Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I mean it should be Yeah. Can you test test test one two three ABC Come with me. There was an old lady that lived in a shoe.

Has it Are you checking online now? Was an old woman who lived in the shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do. Um I can't remember another I gota remember another nursery. Three blind mice. Three blind mice. See how they run. See how they run. I have no idea what mic does that.

I don't know. Okay, then.

Okay. But I mean, you'll probably hear it here. The question is is if you have it off, does do you hear it on the streaming? If it's if you have it turned off in the back.

Teresa, you Teresa? Okay, we'll get started. It's five or Yep. five o'clock. Uh, so the August meeting of the planning commission will uh will start. I don't think we need a roll call. We do have a quorum. Miss Lines, um, approval of the agenda. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda as proposed? I'll move to approve. Okay, Mr. Smi and I think and Pam seconded. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

Motion passes. Great. And approval of the minutes from the July meeting. Any recommendations for edits or changes? Okay. Was that Mr. Davis? It was Mr. Davis. Yep. Seconded by Mr. Smite. All those in favor of approving the minutes from last month say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Stone, Planning Commission recommendations update.

Good afternoon, planning commission. Mr. Chair, thank you. We have August recommendations from town council uh that planning commission has hoarded on the first reading for town center. The PD amendment was denied and that will terminate that application. um they will have to request a one-year waiver or come back in the future to um have any other future plans reviewed. The rest of these are final readings. The uh final reading on 1724 Lanon, the annexation and zoning of area wide business that was approved. We had the final reading of a 66 acre parcel on Highway 17 uh zoned AB to remain in the Sweetgrass Basket Overlay District. that was approved. Then we had the uh 2965 North Highway 17 that was annexed in zone CC. Uh that was approved. Final reading um I'm excited to announce final reading on the 5-year update for the comprehensive plan. Uh that was approved. And final reading for the highway 17 uh aggregation of nearly 12 acres of five parcels that was deferred um by council. So that's all the staff has. Glad to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks Mr. Stone. Any questions um for staff about the uh town council's reviews? Okay. If not, we will move ahead. I assume that all the correspondence was forwarded to us within the parameters. That's correct.

Great. Thank you for that. Uh now's the time for general public comment. So we have three public hearings on um our agenda tonight. So if you care to speak about a specific uh uh item on on the agenda, um you're welcome to do that, of course, and we we'd ask that you probably reserve your comments until then. But if there is there anything of of g of a general nature you care to bring before the commission, now would be a time to do that. Seeing none, we will close the general public comment period and move to um our order of business 7A public hearing for street name approval.

Good evening, chairman and uh planning commission members. Um, thank you, Peter. So, um, I have the honor to present this request tonight to rename a street in Rivertown after our very dear friend, Bruce Cutting. As you all know, Bruce lost a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer in June. And although he lost his life, this illness did not beat him or ever get the best of him. He was eternally optimistic. As retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, the core values are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. How Bruce lived exemplified these values. From a 20-year service to our country to serving his town, his community, his church, his neighborhood, and serving alongside all of us and all the other things he did that we never knew about. Bruce always and absolutely lived it with a big grin on his face and a thumbs up all the time and usually with a witty self-deprecating joke that went along with it. His very last sit rap, which is army lingo for situation report, uh came on May 9th, and as usual, he was funny and positive and full of hope. and he ended his email with a sentence that said, "There's not a fear in me." And I don't doubt it one bit because he was outspoken in his faith and he was confident in where he was going to spend eternity. So with that, we recommend approval with this street being renamed. And to Bruce, I would say well done, good and faithful servant. And I know that he has his bride and some family and friends here that would like to speak for the public hearing. So with that I'll

right Michelle thank so very well articulated thank you is a public hearing so we we'd welcome comment from um from the public I don't know how anyone you can go you can go to the the mic yeah that's okay and if you would uh for the public record if you'd state your name and address please ma'am

so sorry I'm Jennifer Lavoy I'm one of the residents of Rivertown Parkway and Bradley Lane Um, we live next to Bruce and his beautiful wife, Arlene. So, we want to first thank you guys and thank you Peter as well for your help with this um for your consideration in changing the street name in honor of our friend and neighbor Bruce Cutting. He was just an amazing human. Um, he was a cherished member of our community. He was the neighbor everyone wishes they could have. Um, the first to welcome each of us to the neighborhood. the one we called on with questions about happenings throughout the community. The one who seemed to know just about everything about just about everything. He demonstrated unwavering dedication to the betterment of our neighborhood, contributing to um by serving on our HOA board as a volunteer coordinator, to our neighborhood swim team, serving on boards and commissions and local municipalities. Bruce greeted thousands of people coming and going in and out of Charleston at the cruise ship terminal um where he served as guest services agent um on the Carnival Sunshine. Bruce's desk for life was truly unmatched. Um he would get such a kick out of watching us go through this process with the county and the municipalities. We can't wait to see how many different ways GPS can pronounce Ketty. Naming the street after Bruce will serve as a lasting tribute to his legacy and provide a constant reminder of the values of service, compassion, friendship, and community that he so strongly embodied. Um, he was amazing and there was no one more worthy of being honored.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, sir. And if you would, sir, just state your name and address for the record. My name is Brian Oliver, 2845 Rivertown Parkway, right on the corner of Bradley Lane, soon to be renamed one of our best friends ever. Back in June, uh, all of us here up and down this street in the community lost a big big man. It's the best way I could describe him. Rebulls, bad jokes, good friends. He was the first one to welcome us 10 years ago onto that street when we moved in. He was the f he was the first to welcome everyone else that I knew that was there. Amazing friend. Uh he set an example in so many ways on so many dimensions to all of us, kids, young people, older adults going through things. He was a brilliant to the very end. Um that was probably what I could say was even to that time the last times that we visited him is um I never saw somebody that I would love to put to point an example a way of life a way to live all the way to the very end of his life it was there um there will not be any time that we walk down this street or see this or go to the community that uh and and people throughout the the devel element that know him will not be remembering him, talking about him, telling stories. There's probably not one tourist that got off the Carnival Cruise Line of the thousands over the last five or seven years that got off of that ship or got on them. They won't remember Bruce Kenny in one way or another. He'll be a part of their life and a part of the stories they'll tell about Charleston. Bigger than that, we wish him well and we'll be thinking of him for always.

Thank you, sir. wonderful tributes. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Okay, we will close the public hearing. So, those of you that had the privilege of uh of of working on this commission or otherwise with with Bruce, he he was everything that has already been said and more. This could be the simplest decision that um this commission has ever made. So with that discussion, so for a moment I'm going to pretend this is The Voice, the television show, The Voice. That's the golden buzzer.

Okay. Is there a motion? I think that was a motion, but I'll second it. That's great. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll push forward to agenda item 7B, public hearing for Ving Road. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's going to be tough to follow.

Yes, it will. All right. Um, so this is a request to reszone two parcels on Vining Road to AB2. You can see here from the aerial context, this is nearly one acre. Uh right now it serves as a contractor's office and a gravel parking lot uh on the corners of Hall's Pond and Lannon Lane. The parcel that we uh just had final reading on to reszone to AB is is right here.

The uh parcel is currently AB. And between 2003 and 2009, uh there were 13 properties within this pocket that were reszoned to AB um commercial. And this request involves the applicant um posing a reszoning to AB2. So taking this request and referencing the future land use which is community scale commercial AB2 is within the range of applicable zoning districts for community scale commercial. However, uh while that is one factor, I do want to bring to your um reference here what the code has and it's it's not the only factor. Uh when we look at the comp plan being and the future land use, it's it's more multi-perspective than that. the the code gives review criteria for uh resonings and you have to ask the question and these are guiding questions as you look at resonings but you would ask um have there been any changes that would necessitate um and any changes to the conditions or the circumstances in this property that would ne necessitate this resoning uh would the uses allowed um you know from this resoning be appropriate? uh is this a best uh management practice within planning and zoning for this reasonzoning to occur and and finally um is this consistent with the whole of the comprehensive plan not just the future land use map. So, in attempting to answer those questions and respond to this request, um I do have additional information that I can go into uh to kind of help guide that request, but um

otherwise uh the applicant is here, but glad to dive into any other subjects you would like. In the bottom lefthand corner, I've got some uh topics that if you had any questions on, I'd be glad to answer. I mean to make the best informed decision possible, Mr. Stone, I think I'd like to see it. Is there agreement? Other members of the commission? Okay. Yeah, if you would go ahead and share that with us.

So, I'll start off with just a bit of historical context. Um, let's see here. All right. So, both of these properties were annexed and zoned AB in 2009 into the town. In 2018, the property owner requested AB2 zoning just like they're doing now. Um, and this request was denied uh citing inconsistency with the comp comprehensive plan at that time which designated the area as community conservation. You can see everything here in yellow was community conservation. So that that was denied at that time uh just with a lack of consistency with comprehensive plan. The nature of this request is based on uh the property is currently AB and our code enforcement officers uh have noticed that there is outdoor storage of boats and uh parking of construction vehicles and that would require AB2 uh and with a special exception from the board of zoning appeals. So that would be followed by a commercial site review as well. But that is uh the context of this request and why it's before you. If we wanted to look at the surrounding context, you can see as I mentioned between 2003 and 2009, a lot of this is been zoned AB. Uh you have some CC in here that we've recently reszoned, but predominantly this is area wide business commercial. And finally the um comparison between AB and AB2. You can see here that uh in the AB column a lot of not permitted. Um but you get over to AB2 and you get into more of a a higher level review with conditional special exception. Gas station would be permitted. Warehousing and automotive repair would be a special exception as

well. So there are certainly some differentiations between AB1 and stepping up to an AB2 uh zoning designation. So that's all the staff has. Glad to answer any questions you might have. Peter, if you would return to the surrounding context u overview. Yeah.

Okay. Mr. Stone, I have one question too. the the parcel that's 1110 on that map is a preschool or some sort of a daycare, I think, isn't it? That's correct. It's a daycare. Okay. So, there's still quite a number of county um parcels in the immediate area. Correct. Am I reading the map properly? That's that's correct. everything without a layer on it and just uh that would be within the four mile you have a lot of the four mile community here and this was a part of the four mile community. Um Hunger Neck Boulevard was built in 2003. Mhm.

And um this uh this kind of has taken on different identity since. Okay. All right. Um questions for Mr. Stone um immediately. If not, we'll we'll ask the applicant to speak. if they're here. Is the applicant present? No. Okay. Um, so any further questions for Mr. Stone on this? If not, maybe we can have a motion.

U public um I'm sorry public hearing. Yeah, I apologize. Is there anyone who would like to speak on this uh particular proposal? Okay, seeing none, we'll close the uh the public hearing. Yeah, thanks for correcting me. Go ahead. I move to approve to reszone AB2. Motion's made. Is there a second? Okay. Is there another motion? I move to deny. I'll second.

Okay. Motion's made by Mr. Davis, seconded by Miss Sanford to deny the request to reszone. Um, all those in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed.

One opposed. Okay. Motion to deny carries. All right. Uh, 7 C, a public hearing for 1076 and 1096 Beehive Road. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a request for um an aggregate of a total of 1.36 acres. Both of these lots are evenly 0.68. Uh the really the origin of this request came from sewer and water being available and this these two properties are contiguous. So, um they are required to request annexation. Of course, you know, if if it is eventually denied, they would still have ability to gain water and sewer.

So, this is the the property. Um, it is directly across from Tupelo just to kind of give you some some surrounding um context. So, it is important to discuss the existing zoning conditions prior to talking about the the proposed. So I want to cover this and this is currently in the county. It's in the 10mi historic district. It is with it's inside of the urban growth boundary and that current moratorum ordinance um still will apply until July of 26. So I I bring this up because we have had a lot of discussion on this subject, but of all of the properties that we've had these discussions on, this one is pretty straightforward because it is within the urban growth boundary. And in speaking with the county, this was um let's see, in speaking with the county, um I I asked about their their plans for their 10mi overlay district because I wanted to make sure that this request would be consistent with with that plan. And they did agree that in the plan, and they're holding a public hearing on that um new overlay plan on September 8th. And within that proposed plan, right now, this this is uh remaining commercial, but the staff member let me know that they want commercial within that overlay, but not to this level of intensity. And I'll break down what I mean by that. Um, of course, you know that the county's S3 is our town equivalent of CC, community conservation. Mhm.

Community commercial within the county is the equivalent of R AB2. So it's it's a very intense commercial. It has intense density and they are not interested in carrying on that level of intensity into this new overlay district. So it it was consistent in in that fact and so it request to zone both parcels to community conservation uh is consistent with the the county's plan and it's also consistent with our future land use comprehensive plan. So uh those are the um kind of the salient points on that. Again, I do have um some just kind of supplementary information that you may want, but um glad to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions for Mr. Stone up front? No, I'd love to see the supplementary information, please. Yeah, too.

So, this is the 10mi overlay plan that is uh currently being proposed and we'll have a public hearing on September 8th. This is the parcel right here in red. This is our subject parcel and here's the parcel um behind it. The plan is to uh for this to remain commercial and for this to remain residential. But you can see everything in red uh fronting highway 17 um would be commercial. This is all going to remain just kind of an urban suburban um residential. And this is your rural area. The the parcel that we talked about earlier that is close to 12 acres. Um, and because this is the urban growth boundary line, uh, the density is different than it would be on this side. Um, they're they're moving toward one unit per three acres past this urban growth b boundary line. And since this is inside it, it definitely makes things a little more simple and in reviewing a a reszoning request. the let's see. Oh, so this is the uh town and county um zoning comparison just showing what what I mean by community commercial within the county and the level of intensity of uses that it provides versus the commercial and non-re residential uses you would get from a community conservation because it is a um kind of a mistake to think that CC community conservation is strictly residential. it has non-residential and commercial uses within it that would fit in with what the county is currently proposing.

And this is just all the the CC non-residential uses that could be um applicable to the site if it if it is zoned CC. So that's all the staff has right now. Great. Thank you. Any further questions for Mr. Stone at the moment? Did I hear you say correctly that the county is still in the public hearing process? Correct. Okay. Also, one question. Um, the CC, the parcel that's currently commercial in the county, if it came in and went to CC, even though some of those uses would be allowed, you know, the sort of less

um invasive type of uses, they would be free to make it residential. I mean it's up to the it's up to the developer or the owner. So um is this also part of the moratorum on subdivisions? So that even though it's three per acre um if he put if you count those two parcels together it would be six per acre and maybe seven because there's an extra third of an acre and then that would not be allowed right now. Is that is am I following that properly? So I'll I'll take those one at a time. Okay.

Um, yes, with community conservation, that is the nice thing about that. You're flexible to do residential, but you're also flexible to to move forward with these non-residential and commercial uses. The the moratorum would apply here, and it would be three units an acre. The moratorum is for um anything five lots or more. The wording of it is four lots or fewer is a minor subdivision, and those are those are exempt. Um but five or more would be currently in with for the next year July of 26 those will be prohibited. Okay.

Okay. Additional questions for Mr. Stone. If not we'll um request the applicant to uh present or provide an opportunity to they present. Yes sir. Please, if you would, sir, um, state your name and address for the record. My name is My name is Keith Barley. Mhm. And I reside at 103 Theodore Road in Owland. Okay. Um, you know, this piece of property has been rather difficult piece of property to wrap our heads around on how to develop it based on

all the uh different aspects of it, whether in the county or coming into town of Mount Pleasant. But after going through, you know, so many different um breakdowns and processes with the town and the county on what's what's available, we've come to the conclusion, we'd like to come into the town of Mount Pleasant, but we're looking at just basically building two residential houses, one on each lot, is kind of what our conclusion is based on as a commercial lot is basically not large enough to really make sense to develop out with the requirements of parking setbacks and everything. So, we're thinking just two residential um houses, one on each lot, would be the best use for it.

That's kind of where we're at with it, but we would like the annex in the town of Mount Pleasant to do that. Okay, great. Anything for the applicant while we've got them. Anything else, sir? Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, this is a public hearing. Uh so if there are comments from the public that um anyone would like to make on this project, now would be the time for that. Okay. Seeing none, we will close the public uh hearing portion of uh this particular proposal. All right. Um further questions, comments, discussion, or maybe motions?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion. Um, you know, I think on especially on that front parcel, it's obviously this is more or less a downzoning in my opinion from what the county allows. Uh, so I'll make a motion to approve uh for annexation and reszoning to CC. Great. Second. Motion made and seconded to reszone to community conservation. Um, we'll take a vote. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thanks, Peter. All right, we move to 7D. Presentation from um engineering uh department.

Yes, she's leaving.

Um this is uh y'all, this is very casual. This is just going to recap uh some things and uh hopefully it'll be useful to some of y'all. And if y'all are on a schedule, I know it's the last item on the agenda. Please feel free to exit on out. Um but I do, you know, want it to be interactive. If so, if y'all have any questions as I kind of go through this um very quickly, just a few minutes uh of a presentation. And uh it kind of dawned on me last month that uh when I when we went through some of the kind of the legacy type discussions on subdividing property, is that maybe a a good uh presentation of how a lot gets subdivided, some of the steps involved, the planning commission's roles and responsibilities, um and then how it moves through the building permit uh process, and uh and hopefully if we have enough time, we can talk a little bit about the current workload and volume. But um last last month I did hear that you know things were you had to approve a subdivision if it met all lot dimensional requirements and I don't I I I tend to disagree with that. Um I don't think that you are hamstrong into approving a subdivision just because of lot dimensional requirements. There are many other aspects that go into creating a new lot that uh that do need to be considered and uh so hopefully this is kind of the start of maybe some discussion on what those aspects can be. Uh starting from the very beginning um you know South Carolina is a home rule uh state which means that um you know we are can make up our own rules and regulations. We are not a creature of the state of South Carolina. We we do abide by their rules and regulations, but we can create our own rules and regulations as long as

we're not in conflict with state uh code. Also, another important piece is uh something you're probably already familiar with is the 94 uh comprehensive uh enabling legislation um that kind of sets the guidelines and standards for creating a comprehensive plan. every so often because of that comprehensive plan. Uh the state does recognize and support our zoning and land development regulations. Those are the two main chapters when you go to subdivide property. Zoning of course that's land use density and intensity and also the design value of what's being created. Uh the land development regulations, the way I look at it, they do go hand inand land development regulations are what I would consider kind of the tools in the tool bag. They're a little bit more technical. They provide the standards. Uh they have safety criteria. Uh they also ensure the integrity of uh subdivisions infrastructure that's being installed. Um, and also, uh, they do they're set up to also incorporate the or offset the larger impacts that a subdivision would, um, would come with it. So, those two are somewhat jointly related. And if you did read the state code, they would almost kind of marry each other in their in their language. So, just the zoning real quick. I uh hopefully some of y'all have read some of the uh some of the language straight out of uh 62930 that does give the planning commission the powers and functions to make recommendations as it relates to the use of building structures and land. Um also the density specifically says the density of development. So as we talked about last month or the month before

that we can look at density criteria in in uh say the old village area if that is so choose. Also uh open space size of yards that's setbacks the planning commission can make recommendations on where that open space is located if it needs to be moved. A lot of times you'll have open space calculations that are surrounding ponds. Well, well, the open space around ponds, that's not exactly a usable area. A kid can't throw a ball with his dad next to a pond, obviously. So, you know, those type of of things can uh can create commentary or comments and and you know, deferral of of subdivisions to uh to make sure that that those type of aspects are part of a subdivision. Also, uh it does specifically say other aspects. included tree preservation, uh landscaping, which we really don't talk about landscaping. We are rarely focused on trees, but landscaping is included in the state code, and that allows the planning commission to make recommendations on buffer, lighting, and curb cuts. So uh so there's a lot of elements that should be considered when you do subdivide uh property that don't really you know uh have the uh the attention that I you know I think it really should have. Um so the process uh there were some questions I think over here Miss Sanford I believe you last month you you you talked about how uh what the process was. So, I created this neat little graphic here that kind of separates into 12 little tick marks which kind of represent months, but that's not exactly how this goes. This is somewhat of a an exhibit of uh of the steps that are involved with subdividing property. Uh we have

something called a DRT or development review team that's made up of storm water transportation, Mount Pleasant waterworks, planning department, fire department also uh joins us on occasions. The first step is to contact our DRT coordinator Mave and she sets up a a very high level meeting with the applicant and the applicant can set this meeting up at no charge at any time they would like to set this up. There's no set formal uh schedule for this. Um and that is sole purpose is to provide high level feedback. If you're looking at buying a piece of property, you don't know it's going to be subdivided. Have a DRT or DRT feasibility meeting with ME. We all get together, look at it virtually. We talk to the applicant. We let them know is the water and sewer available. Will they have to extend a hydrant to get there? uh what access you know uh is going to be a concern the trees that you know they need to understand what the tree regulations are. So all that stuff is brought to them when they are even thinking about either purchasing a property or how they're going to go about uh developing the property. It's been very helpful uh to have that and most everybody that I've been on at feasibility meeting has really appreciated the the commentary and the feedback we've provided uh them because they're getting ready to make a huge investment or expense with with engineering and surveying to get to the next level. The next step uh it's a little bit more structured. We do have a monthly schedule with the DR uh the DRT uh review. We call that a conceptual plan. That is okay. You've gone to the next step. You've got scaled engineering drawings. You have your tree survey. Uh you have your uh your other elements that you've investigated. You submit about two weeks ahead of the the deadline or you submit prior to the

deadline. And that deadline gives us about four weeks to get the review and comments done and back to the applicant. Okay. So, I've got uh two one and a half ticks here. It that's that would be a very good cemental. Okay. Uh a lot of times we have comments and they'll resubmit. We'll review and we'll provide maybe another commentary or two, but we we end up trying to get them uh through the process. But if everything works very well and it's an easy simple one lot into two, it usually takes about a month and a half to kind of get through a conceptual step from there. That's where it uh it has to meet the planning commission uh deadline which is monthly of course and uh and that's about a month four weeks ahead of the scheduled meeting. Uh and then we present, you know, a very uh scaledback staff version if there's any remaining comments that um with the application that we will read them aloud here for you guys. And um and then that moves through in about a month. And if there's no infrastructure involved with this subdivision, if it's one light into two, you can actually from your planning commission with a favorable uh vote, you can actually move into a final plat which gets authorized at staff level. So there shouldn't be really too much left if you're doing a simple subdivision. Now, if you're dedicating infrastructure to the town, it does get a little bit more involved because there is another step of technical review. that is the engineer has developed construction drawings to install the streets, drainage, pond, uh water, sewer, they have their storm water, sediment, rose control. A lot goes into that. You know, four four months is very tight. uh you know

sometimes the applicant is working on that concurrently as he's moving through but once they get planning commission approval they become vested and then they're able they're able or guaranteed to actually go through with their development plan. Um and of course we provide comments. It goes back to the applicant. they address the comments and then it will eventually um go through and get a final DRT stamp and that does include the MS4 which is their water quality and uh and then they're able to move through with the construction. Now construction takes years. So just for this exhibit it just shows a number of ticks but so when they install the infrastructure we have our own inspectors. the town does. We have four field inspectors. Two of them, they look at the SWIP, which is the storm water pollution prevention plan, and the tree protection zone. They provide a clearing and grading permit before they even start construction. Uh they are out there with the uh contractor walking the site, making sure that the tree protection's up, making sure the silt fence is up, the construction entrance is in. Then they authorize a clearing and grading for them to move forward. The other two inspectors, those are our roadway and our storm uh water inspectors or storm water pipe inspectors. They actually follow the project much closely um working with the contractor when they uh do the uh the mass grading, the rough grading for the road, the subgrade, the base course and the asphalt. and and of course the pipe gets inspected when it when it's delivered and it gets inspected when it's in the trench and again it gets inspected uh the compaction gets expected at that at lifts throughout the installation of the storm water pipe. So there's a lot that kind of goes into uh installing the infrastructure to make

sure that it's when it's turned over to the town of Mount Pleasant, we have something that is going to last and it's not going to be a burden to the taxpayers. Um, so they move through the construction process, the final plat process, then that occurs at the very end of that process. Whereas if it didn't have infrastructure, it could have occurred in a month or two after the planning commission, but because of the construction process, it does occur much later. That is the final leverage and authority um that holds the developer to uh make sure that he does everything he needs to do to have all the infrastructure in place before he is able to sell property. When the subdivision plaque gets authorized, uh they provide the two-year warranty, they provide the bond, they provide the certification for work material and workmanship, they provide the u permits to operate for the water and sewer. Uh tree mitigation is also done. And um there's a whole checklist and the final inspection reports from our field engineers. Uh they're all submitted in one package. It gets signed by staff and then they take that final plat go to the Charleston RD office create the lots. The county gives them tax map numbers and then they become taxable transferable fee simple lots to be sold to individuals to then go then go vertical. So from land development now you've got your individual lots you got your infrastructure in now the uh the homeowner or whoever wants to go vertical. Well the folks that are involved with that that is a combination planning department they look there the authority of zoning authority of lot

orientation and setbacks. The engineering development services that is my team which is the engineering develop engineering and environmental division. We look at the tree standards. This is for single family residents only by the way. Tree standards, your storm water uh management plan. We ensure the quality of the survey and the and the physical conditions are all incorporated into the submitt. Um, and then the storm water, you know, we look at that from a perspective of the common enemy rule, uh, which is kind of like the golden rule is what I call is like take care of your own water. Don't cast your water over to your neighbors. Make sure that your water is going to where it should be going to the front or the back. Um, and also don't impede the flow of water that's coming off site. You actually have to manage if it's naturally if you're on a hill and you're developing downhill, you have to manage that water that's coming to you around your property. You cannot impede the flow of of water from offsite if it's naturally coming in your direction. So you can't impede and you can't impact is what we say. Um and also we look at it from a safety aspects too. Um you know the access points and and things of that nature. So that's what you know we do and we we take a look at it and then uh you know we have the trees located on there as well. So concurrently with the the the review our building uh inspections division they look at the IBC the vertical stuff and and they're the ones that are responsible for the building permit administration. So so going just a little bit more into that um that's the roles and authority. This is the workflow. So, if an applicant comes into the town, uh, they

want to pull a building permit. We have an online portal. It's called Oracle, and they're able to upload their plans through our website. Now, this is fairly new. I think it's about six, eight months, been around. Uh, so we're still working the kind of the the bugs and the kinks out a little bit, but has been very effective in tracking uh what we do internally. Uh all applications come through the building permit division. A part of that application we have the site plan review that goes in the planning department looks at it as well as my division looks at it for the storm water and trees. That's all part of one bundle when it comes in. uh our our guys, they go out and they do a courtesy site inspection to ensure the tree accuracy and and to identify and recognize any other kind of unique site conditions that could be that could be missing from their plan. Um and then also then once that's done, they become building permit eligible. Once they become uh once the building inspection department is done with their review uh then they actually release the building permit at that time. So we hold the building permit until we actually have visited the site. We've looked at the trees. We've looked at the storm water and then they're released for the building the building permit. We do the tree protection zone um inspections. We also do the erosion control inspections all at the same time. Uh that's the initial inspection. We don't really go back to that site throughout the development process. We only go back to that site if it's needed. And we also have a final inspection that's all programmed into this software that we have. So um uh and then the building division releases the certificate of occupancy.

Any questions on that particular one? It's, you know, very scaled down, but it is a fairly good process where we do have the checks and balances we need by holding the building permit until the site inspections done. They check off internally when they have completed it and then they become eligible for building permit. So, it's it's very structured process. Yes, ma'am. One question. When you say other inspections as needed, is that if there is somebody who complains about the site or if the applicant comes back and says something has changed, I've got an issue. Both. Yeah, both. If we get a complaint, we go back out to the site.

Our guys have already established hopefully a good positive relationship with the builder. the builder, you know, his main objective is to finish his project and so he's willing and able to cooperate most of the time uh to get whatever is the issue is resolved. Um because he knows a little bit of grading is very inexpensive to do. Um but yes, that is yes, they go back as needed and we kind of anticipate some problems too. So, so that is their that is their kind of scaled down process. So, shifting gears a little bit. Can I ask one question? Yes, ma'am.

Is that inclusive of where I see at number five certificate of occupancy? So, does that include the construction process too of like electrical rough inspection, plumbing rough in inspection? Yep. I did not include that because we're just focusing on the storm water tree and the site plan review. But if I were to include that, there'd be a whole list of those type items, right, that run concurrently with our inspection. So, yes, that is that's all incorporated into that Oracle package there. And Kevin, if you would um a page or two back, um the two-year warranty, explain that. Yeah, that two-year warranty.

Yeah. Uh well, it's it's been standard ever since I've been here is to have the developer and engineer uh or developer and contractor sign off on the material and workmanship and the developer certifying that he will uh warranty this uh dedication of the infrastructure for a two-year period. It is a certification and it's notorized, certified, put in. We also have a 20% cost of total infrastructure that is also submitted in a financial guarantee to support that which isn't much but als more more or less represents the uh the intent of the owner dedicating this and being complete. If there are serious problems of course then you get into the the legal world of of back and forth and they get consultants. We get consultants. doesn't last for many many years, but there is that show of intent. It is supposed to last for at least two years with and we do a warranty inspection as well before we release the bond.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a there's a lot that is submitted with those final plat packages that um that you know legally covers this the best we possibly can. Uh so touching a little bit on workload and I'll be done. So uh something that many folks may not be aware of uh I created this little chart here um with some information that I received from our building inspections division. Uh this graph shows the past five years of what building permits that are not upfits, which means all building permits that are submitted to the town that don't uh that are outside of an upfit. That's inside improvement like decks, uh ADUs, uh new homes. That's what these numbers represent. Uh the bottom orange numbers represent the new homes and the top uh represents everything else the non non homes. So as you can see from 2021 we kind of peaked and we're trending every year down and so far 2025 seems to be a little bit more of an uptick on the new residential homes that we that we receive. But still it is still going to be in a downward uh type of trend. And just to give you a sense of scale and workload that 2023 that monthly average is 70 and uh 68 for 2024. Uh that's how many permit applications that go through that process that we just talked about uh with our siden with our two sight inspectors. So um

so yeah the average that the yellow line is the average is 922 permits every year that our build inspection department administers that um Kevin that you know I think it's worth talking about the all others that's external stuff right and would that include pools pools addition decks ADUs etc like you said additions okay yes ma'am yeah we Our stormwater team inspects the pools, the additions, the decks. So they uh they you know they have to take it through their process um everything but kind of upsets because you're really not doing anything.

So I had a question go back to the previous chart. So 2025 are those numbers to date or are they annualized because we still have four months left in the year. Right. No, that's just to date. So, if you were annualize that number, you think it' be closer to 2024? Uh, yeah. Yeah, we'll probably be closer to 2024 total. Probably a little bit more new homes, I think.

So, it's kind of stable in like maybe even closer to 2023 then. So, so there's really not a downturn as you if if you go back and analyze all this. Well, if you want me to go back to 1999 and look at the chart, then we will definitely see a downturn from from two early 2000s the way we were developing to the last two five years. Um, you would see a much significant difference between these numbers and those numbers.

And is the takeaway for us that th this volume is more manageable for the department or what what what should we conclude from? takeaway is is uh you know I think there's there's there's kind of a little bit of a misconception that uh those one or two problem children out there we want to say that's just one of you know 800 that we've already seen that entire year. uh you know we've had 700 that have actually been a successful process uh and have gone successfully through a process but there's that small few that seems to get a lot of attention and uh we spend a lot of time on those small handful that um that sometimes there's really no solution honestly uh you know we you know it is what it is and and you know we do the best we can to manage it but you know those are the ones that seem to get a lot of the attention when there's 800 that we've already uh uh managed and and brought through the process. And and lastly, this is my last slide here, is is this is done by two uh storm water code guys. So, I'm the deputy director. I do have project engineer that looks at all the other projects that come through the town, the commercial as well, but uh she helps me with she actually manages the uh the single family uh code uh program and we have two code inspectors and those two code inspectors, their main job is to build a good relationship with the builder and owner. include the owner in as much as possible with what they're doing because the builder is telling the owner and the owner's you know getting upset and you know so I tell them to include the owner as much as they possibly can when when matters and issues come up. So so that's it. I you know I I want to end with uh you know

this is a kind of an open discussion. And this is for y'all to consider, look at, uh, have any ideas. I can come back next month. We can talk about density calculations, other things that are going on in the town. We can, uh, we can show some examples of our storm water uh, designs and some of the things we we do review. We can we can provide some examples. There's also there's character defining features that we don't really talk about such as fences. I was in I'm in the old village a good bit. Uh the fences that are going up are very noticeable in a lot of these larger homes that are being built. They're now putting up these huge fences that go all the way to the rightway. So that really changes the character of of the neighborhood in my opinion is when you block off that view. Um so that doesn't get any discussion at at planning commission at least not that what I've heard. There's also density. You know the scale is what we've what we've talked about as well. Uh we also something that might be worth presenting to is a residential low impact program. um environmental uh managers kind of moving through the uh green commission with that and and uh it might be worth you know uh for him to come and and give you an example of you know what they're planning on doing. Also another thing that we're doing it's very interesting is that is the sea level rise study. We've targeted a couple of areas. They've got this GIS model that shows the ocean as it comes in in 2050 and how it recedes and what areas it it actually covers and the depth of those areas. We looked at, you know, two areas right now in town. That's the end of Hadel Street and then up there around Daryl Creek Commonwealth area.

uh we will be releasing that and putting that on the internet uh pretty soon but um you know I'd be happy to come and and present the the findings of those two those studies as well that of course could also result in planning commission issues because that's going to have a perception of a threat that's going to be coming into the folks that live on the uh the marsh area and you know information is going to be valuable and it's going to be key in that situation because there's going to be some hysteria and you know fear mongling that's going to go on. So, uh having good information for residents uh is going to be our our main objective in that particular u item. And then also we're looking at wetland ordinances too. So we're just now kind of embarking on that. City of Bluton has approved wetland ordinances for them. The mayor is uh wanting us to draft up some wetland ordinance that are similar to the Bluffton ordinances and we are kind of moving through that right now. Uh but yes, we be happy to present those or anything else that the planning commission would like to see or or be a little bit more knowledgeable on. Um so that's what the purpose of this presentation is. Sorry to take so much time.

No, thank you. um input and um prioritization on these topics or others for Kevin thoughts. I think this is great. The only other thing I can think of that I'm always curious about is the commercial side of things. So you were talking about the single family, but so many times by the time we see something a commercial plan presented, it's been undergoing a lot of work and sometimes developers will say it's been several years. And so I'm kind of curious about that, you know, to how can we get a better handle on it earlier, right, before things go so far that developers get upset when they don't get what they

I'll I'll make a note of that and we will uh I'll go through the commercial process and we could consider, you know, what that all entails. Uh DRB gets involved with that. Design review board also gets involved with that. So uh yeah, I think that's a great topic. We'll we'll definitely roll something out and have something similar for you next month. Thank you. Other suggestions or requests of Kevin, Kevin Barry, you don't really want to hear anything about storm water. Well, I've heard a lot about it. Um, but uh I I Kevin, I like these topics. I mean, I think uh the density calculations may be good for the group. And then you brought up a good point on the fences. Um,

you know, that that's a topic, you know, I'm not sure, you know, where or how we could would fall in with that, but um, but it would be good something to look at because I, as far as I know, there's no regulations associated with it. Um, no, there's not. Uh, and and folks will put up a tall wood stockade fence that is a wall. It's a, you know, it's a wall and it goes straight to the ground. and think about it if everybody else did, you know, what that would do to the actual subdivision itself. So, and the village historic district preservation commission doesn't follow the guidelines very closely in that regard.

And I can think of one example um in an area that does not have an HOA, but it's not the old village where a homeowner has put up these huge it looks like something going to Windsor Castle. It's like big brick, you know, front fence thing with I I swear they're probably going to have lions on the top of the things. Um, and that is also sort of interesting that it creates a very different feel for the neighborhood. But there's no HOA. I mean, in mine, we couldn't we wouldn't allow that, but you know, in places where they don't have those rules, and that can be very tricky when you talk about aesthetics,

things of that nature. But, you know, the the scale and dimension, we don't have anything and and the um and the opakquakeness of it all, right? You know, whether it's a big brick wall or a fence, stockgate fence. Um Kevin, as as suggested a little earlier, I think the density calculations uh primmer on that would make a lot of sense for us right now, especially given the conversation we've had or maybe the ongoing conversation we had the last two or three sessions and you know some of the concern and pressure that we're hearing from citizens around um you know the community on on that very matter. So more we can understand how to measure and evaluate that I think the better served could be. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I'll be happy to. Yeah. Mr. D. Yeah. So I have one question. So the sea level rise. So Yes sir. Can you explain that? I mean we're not the aisle of palms. We're not Sullivan. We're not. And so is this be because of the marsh or just you know just what's the point of all that one? Yeah. We're not we're not uh saying that the town of Mount Pleasant uh is anywhere close to being a condition like Alapons or Sullivan's Island. Uh we are saying that there are some pockets and areas within the town that they will and already are seeing some uh some changes in in some of the u their environment when it comes to high tides and getting rid of

like like Longpoint Road and areas like that. Yes sir. Longpoint Road will be one of our lowest points. Matter of fact, Williams Street in the old village is elevation 3.4 four mean sea level and that is uh that is the lowest point I think in Mount Pleasant there and they flood even on a sunny day at a at a regular high tide they get water in the street so uh they're going to be significantly impacted um in 50 years but it's time to kind of

provide that kind of information because it's already being talked about you know so having information available to residents that are concerned concerns that they hear gossiping and things like that about how bad it's going to be or or what the conditions are. I think it'd be good to have reliable information for those concerned citizens that we have in those low areas. Yeah, I agree with that. I I agree with that 100%. Anything else? In in rough form, I think you've got some sense for the interest and priorities. So, great.

Yeah. Uh let's uh we can do the sea level rise in a couple of months. We can do the commercial review process next week and then we could talk about some of the density calculations. Could you do the commercial the month after next because I'm not going to be here next month and I want to hear it density point of personal you know we'll talk about density at next month and then uh we'll do the commercial after that. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you'all. Thank you David. rules of procedure for 2025 or maybe that was M.

Yep. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, that actually goes hand inand with what Kev was discussing. This was brought up by Miss Ireland of getting items on the agenda uh sponsored by uh members of the body. So, this is a based on what we heard uh last month. I've revised the text in the this proposed revision and uh would just need y'all to vote up or down on whether you're okay with the language and that would allow for a member of the body with at least um two additional sponsoring board members and at least 15 days in advance to add agenda items to the meeting.

I move to adopt the leg of the language as amended, should I say. Second. Okay. Any discussion? If not, we'll call for a vote. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Great. I think that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for that, uh, gentlemen. Okay, I think we're adjourned. Thank you. See you Peter.