacts on the neighbors on that side. So, we don't believe that it is necessary to to move it over there to meet these criteria because of those factors.

Okay. Well, just to follow up, Mr. chair, I I still don't I don't buy the argument of the the noise to the neighbors. And you can always reply replace a fence that is narrow to I mean wide open fence to a a privacy fence if you needed to. But I think you're going to hear testimony tonight from someone that's going to talk about the critical line buffer and why the critical line buffer is 50 ft and things like that. So you hadn't addressed that yet. So I'm just hoping to hear that hear more of that testimony, but you've answered my questions good enough. So I appreciate it. Well, I'll be glad to answer the critical area line buffer. I mean, I'm I'm very familiar. I mean, part of my work is in wetlands and getting permits and things. So, I'm very familiar with that. Um, in fact, for 10 years, I was an attorney for the state agency now that does critical lines. So, I'm I'm very familiar with reasons why. And so, the the buffer is there from a really a water quality perspective. And this doesn't have really a water quality impact because it is very little hard surface being added within the buffer area. It is clean concrete at most. And he's Mr. BS is happy to put in the rain garden to help do the other mitigation factors. He's already agreed to do that. Um and so there'll be a net improvement in terms of water quality after the pool is constructed. certainly will abide by the construction rules and have the substance put in correctly

and and preserve all of that and contain it by the existing footprint instead of disturbing other new ground. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. And Mr. Smith, to clarify, there is no encroachment into the 35 ft buffer. This is just an encroachment to the setback. Correct. That's correct. It's only the additional 15t that was added and and we're at least two to three feet. It really kind of a slanted line. So from 12 to 13 feet is the impact only into the additional 15 feet.

All right. And along those lines, special condition three that staff recommended um basically states that that the buffer would then have to be maintained in accordance with Zeldar section 4.24.7 which right now that's open lawn if I remember correctly from the pictures. And so that would mean there's some landscaping that would go in to that portion of the property to maintain the buffer. I'm sure that the staff will guide us on what those requirements are, but yes, we understand that it was purchased the way you see it. It has not been cleared or otherwise modified. All right. Thank you very much. Yes. And that I have anything else you wanted to add, Mr. Balls? I think Mr. Truso has a question for you.

Um, thank you for your presentation is very succinctly stated and well stated. Um, I'm concerned about something. The pool will most likely have use of some types of chemicals in a heavy storm, hurricanes, which we get. Uh will the uh pool overflow and the chemicals flow into the marsh or will they go the other way from the marsh? What what will happen in the event of a catastrophic event like we often have on the coast?

Well, the first thing I'll say is the solution to pollution is dilution. And so all that water coming into the pool, this the solution to pollution is dilution. And so all that water coming into the pool will dilute whatever does come out of it. Um so even if there's a a draw down in the pool like you do for some storm water ponds, you're going to have u it might overflow if you get a foot or 18 inches of rain, then nothing can really modify that. And so yes, whatever chlorine or non-clorine uh purifiers are put in the water to keep it safe to swim in, that's also required by the agency. Uh if it was a public pool, the same requirements will be here. And those um

you answered my you've answered my question. I had one more question and we're in a quasi judicial we're operating in quai judicial capacity. Um, do you have any law or can you point us to anything that indicates that having the failure to have a pool constitutes a legal hardship? I'm I'm having a lot of trouble uh with that.

That's right. Uh we did not research that uh cases that might have a pool as a hardship because this is a relatively unique situation and there always a case by case determination for words like this to use their their community feedback, their knowledge and experience and to apply that to whether or not this creates a hardship for this particular individual in this particular case in this particular neighborhood for having bought a property that was built well before either of these lines were in place and is trying to make something good for his family. All right. Thank you very much. There any other questions for Mr. Smith? All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you. We'll be happy to answer any question.

Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Would the applicant like to speak in favor of the application? My name is Wade BS and I just want to thank you all for your consideration to uh to review this um request and um I hope that you consider it. If you have any questions for me, I'll be more than happy to answer. There any questions for Mr. BS? All right. Thank you, Mr. BS. Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this application? All right, Miss Crew, please come forward and state your name and address and let us know why we should not approve this application. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Susan Kershaw and I live at 365. Sorry, I got that wrong, Miss M.

That's okay. You are not expected to remember it. Um 365 Berry Hill Road on John's Island. Um, I believe a couple years ago we um looked at a variance for another house on Blue House Lane for a pool um behind their house between the house and the water. And so I'm not sure it's so unique a situation out in that neighborhood. Um th this uh request is just for the setback zone and I debated whether to come and speak but some other factors made me uh want to come. One is that there is lawn in the buffer zone. Um and though water quality is one of the reasons for um a vegetated buffer zone, there are other reasons also. But a lawn in the buffer zone doesn't help with water quality certainly and doesn't help the marsh also as it tries to migrate up. And so I would urge you to be a little bit more strict um because the buff buffer zone isn't really doing it going to do its job here unless we do ask them to reveate that which would be great. Um, and along along those lines, I I need to call Miss Working. I think um I I would love to see the self fencing put along the buffer zone line and not just on the critical line, but that's a conversation for a different group, I think. And um I I just there there are other places for the pool on this lot. I don't think it causes a an undue hardship for placing

it where they prefer to place it. Um, they can still have a pool. It just might not be as convenient. So, that's all today. All right, Miss Kershaw, before you step away, one thing that I I will point out and and mention this to the applicant, but one of the special conditions required or requested by staff if we were to pass this is that the buffer shall be maintained in accordance with Charleston County Zeldar section 4.24.7, which would specifically mean that it shouldn't be maintained in the future as a lawn, but it should be vegetated, which may or may not help alleviate some of your concerns in this particular case. Any other questions for Miss Kershaw? All right. Well, thank you once again for coming out.

Thanks for moving the case up. You're welcome. Is there anyone else here to speak in opposition to this request? All right. The applicant has the right to rebut if they so choose. I believe you have two minutes, Mr. Smith. And please state your name and address one more time. One more time. Yes, this is Jack Smith, 747 Old Central Way, Mount Pleasant. Um, Mike,

the the rebuttal is is clearly we do want to comply with regulations. The house was bought uh as a a place to go and have this kind of recreation. So, improving it is in the cards. Having the pool is an important improvement to the family, but having it in where it needs to go uh in the normal course and and creating uh more buffer, more vegetated buffer, the rain gardens, the staff, and we'd be happy to put the silt fence. In fact, I imagine the the contractor if he's smart, will have a silt fence up near the construction site and down at the critical area. So there's certainly um water quality impacts are very important for this applicant and we would like to u point out that the opportunity to move it where it may not impact this may not result in the type of of of management of that area that it would get if it had the pool there. We would like to add some additional opportunities for screening and make sure that it's shielded um in that location because that would also help maintain the integrity of the house itself.

So Mr. Smith, if I understand correctly, you're you're saying that the applicant would not be required to adhere to the section 4.247. They can maintain the lawn since that's the existing condition. No, I'm not not saying that at all. I'm just saying that, you know, part of the improvement would be um something that they'd be happy to do as part of this it that they'll have to consider what else they would like to do with the property before they would make those types of changes. Gotcha. Thank you for clarifying that. Are there any other questions for Mr. Smith? That was my question.

All right. Well, thank you for your time tonight. This will close this portion of the case to the public. And with that, are there any other questions for staff? I'm I'm still not understanding what is the difference between the critical line setback and the buffer. There's a buffer line. That was a I was getting ready to ask staff that just to clarify that. I think that I what I'm looking into it, it seems like that critical line set back of 50 ft is to protect the water quality to provide an area of soil that filters any runoff from from development and then the pool would block that kind of absorption of the the land.

Well, you always have the if I may, you always have the critical line buffer first and then you have a setback on top of it. staff's going to probably detail. Yeah, this the setback's further back here. So, basically most of the pool is in the setback and then this is the buffer zone 35 ft. Okay. So, the 35 ft buffer zone is meant to filter for the for our water quality. Yes. And then the buffer completely is supposed to be completely natural. Okay. Yeah. And then there's a 50 foot set back from that. No, 15 more. It's a total of 50 from the feet. 15 more feet.

35 is the most critical spot. And then the extra 15 to go from 35 to 15 is the area that is the gray area that it it's if you're going to have a variance is better to have in my opinion, excuse me, it's better to go into the setback than to go into the actual critical line buffer. And this one, this application is not going into the critical line buffer, only the setback. So from that standpoint, that's a very good thing. Okay. Is the is this 15 foot is the extra 15 feet the same across Charleston County next to waterways or is it Yeah, for for egg areas. So it's there's 15 ft between the setback and the buffer and that changed in 2001.

Yeah, they used to be 35 ft. Look at that. Well, no. They didn't have they didn't have them at all. Oh, they just had the critical line buffer, right? And then they added the setback. Yeah. To make it more uniform. Is that additional 15 feet? Is it 35 35 and it mirrors the the property line. The critical line. The critical line. The critical line. Miss working. What is typically allowed within the setback area that would not be allowed within the buffer? Well, nothing's allowed in the setback.

Yeah. But I guess you could have like a patio or something like that. Um some surfaces, things like that, but not a structure, right? You can't have a structure, but you could have a patio that would not require a fire pit or something like that. Um but yeah, then nothing between the 15 the 35 to the marsh is protected, right? They don't want a parking lot in the the critical line buffer because it's supposed to absorb the water. So, okay. So, the you have a 35 foot critical line buffer and then you have a setback of an additional 15 feet from there. Yes. And the additional 15 ft what is the purpose of that?

Is it to add more filtration and is do you understand my question? Yeah, I think so. Um yeah, just like to trans a transition zone between like the structure the the like the home the pools to the buffer. Okay. Right. So So a patio or or a fire pit would not be considered a structure. So variance would not be required within that setback area, but a pool is considered a structure. So it that requires the variance. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions for staff? All right, I will entertain a motion for

BZA 092500906. Miss Smith, I'd like to make a motion to deny uh the variance request for BZA09 in the case of BZA 092500906 as it does not meet the requirements for variance as outlined. Yeah. Which specific condition? Conditions. Yes. It does not meet condition three.

Yep. And you have to explain why it doesn't meet condition three. Because he had the property owner has a different place that they can build the pool. And this uh buffer was in place before they bought the property. All right. any other conditions or is that I well I don't find that it meets condition one. Okay. And and or condition two. We need reasons for both of those.

Okay. There are other properties in the area that also have the same conditions in place. So this is not an extraordinary condition for number one. For number two, the conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. These these conditions do apply to other properties in the vicinity. For condition three, you've already got three. Okay. For condition four,

you don't have to go through all of them unless you specifically have a reason why it wouldn't meet that particular criterion. And condition six, the need for the variance is not the result of the applicant's own actions. Um, the variance is needed, the variance would have been needed for anybody to build this pool on the property and the conditions were in place prior to the owner buying the property. Yeah, I'm fine. All right. Thank you. Is there a second? Is there a second? Second.

All right. We have a motion that has been properly made by Miss Smith and seconded by Mr. Truslo. Is there any discussion? We'll start down here with Mr. Jordan. Well, based on that, could this uh request be a candidate for the same situation as our first case tonight? Will they back up and regroup and come back with a different proposal? instead of just voting it down. That's up to the applicant. Well, it could be the applicant would have the opportunity if we were to deny this one and they changed the layout, they would be able to come back again before a year expires. Only if they stuck with the same layout would

That's why I'm bringing it up to make them hopefully make them aware they they should uh make that move if they want to. I think at this point we we have a motion that's on the floor that's been properly seconded. It's probably past that point to move for a deferral. Yep. Mr. Neil,

um I mean I I'm not going to be able to support the motion that's on the floor. I struggle with this one because anytime we're in a variance uh for critical line, critical line buffer, I I really make sure I'm paying attention on why and looking at all the options. I think the applicant made a very good case for why the pool needs to be where it is. if they turned the pool to the side, e either side, left or right, they would still be in the setback line and asking for a variance. So, um, the neighbors are so far away. I think to me, for my vote, the issue comes down to the to the water quality issue and what are we disturbing here? And I think staff has made a very good case for um conditions to uh on the ground disturbance and and the future protection of the water quality down the road. Um the applicant has said that they would adhere to all of those things. So I'm I'm against this motion for a denial. I I would be making a motion for approval, but we'll just see where it goes.

All right. Mr. Truso, did you have something?

I was just I was just thinking that I agreed with Mr. Jordan that the applicant will still have other options to come back and try other things. Uh what I can't get over and I respectfully disagree with my colleague uh when uh I I I assume he's skipping over the critical point was criteria number three that having a swimming pool is not uh is an is an accessory use. It's not a required principal component of residential utilization. And so I don't understand how he gets beyond.3 and just jumps to a critical line.

Mr. Neil, would you would you like to respond to Mr. Truso? No, I'm fine. We we disagree every once in a while. All right. It's okay. Mr. Brown, did you have a comment? No. Same as same as this. Right. I I am compelled within the testimony for this one that we we have a condition in this particular application that I believe is fairly new for staff to recommend with um a requirement that the buffer shall be maintained in accordance with Zeldar section 4.24.7 to 4.7, which would they found a way

alleviate the concerns for water quality and would turn what is right now a um a lawn that requires fertilization and mowing and everything else into a a vegetated buffer. Um I as someone that's in the business of helping people mitigate impacts that they otherwise can't avoid, I find that to be a a pretty reasonable uh you know special condition that staff has recommended if we were to approve this. Mr. Brown, would you like to add? I hate to back up, but may I bringing that up. Does I'd like some clarification from staff. Maybe the required 35 foot critical line buffer and accord, you know, maintained in accordance that's for full width of the property, not just right behind or selected area. It's that's the whole thing. That's correct.

The whole thing. The whole thing. And is it does that mean it is allowed to return to natural or they're going to plant and bring plant you know, appropriate plantings in there, um, native vegetation, they would be required to, and there is a stipulation as to what they plant, where, how, they work. Yeah, we could work with them. And the applicant agreed to. Yeah, it just says maintained, but it doesn't say, but you new plan. It says that would just mean stop cutting grass and then Yeah, if there's a motion to approve, we can add some stuff to that, I think, just to make it clear. Okay.

If I may follow up, Mr. Chair, this the commissioners that that are are entertaining an idea of or looking for a result of um a deferral. If this plan is voted down, the applicant will be able to come back and reapply with a new plan and with the pool halfway in, halfway out, left side, right side. So really, the deferral process I don't think helps the decision that we're tasked with and that is do they meet the criteria of the seven, right? And we have a motion that's on the floor that's been seconded. So the motion to deny the request for the encroachment to the setback area based upon failure to meet criterion 1, two, three, and six.

Thank you.

All right. The only other thing that I would add to this particular one that also compels me in my decision on this is that I still struggle with with whether or not a pool is it is what type of structure a pool is. is not um its impact is material different than a building that would be built back there, but very similar to what a patio a patio would be. And that's I have always struggled with that particular item within our code. Um but that's just how I feel. All right, with that we will um make we will call for vote. So all those in favor of the motion to deny, please raise your right hand and say I.

I. We have three. So that was Mr. Brown, Mr. Truslo, and Miss Smith. Those that are opposed to the motion, please raise your right hand and say I. So we have we have a three tie. We have a 43. 43. Oh, I'm sorry. I can't count tonight. That's pretty bad. Um, all right. So that motion has been denied. We will entertain a separate motion on this particular case. All right, Mr. Neil. Oh, you did you recognize me? Yes. Okay, then I'll go ahead and move. Um, oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. Before we make the motion, can we get some clarification from staff on Yes. Are we are we able to add additional requirements from what's done in the buffer zone?

Yes. To in our approval? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Thank you. May I ask that before I make my motion, may I ask what you're contemplating because I'm going to be making a motion.

No, we need to make the motion. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. All right. I I move that we move for approval on case BZ092500906, a variance to reduce the required 50ft critical line setback by 13 ft. I'm going to make a motion for approval. Um on this item, I feel that uh all seven of the criteria zoning variances have been met. Uh criteria number one, they're extraordinary exceptional conditions pertaining to this particular piece of property. It's a very large piece of property, but the testimony compelled me to uh say that I believe it's met this property. There are conditions with property owners next door, uh the setbacks, the critical line, um the way the driveway is, the way the pool is, the safety of the people that are going to be using the pool. Um I'm fine with criteria number one. Criteria number two, these conditions do not generally apply to other property in Vincenity. Um I don't have a problem with that. I don't I don't I mean this is a very large piece of property. Um I don't think the viewing of this pool in this area since it backs up basically to the water um will have any issue with this criteria. Criteria number three. Because of these conditions, the application of this ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property. If we were to not allow this variance to occur, the the pool would have to be moved to the left or the right. Now, I'm not debating on whether or not a pool is needed for the use of the property. I'm debating on if they're going to put a pool in and not be approved any variance, then that means it have to come all the way out of the 50ft setback, which means it's going to come up to the side of the house, which is going to be basically on the front of the house. And and that just doesn't make sense to me. A pool goes in the back. There is safety there are safety issues on a pool. And I just

don't see how turning it sideways is going to help anything unless they put it all the way in the front of the house. And that just to me that it meets that criteria. Criteria number four, the authorization of a variance will not be substantial detriment to the adjacent property. We haven't had anybody from the adjacent properties um sign any letters or or make any motions here uh any testimony whatsoever that it would adversely affect them. Uh so I believe it meets that criteria. Criteria number five, the board of zoning appeals shall not grant a variance to the effect of which would allow the establishment of use of non-permitted in a zoning district. This is a pool of family use. Uh it is a second home, but still it's a recreational use uh in the setback area, not in the critical line area. If this was this pool was being um proposed to go into the critical line buffer, I would not be making this motion. Uh crit uh item number criteria number six, the need for the variance is not the result of the applicant's own actions. Um I I struggle with this criteria, but at the same point in time, I believe he's landlocked with the way the ability of the house is. The house was built before the setbacks and and rules change for the county. Um so it's not like he could tear the house down and and build it in a new one. If he could, it would probably affect the rest of the neighborhood. So I believe it meets criteria number six. And criteria number seven, the granting of this variance did not substantially conflict with a comprehensive plan. Uh, this is a pool being added to a a house on a very large lot. I would like to include all of staff's um recommendations as part of my motion, but I'm open if there's something else that we need to restrict, I'll be willing to accept. That's my motion, Mr. Chair.

Let's see if we get a second. Second. We got a second from Mr. Jordan. Motion by Mr. Neil. Is there any discussion related to this particular motion? My Mr. Sidell, I'm going to start with you. Can I ask staff questions? Sure. Uh, can you We don't have the Charleston County Zelda section 424. Can you briefly describe what that requires?

Yep. So, what it says is the following activities are prohibited in the buffer area. removal or disturbance of the soil except for minimal disturbance associated with planting of shrubs and trees for landscaping. So they could do that to create the buffer. Um grass lawns are not allowed that require maintenance. Um pesticides, fertilizers, mowing, etc. Um gardens, fences, structures except for permitted crossings. um paved or other impervious services and destruction or addition of plant life that would alter the existing pattern of vegetation. So that would be like non-native plants too um and driveways

or what is not allowed. So would would you entertain uh expanding the requirement there to uh require some additional plantings to restore it to a more natural state for the buffer across the um I would just ask our attorney or our chair how to state something like that. I mean I I see where you're going with it. Um, but I I will reference that. I believe there's a fence that already goes through that and goes all the way through the critical buffer. So, I think I thought I understood fences are

and they're not allowed. Not allowed. But isn't there an existing If it were pre-existing? Yeah, it's pre-existing. Yeah. So, are you are you wanting that fence removed and No, no, no. I'm I'm just saying that basically they would be worked with staff for a plan that would enhance the buffer zone in return for granting the variance. So how would we or I'm asking chair or or attorney how would we say we want more than Zeldar or do we have to have would it be easier to say the applicant has to work with staff for an approved landscaping and restoration plan that would give

I'm only suggesting that they work with staff to satisfy Zelda. Right. No, I I understand that, but the motion already includes that, but you're asking for a little bit more. No, it it it says to maintain Yeah. the buffer, but not to add to in order to create a true buffer. But if we if we if we give staff the ability to approve is an enhanced landscaping plan, uh would that be understandable by staff and approved by by council? We we can add a condition that would require a landscape plan be approved for that buffer area. Yes, that is within I'm just trying to address some of the concerns that our colleagues have. And I agree with you, Mr.

I agree with you, M. I'm just trying to word it for your approval. It's the criteria that we are establishing beyond that. What is what is the criteria? Is that what I'm hearing from? Yeah, I think we could give native requirement or whatever. We we have a a very competent staff that knows what they're doing and they're not going to do anything that's in violation of of Zeldar. So I I think we can trust our staff with a condition like that that we would provide.

Agreed. So Mr. Chair, I'd like to amend my motion to include a fifth um condition which would say which would the applicant must receive approval of a landscape restoration plan approved by staff as part of the condition. Submit a landscaping plan to be approved by staff would be better language there. That that would be part of my motion. I don't know who second it. All right. So, who was the second a complete? Mr. Jordan, do you agree with that amendment?

All right. So, we have a motion that has been made. It has been properly seconded, then been amended and seconded. Is there any further discussion?

I'd like to make this on the record. The five points. The reason I would disagree with the motion number one is a lack of a pool does not prohibit the use of a property as a residence. It's a slippery slope when we say that having a pool is you can't have a house unless you can have a pool. I think that's a dangerous precedent for us to set. It's undeniable that property can still be used as a residence without a pool. And I would point to exhibit A is for more than two decades it's been used as a residence without a pool. So I I fail to understand legally how we can get beyond point number three that says that we're in effect saying that uh to prohibit if you're not allowed to have a pool, you're unreasonably restricted from utilization of your property. Uh that's just not not accurate. Uh finally uh uh staff is and I think this uh our uh BCA has done an extraordinarily good job dealing with trees and tree issues. I wish we were as concerned about other aspects of the environment as well as trees in this case. I don't think we have any.

Thank you, Mr. Truso. Any other comments? All right. All those in favor of the motion, please raise your right hand and say I. I. I. So we have five. You got the names and and those that are opposed, please raise your right hand, say I. All right. So we have two opposed. The motion carries. So congratulations. Your application has been approved. You'll receive a a formal notification within 10 business days from staff. Please reach out to them for the next steps in the process. And thank you for your time this evening. All right. What's that? We look forward to working with

All right. Thanks, guys. All right. We are going to recess for Can we do this in five minutes? Take a break and get back in here and hear our last case from Charleston Water Systems. All right. Thank you. Yeah.

Don't ever be thing is just odd because they overlay one another is essentially how it works. You got your critical lines here. Let's say this your critical line. This is your buffer. So that's your 35 ft. But this 50 ft is the overall setback. Is there a little trash can over there? You see it? Oh yeah. You don't mind?

Miss working, you ready? Board, you ready? All right, we will be back in session. So, our final case tonight involves I think five different requests. So, we have BZA 092500900 through 9004 and Mrs. Working will take it from here to explain what we have going on with the Charleston water systems.

Okay. The applicant and property owner Donald E. Benjamin Jr. of Charleston water system represented by John Welen of AE Comm has submitted variances requests for the property identified as 4180600109 located at 1136 Oldtown Road in the St. Andrews area of Charleston County, South Carolina. The requests are associated with the development of a proposed wastewater pump station. The subject property is currently under site plan review for the proposed wastewater pump station. The parcel and adjacent properties to the south are located within the St. Andrews area overlay zoning district with an underlying community commercial CC zoning designation. The adjacent property to the north, TMS number 4180600 1110, lies within the city of Charleston's jurisdiction and contains um an existing wastewater pump station that will be demolished upon completion of the new facility. This is the overlay map, 300 foot radius map and the aerials. Okay. Variance number one. Um this is BZA 092500900 is to encroach more than 25% of the protected root zone of a 48 in DBH grand live oak tree for construction of a driveway. And this is the zoning ordinance requirement for that encroachment. Case ending in 00901 is a variance request to allow a curb cut less than 75 ft from the intersection of North Hillside Drive and Oldtown Road for access. And this is the

zoning um requirement zoning um ordinance requirement for that. Variance number three is uh ending in 00902. Reduce the required vegetative buffers for construction of a major utility service use as follows. North Hillside Drive reduce the required 25- ft buffer by 10 ft resulting in a 15t buffer. Oldtown Road reduce the required 25 foot buffer by 15t resulting in a 10-ft buffer. That is the requirement for the zoning varian. In case four, which is 00903, allow a 6ft chain link fence within the required rightaway buffer to secure the pump station. This is the um fencing article. And finally, number five is case 00904. Wave the requirement to install a sidewalk along North Hillside Drive. Staff posted the property on October 14th, 2025. This is the um 48 inch DBH live oak. It's a B-grade per our staff arborist. Here's another picture of the live oaking. And then all, like I said, all the cases were posted. Couple pictures of the subject property. This is the old pump station on the neighboring parcel that will be demolished once this is completed. Old Tongue Road and North Hillside Road. A survey of the property. And then we have the site plans. So I can zoom into

them if you need them later. Overall, um the existing conditions, the pump station bypass, um the grading for the new pump station, the demo plan for the existing pump station, and the um landscape plan for the new pump station, um the new pump station site plan. And um the details has a a picture of a fence, I believe, or a gate on that one. and then a couple other elevations and things like that. Uh plat regarding staff stated regarding the approval criteria. Staff stated the variance request meets all the approval criteria. The board may approve approval conditions or deny the request based on the board's findings of fact unless additional information is deemed necessary to make an informed decision. In the event the board chooses to approve the application, staff has the following conditions. One, prior to zoning permit approval, the applicant shall complete the site plan review process. Two tree tree barricades constructed of chain link fencing shall be installed around all protected trees within 40 feet of disturbance prior to any construction pursuant to section 924 of the zeldar. Three, the applicant shall retain a certified arborist to monitor and treat all grand trees within 40 ft of disturbance throughout construction. A copy of the tree preservation plan shall be submitted to zoning staff for review and approval prior to zoning permit issuance. Four, if the 48 inch DBH live oak tree dies within three years from the date the wastewater pump station is constructed, the applicant shall mitigate the tree as follows. A, submit a mitigation plan for review and approval indicating the installation of canopy trees no smaller than 2.5 in in caliber providing inch per inch replacement. B, deposit funds into the

Charleston County Tree Fund as described in section 926 of the Zeldar or C a combination of A and B. Mitigation shall be completed prior to the removal of the dead tree. Finally, five, the applicant shall work with staff to explore materials other than chain link fencing to provide opaque screening that is visually compatible with a surrounding residential area. Any questions? Thank you, Mrs. Working. I I will start by asking if the odor control plan is compliant with Zeldar. That I have no clue, but hopefully Mr. Neil,

thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, all right. So, summarize and really I think these are very straightforward, but um I'll ask him one at a time is working to to because I could barely keep track of it as the uh for the protection of the tree is what going in there is it uh is it a driveway that's going in there? Can it be a gravel driveway that would be pvious or something like that? Is that recommended or does that give us a little bit better ability around the tree? And that's might be a question for the applicant. I was I believe I'd have to Can you zoom in on the plans about I don't I think it's it's asphalt, but it is going to be a driveway.

I was I was cons wondering what the grade of the tree is currently if we happen to know. Yeah. A B A B. Okay. Then the next one, um the curb cut. I don't really have any issues with the uh the vegetated buffers on the third one. I don't have an issue with the chain link fence. I think you've already addressed it by your condition in the approval if we were to to accept it uh to explore other chain other fence options that because it's next to a residential neighborhood and and buffers and and plantings and stuff. So, is landscaping part of that um criteria of approval? First interview, correct? Of landscape plan or something that's in there?

I have one. I was just making sure that was in there because didn't really I mean a pump station normally has a privacy fence around it and they're going to want security. Um but I'm sure there's something about landscaping, right? Yeah.

Uh so then really it just came down to the sidewalk. I'm trying to understand and this might be for the applicant when they finally make a presentation. Um why we would not want a sidewalk on North Hillside Drive. If you could pull Yeah, got it there. Um cuz I mean we got residential back there. Wouldn't we want to have a sidewalk back there, even if it was minimal in size of some type? I just don't understand that request. I'm sure it's in the way of whatever, but maybe the applicant can address that. But is it tying into a sidewalk that's back there? I mean, that looks like a area that's unless there's a sidewalk on the other side. I remember we had a property across the street that we that came before us about a year ago. I just wasn't sure. I mean, if that's a tra traveled area, u why we wouldn't want to have a sidewalk. So maybe that I'll just save that question for the for the applicant. I'm fine, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Any questions on my left? Any other questions on my right, Mr. Sadel? I was I was trying to find the the drawing you had up just a second ago. You flipped through it. So the um the landscape plan along Oldtown Road and North Hillside Drive, there was a landscaping on in that reduced buffer all along both those streets. Is that correct? Right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for staff? Mr. Brown, this may be an applicant question, too, but

trying to understand the chain link fence location where I'm unable to tell where it is right now. Is it the double X lines? What What am I? Do you Can you help me locate where the line of see fences? Applicant will be able to and I'm if it's if it's in the same place it is now, I'm familiar with it because I ride by it pretty much every day. Yeah. But I was having a hard time understanding this plan. Is that something we could discuss with the applicant? Maybe it's the applicant can help us out. I just Thanks.

All right. Is the applicant present? If you would come forward, please state your name and address for the record and tell us why we should approve this application. And uh just for clarification here, we are hearing all of these at one time. And so if you need more than five minutes for your presentation, please feel free to take the a lot of the time that you need to explain the need for all of the variances. And if the board will allow, um I represent Charleston Water System. I'd like to make kind of a couple of general overall statements and then the technicality of each of the variances. Leave it to our consultant to answer those questions. Okay, that'd be fine. Just raise the mic a little bit so we can hear you a little better.

Uh my name is uh Donald E. Benjamin Jr. I live at 110 Remington Drive, North Charleston, South Carolina 29418. I am the director of engineering construction for Charleston Water System. Um and on behalf of Charleston Water System, um which is the wastewater service provider for the greater um city of Charleston area, we have over 50,000 customers uh that we serve. Um, we greatly appreciate your time and consideration for all five of these variance requests uh for the pump station 39 replacement project site at 1136 Oldtown Road. Uh, with me today is our design team, technical design team. Um, Nicole Luca with CWS project engineer, Hank Morgan with AECOM, he is the project manager, and Collier Summers was AECOM project engineer. Um, just a little background, the existing pump station 39 is located directly adjacent uh to the new site. Uh, it was constructed in 1965 and was part of the St. Andrews Public Service District um, back then, almost 60 years ago. Um, in the 1990s, Charleston Water System was mandated to take over the PSD's wastewater infrastructure and assets, uh, due to their inability to maintain its aging operation. Um, although CWS has invested significant funding into upgrading the PSD system over the years, uh, there still exists some infrastructure that is in poor condition and it does not meet our current CWS minimum standards. as is the case with pump station 39. Um it has little room on the existing property for operations and maintenance. Um recently we identified structural concerns with the pump station wet well. Uh we experienced high flows in this

collection system due to infiltration and inflow. Um there's also new development occurring within the pump station 39 area that being the forthcoming Ashley Landing and Sumar Street projects within the city. Uh thus pump station 39 is in dire need of replacement in order for Charleston water system to protect public health and the environment. Um, we purchased this property, the 1136 back in 2021, uh, for the sole purpose of a pump station replacement project. And we are currently in design, uh, as you're aware, and the cost estimate for this project is upwards of $10 million, uh, part of our capital improvement program. So therefore, I'd like to respectfully request your approval of our requested variances um on a very constrained property uh that CWS can construct an adequately designed and easily maintainable new facility that will provide the muchneeded capacity and reliability of this piece of critical wastewater infrastructure now and into the near future. So with that, I' I'd ask that our technical questions um regarding the variances uh be asked by or answered by Mr. Hank Morton with AECOM, Charleston Water Systems Engineer of Record.

We have any questions for Mr. Sorry, any questions for Mr. Benjamin? All right, thank you for that introduction.

Hello and thank you. Uh, my name is Hank Morgan. I live at 8519 Stonebridge Drive, North Charleston, South Carolina, 29420. Um, I'm here to answer any questions you guys have. Let's see. We will be replacing the uh the generator. Can you speak into the microphone? I can barely hear.

Make sure you're speaking into that mic. We can uh Yes, we will be replacing the generator, the OD control system. That also helps with the corrosion, the pump station itself, and installing the new control buildings, the uh existing pump station. Some of the constraints we have on this project is trying to keep that existing pump station operational while building the new pump station. Uh, and I don't know if everybody knows, but all the gravity sewer in this area and force mains either go to PS39 or out. And that covers from Cosgrove Bridge all the way down to Ashley River Road. Um some of the uh site constraints that we had were the setbacks. The property itself is already kind of small. You can see there's wetlands behind the property with a freshwater marsh. Um the also the topography behind the back of the uh the paved section there slopes off pretty steep into that freshwater marsh. Uh, we also have that 48 inch live oak that we're trying to keep on site and not have to take down. And I believe that's about all I've got unless you guys have some questions for me.

I'm sure that we will have some questions. So, Mr. Neil gets to go first all the time. So, is there anyone else? I can wait. I I'll go and ask Mr. Brown. Let's let Mr. Brown start. Our chain link fence question. Is it the double X's on here? And is it in the same location as the current fence that's up around the site? It is the double XX line. Uh that said is not the same location as where it is shown right now or where it is at right now currently. Right now it is on the property line. The plan is to move it back to the setback line.

Okay. And have you done studies or sightelines? And and does the encroaching into the setback affect sight lines of someone I guess exiting from North Hillside Drive onto Oldtown Road? Great question. Could you repeat that? So, as someone from North Hillside Drive is trying to get out onto Oldtown Road, does the new chain link fence and any and I saw a reference to opaque

something opaque on there. Does that fence location affect the ability of someone to see oncoming traffic, you know, coming that way? Does it affect any of that? Has that been looked at with county and DOT or whoever else? If you're coming down the north hillside, you only have to worry about traffic coming from your left. Uh you have the whole other lane. There's no left turn out of that that road. I don't believe so. Is there? I ride by it every day, but I don't pay attention to which direction I can go on the street. So, it's just a You're right there. You're right there at the fork of 61.

I just know that's usually a requirement of of sight lines and being able to view. Yeah. Traffic. There's a median there right now. Yeah. So, you won't be able to go across. You can take a left out of there. Correct. Yeah. So, okay. You would need to be able to see oncoming traffic coming from that way. And I just, you know, has that been studied to look at whether this location and any opaque covering much like what's there now, which I'm sure it's very difficult where it is now to see traffic coming from the Ashley Landing development side.

Uh, not that I am aware of. I know uh I had another engineer in the office put together that uh the turning radius. I think that that's plan sheet um D02.1.

I would have to get back with you on that one to see if there was some kind of review done on that. We are the new uh proposed fence would be behind or right on the uh it'd be past the property line. It's on the property line right now. So we would the new fence would be set back 10 feet from there in into the site. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. So it would help from what is there now? But okay. I just I know from my profession that you typically have to deal with sight lines and what you can see when pulling up to an intersection and Yes, sir. getting in oncoming traffic. And so I would I would assume that that same requirement would be here. Thanks.

I I would have to get back to you. I'm pretty sure it was done, but I cannot say for certain. I did not do that one sheet on the plans. Okay, Mr. Neil.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh so, let's just go one by one of the three two or three items that I have and that is the uh tell me if you can pull up the uh site plan. Um that shows where the tree is. We can blow that up a little bit maybe so you can see it if possible. If not, I'll blow mine up. Uh so my first question is about the tree. Um what's going there? Is that access vehicular access for service? Is that um a driveway? Is that There we go. Thank you. Is that um is that pvious? Is that can that be gravel? What what's what's happening right in that area?

Uh it is shown as a imperous area. Uh that would be used for machinery and heavy equipment over 50,000 lbs. We would prefer to keep it as a paved area. That way we can move large equipment in and out. And that's for service or for construction? For service? For service. Yes. And construction. You have 6,000lb vehicles going in in and out of there on a regular basis? We we would not be on a regular basis. There would be uh back trucks and then I believe we're also trying to use it as a emergency preparedness.

I I lost you there. Go ahead. as we're there could be back trucks, maintenance trucks, uh removing pump station uh pumps inside the pump station. Okay. And then also emergency preparedness vehicles that CWS would like to preposition there. Okay. In case of an emergency. Okay. And there's no other way to access it. That's the easy that's the best access. Do you have the existing pump station access from I was actually looking at it backwards. So really the driveway is coming around the side. Well, wait a minute. No, the Yeah, it goes all the way through. All the way through. Yes.

Yeah, it wraps around. Okay. Um, well, at least you answered my question there. Uh, my next question was on the uh the chain link fins. I I uh agree with Mr. Brown's comments on the uh on the the rightway there on the line of sight, let's just say. So, um, if I was to support it, I would probably add some type of condition that line of sight is, uh, being addressed or at least reviewed by staff to make sure that the the choice of whatever chain link fence or um, whatever solution that it comes up with that the line of sight is being addressed. So, really the only other issue I have um that I need understanding on is why we can't have a sidewalk um, on that property. I mean, we're all everybody's putting sidewalks everywhere we can. Um, why is there an adamant a request to wave that requirement?

We did look at adding a sidewalk along North Hillside Drive, the corner of the the lot there. It does have uh above ground telephone pedestal. Uh, and Okay, you got to speak in English for me. You got to dumb it down cuz I don't know anything you're talking about. There are some, you seen like utility boxes above grade, okay, sometimes little metal boxes, okay, that belong to like the telephone company and stuff like that. There's you can't have a sidewalk around those or anything like that. You would have to relocate those out of the sidewalk to be ADA compliant. Um, and then also we would have to install the the sidewalk down the length of the property and it would not be joining into any other sidewalk down there.

Yeah, but it would be the first step of a sidewalk. would be the first step. Yes.

Yeah. So, I mean, I I I'll buy your argument that you can't have a sidewalk where you're going to have these boxes and and things like that, but the areas that you do you could put a sidewalk down. I mean, that's a neighborhood. So, there's people walking and stuff and I'd hate to have them in the street just because we have a fence and we've got the room there. So, I would be if I make the motion, I'm going to say we're going to put a sidewalk um some type of sidewalk that's not going to interfere with the operations of the of the CPW, but it's a start because then if somebody else develops something else, they can connect into your sidewalk. So, that's just something that I think is always good to add when you're in when you you've got to have these areas and you're increasing your pump capacity or your waste management capacity, whatever. So, I applaud all of it. I just I like a sidewalk unless you want to put a sidewalk on the other side and then that's somebody else's property and that would be even harder to do for the CPW. So even if it's a skinny non-pervious pvious whatever um I think that would be a good addition to the thing but that's fine if you don't want if you don't need to respond. I'm fine Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Do you want to respond to that? Uh we're just trying to be good stewards of CWS's clients money. We didn't think it needed to be done, but if you guys want a sidewalk, I don't see why we couldn't add that in there. No problem. There you go. All right, Miss Smith. Thank you. Hold up, Mr. Jordan. Miss Smith had had asked first, so you're next. Just a quick question. You said the um this fence will be moved back from where it is 10 ft into the lot. Is that what you said? From where it is currently positioned. Yes. Okay. Thanks, Mr. Jordan. I'm glad to hear good stewards because good stewards means also good neighbors especially from a utility that they're f they're financing.

So thank you for making that uh move. Is that all Mr. Jordan? That's it. All right. Any any other question? Mr. Brown have another question. Going back to the fence. Um, you're asking for chain link fence within the required right-of-way buffer to secure proposed wastewater pump station. Is there a reason you can give me is it the transformer location? Like why can we not pull that fence back into the site more?

There is a little bit of access that we needed to I'm not seeing all my rightway buffers clearly on this on the plans. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong one. Yeah, you might want to switch to sheet uh see 0030. Well, it's got to be which which Yeah. What's the title or something? Uh what's the number you said? The overall piping and grading plan C00.30. It's right there on the right. Nope. Go back on the right hand side there.

All right. It'd be page 39 of your PDF that you're looking at. 39. Yes. Under 903. Yes. There it is.

Okay. Where does it cross the rightway? That's where I'm not 100% clear. Yeah. Where and maybe this is a question for staff or but hopefully you can answer it. Where is this where is it crossing in? I see a 15 foot set back. I don't see where it crosses it.

No, we should be outside the rightway. Is it down Oldtown Road? It's shown on both roads. Yeah. Where is it cutting into the required um rightaway buffer? Oh, I think I see it. What what exactly are you asking cutting into it? I'm looking right I'm looking at paid good go to 39 right there you see it right these lines right there there's a set right away on one of them there right away

it's got to be that line versus that line yeah it doesn't look like it's much looks like it's just barely in What? Yeah. Just can I ask what we're looking at? I think I got lost in some questions. This page 39, we're looking at the rightway. Why the why the sixoot chain link fence is going into the rightway buffer and sixoot chain link

and it looks like at the top of the property it's it's right on the line and then and it comes down it gets skewed. Yeah, I'm just having a hard time understanding what, you know, how much into it, how far can is there room to pull it back? How much would it need to go back? I'm having a hard time telling from the drawings. The existing fence is on the property line, rightway line. The new one would be 10 foot setback with vegetative buffer. But I'm just trying to understand what it says. variance request to allow a 6ft chain link fence within required right-of-way buffer

to secure your station. I'm just trying to understand where how much of a variance are you asking for. It's hard to tell with this drawing. You know, here's my buffer and this fence is three feet in it or is it an inch or the fence is not going in there. I don't know if that got updated with where the existing fence was, but the the proposed fence would be outside of the rideway line. So you don't need this. You don't need the 00903. Well, I think they did have an issue with the chain link fencing by itself and wanted the opaque something worked with on that. So it's not a chain link fence and not some other kind of fence. Yeah, I'm not sure where the rest of it came from.

Jenny, can you turn your mic on? Yeah, it says any proposed fencing that will be constructed within a rideway buffer shall not exceed 4 feet in height. Chain link wire barb wire are prohibited. Okay. Within the rightway buffers, it's the type. Okay. It's the type of fencing that was not and the height, I believe. I apologize for my confusion. That that makes better sense to me. The height and the type, but it goes back to your issue with line of sight. Yeah, there's a lot of other it goes Yeah, definitely goes back to that. I didn't understand what this variance was. So, all right. We've we've uh certainly proved that we're not wastewater engineers up here. So, that's um not at all.

That's good. Do we have additional questions for read these plans for as a profession, too? So, I should be able to follow it. I'm having a hard time. So, I have no questions. No. Can I just follow make sure I have a clear response on the sidewalk issue? You're not opposed to adding some type of sidewalk in the areas that would not impact uh boxes that come out of the ground on that side of the ground on that side of the street.

That is correct. We not opposed to it. Thank you. Does that mean you're going to do it if the county wants us to? I Yes. I think that's what he's indicating. Yeah. wanted to make sure he's okay with it. Well, we we'll have some additional discussion at the close of this regarding the the the sidewalk. Um, but yeah. All right. Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Um, do you have anyone else to speak in favor of this application? No, sir. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this application? Ma'am, you have Let's let this young lady go first. She's waited patiently for many hours.

I appreciate that. Um, my name is Amigene Thomas. I'm at 1268 Oldtown Road, Charleston. I'm exactly six houses from this project. I'm sorry I don't like speaking in front of people, but anyway. Um, this is a very dangerous intersection. One person has already been killed here. It's a blind corner. You cannot make a left-hand turn. You come straight across the street. There's a large planning of buffer on this side, planning on buffer on that side. Walgreens is straight across the street. Two-lane traffic up Oldtown, two lane coming back. It would be impossible for a commercial truck to pull across two lanes into an area that's maybe 10 ft long. So, you know, you cannot make a left. in a commercial vehicle. It's too dangerous. Second thing is um waste pump stinks. It smells pretty badly when the wind blows. We don't know how bad this is going to be. Is there any pollution requirement? This property backs up to a creek. How are they going to address leaks? Okay. Houses all along this. Granted, this looks like commercial. Everything that's red here, but if you go into Hillside Drive, you'll see those are houses on that back side. Even though it's on commercial, those are houses. So, it's surrounded by residential except for that area right there on the right. As you come down St. Andrews and go on to to Oldtown Road. We're residential. We're 130 properties.

Notice did not go out to the neighborhood. I put the word out on our Facebook page, but I think nobody knows how big it is, how tall it's going to be. We should have a sidewalk. We have walkers. We have bikers. People go to the drugstore. I see this as an accident waiting to happen. If they try to come out on Oldtown, they need to come out on old um hillside. Come around the block. Come out hillside. Um I can't think of anything else. I would like to know how large it's going to be. Is it one story, two story, 10,000 square feet? I don't have any information on that. And I'm really worried about the leaks, the smell. That fence does not need to be right down the road. Like I said, one person's already been killed on that corner because it's a blind corner. Fence needs to be further back. We need buffers. How noisy is it going to be? Are we going to be able to sleep at night? Because like I say, from that place on it's houses. So you don't see the houses, you just see the commercial. That next street is residential. And there actually two houses right beside this lift station. The one next door is a million295. I guarantee you they don't know this pump station's going there. or they would not have built that house.

Thank you, Miss Thomas. Hold one second. Let's see if we got any questions up here for you. All right, Mr. Neil. Yeah, you mentioned uh walkers and bikers and stuff. So, you do you believe the sidewalk in that area, even if it's not on this the the full length of Hillside Drive, would help walkers in that area? Uh, yes, sir. They're actually redoing the north bridge and going to be putting a pedestrian and bike path on that north bridge. Everything is a sidewalk all the way up. So, if they eliminate that sidewalk, um there's a lot of children in this area. Sidewalk should be mandatory. Thank you,

Miss Thomas. Are you referring to the sidewalk on Oldtown Boulevard or the one on the way they've got that privacy metal fence now? It's right on the sidewalk. So, if they move that buffer more, I don't care how short the fence is, you still won't be able to see overturn. The the applicant will clarify this in a second, but according to the plans that we've reviewed so far, that sidewalk will remain and the fence will move further away from the sidewalk. A vegetated buffer will be in place of where that existing fence is.

Like I said, we can't tell how far off the street that's going to be because we don't know where the buffer was originally. to say we're moving it forward. Well, how far back was it in the first place? See, because it's fenced and um that fence went up maybe I want to say a year ago. It is one ugly fence. It would be better to be wood. There's a wood fence right next to it. Be much better to be a right. Well, privacy fence. I believe staff has some some suggestions that could alleviate those concerns. Okay. Do we have any other questions for Miss Thomas? All right, Miss Thomas, thank you so much for your time this evening.

Do we have anyone else to speak in opposition? Yes, please come forward. State your name and address and why we should oppose this request. Uh first, I'd like to uh thank the board um for all they do for Charleston County. Pull the mic up. Just pull it up. You don't have to bend over. Pull it up. Yeah.

Um my name is Jay Wit. Uh I live at 68 Fort Royal Avenue with my wife uh Kate and I've been in Charleston County since uh 1999. Went to College of Charleston. Um I'm in the medical field. Um I do have a inactive commercial real estate license. Um, so I'm well aware as the board is of all the development we've had, uh, the good, the bad, and, um, you know, for me, the reason that I'm opposed for this, um, is mainly, as Emma Gene stated, um, you know, Donald Benjamin, uh, it's not only, you know, a a senior employee of Charleston Water System, but the project itself is being, uh, used as a public utility use to provide a wastewater pump station, but it sits adjacent to, among several residential properties um that Iene stated, which is also ours. And he's also um a owner of North Hillside Drive and on several properties in that area. Um so I think that is very uh important for the board to recognize. And I think just going into looking at building this and going through I look our our entire Fort Royal Avenue uh was blocked off for 14 days while they were trying to get access to the storm water. Their permit permit expired with Charleston County two days before they were done with the project. We had four uh driveways are impacted as well as Fort Royal which has an actual red light. Also, as Emma stated, there's been a death in that area. It is a very, very dangerous uh site. You can barely take a left with a red light out of there. If not, someone's going to come around that corner and and hit you. Um again, if you've been in that area, you can see the 61. I mean, it is it is dangerous. So, that's a major safety concern. Um

it's also important to note about the uh Grand Oak being removed. Um, one of our neighbors on one West Pony Drive, Miss Grady, applied for probably 5 years ago to have a grand oat removed. The board did uh deny that. Um, if we're looking at environmental, we're looking at, you know, protection of Charleston County, that that is something that I would highly oppose. And then as we kind of go through just kind of closing up um I think it's important to note again we're deeply concerned property owner and applicants the current representative Charleston water system how we were inconvenienced. We've got a crack in our driveway also in our garage from big machinery. Some of that machinery is left overnight in our neighbor's yard. Um, it makes me think I I don't see anything different than what he's going to do over there. Um, and for me, um, having an interest in property that he owns in that area, I'm concerned that there's going to be some type of dual uh, conflict potential uh, for preferential treatment when he is a public official uh, representing um, and he's getting exception which is going to enhance the value of his private real estate holdings. It undermines trust in the process and fairness for all residents. Thank you.

All right, hold one second. Let's see if we have any questions. Any questions from the board, Mr. Jordan? So, what about smells and u and leaks? What do you think of that? Well, we already get them now. So, having a bigger um You've had some leaks. Yes, sir. Did you turn in dehack or somebody?

We have not. Um that's been a constant issue um in that area with the smell. Obviously the smell comes from the leaks. Um there is a tidal creek right behind that. Um we haven't seen anything to prevent pres to present to us that that's not going to continue happening. The other issue that we also have is flooding. As we all know that has not been addressed either is a bigger site, a bigger rendering going to create more flooding for the area which we can obviously cannot afford. But there can't somebody correct if y'all don't turn it in. Sir, it can't be corrected if y'all don't turn it in as a neighborhood. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Mr. Neil, I I need to make sure I heard something correct and I don't really want to go far on it, but I I want to make sure just for the record. You made a statement about a CPW employee living in the neighborhood getting preferential treatment, or did I mishar something right? No, no, sir. I said that um Benjamin, the uh Mr. Benjamin, the owner um of that property, is a uh Charleston uh Waterworks uh employee. Which property are you talking about? The one the one that he owns in Hillside, which is right by there. He has public interest and ownership in Hillside.

But it's not about the property that they're developing. Yeah. Which which property, if you don't mind looking at this map, which property are you referring to that this gentleman owns? Uh, I believe it is by that number, by these numbers, the TMS numbers or whatever. I'm just trying to understand your point. Sure. Sure. Um 1136 Oldtown Road. He has ownership interest in that and he also has ownership interest in North Hillside Drive which is right adjacent to that area. You see it right there on the map.

So your statement is that because they have ownership interest in properties near this property. What is your point again? My point is um do we really know what his validity of him doing this if in fact it's going to be a public or private interest of his real estate holdings? Okay. As a government employee. Okay. I didn't Yeah. I just don't understand the point you're making, but it's fine that you can you have the right to make any point you want. I was just trying to understand it and I don't. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right. Thank you, Miss Smith. So if if he owns property nearby and his he could possibly stand to benefit and you own property nearby, do you think that you might benefit from them rebuilding this water pump station? It depends on what he's uh actually going to put there. If it's more uh commercial or water treatment, whatever it may be, uh I I don't know. I mean, we don't even know what the rendering of this is going to be at this point. and and you you're you've experienced the leaks and the smell currently. You don't think that the them rebuilding it might might help fix that or might improve your quality of life?

I don't know. We I mean we haven't seen any renderings. We haven't seen any studies they've done um with flooding, uh water treatment, waste, anything of that nature. I think everything is very preliminary at this point and there needs to be more um work done. Mr. Brown, do you have a a an HOA or a a neighborhood association that

We we do. Uh but again, this this information was um not very uh I'd say it's not very public posted for the rest of our neighbors to come in. And and I think that um you need to hear from more people besides myself and Emma Gene because it was not actually publicly posted for everybody to come and hear. But from what I can hear from the neighborhood, are you saying that this meeting was not publicly posted? Well, it was posted with signs there, but no one in the neighborhood was really aware of of this meeting. Yeah, I got

Yeah, everybody was involved. Nobody got I was thinking that you were expecting some kind of presentation or something from CPW to come and talk to the homeowners association as to what they were doing. I I So, no, no, I'm Sir, I'm just saying that nothing was provided to us. I never received a letter. Um, the only thing that we received was coastal utilities that represented Charleston water system that they were going to be working in the very front. There was never any u mention of a meeting or anything of that nature. The notice would be from Charleston County about this meeting. We didn't get anything.

Okay. Are you one of those with a number? Uh I am at 68 Fort Royal. Yes. Well, I don't in West Bonnie. What's 68? You're right there. Um if you look right above What's the number on the map? Uh 68. It's right. You see Fort Royal West Pontney Drive. It's basically you're going Oldtown where the red light is is the first. You need the number that's on this 087. It's 087. Yes. I can't see it. I apologize. So, it's on the other side of the street. Do you see it on Show me? Oh, number three. It's not above.

Yeah, it's on It's on the north side of Fort Royal Drive above 003. Okay. So, no, you did not get a letter. Sorry. Sorry, my eyesight's bad, too. You're outside the range of the letter. Okay. But what do we post like five signs? Yeah. So, your neighbors on the other side of the street would have been notified about this meeting. They would have received something in the mail uh indicating that the CPW had applied for these variances. So, so that goes back to I guess with the neighborhood association. You said this fence has been in place for a year or so, but y'all haven't talked to or seen anything. The neighborhood hasn't been informed about some sort of what the plans are. Sure. Yeah. No, ma'am.

Oh, she can't? Yeah. No, she has to wait a Yeah. Okay. She can't just jump up and answer. So, okay. Civic club. Uh, it's Understood. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate the testimony. Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in opposition?

Ma'am, were you sworn in? I did. Okay. All right. State your name and address for the record and tell us why we should oppose. Yeah, of course. Um, and thank you.

Pull the mic down, please, so we can hear you. vertical ch vertical challenges I have. Can you hear me? Yeah. My name is Kate Wit and I live on 68 Fort Royal Avenue. Um, for the record, it's right across the street from 003 on the map. And I'm here because really I'm I'm really for, you know, enhancing our community. And of course, I don't want to, you know, I want to help out with water and clean water and not have leaks. But what I what I do care about is in the interim, you know, what kind of pain are we going to be going through? you know, and and in terms of traffic, there's no way you're not going to be shut down St. Andrews for, you know, a decent amount of time. There's no way those trucks are going to have trouble getting in and out of, you know, hillside. There's just no way. And then on top of it, like everybody that you, you know, you mentioned you bike, right? I walk down to that harbor like all the time. So, I guess where I'm going with this is there has to be, you know, permits for what they're doing, like held accountable. So, if things aren't being done the right way, sorry, I'm a little nervous for some reason. Um, because we did we had I mean, we didn't even know we were going to have, you know, we weren't going to be able to go in and out of our house for like two weeks, right? We got like a a note on our door saying that the city of Charleston gave, you know, Coastal Utilities the okay to close off our road or that, you know, it was really going to affect somebody else's house, not our house. But then, you know, it was like a whole thing for like two weeks. But why I'm saying this and why I'm here is cuz I don't I don't want that to happen again. You know, I don't want what is written down and presenting to you one thing and then with the reality of the situation is totally something else because that is painful. You know, waters like our water will be shut down or if something gets nicked, you know, inevitably you can't shut down, you know, um you can't plan for like somebody breaking a pipe during these types of projects, right? But the reality of the situation is is you know

it happened to us, right? So as I mean it's just that's what my concern is is because it's not just like a little thing. It's it's a very big thing and um I just want to make sure that number one there's accountability and and you know that that's pretty much it. It's really accountability and properly planned and that you know whatever if this does go through and oh and I'm all for sidewalk. All right.

Miss Whit, thank you for your comments and I can assure you we're just one step in the process of them obtaining all the permits that are required to actually construct on this property. There will be much more more in-depth reviews than this lay person board can actually provide for this project. Thank you for listen. All right. Thank you. All right. I think we have exhausted the number of people in the room. Um so I don't think there's anyone else to speak in opposition to this project. So at this time you have the right to rebut the um oppos the u the opposition that you've heard so far.

Okay. There was a lot to unpack there. There were a lot of lot of comments and I think there's some misconception as to what Charleston water system does versus what the city of Charleston does. Let me just clarify that Charleston water system is not in the storm water business. So whatever project they were referring to where we were they were shut down for 14 days I don't believe is a Charleston water system project. It's not a wastewater that was a storm water project. Um, we're both both used to be CPWs, hence how why we changed our name to Char Charleston Water System to try to clarify that sometimes it gets confused.

Um, as far as the odor control, um, wastewater is a messy bit messy business and it it there are odors. Um, one of the reasons we we're replacing this pump station is because the existing pump station and its odor control can't keep up. It has structural conditions that are um potential to fail. That is a big reason we are replacing this. We understand there is the creek behind it. We're trying to prevent leaks. Uh we're not aware of any leaks that occur. When we are made aware of leaks, we report it to the Department of Environmental Services, DHCK, Old DHCK. Um we report anything over 500 gallons. We put postings up and let the neighborhood know that, you know, there has been, uh, an SSO, sanitary sewer o overflow. Um, as far as the size of the pump station, um, this one will be about 6,000 gallons a minute. We are upgrading it a little bit from about 3,500 gallons a minute or so. Just round number, that's about 8 and a half million gallons a day. It's a significant amount of waste water. There is an 18inch gravity sewer that comes all the way from where the Publix is all the way down Oldtown Road. Everything to the east to the marsh comes into that main. Everything towards Cosgrove Bridge comes into that main. Everything over towards Ashley River Road comes to that main. So when I say this is a regional pump station, it truly is a regional pump station. There are other pump stations within this service area that come to pump station 39. 39 then has a 20-inch force mane that pumps all the way to the west Ashley Greenway and pumps into our tunnel shaft that goes to Plum Island um at Albam Hall Road. So, it is a significant pump station. Um continuous improvements. Um you know, if there there was anything there that it

was with our existing pump station, we try to do what we can. Um the sound I heard sound complaints. Um, we will have a blower for our odor control system that will have a sound attenuation enclosure over the top of it. Um, as well as our generator will have a sound enclosure. So, that's an emergency generator in case of storms, whatnot. Uh, the blower will most likely run probably 24/7. Most of the time we have those rated at somewhere below 70 dB or or so at the property line, which is within the city's ordinance for sound. Um the fence, a lot of talk about the fence. Um the sidewalk along Oldtown Road, I don't think we're touching. Nothing. Nothing is being changed there. We can certainly, if it's practical, put the sidewalk in up north North Side Drive. Um the fence, I'll just try to clarify. The fence is currently what I understand is on the rightway line. There is a 25 foot buffer that one of these um variances is to reduce that to 10 feet and that's where our new fence will be. So it'll be not the rightway line but 10 feet back with landscape in front of it. So I kind of questioned there were some questions from the board about the sight distance with the fence but we're being asked to put landscape in front of the fence to hide that. So, in my mind, the landscape is more of the issue than the fence is the issue as far as sight distance to the right. Um, as far as the road in the intersection, I'll agree it's probably not the best intersection, but we are doing nothing to change the intersection. If you can take a left on there legally, that continues. We're doing nothing to the roadway. All of our limits of disturbance is def confined by the

existing property. We own, yes, the property adjacent. Um, when it was referred to me owning property, I don't own any of this property. This is all Charleston Water System. Um, yes, we have other properties within Hillside. Those are pump stations as well. So, I have no personal interest in any of these properties. They are all owned by Charleston Water, but literally the pump station that we're replacing is next door, and that's why we bought the adjacent property. Um, there is a 24-inch gravity sewer line that's about 12 foot deep that comes across Oldtown Road. The easiest thing to do is build the pump station directly adjacent. I think we have maybe a 100 ft of 30inch pipe to get to it. The rest of it is all on site. It's the same type of wet well, mechanics, the generator, everything is going to be contained on the site. Um, I mentioned storm water real estate holdings. I mentioned that. Um, like I said, leaks. We're not aware of any leaks. If there are, we report them and if anybody does find any leaks, we please call us. That's not what we want. A lot of talks about permits. Um there may be some street blocking just because of where we're tying into the gravity sewer in the rightway, but we're not planning to close down, you know, Oldtown Road nor Hillside Drive. Like I said, the limits of disturbance is all on the site. Um if there was any street blocking temporary, it would all have traffic control in accordance with SC DOT standards. Um and then we have a very specific construction sequence. Um, one of the things we have to do is we have to keep the existing pump station in operation while we're building the new one. So, there are some critical tie-ins that go on there. Um, first thing we do is build

a gen is demolish the generator pad existing one, but we've got a temporary hookup for it because we've got to have backup generation for the existing station while we're building the new one. So a very sophisticated it's both even both properties together is still very constrained for what we're trying to do. So it's very sophisticated uh that the contractor has to follow. Um I think that's about it. All right. Thank you Mr. Benjamin. Mr. Jordan down here start with him. Your words if it's practical does not sound like a commitment to put a sidewalk in to me. We'll put a sidewalk in.

So it is practical. Sure. Thank you. Also, have y'all have y'all reached out to this neighborhood? Are you going to um do you want to hear from the people that live there? I mean, I'm sure you don't have a pump station in your neighborhood. I do not. But so, don't you think y'all should listen to them? We can reach out and we can let them know what our project is. Typically, we would do that by the time construction is Why don't you tell them tonight before you leave when y'all can come to the neighborhood meeting? Okay. I'm an old neighborhood council president myself. I know that's important. We'll let them know. Mr. Neil,

I am not a neighborhood former president, but um I've I think your explanation is has been very detailed and I appreciate that. I do wish that that CPW had taken time to meet with the entire neighborhood or at least sent out notice of, hey, this is what our plans are. You said it yourself in the very beginning introduction that this was a $10 million project. Yes. for a $10 million project, you should in inform the neighbors. So, um, you know, we're not going to I if I make the motion, um, I won't put it in our our uh conditions to to meet with the neighborhood, but I think being good stewards, which I know the CPW is, I think you should have some type offormational meeting for that that group so that you don't have people wandering around what's going on. Is this twotory? Is this going to do It sounds like all the improvements you're going to make are going to make things better. They're going to be quieter. They're going to be softer. It's going to be less smelling. Things like that. Well, they need to hear that type stuff. I appreciate your willingness to add a sidewalk at whatever length is available or or the ability to help that neighborhood again be a good steward. So, I appreciate all your efforts on this. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Any other comments or questions for Mr. Benjamin? All right. Thank you for your time this evening for the thorough presentation. All right. With that, are there any questions for staff before we entertain a motion? Mr. Neil, we do enforce individual motions or can we group them? We have to do them individually. But the uh my only question on that and the reason I asked it is because the staff recommendations, the additional conditions were all grouped together. That's why I don't know how to break them up. If I if I was to make the motion,

I think you can still make them with with all five. If we get to one that doesn't pass and and that particular condition doesn't apply, we would strike it at that point. All right. Well, so we need to make individual motions for each individual. Yes, M. Yeah, there's four there's four variances. Right. Right. If nobody else will, I will. It's it's I don't Mr. Neil, please. Oh gosh, I'll talk a lot now. Okay. Uh,

yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna start with obviously we'll start with case BZA 0925009 0. Let me get my chart out here. Uh, in the case of 1136 Oldtown Road for O900, I make a motion to approve the variance request to encroach more than 25% of the protected route zone. Um, we've I think believe it meets all seven criteria for for the zoning variances there. Number one, there are extraordinary exceptional conditions pertaining to this particular piece of property. Uh it's right on a corner there. It's adding to the existing space. U this is a very strange and it's got wetlands on the back of it. So it clearly meets that case. Number two, these conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vis vicinity. You got commercial, you got residential. So it clearly meets that criteria. Number three, because of these conditions, the application of this ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit and unresolvely restrict the utilization of this property. This isn't a residential house property. This is a property for a a utility system that is greatly needed in this area and is being upgraded. So, I believe it meets that criteria um because of the utilization of the property. Uh criteria number four, the authorization of a variance will not be a substantial detriment to adjacent property or the public good. Well, it clearly is for the public good because we're trying to add better water quality in the area. So, it clearly meets that. Um, but they are also taking into consideration uh for the neighborhood or the smell uh any other conditions that they're trying to improve. I don't know how long that old pump station has been there, but obviously this is the the newer version. Uh criteria number six, the need for variance and not the result of the applicant's own actions. know that would be put on the uh developers and all the people that have moved into that area and just in that general vicinity. So it clearly meets criteria six. In criteria seven, the granting of this variance does not substantially conflict with the comprehensive plan for the purposes of this ordinance. The comp plan needs pump stations. They need

upgraded pump stations which take more space and land. So I um it clearly meets that variance. Uh I would also like to include all of staff uh recommendations uh conditions for this variance on 0090. That is my ID. All right, we have a motion that's been made. Do we have a second? Miss Smith with the second. All right. Is there any discussion? Go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion, please raise your right hand and say I. I. That was unanimous. So that motion carries. So, we've got one variance down. So, let's move to 901, please. All right.

Mr. Brown, you want to take over? This is an unusual procedural move here. I'm I'm I love it. Let's do it. Let's go. Let's go. Let him go. Let him catch his breath.

No, let him go. I'll take the next one. So for BZA K09250091 for a variance request to allow a curb cut less than 75 ft from the intersection of North Hillside Drive and Oldtown Road. I make a motion that we approve this variance request. Um it meets all seven criteria. Number one, there are extraordinary exceptional conditions pertaining to this particular piece of property. It's located where it is at this intersection and I think it makes the most sense to have a through a cut through for the the heavy equipment and trucks that are going to be coming in. These conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. I think that goes without saying, but um it is where the property is where it is. U because of these conditions, the application of the ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit and unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property. I feel that's the case. If the if the pass through or the cut through drive is not not there, it's going to be very hard to keep uh get the heavy equipment in and out on Oldtown Road. Number four, the authorization of the variance will not be a substantial detriment to the adjacent property or the public good or the character of the zoning district. I think that's still the case. There's plenty of cuts in that uh area of the street and with the additional sidewalk and landscaping, I think it might actually end up looking okay. Uh the board of zoning appeals uh shall not grant a variant to the effect of which would allow the establishment of a use not otherwise permitted in the zoning district. I think that's also another allowed um use in this area. Number six, the need for the variance is not the result of the applicant's own actions. As Mr. Neil said before the developer uh developed this piece of property and it's the shape that it is. And number seven, granting of the variance does not substantially conflict with the

comprehensive plan or the purposes of this ordinance. Then you're going to incorporate staff the conditions of staff that are all stated here. I think there's one through five with multiples parts of number four. Second motion by Mr. Brown, a second by Mr. Neil. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand, say I. I. I. That was unanimous as well. So that motion carries. So we will move to 9002.

All right. I'll take that one if you want me to. Uh, Mr. Chair, case BZA 092500902. Um, I move that we approve the request for variance to reduce the required vegetative buffers for the construction of a major utility service use. Um I feel that it meets all seven criteria of the zoning variances. Um condition number one, there are extraordinary exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular piece of property. We have stated numerous times the shape of this property and the use of this property uh is limited and so there are definitely exceptional conditions especially with the wetlands uh on the the rear condition. Number two, these conditions do generally do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. Other property in the vicinity are residential and commercial. none of them have a public use uh for the greater good. Uh condition number three, because of these conditions, the application of this ordinance particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict utilization of this property. U this property, they've got some serious question marks on how they're going to tie in uh their systems from one to the other while they keep the pump system going. So they've got um extraordinary conditions here that they have to meet. Uh so it clearly meets that criteria. Criteria number four, the authorization of a variance will not be substantial detriment to the adjacent property or or to the public good. Again, this is meeting the public good. This is exactly what this type of property is to be used for. Um, they have put in we have we are making conditions to the property uh as part of this motion that will limit any issues of smell and sight lines and things like that with the fencing. So I believe we've addressed that um that criteria. Item number five, the board of zoning appeals are not granted variance which would be allow the establishment of the use not with not otherwise permitted. Um it's already the the adjacent property is already being used as a pump station. This is going to be used as a pump station but a newer improved model which

will obviously help the greater good in the in the surrounding neighborhood and the surrounding regional area. Uh criteria number six, the need for the variance is not the result of the applicant's own actions. Again, this has nothing to do with CPW other than upgrading the facility and bringing a more modern and newer one and hopefully will limit the problems that they were having in that area. And criteria number seven, the granting of the variance does not substantially substantially conflict with the comprehensive plan or purpose of this ordinance is no, you have to have areas like this pump stations with mixed into the residential areas. Um and there's already one there, so we're not adding one. We're just replacing one with a new version. I would like to include in my motion uh staff's uh conditions that were previously stated in the other motions.

I got a motion made by Mr. Neil, seconded by Mr. Brown. I got I got a question before I second anything. Hold on. We need a second before we can have discuss. Got to have a second before I can do it. Okay. Sorry. Well, I'll second it then. All right. You got a second now. We can have discussion. All right. So I and this might I'm not sure who to ask the question of but I think part of my comment on the next one fits in with this with our sightelines and the height of the required vegetative buffer and whatnot. Is there any language that we can add as a stipulation into either the next one or this one that

Well, I think that would be part of the plan review process in the Yeah, the conditions. I think it's including the conditions if I remember reading them correctly. Uh this is variance for where was the five? Yeah, we need the five. It's got down there a landscape plan. Complete the site plan review process. I mean, if you wanted to add something about uh contemplating or taking in consideration site view, line of sight to ensure client line of sight, I would I would entertain that. But I mean, unless Miss Working says that's already considered.

Yeah, it'd be good to add it if you want to. Okay. Yeah. And if you have a a opinion about the material of the fence or something that you know, we're open on that. But this one's specific to the landscaping. So, we'd have to do it the fence. Yeah. The next one's the fence. This one's the lands. Well, one's going to be the height of the landscaping and stuff, I believe, is what the definition of why we're even considering defense. Well, the buffer, this one is the one where they're just reducing the size of the the width of the buffers. Now it's down to 10. Yeah, but they're but they're moving it back 10 from where it currently is. They're moving the fence back. They're moving the fence back 10. Sure. Yeah. So the 25 now 10. So

well I think you can I think you could easily add to this or the section one just say sight mate say sight line. So just add that to the line of number one. I would be fine to amend my motion to include that modification. You add an A. You just make it one. Just extend the sentence. Prior to zoning permit approval, the applicant shall complete the site plan review process to include to ensure line of sight is not obstructed. Is not obstructed. Right. Does that make sense? Miss working. I'm fine with that. And all right. You made the motion. So you have amended the motion. The second is the one that requested it. So I'm Yeah, I'll second it, too.

All right. Any more discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. I. I. That was unanimous as well. So that motion carries. Include that modification. That one too. We're on 903, the chain link fence. Mr. Brown, I make a motion to approve the variance request for BZAK 092500903. I feel that it meets all seven requirements. Um but I will have change to the staff requirements on that. Um number one, there are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular piece of property. Um

it it is where it is on the site and it's developed that way and I think we just need to work with that to have a a utility that um provides what it needs to provide to the surrounding community. Uh these conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. feel this is the case based on the piece of property and its adjacency to the current pump station. Because of these conditions, application of the ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the usation of prop of the property. I I believe that if that would be the case if we shrunk the and and did not allow this fence to be where they are proposing it to be. Uh number four, the authorization of a variance will not be a substantial detriment to the adjacent property of the public good and the character of the zoning district. If we can come to terms on sightelines. Uh number five, the board of zoning appeals shall not grant a variance to the effect of which would be to allow the establishment of a use not otherwise permitted in the zoning district. I think fences and opaque fences are um allowed in the area. Um, number six, the need for the variance is not the result of the applicant's own actions. Um, I believe that how to put that one. The site is where it is, and I guess there's just not enough room to put the pump station as it needs to be um without getting in without putting the fence where it's going to be located. And number seven, granting of the variance does not substantially conflict with the comprehensive plan or the purposes of this ordinance. Um I would say accepting that motion also with the staff's suggestions along with verifying the sightelines are are still a part of it and then suggesting that on far as number five goes um thoroughly explore and focus on number

five exploring options uh to being a chain link fence. Second. All right. All right, we have a motion that has been made and properly made by Mr. Brown, properly seconded by Mr. Neil. Um, I I'll ask a question. So, are we recommending a change to the fifth condition here? I I'd take it as it reads the way it needs to read for staff to Yeah, I guess I'm a little confused of whether we're accepting a chain link fence, but then this says shall work with staff to explore. I just I guess I was just making emphasis in number five that they should explore other options. Okay. Is that viable?

Does staff understand? Do you have questions? You have to deal with whatever we pass up here. Do you understand? Yeah. All right. That's all that we need. All that matters. All right. So, we have a motion that has been made properly seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. All those in favor, please raise your right hand, say I. I. Are there any opposed? Nope. That motion carries unanimously as well. So, we have one left that is related to the request for the sidewalk variance.

And I'm ready to make the motion on that, Mr. Chair. But I I need some guidance from either council or uh or or yourself or staff on the mo the variance is here for to wave the requirement. Well, the the applicant has said that they're fine with putting some type of sidewalk in there and obviously there's going to be some obstructions that they we don't want to require the sidewalk. Well, if we required a sidewalk, we don't need the variance. So, I'd like to say that we would work with staff, but that would be a condition to maximize an area of sidewalk that is not inhibited by the areas needed for uh stuff. I don't know how to say it. Should we deny the request?

Well, no. But if you deny it, then they can't put anything. They got to put something. They're going to put this request. What's that? Defer on that one. But I thought I thought based on what the applicant said that was this was going to be a mood issue and that was being with basically withdrawn being withdrawn. All right. So, is the applicant withdrawing the request for the to for removing the sidewalk or would you like for the board to vote on the matter? requirements with So you're withdrawing your request.

All right. Yeah. Yeah, that's easier. Okay. All right. So, do we need to vote on anything related to withdrawal of the request or we accept the applicant withdrawal? That would be a question for council. Yeah. All right. just send in a letter noting the withdrawal to staff please. That would be very helpful. All right. Well, then that concludes the this particular matter in um your request. I guess we passed four of the five that uh were requested. So, congratulations. Your application has been granted. Staff will notify you within 10 days of the next steps in the process. And we definitely appreciate your time and energy and effort into this one tonight. Okay.

All right. M working. Do we have any other business to tend to? No, but he said he would he said he would meet with the neighborhood. Yeah. I don't know if he announced it. Okay. He's meeting he's meeting with the leader over there. Yes. So, we our next meeting is um right after Thanksgiving, December 1st. Uh we're going to start at 4:00 and it's 10 new cases. We have we do have an um electrical substation next month. Yeah. Um and everyone has completed the requirements for 2025. Yay. Good job, team. Thanks for you. Yeah. Yeah. Look up for us.

Yeah. And um we just need to to look at the schedule and make a motion for the schedule. What we're recommending, I think by talking to several board members that we just start at 4:00 so we're not having to figure that out every time, but um in July and September it would be 5:00 because of the hearings that happened before this meeting. Charleston Water Systems, can you guys step outside for the conversation? Thank you. Yeah. And um the public hearing for March won't start till 5 either because we have meeting here. Yeah. Does anyone have any issues, questions, comments?

Can we get a motion to approve the schedule? I make a motion to approve the schedule. Is there a second? Second. All right. We got Mr. Brown with the motion, Mr. Neil with the second. All those in favor, please say I. Raise your right hand. I I. Hey, that's unanimous as well. So there you go, Mrs. Working. Thank you so much for pulling the schedule together. All right, is there anything else? We're journaling. Thanks for handling that. [Music]