City Council - Regular Meeting

Yes, we're good. I'd like to call this November 18th meeting of city council to order. Madam clerk, would you please call the role? Council member Greg. Council member Sheileley here. Council member McBride here. Council member Mitchell. Council member Brady present. Council member Gregory, Council Member Wearing, Council Member Seekings, Council Member Tinkler, Council Member Bowen, Council Member Appel, Council Member Parker, Mayor Cogwell. Here, I'd now like to ask Council Member McBride to give the invocation and lead everybody in the pledge of allegiance.

Bow your heads as you feel led. This is a prayer modified from 1783 from George Washington. Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that thou wil keep the United States, South Carolina, in the city of Charleston in thy holy protection, that thou wil incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally, that thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to deme demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which are the characteristics of the divine author, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Amen. To the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. I'd now like to ask Chief Lisa Collins and Councilwoman Janie Leech to join me up on the podium. Are you Chief Virginia? I'm Chief Goodie. How are you? Good to see you. Good to see you.

So, we are here tonight to recognize Native American Heritage Month. So, I'm going to read the proclamation. If Chief would like to say something after, I'm glad to have that. All right. Whereas the city of Charleston recognizes and honors the enduring contributions, vibrant cultures, and rich traditions of Native American peoples who have shaped the history and character of this region and the nation. And whereas November is designated as National Native American Heritage Month, providing an opportunity to reflect on the history, achievements, and continued resilience of Native peoples across the United States. And whereas the the Charleston area is home to the Wasamawas.

Damn was all right. That uh tribe of Varnertown Indians, a state recognized tribe whose ancestry traces back to the Edawan, Edesto, Kataba, and Cherokee peoples and whose presence and community contributions have enriched the Charleston region for over 300 years. Whereas the

Wasamasawa Wasamasaw tribe of Varnertown Indians historically located in rural Berkeley and Charleston counties have preserved their identity, culture and traditions despite over three centuries of displacement, marginalization and eras eraser and remain committed to cultural preservation, education and civic engagement in the region. And whereas the Native American History Month serves as an important reminder to promote understanding, recognizing tribal sovereignty, support economic and educational equity, and celebrate the living traditions of indigenous communities, including those residing in and around Charleston today. Now, therefore, I William S. Ogswwell, mayor of the city of Charleston, do hereby proclaim November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month in the city of Charleston and call upon all residents to join in celebrating the important contributions of Native American communities, especially the Wamos Tribe of Varnertown Indians and learn more about their history, cultures, and continuing legacy. Chief, would you like to say a few words?

I was just thinking as you were signing that we kind of had a little bit of PTSD signing papers with any government official, but you know, good point. [laughter] But we would like to thank the mayor and the city council for acknowledging and recognizing Native American Heritage Month um month, which celebrates the contributions of Native Americans to the to the city, to the state, and to the nation as a whole. Um we uh are very happy and honored to be here to share in our rich history and being part of this community. So, we would love to stay, but we thank you for the proclamation, but we have to scoot on over to the College of Charleston as we continue Native American um events that we do for November for Native American Heritage Month. But we thank you very much.

Absolutely. Thank you. You get a picture here.

I don't know which way which one No PTSD. [laughter] Thank you. I really appreciate it. You have a wonderful night. Thank you.

Okay, we've got uh two other special recognitions. May I I want to ask the coaches and players from the baseball allstar championship team to join me up here on stage. We have the 9 and 10 James Island all-star champs and the 13 through 50 city of Charleston all-star champs as well. How are you guys? How are you? See you. I

like it. Like the bling, man. Looking good. How are you, sir? All right, we've got up here uh the the players of the Jamestown Allen Allstars, right? And we've got head coach Matt Ham, right? And assistant coaches Matt Harvey and Jonah Caner, right? Um, and then we've got this is the this is the city of Charleston all-star champs, right? We got Steve Campbell. How are you, sir?

Stage, man. And assistant coaches Jake Ness. I gota put that on, man. Assistant coaches Jake Nes, Chris Wells, Kellen Cooney, and Dusty Brown. Right. All right. Well, uh, congratulations to all that you all have done. I've got a little bit of a breakdown here. These, uh, games were played over in June, Father's Day weekend, right? Got some proud fathers here in the, uh, in the audience, I'm sure. And, um, as I understand, it wasn't even really a game. I mean, y'all just crushed them on both sides, right? I mean, yeah, that's right. So, we're not gloating or anything, but uh,

14 to1. Well, I mean, [laughter] let's not brag now. Not if you can do it. That's right. Well, you want do you want to say a few words about about your team? And uh um come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Um first, I want to thank Sean Callahan, um Allison Weaver, uh Lori Yarbor, and all the rec department for supporting us and uh getting us into this tournament. Um it's a blast. Thank you for supporting uh youth sports. Um, it's great. I've been doing this 30 years. It keeps the boys 1315 out of trouble. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Y'all don't get in any trouble, do you?

All right, gentlemen. Well, thank you all. Congratulations. Well earned victory and on to next season, right? You going to win again? Yes, sir. I look forward to it. I look forward to having y'all back. Look forward to having you all back. Thanks, guys. Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. I just wanted to say real quick thank you. Thank you. I mean, obviously to all of our staff, but thank you to our volunteer coaches. I mean, we do not have a program. We do not have teams. We don't get to take them elsewhere if we don't have you as volunteer coaches. So, thank you for dedicating your time to these young men and women and girls and boys all over our island. And James Island, I mean, we come here a lot, so you're making us look good, guys. All right, James Island.

Well said. Well said, Jer. Thank you all. Thank you. Any other coach want to have anything to say? Come on up. Come on up.

Well, it's been a pretty incredible ride with these guys. I mean, these are a special group of kids, this 10U team. I believe the first uh 10U team to ever actually win the entire thing. So, these guys came together. They fought hard. Um, we had some really hot days on those tournaments, but I'm really proud of what they did and I couldn't have done it without my assistant coaches, Coach Jonah and Coach Matt. These guys are such an amazing part of the team and also to Sean Callahan up here. The resources, the help. Thank you so much.

They're here. One more round. Come on, guys. I love it. Let's get a picture. Come on up if y'all can and uh Yeah, squeeze in. Squeeze in. Squeeze in. We got everybody. [laughter] You'll get used to it. used to it, you know. Yeah. Thanks, guys.

Now, th this is going I got a signed card up here. This gonna be valuable one day. Really valuable one day. Thank you, man. How to do it. How to do it, gentlemen. Good hat.

Congratulations. All right, we are now on to public hearings tonight. We have seven public hearings. Mr. Morgan, if you would go through those and uh we'll turn it over to the public.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Uh the first item before you is um E1, which is uh 715 St. Andrews Boulevard. This is um uh a property that has been used recently for school purposes um along St. Andrews Boulevard. It's adjacent to other properties that have school operations on them to the northwest. Um and uh there's an image of the property. It's a former house on St. Andrews Boulevard that's been used commercially recently. Um it's in our comprehensive plan as neighborhood edge. So this request to reszone it to from RO to GO would be in line with that comprehensive plan recommendation and the planning commission did recommend approval of this one uh 7 to zero. Uh the next item is a site that is at 24 Calhoun Street. You all might recognize this one from our 3500 affordable housing unit effort. Uh it's the first one that's coming before you for a zoning change. Uh this is to let this property that's currently general business and 5630V in uh the height district be reszoned to mixeduse workforce housing one and also the sevenstory old city height district. Uh it is immediately adjacent to the aquarium parking deck which is the building in gray that has the GB on it. It's across the street from Liberty Square with the aquarium on the other side of it. It's uh also across the street from a future planned unit development that would have hotel uses and u u uh commercial uses and residential uses as well. So it's definitely in an area that a lot is going on. [clears throat] This is an image that shows the surrounding height districts. That pud to the south is a six-story height district. Uh to the north is the waterfront uh district which allows a lot more height if you're set back further. And of course, we're slowly seeing those go away as different projects happen in the downtown that

have more urbanistic forms. And Liberty Square across the way is still zone in that W height district as well. But um the aquarium parking deck is already about six stories tall and the staff felt that seven stories here would be appropriate given the uh use on the site for affordable housing. Um this uh was in our here's an aerial image of it and in our comprehensive plan. It's in our city centers designation. So that's the areas that would have the greatest height, the greatest density. So we feel like it's an appropriate use and uh the mixeduse workforce housing on the site as well as the seven stories on the site. Planning commission agreed and recommended for it 7 to zero. Um then we have a new ordinance amendment for tree protection requirements for capital projects in the city. These would be projects built by the city. It's a way to help expedite those projects and not have to involve variances because we know our our city park staff and our capital project staff are working to preserve as many trees as possible as are our zoning staff. So, this lets them kind of get together, evaluate the site and come up with the best plan without having to go through a variance approach. Uh any mitigation would be on the site so our sites get even more new trees planted. Um the code is in your packages here, but it's a pretty simple one to help expedite those capital projects. Um and that was recommended for approval by our planning commission again. Um and then we've got some zonings. We have 1955 and 1957 Belgrade Avenue in the the DWOOP area. Um these are in our future land use as job center. Um they are commercial structures. You see there's um commercial to the rear and to the north on the site. Here you see the commercial structures. They're coming into the city and they would come into the city with the um job center designation. Um and that was recommended for approval

by the planning commission. Also nearby at 1049 Jenkins Road, another commercial property would come in the city again as the job center designation. Um and here you see it. It's at a kind of bend in the road. Here we have an aerial im I mean street view image of the commercial operation that's there. So three new businesses into the city there with those those were all recommended for approval by the planning commission. Then we have 412 Arlington that would come in the city is SR1. It's a single family residence was R4 in Charleston County. Um it was recommended for approval and here's an image of that as an there's an image of the property itself. And then finally Terracotta Drive and this would come in as SR2. So I know on your agenda it shows as SR1. It was advertised as SR2. It was at planning commission as SR2. So that is the recommendation that's coming to you is for SR2. And this one planning commission recommended 7 to zero for that one. And here's an image of where the property is and the property that is being finished out. And those are their public hearings for tonight.

And Mr. Mayor, we have two people signed up to speak for public hearings. Okay. Uh, let's give them u a minute. Give him a minute. All right, the time is a minute. Anthony G. Bryant

despite um Anthony G. Bryant 2133 Coron Avenue, Charles South 29403 based on my mother's death certificate. Um I'm concerned about the half cent sales tax with all this. Okay. We need surveys engineers existing communities that the zoning ordinances does not provide for these existing residents to pay for any mitigation based upon your zoning. So we got to put existing resident half sales tax. Okay, point blank because they've been here forever like my mother and got nothing to show for it. So I'm going to make sure my life work is dedicated to that to have St. must reflect existing residents who've been here forever. That's the bottom line for me. If you don't do it, then two years from now, we'll have a minute at the ballot box.

Muhammad Dice. evening council and mayor I placed something on your in front of you and the reason why I did it is because I'm suing the mayor although it has been dismissed I'm going appeal it I'm going to take it to the Supreme Court and then to the public I was trying to do it quietly but it didn't work out like The information I gave you, the mayor said this, Muhammad, I know you are going to keep me in line because I supported him. I'm working to get a Santa and he agreed. I'm not suing the mayor. I'm suing Mr. William Scott Cwell. However, the mayor is bringing a city involved in it, but I want you all to know I'm not suing.

Thank you. And was there anyone else who needed to speak during the public hearings? Right. Those were all the speakers that we had. Okay. Uh is there any comments from council members on any of these items? If not, can I entertain a motion? Move for approval 1 through seven with an amendment for SR2 on number seven. Second. We have a motion made properly seconded. Any further discussion on this? If not, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. We are now on to approval of council minutes. Move for approval.

We have a motion made properly second for the November 12th council minutes. Um uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Eyes have it. We're now on citizens participation. Madam clerk, how many people we have signed up? We have three. I'll give a minute. All right. The time is one minute. Anthony G. Bryant.

Same address. I went to my mother's viewing and I and and the person I sued, I sued three people and and at my I got a phone call from my friend from New York and said, "Guess what? The police officers across the street from your mother's viewing. A call came for EMS and whatever. Bank of America is my my bank. I got to go there tomorrow and close out this deal. That means that every investigator in the city of Charles police department looking into my life, right? And that's cool. That's that's what Lex is all about. Lex is about knocking on doors and making sure everybody know what we got to deal with in a minute. Just take a minute to walk in there and knock on the door and change our reality in this roof. Have a nice evening.

Joe McGee. Muhammad as the mayor said, I know Muhammad, I know you are going to keep me in line. Now, if you take the end out of line, you got to lie. Now, when you look at N, it's the 14th letter in the alphabet, and that's the date that the mayor was born on, January the 14th. And I'm working hard to keep the mayor from lying. Thank you.

And those were all the speakers that we had. We did receive a few comments. One comment was received from Margaret Scott in support of the Calhoun Corridor improvements. The resolution was received from the Charleston Village Association in support of the Calhoun Corridor improvements. We also received an email from council member elect regarding infrastructure needs on James Island. And those are all the comments that we received. They were sent in full to council before the meeting. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um, moving on to petitions and communications. There is one appointment.

We have motion made for appointment on wreck. Uh it's Danielle Wagner, District 12 recommendation. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Eyes have it. We now have two items for settlement agreements. I'm going to call on Miss Creech to give a quick brief breakdown on these. Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh the first settlement agreement that we have is the um BCA site design appeal uh filed by the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association, the developer of 100 coastal drive, obtained a variance for the removal of 21 protected trees uh for the development of 24 residential town homes. Um they appealed on the grounds that the variance test was not met and as part of the mediated settlement that we have re reached um the developer would now be um preserving three of the trees that were slated for removal installing 105 caliber inches of native canopy trees on site. The conditions imposed by the BCA would remain in place, which includes the requirement to build a section of the multi-use path from the Barisford B Bridge uh Creek Bridge to Coastal Drive and the uh Daniel Island Neighborhood Association will receive a 200 a $20,000 contribution um from the neighborhood association. Uh there is no contribution from the city and if there are any questions about that, I'm happy to answer. Any questions or comments?

I can't let this one go. Sorry. Um, you know, I uh I'm gonna have to hold my nose and vote on this one. This just stinks. Um, you know, the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association and their officers made uh very disparaging comments about the BCA, about city staff, about us as council, and you, Mr. mayor uh in their opposition to the BCA finding on this uh gosh, when was that? Back in August. Uh was that the original? Yes.

Yeah. Um you know, I I feel like this sets a bad precedent that that uh we're they're going to get a $20,000 check. Um you know, I I think it's funny. Uh item number seven uh or in this u in this settlement says the parties agree they shall not make publish or communicate any statement whether written or oral that disparages mischaracterizes or is reasonably likely to harm the reputation of any other party in connection with the subject matter. Um and that's exactly what the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association did here. Um and they've done this repeatedly to uh to the city uh to our staff uh and and to the BCA who are all volunteers. Um, I'll say I think the BCA got this decision right. These trees were protected, but these were planted by a developer in 2005. They were willow oaks. Our city staff looked at this and said, "These these are not appropriate trees for the environment." The developer agreed to put back better trees than what were there before. Um, in order to make this go away, I'm going to vote for it, but I think that stinks and I'm uh I'm extremely disappointed that that it came to this. Um, I think if the DNA Neighborhood Association had acted in good faith, we likely would have been able to talk with the developer and get a better compromise in the first place. This goes to show to the three trees that are being preserved. Uh, one one of which is a sweet gum, which you all know is not a a very uh desirable tree, but um if if you're from here, you know that. Um, but uh this goes to show this this wasn't about trees. This was about trying to uh eliminate development that that somebody had by right. Uh and it's about money. Um so I I'm going to end it there. This probably uh not going to earn me any favors with the Daniel Neighborhood Association, but that's the truth of what this is. I'm I'm extremely disappointed that uh that they behaved the way they did and um and that they

used the tone and and said things in public the way they did about about us as a city. Um, and I'll I'll end it there. Thank you. Uh, Miss Greece, would you go on to the If there's no further comment or questions on this settlement agreement, we can move to the next one.

Yes, sir. So, the next one we have is 411 Meeting Street. Um, this is a um an appeal. um after the BCA uh denied a further modification of their approval uh of development which initially required in 2016, I'm going to kind of go back a little further, 159 residential unit minimum to be constructed. The BCA then modified that further in 2022 to reduce the number to 100 residential units. Uh the applicant then further sought to modify that to either eliminate the residential requirement entirely or reduce it to 30 which city staff was in favor of but the BCA denied. And so what this agreement does will require 100 residential units to be built but they have the option to build them at 82 Mary Street which will be encumbered by restrictive covenants which essentially lay all of this out. Um they can build some on 411. It can be a combination of the two. Um but anything above that 100 unit requirement if it's built on 82 Mary will uh be um MU2 workforce housing but not the 100 units that are part of the agreement if that's clear.

Any further questions or comments on this one? If not, can I entertain a motion on on both of them? We have a motion made to approve both of these settlement agreements. There's probably a second. If there's no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I opposed. Eyes have it. Uh we are now into well, excuse me, council communications. There was one item on here uh that Councilwoman Parker requested. She and I spoke on this. This is an update from about uh city lobbying uh contracts. We're going to get a written report. Uh both lobbyists couldn't be here today for uh scheduling conflicts would wouldn't allow them to be here today, but we're going to get a written report from them both before the end of the year. Um and we'll provide that to council members and then we will certainly ask for them to plan on presenting in person as well. Um that may or may not happen before the end of the year depending on uh schedules. Any further questions or comments from you?

No. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Um now on to committee reports. Uh council member Wearing on um public works.

All actionable items as you saw in the report pass unanimously. But I I am going to ask Mr. Buchcci to come up and give a explanation on a unique project on Magnolia, a trip wall. All right. Thank you, council member. Um, yeah, during the public works utility, I provided a presentation. I don't know if we have it available here, but essentially, um, the unique development at Magnolia Landing is utilizing what is called a trip wall, which is a coastal structure that is used to modify the FEMA flood maps so that you can build to different standards. Um, a lot of that project area and the proposed public roads are in what's called the limits of moderate wave action which have a very strict building requirement. You cannot use structural fill. You have to build on either piles, peers, um, or other methods. Uh, you need to have breakaway walls and other things like that. Um, that could pose serious risk to the roads that would be constructed in that area. And as a result, we came up with the solution for this very specific unique site to use a trip wall which would trip the waves and prevent those waves from damaging what is behind it. Um that will allow them to build to different roadway standards and your more traditional roadway standards and your more traditional building standards.

Rules being built on piles as a result of this trip wall. The roads will not be built on piles. Thank you, Mr. Buchcci. Yes, of course. That's a report. We have uh one approval. We have motion made probably seconded. If there any further discussion on this I'll just say sorry. Go ahead. I'm going to say thank you to Mr. Buchcci. It was was a great presentation and it was um also just hats off to staff for uh being creative in the solutions there. I think you know it's uh it's impressive what they were able to come up with and and to the folks at um Landing uh for for their uh thoughtfulness as well. So we have a motion made, probably seconded, madam clerk.

And yes, I think they were amended at the meeting as well, the agreements and the the triple ordinance. So it just be amended. I'll make my motion to accept those amendments. Madam cler. So approval as amended. We have a second. All those if no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed? Eyes have it. We are now on to council committee report on ways and means. Move for approval. [laughter] I was waiting. We have motion made properly approve report. I can't move for approval on my own committee report. Um all those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed eyes have it. All second readings have been deferred until the December 2nd meeting of our next meeting. There are no first readings. Um, and so our next council will be on December 2nd and uh I hope everybody has a happy Thanksgiving. If there's no further Oh, sorry, Councilman Mitchell. And I just got a a question I like to ask. You know, uh, previous in the first part of the year, uh, we were talking about the, uh, the, uh, the Martin Park Yep. you know, renovation. Mhm.

I just want to ask um Jason that if he know that when this might start cuz my time is short and uh I would like to see something going on before I leave because things sometime get a matter of changing and um I just want to know what uh where are we at with that uh approval on that and also in the front of the James Lewis complex that we were supposed to go in front of the landscaping there. Yeah. Okay. C I just want to make sure we're going to get this thing started. you you you have my full commitment on both of those items, but I'll turn it over to uh Bronberg.

So, on on the park house expansion, we have a contract with the architecture team to start that design and permitting and we've also have a contract with the engineering group to go through the permitting process for the park renovation. So, they're all they're getting ready to start uh the permitting process. We have the plans in place. we met and so we should I don't have a schedule but we're and we have the funding in place through the Kabura Bridge tip so we're moving on it just want to make sure because I'm getting ready to retire so I just want to make sure be going on we we are committed we are committed uh madam clerk there's one more point

just a reminder community devel the joint community development committee and city council workshop is this Thursday at 3 right uh so that that we're going to have that that's going to be talking about the housing plan. So, please, if you can make it, please join us on that. And um and and just a reminder for those that weren't able to make the traffic and transportation meeting to provide any input, thoughts that you all might have related to the transportation sales tax, particularly sidewalks, green belt funding, bike pad improvements, uh and the like. and that we want um in advance of the December 2nd council meeting. Uh, Councilman Wearing

uh to the sales tax. Uh, where are we on the either fly over or the fourth clover leaf with uh 526 and so what what we've done for the magwood and the flyover is we've uh allocated again that corridor. So it gives us flexibility on what the best solutions are there. I mean there's DO's half fly over then there's other options that could be done there like the clover leaf. So that's what we discussed in TNT that we would leave that open for uh whatever the most cost-effective and mostly effective uh solution would be. Thank you. Okay, if there's no further questions, comments, thoughts for the good of the cause, this