Hendersonville Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We're going to call this meeting to order, please.

Sorry about that. Get my words right.

Okay, first off is the opening prayer. And since I didn't ask anybody ahead of time, I'm not going to put them on the spot. I'll do it. Thank you so very much, Lord. Please bless us and watch over us. Thank you for all that you've done for us, dear Lord. Watch over us tonight. Make sure we make good decisions for the city. Make sure we think about all of the... the things before us and we do the right things for the people that live here. Lord bless us, watch over us, take care of us, and protect us. Lord, watch over our soldiers as they're off watching over Iran and the Gulf. Protect all of them, Lord. All of this we pray in Jesus' sweet and holy name. Amen.

Amen.

Next is roll call.

Altizer?

Here.

Evans?

Here.

Hardwick?

Here.

Hastie? Here. Kerr?

Here.

Silkwood? Slattery?

Here.

Wessel?

Here.

That makes eight present, one absent.

Next is public comments, agenda items only. I have the list and nobody signed up. Was there anybody out there that intended to and forgot? We'll move ahead. Thank you. Next is the acceptance of the agenda. So everybody, I think you've had time to look at them. Does anybody want to remove anything from the agenda? All right. Move to accept.

Can I have a second?

All right. We can do this one by voice. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Next is the minutes. I'm sure everybody's had time to look at the minutes. Do I have a motion? We got a motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

And we have a second. We can do this one by voice also. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. All right. Next is the consent agenda. So do I need to read all these real quickly? Hit the headlines. Okay. We'll go through them quickly. But the first one is Forest Park Phase 8 Preliminary Plat. Owner is Gen TN2 LLC, Beezer Homes LLC. Location is 1685 Saundersville Road, parcel 137038.00. Lead planning staff, Zachary, but this one's been agreed upon, so we'll skip over that. Next is Forest Park Phase 9, preliminary plat. Owner, Gen TN2, LLC, Beezer Homes, LLC. Location, 1685 Saundersville Road, parcel 137038.00. Again, Zachary Coleman, but no comments on that one because it's all accepted. Let's see. Finally, well, another one. Santa Faze 9, preliminary plat, owner, Creekside Homes, LLC, location parcel 146, 87.00, and 87.03. All agreed there. And we got one more, which is a site plan, just to bring to your attention. Centerpoint Church parking lot site plan. Owner is Centerpoint General Baptist Church. Location, 1000 Centerpoint Road, parcel 160-007.00. That's a lot of Centerpoints. But nevertheless, that one, again, has been completely agreed upon. So, with that being said, anybody got questions, comments, or need any more information? If not, I'll entertain a motion. With all staff comments, please.

So moved.

Okay, I have a motion with all staff comments, and we have a second. We'll do this one electronically.

Motion to approve. Pass with eight yeses.

Thank you. Okay. Now we have number seven item. It has a waiver request. So this one we'll have a little more conversation about. It's called Saundersville Station Solar Light Site Plan. Owner is SS Land Investment, LLC. Location is parcel 137046.00. and 046.02. Lead planning staff is Zachary Coleman. You want to tell us about it? Yes, sir. Thank you.

So the applicant has submitted a site plan seeking approval for proposed solar streetlights to be installed in a recently completed section of Saundersville Station, which is zoned SR1PD. The final two homes of Saundersville Station Phase 8, Sections 1 and 2, have just been completed. Recently, the contractor discovered that the conduit for the approved streetlights was not installed by the original contractor. Southeastern is proposing the installation of seven solar streetlights as the most efficient and effective solution. This approach would minimize the potential impact and disruption associated with bringing heavy equipment back onto the site. Per the applicant, the battery for each light has approximately a seven-hour charge time, but is sized to run for 30 hours without solar regeneration. The battery lasts a minimum of 1,500 plus charge cycles, so it will need to be replaced every four to five years. The solar panel and LED light are rated to last 20 years. The poles last as long as a typical streetlight pole. The solar panel may need to be cleaned occasionally if excess dirt and debris is present. The HOA will be responsible for the maintenance and replacement of these streetlights. A photometric plan was requested to compare what these streetlights might look like as compared to the previously approved lighting, but was unable to be provided. We saw some questions as to whether the proposed lighting would provide adequate lighting year-round due to the effect of seasonal changes in sunlight and extended weather events. The applicant provided a letter which was enclosed in the packet to further clarify the issues that are currently being faced.

Okay, we have a question. Go ahead, Commissioner Kerr.

Yeah, just how bright are these lights when they're fully charged, do we know?

So what was provided, there was a cut slip that was provided that showed that they should be adequate when compared to traditional lighting. I don't know exactly what the brightness is, though. I don't know if the applicants could speak to that.

Would the applicant like to step up? Just state your name, your address, please. 2,000 lumens. Hey, can you stick it up a little bit? There you go. There you go. Is that better?

We hear you better. Thank you. The proposed lights are 2,000 lumens.

Can I ask on that? Now, if it's 2,000, what is that compared to a normal street light? Is that brighter or dimmer?

It'll be equivalent. These are comparable to the standard 150 watt LED lights that are like usually underground and are installed in other areas of Hendersonville.

Are they equivalent to the current street lamps that are there? Yes, sir.

Okay.

And that was my question. If they're too bright, you know, that could create a problem with some of the neighbors.

Yeah, they're 2,000 max. There's different modes at what you can set them to. One example is they can be set to 700, 200, 600, 400. There's multiple modes and options, and they can be customized and set to motion sensor if needed.

Okay, and the HOA could make that decision on how bright they go. Okay, thank you.

Go ahead, Commissioner Slattery. Thank you. So just a couple more questions. One big question on this. So I'm not a lighting expert by any stretch, but is the degradation of the light output going to be remarkably different than that of the traditional electric lights that are there? I know specifically in some of the information that was shared, it talked about the loss of capacity in the battery and the loss of lumen strength in the lights. I'm just wondering if this is going to be an excessive burden on the HOA and you do wind up, to Commissioner Kerr's question, you wind up rather quickly having one section of the development that grows dim much sooner than the others.

Yeah. Typically, the solar panels lose between 0.5 to 0.8 percent of their efficiency yearly, and that's why it's recommended to replace around the 20-year mark, because around then you'll be at 10 to 15 percent loss of light output. Okay.

And there was a question that I saw raised in this about there not being a real clear understanding yet about seasonal changes in sunlight and extended you know this biblical rain period we've just been through where we literally had two weeks of cloudy days. Is there a concern with that? I know the battery holds

30 days of of charge but is there a concern so even on cloudy days it'll still charge just slower um and it can run for 30 hours without any solar um without it being recharged by any sunlight they um The different modes, this would be up to the HOA, but they allow for them to be set on timers. So, you know, during dusk till midnight, if they wanted a higher output, and then from midnight to 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., they could set them to where they put a lower output. And then if, like I said, they're motion censored, so if anyone was out at night, they would trigger to come back on brighter. Okay.

But that could help limit the loss during cloudy periods. On the upside, hopefully not again we have massive power outages due to ice storms. It could be the favorite part of the neighborhood because they will have streetlights. Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Hastie.

This is Section 8. The other sections of Saundersville Station, They have regular street lighting. Are they maintained by Cumberland Electric or are they maintained by the homeowners associations?

It's all maintained by the HOA.

All of it?

Yes, sir.

Okay. These are not private streets, are they?

No. No, sir. Cumberland Electric puts it off on the HOAs because they do not want to maintain street lights.

That's true in all of the area out there at the end. Yes, sir. Okay. Have you considered directional boring?

We have not. The main goal with the solar lights was to limit the disruptants to the homeowners. Boring would be a better option than excavating, but it would still be more of a disturbance than the solar light option.

I think directional boring and getting it to be consistent with everything else in the area would be the route to go in my opinion I have a couple of questions too I'm sitting here looking at the picture of the two different poles and they are different I see that the bottoms from about the Bottom fifth down, it looks like it's got a different shape, different design. The homeowner group is okay with that?

They haven't been asked at the time, but we can put that out to them and see what their thoughts are on it.

And the homeowners association is fine with having to do more maintenance and keep up with these batteries and replacements over their lifetime? Yes, sir. And they've been brought up to speed on all of those charges? Yes, we've had meetings on it. Okay. but they have not seen the difference in the pole design.

They've seen this. Um, it has been shown to them. Um, we didn't specifically mentioned, uh, their thoughts on it, but no concerns have been raised at the moment.

Okay. Well, you've answered my questions. Anybody else got questions? Just one more. Nope.

Go ahead. I appreciate that. These pictures are two different sources. but they are the same height. Yes, ma'am.

They're both 12 feet.

All right. Thank you.

Okay. No other questions. I'll entertain a motion if anyone has one. Well, let me ask one more question from the city. What are you planning? What's the planning department think about it? I know it's here before us, but what do you all think? We haven't heard your comments about your thoughts.

We deferred to the Planning Commission. So you really don't care one way or the other. Yeah, I mean, we could understand the predicament that they're in. We just haven't come across it, so we'd like to defer to you all.

All right. If I could make a comment. Go right ahead.

Say your name and your address.

David Luckey, Southeastern 110 Clarendon. A lot of the other municipalities that we work in, we're doing these. Just about everybody's switching over to them. They're from a long-term and ease of maintenance. You're not dealing with the utility district, and the utility districts are more and more putting them off on the HOAs. know dealing with the battery and a solar solar head is easier to pop off and replace uh than than some of these other things so this is not new to us it's just new to the city of hendersonville so thank you so no questions no comments i'll entertain a motion i'll make a motion to approve okay do i have a second

We have a second. We'll do this one electronically.

Motion to approve passed with eight yeses.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay, next is number eight, staff level projects pending. We're not going to read all of these. I think everybody's got it in front of you. Is there any specific questions anyone has that you'd like to bring up? Nothing. I do have one question. Go right ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on the last one, the millennia cottages, TBN, final plat, I would just like to hear from Timothy, if you could just reassure me that there have been no other changes from what we last saw, substantial changes.

That is correct. Yes, that's correct. They're just consolidating parcel lines that will run afoul of interior lot line setbacks and things of that nature, establishing easements. But it is in accordance with the plan that you all approved. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is planning director comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have anything this evening. I can answer any questions anybody might have that something didn't come up. We can answer that. Otherwise, I have nothing further. All right. Well, thank you.

I do have a question. Go right ahead, Commissioner Kerr. So on the project that we saw or the approval we had, I don't know, maybe three meetings ago about Master Farm and that one house at the bank, you know, had all the deviations that we worked through. I understand that that's been sold. Is that our pending sale? Is that true?

I believe that's it. I don't have the latest information on that. Mrs. Shin, I think it's been keeping up with that. The bank had been calling her, keeping her updated, but I'm not for sure what the latest update is on that. Are you aware of that, Timothy or Zach?

The there was a gentleman that came up that was proposing to purchase it and saying that he was going to go on a contract. I don't know if that had all been completed, but he was asking me, you know, if he's able to just go ahead and everything that he needs to fix the house have get it fixed.

Yeah.

And if the approval that was given from the Hennisville Planning Commission Board, if that allowed for him to be able to, all the deviations, all the things, all the setbacks, are those allowed for him to be able to? And I gave him clarity. That gives you permission to get that property into compliance based on those deviations. So that was the movement that I saw with it. Has it been confirmed to me directly? No. Not to me directly, but once again, as Keith said, I think Caitlin has been in communication with the bank and could give a little more insight on what she has heard up to this point.

Yeah, what we'll do is we'll get out a little bit later this week. We'll get the very latest update on what's happening with that, and we'll send that out to the planning commissioners.

as a little update so everybody's aware of that.

But I know it has been moving forward a little bit quicker than we even anticipated that it might. So hopefully it has a positive resolution to that. I would just note one thing before I finish up, that we do have different things that are going to be on the agenda for next month. One of those is going to be a request for annexation and a rezoning back out on – Avant Lane. So, you know, we had that one project that went through, but it failed. This is a totally different group that has a totally different housing development that they'd like to do. And so that'll be before you at your next meeting in July, and we will be meeting in July. So that's all I had, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Director. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment if nobody has questions.

So moved.

Do I have a second? All in favor? Any opposed? All right. Thank you very much. Thanks, everybody, for being here.