County Council - Regular Meeting

Y'all ready? Mark, y'all ready? [snorts]

All right. Good evening and thank you for attending the first meeting, County Greenwood County Council of 2026, January the 6. Call this meeting to order. Um, council has been in executive session since 4:00 discussing legal matters. Um, Mr. Chair, uh, I'm sorry, Mr. manager, would you please give us those reading uh give [snorts] us those reasons that we were in executive session?

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman, members of county council. We entered into executive session for the following five reasons. three legal matters pertaining to a matter near the 1000 block of Highway 246 South, Tasian Carburn America Incorporated and Greenwood County Code of Ordinances 11-3-1 and two economic development matters pertaining to projects Muscogee and Apollo. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Um, I'll entertain a motion that we exe exit executive session. Motion to exit.

Second. Motion by Miss Miller, second by Miss Griffin. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? That's unanimous. All right. See coming out. Apologize. Uh, we have couple of members absent tonight. So, uh, my name is Dne Puit and I'll be handling the meeting tonight as your vice chairman. And we will start off our regular meeting as we do with all of our meetings by asking uh, Councilwoman Teresa Griffin in District 1 to deliver our invocation after which we will say the pledge of allegiance. I'd ask you to all please stand. I want to say good evening to each and every one of you and glad to all have you here with us tonight. We want to go for forego with um Reverend Jerry, Reverend Jerry Brown of um Jacob Chapel Baptist Church who is one of the pastors in our um district 1. So Reverend Brown,

may we pray? Almighty God, we humble ourselves before you. We are thankful that you have blessed us to see a new year. We thank you for your loving kindness toward us. Dear God, I ask that you would give this council the wisdom needed uh as they face some difficult challenges and uh decisions in this year. I pray for unity in our community. For we know that a house divided against itself cannot stand. I ask that you would help us to make our community a safe place to live where every citizen can realize their full potential. God, protect our children as they're in the schools and even in their homes.

God, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy and your amazing grace. We thank you for a peaceful and prosperous Greenwood. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for that, Reverend.

Yes. First order of business will be the approval of the minutes from December the 16th, 2025 regular meeting. Do I have a motion to approve these minutes? So moved. Motion by Miss Griffin. Do I have a second? Second.

Second by Miss Miller. Is there any discussion on these minutes? Hearing none, I'll ask for a vote. All in favor? That's unanimous. All right. Normally during this time it is reserved for public comment which is to be used for any item on the agenda but it was brought to my attention the two that did sign up um will have that same opportunity during public comment of one of the items on the agenda during that time. All right. So we'll start off with a presentation. Uh code enforcement officer Mr. Kevin Eli Elie. Did I say that right this time? I'm sorry.

Yes, it's Elie. Thank you. Elely. All right, Mr. Elely, you have the floor.

Thank you for your time. Uh, council, uh, I just want to kind of just recap um 2025 for code enforcement, uh, some of the, uh, battles and things that we endured during this last year. Uh so I um last year I covered 275 cases uh which to include um illegally dumped litter within Greenwood County, uh junk and garbage complaints, unlicensed vehicles, overgrowth, and miscellaneous zoning violations. Um the there was about 20 illegally dumped cases that I assisted in uh investigating and some of those were given off to the sheriff's office because of the quantity. Um, but for the most part they were handled by me as far as u handling those cases. There was 102 cases of junk and garbage complaints that I dealt with. Um, there was 34 unlicensed vehicle complaints. Uh, 37 overgrowth and then there was about 82 of the miscellaneous violations including zoning violations within the city. Um, since I do zoning within uh the city and in the county as well. Um those uh miscellaneous included uh illegally placed signs whether it be realtors, temporary or portable signs, uh unsecured uh septic systems, which was also then in uh worked with the Department of Environmental Services, making sure that those uh places and properties were cleaned up and how they should be handled. Um there was places where people were living in sheds and RVs that I dealt with. Um illegal [clears throat] roosters within the city and in the county. um junkyards, um auto repair shops that are turning into junkyards, um dealing with some of that, and then also dilapidated and burned houses uh within Greenwood County. Uh some education things that I conducted um prior to the uh um ordinance that was passed by you folks was for the sign orders, for the development signs. Uh, with that, I went

and met with the realtors at their monthly meeting prior to this going into effect, saying, "Hey, here's what's coming." Kind of if you guys have any opposition, you gonna kind of put some input into that. Talked with them. Uh, we also conducted a sign blitz within the city and the county of Greenwood. Uh and then also in the overlay district uh that was and in that area they were those businesses that had signs were given copies of the rules regarding the overlay district and what they could have for signage. Um we uh educated the public or I educated the public on the temporary portable signs. So the big billboards that had like cigarette saying hey how much here the pack of cigarettes. Uh there are rules about those and what you can have. um they were given that information and let them know that hey you guys do need to get these permitted uh within the city and in the county. Uh also um just to kind of get ahead of the game, I've also talked with the voter registration uh regarding the political signs with this year being a uh election year. So I've talked to them and they've were given a copy of the ordinance regarding that. Um, and then also though to say, hey, if you guys have any questions, you can get a hold of me. But here's here's a copy of the ordinance. Uh, so that way that when people do register that they are aware of the the county ordinance regarding the uh voter signs. Um, do I have the do I have the clicker?

Uh, so some things that was completed in 2025. Uh you [snorts] passed the uh the chickens ordinance 25-16 amended the chicken allowing the uh residents in within the county to have chickens. Um and then also with the passage of the for 2025 24 amended the language for the on and offsite development signs. Um so in 2025 I completed 111 cases. uh completed was that uh either like with the illegal dump they were issued summones or there was some sort of they went and cleaned it up. There was some sort of thing that was worked out with that. Um the overgrowth was um some actually still damaged from Helen. They cleaned up the trees um cut their grass um to come in compliance with the uh ordinance. Uh unlicensed vehicles was you know you could only because you can only have one unlicensed vehicle on your property. either they complied with it by registering all but one or they removed those vehicles from there uh cleaned up the junk and debris uh the illegal roosters within the city and county and also um we had a case that preceded me uh with accessory structure that was out of compliance uh on Patrick Road uh that was actually brought into compliance um and then so that was also resolved for 2025 which actually was two years prior to me that was that had never been resolved and I was able to get that resolved as well. Uh some goals for 2026. Um going to suggest some edits working on the for the signed ordinance to make it a standalone uh ordinance so that it's not uh included into all of the uh zoning ordinances which makes it confusing. uh just make it a standalone so that way it's easier for everyone to read and

understand. Uh we'll be working on that. Uh clean up residential locations that have turned into junkyards. Uh there's some areas that I'm starting to work on and they're going to be starting to get some letters regarding these which I mean there's some locations that have 50 60 cars. That is pretty bad. Um starting going to work on cleaning up auto repair shops that are turning into junkyards. Uh there are several that I've started uh working with those as well. Um and then also started addressing some of dilapitated and burned houses, accessory structures uh that are basically vacant and nobody's living there and they're been burned out for two to three years. So that's all I have. If you have any questions, [snorts]

anybody from council have any questions or comments? Mr. Vice Chairman. Yes, sir. If I may.

Yes, sir. Um I think we uh have made some some progress uh the last couple years in our litter problem. We have uh talked about for several years now that we have a problem with people throwing trash out on side of the road. Uh there was one time several years ago that [snorts] it was severe that some potential industries that were looking at our community actually asked the question why is there so much trash on side the roads and we have we have uh implemented a lot of things and it's gotten better but I still think there's a lot of work to do there and the concern I have is on our goals I don't see anything And uh council, if I remember correctly, we had our mission that kind of got us to where we are today was litter because we had a a litter officer under the sheriff's office that we funded to focus on litter. And then uh we done away with that and uh this gentleman's Kevin was brought brought in and that was his uh kind of followup from that. But and I I I agree that there is uh some some issues with signs and we need to clean some of this stuff up. But I still think we need to and our goals this next year is is to use your resources towards the litter uh to help move some of the litter from the roads.

Mr. Vice Chairman, if I may, I may be confused. [clears throat] Yeah, I'm good. Yeah, I may be confused. I thought that Yes, I agree with Mr. Allison on all the things he said about litter because we've been fighting against that for for years, but I thought that when we brought Kevin in, it was [snorts] his job was strictly as code enforcement for the other issues. Am I wrong? Can somebody clarify that for me?

So, his job is a code and and [snorts] zoning code enforcement officer and it's really more under Amber Nepir's purview to be the like the litter zar and anything that Kevin does um to help with litter is to assist Amber and and to assist her mission. So, anything that he's done up here has been um a little bit of extra, frankly. Um and and I agree that that we continue to need to do that. And I I think Amber and Kevin together are doing a really good job. Again, all I the point I was making was that we eliminated that position, if I'm correct, with the sheriff's office.

No, [clears throat] I wouldn't say. I think what I would say is you had years ago you had two people in zone who did code enforcement. [clears throat] They both retired. We decided that we could put it under the sheriff's office. Turned out that didn't work so well. So then we got Kevin to replace it. So I wouldn't I wouldn't [snorts] say I wouldn't say we eliminated the position. I would say we moved the position a couple times and got Okay. And and I'm fine with that. I just want to make sure that we don't lose focus on our our litter agreed problem in [snorts] our county because we we have an issue certainly

and we need to throw every resource we have that we can at it is my opinion is one member of council. Thank you Mr. Vice Chairman. Sure. And I I agree. I think Amber's done an excellent job from a litter perspective organizing all the trash pickups and the big Lake Greenwood pickup that we do. Um, I think code enforcement is big. Aby's in the room. Um, there's a place on our website, too, where our residents can, um, uh, put in [snorts] a I don't I don't want to say complaint, but a concern um, that would eventually filter over to you, right?

That is correct. It's uh, there's actually two parts. More of it is kind of transitioning to citizen. there's complaints that get transferred from there and then also there's the online reporting under the county website. So there's essentially two factions of people uh doing that. And if I may comment too on the litter thing, it's these cases are I I've doing everything I can. Um essentially what how it kind of works out is I kind of have a I work with the sheriff's office because if it's large quantities obviously there's I I can't site under state statute. Uh I have the county ordinance that I can site under. So, if it's something that's big with, you know, large couches and several hundred pounds of trash, uh, this that is handed off to the sheriff's office, I take the single two bag, three bag stuff. Um, but yes, I am right there with you. Um, it is one of the things that I see constantly that obviously is trying to, you know, how do we handle that and deal with that? Thank you.

One comment, Mr. Chairman. Sure. I want to thank you, Mr. Eli. Elie, I'm sorry. I I do it as well. I I love the goal for 2026, the top one, because I'm for that easy to look at website and single point of reference to go [snorts] find it and not have to go to two or three different places. I love that approach. So, thank you for trying to embrace that for 2026. Agreed. Thank you. Anything else? Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, council. Have a great evening.

So, next on the agenda is a discussion about Greenwood County branding and logo. It's an updated presentation. Uh, [snorts] Miss Abby Banks, our public information officer. Now, one thing I wanted you to kind of make clear is the seal that we currently use will remain the official seal. Correct? Yes. All right. Yes. And I will address that here as well. But I want to make sure that we remain that clear that we are not not losing that seal. is still going to represent council specifically. Okay. Thank you.

All right. So, as you know, we we I guess it was been a month ago that we spoke and went through some ideas. And this is a project that I've mentioned before that that when I was first hired, we even talked about what it was going to look like to rebrand and the need for it. And as a resident of Greenwood County, when I first interviewed, I'm not sure that I could have told you exactly what our what our logo seal was at the time. It's not something that was easily identifiable to me. Um, as an even as an engaged citizen who, you know, before I was interviewing knew what I was looking at. So, um, it's definitely something that we've needed to work on for quite a while. Um, as we go through today's presentation, we'll look at feedback from our previous meeting. um explain again what our design challenges are with some of the requested [snorts] elements, show how we incorporated that feedback, and then we'll present a recommended logo option for council to consider. But again, like you said, vice chairman, this the seal is not being replaced. It is going to remain as um a representation of county council. Will be used on all legal documents, ordinance, resolutions, any formal government records. um it is still going to be identifiable with our council. The new logo is more branding, marketing, public facing communications on social media. Um again, this is common across counties and municipalities. And we we talked about that last time how most counties are doing this. They have the seal and they also have the um a different logo for branding purposes. And as we look at, you know, why the seal doesn't work. Um, it's really hard to duplicate and replicate at small sizes. And most people are always looking on your mobile devices, it's not it's not normal for people to just go straight to the computer. [snorts] They're looking at a mobile devices. You're looking at social media. And when you condense it down, it is difficult to see. It is hard to see the words um and

what it's representing. Um, it it's difficult and expensive to embroider or print on apparel. I think Kevin has it on his shirt and from, you know, it is very hard to see when you actually have that embroidered on anything. Um, it lacks, we lack a cohesive visual system across departments. Again, we didn't have a clear color palette. Um, and it's not recognizable to those who aren't familiar with it. Um, if you were outside of Greenwood County looking at it, it would be difficult. We want to do this now as we get ready for finalizing Park Plaza consistency, recruiting employees, and definitely with our economic development, we want to make sure that we put a forward-thinking brand out for Greenwood County about who we are um and that we are looking towards the future. So, these are what we presented last time. Had lots of comments on what your opinions were on these. We did, again, as we talked last time, we did have a a vote with staff. Um the lake and sun design is what um won in that vote. Um narrowly won, but it did win in that vote with our staff. Um but as we talked last time, I think a lot of you were you were worried that it didn't have that official government feel to the designs that were presented. You were missing that established date wasn't on it. It also didn't say South Carolina. So, these were all things that um that you mentioned that you would like to see in the seal. And you also you pointed out that you liked um we had a Chester County logo that was up there that some of you really liked um and it represented one of the buildings in there. So, we talked about putting some building designs together and is there a building that represented Greenwood County that we could use in a logo and we talked about what did our courthouse look like and Park Plaza. And I'll tell you that Blue Avenue is who's been doing these designs for us and they listened back to the council meeting heard um your comments and we gave them pictures

of the courthouse and also Park Plaza to see what it would look like if we did do those in any kind of logo designs. Um and I'll go through and kind of show these. And what we found as we started working through these designs is that the same problem that we have with our current county seal is what we find in these logo designs. If we take these buildings, we see the courthouse here. And then if we move forward to what Park Plaza would look like, you have a lot of lines in these buildings. Um, and if we were to condense those downs, then you're really going to have the same problem you have with our current logo. Um, and then if we take lines out to simplify it, then we have buildings that really aren't recognizable if we start trying to modify what those look like to make them work in that logo. So, what we we talked about with Blue Avenue and asked them to do is add the things that were missing um from those other logos um to create something that had a traditional feel but then had that modern forward thinking look with some of the elements that you all requested. [snorts] And this is kind of what we've been given here. That was that sun and lake design that was that won with our staff. Um, when you look at this design, um, you now have it saying South Carolina. So, that is clearly established. Um, when you look at the logo, we've got the green from Greenwood. We've got our sunshine, which you can take that literally or fig figuratively. We've got it, you know, we've got a sense of place. We love our lake. We have a beautiful community. I think that's an asset that a lot of places don't have that we want to make sure that we emphasize when people look at Greenwood County. pumpkin. We have the lake. That sunshine, but it also represents like a sunshine is new beginnings and optimism, innovation, and economic growth. And I think it also is resilience because the sun rises every day. Um, and so do we as we move along. We also have the water. We have waves.

They're active, evolving, moving forward. And I always like to think when you have a community, it always gathered around the water. Like that's where communities thrived and flourished. And then at the bottom we have that foundation where is our established date which is kind of what we came forth from. So that's at the bottom. That's our foundation there. And again Greenwood County you have South Carolina. So that's easily identifiable. And then again we have that badge look that you guys were asking for that looked a little more formal and a little more traditional and kind of follows what we were doing with the seal as far as shape. And anytime you have a circle shape, that's going to work really well in any kind of social media. You think about all of your icons, they're a circle shape. So that's going to work really well in all of those applications. Side by side in comparison, just for you to see what our current seal is and what this proposed logo would look like. You see, it's going to be a lot simpler in design elements. Easier to see at a quick glance. Um the words are easier to read. If you weren't from here, you're going to quickly see Greenwood County rather than county of Greenwood, South Carolina. It's easier to see in that. Again, just some sidebyside comparisons. If we were using that on a social media graphic, kind of what that would look like from what our normal seal looks like to what what it is. I mean, if you're just scrolling through and you're not familiar with Greenwood County, you're not necessarily going to see that it says Greenwood County in that logo. And if you're scrolling through here on the other side, Greenwood County, the words are very easy to read. And so what we'd like to do is our staff recommendation is for the selection of the circular sun and lake design to be the new um logo for our county. But again, we do keep the seal. Um once once we have a decision, we'll u make a brand guide um outlining logo usage, color standards, selections. We'll roll out internally

um communicate those with our external partners. will do a digital transition first. And I think it's very important for for you and the public to understand that we're going to continue using all of our existing features um with the current seal until the end of their natural life cycle. So if someone has a shirt, they're not we're not just throwing things out and putting a new seal on it. When it is time to naturally replace those items, that is when they would get the new logo, business cards, all of those things. It's going to follow the natural cycle of replacement. Thank you, council. I'm sorry. Were you? No. Were you there? Council, anyone have any questions from for Abby concerning the logo?

No question. I have a comment. I love it. The creativity is amazing from an accountant standpoint. I don't have that brain uh to do that kind of thing. I love the the circular that matches with the seal. I I like it. Hats off. [snorts] I just think it's important to point out that we're keeping the the official county seal and that we're not just throwing out business cards and letter head and things that have the seal on it. We're going to use all that stuff until it's gone before we replace it. I think that's important to point out as well, assuming this vote passes.

Well, regardless, whenever it is whenever it is changed, everything will follow its natural life cycle. All right. And and I too, it was I thought it was pretty neat. We got a lot of feedback. Uh I saw a lot on Facebook. We got some emails, even had some drawings uh or some some attempts at logos, but I agree with Miss Miller and uh Mr. Templeton. I like the I like the logo, too. And the Greenwood County part stands out pretty good. So, I'll entertain a motion if council is wanting to move forward on this or what's your pleasure?

I'll make a motion to accept the drawing and that we adopt this as our new logo. We have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a second from Miss Templeton. Any further discussion on the logo or questions for Miss Banks? [clears throat] All in favor? All. Oh, well, not doesn't matter. That's unanimous. Thank you, Miss Bank. So, thank you. Good job. Move forward. That Yeah, that looks great. Yeah. Took a lot less time than it did last time.

Thank you for your support. Who knew a logo could take so long, right? [snorts] [clears throat] All right. Now, we'll move into old business and we'll have a series of public hearings. I'll open the public hearing and read the read and conduct the public hearing for each item. We'll then close the public hearing and ask for a vote for each item separately. Do I have a motion to enter into public hearing? So, move.

Second. Got a motion by Miss Templeton, a second by Miss Griffin. I don't think there's any discussion. All in favor? Opposed? So, we're in public hearing. First item is item A, ordinance 2025-33, dissolving the Puckets Ferry Special Tax District. Um, this is third reading. Miss Stephanie Dorne. Is there any further details to give on this at this time? This is third reading. Right.

I was going to say if I could just speak to all six of these. Uh, as we previously discussed, we mailed letters out to all of the residents. We've had a number of phone calls. Um, we've explained that all [snorts] this is is uh these districts are not active and so we're going we feel like it's best to dissolve them. Um, if they wanted to remain active, they would need to start charging taxes and collecting and and and actually operate. Uh, we have three of these, item B, C, and F that have amounts of money in them. Pinehurst, it's $40.33. Stony Point $2053. Uh, and Kimbrook has 2000 $2,486.72. Uh, we will have an item on your next agenda to appoint three commissioners so that they can spend those funds uh within the year's period to allocate those. Uh, other than that, nothing has changed from from any of your other readings and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. All right. So, we'll go down the line with these, but um any anybody have anything for Miss Do before we get started on that? All right. So, I'll ask while we're in public hearing, is there anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this request? [clears throat] Seeing no one tripping over the carpet to get here, is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Also, we'll move to the next item, ordinance 2025-34, dissolving the Pinehurst Special Tax District. Uh, we won't ask Miss Dorne to get back up. We know what the details

are. Um, is there anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request hearing and seeing none, we'll move on to item C, ordinance 2025-35, dissolving the Stony Point Special Tax District, third reading. Is there anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this request? Is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request? All right, moving right on to item D, ordinance 2025-36, dissolving the Summit Place special tax district. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor? Is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request? All right, moving on. Item E, ordinance 2025-37, dissolving the Curl Creek Special Tax District. Third reading. Is there anyone here that would like to speak in favor of this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Item F, ordinance 2025-38 resolving the Kimbrook Special Tax District. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of the request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Item G. Nope. [clears throat]

[snorts] Okay, hang on a second. Yeah, Jerry, did you want to you did you want to speak or were you just listening? But I am in favor. Okay, [laughter]

no worries. I I knew you did, but I just want to make sure that just want to make sure. [snorts] [clears throat] All right. Item G, ordinance 2025-39 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended so that one parcel of land totaling approximately 21.96 acres at 425 Cobb Road, Greenwood County, South Carolina, GPN 6846-340-932 changes from R1 single family residential to R3 three single family residential. Um, Miss Carol Coleman, you snuck up on me.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, this application came in originally with a request from R1 to R5. Um, the original request showed 128 town homes on the property. As you stated, it's about 21.96 acres, give or take. Um there's a lot of wetlands associated with not wetlands but there's a lot of drainage areas associated with it because it does taper down to Rocky Creek. Um so when it came to you before we had some opposition to it. The [clears throat] future land use on this and our comprehensive plan shows it as medium density residential. So staff did have support for it going through because original plan showed it as about five little little under six units per acre in gross density. um that's well within the medium density residential. It does abut C2 which is the county's general commercial and GC which is the city's general commercial. The county's general commercial allows town homes by right. So we felt like it abudded it in a lot of areas. So it was they were not asking for something that was not possible in the area at all. So you can see the state road there is Cobb Road. Um they did meet the developers here or representatives here. They did meet with DOT to discuss access points and you can see as I talked about the flood zones at the bottom of the property which shows Rocky Creek. Um utilities are all there and present so they can support the development. These are just views of the property itself. It was cut before it was purchased. Um has not been replanted. Everything you see is just volunteered back. But you can see um view towards Monagu Avenue on Cobb Road. A view across Cobb Road. one of the um people who is here in opposition to it is his property right across the road there and looking towards Cooberry Road or 254. Um so the current zoning is R1. Single family requires 15,000 square feet or about a third of an acre. The proposed

zoning is R3 which is the first place we see options for different types of single family. What we refer to as single family detached and single family attached. So again, originally the request was for town homes, 128 units. The revised request, they came back and asked for patio or an atrium home, but a patio home specifically. And uh there's the adjacent zoning and future land use. So it went down to 75 or 65 units. That's 49% reduction in density from the original request to what went back to planning commission and came back to you. So, they did listen to you and they did keep within the medium density residential. Um, again, there's more information on the future land use. Um, comprehensive plan shows it clearly. Everything that you see there that's not that orangey golden rod color. The red is all commercial. Uh, you can see some of the green that is natural properties. The purple that you see is all PDDs or master plan residentials. That's the original plan that came in. again, 128 town homes. The revised plan is about the same developable area, but it went from 20 128 town homes to 65 single family patio homes. They're detached. Each one has a lot. They are smaller lots. Um, if you have any specific questions, I'll be glad to address them. I tried to give you calculations so that you could see the fact that they do have a lot of a fair amount of open space. Um, see if I could show you up here. All of this, there's a property line right here. So, all of this around it going down to the property line here. You can see there's a natural buffer against the adjacent property here against Cobb Road and then against um the commercial properties up front on Monagu Avenue Extension. And again, here's Cobb Road. If you have

specific questions, I can address them. Mr. Chair, may I? Yes, ma'am. [clears throat] Uh, Miss Coleman, could you clarify for the audience um and remind me the involvement [clears throat] with SC DOT with this project if any and the emergency egress that we've talked about.

That's a good point. And they they did this out on site. So, originally they had this loop, not really a loop, but a a turnaround here with a culde-sac. Um, the engineer can explain this to you as well. This is the main access point here. what DOT would allow here is for an emergency access point to this culde-sac. So should this area be impassible, we can still get emergency vehicles in through here. I'm definitely a big fan more than most about having an secondary point of ingress and egress. So I was very glad to hear this when they came in, Mr. Vice Chair. Yes, sir. Mr. Oh, yeah.

Yes, sir. Uh, Carol, so I understand the procedure and how this has played out from the start, [snorts] the developer issued a request for town for town homes, which is this one here, 120 something units. What did how did the planning board approve that? They recommended approval. They recommended approval to us and then it came to us. We had concerns of the density and went sent it back to the developer.

Well, the developer asked if they could come back with a new request when they recognized the concerns both from people from the public that were expressing concerns and both and from you as well. So, the developer asked if they could go back and go to planning commission again with a different with a revised request. So they went from a request for R5 back to planning commission to R3. So they reduced the request and planning commission listen to that. But the planning commission originally approved the R or recommended approval for the recommended approval. Yes. I wish a minute I wish a minute

the manager [clears throat] was going to answer that question. Can I can I ask your question a different way? Yes sir. If you Carol, the first time the first documents that went to planning commission, did they get approved or not approved? Because I believe recommendation for approval. I thought they were recommended not approved. I thought they were too. And then Wait a minute. I'm sorry.

We're going We're going to need to clarify your question because I I believe and I I will verify, but I believe the first time it went to planet commission, it failed. the recommendation was failure and then it came to county council because just just because it fails the planning commission doesn't mean it doesn't come to you. It still comes to you but I think it came as a failure if I remember correctly. Am I remembering? Do can you I the one I've got in here says recommends approval. So that's the revise. I could be mistaken but I don't believe I am. Okay. All right.

All right. So uh but act when it went back ever how it got back whether it was through our recommendation or their recommendation uh it was approved and it's almost a 50% reduction from what the original thing exactly mathematically 49%. Yeah 120 something to 65. Thank you

Miss Coleman. something else. I don't [clears throat] know that we've talked about this before, but when you talk about future land use, can you kind of explain too for the audience how that comes into play and how basically every acre, every foot of Greenwood County is is set up under some type of Exactly. land use. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. So one of our guiding documents of course is zoning ordinance is important to us but the comprehensive plan is something that we refer to on a daily basis. So everything that comes in front of you that comes in front of planning commission we review it with regards to the comprehensive plan. In this case these are future land use maps. So these are dictating what at the time this was adopted what where we saw the future land use moving towards. So in this case again you can see this is the property um [clears throat] go back here this is actually from the zoning maps but you can see this is the property specifically and everything that's around it in this kind of golden orange color is all medium density residential. This is all commercial. This is what's fronting on Monagu Avenue. There's um a public use over here. We have if you go further outside of this on this map, you can see these are either uh public uses or PDDs. Um the the red still is typically commercial. [clears throat] All of the all you see here in the golden is medium density residential. As you move out, it goes to a lighter yellow which is low density residential. You can see over here is sorry about that is a golf course. Um, and then as you go towards town, we have the same future land use maps that cover the city and the county and the colors basically coincide. Now, with all of the development we've seen over the last couple of years, the city opted to look at the future land use recommendations because the majority of parts of the city were recommended for highdensity residential, which made it difficult to say this isn't a good idea. I mean, we specifically identified this for highdensity residential. they're asking for something in that range. So they went back to the drawing board and actually revised some of the maps to reflect the growth that had already occurred. Um we haven't done that. We will be undertaking rewriting the comprehensive plan this year and by next year we will have adopted new compre or

new future land use maps. How how long has this been in place roughly? Do you know? About 10 years almost 10 years. So any land that's for sale right now out there to the public is [snorts] all under the guidance of this right now. It is throughout the city and the county. Okay. And this required under state law. [snorts] All right. Thank you for that. Um Mr. Allison, you had a question. Oh,

m Mr. Vice Chairman, I got an answer to Mr. Alice's question. Uh ordinance number I'm going back to it. 2025-30 which is what this originally came to planning commission as the vote on October 16th of 2025 was one in favor and one two four 68 opposed it was 1 to eight opposed. So it came recommended us denied correct the first time. Okay. And then when it came back with the 60s something uh to the R3, it was recommended. Correct.

The second time. Okay. Thank you. One last question. If this pro and I I think I know the math. If I looked at the number, it's not in front of me now, but I think from R1 you have to have 15,000 square feet. In R3, you have to have 75. Um, no. It's actually it's less than that with the patio home. 75 for single family. It was 4,000, I think. 4,000. Okay. Thank you. [snorts] Now, they could they could get um 65 single family homes mathematically on the property at 15,000 square feet, but I'm not quite sure how it would work out with the development plan.

Right. And there is a possibility if I understand my understanding of it that under the R1 under the clustering clause you could put more there. I'm not saying more than 65, but you could get more there than what originally R1 would allow you to do. There is a clustering to where you take one area land and set it to the side and you can put them closer or less than the 1,500 square ft. Is that correct?

It is. We have the city and the county both allow clustering. So, if you go in with the plan that you propose and tell us at the time you bring it in that you would like to cluster the development, um we take a percentage, calculate how much of open space you're leaving, what amenities you're offering up, um what is offsetting the the intensity of the development and we can reduce the setbacks or reduce the lot size proportionately to that. And that is a staff decision that does not come before council. Is that correct? That's that's correct.

Thank you. Any further questions for Miss Coleman before we allow public comment? Okay. All right. Hearing that, I would ask if there's anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this request. [snorts] Please state your name and address for the record. And also be advised that anyone that is uh getting up to speak, you'll have three minutes and we do have a bail. All right. And we're going to be pretty strict about it.

All right. Chip. Uh my name is Chip Thunderberg. Live at 601 Lodge Drive, Greenwood. I'm the civil engineer on this project. Um like was discussed earlier this we presented a different plan to the commission. Uh higher density. We we heard the concern. We adjusted the plan, reduced the density to what we see now. What remained in place was the road structure. We talked to to DOT and that's the most ideal location for access to this road. And so we left that the same place. We had discussions about adding emergency exit um to the culdeac, you know, in in the time of need, but it would not be used other than that. Um the property itself is a prime, you know, it's prime property to develop. It's got the utilities available. has got four lane highways on each side. Um, schools are nearby. There's commercial districts nearby. It fits the land use plan. Um, it's a it's a short stretch between uh Monu and Highway 254. There's only one other residential development that accesses this road. There's a handful of other maybe just residential driveways, single families that access the road. So, any traffic that traffic is going to be a concern. It's going to come up. I know that it will be. However, there is there are four lane signalized intersections on each end of this road which is a very short section of road. And as we all know, traffic will work itself out. If this becomes too, you know, the cutthroughs may reduce it may go a different route. They may do that. But this um this development itself is not requiring any traffic study by the DOT. It doesn't meet that requirement. Um, like I said, we've consulted with them on this location that meets the site distance requirements. Um, and you know, considering the daily traffic on there, we've considered the amount of daily traffic through there, the speed limits and all that. So, we've taken quite a quite a lot of information into consideration when developing this plan.

There is a 45 foot undisturbed buffer along Rocky Creek, which we've respected. We've left as much as 40% of the site is um undeveloped which is not common today as as you all are aware. So we've done you know as best we could to um make this property developable you know make it worthwhile for the developer to develop it but always you know but also listening to the um to the concerns that are having and meeting the the future land use plan. I think that we've done a good job of of doing all that. Um, so with that with that being said, I believe that's about all I've got to say based on, you know, the units that we'll be building. There'll be um three beds, two bath, single or double car garage. Um, the minimum lot size 4,000. The typical lot size in this development will be 5,300. So, they're bigger than what we could reduce it to. There will be a buffer all the way around the property as you can see here. Um uh we've talked with CPW and Metro, you know, the utilities are here available, the DOT, like I said. Um and the um I will just stress the the signalized intersections on each end of Cobb Road, which is a very short section of road. We have four lane highways to move this traffic in and out. That truly is a concern.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Anyone else in the audience? wanting to speak in favor of this request. All right, seeing none, is there anyone here that would like to speak in opposition to the request? Okay, one at a time, ma'am. Sorry, she beat you to the punch. Yes, ma'am. I did. Yes, ma'am. He was pretty slow. You got your hand up first, though.

That's all right. We got These people have five more hours just like we do. We're good. Yes, ma'am. Oh my god. Well, that's Well, I was hoping they'd smile a little more, but they've been frowning at us all night. I can't figure out why. Well, after I speak, they'll smile. Is that what it is? I just want to remind you, say, state your name and address for the record, and you have three minutes. My name is Bonnie Ranchelli. Can you pull that mic? Yeah. Susan, will you help? Bonnie Granelli. Okay.

I live at 1709 Highway 246 North next to the Girl Scout camp out there out where they've put that nice new road that rides like glass because we have a nice new Stony Stony Point out there. But I am in opposition to I I just I'm not I'm not understanding the minds of people who are wanting to continue to build and build. Who's going to occupy these things? What are we how are we going to establish people coming in? Um businesses coming in. Do we have in mind some other businesses where people are going to be occupying these places or what actually I I can't comprehend. My mind spins when I think of what's going on in Greenwood County. I gave you all a letter one time. I think uh Miss Susan had given it to you and um I expressed the way I feel about all the building. Excuse me. I I'm horse. So anyway, uh about all the building, the infrastructure, the tax structure, the tax structure, and the taxes that will be a burden to the elderly, to the people who built Greenwood. And I definitely do not agree with putting up how many units were we putting up?

65. I don't see a need for another 65 units unless we're doing something under the table that I'm not realizing and that they're going to uh tag in out there is going to be closing down. Um what are we what are we doing? I guess that's my question and I'm thoroughly against all of the building. We need we need uh growth but we need growth at the proper perspective. Okay, that's all I'll say. Thank you. Next.

Please state your name and address for the record, please. Glenn Coen. I live at 119 Metobrook Drive currently, but I will still eventually be at 325 Cobb Road, which is right next door. [clears throat]

That road is um hilly and curvy. Uh people don't currently obey the traffic speed. Now adding 65 homes is going to add roughly anywhere between 500 and 600 car trips per day. Per day. You already have a development uh across from the high school that's not selling. So that that developer is actually doing rent to own right now. So you've got that going on. That's not completed. So you're going to have people cutting through Cobb Road for the high school kids. It's it's madness what what's happening in Greenwood right now. Now I come from Columbus, Ohio, so I'm you know the outsider, but Columbus had an explosion of growth and it took them two decades to try to catch up with the infrastructure. And right now you can already see the traffic that's happening on the bypass. Like I haven't been in an accident in 40 years and I got into an accident just last week. I mean you have to consider what's happening with the traffic. I mean not just on Cobb Road but all over Ryland Homes for goodness sakes is coming to Greenwood and they are one of the worst track builders in the country. and if they're moving here, you know, you've got to you've got to look at not just this development, you've got to look at what's happening across the county. So, if you don't stop this, where's it going to stop?

I mean, like, show of hands. Who Who's a favor of this project? Who's who's against this project? Raise your hand.

Everyone in this room is against this project. And I tried to get more people. I'm surprised I didn't get more. I put the plays display ads in the paper trying to get people to come to stop this. This is madness. I mean, they were going to build another development on Calhoun and they saw what's happening and they've grasped over the roads already. So, you can't you can't allow this. You just can't. It's too many cars. It's too much development. And if they're not selling across from the high school, you're going to have rent to own here, too. That's That's my plea. Please don't allow [clears throat] this.

Thank you for your time. Yes, sir. Next, [snorts]

please state.

Susie P. I live at 102 Ready Cove Place in Stony Point. I've been up here before. I don't have a horse in this race, but I do have a complaint. I don't think this should be allowed. I was in this room when you said 2,000 houses were approved, but then you turned around and gave 800 to old 8 because they promised you $400 million. They're going to destroy. They're destroying our neighborhood right now in Stony Point. That road is not capable. We our infrastructure sucks and they're not going to do anything about it. And they're all putting their new houses next door. Great. But they've already ruined my neighborhood. This is not available. You keep building houses, crappy, ugly houses. We've got to stop. They are the ugliest houses I've ever seen. They're ugly and they're cheap. I'll put I'll put one my house, George Pomus, resident of Greenwood. My brick home up against any of this crappy houses. My house is still going to be here, which has been here for 28 years already. These houses aren't going to last. We've got to stop. And just because we can doesn't mean we should build out those houses like you said before by the high school, build those out. All those little houses being built, build them out. Then you can decide if this needs to be there. But we don't need that. We don't. And we don't need another Mexican restaurant, another car wash, another uh what is it? Um ABC store. What is going on with our our council, our city? We all need to start paying attention what's going on. We don't need any more stuff going on that we need right now.

Please do not let this go through. Thank you. Anyone else would like to speak in opposition? I'm

Brent Roland. I live at 121 Mbrook Drive and I'll be about 75 yards from the back of that line there. They bought this property at R1. Let's keep it R1. I'm not against anybody developing their personal property. That's their right. But R1 should be sufficient for this. They can still build a nice product. they can still make money and we'll have a little bit less traffic on the road. It's already a racetrack there now. He purchased this land at R1 and now he's trying to maximize the value of course and I have no problem with that most of the time, but it's bordered my property now and I think it's in everybody's best interest if we continue with the R1 15,000 square foot lot size. You go with that, he'll still make a nice profit on it. He didn't pay much for this land. Got a good deal loted up front. Thank you.

Thank you. [snorts]

Anyone else want to speak in opposition to this request? [clears throat] Please state your name and address. My name is Terry Crustell. I live at 109 Pinerest Drive, which is very adjacent to this property. Uh I when I came up here tonight, I had no intention of speaking. I was just here to listen. But I I agree with everything that uh these other folks have said. I travel Cobb Road every day and um it seems like just so often I meet a car coming down through there on my side of the road and uh you you have to veer off. Uh it's just it just doesn't make sense to me with the development that we've already got in this area, especially as they have referenced earlier, the the area across from Greenwood High School and all the houses that are going to go in there. Why we need 65 more units in this property. I just feel like we would be better served like um Brent said going sticking with the R1 uh designation and um like I say there's there's money to be made uh with an R1. So uh I just am opposed to the 65 units in that area. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else like to come up? I'd like to say before I start that over the years I have listened to what uh Bonnie Granelli has said. She's kind of like EF button. Excuse me. I'm sorry. You all listen to her. Appreciate this time is for your

My name my name is Earl Brewington. I'm opposed to this. I think we should stay with R1 there. Uh what we've not pointed out here is that the majority of the road of the property on the north on the south end of Cobb Road is still R1. Uh most of the property on the north side of Cobb Road is still R1. This is very out of character for what those of us who own that property would like to see there. Uh as Mr. Roland said a minute ago, you got plenty of room to build 25 or 30 nice homes or one. Stay with where we are. Uh this is just not characteristic of what we need in Greenwood County anymore of u I'm not sure how we going to play this uh emergency exit going to come into play because it gonna be open or closed. You know, is it something you can use or something you can't use? you don't have as far as going in and out that single place there. Uh my main concern is is that this highdensity housing, if the developer should had wanted to develop high density housing, he should have spent his money on some R3 or R5 property rather than buying R1 property that was already zoned R1 in our neighborhood and then trying to get it changed and jam this down our throat. I asked you consider I wrote around Greenwood the other day. I don't know Carol you can tell me how many empty lots

Mr. Brewington I need you to focus on just how many how many empty lots do we have available to build on in Greenwood County right now. We want in 10 years we'll still have some of these lots vacant that we have right now. The quality of home and the quality of things we're getting in there is just not worth it. If that developer had wanted to [clears throat] build this kind of house, he should have bought some property somewhere where it was more compatible.

Would you want that in front of you in front of your house today? Would you like to go home tonight and face three or 400 more cars coming out every day and have all that in front of you? I ask that question to each one of you. Consider that because that's what the folks on Cobb Road are going to be facing. But also Calhoun Road, the property that backs up to me across from the high school. And if you go south on the bypass, how many lots are they down there? So I ask you to reject this, protect some of the property we have that's R1. If you feel like we need it there, let them go back and build R1 houses on 15,000 square ft rather than degrading what we got. And you all know my time's up.

Thank you.

Anyone else like to speak in opposition to the request? Hearing none, we'll move to item H, ordinance 2025-40 to amend the Greenwood County zoning map as and if amended so that a portion of one parcel of land totaling approximately 46.52 acres at 2611 Highway 25 South, Greenwood County, South Carolina, GPN 6854-665-545 changes is from C2 general commercial to R3 single family residential Carol Coleman planner. This is second reading. Uh could you give us additional details on this?

I will, Mr. Chairman. So this application is um kind of the opposite of what we just saw. So this piece of property is on the corner of 25 Bypass Southeast and 25 South. Um if you look across 25 Bypass, you have the food line. So that kind of gives you your location. Um the request is about 45 is actually a portion of it is 46.52 acres. They want to leave the front portion of it. Um this will stay commercial along the frontage and this is proposed for single family development back in the back. So um currently zone C2 that's our general commercial. We talked about it a moment ago. I think the developer originally was appro approached about putting apartments back there. His idea was that he wanted to do single family. So, he's actually asking for what is referred to as a downzoning to go from general commercial to single family. This is the parcel itself. You can see looking across the bypass, you can see the 7-Eleven to the left and on the right side is the Dollar Tree. And this is looking um from the access point on 25 bypass towards 7-Eleven towards the intersection. And then that's looking down 25 south. This is looking from Highland Forest Drive. They will not have access from Highland Forest Drive, but they do abut it. And you can see we did post a sign out there as well to make sure everybody would be notified. And we sent out letters as well. Um, this is from the frontage. You already have a commercial operator that's proposing to go here in the future. The zoning sign is in the foreground. Across the road, you can see commercial development. And again looking north towards Greenwood, city of Greenwood and looking south towards Edgefield. This is the proposed plan. Again, um he is showing on the frontage uh commercial gas station, restaurants, strip shopping center, and other restaurants. Here, two points of ingress and egress here. Um

these are single family lots with a loop. he has reserved an access point to come here because they're in talks to acquire the adjacent property which could result in additional development adjacent to it. So they're asking for R3 here. Um but for single family residential, this is the same thing we looked at with the last one. They were asking for patio homes. They're asking for single family here. Minimum lot size is 7500 square ft. minimum lot width is 60 feet which is uh pretty close to what we do with R1. It's about half the size of what R1 requires. So this is our future land use map. You can see along the frontage you have that same commercial that we looked at before. On most highways and corridors you see commercial. This is medium density residential here. This is low density residential as you move out of the city area. And then there's the bypass again and 25 running north. This is a second um future land use map. This is actually in the GIS system. This one is actually directly from our uh comprehensive plan that we have available on on the website. If you have specific questions, I'll be glad to address them. Um the applicant is present to answer questions.

Council, does anybody have any questions? Miss Coleman or the applicant? Mr. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Mr. What was the recommendation? Staff recommended approval. Planning Commission recommended approval. Do you know you want the vote, too? Yeah. Do you have the vote what that vote was? I think that vote was straight across. I don't think there was any opposition to it. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else have anything for Miss Coleman? I have one question, Miss Coleman. um this property and and the previous one. What's the process? Is this land already been clearcut by somebody? Is it it's it looked pretty barren to

what we're seeing and I'm actually working with ordinance language right now to try to look at this in the future. Um we're looking at what other areas are doing. Typically what happens when land goes up for sale before it's sold, it's clearcut. So part of the contract for sale often includes the price for the timber that is sold. Um, the property around this is owned by Greenwood Development. They had recently timbered a lot of their property as well, but this had been cut, I think, before the plan came in. The property on Cobb Road had already been cleared before the applicant purchased it.

Okay. [snorts] All right. [clears throat and cough] Is there anyone present that would like to speak in favor of this request? Nope. Speak in favor or any questions you might have. If you decide to speak in favor, you got three minutes. [laughter] [snorts] If council has any questions, they'll ask. Yeah. Thank you.

Uh Heath Davis Riley Land Group from Greenwood from the South End. Family has been here since the 1800s and and uh probably one of the largest land owners on the south end right now. um even to the rock house that everybody knows about. Um in the south end um as you know we have not had anything down that way. We have one restaurant Cindy's great restaurant go eat breakfast at but besides that uh we're minus infrastructure on down the road. Luckily this place does have infrastructure. We have three restaurants that um go in on the front end of the commercial. what a nice gas station like the new Spinx on the other end of town. Uh but the main thing it'll give uh in the commercial end it will give opportunities for people down my area to come eat, shop um but also we have um if you look on the back side, she was right. Uh I could have made millions of dollars about uh uh six months a no about a year ago. Uh, we had a group come down Alabama want to put HUD apartments back there. They could have put about 600 with the zoning we have now. And I didn't want to do that to my end of town. Uh, so I went with a U. But I also looked at builders too. Had builders come to me and we turned them down on certain houses uh because I wasn't happy with those type houses. Uh we found a great uh builder uh that uh u made me feel good about the growth on the south end. Um and uh I'm excited about it. The roadways we've been approved by DOT. Um that four lane right there, just like the bypass, could do 40 to 50,000 cars a day. Like the bypass, it only does 7,000 something cars a day. uh the other the two-way two

lane that goes down past the highway patrol office on up. Uh it it doesn't do but 10% of what it actually could do in cars. Um we're that land does have water and sewer on it. Uh Senator Garrett is working to help us on the south end now with more grants to get us more infrastructure. It's always been an excuse in the past that South End didn't bring enough taxation in uh to help with infrastructure and now we've got that opportunity to do so. So, this is uh very important I think for our community might supply more people down there, more churches, more grocery stores. Uh it'll give us a chance to live like our neighbors on the north and west and east end. Okay.

Thank you very much. Thank you. While he's standing, does any member of council have any questions for Mr. Davis, I do not sh have got three questions and I should have asked it for the prior developer as well. What is the facade if I may of these units? Are these going to be a brick or they going to be they're brick? We had a pictures that we showed the uh the u planning committee. So, it's not what some of our audience might be envisioning as some of the other

Yeah, the these uh they're nice homes or brick homes. Branda has a I went and looked at a lot of their developments uh and I was very pleased with them, but very nice homes. Uh not the wavy vinyl that we're seeing. I won't mention no names or anything,

but homes that I know that, you know, let's face it, okay, a lot of us is from Greenwood. I don't want people riding up town and go, Heath Davis, look what the crap he did here. I want people to go, hey, he brought some restaurants in here. Hey, he brought some good neighborhoods. I'm retired law enforcement. I don't want to produce a home that could cause crime. I want to produce nice homes, good families that uh we can we can live just like our neighbors in certain areas. And this is how we do it. Okay. So, your target market and your price point, if you can give us a range.

Uh I think uh they they're two bedrooms, three bedrooms. Uh and I don't want to um lie to you. I think they're from the 200s uh on up to the high 300s, but until the builder, you know, gets here, he could do more threebedrooms and anything. But they're not uh how would you say uh cheap um template home or cookie cutter homes, I guess you'd say. Uh they're more for neighborhood. They're going to have common areas. It's old it's old chimneys down there. I don't know if anybody's ever noticed them, but we're actually saving those make a common area and I'm giving up that area for that to people so families can hang around with each other and do stuff.

Um,

final question. I know you've done your research and your homework or you wouldn't be investing in this. So, what would you be expecting your time to build out this neighborhood before you sold all these houses? What's your time frame? Is it three years, 10 years? So once y'all approve it, DHCK approves it and we start uh with the uh uh blade to the ground. I call it moving dirt. Um the infrastructure because we even though we have sewer and water there, it's probably going to take us a year to do all the infrastructure there. Uh once we get the infrastructure down, we'll uh do a paving uh on the roads there. Um um we won't do the finish paving to actually start getting the lots, but I think we have closing of 18 months total of all lots. So, they're going to be building and they're not as fast. Um put put this way. I've seen some homes go up in three weeks. Uh this group doesn't um nor would they want to put a home up for three weeks. So, uh, but on a developer end, um, I'm going to have $10 million probably in this, u on [snorts] a lot of different aspects of this. Um, it's it's a big, you know, it's a big project. Um, so, you know, but grateful to bring it to the south end.

All right. Any further questions for Mr. Davis? Is there anyone else that would like to fe uh speak in favor of this request? Seeing none, I'll ask if there's anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this request. Yes, ma'am. [snorts] Okay. [clears throat] Where is that? Your your request was to speak. I'm sorry if you Yes, ma'am. I understand. [clears throat] That's okay. Hold it up.

Hang on. They can put the map back up there.

Okay. Again, I'm Bonnie Grant Sully, 1709 Highway 246 North, Greenwood, next to the Girl Scout camp. We have a compound out there. And again, I'm going to reiterate, I'm not sure where 2611 246 South is. And again, we're talking about building a complex with many multiple things in it along with houses. And he's [snorts] talking about building decent houses. I know that uh I'm not sure where Dr. Horton built in this town, but he didn't build anything good because he built many houses in Charleston that I know of. And so I'm I'll I'll name names. he can like it or not. But the fact remains is that once again we're we're talking about building massive amounts of houses, restaurants, gas stations, etc. What where is this growth coming from is my question. what is happening to Greenwood County that we need all this structure that we need all these homes that we need more gas stations or even I he's talking about the south end of town now maybe those people don't have anything and then I would be in agreement with it uh keep it at a low roar is what I would say keep it at a low roar for the uh empathy and the kindness to the people that built the town don't worry about those people that are coming in here with money, bags of money. I saw that happen to where I came from [snorts] in upstate New York, a town the size of 96 has turned into a massive nutouse and that's what they're going to do to Greenwood. We'll be a second Greenville and I don't like to go there anymore. Thank you very much.

Thank you. I'm gonna send you something. Would anyone else here like to speak in opposition to this request? to look at for later. Seeing none, I'll ask for a motion to close the public hearing. So move. Motion by Mr. Templeton. Second.

Second by Miss Griffin. Any further discussion? All in favor to close the public hearing? That's unanimous. All right. So, we'll be voting on these council one at a time. I'll name them by ordinance. [laughter] Council, what's your pleasure? Ordinance 2025-33 regarding the Puckets Ferry um special tax district as presented. Second. Motion by Miss Miller, second by Mr. Templeton. Any further discussion? All in favor?

All opposed? Council wish you pleasure for ordinance 2025-34 regarding Pinehurst uh as special tax district as presented. Motion to approve. Motion by Miss Griffin. Second. Second by Mr. Templeton. Any further discussion? All in favor? That carries unanimous. Council, what's your pleasure on ordinance 2025-35 regarding Stony Point uh special tax district as presented? I'm offer motion to approve.

Motion by [clears throat] Mr. Templeton, second by Miss Griffin. Any further discussion? All in favor? What is your pleasure for ordinance 2025-36 regarding Summit Place special tax district as presented? So move. Motion by Mr. Allison. Second. Second by Miss Griffin. Any further discussion? All in favor? That's unanimous. What's your pleasure on ordinance 2025-37 regarding Curl Creek as presented? Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Miss Griffin, second by Miss Miller. Any further discussion? All in favor? Council, what's your pleasure regarding Kimbrook as presented, Ordinance 2025-38. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Templeton, second by Mr. Allison. Any further discussion? All in favor? All right. Council, what's your pleasure for ordinance 2025-39 regarding zoning at 425 Cobb Road as presented?

Offer a motion to approve. Have a offer a motion by Mr. Allison. Do I have a second? No hearing none. Offer you a motion to deny, Mr. Chairman. No. So now we have a [clears throat] alternate motion to We didn't get a second, so we had to get another motion.

Correct. I think you need to just declare the first one U void. due to lack of a second, then you can take your motion. Yeah. Yeah. The the first one died due to a lack of second. We have a motion from Mr. Templeton to deny. Is there a second? Second. Second by Miss Griffin. Any further discussion? All in favor for the motion to deny. All oppose. [snorts] That carries three to two to deny.

Is there an issue, Mr. Chairman? Hang, Mr. Chairman. Sir, I do I do have concerns that we have only five members of council represented. I do want to make that point. We have two members not here to vote. [clears throat] All right, moving forward. Council, what's your pleasure on ordinance 2025-40 regarding zoning at 2611 Highway 25 South as presented? I'll give you a motion. Go ahead. Motion from Mr. Templeton. I second that motion to approve. Yes, to approve. It was to approve, right? Yes. [laughter]

Second by Mr. Allison to approve. Any further discussion?

Mr. Chairman, let me say that this particular piece of property sits in my district, which is the south end of Greenwood, and the gentleman uh who spoke in favor of it is correct. Uh we struggle on the south end of Greenwood. We need some growth on that end of town. We're very limited as where we can grow because there's no infrastructure on that end of town. This is one area we can grow. So I am in favor of this. I think it is the right place to grow and uh I think it's uh needed in our area. So uh I am in favor of allowing this to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Any further discussion? I'd like to make [clears throat] one comment. Yes, ma'am. Uh Gran Granchelli Granchelli.

Um you know, and I don't disagree with you about controlled and plans. So, I want to remind the audience here tonight that we are creating a strategic plan for the county that's going to address economic development. It's going to address infrastructure, it's going to address housing. So, I think that will help answer a lot of questions that, you know, you as a citizen and and we even have sometimes and where are we going in the county? Do we have a need for the homes that we're building and the locations we're building them at these price points? So just keep that in mind that it that is something that we will be launching this year and hopefully finishing up by June or July of this 2026 and hopefully we'll be presenting that data back to you all in some format.

Thank you. Sorry.

I'm sorry. The public hearing is over. I appreciate your input though. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. I was going to mention too

uh kind of to tailgate on what Miss Miller just said. I I totally agree that we we've got to control the growth and we are we have a strategic plan and uh we're watching it and and I see all these neighborhoods and I I question the same thing you do. [snorts] You know, where are the people going to come from? But let me tell you what we have happening in our county now. And what will happen if we don't take some steps for growth is people what they will do is they will develop outside our county and pay taxes in a neighboring county right across the line and then uh come into our county to work and pay taxes somewhere else. Once that property is built, I don't care who builds it, who owns it, whether it's rental or it's uh owned by somebody, somebody's going to pay taxes on that house forever. So, that is a tax base. And you know, I agree growth, but but [snorts] growth is coming. Whether you like it or you don't like it, they are I'm also a real estate agent. People are leaving the north. They're coming here. They're coming this way. And either they're going to the neighboring small counties are going to develop around us and they're going to live on across the county line, pay taxes over there, and then drive in and be on our bypass. It's happened. It's happened in other places. All those people in Greenville County don't live in Greenville County. If you think they live in Greenville County, they don't live in Greenville County. They live on the outskirts of Great County. So,

thank you. We got a motion on the floor, Mr. Yeah, we do. We have a motion and a second. We've had mounds of discussion on the subject. Uh, all in favor? All opposed. All right. And that motion carries. That's the end of the voting for the public session stuff. We will move on to new business. Consideration of appointment to the library board of trustees. Um, Susan McIntyre. [clears throat]

Yeah. I'm going give her I'm going allow a small recess. Tell her to go the other way. No. She don't like me. She [laughter] going to get you. I don't think she likes. If you guys don't mind, if you could exit quietly so we can finish up the meeting. Appreciate it. Thank you. I assume that's why do you mind? Could y'all exit while we complete the meeting? I'd appreciate it. Good job, Dan. [snorts] Yeah, she ain't like me. [laughter]

Thank you. All right, so we're moving forward with new business. Consideration of appointment to the library board of trustees, Miss Susan McIntyre. [snorts] Miss Brewington, do you mind please? Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. [snorts]

the uh chairperson for the library board, Kathy Chalmer's um notified me that her position was expiring uh January. Also um had expired um an at large position um in November. So, uh, she's asking for both. Both are willing, both Linda for the atlarge position and, uh, Kathy Chomers for district 5 are both willing to serve, um, another term, uh, for the library board.

And thank you on that. And just because we've had a lot of discussion about our appointees as council members, I reached out to Miss Chmer and had a great conversation. you know, it's it's hard for people to get people that want to serve and she she enjoys serving on the library board. She's done a great job. Kathy serves as our chairman right now. And in addition, she told me herself [clears throat] as well that Miss wanted to continue to serve. So, um there's not any discussion on this. I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve.

Second. Motion by Miss Miller, second by Miss Templeton. Any further discussion on these appointments? Hearing none. Uh, all in favor? All opposed. And that's unanimous. Thank you, Miss McIntyre. Consideration of the selection of Rath Telus as the vendor for the 2025 Greenwood Countywide [clears throat] strategic plan. Mr. Toby Chapel, county manager.

Okay. Uh, thank you, M. Vice Chairman. Uh, one of the items that's already been referenced tonight and one of the items that council wanted to see advanced this year was a strategic plan for the county. So, we released an RFP for a consultant to guide us through the creation of this plan. We received 12 proposals from different firms across the country and the selection committee interviewed six of those firms. Um, let's [clears throat] see. At the end of the day, the selection committee recommended I think it's Rafillis. We're gonna go with that as pronunciation for now. Yeah, I don't feel so bad.

We'll just we'll just go with it. Uh they had a strong community engagement uh aspect, their experience with the Lawrence County Water Sim Commission, and the fact that they're uh going to work out of the Charlotte office, I think, were some of the key factors that this election committee uh honed in on. Uh they've done a lot of work in North and South Carolina including Clayton, North Carolina, Winston Salem, North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Lawrence County Water and Sewer Commission. [snorts] Jeff Fields, who I think we all know and and respect, spoke very highly of the work that he did and was a a huge proponent of of their work. So the selection committee recommends Rap Tillis to do your strategic plan.

Council, any discussion or questions for Mr. Chapel on this? Offer you a motion to approve. Offer motion by Mr. Allison, second by Miss Griffin. Any further discussion? All in favor? All opposed. And that's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Manager, on that one. [snorts] Resolution 2026-01 [clears throat] regarding the approval of proposal from Klein Schmidt. I know I said that one right. And associates

for additional compliance support at the Buzzards Roost hydroelect electric plant. Mr. Rhett God, they just appear. I'm looking down. [clears throat] Um Mr. Rhett Templeton, county engineer, would you give us some explanation, please?

Absolutely. So, um I believe the resolution was put at your seat. We did not get it in time for the packet, but essentially each year and at different times we get compliance support from client associates as we handle different requirements at the buzzer juice hydroelectric facility. There was four items or I guess three items and then some additional support that we asked them to give us a proposal for. That proposal I believe was provided. Um these are the three items that are the compliance issues. One is an annual the DSSMR [snorts] we do annually. The ODSP, which is the owner's dam safety program audit, is something we have to do every five years. And a functional exercise was a third one, which you have to do every five years. We've asked them to assist us with these compliance matters, and that's where that proposal came from um and so we're asking to move the funds into the budget um through that resolution. Also, that resolution has a second item um to it. I guess back in I'm going to get the month wrong. Um but when we came forward about Lockheart the Lockheart power um reimbursement we got approval I think it was back in March. Um we did not do a resolution at that time. So we were we have attached that line item as well. Like said we've already gotten that approval from y'all for the payment but we want to do a resolution to make sure that we address the accounting on that as well. So that's why you see two two items in that resolution.

Thank you. Any uh questions for Mr. Templeton? I'll make a comment. I will say that um I was involved with Klein Schmidt when they were involved with the Connesty Dam and they do an excellent job. Um [clears throat] also former county engineer uh Rossy Corwin is associated with them and [snorts] um does an excellent job. So that's my two cents. I'll be your motion to approve, Mr. Motion by Mr. Templeton. Second. Second by Miss Miller. Any further discussion? All in favor?

All oppose? That's unanimous. All right. Resolution 2026-02 to provide funding for FAA FAA grant matches for storm water pollution prevention plan and design of a secondary runway improvement. Mr. R. Templeton again.

All right. Since since we put together the agenda, we determined that a resolution was not necessary for how we fund these um these projects. But uh back in November, I came before you all and we discussed, I guess, our five-year capital improvement plan. Both of these projects are part of that. We have uh opportunities to receive grant funding from the state. So, we are wanting to continue to move forward with those projects um that we recommended before, but I'm bringing these to your attention as we are hoping to submit on those this week.

Yeah. And I I was going to correct that what it what we are approving is a fund match. Um any questions for Mr. Templeton? So, what you're being asked council to consider the approval of a fund match. um from the airport improvement fund for storm water pollution prevention plan and design of a secondary runway improvement. Hearing that I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve.

Motion by Miss Miller, second by Mr. Templeton. Any further discussion? All in favor? That motion carries unanimous. Thank you [snorts] all. Thank you, Mr. Templeton. E resolution 2026-03 identifying project to satisfy the requirements of title 12 chapter 44 South Carolina code so as to allow investment expenditures incurred by a company known to the county as project Apollo its affiliates and related entities to qualify as expenditures eligible for a fee in lie of advalorum taxes arrangement with Greenwood County, South Carolina to provide for other related economic development incentives including special source revenue credits and other matters related there too. Mr. James Baitman.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. Good evening, members of council. The resolution that is before you is to induce a $100 million solar project known to the county as Project Apollo. All right. A way to keep it simple. Mr. Baitman. Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion by Mr. Allison, second by Mr. Templeton. Any further discussion? All in favor? All right. Mr. Baitman, please continue standing. Resolution 2026-04 inducing a fee in lie of tax agreement between Greenwood County and Project MSOG. [clears throat] Mr. James Baitman.

Thank you again, Vice [snorts] Chairman, members of council. This resolution is to induce a $500 million solar project known to the county as project msogi. Hearing that, do I have a motion? Motion to approve. Motion by Miss Griffin. Second. Second by Mr. Templeton. Any further discussion? Yes, Mr. Chair. May I ask a question? Yes.

Mr. Baitman, what is the difference in what we're doing at just for procedural purposes for me maybe not being very clear in F and G? That will be a first reading. G is is isn't that the same? It's the same project. So, will you explain to me what we're actually doing tonight with the resolution versus what we will do with the three readings uh of ordinance 2026-1?

Sure, I will. The the resolution is essentially an authorization for the county to negotiate incentives. So it's uh the statutory vehicle for the the county to extend the incentives that will be fleshed out in full in a fee and lee of tax agreement. And so the next item on your agenda is the first reading entitle only of that fee in lie of tax agreement which will not proceed until the details of that agreement are uh are fully fleshed out and agreed to. Okay. So this just stays within the parameters of what we normally would do and then it comes before us and we actually have the actual numbers.

Yes, that is right. U is customary for economic development projects to first be induced uh before proceeding with the the fee in le of tax readings the three readings and public hearing is as you mentioned. Sometimes that inducement resolution comes before council at the same meeting as the first reading of the fee agreement. Other times uh it is the inducement. It always is preceded by the inducement. Sometimes that happens first and then the fee in lie of tax readings begin at a later date. Uh for this particular project, you are being asked to induce the project authorizing the uh the negotiation of that fee in L of tax and to take first reading of that fee and loo and tax.

Thank you. That may have been my confusion. I don't normally see those two back to back like that, but I agree. Does that um council does anyone else have a question as far as I'm getting back if All right. Do I We do. Yes, we do. And thank you for clearing that up. Is there any further discussion on resol on F item F? About to freeze. Yeah. Uh all in favor? All [snorts]

That carries unanimous. Okay, hang around, Mr. Baby just in case. Item G, ordinance 2026-01, authorizing the execution and delivery of a fee in lie of advalorum taxes and special source revenue credit agreement by and between Greenwood County, South Carolina and Project Muscogee to provide for payment of a fee in l of taxes with respect to a project authorizing special source revenue credits and other related matters. And also um what I wanted to mention was we also talked about there might be a little time gap between readings. Correct. Yes, we do anticipate uh a pause between first reading and second reading where this uh fe of tax for project msogi would not be on your subsequent meeting agenda as sometimes is the case for economic development projects where we have them in consecutive meetings. That will not be the case for this one. you are just reading this title into the record. Uh and then staff will negotiate with project mscia and bring that back to council when they are ready to proceed with a second reading. So again, no action for us to take on G. Uh surprise Mr. Baitman by getting him to come back up just to explain that. But thank you Mr. Baitman. So there's no further action. We'll move on to pending items of which I'm showing there are none. Uh, district reports. We'll start with you, Miss Charles. District one.

MISS CAME BACK. WHOA. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. I need to show out today. Got me. Miss Child. One of my [laughter] one of my favorite people in the whole world. Miss

just say uh just happy new year to each and every one of you. Uh I know today has been a long day, but uh we want to thank you all for staying. We thank you all for um having the trust in us that we going to do right by Greenwood. So we're just asking you all just to be a little bit nicer to us sometimes, you know, it be nice. um pray for us all the time, but um just continue to do good to each and everyone that you come across because we do not know what that next individual is going through. Um and so life is life and for a lot of people, but um just to say that we love Greenwood. We're going to continue to do what's best for Greenwood. Um and other than that, I think all is well in um district one, especially since Miss Eater done showed up tonight. [laughter] So, so thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. That ends my um my report.

Thank you, Mr. Ch, Miss Griffin. Thank you. [laughter] District two, Mr. Allison.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. Uh when [laughter] I when I left my district tonight, my home, everything was well. Uh that's my motion I made tonight. It may change before I get home, but uh due to the motion I made, but uh I respect the opinions of people. That's why we have seven members of council. It come down to a vote and the majority decides and that's the way it's supposed to work. And um a lot of good conversations tonight and I think we got a lot done tonight. So, uh, I'm leaving on a positive note tonight. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That ends my report.

Thank you, Mr. [snorts] Alison. Uh, Miss Bishop is not here tonight. I'll just say briefly. She might not like it, but she's having a little, uh, procedure tomorrow. Say a little prayer for Miss Bishop, uh, District 4. Miss Miller.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to say that I have completed my first year on council and I want to thank everybody for their patience as I've asked a lot of questions [snorts] and their support, not just council but staff, county manager and the staff and Miss McIntyre as well for her support and a lot of things that [snorts] I've discussed with her as well. So, thank you all. Uh it's been a learning experience for me and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you. Maybe [laughter] You coming to me now? Okay. Absolutely. Are you done? I finished. Thank you, [clears throat] Mr. Templeton. District 6.

Thank you, Mr. Puit. Um I'm not going to do my normal fanf fair. I'll save that. But it is time for food fight 2026. It is um the dates are just going to run from Monday, January 12th to Thursday, February the 19th. Our weighin will be at the farmers market on the 19th. Um, last year, as you may recall, the county threw a lot of uh uh great ideas by by Abby and a lot of support through the sheriff's department and all of our departments throughout the county. Uh we raised we we uh weighed in 21,601 pounds, which is huge. Um we had a total of 24,319. Um Brandon uh says he's going to he's coming after us strong this year. So that'll be great because we really like to push that number up significantly. Um [snorts] so we'll be uh like I said our fire departments helped out tremendously. Sheriff's Department, all of our departments got involved because we came up with, as y'all may recall, you approved some incentives to our county employees last year that if they would, you know, uh, bring in so many pounds of food that they could wear jeans on Thursday or Friday. And I would love for y'all to give a wink and a nod to that again because they seem to like it. And um, [clears throat] so there'll be more to come on Food Fight 2026. Um, I'm sure Brandon and I will do some videos. I know that Abby will do a great job of promoting it. I need for y'all to promote it as well. Um, Kathy, I know last year you wanted us to do uh a competition between just county council and city council, which we did and I and we won. I plan to win that again. So, I [snorts] would ask y'all to participate in that. Um, lastly, um, I just want to thank

I just want to thank all my council members for continuing to check on me [clears throat] and continue prayers for me and my family during this time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Templeton. You know, we did have uh we did not do district reports last time, so I had several things on the list, but I see we still have a member from the sheriff's department back there. Could you just stand up and briefly tell us about how the polar plunge went and how much money was raised? I did not do it.

$20,652. And absolutely. Great job. I remembered that I was challenged, too, and I'll remember that next year. And um I did see where Eddie Smith did go in the water. There's proof of that. So, it's a video.

Well, thank you guys for what you do and it goes to a wonderful cause. Um, in the month of December, uh, I attended a, uh, Greenwood County Forestry Association annual dinner that was very enlightening. I always enjoy listening to them update from the state. Um, attended the Chambers Legislative Breakfast, which was informative. We had a a good group meet on that. And um last night I attended the uh swearing in ceremony of two brand new members to 96 town council and one returning member. Um I had planned to do it then and I'm going to do it now. I always end on a Bible verse. Luke 2:10 11 says, "And an angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Maybe just a few weeks late, but it was on my list.

Um, yes. I would just like to say um Mr. Vice Chair, I wanted to say a thank you to um Reverend Brown for prayer. Uh he had to leave, but I do want to thank him for that. Yeah, I was going to say if he's still here, I was going to thank him for that. Um anything, Madame Clerk? Mr. Manager, Madame Attorney. All right. This meeting is adjourned.