Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to the town election and Planning Commission Town residents who are appointed by the town counsel serve without pay this is our regular monthly meeting schedule to be held at Town Hall at 8: a.m. on Wednesday February 19th this meeting will be broadcast live on the town of L's YouTube channel speakers must sign in before 8:00 a.m. and the sign up sheet is posted at the door speakers will be called to the podium off the list collected please state your name address and speak into the microphone speakers are limited to 3 minutes a timer will be set I'm Frank Barry the chairman of the Town election and Planning Commission other Planning Commission members present are good morning Jared harlson good morning I'm Brian amch good morning Sammy Hendrick morning cman good morning I'm Jamie fight good morning I'm Joe Robertson good morning JT Stevenson good morning Betsy McCall at this time I will ask Miss Jamie if she would leave C our invocation this morning let us pray dear Lord I pray that you got us and help us make wise decisions during this meeting that benefit not only the town and its in citizens but also meet your heavenly goal Lord please bless our leaders in this town our state and our nation Lord also bless our men and women in Military and law enforcement and all those who serve you in efforts to make life easier for all people I ask all these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ amen amen please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all the meeting will now come to

order uh Del we have no deletions on the agenda um I do want to say one thing we did have a work session last night at 6:00 and we discussed the item that is not on here but it has to pertain to our landscape ordinance so that will be back before us in May I mean excuse me March all right you have in your packet uh minutes from our December 17th work session 18th Planning Commission meeting and the 29th work session motion to approve approve second any discussion all Mr chairman I have one comment on the December 17th work session uh minutes it has my name is spell no biggie but it says Brad am which I don't think we have a brad am commiss just an FYI he was here for that one minute all right so we have a motion a second all in favor please raise your right hand it is unanimous new business annexation of portion of Lex and County tax map number 0549 7-2-1 located at the 5300 block of Augusta Highway just good morning drton Parker company's LLC owns approximately 2.98 Acres on the corner of Augusta Road and Cedar test drive and has petitioned to Annex the property a convenience store is being planned on the site property near in town near this winter Zone General commercial and high density residential Augusta Road is classified as an arterial Road and Cedar Coast Drive is classified as a collector Road the properties um is shown on the future land use map as a regional node the comprehensive land use plan describes the general character of a regional node area as a medium to high-intensity

commercial retail Hospitality businesses and offices for the proposed project to be compliant with the zoning ordinance the property should be zoned with General commercial zoning all righty is there anyone here to speak to this annexation is there a up is there a sign up sheet I'm sorry okay Mr chairman I need to recuse myself from this agenda item as well my firm's involved all right good morning morning morning uh my name is Alan G I'm at 209 sers Trail here here in town and I represent kimley horn and the applicant all right is there anything you want to add to this annexation app Z good morning Mr chair members of the commission I'm Daniel ven Israel real estate development manager for drton Parker companies and Parker's kitchen um I'm here to answer any questions that you may have I would like to say that we're we're excited about uh developing um in the town of Lexington we have a pretty aggressive growth strategy to to expand our conveni store brand into the Lexington um Columbia market and so uh we're excited to come here we're looking forward to partnering with you and establishing our brand here and being good Community Partners I I'll be happy to answer any questions that that that you may have and currently we're only annexing so we don't have a site plan approval that will come back to us later uh site plan approval will happen at a staff level as long as it meets zoning okay thanks so much thank you do I have a motion motion to approve got a motion in a second any discussion this site is already Zone commercial in the county correct correct okay all right all those in favor please

raise your right hand and that is unanimous oh excuse me we have a recusal it's not unanimous item number two property subdivision of portion Ley County tax map 0043 000- 05- 029 located at Brookshire in Brookshire subdivision the birkshire HOA and Harry and laara gates are requesting plot approval of a simple subdivision of common area in the birkshire neighborhood the property being divided consists of 1.33 Acres shown on the subdivision platas Open Space Mr and Mrs Gates plan to purchase. 29 Acres of the property which is adjacent to their home located at 115 Hill Lake Drive in kage Hill Lake subdivision um I did include letters from both the HOA and um the buyer the Mr and Mrs gates to that expain a request and it also states that the HOA did vote and approves the sale of this property the reason it's in front of you today is because it's in regards to HOA common area for subdivision okay there's no issue with open space non-compliance or anything like that correct they do have a trail but it's not included on that portion um that's kind of like a flag it kind of flags behind Carriage Hill um Carriage Hill Lake subdivision and the trail is not on any of that um I believe from what I read in the letter the reason that the property owner is asking to purchase is because they want to maintain it um trees have fallen through some weather issues and they want to continue to maintain it so okay all right do I have a motion so move got a motion do we have a second

second motion and second do we have any further discussion all in favor please raise your right hand that is unanimous huh it stay there will maintain it yeah that's what I read when I did it all right item number three site plan approval for mixed use development on lexon County tax map 004 32- 05- 001 -12- 018 located at the corner of East Butler Street and Church Street North Church Street excuse me I am um going to recuse myself from this item and David erson our contract attorney is going to handle um the staff report and answering any questions all right Mr chairman members of of the commission um the background on this uh item Indigo design build has submitted a site plan for the construction of a of a new three story mix use development the main level of the pro proposed project will consist of two retail spaces with a total gross floor area of 10,654 Ft the second level will contain a private sports club with a total gross floor area of 9,837 Ft the third level will house an event space with a rooftop Terrace the event space will be 4389 ft while the terce will be 4,651 ft access to the site will be provided via East Butler Street the proposed project includes 12 on-site parking spaces the project is located within the Downtown special overlay District section 155.0 n of the zoning ordinance allows acknowledges that open space per businesses in this District is often too limited to accommodate parking setbacks and Landscaping however the special overlay allows for certain landscaping and zoning ordinances to be

waved in order to facilitate infield development and Redevelopment in this designated area the proposed project complies with most of the standards set forth in this section with the exception of parking requirements section 155.0 19.03 A3 States the overall parking requirement for non-residential uses is reduced by 50% with the understanding that shared public parking in the district will generally accommodate these uses the public interest is serve better by allowing these uses to congregate more densely than elsewhere in the town creating a more walkable environment section 155.0 3.10 h3a further States when necessary to fulfill the minimum parking requirements outline in this ordinance on street parking space is located on the same side of the street and fully within the extended side property lines of the parcel or use in question may be counted toward meeting parking requirements for the directly abing B use this does not preclude the use of parking in other areas to meet minimum parking requirements the proposed development is required to provide 50 parking spaces currently 12 on-site parking spaces are provided the applicant has indicated previously that they intend to obtain off-site parking but no details have been provided to staff at this time uh because the ordinance states that the requirements listed above do not preclude the use of parking in other areas to meet minimum parking requirements the commission is being asked to evaluate whether the proposal aligns with the intent of the of the ordinance all right do we have anybody signed up for do do you want the applicant to speak that's fine hey guys uh my name is Sean meller um my company will be developing this my

family has owned this property since the 80s um right here I have Dale Marshall he's architect and then Jason sers in his team from designs um back there do do most of the the speaking today so good morning I'm Dale Marshall with arra uh we designed the project for Sean basically I I know y'all are just reviewing the site approval but we're we're trying to design a building that's an urban context building that addresses the street we've stepped it back about 16 ft along uh North Church in 11 or 12 Al on Butler we've created a wide sidewalk but it is a building that defines the street Edge on Butler and church and then has a a corner entrance so again the intent is to create a building that fits in the urban context that occupies most of the site and therefore most of the required parking is happening in other locations off the site because in order to fill the corner and establish an urban Edge building we needed to occupy most of the site and didn't want to just have a parking lot on the site um it is a building you know we've got drawings that show what the building looks like I assume they're in your package yeah I see that youall have it so um again trying to make something that fits into the downtown context that uh you know continues the urban Edge from Main Street back to the corner of Butler and church and you know again trying to create a building that that that meets the uh underlying intent of the zoning so if you've got any questions about that we've got drawings that show what it looks like and we're happy to share those with anyone in the audience I see you all have the packages in front of you so you've got basically all of those drawings okay thank sir we have anyone else

good morning members of the Planning Commission my name is anel Labour and I'm the president of the Lexington chamber and Visitors Center um we believe this project in the downtown area marks a new beginning of a new generation of buildings that would enhance our downtown area the development exemplifies placemaking a thoughtful integration of retailers restaurants businesses and a dedicated private event space designed to create vibrant hub for residents and visitors our top employers recognize the value of a thriving downtown they want to be located in a community where their employees can live work and play this event space in particular will be a significant Community Asset and it will feel a critical need as space is needed for parties and receptions and business meetings and other gatherings I know firsthand as the chamber rents its own space area employe ERS are eager for Unique Gathering spots for their employees and clients we believe this project will increase downtown foot traffic support existing businesses and attract new ones this project coupled with the new hotel development will make our downtown even more attractive benefits include enhancing our downtown's appeal fostering economic growth and of course job creation providing more quality of life for our area residents so we want you to seriously consider this project and I thank you for your time thank you anyone else good morning everyone I am Ashley Hy I live at 215 Silver Bell Lane I am currently a tenant in the 114 space I'm sure that's a little bit of a surprise to you considering that I am going to have to find another space to live with my business that currently supports my family you probably know nothing about me nothing about my business I created

it on my own accord it is not a franchise it is not an idea or something that was purchased from someone else it was born and bred here in Lexington South Carolina out of becoming a mother my gym is called strong her and it specifically serves the women here in Lexington a need that doesn't exist anywhere else um I have met sea Mell um being a tenant there I've worked with his father over the last 5 years when he first proposed this idea to me even though it meant displacement of my business I was incredibly proud and excited for this I realize that there is a tenor in the town of Lexington of wanting to maintain the way that it used to feel the small town feel I have read the cries on social media and I am a part of it I drive through Sunset I drive through downtown and I am dismayed at how many franchises are coming into the area I am disappointed at the way things are being developed because I am a smalltime business owner I am the ma and PAW trying to find her way in this town and make a legacy for not just myself but my children and my grandchildren which is exactly what Shawn is doing his father planted Roots here in Lexington and he's trying to develop those roots even further we have these cries that we want to support local businesses but we're not supporting local businesses and local business owners doing things like Shawn is trying to do here instead we put up walls we cry complaints about parking and what that does is inadvertently gives way for corporations that don't even exist here in Lex that have never set foot in Lexington to put their foot down and occupy the space that your children and grandchildren are living growing and thriving I personally find Shawn to be a passionate man who cares not just about growing a financial Legacy for his family and a real estate Legacy for his family he has done everything he can to try and help me find my footing for my business and my family that I opened up 2 days before Co

shut gyms down his family offered to support me and help me get my grounding and if you need further proof of that find my social media my kids my husband we have a life that I never dreamed of because of their compassion not just a drive for money let's take that a step further Sean has been living here his entire life he plans to get married here he plans to raise kids here I don't know how you guys feel about this I know that he's a problem solver I know that if your only issue is parking I don't know if you guys have seen the new Moana uh you guys have kids or grandkids but there's a phrase that res resonates from that simple movie that we should all take and let's find a way if that's the only thing keeping you guys from moving this thing forward find a way work with him and his team to problem solve it because I would prefer that the people making decisions in my town are the people that live here and not a corporation in some other state whose only goal is to make money rather than taking care of the people that are right next to them thank you very much do we have anyone else that's it all righty do we have I know we have a a lot of questions that we won't answer from a Planning Commission standpoint so if the applicant would like to address those the architect um I know that there's a lot of questions we need answered we'd like answers to you so you step to need you to step up to the microphone please sir um the first and foremost I have is or we have as a

body is um the parking situation your write up says 12 your plan says 12 but it's only 11 shown and then it says that offsite parking but no details have been provided what's the solution and so um so we have letters of intent from two properties adjacent to our property um but until we we didn't want to commit to any contracts until we met with you guys and understood that that number 50 was going to work and all that and then we can get those contracts written up we just didn't want to jump into anything and be committed until we knew that was a solution all right well I know letters of intent or just that letters of intent we would like to see something a permanent solution before we can move forward with this project so if you guys are letting us know that that 50 is a is a thumbs up then I'll get you guys that that contract so youall can see that that's okay anybody else Brian Jarett Jamie anybody well I think the the ordinance states on the parking is is what we need to to go by I mean 11 or 12 is not going to do it we're not have enough for your employees to to park or whatever um the situation we want to make sure is there is secured parking um for the facility for the people with patrons that are going to go there I understand it's it's a city um in the town um building that you're going to be building it looks great uh and there's parking in the adjacent areas but there has to still be uh parking directly for this uh building before we get overflow I know there's a parking garage eventually coming down that would accommodate that's why you have the overlay of the 50% rule but I think I think uh chairman Barry stated

11's not going to do it uh so if you want to get the parking but we can't go uh with the statement that um with with the intent there's and I get the intent but there's nothing in writing and and we as a body we can't provide your Solutions you need to provide the solution to us for for approval for the site and we kind of go from there as how it works but but I mean I would like say I like the project but we got to have 11 parking spaces isn't going cut it I think if you all could offer a commitment that said if the owner provides signed leases for 50 space the the 50 is the number that we're trying to get some certainty on because because of the way the ordinance is written there's some level of ambiguity about how you calculate the exact number I mean there's there's leeway for the overlay district there are but even with that there's still some ambiguity and so what I think we're looking for finding commission to say is if we provide you 50 spaces with signed commitments then that would be sufficient versus 52 or 48 or some other so you went with staff and there wasn't any communication on what the exact number was there was so confusion that gave us the number of 50 is where we got that number from but again that's a there there's no absolute way to apply your ordinance to get an exact number is is so we were looking for some certainty that we would if we hit the 50 Mark they could that we would be there um so that's what we're looking at till us resolve can I make a um suggestion to withdraw this and then gather the intent letters and everything that that you know we need and we would like to see I think it's a

great project but there are concerns for us so it maybe withdraw it and then come back when you have the known spaces that are needed and the letters of intent just to make sure I'm clear there um so I come back with because once I commit to these contracts then I'm obligated to make whatever you know payments are so I come back with the committed contract in writing that's that states we have the let's just 11 on site plus the the additional we need to hit that 50 Mark and that's you can write a Le agreement you can write that contract contingent on us approving that right okay perfect I think that's his concern Mr chairman I have a question for them you mentioned a lease what would this be a long-term lease or would it be terminable at will by the owner it'd be a longterm D I'm assuming you probably go with the D lease maybe if you guys could give me the terms that you would like write exactly how I would like for you we would like for you to work with staff to come up with that solution to us to bring back to us yes and also it's not a they're going to build that parking in 2030 in your buildings opening in 2026 correct and and what's great is we we've heard there's a 100 going across the street that's going to time up before our projects completed so and that's and that's why I bring that up it's not a it if we build this it will come um it is they have to be there together and we've just had several instances over the last several years with the town of promises made not kept and we don't want to continue that path and that process going forward so if we ask for a deferment and come back to you at the next meeting or the meeting after with commitments for a total of 50 spaces we would take that into consideration at that time yes sir yeah Mr chairman I'd like to mention one other thing with the two gentlemen here

and the project itself uh the the the traffic on Church Street often backs up from the traffic signal down past Butler Street sometimes as far down as the custom framer shop I wondered if you all have had any considerations about dealing with traffic for your employees and guest and tenants in that building proposed building I mean we acknowledge that that's an ongoing issue I don't think that our building is going to exacerbate that issue um in terms of solving things you know multiple blocks beyond our site that's probably beyond our capacity we have we have set the building back with appropriate buffers against the edge of the street we've got a almost an 11t sidewalk along the street but um in terms of being able to solve the traffic issues in downtown Lexington beyond the site I think that's probably beyond our capacity I don't think that anything about this build in fact I actually believe this building will will mitigate some of the traffic because we are taking what an hour multiple curb Cuts along Butler and church and coming with one shared curb cut with the hotel so there will be less abilities for cars to pull out at various locations on either of those streets which should m traffic but in terms of the volume of traffic I don't know if there's anything that we as a as a building site developer can do that changes the amount of the volume of traffic coming on the street but we have reduced the curb Cuts another question um I know K Cowboy is going to their back entrance is going to back up to this how are they going to except get get into their back great great question um our share drive with the Marriott and then where where it kind of snakes over it's going to we're

going to continue that all the way through back to them so they're going to have an even better entrance than they have right currently I don't know if you've seen the way they get back there now it's I do it's a little rough so so that's going to be nice and paved and it's it's made to allow them to have that that that nice easement we're not we're not taking away any easement okay and then looking at the plans um you've got one bathroom for women and one bathroom for men in in a three-story building explain that uh we don't have the ground floor layout I mean the ground floor is actually going to be built with a gravel SL perimeter and a gravel slab until they're actual tenants what happens on the ground floor is flexible so if if a certain type of business leases a space they may require gang toilets depending on their occupancy so we are trying on the ground on the street level we have not laid out the building inside so I mean once the tenant comes if a restaurant occupied part of the space and they would place a kitchen and the appropriate toilets for a restaurant occupancy if it were two retail occupancies it would have different toilet configurations so on your second and third floor and you're talking about an invent all right the third floor has gang toilets there are there are men's and women's restrooms but there are multiple stalls in the men's and W women's restom on the third floor there okay I miss that so and the second floor actually is a large space but because of the intended occupancy it's actually a low occupancy number we're anticipating less than 75 people Max at any given point on the second floor there the the current layout is for seeing some golf simulators and other things that occupy spaces about the sides of this gas so there's there's multiple multiple footprints on the

second floor that aren't really going to have a density of people so it it is the the toilets that are shown meet the the plumbing code requirements for what's intended to be the occupancy numbers on the second floor but again the first floor it will totally depend on who signs leases and you know there will have to be toilets done what would be the occupancy on the third floor third the third floor is a is an a A2 it's an assembly occupancy you in terms of just what's a range of is an event space so the chamber wanted to have it you know it's it's it's sub 200 but it's pushing up close to 200 where are those 200 people going to park that's our concern um again that's there there is the potential for some over because of times of use and all of that that's you know when we work with staff with this Pro program that's where the 50 number came from but that is ultimately why we're in front of you is to have an understanding of what what is an acceptable number so that we can hit that Target I think you need to work with staff to come up with that acceptable number because if you have occupancy on the second floor at the same time you do on the third floor now you're talking possibly 300 people well and I think staff has deferred this to yall you know this is something that could hypothetically have been done at a staff level but because of the conflict I think it has been moved or elevated to yall but that is really the intent of this meeting is to come up with an absolute number not to cut you off I would take the suggestion of commissioner uh Michael and excuse me commissioner fight I was thinking anyway

and withdrawal get the number some kind of intent uh in writing that we have some parking cuz 11 is not going to do it uh and the withdrawal allow you to come back um and then work with staff on the actual parking with the number now we understand there's adjacent overflow parking in in the vicinity and we understand it's a it's a in the town uh and people may have to walk a little bit but we can't have 11 that's that's where we are so we can we can take a vote on it or you can take a you can withdraw we want to make sure we whatever you guys want us to get we get again we I don't think there's anybody up here that does not like the project it's just we have legitimate concerns so be clear so when you go to staff staff will give us a concrete black and white number and then we get that written up give you got come back with that signed contract of that number we don't need to sign we'll take it when it comes back to us we'll view it on the Merit okay and and where it is there I don't nobody's here going to commit anything because right now we have the letter saying we intend to find parking just show us the parking we're saying we like the overall project but we got to see show us you meet the the capacity needs for parking for the the building all right so we would like to formally request to withdraw and then we will come back all right subsequent Mee thank you sir that concludes our agenda items for today um do we have any other business [Applause] the I know you mentioned earlier that we discussed the um one I'm sorry um that we discussed the landscape and treat ordinance last night uh just just to put it out there we will be advertising for a public hearing that will be happening

at the next Planning Commission which I believe we said was March 19th last night so um on on that ordinance all right and training we're working on that we are working on that and I will send something out to you hopefully in the near future all righty do I have a motion to adjourn so move second second Motion in a second without any objection we are adjourned thank you for watching the town election and plan a commission in action please note this is a quaza Judicial board and cannot partake in any export Communications about the agenda items if you have any additional concerns for the meeting please contact the municipal clerk on behalf of the Town election Planning Commission I wish you a good day