City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. It's 4 o'clock on June 1st, and I welcome you to this meeting of the County City Council. We're officially open at this time. Mr. Jordan has agreed to lead us in the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. If you'll join us, please.

We come before you today with grateful hearts for the privilege of serving the city of Conway. We thank you for this community, its hardworking families, and the many individuals who contribute to the strength and character of our city. As we gather to conduct the business of Conway, we ask for your wisdom and guidance, grant each member of this council clarity on thought, humility and leadership, and a commitment to making decisions that will benefit both current and future generations. We ask you to continue blessing upon the city of Conway. May our community continue to grow in prosperity, unity, and opportunity while preserving the values that make it a special place to call home. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Thank you all. We will now act on the consent agenda. Is there a motion? Ms. Butler.

I make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you, Ms. Butler. Is there a second? Ms. Hardwick. I have a second. We have a properly seconded motion to approve the consent agenda. All in favor, please indicate so with a showing of your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Item four, special presentations. A is Presentation of Longevity Awards for May 2026. Mr. Emmerich. Good afternoon.

Our City Council has created a program to recognize milestones on anniversaries of our employees' longevity with the city. Every five years, we get to bring people back and recognize them. Tonight, we're excited to be able to recognize several of our employees. First is Deborah Stewart. Is Deborah here? Come on up, Debra. Debra was hired in 2021 and is currently working as a part-time membership association in our recreation department. Congratulations on five years in the city. Thank you.

Debra, thank you for your service.

Next is Zach Millsworthy. Zach was hired in 2021 as a building maintenance technician and was promoted in 2022 to building inspector. He's also celebrating five years with the city. Congratulations, Zach. Appreciate it.

Zachary, thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Final one tonight is BJ Tompkins. BJ? BJ was hired in 2016 as a hospitality and beautification technician in the hospitality and beautification department. Was promoted in 2018 to maintenance manager and transferred to the recreation department. Congratulations on 10 years in the city.

BJ, thank you for your service. Thank you, Mr. Emmerich. Items B and C I will do at one time or one after the other. The first is a presentation of a proclamation recognizing National Garden Week, the second of which recognizes Atlantic Collegiate High School's golf team. If anybody here with the National Garden, with the Conway Garden Club, please join me.

Thank you. because it's National Garden Week. Whereas America celebrates National Garden Week annually, there's a first full week in June.

America celebrates National Garden Week annually during the first full week in June. And whereas, focus on the importance of gardening, community beautification, environmental preservation, pride in community, inviting new members, and creating opportunities to partner with similar groups is a goal of National Garden Week. And whereas, the city of Conway enjoys beautification projects completed by her garden clubs, Azalea, Camellia, Iris, and Ivy. The four clubs make up the Conway Garden Club. A week ago, the Parent Club presented its beautification project at the Blue Star Highway Memorial marker adjacent to the base of the Main Street Bridge. A well-appointed selection of greenery and beautiful blooms planted by these volunteers adorn the marker. Their work and stunning outcome are dedicated to those now serving and veterans of the United States Armed Forces and makes a long-lasting statement on who Conway is. Therefore, the City of Conway extends its gratitude to the Conway Garden Club for its continued contributions of beauty in our city. Best wishes to them as their membership and impactful gifts grow. And witness whereof I've set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Calamity, South Carolina to be affixed this first day of June, 2026. And it is attested to by the city clerk, Ms. Alicia Shelley. Congratulations and God bless you all. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. God bless you. You're welcome to stay. If you must leave, we understand. But stay if you will. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Is there anyone here from Atlantic Collegiate Academy? I don't believe there's anyone present.

Thank you.

Item D is a discussion of an amendment to the City of Conway's Comprehensive Plan 2035 to amend the future land use map for property located on Sycamore Street. Ms. Hux.

Yes, good evening. The applicant is seeking this amendment in conjunction with a rezoning request that would allow for development of townhomes on the property. Under the City's Unified Development Ordinance, townhomes require a minimum zoning classification of medium density residential, or R2, and because the property is currently designated as R1, or low to medium density residential, Both a future land use map amendment to the city's comprehensive plan and a rezoning is necessary. The property is currently vacant and surrounded by properties zoned R1 and developed primarily with detached single-family homes. While there are some R2 zoned properties in the general area, there are none directly adjacent to this site. The primary question before Planning Commission and Council is whether medium density residential is an appropriate land use designation for this property given its size and surrounding pattern of single family detached residential development or whether the request would represent an isolated change that's inconsistent with the surrounding area. Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on this request as well as the request to rezone the property at its June 4th meeting and their recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for consideration. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you, Ms. Hux. Are there any questions or comments relative to this discussion? Mr. No? No. Ms. Hux, I think we're all good for the time being. Thank you so much. We'll move on to Item E. Discussion of a request to rezone approximately 10 acres Out of 110 acres located on Cultural Road and Elk Street adjacent to Conway Christian School from City of Conway medium density residential to Conway low to medium density residential district from R2 to R01.

The applicant proposes to subdivide a 10-acre portion from a larger tract located along Culture Road and Oak Street and convey that property to Conway Christian School. The 10-acre portion is currently zoned medium density residential, or R2, while the adjacent Conway Christian School property is zoned R1, low medium density residential. In order to combine the properties into a single parcel, the applicant proposes to rezone the 10-acre portion to R1 so that the combined property has a consistent zoning classification as split zoning of parcels is generally prohibited. You may recall this property being annexed and rezoned within the last year containing a split zoning of R2 and conservation preservation due to the environmentally sensitive and flood-prone areas. The area zone conservation preservation will remain unchanged. The rezoning would apply only to the 10-acre area that is proposed to be conveyed to the school. So this request is primarily administrative in nature. It does not increase density, expand development rights, or introduce a new land use, but rather reduces the intensity of the designation from R2 to R1 and create consistency with the zoning of the existing school campus. A planning commission will hold a public hearing on this request at their June 4th meeting, and their recommendation will be forwarded to council for consideration.

Thank you, ma'am. Because this is even more restrictive, I think that the council may find that favorable when it comes before us. Mr. White?

One question. Excuse me. The area around the school, there's a housing development on one side, and what is planned on going in here?

Well, it's going to be conveyed to the school. So my assumption is that it will probably be for future expansion of the school.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Thank you, Ms. Hooks. We'll move on to Item 5, Second and Final Reading of Burnett's to amend Article 10, Subdivision and Land Development of the City of Conway Unified Development Ordinance regarding revisions to the park and open space dedication. This would establish new standards to calculate the fee in lieu of open space mitigation in the City of Conway. Ms. Huggs.

Yes, this received first reading at the May 18th council meeting. Staff wanted to provide additional clarification regarding what this amendment changes and what remains unchanged. So the requirements for open space are not changing. The amount of open space required by the ordinance will remain the same. The circumstances under which fee in lieu may be used will remain the same. And city council will retain authority to review alternatives to providing open space, including reduced fee in lieu amounts. What the amendment does change is the method used to calculate the fee in lieu when it's required by ordinance or requested by the developer in lieu of providing all or a portion of the required open space. Currently, the fee in lieu is based on an appraisal of the property as if the property is already developed. Because that methodology relies on a hypothetical future condition, the resulting fee can vary significantly from project to project and often cannot be determined early in the development review process. So staff has also found that these appraisals can introduce a level of subjectivity and inconsistency with what is intended to be a standardized requirement. In this slide, there's two examples, one that shows the current fee in lieu calculation and one that shows the proposed fee in lieu calculation. The current calculation, once we have an appraisal, there is a certain formula you have to use, and that comes to a half acre. Let's say the developer has to do one acre. He's only going to provide half an acre, so he's half an acre short. We would use the current calculation, and that would be $156,271. Under the proposed fee in lieu calculation, there's a dollar amount for active open space and a dollar amount for passive open space. Using the same amount that is deficient, a half an acre, that amount fee in lieu with the proposed change would come to $196,020. One important thing to note is that it does not necessarily reduce fee-in-lieu amounts, but particularly for larger developments, the proposed fee could actually result in a higher fee amount. And as a result, it may encourage developers to provide the on-site open space that we currently require. As far as the review process, currently it has to be reviewed by the Technical Review Committee, Planning Commission, and City Council. Under the proposed amendment, if the applicant utilizes the standard fee, Planning Commission may approve the request to pay the family as part of development review. If they want to pay a reduced fee or offer land for donation, off-site improvement, or other alternative, Planning Commission would then provide a recommendation to City Council, and City Council would retain final decision-making authority. Staff continues to recommend approval, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Ms. Oaks. I have one question. Who determines whether or not the space will be active or passive?

The ordinance does. The ordinance requires a certain percentage of all open space to be required to be 25% active.

I see. Wonderful. Mr. Wright.

Excuse me. This active or either passive area of land, if they don't put it in, what would happen to that land?

don't have open space well if they don't have the land let's say it's a very small development that requires less than an acre the ordinance says that they can just go straight to the fee in lieu and obviously we would want them to install it but there's times where when you have less than an acre it's not really suitable open space it ends up being a buffer and easement So they have the option of providing it, but then if they do, they have to provide at least an acre and meet suitability standards. But if they don't have the space, they could opt to pay the fee in lieu. But the goal is for them to actually provide the open space onsite.

Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Hardwick.

Just my comment. I really like how we're changing this and moving it to a more concrete formula versus basing it on the uncertainty of appraisal in the future. So I appreciate the research that has gone into making this, I think, a very fair formula for everyone involved.

Thank you, Ms. Hardwick. Anyone else? Is there a motion? I'm sorry? Did I miss somebody's hand?

I'll make a motion that we accept this, or we move forward with this.

I'll second Ms. Hardwick's motion. We have a properly seconded motion on the floor to approve final reading of this ordinance. Are there any other questions or comments? There being none, we'll call the vote. All in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item six, first reading of an ordinance to annex approximately 58,100 acres of property located at Buccaneers Cove. Ms. Hooks.

This property contains an existing single family residence within the Buccaneers Cove subdivision. Annexation is being requested to facilitate a name change on the city's utility service account. Restrictive covenants were reported on May 1st of this year. Properties located adjacent to and behind the subject property are within the city limits, making this property contiguous. The requested zoning of R1 or low-medium density residential is consistent with the future land use map as well as the other properties in Buccaneers Cove have been annexed to date first reading is for annexation of the property only and if approved Planning Commission will hold the public hearing on the proposed zoning at their July 9th meeting and I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have but staff does recommend approval I have one quick question does the fact that it's coming before us today mean that some of the preliminary issues have been worked out This is actually a different request. This is just one of the, this is actually just another property within Buccaneers Cove. It is not the other property.

Thank you so much. Anyone else? Is there a motion relative to this first reading? Mr. Goldfetch? So moved. Is there a second? Ms. Butler? I second the motion. Properly seconded motion to approve first reading of this ordinance. Are there questions or comments? There being none, we'll call a vote. Only favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item B is first reading of an ordinance to annex approximately 72 acres of property located behind a property commonly referred to as Lake Busby and adjacent to New Road. Ms. Hux.

This property was acquired by the city in 2025 as part of the Lake Busby and former Granger steam plant acquisition. During subsequent platting activity, this portion of the tract appears to have been subdivided from the parent parcel, resulting in the property not appearing within the city or county's zoning jurisdiction on GIS mapping. The property appears to be heavily wooded, containing a Santee Cooper transmission line easement, and is substantially encumbered by flood-prone and environmentally sensitive areas. The surrounding Lake Busby and adjacent city-owned parcels were annexed or rezoned in 2025 to either Conservation Preservation or the Waccamaw Riverfront District. This request would annex the property and assign the Conservation Preservation zoning, consistent with the future land use map and city's previous actions for a surrounding area. A Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed zoning at their June 4th meeting, but staff does recommend approval of first reading to annex the property.

Thank you, Ms. Hobbs. I move we approve first reading. Ms. Helms. We have properly seconded motion, but we will defer a vote until such time as we've heard any questions or comments that there may be. And as there are none, we'll call a vote. All in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Item 7A, consideration of a request for waiver of sidewalk requirements for the village at Crabtree. A proposed multi-family development containing three buildings with 117 units on El Bethel Road and Campton Loop. Ms. Huggs.

This request is for a fee in lieu of the installation of sidewalks associated with the proposed Village Crab Tree development located on El Bethel Road. Under the City's Complete Streets Ordinance, approximately 566 linear feet of sidewalk would be required to be installed along the project's frontage. The applicant has requested a waiver of this requirement. Under the Unified Development Ordinance, City Council may grant a sidewalk waiver when there is no foreseeable pedestrian connectivity or public benefit associated with the installation of sidewalks. If granted, the applicant is required to pay the fee in lieu of installation of sidewalks, which is equal to the cost of installing the sidewalk. Staff does not believe the standard for a fee in lieu of the installation of sidewalks has been met in this case. The proposed development is located within an area that contains existing residential subdivisions, nearby multifamily development, and Whittemore Park Middle School, all of which were required to install sidewalks in conjunction with development of those properties. In fact, sidewalk waivers were denied for the Spring Oaks subdivision in 2021 and Whittemore Park Middle School in 2022. Because there is a foreseeable pedestrian connectivity and a clear public benefit associated with completing the sidewalk network along El Bethel, staff recommends disapproval of the request and supports installation of the required sidewalks. However, should council to determine a waiver is appropriate, the applicant would be required to provide a payment in lieu of construction in the amount of $18,678. Thank you, Ms. Hux.

What's the will of the council? Mr. White?

I move that we deny this.

Thank you, is there a second?

I second.

Thank you, Ms. Hardwick. A properly seconded motion to deny this request. Are there questions or comments? There being none, all in favor, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously to deny. Items B is consideration of a request for a waiver of sidewalk requirements for Long HVAC, located at 3191 Highway 378. Ms. Huggs.

Yes. For the previous item, the question was whether there is a foreseeable pedestrian connectivity, and staff determined that there was. This request is for property on Highway 378, Longs HVAC. Under the UDO, approximately 265 linear feet of sidewalk would be required along the property's frontage. The applicant requested a waiver based on two factors. First, future roadway widening improvements associated with the Brookhaven plan development would impact any sidewalks installed today and would require reconstruction as part of those improvements. Second, and more importantly, staff does not believe there is foreseeable pedestrian activity in the immediate area. The surrounding properties, including the Brookhaven Plan development, airport frontage areas, and properties across Highway 378 do not contain sidewalks or an interconnected pedestrian network. As a result, the proposed sidewalk would function as an isolated segment with no meaningful connections at either end. Because the ordinance allows waivers when there is no foreseeable pedestrian connectivity or public benefit, staff supports the requested waiver and recommends approval of the fee in lieu in the amount of $8,745. Thank you, Ms. Hudson. Mr. Goldfinch?

Mayor, I move that we proceed with staff's recommendation and grant the fee in lieu. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Ms. Helms?

I second.

We'll probably second a motion to approve the fee in lieu. Are there questions or comments? Of course.

Ms. Hudson, could you go back and speak about the road widening and when you anticipate that will take place?

My understanding is that they are kind of reviewing plans and coordinating with DOT right now on those improvements. And if you remember the Brookhaven plan development as part of their PD, they were not required to put sidewalks in. So the corner of Airport Road and 378 and across the road, there will never be sidewalks there. And this project is directly adjacent to it. I don't know how soon that will happen. It probably will take a few years at least for coordination, but my understanding is they are working with DOT.

And if I understand correctly, if we ask them to put in sidewalks today, probably within the next 24, 36 months, they will be torn up as the road is blocked?

Yes, if it is done within that time, yes. It's very possible, yes.

Thank you for that clarification.

what you said but are you also saying that there will never be sidewalks no because the PD was not required to install sidewalks along 378 the other side of 378 is mostly already developed and on the other side of this tract is the airport it's already there and they'll never be sidewalks there

Thank you. Anyone else? We'll call vote. All in favor of following staff's recommendation relative to this waiver of sidewalks, please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much, Ms. Hux. Item C is deferred. That doesn't mean that we're not hearing it today, does it? Or does it? it was deferred from last week thank you so much it is consideration of approval of a special event the gathering on the green sunday fun days on various sundays from may through september 2026 mr rogers good evening this request came to you last time is for an event as you said to hold a um

gathering on the Green Sunday Fundays now from June through September. It will involve food trucks, musicians consisting of local buskers, balloon animal artists, and approximately eight to ten vendors. The applicants are here to answer questions, but I'll remind you of the questions that came up last time. The event is scheduled from 12 to 8 during the summer months. Some of you had concerns that that may be too long in that weather and what the plans were for managing people in that weather for that long, how the buskers are going to work, if there was going to be any programmed music, the name of the event sounding a lot like names of other events. the competition to other businesses in the area and whether the team had the experience so i will turn it over to the applicant thank you so much

How are you doing? My name is Thomas Vesta. My wife, Megan, and I own the Clever Cleaver Food Truck. I'm also here with Chris Lawson. He owns Lemons and Dough Food Trailer. They're organizing this event collaboratively.

Welcome to both of you. All three of you.

Yes. So to answer a couple of the questions, the name of the event, I should have caught that. I didn't. We refer to the green as the green all the time. So we can stick with Sunday Funday and not have any issue with grooving on the green. um the time being a little too early in the day too long of an event although we are eager to have some time to let families come some early some late we also are willing to make some changes i was thinking three to eight and give us five hours I think that anything shorter than that at that point makes it difficult for the local businesses to monopolize on that. There was some talk about the brick and mortars in town. We, and I will continue to do this, have reached out to numerous ones to see if they're interested in opening up for partial of this or all of it they've done it in the past for other events the following days when they're closed part of the reason why we chose sunday is just for that reason so that we wouldn't get a lot of kickback about the restaurants although doing research it only helps them it doesn't hurt them by having us set up and Another question was who we were. So the Clever Cleaver is a food truck business that's been in business since 2017. We moved to Conway August last year. We jumped right into Halloween when Beth said the city asked us to join to kind of save the, and we've been part of Conway ever since. And 99% of the reason why we want to have it here is for that reason and that reason only. if there's any other questions i can answer the buskers so i was following lead on what the city offered for the buskers um i i like the idea of the vendors not having to come up with the money to pay for the musicians also to give the musicians a platform to play i do have times and availability of those musicians and there will be somewhat of a plan however just like the issue i'm having with the food trucks where we're taking people's available calendar and putting it on hold i didn't want to block the musicians into certain times as until we were approved for example we've already lost one of the events obviously last month so um i would have to retrack and i have been in contact with the vendors and the musicians and they have given me times and stuff that will work in this uh setup so

Great, thank you so much. I'll put that follow up and I'll ask the members of council if there are other questions or if you might have missed something along the way. Ms. Hardwick.

hi thank you for coming I'm so glad you're here to answer our questions or my questions one I think I was the one who was concerned about the length of time because I could not envision and reading the paperwork I could not I could not envision when the when the musicians get there will there will we have like four or five competing on the on the green for space or will it be

no it's individual so really um i didn't want to put the focus on a music thing the music was just something to add to the background noise um it was really just a kind of a small business of conway approach a lot of us are chamber members and also conway businesses it's just because we have wheels sometimes people forget that that's actual thing we've been to a lot of events in our course of experience here and we know what works and we know what the people want and so the music definitely adds an element that is kind of nice and the thought of families just coming and hanging out on a Sunday when there's not a whole lot to do in the summertime is pretty cool and then and I guess so it's kind of almost like a food truck slash

music event, am I right? Would you say more?

I mean, we're food trucks, so we can't say we're that. I call it a corral of sorts because we have countless number of trucks and trailers that want to be a part of something like this. It's just we wanted something a little quaint, a little smaller than a typical food truck event. It makes it too many challenges and too many different opinions and things like that. So we keep it a small group and we know we're all part of this. We all have the right permits. We all have the hospitality set up and the business licenses where they need to be and there's not a whole lot of chasing. And so, yes, it's a food truck event, obviously, but a smaller one to scale.

and I did my other thought was I just want to make sure that there is safety heat stroke safety water available which I think there's now a new water fountain outside out there just for us to be aware of that and that was my thinking also when it was going from like 12 to 8 is just a safety Okay, I agree. I like where y'all are going with this. Well, thanks. I'm glad to hear that y'all are, you have plugged some of the holes that I had in looking at the event.

Well, we're glad. We wish we would have known we could have came to the last meeting because we weren't familiar with the process. So we found out after the fact, watching the video, that we could have answered these questions then. So I'm sorry about that. Mr. Goldfinch.

Mayor, I move that we approve this event. Several of the stipulations discussed here, you all can work that out with staff as far as I'm concerned. Thanks very much. I think you've got a consensus of what we're looking for. Change the name, adjust the hour. I've got a question.

We'll have time for questions still.

Yeah, that's all. That was my motion.

Okay, so there are a number of questions waiting. We've got a motion that will sit. I'll second the motion. Ms. Helms and then Ms. Butler? Yeah, I just had a comment. Okay, and then Mr. White.

I just had a question about the last one, September 27th. That kind of is right when we came in.

It wasn't really on our list. The city suggested that we did the May one and the September one. So originally we ended in August.

So we would be good?

Yeah, we can strike the September one. Okay. Ms. Butler? um i just had a question concerning the food trucks in like will it be the same food trucks every week or will there be a rotation so there's it's not a rotation per se they're all the same trucks however not all of them are available for all of the all of the dates so we did supply you guys with lists of the breakdown um i think the total is nine trucks complete but uh there's seven or eight that are running

um at the max at the at the events okay and then my other question is if for example someone is watching this tonight and say oh i have a future i want to participate would they still be able to contact you or contact someone i think at this point because of the layout and how everything was orchestrated i don't think we would have a whole lot of room for for more

based it on we did Friday's in May grooving on the green and I kind of based it on that and not that we wouldn't love we have friends around that would love to be part of it but we also have to I think this is the start of something much bigger in our eyes we just want to present you guys with the first few in this room when we come back and we want to do something grander maybe you'll have a little little less of a concern about it that's why two questions first

And this is about police and safety. The police officers would have to be there from whatever time to the end? Yes or no?

We generally would not staff just a it's not like it automatically pulls us into

I have one question. Ms. Hardwick asked about the length of time. I'm talking about summer. I'm less concerned about the number of hours, but more about what the hours are. When you consider that three to five are the hottest hours of a summer day. I don't know how that might impact the crowd, the number of people who show, but I do think it impacts their well-being. I like that. I was at a few of the events on the past Five Fridays, and what is clear is that people in Conway love an opportunity to get out, to be in community, to be with their neighbors and friends, to hear music, to eat. like anyone else would. I guess we'll see in time how that works out.

The crowd may... Moving forward, come back and say we need to make some changes. I mean, we're very open to that. It's just the difference between grooving on the green and that concentrated time is the budget that they had to put it on. So we don't have the budget to pay for those musicians that are going to bring huge crowds. So we really have to rely. And plus, again, this is for the mobile businesses built by for the mobile businesses. So we have an understanding of... too much is problematic not enough is problematic and there's a happy medium and so we're basing this on some of our experience um it's hot here i mean i it's hot since the day i moved here i've been hot from december And so when that question came up, I looked at my wife and I said, I don't know what to expect. It's going to be hot. And we do these events and the people in the trucks are the ones that are really hot. So I don't feel so bad for the people in the shade or having a drink or listening to the music. we're also we're smart people we're not going to take any chances with anybody and if we like I've mentioned it'd be nothing for us to put four coolers on all four corners of the green with bottles of water and I mean that's an easy fix and at least we don't have to worry about anything like that we also had no issues involving the police or the fire we just didn't think it was that type of event that required it sure

i hope over time your your the number of people increases um because people do like that sort of thing and that more trucks can be involved you know i've got this tiny thing that says that somebody's going to feel like it's it's uh it's restrictive i'm sure they'll feel like that but we also i'll give you an example i am i am the victim of the other side i just did an event for conway rec center actually on saturday and there was 10 food trucks there and maybe 50 people yeah

So all of our small businesses, we obviously, we're there, we're not gonna go anywhere, but we gave up our time, we gave up our propane, we potentially lost money. And so again, that's why this, it's not inclusive, it's just controlled size-wise. If this is as popular as I think it will be, then we're gonna keep pushing it. And everyone would be involved, and we'll make it as big as the city will let us. We have 25 food trucks.

All right, very good. You know where you can find some.

Yes.

One last question. Yes, Mr. White.

The time. Are we going to change the time? 12 o'clock?

Yeah, we're going to go to 3 to 8, which... That's better. Better. My wife wants 4 to 8, so she's probably rolling her eyes right there, but... I know what it takes, and sometimes you have early birds that want to come out before the crowds, and it's a Sunday, so I'm not sure really how late it's going to go, but we'll try three to eight this year, of course.

Nobody wants to cook on Sunday anymore.

Gene, Tim's coming out of me now.

there they are I know right yes ma'am just one last comment I do want to I mean you y'all have been involved in multiple events you know throughout the years in the downtown Conway area and that's noticeable I and I think that also you were hitting a spot to where Especially during the summer and the fall, people are looking for something to do on Sundays. Small businesses can't be open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. So I think that's a... That's the main reason for it all. I hope that we, as we're hashing this out and going through, that we are flexible and we come back to where we need to adjust this plan and we'll work on it and go from there.

Well, I appreciate that. Absolutely. So there is a motion on the floor. And unless anybody has anything else to say or any other questions to raise, I'll call vote. I'm in favor. Did you get a second? Yes, I did. I seconded it. I'm sorry. That's okay. I'm like everybody else. All in favor of approving what is called Sunday Funday. Sunday Funday. Thank you. Please show your hand. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Item eight is public input. As Ms. Judy Gerald comes forward, please. I'll just say a couple of things to you about public input. First, you have the three minutes, of course, and the monitors to help you gauge your time. I won't stop you in the middle of a sentence, but I won't let you go much over either. Public input is not interactive. but just know that we are all alert and listening to every word you say. Occasionally, the staff on the front row will hand you a card for the person that you might want to speak to. You can talk about anything but an individual employee. That, of course, would have to come up in a more private venue. With all that said, welcome, Ms. Gerald. Please give us your address, and we'll hear from you. Now, just give us your home address, please.

Yes. My name is Judy Gerald. My address is 14 Laurel Street, number 14.

Thank you.

As I said, my name is Judy Gerald. I am a proud native and current resident of downtown Conway. One of the most alluring attributes of our downtown is the walkability that many of us enjoy. During the past year and a half, I have walked many miles downtown in the Greg Martin Park, the Marina area, the Riverwalk, and our city streets. Conway has created a space and a place drawing a multitude of visitors nationally. Unfortunately, we have a growing number of visitors creating safety, sanitation, and health risk. Those visitors are the Canadian geese. Canadian geese create safety concerns of slips and falls, aggressive behavior, and blocking access for foot and vehicular traffic. Goose droppings are a challenge to navigate, and they create a fall risk for older adults, runners, and children, and actually any and every one. Goose droppings create a large amount of waste each day. A single goose deposits one to two pounds of droppings, adding up to about 28 droppings of goose. In a park setting like ours, 25 geese can deposit 25 to 50 pounds of waste a day. A modest flock can make navigation extremely difficult. These birds can be aggressive. Hissing, lunging, and chasing are natural defense responses. Their size may be surprising. A 5-foot wingspan, 3 feet when standing, and 8 to 12 pounds. A hissing, lunging goose can be dangerous. The idea that the goose is going to move out of the way is grossly inaccurate. They are territorial and they are not easily intimidated. They sit and stand directly on our walkways and in the streets. They refuse to move. Stepping off of walkways onto uneven surfaces and navigating cars when distracted is unsafe. Sanitation and health concerns arise from that massive waste. Bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria, and protozoan parasites pose health threats to us. Tracking those pathogens with our shoes and our pets takes it into our cars and into our homes. There are successful long-term management models in place. Their federally protected status does not mean that we can't do anything. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects them, but permits give us permission to protect ourselves and to protect our environment. Once thought to be more seasonal in migration, Canadian geese have become more residential in their migratory pattern, which means, like many visitors that come to see us, they want to stay. The long-term management does appear to be necessary. Given a flock of 25 could lay 70 eggs in a year, they could be here for a long while. Capturing, killing, and destroying eggs and nests is illegal, but it's not illegal when proper permits are obtained. It's possible and increasingly necessary to initiate a humane, successful management plan to ensure we have and maintain a clean, safe, freely accessible downtown paradise. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Gerald. Thank you very much. If I might just make one comment, I hadn't seen geese of late, but many years ago, we encountered large numbers of them. We found a way to relocate them safely, and the population was just about over and done, but all those things you mentioned are things that I've experienced. We'll certainly keep that in mind. Thank you, Ms. Gerald. Item 9 is the City Administrator's Report. Ms. Hamrick.

Good afternoon again. As you know, our Planning Department is working on our comprehensive plan rewrite. As part of that, the Planning Commission creates a steering committee to help guide the process. If any of you have any specific individuals that you would like to see on the steering committee, we can send those recommendations to the Planning Commission for them to consider for the steering committee selection. If you can let me know by the end of the week if that would be possible, that way we can get them to the next Planning Commission meeting. We also want to make sure that you have on your calendar the June 23rd ribbon cutting for Cypress Basin. I know some of you have been out there to see it. If not, it will be a very nice surprise for you when you go to the ribbon cutting. It is located at 1604 Sherwood Drive. That is where the ribbon cutting will be. That is the site of what was formerly called Sherwood Park II will now be called Cypress Basin. A couple of playground updates for you. We began work on building the new playground at Jamestown across from the Jamestown Baptist Church in the Grove of Live Oak Trees. We had purchased a playground on clearance at the end of last year, and we're ready to put it somewhere, and it perfectly fit there. So it's under construction now, and we're hoping to be able to add to that facility as we go and keep adding to that park. We've been looking for a park on that side of town for a long time, and hopefully this will meet some of the community needs. additionally we've completed the fencing around the donated playground at the sports and fitness center next to ladybug park the large um playground that was donated by the hoppinwich grubby monk corporation uh amazing amazing site and how it's covered how it's fenced in as well um as will we the one across from jamestown church will be fenced as well dog park has been closed for a few days we are in the process of installing the archway entrance and planting several shades trees these projects are funded by the generous gift from dave and carol hoyt dave and carol were residents of laurel street not long enough with us unfortunately but they were while they were here they made quite an impact they left a legacy gift to the city that they would love to have seen that they wanted to see invest in the dog park and that is underway right now Today we also accepted final delivery of two fire engines. These trucks were originally ordered nearly three years ago. They're custom fit to meet our needs. They have a little bit of accessories to be added to them before they can be road ready, but there they are in the driveway at the station number one. They're beautiful and they're ready to go. And I got to ride in one for a brief minute today. The downtown get-down, the line dancing, will begin on the Town Green this Friday and continue through the summer. The Town Green this morning, thanks to our partners, BJ and Monty, worked on the Town Green today to try to get some real grass on there for the fall. So they plugged it and aerated it. Hopefully we'll get some grass growing in there. And the downtown get-down, I don't think we'll have much of an impact on that, but we're looking forward to that as well. And finally for me, coastal baseball season came to an abrupt end over the weekend in Tallahassee. I think we're spoiled by the successes of our team that we've enjoyed for the last several years. But I think it's important to point out that the accomplishments of this team this year making the NCAA tournament and making it year after year is a major feat. It's one that both Clemson and USC are both envious of. And so I just want to wish congratulations to the Coastal Carolina University baseball team for another fantastic season. And hopefully we can continue to enjoy that success again next year. And then finally, we have two executive sessions as outlined on the agenda. We do not have any workshops. So unless there's any questions for me, that will conclude my report. I see questions already. Mr. Goldfinch.

Adam, let's talk geese. I think our friend from Laurel Street's on to something. You know, HBO is filming the show Neighbors right over in Surfside Beach. Yes. And whatever they're doing, we can do it better. You can do it better right now.

The one caveat I would say is that, by ordinance, our city is a bird sanctuary. So if we are to do something, there are a lot of rules that we have to follow to be able to do that by our own covenants and rules. so let's look at those and we can bring a report back to you on what can be done i totally concur there's nothing worse than cleaning the city up and then having it covered in goose poop so if there's something that can't be done we can do it but let us look at the ordinance first to see what is within our power and then we can go from there if that's okay

The aggression is also very real. We used to come to work early and walk around the geese and stomping and carrying a big stick didn't do it. It took Ashley Smith's voice to get them to back down. I remember it very well. I do have one question. I keep getting asked when we're going to finish up the pavement with the stormwater.

uh well we had to be substantially completed by today which means the drainage has to be in the asphalt will come after that and we're we're in the final phases so we are all very very looking forward to that happening across the board um i know loyal street and elm street were both closed last week for a period of time and main street's still torn up so it is very much inconvenient Again, I want to point out this is why the people that demand infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure, it's why it isn't done as often as people want because infrastructure comes at a major inconvenience when you put it in. 501's been under construction for the last three years and people are still complaining about it. But when it's done, it makes an impact. Hopefully we won't need to put any of these stormwaters in place again for the next 50 years. That's hopefully the level of improvement we just did. So soon is the answer. It's not a great one, but that's the one I got.

Any other questions or comments from Stan Rick? Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I appreciate you. We will now have council input, and this evening we'll start with Ms. Hardwick.

thank you very excited for all the things we're here tonight I'm just keeping my very short I am really looking forward to graduation coming up this week for the high school students and some of my high school fathers we successfully celebrated our college graduates and now it's time to look at our high school graduates and the close of another school year and time to now i hope we can see a lot of children a lot of families enjoying the activities that we have scheduled and planned in conway uh in the months of june july and august thank you thank you miss hardwick mr jordan nothing for me tonight there mr goldrich mr white i'm good thank you man miss butler

I just wanted to reiterate what Councilwoman Hardwick said. Of course, it is our graduation season. Our seniors will graduate in two days. So hug a teacher this week. We've made it through another successful year. Our teachers, especially at Conway High School, have worked diligently to prepare our students. So definitely want to give a huge congratulations to all of our seniors who will go off and do bigger and greater things. And then, of course, all of our teachers who have successfully prepared them. That's it.

Thank you so much, Ms. Helms.

I just wanted to say the decorations for the 250 celebration is awesome. I know that we're not done probably yet, but they are probably 99% done. But they're beautiful, and I appreciate all the hard work. And that's all I have. So congratulations to them.

And I just have one comment. At the conclusion of grooving on greens, I have been personally complimented so many times. You would think that I orchestrated it, that I lined up the bands, that I planted the grass, that I owned all the food trucks. I mean, people really, really enjoyed that opportunity to be out with their neighbors and friends, to be a part of community, to just have some clean family fun. I'm serious, I couldn't hear the band or eat my hot dog for people telling me thank you. I think that just speaks to our movement, I believe, sincerely in the right direction. that we like each other that we like time together and the more we do the better this community is going to be thank you so much for everybody who had any part in planning that and and future uh ventures for that matter we will now go into a workshop uh the purpose of which mr emmert is there's no workshop there's no workshop i'm sorry but we will go into executive session, the purposes for which are to discuss an economic development project on Mill Pond Road pursuant to South Carolina Code Section 3470A5, and to discuss potential acquisition of property on Highway 378 pursuant to South Carolina Code Section 3470A2, after which time, We may reconvene, and if we do, we will be at open session again before your decisions are made and take any possible action at that time before we adjourn. Mr. Goldfinch.

Mayor, I'm going to go into executive session this time.

Is there a second? All in favor, show your hand. Thank you all. You're certainly welcome to wait to see the outcome.