County Council - Special Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting of the Lancaster County Council to order. I ask that the clerk note for the record that a quorum of counsel is present, that public notice of the meeting, including the meeting agenda, has been posted the required length of time in the lobby of the county administration building and on the county website, and that the news media was notified of the meeting time and place. i'd like to welcome you to your county council meeting I would ask that you take a moment to turn off or place on vibrate any cell phones. Thank you for not wearing any hats or caps in the Council chambers, and please be considerate of others in the room by refraining from conversations and during the meeting. asked that you please stand and join Council for the pledge of allegiance, followed by the invocation given this afternoon by Council Member Charlene McGriff.

I 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.

Let us pray. Dear Father in heaven, thank you for this beautiful day today. Lord, be with us as we come to discuss Lancaster County business today and give us wisdom and guidance as we go through our meeting. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We have a motion to approve the agenda. Motion from Mr. Harper, second from Mr. McGriff. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it's unanimous. Okay, we're gonna move on to item five. Doesn't look like anybody signed up. All right. So we have no citizens comments. We'll move on to item six. That's going to be a challenge for the two of y'all.

Maybe I'll just try to project my voice. I'm Sherry Gregory with the Lindsay Pettus Greenway, and you all of course know Flip Hutt, the city administrator. We wanted to come before you today and give you a little update on the Lindsay Pettus Greenway. It's been a few years, I think, since we have given you a comprehensive overview of our progress and our plans for the future. First and foremost, though, I want to just thank you because without this council's support, we would not have accomplished what we've accomplished today. And what we've accomplished to date is that we now have about three miles of hard surface trail for our residents and visitors to the community to enjoy. And what I have, Sherri's displayed here for you, is an overall map of the Greenway. So you can just see the scope of it. And I just wanted to point out a little about what we have done already and what we're looking to do in the future. um what you see in the purple let's see if i can get my cursor to work uh oh i'm not the most technologically savvy and i don't have my glasses so thank you start the slideshow can you find that start the slideshow i can't see anything i'm like a mole have you walked the green way in What you see there in the purple to the east side of your screen is the original two miles of the Greenway that we built first and that opened in 2020. During COVID and Steve Willis, who was the administrator, then actually cut the ribbon on that and that was a tribute to the fact that the city, I mean the county, had had helped us fund that first segment by floating the recreation bond referendum that I believe was done in 2018, and it provided $2.5 million towards the cost of that project. Since then, we have completed the Main Street underpass, and I'm sorry that my— Cursor's not working on this, but the Main Street underpass is the red line that's just north of the legend box, the little loop under Main Street. That was a remarkable accomplishment for the engineers to figure out how to go under Main Street, and it was costly, and we're very grateful that we were able to do that. We further extended the Greenway at that time to the west over to Forest Drive. Since then, we have added another quarter of the mile segment that we cut the ribbon on last fall, which extended the trail from Forest Drive over to Marion Sims Drive at Woodland Drive near MUSC Lancaster for access to the hospital and all the medical offices in that area. So that's what we've done to date. Since we got started in We were founded in 2015 and started our fundraising. We've raised $12.5 million for the trail. To date, we've spent about $10.5 million of what we've raised. We still have a little in our pocket for future projects. One of those is a TAP grant that the city secured from the South Carolina Department of Transportation, and Flip can speak to a little bit about that and where it is.

Thank you, Sherry. Yes, city did secure a TAP grant. That's a transportation alternative project. It's an 80-20 match. The city is paying 20% with Greenway itself paying some as well. That is to do the extension from Rodney Drive, which is I kind of had it, but basically going past the ball fields, North Elementary, then curving back into the Walmart where Papa John's is, Dunkin' Donuts, and Taco Bell. DOT is working on the engineering drawings. They're doing the site, the strip maps now, and they should go to let that project early 2027. So probably March of 2027, they will start construction. That is a relatively simple construction project. It's basically putting a 10-foot sidewalk along Raleigh Drive and just then turning to the west. With that said, just one I think is going to be a big boost to the trail because I'm an avid user of the trail. And the one thing I do love while I'm walking on trail is seeing other individuals wearing the uniform with Hardee's, Walmart, Food Lion. So they're using that trail to get to work. And it's helping them gain full employment. So it's a huge benefit.

Yeah, I apologize. My computer just suddenly started doing the perpetual circle, so I don't know what the technological problem is, but I lost my display. But at any rate, I think most of you are familiar enough with the community that you'll understand where our next priority project will go. and it's going to one of the county assets so you'll be very familiar with this so from the current terminus oh my computer screen is not even on that's interesting thank you so um Mr. Tucker, can I get you to stand up and point to something on the screen? So, can you see MUSC Lancaster almost in the middle of the, keep going east down, just follow the trail down, I'll tell you where to stop.

Pardon me?

Because you've run the trail. Okay.

It's kind of in the middle of the map. Let me come over here. Next to the line.

Now see the legend and come down to the legend box. To that horizontal line on the legend box. I mean beside the legend box, next to the legend box. Right here, yes. Now go to your west a little bit and to the red line. There, that's where the trail ends now at NUSCL. Now run your pen up the red line. There is where we want to extend the trail next. So continue west to your left along the red line. Now go south. And that cross is Meeting Street.

Sorry. Thank you. Thank you.

That ends up at the rec center. So that's our next priority project is to go to the Melvin Stills Soccer Complex. We'll be going underneath Meeting Street, connect to the soccer complex and to the rec center.

Is it going under that little crossover?

underneath the bridge on Meeting Street between the offices at Barnett where the rec center offices are now in DHEC and the Moriah Baptist Association building. That bridge it'll go under there and then continue into the Melvin Steele soccer field complex and over across Bear Creek to the rec center facilities there so and the estimated cost of that project is three and a half million dollars we have about 1.1 million dollars in capital project sales tax three funds available for that and and we are seeking funding for that segment and also to the city did apply for General Assembly special appropriation we hit 1.7

sorry yeah we got three million dollars for that project from the state however if you've been following the news that is now up in the air with the state budget but if we do see the appropriation we will have the funding hopefully if construction costs stay stable to make it to the springdale rec center

just one final thing I would remind you is that this entire project has been planned engineered and permitted so it's ready to go it's a construction ready project so as soon as funds are available we're ready to let contracts and build pretty much so that's a big asset that we have for this project but it is a legacy project and we know that it'll continue to take time to build it out and eventually go beyond our next project and the trail ends near the bypass behind the old Duracell facility near there and it will eventually connect into the larger county Carolina Thread Trail master plan. So I'm part of a larger project and we I really want to Express our deep deep appreciation for the investment that the county has made most of the funding for this project has been local between the county the city and individuals corporations and foundations so of that twelve million dollars that We have raised so far twelve and a half million dollars all but about four has been local. So about eight, I mean, yes, 8 million or so has been local funding. And so that's tremendous. The value that our community has placed on this amenity. So I just wanted to, um, let you know where we were and to give you an opportunity to ask any questions that you might have of us at this time.

Any questions or comments?

No, I think sure. I think you answered all of the questions that I had, the future plans and where it's going.

um i just know it's an asset for the community well thank you so much councilman grip councilwoman griff if you prefer but um we can i cannot um overstate the importance of the council's support to making this project a reality for our community and my final thing i'd like to say to add to flips comments about how the community is using this is that we have a counter on the trail and we estimate that we have over 20,000 visits to the trail every year and that's just in one area and we only have counters in one spot and that doesn't account for people who don't walk past that counter. They may walk other areas of the trail. Last year at our holiday lighting event we had around 3 000 people attend over the three nights of that event so the facility is a beloved amenity for this community and we really appreciate how you've supported us and hope you'll continue to do so and um we'll be supportive of us as we continue to seek funding for it

Yes, the trail is recreation, but it also helps when we are looking at industrial prospects. They are looking for quality of life issues and trail is always high on the list. That's one thing when we talk about like the Arrow Park or the Quality Drive Industrial Park is yes, you have water and sewer, but you also have this trail and we have all these other amenities. So it's not just recreation and good

for the community but it is a way for us to help attract other industries and commercial mr chair i've got some go ahead mr louise so miss gregory i understand that you're thanking council but you need to give yourself some grace and some thanks too because these things would not happen without your efforts and without the passion that you've shown for our community and everything that it stands for especially with this trail so as a somewhat runner um this trail is fantastic um and and it is a great amenity for our community and to flip to your point this is something that we can tell potential businesses that are coming in about how our county is supporting these efforts and how we are a one county that does everything throughout our county so thank you i appreciate that

You know why Jose said that I must give you your props.

I didn't come here to get my props.

When we started this discussion, you started the Greenway in my district. You don't know how much I appreciate that. Starting it right there at Bar Street. And I know the discussion was around where we're going to start it. But I appreciate including, you know, my district in the start of that Greenway.

Can I just say really quickly that that was a strategic decision because we wanted our community to see that this is an amenity, an asset for all people in our community and not just one neighborhood in our community. And I feel like the success of the project has been because of that strategic decision to start it where we started it.

Have any other comments? Thank you both very much. Okay, we're going to move on to item seven, our non-consent agenda. Our first item is second reading of ordinance number 2026-2048, an ordinance of the County Council of Lancaster County, South Carolina, extending ordinance number 2025-1992, the nine month residential development moratorium for an additional 90 days, reaffirming the findings of the County Council, providing for severability and providing for an effective date. We have a motion to approve. So moved. We have a motion from Mr. Louise.

Second.

Second from Ms. McGriff. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it is unanimous. Okay, we'll go on to item 7B. An ordinance to amend ordinance number 2026-2036 relating to the appropriation of funds and the approval of a detailed budget from Lancaster County for the fiscal year beginning July the 1st, 2026 and ending June the 30th, 2027, our fiscal year 2026-2027. To further provide for revenues and expenditures during the fiscal year and to provide for matters related thereto. Do we have a motion to approve? So moved. A motion from Mr. Mosteller, a second from Ms. McGriff. Ms. Harris.

Good afternoon, council members. The ordinance you have before you today is requesting Council's approval to appropriate $1,245,500 from the General Fund's unassigned fund balance for the Sheriff's Evidence Storage Facility. These funds will provide, well, the facility will provide secure, more modernized evidence storage that preserves the integrity of evidence from the time it's collected through its final disposition. and supporting successful criminal investigations and court proceedings. It's one of the public safety capital projects is partially ARPA funded and construction of the facility is substantially complete. So approval of this budget amendment will restore the 1.216 million that was previously authorized in December of 2024 by council through ordinance number 2024-1943. and it'll provide an additional $30,207 needed to satisfy any remaining contractual obligations and to complete the project. So staff is requesting that council approve ordinance 2026-2054 to appropriate the 1.245 um 1.1 million 245 500 from the general fund unassigned fund balance and that'll allow the staff to successfully complete and close out this project we can answer any questions that you have about the project or about the amendment through any questions hearing none i'll call for the vote all those in favor please raise your right hand all those opposed it is unanimous thank you

all right we're going to move on to item 8a proposed changes to ordinance number 2025-1960 recommendation from the community outreach and engagement advisory committee are they here okay well we'll move on past that and we'll take a i need a motion to go in I need a motion to go into executive session for the receipt of legal advice subject to the attorney-client privilege regarding potential contractual matters relating to the regional park and to invite the deputy county administrator, the director of parks and recreation, and members of project management into the discussion. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. I have a motion from Mr. Neal, a second from Mr. Luis. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it is unanimous, we are in executive session. Do I have a motion to come out of executive session?

So moved.

I have a motion from Mr. Mosteller, a second from Mr. McGriff. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed, it is unanimous. Ms. Merk-Dupont.

Mr. Chairman, for the record, council met an executive session in regards to one item, the receipt of legal advice subject to the attorney-client privilege regarding potential contractual matters relating to the regional park. No motions were made, no votes were taken.

Do we have a motion to adjourn? We stand adjourned.