Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. I call this meeting of the Lancaster County Board of Zoning Appeals to order and move this just a little bit and We'll give young lady a moment to close the door and check the sheet to see if we have any signature. Thank you. I think that the board members has a copy of the agenda in their possession and have had an opportunity to review it. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda as written?

Sir, a point of order. Do we need to call order first? I did. did before she went and picked up the paperwork. Did we do the roll call? Didn't do the roll call yet,

but maybe we should. It's not on the agenda. Excuse me. I will apologize for backing up just a moment and personally thank each member of this board that's sitting here tonight. They volunteer. Some of them have to drive pretty good distance to be here. And we do appreciate you and what you do for Lancaster County. So at this time would we have a roll call of the membership please? Aaron Fender

present. James Faulenberry present. Mark Boland present. Chairman de present. And with the four members sitting we are full with a quorum to have the meeting as the agenda states. So now, gentlemen, each of you do have a copy of the agenda and have had an opportunity to review it. I'm hoping that the mail got it to you in time. Do I hear a motion? Make a motion to approve. Have a motion to approve, Mr. Fogenberry.

Second.

Second, Mr. Pender. All in favor? It's unanimous. Thank you. Gentlemen, you have copies of the minutes for the last meeting that was held July 1. You've had an opportunity, I think, to review those and to be satisfied with their content. If so, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the Jan July one board of zoning appeals meeting as written?

I move that we accept the uh minutes from the uh July 1st uh meeting. as written. Have a motion for Mr. Bender, a second. Mr. Poland, second.

All in favor? The motion is passed by a vote of 3 to one. We had one absentee that night. We have before us a public hearing item. Subarians 2025 1599 the shell station sign. Before we go any further, members of the staff who will be having opinions and making statements in the meeting, please come forward to be sworn in. Please state your name and your rep and your duties with the county.

Yes, sir. My name is Allison Harden and I am the development services director for Lancaster County. Thank you, Miss Harden. If you would raise your right hand and be sworn in. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you.

Okay. At this time, has staff made it possible for all the applicants and appellants to receive information about the meeting? Yes. Have all the adjacent property owners within the required limits been notified? Yes. Was there a notice of the meeting published in the local newspaper to include the meeting place, date, time, and the agenda? Yes. Is there a copy posted in the lobby of the administration building? Yes.

Thank you. Board of appeal duties are within three specific areas. Administrative review is an appeal of an order or a decision of the administrator that has alleged deficiencies or errors. The power to grant a variance is given by the to the board of zoning appeals by the state of South Carolina. Verances may be granted within strict application of the zoning ordinance that would cause unnecessary hardship and the granting of the variance would not cause substantial detriment to adjacent properties or the public good. Special exceptions are permitted uses within a zoning district, but require a public hearing prior to granting final approval. At this time, we'll make the following statements. Anyone speaking will come forward to the phone to the podium, speak into the microphone, state name and address, and be sworn in prior to speaking. All information is recorded for the record. For purpose of clarity, staff will make their report first. The applicant or appellet will speak next and will also have an opportunity for rebuttal after citizens comments. Citizens who wish to be heard will speak third. Please limit of course conversations at that time to four minutes.

At this time we will hear the statement of matter on variance 20251599 [Music] the shell station sign Harden thank you sir as uh as um you have addressed this is a variance for the shell station sign uh application by Harry Strathopololis and um uh the owners of the Vivos Revocable Revocable Trust and tenant for Shell Gas uh company for variance from Unified Development Ordinance section 745 the signage standards for property at 9540 Charlotte Highway which is TMS 00008-0000-59.00 00 to allow relocation of an existing sign. Miss Brian, would you please put the click on the click the slide? Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Uh an overview of the property. There's a property map shown on the screen. Uh the property in uh as described in the description um is a site area. It's 93 acres. Um it's at the intersection of Charlotte Highway and Marvin Road. Um the address is 9540 Charlotte Highway. Um this is a very busy intersection. There's a lot of uh business and a lot of traffic that goes by this area. Um when we look at the history of the property, the property has been a gas station for several decades. um going back into Google Maps and doing the archival search of the property, you can see that from the beginning of what I have available to us at 2013 all the way to 2022, um the property has been a gas station and the sign in question has been um on the site in the same location. Uh there was a tenency change over in the um near 2020 and 2019 and um other than that the sign has remained in place. Um there is landscaping around the sign. There have been uh trees planted along the street um but there's been no significant change to the sign over time. If the property owner was doing a remodel of the property now currently and taking down the sign as part of that remodel, they would have to come back with a sign that meets the current standards. Um, this sign does not currently meet our our standards in a couple of ways. Um, in section 7, which is our signage code, um, the current the maximum currently allowed for a height in this area is 10 ft. You have to have a monument sign. Um this sign is not a monument sign. A monument sign is defined by a sign that sits on the ground. It has a solid base. This is um more like a freestanding um sign or a

pole sign. It has 2 feet and there is separate area below that. Um so it doesn't meet the the monument style sign or the height restriction for that monument sign. Um this one existing is at 23 feet. Um the sign area is also limited in our current code to 40 square feet or the um the amount of square footage that is mapped based on um your linear footage of the road. The 40 square ft is a maximum. It is an either or. It's up to 40 square ft or one per line for your road. If it was under the the maximum of the one square foot per linear foot, they would have a se per 100 linear foot, excuse me, they would have 70 square foot allowance. But the square footage of the existing sign is 92 with all the components. The reason this sign is up for movement is because of a seed dot project at uh Marvin Road and uh highway 521. Um there is an intersection improvement going on in that vicinity which has required the rightway to be expanded. Um on the map on the far right hand side you can see the the area in the shaded U group is going to be replaced and remodeled with the roadway. Um and the signage area will also be impacted um as the curve is designed properly for appropriate uh transportation uh access for the intersection. The sign's location currently will be part of the rightway and so it has to move. Um again this is a movement that is based not on the applicant's redesign but it's on a exterior um con exterior condition that the applicant and the county had no um control over. For the four conditions, we remind you that for a variance, you have to be in extraordinary and exceptional condition

pertaining to the particular piece of property. Um, the conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. Because of these conditions, the application of the ordinance to the particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property and the authorization of a variance will not be of substantial detriment to the adjacent property of the public good and the character of the district will not be harmed by granting the variance. If staff were to go through for these answers, um the extraordinary exceptional conditions for this particular property are the location at the corner where it is and the odd angle that requires DOT to have to go in and make these changes. Um those changes are only being made on this piece of property, not on other adjacent properties. And the um as far as the substantial detriment, this area is covered with a signage overlay that requires the reduction of signs to focus them in on the the 10-ft uh limits. Um while it won't look like the area exactly around it, it will look like it has for several several years or decades. Um and that's we don't have an opinion on that part. Um so staff in general does not oppose the variance. staff is absolutely in favor of maintaining the sign ordinance when development and redevelopment goes on, but we understand that sometimes um state or road projects impact the neighbors um inadvertently and this is one of those situations where a board of zoning appeals is the exact right road to go. We as staff cannot approve this relocation without it being redesigned. This is totally up to y'all and the applicant is here if you'd like to ask them questions.

Thank you, Mr. I now declare the public portion of the meeting open and no one has signed to speak to this so I will declare it closed. Sardan has given her report. Was there any questions for her? Yes, Mr. Chair. I've got I've got a question for staff. Have there been other um I guess variance requests from other uh structures and so forth moved outside of right away from recent DOT projects similar to this?

No sir, there haven't been. Um, the most recent DOT projects that I can recall have been uh building roundabouts and the like in existing developments that are not fully fleshed out. This is a refit in an existing area that had buildings up to where the law had allowed them before.

Thank you. All right, I'm gonna pronounce his name and if I mess it up, you go ahead and holler. Statopalus. Statopolis. Okay, 30 seconds to give you a background where we are today. You can walk to the microphone and give your name and address for the record, please. Harry Stoplos 10614 Country Square Matthews, North Carolina 28105. And you would actually have up to eight minutes to give you a report.

I'll I'll swear him in first. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Um, the Presleys are clients of mine. Mr. Presley passed away August of last year, about a year ago. They bought the property in ' 87. You talk about a self-made businessman. this and another one on Providence Road as you get into Charlotte. Um, and they're both Shell stations. He operated them for years by himself, then he turned them over to tenants. Uh, GPM Investments, which is a subsidiary of Acres. It's a NASDAQ traded stock company, big convenience store and wholesale company. This condemnation began in 2021 when the state of South Carolina DOT began the process and then it was negotiated between attorneys in Colombia who I worked with and then another gentleman representing the state and they reached a settlement. We've spent the past year, unbelievably, just coordinating the different contractors, getting contracts in place, and other than the sign moving and the diesel tank uh system being moved over because the rightway comes in there, it's it's it's a taking. I mean, they're taking that dirt right there. And we're also going to enhance the property on the other side because we lost parking on the side close to Marvin. We're paving that entire gravel lot to the right side. We're going to freshen new paving there. It's going to look real nice, but I hope y'all give this strong consideration because it's not something we wanted for the Presley's, but you know, we had to do it because of DOT and and GPM. All the monies that are coming from DOT are helping to pay for what's being done on the site. So, if any questions, I'm glad to answer them. Any

questions? None. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Of course, I've already been in and out of the public hearing section. So, and I'm sure that since there were no applicants speaking, I mean, no citizens speaking, I'm sure there would be no rebuttal from the applicant, but he has an opportunity. I'm running backwards on this thing, so keep up with me. All right, it's your opportunity board members to question the applicant if you have questions for them hearing. None. Do I hear questions for staff?

Let me back up. Mr. D, I'm sorry. Can I This sign is the exact sign. You're just moving it. Not a new sign. It's a new sign of the same company. It's the same sign, but it it is a brand new sign. Yes. Okay.

And that that sign could not be condensed to meet current. My understand

I guess the question is with a new sign could that sign not have met the UDO the current UDO well buying a new sign basically you're you're installing a new sign could it not have met current UDO well that's 10 foot that's again the tenant kind of dictates we're the landlord and we're again DOT kind of started this process. So, understood. Yeah. So, the tenants, that's the sign they like to use. That's what they had there. They just want to replicate it and just move it over, but it's going to be a new one. They're going to install a new identical sign. Okay. Yeah. Yep. Thank you. Anyone else?

All right. Board members, do you have any Excuse me. I do want to add a clarification. Thank you, Mr. Falcon, for your question. that um part of the reason we're here is because it's not just moving. It's the building of the new sign where it is. And if you deny this variance today, they will have to meet the current code with the monument sign and the the limitations there. Um that will bring that sign uh into compliance with the existing current. Thank you.

Okay, gentlemen. It's time if you have any discussion among yourselves. Let's get that out there and get it over. Any discussion? All right. Then we'll look for a motion to bring the matter to a vote on the criteria. Do I hear a motion? Mr. Chair, I move to approve. Thank you, Mr. Poland. I have a second.

A second.

Thank you, sir. [Music] If any of the variance criteria are denied by majority vote, the variance is denied. Roll call vote is conducted for each of the four criteria. Zoning variance criteria part one that there are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular property. Do you agree or disagree? Gentlemen, do you agree or disagree? M. Boland

agree. A Fender agree. Jay Faulenberry agree. Chairman D agree. Vote is four to zero. Item three, excuse me. Item two, that these conditions do not generally apply to other property in the vicinity. Do you agree or disagree? Emboland agree. A Fender agree. Jay Falamerry agree. Chairman de agree.

Vote is four to zero on that criteria. Item three, that because of these conditions, the application of the ordinance to the particular property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property. Do you agree or disagree? And Boland agree. A Fender agree. Jay Falcon disagree. Chairman de agree. Vote is three to one on this criteria.

Item four that the authorization of a variance will not be of substantial detriment to the adjacent property or to the public good and the character of the district will not be harmed by the granting of the variance. Agree or disagree? And Boland agree. A fender. I agree. Jay Falenberry agree. Chairman de agree. The vote is four to zero on this criteria. The following criter all all four criteria are satisfied by majority vote. Variance is voted to approve.

We have a motion to approve. Is there a second on the board? A second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor of the approval. Let's have a roll call vote, please. I'm writing down. Mark Boland. Vote to approve. Aaron Fender approve. James Faulenberry approve. Chairman D

approve. The motion to approve is passed by a vote of 4 to zero. Gentlemen, the statement is approved. I want to Miss Harden, did you have something?

An order will be prepared and will be once it is signed will be provided to the applicant.

You thank you gentlemen. is has been approved and of course as Miss Harden states she will provide me with a copy of the approval which I'll sign and it'll be notorized and you will get a copy of it once that's done. It may take a couple of days. Don't don't hold me with a gun, you know. So, but uh we do appreciate your time and your effort that you put into this and we hope that it works out. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Thank you for your volunteer work. But the staff you have here in Lancaster County, when I deal with government staff, you don't always get responsiveness. This crew here, Jennifer was my main contact, but there were others. It was almost instant, but I mean it was that day if I reached out for something, I got a response. I just want to commend them because they were very helpful. This is not an area I normally work in. Um, and um, so thanks to them and thank you.

We do appreciate that and and I I will reiterate the fact that you are 100% correct. I deal with these people not daily now but I have for the last since every one of them came to work here and they are among the best. So thank you and I appreciate your comments about our staff. We we are proud of them. I just I wanted to share that because you don't always get that with government. Thank you. here. One last thing. I was a good omen when I saw Faulenberry. One of my best friends is named John Faulenberry.

My son's named John Faulenberry. He spells a B. We going to get the family here in it. John was head of the USO in North Carolina for a decade and then he went down to Charleston and the medal that the president gives the Congressional Medal of Honor. John ran that organization for six, seven years, retired, but he used to complain to me all the time. I've known John for 30 years. Did legal work. Couldn't stand it when people spelled his name because they spelled it like yours. Well, I always spell my name regardless if somebody asked or not because uh they will destroy it for sure. Thank you again, guys.

Thanks. And gentlemen, I do stand eye regard with all of you. You You do your job. you do it well and you know what you're doing when you come in the room. That's it's been tough for a lot of years to find the right people to stand up and say that about. I've had a couple of good commissions in the past, but I just say thank you to all of you. You you don't come in your Thank you every one of you. If there's anything I can do, I've always got a telephone.

Is there anything else, ladies? Um, as as you may have noted, a clean copy of the new rules document that was um voted on at the last meeting has been provided to each of you. We will also provide a copy to council. Um Allison, do you want me to talk about the UDOS or do you want to Okay, the other only other thing is we've had one um case submitted for next month. There are still a few things up in the air, but for right now, we're going to say yes, we do have a case for next month. If that changes, I will let you know. Allison,

I also want to um compliment the board that you're being very well represented by Mr. Boland at the UDO committee meetings. Um we have our last technical meeting tomorrow here in this room um where we will hopefully finish the discussions about um subdivisions and tree and a few other uh discussions that we have to hang uh to finish up for the before we issue the public draft. The draft that will come out at uh the deadline is the end of September, September 30th. The draft will come out and be available for the public to review soon after that. um that will not be the final book because the public has to review it. We have to have comments and we have to rectify those comments in with the next draft. Um but we are very very close. We're closer than we've ever been to actually having a finished project and I'm very happy about that. Um and uh Mr. Bolan has provided a good bit of of technical assistance and I'm very thankful that you um that you have him to to attend. Thank you, sir.

I have not been in those meetings and I have reasons for it. Here's one of them. But the the work that that entire group has done has been phenomenal. Frankly, I don't have a clue how many, but I know there are several several pages of text amendments that have gone through. how the people that we have hired to rewrite this thing with our help have been able to keep up and and do this and even bring it this close to being complete is beyond me. the utter number of text amendments. I've I made a statement years ago and and believe me, it's been years ago that until this thing was finished, I would not approve another text amendment that came across my desk. And to this day, I don't think I have except something like this. They have been unbelievable. and this lady and these people and you know those that are involved in this thing every day are the only ones that have got any sanity about it at this point. I don't have I helped with the first one. It took 18 months and it would had probably 500 text amendments within 90 days but it's being done. Thank you for the effort that you put into it, Miss Harden. I know that it has been, and I'll use the term loosely, a nightmare for you because I know what

else you have to do. You are amazing in my opinion. Thank you, Miss Brian. We could not operate without you. If you ever decide to leave, give me 90 days advanced notice so during that period of time I can find the right coffin for you. But I have a gentleman I do appreciate you. Do I hear a motion to adjourn this meeting? Uh Mr. Chair, I got a

um I'm going to look at under the section on other I'm gonna ask a question. Do we have some old business that we need to go back and look at uh under the January I mean excuse me the July 1st uh meeting and so forth on for the election for vice chair. Yeah, we did have and pardon me. I need to look at that closely. We do. I'm sorry. I just took for granted my dad's going to take job. Understand? Understand. Just to make sure we we got good closure here. That's uh Miss Brown, would you like to handle that vote?

So, at the last meeting, we had an election of a vice chair uh Mr. Faulenberry, which was done in absentia. Before we can ratify that vote, we have to know if Mr. Falenberry chooses to accept the nomination and election. Mr. Falenberry will accept the nomination, but he will never miss another meeting. At least we got something out of there. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you.

Appreciate you accepting and and hopefully we won't have many times when I have to call on you. But if I do, I will let you know ahead of time. So, please do. There are things that coming up. I've got another eye surgery next Wednesday. But that should give me plenty of time to get over that. And I don't know of anything other than that that we had hanging. I don't think so.

Appreciate you bringing that back. I just, you know, he's never gonna bring it up. Thank you, Miss Brian. And welcome our new clerk. We'll call her secretary. Mara will be training um over the next few months and then once she's confident that she can do this um then we will have her you can appoint her as the secretary.

Yeah. And we have we have people out here that hadn't been here very long either. Is she doing her job, Miss Harden? And then some. And then some. That's all we look for. And there may be some some and some. Sometimes we have to double up on that back. Good. It's been a while getting it together and I'm I'm glad that you've been able to do that. As long as you've got confidence in them, I'm all for it.

Anything else? I make a motion to adjurnn. Second. I don't need That's enough for me. Out of here. It don't take long. Thank you, gentlemen.