Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening. It is 6:31 and it is April 20th, 2026. 6 6 Well, again, 6:31 p.m. here at Town Hall Complex at 12 Bravo West Church Street. Go ahead and call to order and do a roll call. Laura Gillespie here. Sean Bryant here. Geredine Bowers here. Leona Williams here. Rachel Taylor, Kevin Duggins here, Riley Adams here, Bart Cotcraftoft, and Johnny May Lemon here.

All right, that's done. Let's go ahead and move on to the approval of minutes for March 16th, 2026 regular planning commission meeting. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Second. All right. District one. We'll go ahead and vote. District one or any discussion? Okay. District one. How do you vote? Yeah. Yeah. District three. Oh, you're saying Okay. District four. District four. District. Let's see. District five. District five. Yes. District six votes yes. And district eight votes yes.

And district two votes yes. Approved. All right. New business. It's going to be 512 North North Lee Street annexation. It's TMS number 00600 D- 02-00005. We've already had this before us uh previously twice. Make sure you have your mics. Right. Right. Do we have a motion? Do we have a motion to approve annexation? Motion to approve.

Do I have a second? Second discussion. Um but that this is the one with the 75% interest. Correct. So I was at first it bothered me and then I was thinking, you know, that's no different than a husband and wife owning property. Correct. So am I correct about this? Is that I mean how does that work? That 75% interest. So with the 75% interest, it only requires 75% somebody that holds 75% interest. It does not require the other 25% interest.

Okay, that was my question. Right. All right. Thank you. Any other questions, discussion? No. All right, we'll vote. District one votes yes. District three votes votes yes. District four vote yes. District five, yes. District six, yes. District eight, yes.

District two votes yes as well. Motion passes. All right. So, the next one is going to be adding the definition of modular home and update the definition of manufactured home to the town zoning ordinance 3-2 and 8-7 of the town ordinances. Uh, we spoke to the town attorney and we got received definitions from him. Um, so I'll do the modular building unit first and it's going to be any building of closed construction regardless of type of construction or occupancy classification other than a manufactured home, mobile home that is constructed off site, displays evidence of certification by the South Carolina Building Codes Council and is transported to the point of use for installation or erection. So that's going to be section 234320 South Carolina code of laws. And then the mobile home manufactured mobile home definition. A structure transported in one or more sections which is traveling mode which or which in traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body ft or more in length or when erected on site is 320 or more square ft in area and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes all plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems, appliances, accessories ories and furnishings and displays the HUD construction certification. C section uh for South Carolina code of laws section 40-20 D-29-20. So that's section 40-29-20 in the South Carolina code of laws. Do I have a motion to approve or deny or accept or reject these definitions?

Motion to accept. I have a second. Second. All right. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion, we'll go ahead and vote. District one votes yes. District three votes yes. District four votes yes. District five yes. District six yes. District eight yes. District two votes. Yes. As well. Now, again, these are I'm not picking on you, Geraldine. I promise. Um, you probably are.

These are uh these are just going to go up to town council for their at their next meeting. I don't know. Is that going to be at the meeting? Is it next week? Will this be at their next meet? No, next month. It be May. Okay. Um, and it's just a recommendation that we accept these. They don't have to accept it or approve it. They can change it if they want to. Okay. So, all right. That being said, do I have a motion to adjurnn and move into a work session? Motion to adjurnn. Second. All right. We'll just do everybody. Anybody opposed? No. No. All those in favor? I

passes. Work session. No reason to do a call to order. Sir, I'm still calling order. Give me like call to order here in like two minutes. Want to get to the Yeah. Trying to get to the number two. Yeah. All right. All right, we'll go ahead and call the work session to order and do a roll call for work session. Laura Gillespie here. Shawn Bryant here. Geredine Bowers

here. Leona Williams here. Rachel Taylor, Kevin Duggins here. Riley Adams here. Bart Cotchcraftoft. And Johnny May Lemon here.

All right. So, we'll go ahead and review the zoning ordinances for we're going to try to get through as many of these as we can. Um, but I'm stopping at 8:30. I got to go to work, make some money so I can pay my bills. So, sorry guys. Um, we're going to try to do R2, R3, and then adding the hospitals and medical treatment facilities into C1 general commercial as permitted, principal uses and structures, and then discuss the plat approval process set forth in article 4 of town subdivision regulations. I don't know if we'll get through all of these, but we will do our best. Come on up, Mart. How y'all doing?

Good. Bar, how are you, sir? Good. Should we do the tables? I know we don't have sound very well when we do the tables. That way we can all spread out and have everything or No, y'all. Anybody? Are you good here? Everybody good here?

Okay. We'll go ahead and do the R2. Does anybody have anything immediately to change in R2? You can tell me.

That's okay. If Anybody has their book and you're kind of flipping through it's section 73- yall just want to go through it and

yeah I think um we talked about briefly adding tiny homes into this section. Yeah we do that as a permitted use as well. Yeah, we definitely don't have a definition of No, we don't. And we there was some debate on the square footage for that. Um everything I found uh whether it was the what is it? IC is the company that does all of the IRC, the IBC and all those other Ilettered. Yeah. Everybody Everybody copies from the international building code. Yeah. Um,

so that was majority of everything that I found was 400 square ft, like a maximum of like 400 ft for a tiny home. Not now, that didn't include the loft area. I think that's the definition I have in here. That was that was everything that I I had found was the 400 square foot. No, that pretty sure that was the maximum. I'm trying to that from the building back. Okay. I just don't want to ask that. But

that's okay. Only reason we're doing that is cuz we're going to put them in the R2 district. So No, you're good. I thought I had it on my phone, too, cuz Is there a way I can um put my computer up on one of these TVs? Because I've got some red line changes in this section already we can look at as a group. Huh? Yes. Yes.

Of course, I can't find any of my stuff. So, That's

that was why Yeah, obviously something more. What?

Do what now? I'm keeping mine on because that way everybody can hear me. So, we're good,

sir. Yes, sir. All right. All right. I was trying to find the the the IBC. Hold on. Let me put my glasses back on so I can see again. Um. Okay. Uh or not. You have to buy it. Never mind. Yeah. Everything that I'm seeing is for tiny homes is going to be 400 square foot or less.

That's smaller than what I've been than you see on YouTube all the time. I mean, they go up to about 600. It had to have at least the minimum square. So it's go back to what was what was the recommendation on that for homes 400 that's the maximum 400 draft when I started for a definition we can change it and we can work it um do we know what they the ones down on Lake Murray do we kind of have anybody have an idea of what those are

I Yeah, that's I mean I keep seeing 600 ft. West over there. Yeah, they're about the same size as the one she's talking about. About the same. We could probably look up. I want to say they're probably because we could probably look up an ad real quick. Can I do Michael? Can I share to the TV to whatever the No casting. All right. Do you have internet? Yes. Not not not not you, Michael.

So, if you go to Well, I don't even I just all I did was look up tiny home definition and I went to the ICC. Now, it says it's defined as or defined in the 2021 International Residential Code, the IRC. Appendix AQ. Tiny houses or dwelling units that are 400 square foot 400 square f feet or less in floor area excluding lots. When it comes to design and construction requirements for tiny homes, a wide variety of codes and standards are being used. Is important for tiny home designers and builders, code officials, consumers, and policy makers to understand the difference and to asssure that the criteria matches up with how the tiny house will be used. See if I can pull this up.

Anybody pull up an ad? See what they're they're averaging in this. Well, that's what that's that's why we're we're having this discussion right now. There should be some ads. I can't connect to it again. There you go. What are those run? How much? That's big. 400 ft. Yeah. But see now what I what I did see for tiny homes is like it's 400 ft, but that doesn't include a loft.

So it can be it I haven't seen anything on like a height requirement or anything like that. I mean, you could potentially have a four-story tiny home that's 400 square foot, but it's really more than 400 square foot because they don't include the you put in like four different lofts of, you know, with stairs going up and over. Not that my my little young young younger than Bart behind would want to climb any type of stairs like that to go to the fourth floor. But still, the hell you could do that, I guess. I don't know if that take that take a lot of room out, though. Think about that. Oh yeah. So let's see.

Let me put And of course um we're not doing we only adopted we haven't adop the town hasn't adopted 2020 one or 24. We're we're still in 2015. Yeah. Okay. the longest HDMI cord I've ever seen in my life. So, it came out in 2018, 2021, and then 2024. Okay. So, of course, this one, the one, everything that I've found is going to be the 2021.

I'm sorry. It's 2015 for property codes, 2021 for building. Okay. So, it is 2021 for building code. Okay. Is that going to be the Yeah, because that'd be still be the because the international residential code would still fall under the IBC more than likely, right? Okay. And this is actually a cool little flyer that I just found. Can we print this little flyer or if I email it to you? Yeah, it's a little two-page little flyer.

I got to find it. I'm sorry, y'all. Navigate. I should I should just go ahead and buy a laptop so I can see new email. Becky, don't ask me to do anything. I just changed from a Android to an iPhone and I'm like I had to order a book. Save to files. Save. Download complete. Thank you.

I am getting my emails now. Yeah. Got my security system back up, too. But the phone crash pay for this stupid. I've lost everything. All everything is gone. Appointments. They don't. He spent hours trying. Finally, they used my husband's old phone and they said, "Listen, are some of these your contacts?" He said, "Let's put him in." So, we used my husband's old

right now. Riley's trying to find the um the ICC tiny home. And I was trying to find this little flyer that I just that I just found. Does South Carolina have one? No, I I didn't see anything for tiny homes and for South Carolina code. I did not I What the I'm sorry. Yeah. Pardon?

She thought she was the only one. I think we're all I mean I'm Yeah. All right, finally. I think I got it now. Maybe attach file. All right. So Becky, I am sending it to you. I just sent it to you. So what I found was basically it's from the ICC, who is the company who owns all the IBC's, the IRC's, all of the other international code compliance that everybody goes by. IBC is the international business code. The IRC is a residential code. but it's basically a a model legislation to enable the use of affordable, safe, sustainable, and efficient tiny houses. Um, it's kind of what their recommendation is to all those legislations for people who are trying to make make things provides model language for AHAs to ensure the use of affordable, safe, sustainable.

They're larger They're showing them up to 800, but I would think that's the 800 would be what you would put in a county. But what they're averaging, I've pulled up several that are around 600 square ft. And these are local and for sale right now in close nearby. But I had to do this on Facebook. Do we have We don't Do we have the newest? Okay. So, it is 400 square 2021 or less.

Yeah. Do we? Cuz otherwise I got to sit there and pay for everything. Okay. Um he should give you the login. Do we want to do Do we want more time to research this? Well, I mean, that's fine. We can do we can we can hold off on the tiny homes, but if we're going to send this up and we're putting them in R2, then we going to have to wait to get Well, I guess we could do the definition. What's the What are we What are we stuck on? On the definition, it is 400 or 800.

No, I found it. It's right there. Okay, it's 400 or less for it to be classified as a tiny home according to the IRC 2021 appendix Q.

Okay, here won't let me won't let me highlight but sorry about that. So in the in the ICC it also says that tiny homes can be built on site or fabricated at another location. So as long as a final statement okay I really need to

Riley I'm gonna see if I can send this send this to you now you have your town email on there on your computer Riley. Um I think so. Yeah. I say cuz this is that um this is that one the flyer or whatever should that way you can pull it up and we can everybody can see it. Maybe I'm surprised at the ceiling height of only 7 ft.

It may have been I may have sent it to your personal email. I'm sorry. Um, no. Now it's not showing up. Did I send it at all? 6' 4 in. Some of y'all would have to duck, but

that's not up to us, I guess. Yes. I'm trying it again, Riley. It should have gone now. It should have gone now. I had to actually go into or not. There it goes. All right. It just set Riley. Because in that little flyer I just sent you, it actually has tiny home show or it says uh it says to add the following statement to the law covering the adoption of residential building codes. But obviously that wouldn't be our wouldn't be for us. But

um yeah, where did you send it at? Thought I sent it in my the planning commission email. Okay, hang on. Let me make sure I've got that on here and not my

So, we're just going to add this to be voted on with Wait. for the next meeting. Yeah, that's why I said that we may not get through all of the all of it tonight because of the because there's so much to kind of make sure we cover and you know, and I don't disagree. Bob Hall definitely got us uh at the council meeting um because he was correct. we didn't have the definition in there for module home and I appreciate I appreciate him bringing that to our attention and which is why we got it on the on the agenda. So um I don't want to I don't want to forget anything. So

that's why that's why we have checks and per or checks and balances, right?

Did it go through Riley or No. Um, yeah. I just I gotta get signed in here real quick. Oh, okay.

I had to go dark for a second. You're good, buddy. Don't want you stealing my password. Sean, I mean, I I definitely definitely do not have enough time to do any of that, buddy. I was in I was in Spartanberg all weekend for a volleyball tournament. So, and it was fantastic. They lost every game. So, it was it was great.

They wasn't winning any. It was losing. So, but it's okay. They're they're stronger for it. They learned a lot of life lessons. And you might be able to Did you print it or download it?

I was going to There we go. Just trying to open I don't know what we did before computers hold please would have had the time thing that went like this. Okay, we're live.

I don't know. That's what we got to figure out.

Yeah. Is there a particular section you want me to jump to or is No, go scroll up just a hair. Obviously the I mean it just kind of gives you kind of a basis on what what we should do for adopting and then some of the right here this

this little blurb requirements of the current IRC and these obviously this is still the 2021 because they haven't adopted the 2024 yet but we haven't adopted the 2020. No, we adopted the 2021 for building codes, just not Okay. So, they'll have to adopt. So, this is this would be the 2021. So, this would be current technically until they come out with the new 2024 ver version in July. But obviously we don't have to do this part because that's all done through the actual adoption of them using IRC or IBC and all of that. So, but it just was kind of had a little bit of information in it for um I guess the tiny homes on that next section right there of

the B kind of some verbiage that we could use for it. I mean B says um as adopted and amended by your state locality department. So I think there's I think you can define that just for Batesburg Leville. Yeah. Does anybody see any That's why I think there should be something under our state. I'm surprised and put in put in South Carolina and see if

there may be. I don't remember seeing an actual definition when I was looking for it. So, excuse my That's not ignorance, but this language that we're wanting to put in this particular section, is this not language that we can put at the beginning of all the So, it would be it would this the definition of tiny home would go like on the LA uh like we did on the modular home uh 3-2 and then also and 8-7. Correct. Okay.

So, we have to do the definitions as well. Like, so because we're going to add it into the R2 section, we still have to do the definition to make sure that um it it's Yeah. Yeah. So, in order to put it in there, so I kind of want to work I know it's terrible, but try to get the definition knocked out first. Okay. and then we can go in and add it into R2 and try to get through the rest of the R2 stuff. Is that does that make sense at all? Because if we add it if we go ahead and add it in into R2, we still won't be able to send it up if we don't have a working definition for a tiny home. Okay.

Does that make sense? So, you didn't find anything? No, I didn't. It didn't. There's I haven't seen anything. That's what I was looking at. Zone or Okay. Yeah, because because I don't see I mean only thing I found like that I'm thinking I bet you the state there's something different

there. Well, Lexon County has their own ordinance for it, but I didn't I never saw anything for the actual code of laws for the state of South Carolina. because I looked there's a lot um let's see where's Lexoning counties so Lexoning counties says that it's a it mobile home or tiny home parks let's see that's for parks mobile tiny part. I'm trying to find the actual definitions in there, which I don't see. It says definitions, but it says dwelling, dwelling unit, and residence

if we don't allow mobile home parks. Why would we allow homes? Although I think they cool as a park. Yeah. So, y'all are thinking of this as either on a single lot or as a cassita. You got you got to use smaller words for my I don't Oh, it does say primary, doesn't it? Anybody else? Anybody else got me? I told her she has to use smaller words because I'm not that smart. Casta. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you again. I'm not that smart. I'm just smart enough to figure out words sometimes, but that was not helping me. But it's going to be on the foundation, not on wheels. That's that's permanent. That's permanent. But there there was a section where they said either or that like broad I think you have to remove I think they're they're they're making them where you could still remove them, right? like you could hitch it to the back of something and to the mountain for the beginning, come back.

They did say that I did see something that tiny homes can be are very mobile, which obviously we're not going to allow that to be able to move and whatnot. So, correct. I agree. It definitely needs to be a permanent structure. So, I definitely think we need to have that in the definition as well. attorney. Okay. Okay. All right. That sounds good. So, we'll see what the attorney says first and then we'll go from there. County has fine. Everybody good? Everybody good with that? Yeah, I'll try to double check South Carolina

some way. I found I mean they they have modular, they have mobile home, they have manufactured home, but they did not have anything on tiny homes. It is so certain. All right, let's see. 73 Saluda already has one, right? A tiny home. Tiny home community. Lexington has Lexington. That's the This is That's on the in the county though, isn't it? On 378. That's not in town. See, here's some of what this is. Lexon County is actually okay.

Tiny homes are kind of in their ordinance, but see that's this is where it says excluding lofts. What you slap about? There's a gnat flying around. It's driving me crazy over here. Yes, it is definitely definitely I thought you were doing um they said I mean it was excluded. What do you the the loft? Yeah. So it says excludes the it's 400 ft or less in size excluding the loft, right? Yeah. That means it can um it doesn't

it would be more square footage minus a loft. But then the question is that's like I said earlier, can you do a fourstory tiny home and have four or have three other lofts? Well, okay, fine. We'll go twotory. How about that? Or well, no, threetory cuz you could almost do two little baby lofts in there. Just enough to sleep in. Um um yeah, I mean the so a appendix Q is the IRC section that talks about like the requirements for building them and that's where it's the 400 square ft. Um lofts cannot be less than 5t in any horizontal dimension. I mean there's all kinds of stuff in here. We just have to kind of put together our

I mean could we cover we could cover it with according to the IR the you know current adopted version of the IRC as well. We could do that, right? The current the current level that the town has adopted for IRC or IBC and that's what I was asking. I have to have a um but that didn't happen. They couldn't be here. So, but yeah, because has the town adopted the IR?

They have they have 2021 for the the IBC? I don't know. Does that include the IRC as well? It does. Okay. So, yes, they've adopted the 2021 IRC. So, 2021 IBC 2015 IRC. Oh, it's 2015 IRC. So, okay. So, they haven't adopted the current version of the IRC that really I don't think 2015 even mentions uh tiny homes. Tiny homes, right? So, we would have to put our rules in our ordinances. Yes. Or try to get council to adopt the

and this is what I have drafted currently. So maximum of 400 ft excluding lofts, permanent foundation. Each habitable room, this is from the IRC, each habitable space has to be no less than 70 ft. Um, and then I just added some additional criteria. So I mean like it's just like a house. So, it has to have somewhere for waste to go. Uh, and that's either going to be septic or sewer. Apparently, there is something called a storage tank, which is similar to like what would be in a camper. Yeah. Um, I would say we I said that that's not permitted, right? I would I would definitely agree with that 100% on that. Yeah.