Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, welcome to the 6 pm um meeting of the North Augusta Planning Commission for a second. So, if at this moment um we could please have commissioners if you could please do roll call. Red Harbison, Jesse Elliot, Lisa Christie, Chelsea Ward,

and I am your chair, Christine Crawford. Welcome to all. All right. Um approval of the minutes. Uh there's been an error that's been um already shared with Mr. Paradise around the date and the first kind of paragraph needing to be updated. So, um, were there any other changes or concerns about the minutes? Make a motion to approve. Okay. With the uh aforementioned corrections. Yes. Sorry. All right. Can I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor, please say I.

I. All opposed. Thank you all. All right. Mr. Paradise, are there any changes to the agenda? Uh, no ma'am. No, ma'am.

So, welcome everyone. What we will ask is that when you come to the podium to make any comments that you give your name and your address for all of our uh neighbors who may be watching via Facebook. We also ask that when we open it up for public comment that if you could please both keep your comments to about two minutes as well as um try and share new information and new perspectives so that we get a complete picture if there are concerns as opposed to hearing the same concern um over and over. So we want to make sure that we get a range of thoughts or concerns if we have any about anything that we'll be discussing here tonight. And generally speaking with the procedures we have the applicant um this paradise goes over the application we ask him any questions the applicant comes makes any statements then we open it up anyone from the community we ask that the community ask all of its questions at one time ask the applicants to return and address all of the comments at one time and then we proceed from there. All right. So all of that being explained Mr. Paradise. We have a text amendment request uh by Verizon that's on the agenda. Would you like to share anything with us about it?

Yes, ma'am. This is a request from Verizon Wireless for a text amendment to allow Tenn telecommunications tower and antenna as a special exception in the P public use um in the um matrix section 5.5.36. Um telecommunication towers and antenna are allowed as a special exception and and the text amendment before you would require a special exception too. They're allowed in all districts except the public use and the downtown mixed use 2. I don't know why those two were left out. Um, specifically, the applicant seeks to request the text amendment so that he can seek a lease out at Riverview Park u property for an antenna um to enhance their connectivity in that area that the u they've got weak signal out there and I might have phrased that improperly. Uh but man the cellular guy will correct my terminology if I messed it up. I would point out to you as it was pointed out to me that in the development code regarding cell tower placements it's in 5.5.36 telecommunication tower and antenna 6D of that says public property or other private property not suitable prior to consideration of a permit for location on private property that must be acquired. The applicant must show that available publiclyowned sites and available privatelyowned sites occupied by compatible use are unsuitable for operations of the facility under the

communication regulations and the applicant's technically uh designed requirements. However, we don't allow them in public use. So those two don't marry up real well. And that is and this is something that was just brought to me before the meeting. I had missed it. And it's one of those things in the code, but I did did want to point that out to you so you have it go with.

Okay. Let me just make sure that I uh could clarify. So in the code currently, it says that before um telecommunications towers such as this can so towers such as this can be placed on private land must show that public land is unavailable. Yes, ma'am. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you, Mr. Paradise. Any other questions for Mr. Paradise? So this would be just so I'm understanding you're correct a special exception for this case or this is changing where it would be from now on out

right every if you look at the matrix every zoning district that it's allowed in it is a special exception and so going into the P public use it would also our recommendation and you know y'all can recommend however you want to or recommend and not if you want to, but the staff's recommendation is to include a special exception requirement there. And I would point out that while I mentioned their desire for an antenna in a specific location, this would be citywide. It is not uh for a particular location. It is would cover all Public uses throughout the city. and and I and based on what you just read, then if we don't change this, then also need to consider maybe for next time a text amendment to adjust the the verbiage that you just read. All right, there being any other questions, Mr. Paradise at this time? All right, if the applicant could please come forward and give your name and address.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Steven Sullivan. My address is 6445 Woodlure Trail Northwest at Worth, Georgia 30101. Thank you, Son. What would you like for us to know about your application?

Uh, well, again, I'll just highlight Mr. Paradise's um assessment on the existing ordinance where we should look at public property first for private property. We we kind of did that in this search area. I'm not familiar or not sure how familiar you are with the search process when it comes to towers on how often you do them. What generally happens is Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, they'll put out a search request and say where they have weak coverage. I don't know if you had an opportunity to look at the RF propagation documents that were in there. That kind of highlights what that that issue is for Verizon in particular for this location. It's kind of equidistant between multiple existing towers and we're trying to fill that coverage gap. There's kind of two worlds now in the wireless realm where you have coverage gaps and you have capacity issues. This site will actually satisfy both of those issues. So the existing sites are at capacity and are doing what we call blocking. So they can only carry so much traffic. It's a limiting factor still after all these years in the wireless world. That's why you see the multitude of towers that grow with population density. This one in particular will satisfy both of those issues. we have poor coverage along the river and the waterfront. It'll fill that gap and then offload is the terminology we use for the other existing sites to allow them to breathe a little a little more capacity into them before we have to have yet another site somewhere else. At the end of the day, that's kind of what we're looking at. We've we've already shared a lease with the city. We've negotiations with the lease uh with the city attorney. We have red lines. uh when this issue arose they uh put that negotiation on hold until this is resolved what whatever way it may be but we have been in negotiations with the city for tower at the riverfront park at this point.

So at on the map that we got that's the location that we're fairly certain it would go.

Yes sir. So fairly certain there is um some leverage there. That was in the early conversation seemed to be a good area away from the parking lots and there's some I know there's some kitchen places back in there and batting cages, excuse me, and some in maintenance sheds. So that was kind of the drivers like let's tuck it back over there. It'll be a monopine. So it'll be a a tree type fig tree site rather than a standard monopole just to kind of offset that a little bit. And when we were searching this area, obviously it's fair amount of residential, a lot of smaller lots. So meeting the setback requirements of the ordinance was the issue um when when looking at private property versus the public use parcel. So that's that's where how we ended up there. And the biggest challenge when placing a tower always is a willing participant. We can have tons of property that would fe meet all the criteria of the ordinance. If land owner still says no, you're kind of at a dead end. We found a willing participant initially with the city fortunately and we've gotten this far with it.

Are there any other questions for Mr. Sullivan at this time commissioner? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. You have a seat. We'll see if there are any public comments and ask you to come back in. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Madam Chair one, I encourage Mr. Elliot's questions. Just reminding y'all this is citywide, right? Not sight specific. So this is Right. Okay. All right. Thank you, ma'am. If you could please come to the floor.

Amanda Ari and 1903 Burns Road, North Augusta. As much as I love having coverage with a cell tower, I wish there was some other than the tree, you know, is a cell tower. I wonder if there's any way to investigate a little bit more design on Verizon's behalf of something that could be more attractive than a cell tower tree. That was really about all my statement except if we're going to continue to enhance our riverfront, we don't need a bunch of junk. And that's what I see when this starts because then any public owner of a piece of property, they make money off of it. And um not keeping someone from making money on it, but somehow someway come up with something that doesn't look so unnatural. Does it? Thank you.

Would you have any thoughts or suggestions? I know I have actually I have actually sat down and tried to come up with something because I am a designer and I do try to I do try to think of things because you know I understand it's great to be um kayaking and you got cells believe me you know that's that's you know because everybody you attached to the thing you know you're attached to the phones but you know if it was something I'd like to know how to submit it if I did come up with something how would you go about submitting it. So, we'll ask Mr. Sullivan to respond to that as well. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Are there any other questions from the public?

Her comments. Okay. There being none, Mr. S, would you come back and please respond? So I I would just go back to the fact that we're only discussing the text amendment today

and in the special exception process design and final standards could would be worked out. Um but there are a multitude of stealth structures. Monopines are typically the most prevalent here in the southeast. There are other we've done uh some stealth panels with crosses on them at churches when appropriate. But there are other stealth designs that are available. Just again, the monopole has just been the most prolific given the the terrain and the tree coverage here. Do you know do you know how many of those the ones that are look like a tree that we have in town now?

I I do not offhand for I know that's where those tiles. I just don't know that all of those are going to be because I remember when they first did them, the ones in North Augusta, it stood out and I was like those are for for probably two years. I laughed every time I saw it. But the other day I was driving around my teenagers and I said, "You all know that there are towers that look like trees, right?" They said, "Nohere." We drive by them every day. And honestly, after being used to seeing them, it took me a minute to find them. They can blend. So, it it sticks out at first, but they do eventually start to disappear, at least better than just the towers.

And what'll help that with this one is your height limit. So, and the other jurisdictions I've seen 200 foot poles, the tree lines 35 feet. So, it's kind of the the toilet brush is what we've incurred at public hearings. So, so yeah. So, um again, the special exception process will will handle the design standards that can ma'am I'm sorry. So, we can't have the back and forth because folks in the the the rest of the public can't. So, so we'll let you finish and then maybe afterwards if you all want to talk or when we finish this oneonone then you can get some more clarity. Okay. All right. M go ahead.

Um so I think the question I didn't answer was if she came up with a conceptual idea, how would she present that?

Um that's a first for me in a long time. I haven't never had had that. Um I will say just generically uh those structures are can be four and 5x the cost of just a standard mono pole tower. So when you we tend to stick with the current designs we have without having to generate a new design a new but it's it's very very creative. You'll see a lot of places in other jurisdictions where you'd never know this the structure there until somebody told you that that bell tower or clock tower or whatever it is is is a is a cell site. the standards. We can go over those design standards in if we make it to a special exception hopefully process um and we can present some of the other standard designs we've used elsewhere and see if that's a anything of value to the commission.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. And just um also for clarification, the special exception would go before the BZA, correct? and not us.

So for those who are interested in So this is again um a text amendment around a special exception for public use for telecommunication towers in general. Um we will make that recommendation to city council but around this specific telecommunication tower as well as any others because they are all by special exception. That would be a BZA hearing. So if you are interested and passionate about that then subsequent meetings will be by the BZA. So we need to watch for those announcements. All right. Is there are there any other questions or discussion commission?

Well I will I will make a motion. I may need help getting through some of the verbiage. Uh but I make a motion to approve the request Verizon Wireless to amend the text for table 5.1 use matrix to allow commun telecommunication towers and antenna in public use P zoning district with the exception or not I guess exception but of uh still requiring to be the special use approval. Okay. So to text amendment to allow telecommunications tower special tenant as a special exception in the P public use zoning district is the is the motion. Okay.

All right. You're welcome. All right. Can I have a second, please? Second. All right. All those in favor, please say I. I opposed. Okay. Thank you all. You did. All right. Next up, we have um application PP25-03, Major Subdivision Preliminary Plat. Mr. Paradise, anything you'd like to share with us about this application? Yes, ma'am. First thing I'd like to share is um the applicant that was going to be here tonight from Atlanta, um or anyway, he couldn't make it. There was a family emergency.

Okay. the engineer the local engineer here um I think it's his wife's birthday and he couldn't make it so mi Mr. Sheileely was um with the engineering firm and was already going to be here. So, he's pinch hitting for the applicant. Okay. He's been brought up to speed. All right.

Um this is um for pro is this is the subject parcel here. It is um parcel I in Riverside Village, part of phase B of the Hammonds Fairy Plan development. See it here. This gives you the layout here. It's 69 acres in size and proposes 11 town homes with a shared parking area. It's on downtown mixed use 2 and the Hammond's Fairy Plan development. Um, it's recommended for approval by staff with the conditions that any outstanding comments will be addressed to satisfaction of city staff. There's some minor issues still out there. This is consistent um with the general development plan and the Hammonds Ferry ordinance and it has been approved by the um Hammonds Fairy architectural people. So, um, this is 11 town houses. It's currently being used as lay down yard for the apartments that's being constructed in the area. And, um, these are not apartments. These are town homes. And we were very specific with the developer and the engineer that we had a question about those being property lines and we have verified that. Any questions for me? No questions for Mr. Paradise at this time and Mr. Chile who is pitch hitting uh times two.

I can't prepare for the other one. So hopefully I can uh answer any questions you might have. Lance Chile, 11:04 Campbell Drive, North Augusta, South Carolina.

All right, since Mr. Chile was not prepared to present anything, are there any questions for Mr. Mr. Chile at this time about the application. Miss Chie, if you could have a seat, we'll see if there are any questions from the public. Ma'am, Miss, you could come please to the microphone and give your name and address. Michelle Wilson, 1901 Burns Road, North Augusta. Uh, I don't know what to say. The population density in Hammonds Ferry and that area is so bad now. Businesses have actually closed up and relocated because between the construction and the parking lots and the hotel and the residents, you can't really enjoy going down there anymore. And we, my husband and I and my family, we used to go down there quite a bit to eat out um at the hotel restaurant as well as the restaurants nearby. We avoid it like the plague now. My daughter does live on the other side of the bridge. It's a lot quieter over there. I just think you have started approving these town houses and apartments um without thought of how dense and untenable living there has become for some of the residents. We know people who live there are moving out because it is that bad. You're already approved apartments on the other side. You've got more t u more parking going on. I don't think there if even if you consider the number of town houses, I have lived in a townhouse community many many years ago and what we found is that most builders allow two spots per townhouse and that isn't enough when

they have company. You wind up not being able to turn around in your subdivision. I think the density is too high. I think you really need to reconsider what's happening to our community and the reason many people moved here is because it had a sense of community and I think we're losing. I really hope that you reconsider. We've been here, my family and I, we moved here 40 years ago out of choice. Okay? And we're very happy. And I understand progress has to be made. But I do think that the citizens who've paid for the infrastructure, who've paid for this building, and who've paid our taxes diligently. Thanks. Whoops.

Thank you. Thank you.

I think that that you are not doing us a favor. I I really hope that you start considering the citizens here. I lived in the rapids. Now I live in the colony. You've already heard from us that we can hardly get out of our subdivision. I've got the hive being built. Um I have people doing 60 70 miles an hour on Martintown. Turning left is a problem. Now we've got the kids from the high school not wanting to stop at the light, so they're racing through our subdivision. I just ask you to please consider increase if they have to build on it, make the parking a little bit better and decrease the density because I know you're probably not going to deny them the ability to build on that. But if I'm not mistaken, they said.7 acres. Was that it? I think I was estimating high.

I think our lots are almost that size for our homes. Okay, that is high when you really think about it. Thank you for listening. All right. Thank you, Miss Wilson. Miss Burns, I'm sorry. Miss Wilson Burns Road. Yes, I was combining your Thank you, Miss Wilson. All right. Come on up, Miss Hi. Hi, sir. How are you? I'm fine. How are y'all? Good.

My name is Rick Ari, 1903 Burns Road. Um, we moved to my wife and I moved to North Augusta in 2013. I'm an architect. work for the city of Augusta and I know um I want to echo some of the things that Michelle just said and and as a resident here the density of development is beginning to be significant concern as it relates to the quality of life the crowding for number one of the things that I want to ask about is what provisions are being made for some of the developers who are making money off of this which they should be able to to offset the cost of providing services, the infrastructure, the water treatment system, the wastewater treatment system, uh roads and schools. I mean, is the burden coming directly to the existing taxpayer or some of these going to be offset by by fees that you charge these developers? Putting all the burden on the current tax base is probably not an appropriate look. There may be other options to look at. I know Richard Fletcher posted something on the online about impact fees, but some consideration needs to be given for the quality of life in North Augusta because that's one of the things that drew us here. Um, and if you go too far, you can't back up. So, careful consideration needs to be given to what these actions you're taking. And I I'm not saying that you aren't, but the cost is currently I see it as being passed on to us and like some consideration for maybe getting an offset on that as far as as these people that are moving in. They making the money then they leave. Once these are sold, the developer is gone. Or potentially, it may be a local, I don't know, but they're out of Atlanta.

They're out of here. Once those things are sold, they don't really care. Thank you. All right, any other Yes, could I address that?

Yes, please. I was going to ask you to. Um and council recognized the fact of the cost sharing needing to be uh through some of the new development in effect of November and that's why they passed an impact fee that went into effect November the 1st. So any additional construction and development in the city of North Augusta has to pay um those impact fees to help maintain the service level at where we are at.

All right. Thank you. And um Mr. Chile, I don't think there were any direct questions for you. Were there anything else you needed to share with us as a result? Okay. Dr. Crawford, can I just have him clarify one thing? So with these as opposed to apartments, these people would pay property taxes and be homeowners. Correct.

We we cannot tell you I cannot tell you somebody won't buy one of those and rent it. You know, just like you can rent buy a house in the Rapids and rent it. Um but these are fe simple um designed to be owner occupied type homes. And I would say that this is consistent with um and I understand the comments, but the general development plan and the ordinance that was adopted specifically for Hammond's Ferry. Um this is 11 units was what was um allowed by that ordinance for that parcel

and they'll be a part of the Hammonds HOA these properties? Probably not. Probably not. Okay. I I I don't know. I don't have anything to do with the HOA. Um I would I would tell you that, you know, it is designed so that parking is all on site, shared parking.

Are there any other questions or discussion? Okay. I'm sorry. You have to Okay. So, yeah, I'll go ahead and let you do it. But typically once we've started, then we kind of keep going because we're in the I didn't know you finished. So, no, no, no, no, no, ma'am. In the the discussion phase where we're discussing before, but go ahead. Make it brief. Okay. But say if you could say your name and your address 1903 Burns. Okay. North Augusta, South Carolina.

All right. Thank you. Since I am a designer, I work with a lot of people that are living in Hammond's Ferry. And when it first started, you know, all the way back, you know, first one I think I had was around two 2005. And it was being marketed to people that were probably young, a little bit younger than me, you know, somewhere in their 50s. Now you're getting young people living there and not realizing the impact of having small children trying to live in homes that are such dents. where I'm going with this comment. Got several clients that have now called me and said, "Where is land?" Which I don't mind. It's business for me, but I just would like for y'all to hear this. The flip that's kind of going on. Where can I go that I'm not crammed in a neighborhood with all this development going on? I guess maybe you, you know, maybe they didn't People fall in love with the house. you know, they walk up, it looks pretty, you know, it looks great from the outside, less roll. Let me get that. You don't fully see the impact of the area. But I do I have several clients that are saying, "Where can I go that I don't have to live in such a densed area." So, see, then that kind of frightens me for the North Augusta area because it's so great. We're right there and now we're stepping all over it. I come from a long line of politicians, believe it or not. I I did have a father that was a county commissioner, so I feel for all of y'all. I used to pick up the phone and get calls from people like, "Your daddy's crazy for doing what he's doing." Okay, that was way before you had some email. I was the email receiver. So, I just don't want to lose that for our community. I I brought a friend over the other day making sure

that our restaurants are getting, you know, used and letting everybody know how beautiful the direction that we're going in. And I always campaign for that, but I don't want it to be so much that they're like, "Oh, I wouldn't live there." I mean, you look at Columbia County, they got the same thing going on, but the only thing is they're not trying to cram it all in one area. You see what I mean? they've spread out and they got the you know 10 foot um you know um property lines but it doesn't feel the same like that and so um that that's just my concern and I would like for you to know other people are exiting because of it. All right thank you.

Thank you Miss Avery. All right so any other um questions or continuing the discussion? Mr. Paradise, just so I can help with some clarity about tonight we're voting on this plan for this plat. If we were to make a recommendation, if we all voted no, city council voted no, where would this plat? It's because hasn't it been slated to be town houses since the beginning when we approved the big overall picture?

It has. And on this, you are not making a recommendation. You are the final say. It does not go to council. and it when when the modification came through a few years ago um in the master plan that was what was put on this site 11 town homes um and that's been what's submitted and it's you know been been through the re review process right any other questions Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion that we approve the major subdivision preliminary plat request by Riverside Village owner for major subdivision for 11 town homes on parcel one and phase B of the hemisphere plan development.

Second. Second. All right. All those in favor, please say I. I all opposed. Thank you. All right. And the next item on our agenda tonight is major site plan SP25- Z004, a request by Aken County Public School District for an addition to North Augusta Middle School. Mr. Paradise. Uh, yes ma'am. This is for um construction of North Augusta Middle School. The construction is proposed in three phases. Phase one will be the construction of the new school. Then phase two will be the demolition de yeah tearing down demolition. Yeah.

Demolition of the old school.

Uh phase three will be the construction of new driveway loop off of old Edgefield Road and the construction of additional parking areas. Working phase two and three. They are proposed to be done simultaneously. The proposed site improvements include reconfiguration and expansion of existing parking areas. Bus loop parking lot will remain. A new parking lot in the north, west, and south quadrants of the site will be added. The school will have a total of 176 paved parking spaces and parking will be sufficient to accommodate teachers and staff, office visitors and special events. The parking will be screened from the adjacent residential areas to the as required by the development code and the site currently has access from old Edgefield Road and two principal access locations. Crestland Drive. Car drop off and pickup is conducted on Old Elgefield Road. A school bus drop off and pickup location is accessed off of Crestland Drive at the end of the building addition project. These access point will remain. However, the site plans require extensive grading of the new drop off and pickup lane configuration at the old Edgefield Road entrance. During the final phase of construction, Carline will be temporarily routed to Crestland Drive and the developer is going to coordinate with uh staff and public safety administration to minimize impacts in the surrounding neighborhoods. Um the architectural elevations uh are generally consistent with the existing school. The materials are appropriate and complement surrounding neighborhood. The proposed landscaping is sufficient and propose proposes preserving some of the existing

mature landscape buffering the school site of from the surrounding neighborhood. Staff has provided minor comments on the proposed landscaping to the developer for response and revisions are currently under final review. We would recommend approval and with any outstanding comments being addressed to the satisfactory satisfaction of city staff. All right. Any questions from Mr. Paradise about the addition? All right. And I'm And then the applicant's going to come forward.

Good evening. I'm Hilderbrand with Hatton Hilderbrand, 133 Greenville Street, Aken, South Carolina. Um I'll give you, we'll go through these slides and I'll give you a brief rundown of what is planned. Um two seconds on my history. Um, I actually moved to North Augusta in 1968 with my family on one of these lots you see along the bottom of the plan here.

Um, I went to Somerville Elementary School, third through sixth grade. Then I went to North Augusta Junior High right after they got electricity and did not have air conditioning. and then went to North Augusta High School, got married in 1983, and my wife dragged me to Akin, and I've been there ever since. Well, welcome home.

Nice to be back. We've done a lot of work for the school district. Um, a lot of schools in North Augusta and all over the district. This is about somewhere in the range of job number 600 or so for us for the school district. So, we're excited. Um, if you could go back real quick uh to the I think you had the existing condition plan. It may be next. Saw it in. There we go. That's the campus as it stands now. Um I assume that most of you guys are familiar with it. Um entry off Old Edgefield Road coming along um Shotgun Drive all the way back to Crestland Drive. Um exit on Crestlin. Um very little stacking on site. Um, a lot of cars parking the road along both sides of Old Edgefield. Um, pave shoulder on the other side. Cars kind of back in over there. Um, they back up, stack up northbound along the right hand side of some mess. Um, the lower area um, used to have a track around it. Um, it's now a soccer field. Maybe the city participates in ownership of that. I'm not sure. whatever. But the plan is to um let me back up one step. The area on the right, the loop back there in the right is some staff parking and the bus loop. Um that area to the left of it is some classroom, cafeteria, kitchen area that was done in I'm just going to throw out a number 2008 maybe and um that is to remain. The older part of the school is to the left. All the red old red brick part will be demolished in phase two of this project.

Plan is to basically build a new middle school down on the lower level. Um get it ready to occupy um have it occupied so that the kids can move down to that level. There will be two connectors um a two floor connector that'll connect from the second floor, the lower level to the first floor, the upper level. Um once the once that school can be occupied, um there'll be some temporary stacking along Crestlin Drive up toward McKenzie Street until um a connection a new connection can be made to Old Edgeville Road. Flip to the one that's got all the blue lines and light safety. There we go. Those blue lines are hose pulls for the fire department. Um there'll be a um pickup drop off line coming off Old Edgefield winding through that loop and we do those all over the place. Mossy Creek Hammond Hill is different. They got the Disney land parking, but most schools we we do have my wife teaches at Chucker Creek or she's a secretary and they call it the snake. But we try to get um certain length that's mandated by South Carolina do reviews all the traffic on the campus. They review all your turn lanes and whatnot off campus. Um the district and the state office in Colia all review any improvements to the school project that traffic. So we've been through those reviews through the city review. There'll be

some restriping and widening of old Edgeville Road. Um the plan is with the loop up front with approximately 3,400 ft of stack and we'll be able to get everybody off. be up to the administration. I've got Mike Jerro with the school district here. Be up to the administration to help enforce that. Public safety, as I understand now, does some directing and they'll continue to do that. Hopefully, we can get every um some visitor parking in the front, some staff parking in the back, teacher and staff parking up top. Um staff parking again remains in the bus loop. Um when the existing school is demolished in phase 2 slash3, uh we'll have a lot of green space up top. Um replace what we're losing down on the lower level. That's about it in a nutshell. A lot of work, a lot of utilities, a lot of a lot of transition. Hopefully a lot of patience from folks in school while all this is going on. Folks in the neighborhood. I have Mr. Jer with facilities here. Tommy, if you want to flip to some of the school pictures, anybody's got any questions. I think it's very attractive school. Here are the different elevations. You want to flip to the front. Mike, you want you could step to the mic and give your name.

My name is Mike Jerro, 61 Given Given Street, Aken, South Carolina. Madam Chair and Commissioners, I'm the executive director of facilities construction for the district and it's been a robust building frenzy for me right now and uh so happy to be here in front of you today to answer any questions. The district is super proud of this of this um of this building. You look at it from the front, you're now looking towards and capturing the elevation so that you could see all of North Augusta. I think it was a great great positioning. Awnings help with efficiency. Gives it that gives it that home I think home feeling with the branding of with the branding of the school. Um, you'll see to your right opposite of the of the NMS of their logo. That's a very nice uh media center. If you could, Tommy, if you could go to the next slide for me, please. We have a courtyard in between the two passageways or corridors that connect what I call the old new and then the new down at the bottom. So this is a secured secured parkway in between the in in between the two elevations. Um next slide please. Um this is a um this would be the opposite side of that front view. And you'll see and and this view here is you'll see a lot of brick work. And the architect was um he made sure that we used um call it native materials because of the history

of North Augusta and the the bricks that were produced here over the years. We made sure that we captured that and brought that history and integrated it into the structure. And then um you can go to the next slide for me please. And that's an overall view of the of the front that you saw that Tilden talked about and all the parking. And then to the top of that screen will be the existing parking to remain. Then the parking to your right. And then you'll see the big snake that Tilden talked about would be to your left. And then um about 76,000 square feet overall with the renovated old new classroom to the structure remain and then demo and I think we have one more slide. There you go. Any other questions?

Does this increase your capacity for number of students by how many? Um, capacity has been talked about, but what we've done is designed the school for more efficient use of the square footage. So, it doesn't necessarily mean that Dr. Crawford that we've added 175 students. Okay. But the potential is that with more efficient use of the of the classrooms, with an extensive programming discussions with the faculty and staff, we're able to accommodate more students without really adding more. It's it's not a easy that's not an easy question. Okay.

But if there's future growth, then this school will certainly be able to handle that. So, we're not, it was brought up before I got here that we're not going to have this beautiful school and then have a mobile in the back. Okay, that's what we're really trying to prevent. Great question. Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions? Mr. J from the commission. All right. If you could have a seat, Mr. If there are any other questions from the um public at this time, if you could come forward, please give your name and address again and um then we'll ask Mr. Hilda Brandon Jared to address them at the end.

Chatty Kathy Burns Road 1903 Amanda Green 1903 Burns Road. Thank you, M.

I always learned that two negatives leave with one positive. This is wonderful. Wonderful. because as many times as I go down that road heading to Aken, South Carolina, that road is always backed up for picking up. So beautiful. So again, if there's any way there could be a campaign though, let's push some of that development that we're all kind of tensing up about out to that that area is a beautiful area. I mean, far as the topography of it, it's beautiful. if there's a way to encourage developers to kind of pull over there some because of the school. And all I'm ever concerned about, I know we're six out of 10 for most of our schools. It would be great to be 10 out of 10, but you know, six out of 10 is not bad. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other report, please? And again, give your name and

Hello. You must hate our street. Michelle Wilson, 1901 Burns Road. Um, I support the construction of a new middle school at that location. I really do. However, I have a couple of questions. One is I've never met a building with a flat roof that doesn't leak. I spent many years replacing ceiling tiles on flat roofs. They all say they don't leak, they leak. So, I I'm hoping maybe we can consider an option for that. Uh, if you go to almost every building at the Savannah River site, they leak. All of them leak. Like I said, I used to have three trash cans in my office with hoses connected to them when it rained. Um, the second thing I'm asking is I wonder why we haven't considered solar panels when you're building new. Was there a reason? I noticed when I passed is it Bird Elementary in Graniteville with the solar panels? I mean, you've got a roof going up. Maybe you could sell back some energy or consider it. And then the other thing I noticed that there's a slope on one side of it that kind of deadends into a corner. you I'm sure you've already considered it, but you're going to need extensive trench drains on that side because I know in some of the existing construction we have now around our schools, we have wet, soggy areas that create a problem. But I do support the construction. I just hope you consider a few of those suggestions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, Mr. uh if there are no other comments from the public, Mr. Mr. Hildebrand and Mr. Jer if you all could resp uh I think reply primarily to Miss Wilson's questions around roofing solar

panels and the sloped dead end.

I can address the um drainage. We do have an extensive drainage system uh between the two schools, the area that she referred to um that are designed to accommodate the water. Basically, it just hits the ground. We have roof trains that capture everything else. I can't address Mr. Chair, if you can step to the mic so they can make sure they they get you out in the

See that that top portion of of this this particular elevation they're actually parapit walls. Yes, it is flat roof, but it's slightly pitched so that the water's not sitting there and it gives it the opportunity to find the roof drains and find its way out for the um drainage. Um, solar panels have been discussed. We do have them in the district, but at this project, we didn't feel like that the added cost. A better way to put it is we didn't find a return on investment here for this particular project. And I do believe in in making sure that our schools are are are efficient, our utilities are down, and that kids have kids have a great environment. But at this point, I really don't think that the amount of energy that would be captured really is going to offset long term the cost of the um solar panels themselves. And that to add to that, there are several dis several of our schools that have that and we're struggling with that trying to make that work. So that's why we held off on solar at this point.

And let me add ones that come to mind like they're all larger, more rural campuses. You put them on the roof, then you have problems with leaks and removal placement. I'll make a motion for SP25-00004 major site plan for North Augusta Middle School.

Would that include the conditions? Any outstanding comments will be addressed to the satisfaction of Yes, with the following conditions. Any outstanding comments will be addressed to the satisfaction of city staff. Second. Second. All those in favor say I.

I. Oppos. Uh yes, ma'am. When we started this the first meeting, we went over what where we were at last month. We had the city's arborist talk over what from the city he would like to see. And of course, we want to get the developers aspect in here as well. So, I asked Mr. Sheileely if he would come and do a presentation for us. And he he was quite gracious with it. He wasn't planning on getting stuck with the other application when he agreed though. Um, but just to tell you a little bit about him, you've probably seen him on applications here before, but he's the director of landscape architecture and a principal of Cranston Engineering. And one of the most important things for you too is he is a resident of North Augusta. He lives here. He's not a developer from out of town. Um he manages landscape architecture projects across the southeast and uh including South Carolina, the Midlands and the Charleston regions. His work focuses on large private land developments, community amenities, parks, and street capes. Uh prior to joining Granston, he served as the lead landscape architect for Origin Landscape Architecture and spent over seven years with uh JLA and Associates. Uh notable projects that

he's done is North Augusta Riverfront Amphitheater, Evanstown Center Park, Blanchard Woods Park, and AU Medical Center Terrace Green. So having said that introduction for him, I I'll turn it back to you. So Mr. Chile, if you could come forward and make your presentation and again, thank you for volunteering to share this.

Thank you guys for allowing me to be here. Um, again, do I need to say my name and address again for the group? I'm Lance Chile, 11:04 Campbell Drive, North Augusta South. Um, yes. So, I'm I am a resident. I've been in North Augusta for eight years now. My daughter gone through Hammond Hill and now she's at Paul Knox and got three more kids in the school there. So, very invested. So Tommy asked me to come and talk about tree preservation and didn't give me a whole lot of background where we were making um you know so it's kind of hard to pair down my thoughts and you know practicing here practicing there um so pro I let's just get into it and if you guys have any questions for me it's not very formal um just some kind of high level stuff honestly it was hard feel like I could fit it all in in 10 to 15 minutes. So, I tried to kind of pair the slides back as much as possible and allow you guys a lot of time to ask questions. Um, so the purpose that Tommy informed me today was just to let you guys know about preservation ordinances through the area and the time period of my practice, explain some practical concerns, property owners, and then briefly you guys might um so in order to try to pair it down my I started trying to think what's what is the if I had one minute to talk what would I talk about two minutes so um first thing I would say is know exactly what you're wanting from a presum like a lot of things it's a great idea everybody you can get a lot of people

behind preservation but what does it mean What do we want? Let's work back from there to what how we write. Be mindful of the total cost of the ordinance. Um, whatever you write, there's a lot of hidden costs that I can talk about a little bit later, but the number of times requirements of surveys and things like that is another cost that is not always Um, want to talk a little bit about where tree ordinances break down places where in my practice I've seen a really good ordinance doesn't quite fit the bill here or there's some issues and then in my opinion what makes it so in looking at what preservation might mean I went back I went to the existing ordinance from Northwest there's two part two parts there number eight and number talk about pres preserving existing native vegetation and one is mainly focused on ecosystem the other is uh as part of native vegetation as part of so as a place to start there I want to del dive a little bit more into what you really get the the breaking down tree preservation into a couple of buckets of why we might do that um mainly I would see those in three areas of environmental benefit, aesthetics, and then placement. And further to break those things down, environmental benefits, there's a litany of reason of things that trees woods and those are, you know, just to name a few, biodiversity, local cooling, you get the shade effects, you get

runoff mitigation. And that's one that a lot of people don't realize in a canopied area first important benefit of aesthetics is the thing that I think a lot of us all really jump up and down about or you know we really want to tweak those things. We're hiding things or we're addressing. We don't want to look at that. Let's give something pretty to look at in front of it or streets look better when they're broken up and they're not just one long road of I can see everything. So that would fall into the aesthetics bucket and then placem which I feel um it has its appropriate place is how do we preserve those really big those ones that make a statement they say this is a place that's been here for a long time and it cares right we have a lot of historic places here and Austin, Savannah do a really great job of those things. Those are assets they have been able to um so further into that um how this starts to shift into an ordinance, how it starts to shift into applying practices to these. So if you're looking for environmental benefits and aesthetics, you really are talking about groups or areas of area. Those percentages do have some background in science and um but those are the ones where we talk about how many trees do you have to have, how many you know where do we want trees, those things like that. And then you have these other ones other components of tree preservation which are more singular tree protections. That's the specific tree because

some cultural aspect of a singer. Um so keeping those things in mind where we want to talk about considerations of that's a broad state. You got developers, town homes, single family homes, uh large scale communities and you have to kind of look at things on those different scales, make sure that everything works. But in general, I would say most developers are most concerned with time, money. So um talking about time you get things like how long does it take me to go from when I want to start my project to how many steps do I have to go through the rigor of those things I'll show later sliding scale where you might want to do this development and how long it might be but places where you start to layer a ton of bodies on top of each low country Charleston area that you can almost talked a little about money there. things that you have to do. And then clarity, that's one that you don't really think about, but if I'm a developer, I make a decision to invest in a place and I want to know up front what my costs are. So making the clarity there, I think you get a lot more bang for the buck or have a lot of make it black and white and we do you know it is uh

often we hear code right we what does the developer want to do code um so you do need to think about in that code like this that's unfortunately the bar that we have to have to considerations local municipality um In your tree ordinance, you can make it very easy to develop or you can make it more difficult. Uh limits on the land, things like how many trees. There was a time um early in my career in the city of Aken where there they had a very strict interpretation of historic trees uh significant trees I believe or grand trees they call them. And we would see sites twoacre sites downtown Aken where you really couldn't develop property because because they interpreted the ordinance that so that had that had that is something to consider. It shouldn't drive whether we do or we don't recognize that this particular piece of ordinance will have an effect of our um enforcement and review costs. So that's one that I cannot tell you how many times I've been in practice where we have had to do XYZ and then six months a year later once that person got their take that backend enforcement they canmit They can do all the things that you say they have to do, but unless we have code enforcement back

ordinance. Um, and then so turnover, I guess that was the turnover. So diving into that just a little bit more, developer cost, the way the ways you're specifically going to drive up the cost for developers is how many trees that you have to plant. So you know, do we have to plant parking lot trees? How much can cover is it% 30%. We have to screen this there. Um and then you also have the protection requirements. Protection requirements are probably probably most protect that's the way in our area we are not like the low country the low country has the benefit of not having to you have 150 acres in you have Most of your big developers builders, they're going to want to sit. So in that way uh you can make your land unfilled if to a certain and then the caution is valid again who who produces the required documentation like tree surveys who checks the required documentation right I can hire a surveyor I can have them go out most surveyors don't know what trees are which so you have to have somebody else

come back out and say that's of this and this is that and then on top of that make sure you're getting what you're asking for. Someone from the city really needs to go back out and say did they get did they get the trees here and there? If you really want to enforce those things the laws and then what happens in a conflict says this and I say that. So all those things are so this slide I was talking about, you know, I I belored back and forth to kind of say my favorites and my most hated uh tree ordinances that I've practiced in, but suffice it to say, I put it on just kind of a rough sliding scale of general cost of development driven by those two. How many trees do we have to plant? you know trees coverage X Y and Z you see on the low end sorry amount of trees and then on the low end rural South Carolina counties up the state that way you really don't have a lot of ordinance at all so the development cost is very low they don't have Augusta Georgia less less than North Augusta in my experience because they don't require or don't enforce the total amount of trees that North Augusta does in relation to parking lot islands um foundation plantings in areas. There's just a lot of things in North Augusta that are good and I appreciate our ordinance that you don't have. And then on the high end of the spectrum, South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, get into really heavy way they do those things,

there's a multitude of ways, but a common way is that you do get a tree survey, then you have an arborist go out and you they grade the trees. If it's A, B, C, or D. And so trees that get a A or get a B or C or a D, you have leverage remove those trees kind of and then if you have a a you got to keep it b is kind of a little more discretion but there's a lot of steps to get to what is that you know what is a what is a b what's a and it just lengthens time so um it does have a significant cost on the developers um where I see tree ordinances breakdown. So this is my experience whether they're good ordinances or bad ordinances in my opinion. Difficulty to write an ordinance that fits the scale of a single family residence one acre two acre lot. Um something that fits your generic development plan commercial acres and then bigger than that. So where these things are hard to write for blanket statement is big buildings on small sites. So industrial buildings if you're looking at if you're looking at canopy requirement you're going to have trouble on a warehouse building those are oneoff things urban sites where again you have a lot of parking and a lot of building in a small site you just don't have a lot and then where your development methodology does not allow The other place that they break down is

if you're not if the people of your community, elected officials, the city itself is not together, um you run into things where it's in the ordinance, but it's not and that could be from staff or from the push back. But what really has to be there is a desire and a value. You have to value these things the same value instructure feeding department sometimes are not unified. There's right now where do they go? We don't know right here. Um and then uh again another thing that municipality have a voting public that we got to do it but So finally um what to me makes a good and I say good I don't that's regardless of how you say regardless of whether it's hard or easy so it's easy right we don't have an infinite number of scenarios that can be litigated I think it's a X, not a Z or whatever that is and then enforceable. So staff has the capability to go out and check do these things that they need to do and then it is enforced. The backend side is so important to getting these things effectively and practically implemented

and maintained. So I I would that's that might be my biggest soap box about the whole thing is whatever we write, we've got to make sure doesn't stop at. That's all I got. Like I talked a lot, but I hope hope that was helpful. Love. That was extremely helpful. Thank you. I actually do have a quick question for you. So, I know you mentioned the rural counties in South Carolina, but Edgefield County is considering a treat ordinance. Have you reviewed that at all? Like, do you know anything about it? Okay. No worries.

No. Um, they have. So, it's been a little while since I've been really in the in the guts of all the tree ordinances. I'm I'm getting a little long in the tooth, so to speak, but um there were a handful of rural ordinances that kind of came out of the same place. Um you kind of tell whoever wrote this one wrote that one. Um the ones that I was referring to were very buffer oriented. You know, if you have you have this type of development, you need this buffer. And it was kind of not not a lot of preservation. Any other questions?

Thank you again so much. This has been so exceptional and um very helpful. I think um let me think I may have a question um is there a and it doesn't have to necessarily be in South Carolina but is there someone who you think has gotten tree ordinances right that we should benchmark as kind of being aspirational for tree ordinances if there is such

again I would go back to the two the two two main factors right I would I would you know proud citizen and bias. Uh, you know, I I think our tree ordinance is is really really good for the one side of it of how do we what do we require on the design side? It really is about how do we want to go forward and um I'd love to hear from you guys where you are just but whether we whether we are talking more um canopy biodiversity or whether we're talking more of the singular tree or both. So hard part the hardest part is the preservation talking about canopy pretty easy not not difficult to say you gota you got to have this percent and then the developer has a chance to go okay I can leave that percent of the site undeveloped or you know you have what I call some magic math where you assign a value to a tree add them up that way. Um, but the the preservation part is is preservation part, you know, there's a couple local municipalities who have preservation part written but not enforced. And there's some places where I would say, you know, what's the best compromise that we can, right? And that would be to me something like if I have if I am developing 300 acres in northwest south and I have a really really really big and great tree right in the middle of my site. How do we does that tree have the same value as a lesser tree where the public has where it has public value? So I tend

to think of things where in that regard like specifically because I see them as singular trees as placemaking and lending a cultural value. So where the traveling public experiences the trees is where I would focus my attention on when you have a mass if you have a site that really lends itself to mass grading and you want to preserve the public image cultural value of those trees that might be available. focus your attention toward where traveling public in those places where in places where there just a lot of them already and don't let it become a stumbling block to forward progress. That's what you really want to avoid. You have, you know, you can't have the tree being the most important thing, right? That we all even people who really love trees if it's bringing you if it's in the way of the roads bringing you breakfast you got to get you got to figure that out. Um so in my opinion you the best compromise in that instance is to preserve them where they have the biggest impact and negotiate and I can I think at least for me the commissioners may agree or disagree I think some of it was not necessarily even knowing enough to have the language and so now that we do I think everybody even as amongst us as commissioners had different ideas around whether whether or not we were talking about preservation as you've taught us um versus canopy versus um hadn't thought about and and so I think now that we have the language to discuss it um can

get some clarity around how we were thinking about it because I think all of a lot of us were automatically thinking about grand trees right but then how do you define grand trees as you talk about what is the grading then bringing in arborist had not thought about that piece of it. And so that is I think a conversation that we'll also have to have um with the city because at the end of the day again we could craft something agree to something that is absolutely gorgeous and makes Charleston look like they don't care about trees, right? But if it's not going to be enforced or or there's no capacity for enforcement, um then what is the point? So I think um you have certainly helped us and I don't know if where we are if we could convey that efficiently given that we are just learning some of these

today. Is that fair? If I could ask him one question and this may not be a fair question but it was one that I was asked. Um, you know, in our code, a small tree is equal to 200 square feet of canopy. A large tree is equal to 400 square ft of canopy. What is I what I was asked and of course it's not doesn't provide that when it's planted about how long does it take that tree to mature to buy that canopy that we've allowed?

Yeah. Um, Uh the rule of thumb typically is that you're looking at you know even when we're when we're designing we design at about 3/4 of a mature mature size and so I would say that those are those are I can definitely get back with you guys.

Um uh I would say they're pro you know it's it's a it's assuming some level of maturity and I would say that you get to that level just off the cuff to life. Talking about the life of a tree, you can wax what is that? Urban trees don't have the same wild natural do. There's a lot of things we can do to add longevity there, but again, all those things add cost. So, there's always a trade-off. Again, thank you so much.

Absolutely. Thank you guys for the opportunity. Always a pleasure to be here.

So, um what I had asked um Mr. paradise for next was kind of some stab at what what we currently have in place versus some of the things that we've been talking about. But now that we've been I'm not even sure um what that would be um given that I think our canopy area targets um seem to be good. I personally kind of like that we're in the middle of the road um out of the other communities around us. Um if we had to compare I think if anything I think there was some desire to think about Grand Trees. Is that probably correct?

Um and I know with Tom we talked about the uh public safety building and how they save some of the bigger trees that were there. I assume they just kind of decided to do that. Who made that decision? Who decided what trees? How did that come about? Because that I paid attention specifically since they talked about it and it it is nice. I have a big oak tree like that in my backyard that I was very glad and I would say that was administration and and and the city trying to do the right thing.

So And the question is, would you like that to be a requirement for those going forward or is there a way to encourage I guess that's the and so that's the the um and if when we talked I think briefly a couple times ago if there were ways to maybe do some tradeoffs. So, if there were some ways to reward um the protection of grand trees and what that could look like

or Dr. Crawford, sorry. Yeah. Don't want to interrupt you. If there's even a way to reward preservation of existing canopy, not even just grand trees, but just percentage total. If we there was a way to say like if you do this, we will be happier than knowing you're going to plant a smaller tree that we have to wait seven years to get to the same place.

So, I think if you could take a a stab at that, Mr. paradise um and what those tradeoffs could be because I and again what the city's interested in because I don't know if the right answer I don't know that the right answer is necessarily green space right as a so um and given the topography of most of our sites what do you think that could look like so I think is that everyone in so okay so if we could maybe um think about that for next time I'm sure that we'll probably be less clear as we get further away. Um,

and we can discuss that and if it is over the next meeting or meeting or two, we continue this conversation. Any other questions for us? I I think I've got a something to ponder on a path forward direction for y'all. Okay. Um, yeah. Okay. All right. All right. So, um, that being said, Mr. Paradise, your staff report.

There you go. Um, we are we are steady busy. Um, we've got several plans in today, but the hive is moving forward. They've got the u they are paving the roads in the back. We're braiding the roads in the back. They are have got the binder down on all the other roads. We're looking for the apartments to have the office open probably sometime first part of April uh Memorial Day. We look for them to be operational. We are looking for moving forward with the signals masttorm at exit one. When we go off to Bluegrass Place, they're continuing with the infrastructure there. As y'all may be aware, I don't remember if it came to you or not, but entrance to the Mexican restaurant is going to be relocated. And on the other side, and you can see where they're doing that work now. um the laundry mat on Martintown Road that is going before the BZA at the next meeting. So they want to make an out they want to cut that parcel in half and that is not a road and that would not give that partial road frontage and they'll have an easement there. So that will need a variance. Um, and so that's kind of the highlight of what we've got going on. Uh, True North. Um, we we have that was a reszoning through here and we have received those plans and moving forward with those as well.

And um, as your um, summary and and report um, convey, you all are very busy. And again, we appreciate all that you all do and your thoughtfulness around um taking care of our community and moving North Augusta forward. So, thank you um to you and your team as always, Mr.