City Council - Regular Meeting

Sure, why not?

All right. I'd like to call this May 26th meeting of City Council to order. Madam Clark, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Gregg, Council Member Shealy, Council Member McBride, Council Member Polkay, Council Member Brady, Council Member D'Alessandro, Council Member Waring, Council Member Seekings, Council Member Tinkler, Council Member Bowden, Council Member Appel, Council Member Scardin, Mayor Cogswell.

Here. I'd now like to call on Councilmember McBride to give the invocation and lead everybody in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please bow your heads as you feel led. Heavenly Father, we come before you today seeking your guidance as the Charleston City Council gathers to serve this great city. Your word declares in James 1, verse 5, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him seek, ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. We ask for that wisdom now. Laura, grant us and our leaders clear minds and discerning hearts. Help us to exercise responsible judgment in every decision, weighing the needs of all citizens with integrity and foresight. As Proverbs 11, 14 says, it reminds us, where there is no guidance, a people falls, but an abundance of counselors are our safety. May we lead with humility, listen with patience, and act with moral courage for the good of everyone. Help us to be faithful stewards of the authority entrusted to us, pursuing justice, promoting peace, and building a community that honors you. Guard us from selfish ambition and guide us by your spirit so that our leadership brings blessing and flourishing to Charleston. We thank you for this opportunity to serve and trust in your sovereign hand over our city. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Let's clean up the United States. And one day, you know, this is for.

Okay. Before we get started tonight, uh, there's one item on the agenda relating to a settlement agreement on Smith street. Um, and because I think there's some people here, uh, that might be here to talk about that, uh, uh, do some information that's come out. We're looking to potentially defer that, uh, come from seekings. You have, uh, a motion on that.

I do, uh, Mr. Mayor, I'd move that we, um, move item i to approval of mediated settlement agreement ray 148 smith street up on the agenda i would then move that we defer it and send it to our community development committee in a special meeting to hear from the applicant and any who might have any comment on the applicant second both motions mr chairman of community development are you good with that

happy to happy to have it sounds like an interesting issue okay so motion made probably second any further discussion on this if not all those in favor uh bringing it up on the agenda and moving for a deferral please signify by saying aye aye opposed eyes have it okay uh we are now moving on to presentations and recommendations excuse me recognitions And the first one being a longtime steward of the community and housing. Guys, it has been a very long day for me today. I apologize. But Ms. Gianna Shaw Johnson, would you please join me up on the dais? Whereas Gianna Shaw Johnson began her service with the city of Charleston in 1997 as a 20 year old and has faithfully led the department of housing and community development under three mayoral administrations, mayor Riley, mayor Tecklenburg and mayor Cogswell. And whereas throughout her accomplished career, Gianna Shaw Johnson has been dedicated to the development and preservation of affordable housing in the city of Charleston by creating home ownership opportunities, revitalization of neighborhoods, spurred economic growth, and ensuring solutions for our most vulnerable citizens. And whereas Gianna Shaw Johnson was instrumental in founding the Hope Center and Homeless to Hope, reflecting her enduring dedication to serving the community with compassion and integrity. And whereas her leadership has been recognized through numerous honors such as Remarkable Women of the Year 2022 and Historic Charleston Foundation's Inaugural Women Who Impact Preservation Award. And whereas through her visionary leadership, she has transformed the landscape of affordable housing proving that compassionate action and relentless dedication can profoundly change our world. Now, therefore, I, William S. Cogswell, Jr., Mayor of the City of Charleston, do hereby honor and recognize Ms. Gianna Shaw-Johnson for her outstanding public service and lasting contributions to the City of Charleston and extend sincere congratulations And best wishes upon her retirement.

Thank you all so much mayor. Thank you for getting my name right before I leave you. Many thanks Mayor Cogswell for your kind words and the wonderful proclamation read. I want to first give honor to God, who of course is the head of my life. I am who I am because of him, so I praise God for this moment. I also want to thank you council members, those of you who challenged me, as well as those of you who supported me for your ongoing and long-term support. We've accomplished a great deal in the city of Charleston, and there's a great deal more to do. I want to also appreciate my sister, who I see coming in late, but I love her nonetheless. Because she is wonderful in every regard. And I will just say to us, you all know I'm from a family of 10 and it was eight girls and two boys. So, um, very special family support. Um, I also want to thank my staff and if my staff who are here would please stand with me now. Cause you know, I'm still, yes. Yes. I also see one of our collaborative partners is outside of staff. Tracy, would you stand as well? I know you weren't expecting that tonight. I would say to Council, and I think you know this all too well, any success that I have had was made possible through the collaborative efforts of my staff and the many nonprofit and for-profit partners that we work with every day. As I close my comments today, I want to again thank you all for the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Please continue to support the Department of Housing and Community Development. The work that we do is labor intensive, yet so vitally important to the citizens and our community at every level. We appreciate you City Council, and we wish you and the City of Charleston continued success. Thank you again.

John Gerstle, sign it here.

John Gerstle, All right, one more round of applause for miss now.

John Gerstle, Okay.

Next up, I'd like to ask Ms. Ellen Dressler-Morrell and Rochelle Riley, our own Rochelle Riley, to join us up on the stage. Get through Fort Knox there. Those flowers are from all of us. I got a few things to say about you here and then we'll let you talk. How about that? Right, right. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Whereas Ellen Dressler Morrill served as the founding director of the city of Charleston's Office of Cultural Affairs beginning in 1977 when she was 15 years old. playing a central role in bringing the city's cultural identity to national prominence over the course of more than three decades. And whereas moral, a central figure in Charleston's rise as a nationally recognized arts destination founded and directed two of the city's most significant cultural festivals in 1979, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Black Arts Festival, later called Moja Arts Festival. thus broadening participation in the arts by creating accessible and community-based arts programming while partnering with many of the region's grassroots arts organizations and local artists. Whereas Morrill, widely regarded as a driving force behind Charleston's art scene, worked closely with civic leadership and embedded arts and culture into the city's long-term development strategy, making her leadership helped positions of arts as both community resource and as a driver of economic growth and tourism. And whereas Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. recommended Ellen Dress for Moral in 2003 for the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for the Arts in South Carolina, leading her, true to her unselfish leadership style, to decline the honor as an individual, but demanding that the award recognize the entire staff of the Ultra Office of Cultural Affairs. And whereas moral played a key roles in launching and overseeing major cultural initiatives and institutions, including the silly city gallery at waterfront park. Further reinforcing the city's commitment to make arts accessible to residents and visitors alike and whereas. The South Carolina General Assembly adopted a house resolution on May 22 2012 to read quote to recognize and honor Ellen dressler moral director of the city of charleston's office of cultural affairs. Upon the occasion of her retirement to commend her for her significant contributions and dedication to the arts in South Carolina. and to offer her every good wish for future, end quote. And whereas Moral, through her vision and sustained leadership, helped transform Charleston into a city where the arts are a defining and widely accessible component of public life, leaving a lasting legacy on its cultural landscape. Now therefore, I, William S. Cogswell, Jr., Mayor of the City of Charleston, on behalf of City Council, do hereby recognize and honor Ellen Dressler Morrill for her decades of support and announce the Piccolo Spoleto Annual Ellen Dressler Morrill Cello Concert at the City Gallery at Mayor Joseph B. Riley Waterfront Park, the first of which will be held on June 4th, 2026. Let's give her a round of applause.

You can come on up.

Mayor Cogswell, I am just so astonished at this honor and I'm so happy to be here today and so much of what we did in the Office of Cultural Affairs were um the result of everybody on staff working hard together no one person did that work but the whole The whole essence of what our charge was, was to make the arts accessible to everybody. And the reason, one of the many, many reasons, is that the arts make everybody, if they're sitting up and paying attention, makes everybody kind towards everybody else. And that is what makes Charleston among the many, many, many wonderful attributes that the city has to offer the whole world. So interesting and lovely for everybody to turn towards everybody in their midst and recognize that they are fellow Charlestonians, that they are family in so many ways, but the arts make everyone kinder towards one another. So none of that would have been possible Without the incredible support of this Charleston City Council and our mayor at the time was Mayor Riley, but our mayor today has the same beautiful. intentions towards making the arts available to everybody. It is such an incredible honor and pleasure to be here today in front of all of you because your support made it possible for not only my standing here but it made it possible for our whole team to make the arts touch the lives and the hearts of everyone both visitors and residents alike so i want to offer a huge standing ovation to all of you for making all of that possible in you so please you're here And there are two others I'd like to name in my thanks, Mayor Riley and Vanessa Turner-Bebe. So thank you to them as well because they're part of the whole reason that we're all today looking back on the pleasure and the incredible gift that the arts bring to everybody, resident and visitor alike. So thank you so much today for this incredible honor. I am touched more than I can tell you. Thank you so, so much.

Thank you. All right. Thank you again.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Okay, we like those. Okay.

I'd now like to ask Bob Pfeiffer with the Lowcountry Tennis Association and any board members who might be here to join me up on the dais. Oh, got to pass these glasses back. Whereas the United Tennis Association has designated May as National Tennis Month to promote tennis and its many benefits and encourage participation in communities nationwide. And whereas the Lowcountry Tennis Association along with organizations including Lowcountry Youth Tennis Association, Charleston Area Ladies Tennis Association, adaptive tennis programs and local clubs and facilities provide a wide range of opportunities for residents of all ages to play and enjoy the sport. Whereas these organizations also support local tennis infrastructure and programs helping expand access to the game across the Charleston area. And whereas tennis offers a significant physical and health benefits with studies showing that playing just three hours per week can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 56%. And that tennis players live on average, nearly 10 years longer than non tennis players. Whereas Charleston has been recognized as the best tennis town in America and continues to grow the game through various youth programs. and whereas the Credit One Open continues to bring national recognition to Charleston as a leader in tennis and excellence in hosting world-class events. Now, therefore, I, William S. Cogswell, Jr., Mayor of the City of Charleston, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as National Tennis Month in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, and encourage all residents to participate in and support continued growth of tennis in our community give it a round of applause bob do you want to say a few words make me a little nervous with that notebook

thank you mayor cogswell and members of the charleston city council my name is the mentioned bob peiffer i'm here today representing the low country tennis association otherwise known as the lcta i'm the past president of the association serving in that role from 1994 until 2010 and have been here for the proclamation in each of the past five years since the proclamation concept was first initiated in 2022. I'm joined today by Greg Taylor, president of the Lowcountry Youth Tennis Association. We want to thank all of you for your support of tennis in our community. As noted in the proclamation, we are recognized throughout the United States for having one of the strongest tennis programs in the nation and have been since the early 2000s. And it is due to people like Greg who have earned that reputation for us. i also want to bring your attention a recent initiative by the lctda to provide financial assistance to municipalities and tennis facilities to improve their tennis facilities such has been done at the maybank tennis center in the may and the mount pleasant recreation department in both those cases we provided some benches for the where peak teams and people can kind of congregate they had uh uh let's say benches that were in the process of falling apart and we provided them with with those but we also will work with any uh any group or any place that wants to uh improve their facilities and try to make it happen the uh Finally, I'm presenting to the mayor, each member of the city council, a can of tennis balls. I'm not sure whether any of you play tennis, but you really should give it a try. Why? Because studies show has been noted has been mentioned as nine point seven years to their life compared to. Sedentary individuals, because playing tennis is 3 hours per week and risk. Cardio vascular health risk by 50% 56%. And because tennis players are 20% more likely to report strong mental health. And other sports activity participation. And if I can't get you to give tennis a try, hopefully you can find some young person who wants to give it a try and give them your can of balls to get them started. But I really would prefer to get all of you out on the courts. I'm sure that the staff at the Peggy Bone Tennis Center or Maybank Tennis Center can help you find someone or some need for you to do this. In closing, I want to thank you for your support of tennis, the world's healthiest sport. Thank you.

all right well thank you thank you thank you very much thank you absolutely let me give you your notebook here there we go okay we have one more uh

recognition. I'd like to ask Mr. McClain to join me up on the podium.

How are you? Nice to meet you.

All right, let me get my glass.

Whereas lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can cause inflammation, pain, and damage to any part of the body affecting millions of people worldwide. And whereas lupus disproportionately impacts women of color, particularly black women who are three times more likely to develop the disease and experience more severe symptoms. And whereas the month of May is recognized nationally as Lupus Awareness Month to educate, support, and encourage those living with lupus and promote earlier diagnosis, treatment, and research. And whereas community awareness and advocacy are vital in improving access to care and resources for individuals and families affected by lupus. And whereas Mr. McLean, the founder of the Fight of the Butterfly Movement, has worked to raise awareness, advocate for, and empower lupus warriors and promote understanding of chronic illness throughout the Southeastern United States. And whereas the city of Charleston acknowledges the courage, strength, and perseverance of lupus warriors, caregivers, and advocates who continue to fight for visibility, understanding, and better health outcomes. Now, therefore, I, William S. Cogswell, Jr., Mayor of the City of Charleston, proclaim the month of May 2026 as Lupus Awareness Month in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, and on behalf of City Council, encourage all citizens to learn more about lupus, support those impacted, and join the fight of the butterfly movement in efforts to increase awareness and to find a cure.

Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council. Thank you so much for this incredible honor and for officially recognized May as Lupus Awareness Month in this beautiful city. Our road through is awesome. For the lupus community, this proclamation is more than just a piece of paper with words on it. It's a vital lifeline. On average, it takes six to seven years for a lupus patient to receive a diagnosis. That's six to seven years of sitting in uncertainty about what's going on with us. That's six to seven years of sitting in pain. That's six to seven years of us paying co-pays and prescription calls for things that do not help us. Six to seven years before receiving the proper diagnosis and actually begin getting the right medication. By standing with us and shining light on this disease, Charleston is actively helping us bridge that gap, raise crucial awareness, and ultimately reduce that diagnosis time. So again, thank you, Charleston, for hearing us, but thank you for seeing us.

Okay. We are now on to public hearings. Madam Clerk, how many people do we have signed up to speak tonight?

We have four, but I think Christopher Morgan is going to present first.

We're going to have Christopher Morgan come up. Okay. Mr. Morgan, you come up.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Slides up, please. I'll go ahead and start with the first one here. This is going to be at 113 Romney Street. Now, the applicant has asked for a deferral on this one, but we will still just run through it super fast. But they have asked that it be deferred from consideration tonight. Yes, sir. 113 Romney Street has requested deferral. And this is one that our staff recommended for the Planning Commission, recommended disapproval. There was some concern from some nearby neighbors. And I can show you in the maps if you're interested. We're just waiting for those to come up. You don't have the maps? OK. You all have maps in your packages, so we'll just have to go without those on the screen there. So 113 Romney, and that is a request that was going to go from DR1F to limited business. It's adjacent to a parcel that is also zone limited business. It's right near where the low line, low country low line will cross Romney Street, and it's immediately adjacent also to I-26, where I-26 goes over Romney Street. Then moving on, we have 1757 Main Road. It's a third of an acre. This is a request that results from a zoning enforcement action. This is a property that was being used for a business. There were no permits issued, no applications applied for on the property. They were in the process of selling storage buildings on the property. And we have some pictures for those, but those are in the slideshow. But the storage buildings are on the property it's in very, very close proximity to other residences that are there it's in an area that has mostly limited business or commercial transitional zoning. Our staff felt that the GB was going to be too intense of a, uh, request, uh, given the immediate proximity of those residential structures, literally these sheds that are up for sale or within four or five feet of some of the nearby residences. So, um, we had recommended against this and then the planning commission had also recommended disapproval. And again, this results from an enforcement action where here we go, here we go. Um, My able to go from this one now. Okay, so that's the first one. That was the first one. That's the Romney street. We can move on from that. That's been deferred. Yeah, that's been asked requested deferral. Then that's the main road and this here you see the little buildings, you see on that. square with the kind of pinkish reddish color Those are the storage sheds that are up for sale it's adjacent to a residential use on the right and to the rear and then across the street. And then across the street also are limited business parcels but nothing as intense as the general business until you get down to the corner and given the size of the property, the feeling of staff was that. this was too intense it used to be in immediate proximity of those residential uses um and then we'll just and there's some images of it next slide they're the sheds for sale on the street next slide and there's the proximity to the houses that are adjacent nearby and that's the nearby neighborhood okay and that's what's in our comprehensive plan And then we can move on. Okay. And then we have some recent annexations in 62 lalandra which is quarter acre that would come into the city as SR two And then we have 164 walk through the road which would come into the city as SR one and we have 168 walk through road which would come in the city as SR one as well. And those are all just residential annexations And then finally, on the agenda, this did not have to go to Planning Commission, but you all had already given first reading to an amendment to a restrictive covenant for the Trophy Lakes property on Johns Island. And I believe we have an image of that, just for those of you who might not be as familiar with where Trophy Lakes is. Here we go. If we come back up. Here we go. So that is north of Maybank Highway, kind of north of where the Crown Maybank site is. It's some man-made lakes that are used for water sports, and this was an amendment to the restrictive covenants that had already allowed those water sports, but that would also allow some other sport activities on the site. I know Councilman McBride has been very active on this and talking with the owner about this need for this restrictive covenant amendment. And Robert Summerfield is here if there are other questions about those restrictive covenants amendments. And those are the public hearings for tonight.

Okay.

Number one is deferred, but number two is still on. Yes, sir. So how many people do we have signed up?

We have one more. Just for protocol, are we allowed to comment on any of this before the public or is it after public?

Usually after public.

Okay, got it.

So let's give everybody a minute and a half.

All right, Anthony G. Bryant.

I did agree with the mayor on one thing. We don't want to be involved with Myrtle Beach. But I'm here really... on a broader picture in terms of our water and utilities. I made public comment to Dominion Corporation on March 31st, and there was a lot of folk there concerned about their utility bills. Well, they all raised enough sand to get to May 12th, where they reduced it to $11. I shouted at all those citizens. They lost $100 million. Power to citizens is important. In terms of water, So you water water systems and we'll thank our chair and public works have always been at the meeting working hard for us on water and pick the water for poor folk. He's always advocated for that I kind of heard people say some things about. Lewis Waring was a civil rights leader. Somewhat troubled by the criticism of people talking about September P. Clark Lewis doing it personally. So that's kind of ironic. But the water is important with this. Eighty percent of us pay our water bills, utility bills, and we have to really be mindful this summer, on July 2nd, there may be an increase For all your districts, we all share this obligation of notice. And any complaints that will come forward will probably come forward July all the way into the next two. Dominion Energy gets bought by somebody. I just want to give notice to the public regarding that matter.

And then we have Nick, and I cannot read your last name, I apologize, resides 29412, speaking about Johns Island CCR.

Yeah, actually, I have no comments at this point. Okay. Thank you.

Kim Bryant.

I'm the owner of Trophy Lakes, and I have no comments at this time. I'm here really just to answer any questions if anything comes up. Thank you.

Thomas Turlean.

Thank you, Mayor, Council Members, and everybody in attendance for listening. I'm the owner of Island Shed Company. We are a small family-based company that provides storage buildings. As I started this venture as a business owner with City of Charleston, I misinterpreted the use of the zoning CT, and I have been working and trying to work with the City in order to get up to compliance to make sure that this business is working properly for the city, as well as to provide for all community members as a form of storage that we have in the city of Charleston that's not just a storage unit. If you look at your folders on the left-hand side, after Mr. Morgan had explained, the zoning that is requested is zoning for general business. This allows the use and the storage of the retail buildings to be sold to the general public. On the left-hand side of your folder is multiple businesses that are zoned general business or business park that are on Johns Island that are in adjacent, back up to, or directly connected to the front of a neighborhood. One of those being Maybank Storage that provides storage for RVs, containers, boats, and multiple other items that simply has a chain link fence that backs up directly to a neighborhood. What I'm asking, Mayor Mrakas, Is that everybody looks at our situation and we are trying to look for an opportunity for a second reading so that way we might have a fair stage in order to have general business and be on plans, thank you.

City Council Chambers, Was there anyone else who needed to speak at public hearings will have citizens participation later. All right, go ahead.

James Allen, neighbors drive. It's like four miles from here. I saw the city is investing a lot of money in pedestrian infrastructure. And I'm here to just like talk about trying to get a sidewalk on our street. We got a letter back in 2022 about surveying for a sidewalk. It's 2026. I think the survey was done, but we definitely don't have a sidewalk. And the reason is it's one of those multi jurisdictional roads. And so but half the houses are in the city, 35% in the town, the rest are unincorporated. I know the mayor of James Island is into like getting this done. She has about 50 to 60% of the money. I spoke to her this weekend. I was hoping to get some money, you know, kicked over to neighbor's drive. It's only 2000 feet, like, and it's the last piece of a puzzle to connect the whole network from, For Johnson high school or review shopping centers super busy it's very dangerous lots of kids people walking around, and so I was just here to make that neighbors neighbors.

All right, was there anyone else, this is just for public hearings. right and then we did receive two comments online um that were opposed to the rezoning of 113 romney street and i think that's been requested for a deferral and those were all the comments we received okay uh comments from members of council councilman mcbride thank you mr mayor um

Two of them on Johns Island. First one, back at Mr. Morgan. Oh, he's right there. So for item number two, the storage shed area on Main Road, I watched the planning commission hearing that was a couple weeks ago, about two weeks ago, very thorough. The owner was there for that and was able to give his side of what he was trying to do. And I heard the planning commission's comments back and forth. It was a very respectful discussion, conversation. um and you know the gentleman being a business owner i want to i want to support you know help him keep the business uh going however um My understanding is there was no permits ever applied for when the storage sheds were set up. I believe he owns another storage shed business somewhere else, like in West Ashley, if I'm not mistaken. And I do understand the rationale for a lot of laymen, and I still consider myself a layman when it comes to zoning. It's very complicated. uh ct versus gb um i heard the discussion at the planning commission i just wanted to offer for mr morgan to add a little more context and maybe even addressing some of the examples that the owner gave on that sheet of paper as to why there's differences between what seems to the layman as very similar circumstances compared to this circumstance that makes sense Any further questions or comments? Yeah, I was asking if you could add some clarity to that.

And tonight is the first night I've seen this list of businesses, but I'll try to go off some of these. I know that the Maybank boat and RV storage is a much larger site. I believe that is the old Berkeley Electric Co-op facility on Maybank. That was a large multi acre facility that we resumed to business park that has in usc office facility, as well as some storage and things like that. And it has buffer requirements and all that and it doesn't have that kind of proximity to a residential use except potentially with the residences that back up to it to the rear. It's very different from this situation, which is a small parcel immediately adjacent to other residences here on main road. Some of these others are similar circumstances where they're much bigger parcels. The builders first source is a much bigger parcel in the midst of fronting on Maybank with commercial uses and then there's some residential uses to the rear, things like that. So I don't think they're apples to apples type comparisons. This is a pretty intense

type of use to put a general business immediately adjacent to individual single family lots like that yeah because learning from the the planning commission meeting it's it would allow for 24-hour operations it could be businesses in the future if you were to sell that to somebody else or for another make it for another purpose could be very disruptive to a community with houses right around there which is why it's not normally a gb for that kind of a neighborhood and i understand that you know he got letter support from a lot of the um neighborhood members in that area but again that i'm sure they probably weren't aware of the ramifications of a gb zoning what that could mean in the future for them so i just wanted to kind of explain a little bit more you know from what i learned from from the planning commission and just for the general public and for for the owner as to what went into the thought process for the unanimous uh disapproval of that request again it's been deferred and so number two but this

Clearly a long day. Apologies. That's all right.

Yeah. And then what just go on the one more if I can, Mr. Mayor, for the trophy lakes, as Mr. Morgan said, it just allows it's already had a covenant that's about 40 years old. It was already allowed for water sports only. I think my impression that was inadvertently. uh written to be too restrictive at the time because they were just thinking about water sports at the time he just wants to be able to allow for other recreational uses and none of that recreational use uh will be near any homes or anything where sound could be an issue um so they're very well could be very in the near very near future some paddle ball courts some pickleball courts things like that um on the property which is good news for john's island mr mayor i'd move to take three four and five let's dispense with the ones that

John Pimentel, might not require as much discussion and move those together for approval, and then we can move through the other items.

John Pimentel, motion may probably seconded any further discussion on those items, if not all those in favor signify by saying aye. John Pimentel, Those. John Pimentel, As have it. John Pimentel, counseling belt and then i'll come.

My question ultimately is whether there is some option besides CT or GB that would allow this man to have his business. Here's the thing. I mean, this is zoned city center in future land use. It's unlike the properties behind it or across the street. So that leads me to believe that that was a very intentional choice to assign it the most intense future land use. I am having trouble reconciling why that would happen. But Gbs too intense, and I will say pictures of this the shed right next to the house are pretty surprising. But you know, I guess I wonder if is there like a groundswell of the Christopher McConkey- Community being upset about this or. Christopher McConkey- I just I just wonder how this got to be designated city Center future land use and there does not seem to be an acceptable usage. Christopher McConkey- On that side, I mean it's a small site so you'd have to by its very nature, you have to kind of jam some things in there.

And I think the small nature of that site is a big reason why we wouldn't have recommended what we have not recommended for the general business on there because of the media proximity of the residences. If there's more evolution in that area, more residences that front on main road converting to offices, for example, and more properties being combined, it might be a situation in the future that the more intense categories can work there. But right now, I don't know, Jennifer, if you can go back to that map, I'm sorry. If you look at where the zonings are around it, this would be the most intensive zoning immediately adjacent to a residence that you can find in that little area of Main Road. It's a very incompatible zoning district compared to the residences that are there. And again, I think you all have some maps yourself. It's towards .

Actually, we can go back.

One more back. The map. There we go and 1 more back if we could just so I can show the zonings around it. Okay. So this is CT zoning. This is, um, uh, individual single family house on a very large track here. So, again, this is not converting. This is actually in Charleston County. This is the goodwill, which is unlimited business. This is, um, some affordable housing, which is unlimited business and then everything else up in here is single family residential. There is 1 office use further up. you don't get to the GB until the very corner here. This is a gas station site there at the corner of Maine and Maybank, which of course is a very intensive location and it doesn't have the residences immediately adjacent to it. This has residences literally about five or six feet off the property line right there. And so these are a whole range of reasons why we felt the GB was not going to be compatible with the adjoining uses.

I I hear you um but in the future land use the properties around it remain suburban um and actually that large residential future um city center as well um anyway so but back to sort of my where I was going with this is there some option that's not CT or GB to allow

The only other categories would be an industrial category or a business park like we did do for a much larger site. Business park is oriented around much larger sites. There isn't a minimum acreage, but really to meet the criteria of it, you need a lot more area. Another reason that general business wouldn't work here is the buffers that are required. You'd have to have at least 25 foot buffers adjacent the residential uses, so that would eat up a lot of the site.

Just with buffers because it's such a small site and such an intense is the reason why it was a zone CT because the intent or the thought was that it would be connected with the larger parcel and they would have that corner.

Just that CT is designed to be in closer proximity to residential uses like that. It doesn't allow outdoor uses. It's not a 24-hour-a-day type of category. It's a much more compatible zoning district than GB for single-family residences.

It just strikes me that the residents built its shed or whatever awfully close to somebody else's property, knowing full well that this could happen.

uh well a residential shed can be within three feet of a property line if it's used by that resident so that's why you see one at the rear what you see on the image here is his sheds that were illegally placed on the site that were part of they've been there for a couple of years I believe they were part of his placing his business on the site without any permits whatsoever Councilman Seekings

Uh, okay. I've got a couple of questions. So what is it about commercial transitional that is incompatible with the businesses there right now? What is built into CT that does not allow what he's doing?

It does not allow outdoor sales, no outdoor sales, no cars, no boats, no sheds, things like that, that are because that's a more intensive outdoor thing going on right next to residences.

What commercial activities would CT allow offices?

David. restaurants with limited hours of operation with outdoor dining. David. There is a limit, and you have to have distance from a resident, so I don't know if this site would qualify for outdoor dining i'd have to pull the regs up right in front of me. David. But I know that that was designed to again protect nearby residential uses if there was going to be. David.

What else and there's plenty more you can do with CT right.

David. Residents offices retail stores.

Things that would be just as heavy a use, really, on this corner than what he's doing, which is putting a couple of sheds out there and sowing them.

And you would have to have buffers and things. I think the buffers would not be as significant with CT as they would be with general business.

How long has he been in business? You have to ask the applicant that. How long have you been in business?

This is not trying to.

So you've been out there a year? What caused all this? Why are we talking about this now?

Mr. Summerfield may have some background on the enforcement on that because it was an enforcement action that triggered this.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, so just for some additional color and background. So the gentleman has two sites. One is in West Ashley and then this property, which he actually owns. We received separate, completely independent complaints on business activity without permits on both sites within a relatively short time of each other. We've resolved through the permitting process because it is GB, the West Ashley location. He's been able to set up shop there. He's operating We've completely resolved that issue. However, in this location, because of the CT zoning, because this is outdoor storage and sales, which is not what a commercial transitional zone is for, it's for the lowest impact, lowest intensity kind of commercial that's immediately adjacent to residential. Again, with a very limited hours of operation, including when you can use the outside for that outdoor dining. no outdoor sales if you're a retail use, things of that nature. But this all resolves from a zoning compliance complaint that then turned into a situation where we had a number of improvements to the property. Nothing had been through stormwater, nothing had been through any kind of permitting process with building inspections or zoning with the exception of the fence. There was one fence permit that we were able to allocate OSBT, Dave Kuntz, A lot of illegal signage which we were getting complaints about and like I said just a bunch of it's not a few storage sheds it's the site is. OSBT, Dave Kuntz, i've seen it, I know I know it looks like has a number of storage sheds on it.

OSBT, Dave Kuntz, I mean, as you know, I mean we've talked a lot about this i'm not a huge fan of being out of compliance with zoning but be careful he asked for, because there are allowable uses. in commercial transitional it'll be much higher intense it could potentially be much higher intensity in terms of on and off that site day in and day out a very popular retail place a popular restaurant multi-family i mean i'm kind of with councilmember bowden it would be great if we could find something so if we can get him in compliance we don't put him out of business but it would have to be zoning he's in compliance with i guess what about a use variance He'd have to apply for that. Did you, did you have to call me?

Um, I'll be honest. I, a use variance would be specific to this type of use. It would have very strict requirements on it. It would be, um, it's an option to ask for. It is a board review. It's a very different thing. Um, but if there's no neighbors in immediate complaint and we establish some very defined rules to Councilman Seeking's point, I do know that the business activity is relatively low intense in terms of he's not out there busking for come by my sheds, you know. Or my perfume. Or any of that. Like this is a very, you see the sign, you see the number, you see a shed you kind of like, you set up an appointment to visit the shed and that kind of thing. So it is a low intensity from that type of activity. It's a large intensity in terms of having a bunch of that are in buffer areas. There's no improved surface for parking, no disability parking. There are a number of code issues that we would have to resolve.

And delivery and take out of these things would be coming in on a large flatbed or something to that effect?

My understanding, and I'll let the applicant speak to it, but my understanding is these are more for show and then he orders you the one that you want, but I will let him explain that further.

All right. Sorry for all the disruption. So, uh, as trying to get in compliance, I went through proper permitting for the sign for island shed company that does not have our phone number that does not allow banners. Uh, post boards, anything on the exterior of the property, we are in full compliance with that sign that was approved. The fence was approved and at any given time, we have a consistent product of sheds. I can put all small sheds in the front and we can actually remove all sheds. Into the rear of the property and make that all acceptable parking. For handicap as well as we have a handicap ramp that goes out to our office that meets all codes. Our business office can meet all codes as well. And we can have all sheds removed from the rear of the property, not even adjacent or within close proximity to the houses. We can literally just sell 8x12 and 10x12 sheds on that location and any larger sheds at the busier location in West Ashley with more room. We can make the footprint more presentable and better looking for the community. And these are like small cottages. So if you like a red one, a green one, a blue one, you can a la carte. It's like ordering a pizza. The amount of people, the amount of traffic that comes through this property is less than 10 customers a week. We do not make noise. We do not make large amounts of noise late at night. The company's closed by four or five o'clock. We don't even start till 10 o'clock because nobody wants to get out of bed and hit traffic.

is there any way i can sounds like this could be some work here so it's been seekings so come back when it comes to zoning right and we pitching balls and strikes we call winners and losers turning this to gb is not the right answer if we turn this to gb we're going to make you rich and your part and your neighbor is grumpy and that's not what we're here to do however however i think your neighbors did any of them show up at the planning commission to complain about this business

There was a petition the applicant had, although we heard a little bit after the Planning Commission that there was some concern about they didn't have the full story of what GB allowed. May I speak on that?

Well, my answer to this is I'm not going to vote to put this to GB. I am going to encourage you to work with our planning staff to see if there's some resolution.

I think a use variance isn't right.

I got it. And we'll sort of see where that goes. But GB is just a step too far for me, and I think probably around this table, and certainly for the people on Johns Island. Um, you've got what sounds like a responsible business that maybe got there not as responsible as it should have. Um. I think if you follow the right path, you might find some ability to for some flexibility and that's why I'm here today.

I'm trying to follow that path. That's why we're going to move to defer this.

I would second a motion to defer.

I'm moving. I'm going to defer it, but I don't want to see it coming back as GB.

Yeah, fair enough. I'll come to motion to defer on this item that has been seconded for further discussion or any on this.

I just had a quick question. You said the buffer required on the GB is 25 feet. So that would be on the north side and the east side of the property? Yes.

and the solar okay I mean that was substantially I mean that cuts his usable footprint down by half at least um this is why I said we could go to the smaller sheds and have a smaller product and it's not okay we have a motion right to to defer it's been second any further discussion on this if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed eyes have it forward to you working with staff see if we can figure out a a path forward uh constructive path forward thank you mr mayor for approval of number six second we have motion for approval on number six any further discussion on this none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye those eyes have it i'd move item six for third reading ratification uh motion made probably seconded all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed eyes have it and then mayor we just need a motion in a second if number one is being deferred motion made property second for number one being deferred all those in favor signify by saying aye opposed eyes have it all right we are now on to council minutes for Mayor Mrakas, A 12th make an emotion to for approval. Mayor Mrakas, motion made properly seconded for approval Council minutes all those in favor signify by saying aye. Mayor Mrakas, Those eyes have it now on to citizens participation. Mayor Mrakas, How many people we have signed up, we have 12. Mayor Mrakas, Give everybody a minute and go from there.

All right, Anthony Bryant.

it's good.

I want to submit, I want to submit a record of my lawsuits during energy fire education. I spoke with the superintendent schools. I saw the attorney general, South Carolina foreign directors, Department of Corrections, Charleston County school districts, our vendors, law enforcement vendors. The impact on families in the war on drugs for many generations in South Carolina. It's like a bottom education position of the schools, the prison pipeline. We see daily feelings of failure, addiction, self-destruction, and violence. Excessive use of force from George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery based on generational statistical abstracts. We hope this summer we have no Ahmaud Arberys. We have none of that. We hope that U.S. attorneys understand clearly that I live in a stereotype my whole life. My whole life has been a stereotype, and I can't stand stereotypes. And stereotypes will predicate, do our whole community forever since I was a kid. And I want to make sure that you understand, we understand what stereotypes mean. Who's the bottom of stereotypes? It would be Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. I understand, to have a superintendent at the school to prison pipeline is really not good for generations.

and next we have nick on john's island ccr did you want to speak during citizens okay kim bryant all right former council member jackson okay now's the time to or

Yes, thank you. I'm here. I was going to speak on Dash Hall. I am glad that it's going to be deferred and moved to the Community Development Committee. I guess the only thing I would continue to ask the Council is to be very cognizant of any precedents that these kinds of mediations are setting. The groups that volunteer to be part of the overall land use approval process are enabled through the state law. And I think it was about a decade ago when we had a challenge by a big landowner of the entire function of the system. So, I think to try to overrule that with mediations that I'm assuming the city initiated, because the applicants would have to go through the appeal process. I do think that's very concerning to people who are following how we're, um. How we're how we're processing our own enabling legislation, so thank you very much.

Kate to tilly. mohammed Idris.

The word L-I-E is live. As the numerically different number line is letter, it'll count up to be 26. You should try this when you go home. Work with numbers and letters. And the date is 26. I'm here to ask the City Council, 12 of you all, to help me go to Chicago on the opening of the Obama presidency. I've worked hard in this city and a whole lot of things in this city that is very successful now. It is because of the effort that I made to work with the city of Charleston. So I ask you all as well, I'm not talking to the mayor, I'm talking to you as well, to help me go to Chicago

And the first name, I believe, is Harris or Harriet. They did not list what they wanted to speak about. Joyce. All right, Zach B. Seedy.

Just. Straight. The way we reconfigured King Street, many times, I'd say the most access of anybody to the street, but adding a couple of medallions per company total of six at nighttime. would not be the worst thing we ever did, and we give some access, I don't know how they'll find it out, I will just tell you my recollection is. That the last time around, they actually all agreed to some antitrust violation that goes on. But they all agreed to split them up 2-2-2. And they all seem to be getting along pretty well right now. So that may be where it goes. I don't know if there'll be another.

Shame on me for thinking that there was anything but a plan to reward a private individual with a public contract, because that's what this is. And this was in 2021 when he first prognosticated that those companies would split it up in an illegal and unfair manner in his own words.

Max Culler. Anna Catherine Alexander. right was there anyone else who i missed right and then we did receive some comments online um one letter was received from brian hellman representing ashley hall um and the foundation uh 60 comments were received opposed to um the demolition of dash hall One comment was received from Dal Gandhi in opposition to expanding the pedicab permitting process to New York third party operators. One comment was received from Steven Ricario expressing his positive relationship with his employer and work experience as a pedicab driver. And two comments were received from Anthony G. Bryant, which were sent to Council in full. Those were all the comments that we received.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We're now on to petitions and communications. We have several appointments. Can I enter for what we've got? Let's see. Planning Commission, BA or small, BA or large, BRB, BZA Zoning, Housing Authority. So can I entertain a motion? Move for approval on all. I'm sorry. Move for approval. Is that for all approval of all appointments?

Yep.

And that's second. Any questions, comments? Councilman DeLisandro.

I just wanted to take a moment and thank Planning Commissioner Laquita Bryant-Jenkins. We in the city are fortunate to have so many good people serving on our boards and commissions, and Commissioner Bryant-Jenkins has always been one of them. During her time as a constituent school board member, she carefully looked after the welfare of all students. As president of the North Central Neighborhood Association, she firmly stood up for the neighborhood. And as a planning commission member, she helped guide Charleston to be developed in a responsible manner. She has always been a strong and reasonable voice. Thank you.

Any further questions, comments on these appointments? I appreciate all that they do for our city. If not, all those in favor for approval of all candidates, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Item number two has been deferred. Item number three is a presentation by Amy Barrett, who's the executive director of the King Street bid on the King Street bid annual report. Ms. Barrett, I will turn it over to you. Thank you.

Good evening, council members, Mr. Mayor, Members of the public again, my name is Amy Barrett, and I am the executive director of the King street business improvement district here to share with you a little bit about what we've been up to and what we're looking forward to next year. 1st of all, I want to remind everyone why downtowns matter in the large scheme of things. Um. Downtowns have a life beyond their specific geography. Vibrant downtowns help drive not only city economies, but regional economies as well. They make outsized contributions to tax revenues. They help a city better compete for talent and resources. As a vibrant city sitter, people just want to be here. And they are central to a city's identity, image and brand. And earlier this year, when we were working with director of Spoleto, Mina Markana, he made a comment that King Street is the city's stage. And here during these two weeks of Spoleto, you really, really feel that. We help the city come alive and give access to residents beyond the peninsula a way to experience things like Spoleto, the SC 250, celebrations that are coming, various holidays. Really, this is the region's living room.

Oops.

The king street bid specifically, we have a very specific geography from line street all the way down to broad street. It's about 1.7 miles and we did an economic impact study last year that identified king street just within the line to broad street geography as a 2Billion dollar asset. That yields over a 100Million dollars in tax revenue each year and you see the graphic that is comparing the, the King street bid specifically to the overall peninsula. And you see that tax value per acre is 6 times. When you look at the, the geography of the bid 6 times that of the peninsula in general, just going to show you that we pack a huge punch there in the King street district. And we're building ever more on this Economic powerhouse with the development of courier square, the low line that's coming in right now. What we see emerging as this northern anchor of our longstanding retail district is really 2.5Billion dollars in additional investments. 3000 plus residents. 50 to 75,000 square feet of retail 100,000 square feet of office. It's a huge. Community urban neighborhood that's developing before our very eyes. And again, not all of that touches the King street district, but certainly the courier square, any property that touches King street district is part of the King street district. Just a little reminder of our mission at the King street business improvement district is to keep King street clean, safe and vibrant. I've provided just a little timeline. We're relatively new long time city council members will remember as well. Robert Summerfield, if he's still here, I know he worked really hard on getting the initial approval of the business improvement district established. We received our 1st funds in 2023. I was hired in 2024 and we are. Led by a board, a very specific board of directors that is laid out in the memorandum of understanding that we have with the city. So, while we are not technically part of the city, the city of Charleston is our primary partner and a collaborator and all things we do. Um, we also by the ordinance that established the business improvement district, it specifies very special services and ambassadors program beautification programs and destination management, marketing and promotion and economic development. That is our remit. Um, we are confined by our memorandum of this with the city to do that. Just that. Most people who know of the bid know our ambassador program. This slide is showing just five members there in the center portrait of our nine-member team. The ambassador program is not intended to supplant the municipal services that happen in the city. This provides an extra layer of supplemental services to provide the extra loving care that King Street needs because it gets so much love and attention from all of our residents and visitors and everyone who visits there. So, our King Street ambassador is a really nice program that has been in place since the bid started. We have 2 shifts. We have a day shift that runs from 730 AM to 430 PM. And on the weekends, we added a year and a half ago, a night shift focused specifically on upper King that are really. The intention is less litter, litter abatement, graffiti abatement, and really more hospitality and connecting with businesses to aid support the nighttime activity that happens there. We. Um, the other thing 1 of the other things that comes with our King street ambassador program is, um, they collect data. So, if you see our orange clad ambassadors on the street, and it looks like they're looking at their phone, let's hope that they're really actually taking a measurement of some activity that they did. So, what you're seeing right here is some of the data that they are able to collect on a day to day basis. And these are really the primary activities on King street. They collect litter again. This is not sanitation. This is not entering trash cans. This is litter that would otherwise be on the streets of King street. In the 1st quarter of this year, they collected 5,400 pounds of litter. That's about the equivalent of an F, 1, 250 truck. So that's litter that would otherwise be on King street. So they collect a lot of litter. They also clean and power wash the sidewalks and also do spots cleaning. As you can imagine, King street gets a lot of spills, lots of ice cream that falls over a pizza slice that drops here in there. And the service we provide that is really loved by a lot of the businesses is if you happen to have a mess outside your front door, you can give us a call and we'll come and spot clean you there. So that just shows how many. Block faces is the term that they use 21,300 block faces on King street claimed in that 1st quarter of this year. And then again, with the big bellies that big bellies are really a service of the city of Charleston. We don't empty them, but we do. Make sure that they are clean and they're not gross to touch. We really happy to see the big bellies with the foot pedals. I don't know how much you guys like to get into the weeds on this, but the big bellies have these lovely foot pedals that you don't have to touch anything, but the handles still get really sticky and credit. And so our ambassadors are really, um. really detailed in how they make sure that the big bellies, one simple factor of your experience on King Street seems clean. I spend a lot of time on King Street and I love to be behind people visiting, whether it be visitors from the region or visitors from out of town, and they marvel at the big bellies. They're like, what is it, a vending machine? Oh my goodness, it's so clean. So just props to everyone who has anything to do with sanitation because they are It's working very nicely to help us do our job. Um, beyond just safe and clean that King Street ambassadors also interact with visitors and businesses on the street. We really are an extra pair of eyes and ears. Um, so, um, we track our hospitality contacts. That's how many times people interact, um, give directions, tell people where to find them the closest public restroom, help them work on our parking meters that oftentimes are confusing and confounding. Um, so our ambassadors help, um, help. People navigate the peninsula, and then the 1st quarter, they help nearly 19,000 people. Just think about how nice of an experience how that elevates your experience on King street and helps you navigate our beautiful city here. Our business owners also really like to have a visit once in a while by a King Street ambassador. It gives them an opportunity to say, oh, we might need a new garbage can or we might need some other kind of service. And that might be something that I follow up on or that I reach out to our colleagues at the city. I see Mindy Sturm over there, who's my primary contact on city staff. to help get things done and make people know that they're heard when they are in need of a city service or something that helps them make their day go better and the business work harder. Um, King street in this past year has welcomed almost 60 new businesses. This is an incomplete list. Um, it is amazing to see the turnover that happens on a quarterly basis. Um, it's hard to keep track of. So, um, we are out on the street. constantly kind of tracking what's coming, what's coming soon, and also those that have left, which we're seeing a lot of turnover happening because King Street is really at a premium right now. We don't have a whole lot of real estate left. So in fact, I think the next, we also do the, we do a quarterly profile of King Street Overall, that whole geography of line down to broad street. We have a vacancy, a vacancy of less than 5%. We look at it by lower, middle and upper King. There is virtually no space on lower King. With, but we were able to welcome several new businesses there, uh, the flagship crogan's jewel box sister shop. And we also wanted to recognize American gardens, which is a lovely public space attention to downtown. Um, and we're looking forward to, um, to welcoming 2 new businesses that have been under underway for a while there. On Middle King has seen a tremendous amount of activity, a lot of of coming and going, but remains 93% occupied. It really is the national retailer corridor section of King Street, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. People love to be on King Street, and they are paying Rents that are on par with cities, such as New York City, Washington, D. C. Newberry Street in Boston. That's really the level that we are at right now with our King Street rental rates. And then upper King Street continues to be an evolving district. Um, but we've had several new businesses open there. Rebecca illustrated, um, the new restaurant Sloan boutique opened their 2nd location in the region. Their 1st location was in Mount Pleasant. It's interesting to talk to them to think about how those 2 businesses compare how their foot traffic is different. Um, and lots of exciting things happening there on upper King street as well. Another piece of services that we offer are communication and marketing services. The chart up there is showing our Instagram followers. If you are not following us already on Instagram, this is a great way to keep up with what's going on on King Street. It's kingstchs.com. We have over 15,000 followers and reached over a million views for our Spoleto retail window display contest reel just recently. But that's not the only way we communicate. We also have a monthly newsletter. We do quarterly meetings at the American Expo. theater where we bring all of king street businesses together to understand um what's coming what so that they can plan for their um their inventory pop-up events all sorts of things and also talk peer-to-peer um so we've been doing these quarterly meetings for over a year now and it's really lovely to see a community start to evolve there and we see that right now with okay with um particularly in um during spoleto season so i'm going to hop through a little bit more i wanted to bring attention to the collaboration that we've been able to do with spoleto and then looking forward to sc 250 um you um hopefully you've noticed on your walk down king street we have this wonderful retail window display contest where we partnered with spoleto Spoleto gave two tickets to any performance to the retail display contest winner. It happened to be Dumas and Sons. They had a really nice corner window display and were the winners of the contest. We're also working with Spoleto to do some pop-up performances. So again, the idea is to make sure that people feel like the entire downtown is participating in this lovely event and we will continue to to do some similar programming for Sc. Two fifty. I wanted to share with you, since you are our largest, most important partner in all that we do. This is our twenty, twenty, twenty-five budget. Our budget versus our actual not going to spend too much detail on here, but we were on budget. We came under budget in some ways, and anything that we have that's left over goes back into King Street. Where I just also did a budget check of where we are. We are on, um, on budget on track this year to meet our budget. Um, as you can see by the pie chart, both of our expenses go to support our ambassador program, then beautification, marketing and promotion and then admin. Right now we are working on our current our 2,027 budget. We'll work directly with finances with Bfrc to make sure that comes before you guys in August. Sorry i'm being a little long-winded, but Um, we are, um, I also wanted to make sure that we said that we also, um, worked hand in hand with the Palmetto row collectives a wonderful program through the city of Charleston supports and 1 of its retail spaces. We were able to work with those 1st time, um, um, brick and mortar merchants to make sure that they could merchandise their windows and their displays. And hopefully that helped a lot. And we are also really looking forward to being a partner at our Peninsula Plan relaunch that begins this week, I believe, and looking forward to be involved in the Bloomberg Tourism Management Plan. And I'll leave it at that. Happy to answer any questions that you may have. But I know time is a ticking and you've already had a long meeting.

Any questions from members of council from a spirit? All right. Well, thank you for that wonderful presentation. Things are looking good on King Street. Appreciate all that you all do. All right.

Can we take items four and five together for approval?

Motion made to take items four and five together. Any further discussion on either one of those items? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. We're now on to committee reports. Calling Councilman Gregg for ways and means. He is We have motion made, properly seconded for Committee of Ways and Means. There's no further discussion on any of the Committee of Ways and Means items. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. We have 15 bills up for M2 as amended, just for clarity. Correct. So we have a motion made for all bills approval, all 15 bills with M2 as amended.

Who is the second?

Okay. Motion made. Properly seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

There are no bills up for second third reading application. Yeah. Sorry.

Second motion made probably seconded for a third reading one through 15, two have amended.

We need to follow through on the vote.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. You'll give me some time here. To get my quill pen out.

Mr. Mayor, would you like me to talk about very slowly how there are no bills up for first reading?

I would appreciate the mayor. You can.

I will take my mayor. My mayor pro tem privileges. Yes. There are no bills up for first reading. And we will actually be moving into our summer schedule coming up here in June, July and August, which means that there will only be one meeting of city council rather than the usual two. So the next regular meeting of city council will be Tuesday, June 16th at 5 p.m. Location I would assume is here. Okay. We're not doing the road show. Perfect. All right. It will be here at Charleston city hall. And, uh, with that, I will, uh, return control of the meeting over to, uh, America.

No further discussions to come before. this wonderful body good if we're sure there's absolutely nothing for to come before this

it is tennis month so the french open is on now as well if those would like to see professional tennis in action it is on all turner sports networks so and plenty of baseball to go around for everybody as well right now including my atlanta braves who are uh the best team in baseball by record so okay

So our next, we already talked about that. If there's no further to come for this body, we are adjourned. Make sure you take your tennis balls.