Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the city of Myrtle Beach Planning Commission meeting for uh December 16th. I'm going to call the meeting to order and we're going to start with roll call. Uh Sharon here. Joe here. Austin here. Danielle is excused. Betty is excused. Bill here. Zeb is excused. Paul is excused. Okay. All good. All right. And moving on to the approval of the minutes for December 2nd, please. I need a motion.

Motion approved. Second. I have a motion to approve from Phil, a second from Austin. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Opposed. Moving on. Um, we have a change of uh on the agenda. Uh Austin, would you like to I make a motion we move item four to the top of the list. Okay. Item four, prefin 257, Del Web sales center, is going up to the top of the list, please, ahead of item number one. So, uh so you made a motion. Do I have a second? Second.

Second from Joe. Uh any further discussion? If not, all in favor say I. Okay, that is completed. Moving on to the first item which is item number four. Now prepend 257 bell web sales center request from Evan Bosny PY Home Co. LLC to subdivide approximately 0.77 acres of Trapini Place zone Grand Dunes PUD into four lots ranging in size from 8,632 ft to 8,52 ft. Highlighted in blue, you can see the property consideration on 67th Avenue North and Traini Place. Here we have the aerial view of the property. And then here we have the plat of the showing the largest lot being 8,632 ft and the smallest lot being 8,52 square ft. If you have any questions, the applicant is in the audience.

Can we ask you a question? Yes, also. Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Disha Police Commissioners? Okay. And uh the applicant is here. Hello. How are you today? Good. Tell us your name. Mark Stouten with Development Resource Group representing Pton Homes. Okay. Thank you. How do you spell your last name, Mark? Uh s t o u g h t o n. Thank you. Okay. What would you like to tell us today?

Um this one has come before planning commission a long long time ago. uh part of the original first phase of uh marine track as we call it back then now now known as Delwood Grand Dunes. Um they just we subdivided originally. They chose a location for their sales center. They combine the parcel so that we can get a parking lot and a building there and now they're finishing up operations and looking to to move out. So they're going to um subdivide and build homes. Finish finish the operation. Okay. Very good. And is there anything else we need to know? It's pretty straightforward, Cameron, unless you got something else.

Uh Mark did provide it would be part of your staff report, but Mark did provide that old plot to us at this point showing that it was these four lots are essentially putting back the same way they were. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Commissioners, do you have any questions for Mr. Stoutton? How's business? What's wrong? It's going good. Yes, sir. I mean, do you mean the home sales or Yeah. Yeah. Uh yeah, we we haven't noticed a halt as far as drive. Um you it's getting more challenging to find good spots to build, but the drive's there. Absolutely. Okay. Are there any further questions other than how's it going there? [laughter]

Okay. All right. I guess we'll see you at our next meeting. If we don't have any more questions, we'll see you then. Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good holiday. You as well. All right. Moving back to item number one, which is the second item of the day. Uh text 25507 MU drive conditions cam.

Yes, ma'am. This is a request from CF Smith property group John Smith as agent to amend section 1501RR to allow properties specifically on Robert M. Gresen Parkway to develop restaurants with drive-thru services with conditions. So currently the mumm does allow drive-thru restaurants, but it's strictly restricted to Kings Highway. So the current conditions say structures that above King's Highway, structures are less than 5,000 square ft in area and had drive-through facilities in place prior to the adoption of ordinance 201434. This would and modify that condition to also include structures that above Robert M. Mcgressive Parkway and the order board is located no less than 400 ft from the closest residential property. I believe Kevin is in the audience here representing this today as Mr. Smith was unable to make it. Happy to answer any questions that you all may have.

Okay. Start. Let's start with commissioners asking Cameron what you would like to know about this item. Um so you're not allowed to have any drive-thrus on Robert Gresen. Is that correct? Is that for restaurants specifically? or any drive-thru. So, this condition specifically states restaurants. I'm not sure total if you have a bank with a drive-thru. It's it's just restaurants. So, in in our ordinance, we have restaurants, then we have restaurants with drive-thru as as two separate uses. So, it's just in regard to the restaurants because there is a bank on that has a drive-thru. Gotcha.

Okay. Any other questions? All right. The applicant is here. Hello. Hello. How are you? Good. How are you doing today? Good. Good. Uh Kevin Pulis, Pu Lis, uh P3 Engineering Group. Okay. Kevin, do you want to tell us anything today about this item?

Um I'll just I could just add on reiterate a little bit of what Cameron said. Um as mentioned we are requesting a very specific uh amendment to Robert in person with the order board being no less than 400 ft for residential property. Um and I was also going to point out the same thing with drive-thru. So there actually is precedent within the uh let's see currently banks uh retailarmacies so uh national chains for instance and then dry cleaners are allowed by right uh with no conditions on speakers proximity to residential any of those features. So the use of an order board and drive-through within this district is not otherwise restricted just specifically to restaurants with drive-throughs.

Okay. Questions for Mr. Police? Am I saying that right? Uh Pulis. Pulis. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Pulis, please? I'm so sorry. You usually say something. Yes,

um I could see from the request of just trying to address a specific property, but how do y'all look at eval how y'all look at evaluating this that this will be applicable to all mum and how will that be a good fit with our overall plan of how they can fit into the overall mu planning. Have y'all looked into all the mumm and see how that

because we understand the value and the specific especially what you're trying to accomplish with that property you need to recognize for everything. So, are you seeing that this would be good for all Muhamm?

Well, and that's a great point and that's why when we talked to Cameron and staff, we were very very specific about it being Robert and Christ only. So this would only be applicable to MUM zone district uh properties on Robert uh because to your point you know there are multiple mumms throughout the city market common for instance that we didn't want to open up the possibility for an unintended consequence right so we've tried to be as specific as possible to this corridor um and you know just to alleviate those concerns Robert M. Gris is not a small correct.

It goes several miles. Correct. So that's what I'm trying to say. It's not just I can see if it's right there in that area in that corner, but try to help me understand when you look at the hole while we're in Gen Parkway and the type properties there. Um I'm just asking to help us understand the impact with that so that we can help try to people. Sure. Yeah. I mean that

can I for the what I mean this is like I said this is just a discussion item right now. Me and the staff had what we had talked about on this in the 2014 we did the zoning rewrite in regard to this. One of the big things was the because at the time we had multiple drive-thrus that were in close proximity to uh residential. I'm not in the mumm zones, any AC zones. And we were getting complaints about the speakers being so loud.

Well, the technology for drive-throughs and speakers has got to such a point now that those big old mega horn looking speakers are no longer in the mix. It's more of a subdued sound that goes along with that. That's one of the things that we factored in. Um then we looked at that we do have the zoning rewrite going on and we're going to say do we really want to go into something so deep right before a zoning rewrite. Well the fact that he's making this so specific and that it is only on Gryom that's what as a staff allowed us to feel comfortable with this moving forward because he's not asking for all of MU. He's just asking for the corridor along Gryom Parkway. So from our stand and plus when COVID hit um the restaurants now do well over majority of their business through drive-thrus as opposed to come in and sit down. Um so we're kind of changing with the times have addressed the previous concerns of of the loud speaker boxes in regard to previous drive-throughs and we're not spreading this across the whole mum. We're just doing it down that corridor which why it is while it is a longer corridor. Um majority of it's already developed to a certain degree. Um we just felt that this was a a safe a safe ask moving forward factoring in all that information back there. Um TA did some great preliminary research on this one in regards to restaurants and drives. Um, the American Planning Association has a large document that will be providing as part of your staff report moving forward on best practices with drive-throughs. I think one of the biggest I can give you this is how the restaurant Pizza Hut has changed. Pizza Hut used to be a large come in, sit down, family style restaurant. Now they're more or less just a box on the side of the road that has three ovens in the back with with a drive-through window. So, the market has completely shifted its dynamics of what a drive-thru is and the American Planning Association is recognizing that and changing their recommendations and

guidelines. um in conjunction with our discussions with uh the zoning rewrite and our folks um there are consulting feel comfortable with the safety of this ask at this point.

Is is there a traffic issue? Uh we we have established a traffic issue on Kings Highway with a drive-thru and their cars are lined up in this in on King's Highway. So I am concerned about that. It's quite it's quite um dangerous at this particular corner. So, uh I I'm I am concerned about uh backing up something that we did not take care of on that last request. So, in regard to that, yes,

we have changed our stacking requirements since that restaurant. So we we more than doubled our stacking requirements to what they previously were whenever that one came through. Um and again we played off all the co drive. So we have doubled our stacking requirements in regard to this. And the thing that we're seeing now too even beyond us doubling our stacking requirements. Majority of the drive-thru restaurants are identifying that that is coming their main bread and butter. And so they are almost certain restaurants are requiring more stacking on their own for that purpose. So that has been addressed through the process. What is the stacking number?

Eight. Eight at the order point. So that'd be eight. Eight. Eight. Eight from the speaker box. So if you're getting a box of donuts, which should go pretty fast, uh it doesn't go pretty fast. And it's become a danger. area. It was four. What's that? It was four. [clears throat] It was four. It was four. But they they have Oh, I mean they have them coming down King's Highway. They would that that plastic one that you're referring to would not meet today standards for for stacking requirements.

Correct. Um, so in our comprehensive plan view, one time Robert Gen Parkway was kind of a parkway that would be able to accommodate a little bit quicker traffic flow than like Kings Highway or big commercial areas. Um, are we saying that as y'all looking forward that you want Robert Gri to start turning more into a regular I mean you can get it don't take too big of a lot to do this. There's still limits in curb cuts though. I mean the access to the road is still limited.

Yeah, there's there's only so many curve cuts. One thing, but Robert itself is limited on curb cuts and y'all are helping. That's why we've got to talk. That's the first time we've looked at there. There are very limited curb cuts on Grisom and which has been a magnificent plan all along. So that will change. Will that compromise that Charles? Most of those curb cuts control the state as well. The city only owns a small portion of Robert Gri at this point. So the state controls where those curve cuts go in.

And and I kind of brought out your question there. I think Gryom has developed a little bit more as a commercial entity at this point. So it's trending that way at the time. to keep the traffic moving because that was the purpose of it to keep it moving have have less fewer curb cuts. Anything else, Phil? Austin, do you do you have any questions? Sharon, please. Joe, thoughts on this? No. Okay. Thank you so much. We'll see you at our next uh meeting. Thank you very much. Next year. Thank you. See you next year. Nice holiday.

You too. Moving on to item number two which is the third one annex 25-0621st 21st and 17 bypass and Kelly this is request from Broadway at the beach palace track LLC Seth McCoy's agent to annex approximately 1.02 acres on the corner of 17 bypass and 21st Avenue North and to reszone from Ory County AC amusement commercial to e entertainment. Here's a location map of the park. The current zoning showing Ory County as amusement commercial and the surrounding little beach zoning. And this is how it would look after the proposed zone. Back to E. or two E two E. Okay. All right. Any questions for Kelly? All right. Is the applicant here? Oh, there you are. Hello. You look familiar. What's up, McCoy?

How are you doing, Mr. McCoy? Fantastic. Seems like you don't have year attendance problems like every other board. It happens. You know, the week before Christmas, we tend to be very slim here for some reason. So, I will be there. Okay. What do you want to tell us? We can avoid I love donut holes. Yeah, we love donut holes. We love donut holes. It's part of the uh surf park property if we can get that to come through. So, I just need to get it all into the city to be able to set the setbacks and development boundaries for it.

Okay. All right. Commissioners, what do you have for Mr. McCoy? Is this park only going on that track or it's going to be larger than that? It's everything from the entrance of Broadway to Green Street. Okay. So all four of those parcels. Okay. Trying to resolve it because you got a bigger plan for trying to keep all system. Yep. Prior gas station there

and we were able to reire the palace and the gas station parcel six years ago now. Do we know the plan? It was in the papers a few weeks ago. Oh, close. They can pull it off. Oh, that's I mean that's the whole plan. Okay. All right. Any other questions for Mr. McCoy? We like to have we appreciate Yeah, donut holes. Talk about donuts. Okay. We'll see you next year. All right. Thank you.

Bye. All right. Next item is ANX 25-07 Professional Drive. Pam, this is a request from Robert Wy Warren. This agent to annex approximately.86 acres off Professional Drive and to reszone it from Ory County OPI to Myrtle Beach Medical Professional MD. It's a property in question on professional drive bounded by highway 17 and Robertson. This the site checks out right in the middle of the MP on either side and we'll just fill in the purple there. Okay. Can answer any questions. The applicant is in the audience.

Okay. Questions for Pam. We'll start there. What happens to the white strip on the west side of that property? Uh that's another one we'll have to look at like the PUB we just did with um the the Shabbat Center. It's drainage right now. It's what drainage drainage. So I believe that would say as part of the county at this time. Okay. Anything else? Good chance that we'll probably try to bring that little white strip into we'll do our due diligence. We like drainage. Okay. And uh any other questions for Cam? Otherwise, we'll go to the applicant. The applicant here. Hello. Hello. How are you?

Good. James Baldwin, the development resource group, and the owner, Warren Smith, is here with me as well. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Baldwin, what do you have to tell us? So the owner is looking just to construct an office building for his company and [clears throat] looking to stay consistent with the surrounding zoning and then annex to the city due to water and sewer being served, you know, by the city of B. So a request. Yes, ma'am.

Very good. Okay. Uh commissioners, what questions do you have for Mr. Baldwood? and the deed that references restriction covenants conditions in 1997 which we don't have access to but I'm sure there's nothing there that prevents anything like that annexation but yes sir we reviewed those covenants and restrictions um set by burn and we will meet all those requirements

anything else anything else for Mr. Okay. Thank you for being here, Mr. Se next year. Have a good holiday. We'll see you next year. God willing. All right, moving on to the next item. Uh, are we curses?

Sorry. S st-10 HGTC brand is a request from Ory Georgetown Technical College to name a drive of Hemlock Avenue and Swallow Avenue servicing HGTC property Joe Thomas Brainy Jr. Street. This the property in question down in the market area and highlighted there in yellow is the street that is named Joe Thomas Green Junior Street. Dr. Core has graced us with her presence today. So, I'm happy to answer any questions that I may and if I'm not, I'm sure she would be able to.

Okay. Um, questions. We'll start with Mr. Mr. Cameron about this. Commissioners, is this may be a dumb question. Is there a reason to run a street that's parallel with another street and just leave that parking lot where there's a parking lot to the south of it. I know, but No, I'm talking about the street underneath. So, I believe that road is already constructed at this point. Thomas,

the brand new street's already constructed. They're just coming in to name it. Correct me if I'm wrong. That is already it facilitates that parking lot. So we would use that for 911 addressing. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. The applicant is here. Would you like to come and talk to us? It's pretty painless here. We're user friendly. Thank you for your service and thank you for putting this on the agenda so quickly. Um, just tell tell everybody who you are.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Marilyn Murf 4. I'm president of Georgetown Technical College. Um, and I think you want knowing more about me. We we know we know you're a wonderful leader. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Um, the college is privileged uh to have this property and this is a uh where this street is is very It's like a football field to one and a half paved nicely runs parallel to campus uh and to I think it's cactus and uh on one side of parking lots for the students and on the other is [snorts] a science building and this is the most heavily used building on the campus. it's borders the uh academic building, the old school building for the military. So, um we'd like to honor uh Mr. Brandon for his service. He's not going anywhere, but and this is would be a surprise for him, but he has been on the board since 1991. He's 34 years on the board. He's a CPA uh Clinton grad.

Oh, wait. Hold on. [laughter] We have limits. I know I'm a USC grant, so I have no limits. Um, but he has served as a chairman since 2011. Uh, we'd like to honor him and name that street in his honor. Okay. Okay. Commissioners, what questions would you like to ask? I don't think 911's going to have a problem identifying. That's pretty good. All right. Anybody else? All right. Well, thank you for being here. Appreciate you coming in and we'll see you also next year.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks for your help. You're welcome. And I hope everybody has good holidays. You as well. You as well. Planet.

All right. Moving on to the last agenda item, but not the last thing on the agenda. Uh, item number six, STN211. Cam, back to you. Says a request from HD the Palms LLC. Uh, doing business with Shawn Bower Development LLC. Trace Bagwell as agent to name a new private drive off Oak Street near 16th Avenue servicing two multif family buildings. Vivian Place location here on North Oak Street. Looks like it's on the back side of the Sears building. Um location. This is the current proposed site with Vivian Place servicing the buildings in question. Uh I do not believe the applicant is here as there's no one else in the room. Any questions I make?

Is it Vivian or Vivian? I believe it's Vivian. There he is. Okay, commissioners. Cameron is the person that you have to ask all questions. This is two down from the police department. Correct.

All right. Anything else? Anyone? Okay. Moving on. I would like to commend staff with all the package today. We got everything big enough. We can actually do everything. It is wonderful. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay, that's the main agenda items. Let's move on to communications from staff, please. Uh here's the calendar draft. uh remember this day because we seem to have problems collecting everybody the week before Christmas. It shouldn't be a problem. I don't know where everybody what happened, but they all half of them claim they were sick. So I believe that I mean I believe them because evidently you have a lot of people sick around. So um [snorts] but we have to vote on this calendar.

So, was the excuse absent due to sickness? All except Okay. So, they would have been here if they weren't sick. Well, I we can go back. So, that's good. I mean, how about staff's past experience on this week before Christmas has been issued? It depends on when Christmas falls. If Christmas falls on if Christmas would be next Monday or something along those lines, it's over.

It's it's pretty much done. that whenever Christmas falls toward the end of the next week and our meeting is sitting toward the first of this of the week prior, it normally hadn't been that big of a deal. Normally where we have anytime a meeting falls within like seven days of a holiday is whenever we normally have some issues whenever it falls between five to seven days of a holiday. No, but this one being nine days out from a holiday. But normally anything that falls within 75 days of a holiday, we rule of thumb pretty much taken it off the calendar. And so there's been some years where we hadn't had the second meeting in the month of December because of the way Christmas fell.

I will say this one uh for next year, the Tuesday meeting on the 15th would be 10 days. So it' be the following Friday. Watch out. It It never seems bad until you get here and then you only have, you know, form. So, okay, ladies and gentlemen, make a motion to approve. Second. Okay. I have a motion to approve the calendar and from Phil and a second from Austin. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor say I. I. Thank you very much. Moving on to now this is a these things are big deals here. Population. Okay.

Yeah. Population element presentation please.

So uh just kind of a quick high level overview. Um Joe asked the question earlier just quick refresher. Um the been hard at work here on the population element uh for the better part of the year. Um as we move forward, this is the major amendment that would be to the current 2024 comprehensive plan. This piece of it uh is just a piece of the comprehensive plan though and the resolution would seek to ratify the comprehensive plan again as an entire package similar to how we did the economic development piece to it. So this is one piece within many larger pieces, but the the act is to do a whole entire comprehensive plan uh again adoption with this resolution that's before you. Um I think that being said, over to my wonderful staff here.

Who's who are who's presenting? All three. Oh, I didn't see I see how three of them. I'm watching y'all. All right. This is This is going to be good. Is there singing involved? It's like a trio. It's a trio.

All right. So long awaited population element update. Um so like Ham was saying that we are required to update our our uh comprehensive plan every 10 years and do uh small reviews every 5 years. Um we've decided to do at least one element every single year. Um so that will never be up against that time clock. Um and the population element it serves as the foundation for the entire comprehensive plan. Um it influences and forms and shapes all the other elements in that plan. And then it has a lot of demographic information all throughout this uh population element. So by analyzing the population demographics, we can identify trends and factors that shape the city's growth and character and make predictions for our future. It also ensures um that future planning decisions support safe, inclusive, and thriving community. Here are some key residential demographics that we chose for the presentation today. The city of Myrtle Beach currently sees a 3% annual growth rate and uh since the year 2020 the city has seen a population increase of 17% within the past 5 years. Density for the city is 1,82 people per square mile. The 2024 projected population was 40,938 and for this year approximately 42,179. Age and sex for the city, we're seeing a 51% for female and 49% male, a median age of 47 years old. And ages 65 and older make up about 24% of the total population. As far as education goes, the city of

Myrtle Beach, uh, our population, almost half have at least an associates degree. The city of Myrtle Beach was ranked by the Sun News as the number one city for veterans in 2025. And veterans make up 7.3% of our total population. And so going into our pillars and policies, [clears throat] Earlier this year, we worked with um Commissioner Paul um Williamson and then our former commissioner Darcy Cofflin um to come up with a draft of policies um before we took them to the community for their feedback and input. Um and during that process, we came up with our goal. And so our goal is accommodating sustainable and intentional population growth by focusing on an attainable future that attracts emerging professionals and families to our safe, inclusive, and thriving community. Um so each of our element in or each of the elements in the comprehensive plan have pillars and policies. Um the pillars are key focus areas in which future infrastructure and resources in Myrtle Beach will be directed. And then we hope the city um acts upon these policies and can improve resident quality of life, increase community resources and create innovative solutions for challenges facing our community in the future. For our first pillar, we have plan alignment. And then the policies contain um an ongoing collection, analysis, integration of population data into all the other elements of the comprehensive plan. And then also looking at growth trends and um demographic changes that may inform decision- making. And then for our second pillar, we have current growth. Um, and this is uh policies that contain supporting social events for our long-term residents as well as our new residences. Um, preserving our city's unique character and then uh also

collecting resident insight and feedback that may direct our future decisions. Our third ele 10 years into our future population and what we can um do for them and how we can support them. So policies contain supporting smart growth uh strategies such as infill development, limiting urban sprawl, and then um preserving our open space, um strengthening our partnerships with healthcare organizations so they can address the needs of our expanding community. And then collaborating with Ory County and all of our neighboring municipalities um to make sure that we are all aligned and working together. For our final pillar, we have community networks. Um these policies contain promotion of community vitality and long-term population um stability. We also are supporting our vulnerable or at risk population groups. Um establishing and maintaining partnerships with local, county and state organizations. And then we are also encouraging um events promoting them for all the health and wellbeing for our entire community. And we believe that these policies will help give us the best Myrtle Beach in the future. Um and then we think our community also agreed with that. Um based on the responses that we got from them for our public engagement session, we went to seven locations in the duration of three months and we had our one online um comprehensive survey that was um with 35 multiple choice questions. and we received over 1,000 responses with that being the highest level public participation in our history with the total being 1,283 responses and which helped directly incorporate community's feedback and priorities. And here we have the list of the seven locations that we held where residents and vis visitors naturally spent much um

much of their time. We went from the Veterans Day parade in Valor Park this year to two First Friday art walks and two Pelicans um games this summer. And then with our last location being the train people. Here we have some of the photos from all seven public sessions where um people would come to our booth and we would give them a 10 question survey and then also give them a flyer to be able to take our big comprehensive survey. And then here we have a list of some of the things that we had learned from the survey. We have a 53% of responses suggested young adults and professionals should be better prioritized when directing resources in planning for future growth. We had 41.7% of responses indicated that they would always support smart growth strategies in the city. 33.7% of responses indicated that they would often support mixeduse development and 73.3% of responses supported the city's effort to set population growth targets for long-term planning. That's

all I have. Commissioner, do you have questions? Do you like our pictures? I think you must have taken them. No, we all did. [laughter] Uh, when you had people fill this in in at the different venues,

did you qualify them as city of Myrtle Beach residents or were who were I mean that not that they had a Myrtle Beach address. So during all the events um they had smaller surveys that they would fill out for that specific event. And on that it was like 10 questions. Um a little bit about their demographic. It did ask them if they were a city resident. Had multiple options. Yes, they're in city limits. Uh no, but I live in like the surrounding area or I'm just visiting. Had multiple options for them too. So we did um tape what they put in there and added the ones that lived in the city to our

I want to add in something here. One of the things we decided early on as a staff is lives out in the county. You move to Myrtle Beach for a reason. You use our resources, you use our roads, you come to our restaurants, you shop here. So we while you may not live within the boundaries of the city, you are definitely part of this community. And so we didn't want to exclude people's feedback simply based on that because all of that feedback does matter to this community as well. It does matter, but I I wanted to know how you uh did that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not I wasn't understood. Yeah. I just want to put that

it was open to everyone even um we had a lot of people saying oh we're just visiting here we're just visiting we wanted to know what they their input want to know what they thought so we still let them fill out surveys um we just did tell them hey just write that you're a visitor I I've never been any place that they asked me to fill something out and I was on vacation would take the time to do that but we were very persuasive of I bet now [laughter] you didn't do anything you shouldn't have did no we did uh we did offer like just some city of Myrtle Beach swag goodies. Um we would say, "Hey, come get a free this. You want to fill our survey?" Um and Kelly would go and ask people, "Do you want to fill this out? You want to fill this out?" Um everyone was super nice. They were really really nice events.

Kelly would chase them down. Yeah. I [laughter] heard I heard about Kelly. I did that she she was going to get them no matter what. We we ran down. [laughter] I don't know what what was the swag you were giving out. Um just we had let's see we had little city of Myrtle Beach beach balls. Um we had ponchos, a reusable straw. We had some dog bags and pins. Um little bridge clips keychains. We also had bike lights um that we gave. A lot of people liked those. Um you know say I think the koozies went the fastest.

For some reason people love those. just a drawer in my house just like I had friends that were emailing me. They said, "We think that you should know that we have filled this on on online because we want you to be proud and we sent to 12 of our friends." I mean, I'm thinking they're telling me that. I mean, I thought that was very sweet that they're telling me that they're filling it in online and telling their friends to tell me that. I'm thinking stop. I don't you don't have to tell me you're doing it. [clears throat] I'm happy that you are though.

I I cannot state how excited we were. Taiisha had the dashboard seeing the numbers come in. There was one morning we came in and it was at like 200. The next morning it was like 500 a new story like oh my god that's incredible. That's higher than we had ever thought. When when you did online though, did you uh know what area of town you were? I mean was that on on the online survey of what area of town they were? Similar question. Not similar neighborhood questions. um vicinity to uh city limits. So, okay. Okay. Not particularly your address or anything like that. Yeah. No, no, no. But I I was just wondering if more people from, you know, one area responded more often than others of just a curiosity.

So, I think we had said when we saw that 500 number, we had looked, we're like, if we could get 800, that would be incredible. There's one morning we came in, it was, 1200. We're like, what just happened? So, um, we were over the moon with how the public engage and these three executed the strategy they put together flawlessly. So, couldn't be happier with how that all came together. Now, uh, are you going to present this now to city council? What's your next step? What's Oh, once the resolution is signed, it does move across the street and it'll get presented to city council for adoption. Okay. Yes. on the unhoused population where it says doubled up 7600 and change. What does doubled up mean?

Um it is do you want um the doubled up there? It's in the the full thing. Um it's just multiple not siblings but multiple different um children different families are in the same area like same um household. Does that make sense? So, like if you have two kids living in the same house, um it'd be two separate like two separate students utilizing the same space. Yes. Working together. Got Yeah. Doubled up kind of roommates. Yeah. Like roommates. They're not related.

Okay. What other questions do you have for this wonderful team?

I'll let the questions I just I have another question. Go ahead. Why do we think the um income median income is more in the county than the city? Is there maybe coastal coastal people out in the county get paid to work? What was that question again? Why is why do we think the uh median income is more for people in the county than it is for city residents? It is a larger county as well. It's larger area. Yeah. Yeah.

If I had to take yes, I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of the new subdivisions that are popping up out in the county are pretty costly subdivisions. And I think with the taxation base being so incredibly low out in the county, I think people are choosing to live out in the county just for low taxes. So I think that's probably skewing some of the numbers. Um you got to keep in mind that the um the measure that's you use there is median which you just take every pick the one in the middle. So I think but why you got that on tape [laughter]

I think why that matters though is because you get a lot bigger of a population and [clears throat] when you do that's going to skew where that middle ends up versus here it's a smaller population. So that middle it probably skews a little bit more towards the lower income. I think if you did um instead of a median like a mean I I think we'd be far closer if not higher than the county. How how do you count retirees u in that you're saying with income? Mhm. So I will say this these numbers came from the census. So I'm unsure how the census designates income for seniors who are on like retired fixed incomes

because we have an overwhelmingly large sadly population. So I again I'm not sure what the census uses to designate that these metrics need consensus. So and we're next year we'll see the new ACS the American community survey come out on the half year. Um so we'll look to we go and do the 2026 updates. We'll look to see if any of these quick numbers need to be changed with the new information coming out from the feds. Okay. Any other questions? And then we're going to have a thought from Phil evidently. Okay. Bill, give us your thought. First, I apologize. I didn't go online to check this, so I'm doing it in ignorance, but the digital version of the whole comprehensive plan. We have one, right?

Yes. Yes. Um, when I went through this and got to like population, I went to other elements. Would it be a maybe a good idea to put an index like you've got the population element and then next be like the index of these major areas for example um preparing for the future history of our income population is that in a table of contents is that yeah in in each of the elements so that if I'm trying to find like the income

it's very Like even here I have to scroll scroll scroll and even if I look at it and go back it's hard where you had an index in the front of the element to say this is the major areas of I don't follow up. So I understand the point you're making. The the hard part is this is a piece of a larger book and that larger book has that index that you're looking for for each element. Uh it's right at the front. It's all within each element. Okay. So the index is at the front but in the in that index like when you get to population it has the index for those. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, when I did the economic development one, I broke it down economic development under the headers and that's at the front of the larger comprehens

and it's based on the like education and this that's what I just wanted to make sure it's a huge index and so when this moves forward to city council that will I said I've looked at it before but I couldn't remember and that's what but all I did is when I looked at this go index man this because I had I kept going back and forth back and forth I keep scrolling and since this is the major amendment that we're pursuing that's why we need just this booklet We're going to update the entire document. Uh when are you presenting this to city council now? Uh as much as I try, I do not control city council's agenda. Well, when when when is your attempt?

I would like to see the very next meeting if at all possible, but again, don't control that agenda. If you sign the resolution today pending the vote of the board, I will have it sent over to Fox's office and hopefully we will put on the next agenda and if not, the one after that. Okay. Okay. Let's wrap it up. Commissioners, thank you. You did a good job, the three of you. You make a good team. Hi everyone.

Yes. Okay, we have Don't anybody leave yet. We need a vote on this. Motion to approve. Second. I have a motion from Austin and a second from Joe. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor say I. I oppose. It is unanimous. Thank you very much. Great job.

Thank you. All right, moving on to the zoning rewrite update.

Yes, ma'am. Uh, so I had heard from a few of the members of the planning commission that you were all curious where we were at in the zoning rewrite process. Um, as I communicated with a few of you, a lot of what we had done already was just kind of laying the foundational understanding with our consultants of who the city of My Beach was, our current code, and where we had um, you know, thought we could make improvements to the code that we have. So, the consultant has been working through all of that information, started slowly filtering out some of the preliminary and proposed ideas that they have. And the first one that really came to hit was our landscaping and landscaping regulations. Um, so I wanted to give a quick touch on this. Um, in an earlier conversation with Kent, he said something that really stuck to me. What we're trying to get to as staff is a base ordinance to bring you all before a lot of more of that nuance discussion comes into play. So, we've been working hard with the consultant to get comfortable with a base level ordinance with some of the changes that staff and honestly some of the recommendations that this board has previously made to put that into a document before we can bring it to you all for a bit more of that nuance conversation. Um, so I just kind of wanted to hit on the highle notes here that we've seen with this landscape regulation. First, the first and foremost is just the updated graphics, the design of it and ease of readability. Um, I think they they've preliminarily done a really good job of how this document lays out, the color scheme that's used, and how their graphics are designed. So that way, somebody picking up this document can look at it and know exactly what we're talking about. These aren't handdrawn descriptions like they previously were. Again, all the language that's in there is proposed, so there's nothing that, and I don't want to focus on the text of these specifically at this time because that may change. This is more just an example of the readability of the document. Same thing again here, our vehicular use areas. Again, just the better use of graphics to detail and show design of what the landscaping document is really looking for. And I did want to hit on these. These are some of those key elements that they

brought to the table for us um to to discuss through as we build towards this base ordinance. just to inform you all um you know we've heard many times that our landscaping and tree preservation wasn't as strong as the board thought it needed to be and staff honestly thought it needed to be. So the first one I wanted to highlight the first one that they brought to us was that an increase of minimum preservation standards on a site is going from 0% to 25% of cumulative DVH. So essentially you take all the measurements of the trees on site and you must retain at least 25. Not everybody knows what DBH means.

Yeah. Diameter breast height. So the measurement of a tree around take the entirety of the site measure all the trees and you would be required to maintain 25% of that. You get weighted credit credits for tree groupings preserved. So not just you know doing standalone trees if there's a cluster of trees as they all communicate with one another and they actually survive better as clusters. You get increased crediting um for the the keeping within [snorts] the preservation standards. When you say crediting crediting what? So that 20 that 25% you would get a 1 and a half times calculation of DBH against that 25% if you kept a cluster or grouping of trees.

Um clarity and definition is another big one. So defining what actually counts as open space greens plazas active use areas and courtyards. The big one for me is the one labeled storm water facilities. Storm water facilities will no longer count towards open space unless they contain amenities such as pedestrian pathing, seating, and additional landscaping. And then at that point that they do contain those things, they still only count for 20% of open space. So it's no more just your retention pond is your open space. You have to activate it. And also it still only counts for 20% of that point. Uh open space must be connected internally with sidewalks and pathing. Maintenance plans will become required as part of development applications. Landscape plan shall include on irrigation plants to try to prevent that die off that we see with plants when they go in. Biodiversity standards would be added to the code so you can't plant more than 25% of just one species of tree. Um and then the addition of a recommended plant species list and expansion of non-recommended tree species list. So these are some of just the high level things that they threw at us really quick um that they were thinking would be a bit more forward and innovative in how we deal with our

and the is who the chemical consultant. you say maintenance plan is required. What do you say that? Um, so right now when somebody goes in with like an upgraded pedestrian pathing area, um, the the maintenance plan and agreement is negotiated with the city, it would be an upfront thing that would be required for the developer to come in and say, "Here's how this will be maintained moving forward." So instead of dealing with it on the back and it comes in front end of the application. I mean, there's some really fabulous things up there. Stormware uh no no longer I mean that's long overdue. I mean there's a bunch of them that that are positives.

I think what made me so excited about seeing this was a gentleman who was working on this section. We kind of told him hey any crazy cookooky ideas that you wanted to try somewhere else at least put it down on paper and see if it fits for us here. And the one that's addition of incentives for low impact development such as green roofs and bio swales presentation that I gave you all two meetings ago he included as part of this that you would get increased credit against your uh open space requirements if you included those low impact development options. So do we have any green roofs? I don't believe we do. I mean other than karabas kurabas but I mean you might have some like trees growing in gutters or something [laughter] might not have

there there are there are green things growing across the sidewalks that I would like to be walking on but that doesn't count but no I think uh green rooms I I don't understand why we don't do that on top of every hotel and condo. I I just don't understand why we don't do that stuff. So, I think this is a good, you know, a really good modern update to the code. And again, we're working to get that base level before we bring you all in the document. But I wanted to show you some of the progress that we've made and incorporating some of the ideas that this board has previously brought to us to give to the consultant. No more than 25% planted maybe one species. Thank you.

Can we not call a palm a tree? uh we have made that abundantly clear that we do not want to see palms listed under tree or grasses. Thank you.

I think one of the things that's really good about what they're bringing to us to these numbers there things in the past that like especially like this board has talked about wanting to see more of this or wanting to see more of that but we didn't really have the ordinance in place to give us the teeth to require those types of things. Um, what they've given us here is the requirements to make us to where we've got a little bit more where we we don't have to try to convince you or try to, you know, fool you into doing something that we want. We've now got an ordinance that requires you to do something that we want. And that's kind of a part of our equation. It's been missing for a while

in regard to this. So that's what's the the good thing about this is that they took things that we all wanted and made them requirements to a certain degree. The uh clarity in definitions for qualifying open spaces I think is of utmost importance uh we have we all know what we want and it's not what has been happening but without any clarity as that's a great word uh we have gone to the lowest common denominator of being better and we need to go to the highest one so I don't know where the clarity I I would I can't wait to see the clarity in the definitions for what that what that's going to be because that's outstanding that that's happening.

So, preliminarily, it is a diagram kind of an overview of what a site designed as a green or plaza would look like and the typical amenities that you find within that area. So there is a little bit of discretion as to what to what extent that is, but it does pretty well lay out, hey, the green is X, Y, and Z and contains X, Y, and Z amenities for the people that use that space. So that's a high level the clarity that they would provide for those. How do we get somebody to do green roofs?

Well, I think this is what is encouraging for me is it's the incentive route. So if you have a smaller site and you don't have the do a large activated open green where you can do a green roof and get a credit towards the amount of open space required on your site. So, it's that incentivizing structure that's built within the document to help people facilitate what they want to achieve on their piece of property while also getting us things like bio swales. But how do we sell it? I mean, you got to sell it. I mean, it can't be buried in a rewrite and you hope somebody's developer sees it. you know, it has to be, this is a big word, marketed uh to make improvements.

I think as we continue moving this process forward and you see more and more of the document, you know, the meeting being put on YouTube, having to present this before city council is a good way to get the word out on that. Totally understand. Okay. Okay. Commissioners, what do y'all think? Joe, what do you think? This is all something that you haven't seen before. What are you thinking about this? I'm excited about it. improvements. Yeah, Sharon, you've been down this road before. What do you think of this? It's got a lot of improvement. It's like I like it. Austin, I like it. I do have a question, but I'll let Joel go first. Well, is it going to be a question or a thought?

Thought [laughter] kind of, but kind of both. Okay. Um, unlike our recommended tree species, if there's a live oak that has to be taken down on the property, do we have something that says like, hey, you have to put I know you can't put if there's a 20 in in diameter oak tree that is taken down. I know you can't, but you can put four oak trees back out there that add up to that 20 in to replace. Can we have something like that in place now? I was just curious. I only kicks in on certain removal options, but it's

that this will make it Would you not say this will make kick into a whole lot more opportunities now than what we currently have in place? Yeah, like read it looks like you're going to retain more organic material on site as it currently exists rather than just flat, right? I think to design your storm water around it.

Sure. I didn't include everything that they proposed, just some of the highlights. They are also upping the mitigation requirement amounts. And one of the things that I didn't include in here that I really liked is that one of the issues that we have is when we require like understory treeing for buffering purposes, people typically go in with like yay big trees and it takes them 10 to 12 years to actually mature to create that buffer. One of the requirements they're proposing is that all buffering must be completed within [snorts] four years. So if you're going with that understory tree option, you are going to have to plant a bigger round of trees to actually facilitate that fouryear window that you have to do to get that buffering done. So bigger trees planted underground often survive easier and better.

So it's it's another one of those mechanisms to try to move the needle a little bit so we don't have that, you know, 10 to 25% die off in the first year sometimes. That that never that never is revisited. That's that's a very bothersome thing. I mean that Everything's dead around this dumpster that was supposed to be hidden with landscaping and several years later. There's there's just weeds there and there's no followup. So, I think to Ken's point, the old mechanisms that we have weren't strong enough. And I think to your point, I think this one will give us the teeth.

This has got more [snorts] teeth. This has got this this this has a whole lot more trigger mechanisms in it than the pre our current ordinance does. We have to be better. We have to be better all the way around. Our city can look better and it should look better. Uh it must look better to uh to go to into the future. So, Phil, you have a thought or a question?

I have a um so I know this this is great. It's wonderful and it's heading right from what you're saying. I like everything that's being said. It's absolutely quite spot on. Uh let me pressure. We would rather have someone maintain their property than penalize them because the maintain property is a lot better than the beauty. But you know, we've had a few discussions and one of the things that been difficult for y'all to get people to maintain properties is is we've had some weaknesses in non-compliance. The ability to be able to put teeth into the non-compliance. That will be part of what y'all are looking at where it helps with that. We help people give them better incentive to actually maintain and go pay a fine and then just don't worry about it till six months later you bother them again and then they do it or you're looking at those type things too. That helps comp because you know on the front end we get these things they look great as soon as you put it in everything looks great and then a few years later it's gone. And when we had our discussions it was about well there's not enough teeth there to push people to keep it maintained.

So, I would say probably the biggest buzzword that we've been using with the consultant for specifically the landscaping portion of this is voluntary compliance. How do we get people to do the right thing on their piece of property um without like you said having to go out and ticket them or penalize them in some way, shape or form? So, gentleman's name is Andrew. Andrew's done really, really good work on this and work across the country. He has intentionally focused on how we move the needle on voluntary compliance. We get people to just do what they need to do. I would I would like to hear that strategy. Voluntary compliance. Yeah. Again, as this comes in a little bit more polish and finish out. I mean, I'm all I'm all for being a lot more serious than voluntary. Well, I mean, look around. That's how we get compliance nowadays. What's that?

That's how we have to get compliance nowadays. And we get it. It's not what they're volunteering to because we're having to go out there. Exactly. Do what we have to do. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. That's why concerned about that because that just puts more more pressure on the auto and takes away from the things that you really would rather focus on. Yeah. But again, this provides us so much more clarity, right? We're not having to flip the three different sections of the zoning code. And that's what's good to put. Now, we just got this one section right here and it says here's why you're in violation. And there is no interpretation. There is no let me tell you what this means. If you can read, you will understand. You're putting it all into one packet. Exactly. used to say, "Oh, we'll reference this over this one and this one goes back over to that."

Is it going to be truncated? Is it going to be truncated? When we had originally sat with the consultant, our intention was essentially to have books within books so you can pull out the landscape section, have just that small little thing and not to have a code that is 500 pages long, the one that you can't lift.

That was our intention from the getgo. they've come up with some with some uh for us are different ways of doing things. Um it's not to say that they're not more common practice in other places. [clears throat] Um but the one thing that we told them whenever we got started on this was that we don't want to do a zoning rewrite that's going to get us up to speed. We want to get a zone rewrite that's going to carry us into the future. And so that's the things that they've been doing. Uh in regard to the landscaping section, we even told him, "We want to try the ideas that you've come up with that other places didn't want to touch. We want to be some guinea pigging on some new ideas. We want to be edgy. Yes,

we need to be edgy. We have to be edgy." He got very excited. And I think that's why he came back with such a good base on the very first time because we had told him don't be afraid to go places where other folks fear because that's what we want to see.

What how do you how are you uh partnering with the consultant? I mean do they you say you need this and they go home and bring you back or do you meet with them regularly? What is the um u process? Yeah, we have regular standing meetings with the two project leads for the consultants and then they have divisions within their company that focus on specific things and we set ad hoc meetings as needed with those. So this previous week we had meetings with engineering, with storm water, with landscaping. We looked in city groups like parks and wreck and public works on them. So it's it's an all hands on deck approach. Um but we have standing meetings uh both internally just our staff uh every other week and then on the off week we have a meeting with our consultants. So we are falling ahead on this one and we're starting to get a little bit more.

What what is your um the end zone where timeline? What's what is that thought on that where another 12 14 months from now?

Okay. to kind of go further back on what you this is one of the the things where even though I'm not a big fan of the technology so to speak alto together um this is one thing where technology is so useful because they don't have to come here to meet with us we can do the zoom meetings and it's like um we met with one person that was out of Georgia in regard to it and we met with one that was out of Florida and we're able to get the we're able to get the best that's out there not the best soldiers in our area but we're able get even better possibly by being able to go to their to their member in Florida or their member in Georgia. And the fact that they are such a big company, they actually have people that specialize in just certain areas. And so that's that's the big plus I feel that that we're getting. We don't have one person that's doing it all. We've got one person that's overseeing it all, but he's going to this person for landscape. He's going to this person for engineering. So we don't have to have that one know all be all. know he has access to uh specialized individuals.

Yes ma'am. So whenever they came here to meet with us on site the three folks that came here and met with us were from three different states. So when it comes to overall song rewrite only thing y'all going to focus on one at a time is what I'm hearing and this is the first one and you go through it or you're I when I say focus I know you already make the changes but you're talking about rewriting the whole landscape.

So there are many chunks that are in play right now. This is just the first chunk that's come back to the landscaping. So we've also been in talks about updating the permitted use table, our zoning classifications, parking standards. All of those are out there and in the work. We have a table with the consultant Dublin. Things are supposed to be rolling back into us and in the next four months there's three big chunks that'll be coming back in. So, we're starting to get it thick and heavy at this point.

Well, I think one of the biggest points kind of feel along the lines of what maybe what what you're talking is yes, we may have three different consult. We may have three different specialists speaking to us and each one may be producing an element supposedly of our new zoning ordinance, but they're all doing it under the same format, the same guidelines. So everybody is on the same page just in different locations. So it's not like this guy's given to us one way, this guy's given it to us one way and then they got to take it and all format it the same way. They're all on the same page to begin with. So whenever So whenever we get the ordinance from the engineer guy, it's been in the same formatting style as what the the the general from landscaping sent us.

Okay. All right. Let's wrap it up. Any final thoughts? We have a suggestion. Oh, yes. Instead of us getting packages again, since we already have them, not unless there's any change, can we just go more paperless so we're not wasting so many trees? Well, we can't just go papers just send it to you through email now. [clears throat] Yeah. I mean, if we already have the packet and not unless our thing changes, why would we want another one? Because with 19 years of experience, I cannot rely on every board member to bring their St. Patrick back from the meeting before.

Correct. I mean, I'm just being honest with you. Some of them leave it here when they go home. Yeah. And so, is it a good idea? Yes. Do I wish it could work that way? Um, and I'm not and I'm speaking at all boards in general. Sometimes I'm doing good just to get them here to have a quum.

Okay. Um, and so to be able to say, "I've got to have you here with this and this and this." Um, the way we've been doing it, this seems to be the most successful and least the least amount of bumps in the road. What you said is something that we have considered. Um, but we just could not figure out the best way. I've tried it before on one of my other boards and before we could get started, I had to get up and go to the back and run two more copies for the ones that didn't bring theirs back. Um, so that's I'm not trying to give an excuse. I'm just I'm giving a kind of not necessarily the best reason, but you went down this road before. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, that's the reality. So, you just

No, I mean, like I said, it's a great question. It's one that we've tried to explore several times and it just doesn't seem to work out to the best horse. I mean, I think what maybe a month ago where you're sitting in my office and we're discussing this and how to make these and both of us just kind of came to the realization like probably not. Yeah. Okay. But good point. Very good point. Yeah. I don't like killing trees. We use recycled paper. [clears throat] It goes into recycling. And my packets once I go through them, I I recycle all my paper. Well, I do too. It's just like I thought it' be less. Okay. I'd like to hear from somebody about the next step here. Motion to adjurnn. Second.

I have a motion from Sharon to adjurnn and a second from Austin. All in favor? Thank you everybody. Have a wonderful Christmas. See you all next year.