Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay.

There's too much public interest. We'll see. Okay, it's 6 o'clock. call the meeting to order. Uh, welcome to the August 20th, 2025 meeting of the Georgetown Planning Commission. Our first order of business is reorganization of the committee. Um, first would like to acknowledge our newest member, Ira Roach III. Welcome. And just prior to him, Thomas Allen joined us. Uh so first thing we need to do tonight is um elect some officer positions. So is there any nominations for a chair?

Motion to nominate Larry Roling for chairman. Second. Have a motion second. We will take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. Yes. Commissioner Allen. Yes. Commissioner Roach. Yes. Commissioner Leates. Yes. and some yes as well. Congratulations. Yeah. Thank you. Speech. Speech. Yes. All right. Uh, next we need to elect a vice chair as a nomination for vice chair. I'd like to nominate Michael Briggs for commissioner as uh as vice chair. Is there a second? I'll second that. Okay, we'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen, yes. Mr. Roach.

Yes. Mr. Leates. Yes. And I'm a yes as well. Congratulations. And now, uh, are there nominations for secretary? Nominate Chris Leates to be secretary. Have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second that motion. And we'll vote. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen, yes. Commissioner Roach, yes. Mr. Leates, yes. And I'm a yes as well. Congratulations. Uh now for approval of the minutes from June 18th. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to approve the minutes from June. Is there a second?

Second. Motion second. All in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed. Motion carried. Our next order of business is a public hearing. Case number 2024-10-01 pens grant a uh SE county tax parcel 135-14-34 comprehensive plan amendment uh future land use map an application by Davidson realy requesting an amendment to the town of Georgetown's comprehensive plan future land use map for a 0.191 plus or minus acre portion of the 24.64 64 acre parcel from multif family residential to commercial and for a 1.2 acre portion of that same parcel from commercial to multif family.

Yeah. Um would the applicant like to take the stamp

evening? Yeah. What's that? You want me to say something about that? Sure. Yeah. I I think the chair Tim Willard, the the solicitor here, the chair just indicated that it's he'd like to maybe consolidate your presentation for both applications because they're different on two parcels, but I know they it's they're sort of swapping different pieces and they're the same. So, if you if you're going to make a record, make make a record for uh the entire application and and and then they can vote on them separately. Okay. Sounds good. Does that make sense to you? It does. Okay,

we uh have a packed house tonight, so I don't see any reason why we can't do that. So, uh my name is Doug Lieberman with Larson Engineering Group uh here representing uh Bill Davidson, the developer for the property. Uh and the two properties uh are uh the First Baptist Church of Georgetown property and the Northeastern Supply property. um what we are looking to do. All right, Jamie. Okay. All right. So, uh first we like said that we have two uh applications. Um the first is the uh church property and we're looking to correct um the the change we that was made when we went through the process before. Um we had intended be shown here. Uh whatever reason the plans we submit show this one uh for the uh future land use change and also the reasoning line. So we showed the correct area on the plans uh for what it is now which is 14.08 acres uh but the line was drawn in the wrong direction. So we're looking to correct that so that um this small corner goes back to highway commercial and this large piece here goes to MR2 and the future land use would be multif family residential and highway commercial. commercial associated with this goes there large piece uh in the rear of the property. So, that is uh that one. And and if just for surrounding zoning information, I know we've got a new planning commission member, so I'll I'll kind of give an

update, a little bit of an update uh where we are with with that. Is that these two pieces uh are zoned highway commercial along with this piece, this, this, and this are all highway commercial. We've got um a parcel College Park that is I don't even remember what that is. Village College Park. We did it so I should know. U it's I think it's an MR1 RPC. Yeah,

MR1. So we've got apartments and singles up in this area. Um this is this MR2 proposed multif family residential is uh town houses. So um we're maintaining what the comprehensive plan once by maintaining the uh strip of commercial along the frontage and then also reszoning to multif family residential MR2 which is what the uh comprehensive plan is looking for. So any reasonzoning within the town uh actually states um that they would want these parcels to be de developed to townhouse residential. So that's the direction that we're going here. Um the next piece. Okay. So this shows this shows the paint that goes the highway commercial. Oops. Went too fast. All right. So, the the second application uh associated with this parcel is for uh the lumberyard parcel. And this is case 2025-16. And with this property, again, we had a large property that's associated with the lumber yard. And when we came forward uh with the the other development to to reszone that to uh multif family residential, they actually contacted the developer and said, "Hey, we've got this piece of property that's behind our stormwater pond. Uh would you be interested in in taking this and adding it to your development?" So that's kind of what got us started going back down this route. Um so we had to go

through the same process to uh add that and show it now as multifamily residential. Go through the future land use change to get that to u multif family residential and um then the again the front remains high. So in the end we end up with both parcels here still zone highway commercial. You still have the church in the parking lot and their play area facing the back that it's all one lot and the northeastern supply is all of their commercial use

uh is still maintained on on the one lot. And then we have a larger area in the back that will be zoned uh MR2 future land use is multif family residential. So that is uh the two applications uh in a nutshell. So if Oh, one thing I should point out is we did get uh approval from the office of state planning for uh the minor variation change for the uh first property and said gave us no objection, I believe it was Brian, to the uh second uh change in the future land use and and also the reasoning. Good.

So, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Try to. Anyway, any questions from the commission? Pretty straightforward. Okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anybody who wishes to speak in favor of the application? Is there anybody who wishes to speak against the application? Have we received any written comment? Uh we have not received written comments for or against. So and there's no one on Zoom either. Okay. No one on Zoom. Okay. Would someone like to make a motion?

So proceed with this each one of each one. Yeah. Okay. Make a motion to approve. Sorry. Good. Do you have to vote twice for each one? So, right now we we have them as two as two applications each with two um two parts two parts. So, it's the future lage change and the zoning change. Um but though I um potentially they could be have to read consolidated if you if you believe.

Yeah, you can because the elements are pretty much the same as for you can consolidate. We like to keep them the same for the parcel. So that's why Brian's got them separated by parcel even though they're so interrelated. So you can make a motion for the first one which is partial 34 I believe. Um that the application is to uh amend the comp plan uh to make it MR2 right? Yep. In part and in part in part and also to to reszone the same parts MR2. So it's to amend the comp plan and the zoning. Okay. I just wanted to make sure it was clear for the record. That's

Yeah. So the first one being so it's it's the change from it's partially a change from multifamily residential to commercial and then a part of it to from commercial to multifamily. Um and the same thing with the zoning is it's the partial change in one place and then the partial change in another place. Um so maybe it might be easier just to read that. Yeah, it might be easier to just read it. So, you want us to read this the first? Yep. Yep. The first. Yeah. Want me to make a motion for that?

Okay. I make a motion to recommend that the town council approve the proposed amendment to the town of Georgetown's comprehensive plans future land use map for a.1 191 plus or minus acre portion of a 24.64 plus or minus acre parcel from the multif family residential to commercial and for a 1.2 plus or minus acre portion of the same 24.64 64 plus or minus acre parcel from commercial to multif family residential identified as SC tax parcel 135-14.00-34.00.

Okay, I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion. Second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs I. Commissioner Allen I. Commissioner Roach I. Commissioner Gates I and I I vote I as well. It's appear it's a minor change to the property. It it makes it more uniform. So I think it's a good um so next perhaps someone could make a motion to approve the zoning map change for the same parcels identified in previous. It's like what this

the record if you said that would be clear that is to say previously

or or just read it. So we can make I'd like to make a motion to amend the partial 34, amend the comp plan to an MR2 and to reszone it. We've already did the comp plan. You've already compon Okay. I wanted to make a motion to reszone uh what we've previously mentioned to MR2 and they parts of it just and then partially back to uh HC a part of it there it's the same yeah say add to it what perhaps just read it

there's a reason Brian spent a lot of time

if you guys want to read the Next one. Okay. Motion to recommend that the town council approve the proposed amendment to the town of Georgetown's official zoning map for.191 plus or minus acre portion of a 24.64 plus or minus acre parcel from multifamily residential MR2 to highway commercial HC. And for a 1.2 2 plus or minus acre portion of that same 24.64 plus or minus acre parcel from highway commercial HC2 multifamily residential MR2 as identified at Sussex County Tax Parcel 135-14.00-34.00. [Music]

I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. I. Commissioner Allen. I Mr. Roach I Mr. Lick Eates I and I'm a I as well for the same reason. All right. So next um application

make a motion to recommend a town council approve the proposed amendment to the town of Georgetown's comprehensive plan future land use map for a 1.326 plus or minus acre portion of a 6.295 295 plus or minus acre partial from commercial to multif family residential identified as SC tax sus county tax partial 135-14.00-34.01 as presented. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. I. Commissioner Allen. I. Commissioner Roach. I. Commissioner Leates I. I'm an I as well.

One more. Oh, I'll take a turn. I make a motion to recommend the town council approve the proposed amendment to the town of Georgetown's official zoning map for a 1.326 plus or minus acre portion of a 6.295 295 plus or minus acre parcel from highway commercial to multifamily residential identified as SC tax parole 135-4.00-34.01 um as presented.

Okay, I've got a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. I Commissioner Allen I Commissioner Roach I Mr. Le Gates I and I am an I as well. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate the clarification. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

All right. Since there's nobody Well, is it any public comments? Yep. Doesn't matter.

Okay. Community development department report.

Okay. Sorry, we were we were caucusing. Um, okay. Thank you. Um, so a couple updates on a few things. Um, so as you may know, we're almost to we're at sort of the four-year mark of the comprehensive plan as it was adopted in 2021. So that means that the five-year update uh or five-year review of the comprehensive plan will be due by July of 2026. So we're right now we're sort of looking at how we're going to approach that right now. And then so that will be something that the planning commission will be looking at in the next few months to to see if there's any updates that need to be done um in the review um process um of that. And next is a uh we are already now pursuing an update of the downtown development district plan. Um, as you may know, the downtown development district was uh awarded to the town in 2016 by um the state and we have extended it at least once. And so actually now we're we're arriving at the end of our 10-year term uh for the downtown development district, which of course incentivizes um in a number of ways development um along East Market and generally to the east east of town. Uh so we're we're in the process of starting that update and we are going to be applying for a renewal of the designation uh for a five-year term. Um and so that is actually due in February, but we're hoping to submit it sooner. Um but right now we did uh set up a um a website that's dedicated to um information about the downtown development district plan. Um it was we just put a note on the website um in the

news section um with the link to the um the website. It's it's through a um uh a company called Zen City that uh allows us to do certain public outreach through um through our website and through their website. Um so I will forward that to you all so you can take a look at it. There will be a number of surveys and other public engagement um uh opportunities um through that website um in order to give us um feedback and direction as to how uh we can update um the vision for the downtown and um and yeah, so there'll be a couple things to look at in the coming months. So take a look.

Who would benefit who benefits from looking at that? I mean, do we ever get the word out like is it businesses that we want to look at that or uh businesses, residents, stakeholders, investors potentially that they can see this? So, so we we have um contact information of um property owners who have used utilized the downtown development district incentives already. U a part of the renewal process is to um is to basically assess how well it's worked in the past 10 years. Very familiar with that. cancelled when they first.

Okay. Yep. So, so yeah. So, so a part of this is to actually assess if the incentives are working or not. Um and so we I'll actually talk to um developers who have used the incentives in the past and um partially to figure out how can we get new developers and people that haven't used it. Well, yes. Exactly. Exactly. And we we have a few ideas already of of that. U but yes, so we'll be we'll be similarly asking um existing business owners and developers um outreach to others.

Yes. Yes. Exactly. And we'll of course rely on on our various um town officials, of which you are all included, um to help um get the word out to that as well. So, we would appreciate your disseminating um some of this information as well because you're all crucial to um that success. But yes, very good um questions and that is that is a key part of it is to is to figure out how to expand the reach of the they want to develop.

Exactly. Exactly. Um so a few things that may be on the agenda for um next month's planning commission meeting is um three three and seven Parsons Lane. Um we saw the minor variation determination um request a couple months ago for um for um it was a change from residential to commercial. Um so so that had been um concurred by office estate planning that it was a uh minor variation. Um similarly, so they will actually come in just like you saw here for the formal land use map and zoning map um amendments. And um what else might you see? Um so it it's not going to go in front of council next week, but um in September there will be um a report and presentation um I guess from from our department um about the um cottage community um proposal. So, we were asked the cottage community, so he said the two little cottages on um East Market Street, we were asked to review zoning provisions, potential zoning provisions for um permitting that type of use in town. And so, um so as a zoning amendment, um were that to be passed along by town council, you will of course see it um and review it and pass along your recommendations.

Has there been some interest in that in the small little in the little houses? Um there there there has as far as as as we understand. Yep. Yep. There have been a few um tours that were given um as to in parties. Um we did take town staff did take tours um of those those properties as well. So that was that was pretty interesting. Um so yeah, so that will be likely discussed in September um at a at a council meeting. And um and so I guess it will be up to council to um how they want to move forward um any potential zoning amendments as well. Um and of course we're reviewing many other types of um developments large and small. Um

any businesses like you know the right aid's gone now. We have some of I think I've heard some ideas that we're thinking of putting in there but I know I didn't know if there's anything up moving forward besides just if anything's approached us on anything new coming. Uh we have we have heard talk um I don't think we have a formal um application Jamie is that okay yeah not right this minute but um right um but yeah we we'll of course you know if you have specific um ideas or you know if you've heard also heard talk and want us to look into something you know we can always let us know as well.

Okay thank you. Sure. Um, yeah. Any other questions, comments? All right. Um, All right. Yeah, that's all I have. Okay. Motion to have a motion to adjourn. Is there a second?

I did. Yep. Mhm. We have a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Motion to adjurnn. We have a motion to second. All in favor say I. I. I. Meeting adjourned.

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