Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, I'd like to welcome everyone out tonight. We're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. I have 700 p.m. So, we're going to go ahead and start with the pledge of allegiance. Please join us with in pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands for [clears throat] one, indivisibley andice for all. Thank you. [snorts]

Okay, first thing here before we uh really get started here, I have a special presentation to make here. Um, so I have a proclamation which I will read and this is proclaiming, recognizing, and honoring Vince Golan Day. He's smiling. [laughter]

Whereas Vince Gan has faithfully served the town council rep of the t of town council representative for ward three since 2021 demonstrating leadership dedication and a deep commitment to the citizens of Pendleton. And whereas to our knowledge, council member Golan is the youngest individual ever elected to serve on the Pendleton Town Council, setting an example of civic engagement and public service for future generations. And whereas during his tenure, Council Member Gan actively represented the town of Pendleton through his involvement with the Anderson County Municipal Association, strengthening intergovernmental relationships and advocating for Pendleton's interests at the county level. And whereas council member Gland also played an instrumental role on the fire department committee, working diligently to identify solutions and opportunities for the development of a new fire station to better serve the community. And whereas in addition to his committee service, he fulfilled the responsibilities of Mayor Pro Tim, offering thoughtful leadership and contributing to sound decisionmaking on behalf of all Pendleton residents. And whereas council member Gollin's tenure on town council has left a positive and lasting impact not only on ward 3 but on the entire town of Pendleton through his vision, collaboration and community spirit. And whereas the town of Pendleton wishes to extend its heartfelt appreciation to Vince Golan and his family for their service, dedication, and continued support of the Pendleton community as they move on to the next chapter of their lives. Now therefore, by the mayor and town council of town of Pendleton, South Carolina, we do hereby express our deepest appreciation and recognition to council member Vince Golan for his outstanding service and commitment to the citizens of Pendleton. Be it further proclaimed that the town extends its gratitude and best wishes to Council Member Gan and his family for continued success and happiness in all

future endeavors. Thank you, Vince. you you did a great job and we really appreciate it. They can't see you, but he's smiling. He's saying THAT [applause] under crisis.

All right. Well, thank you, Vince. Uh, moving on, we have just a couple council updates. November, Ask the Mayor. Hope everyone will join me and Councilwoman Lyn Merchant on November 18th from 6:00 pm to 7 pm at Palmetto Point Church to discuss all things Pendleton. Also, one other quick note. We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Village Alterations on their welldeserved retirement. Your dedication and friendly presence have been a cherished part of our community. You will be truly missed not only for the quality of work, but for the kindness and care you brought to every interaction. Thank you for all you've contributed to making our community a better place. Wishing you all the best in this ne next chapter. And next we have approval of minutes. Hopefully council's had a chance to review the minutes. Having said that, are there any changes that need to be made?

No. Okay. If not, do I hear a motion that we pass them as presented? Motion to pass as presented. Okay. I have a motion to have a second. Second.

I have a motion and second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries unanimous. Next we have public comments. Uh there's a threem minute time limit per resident, business owner, or town property owner. You must be one of those three to speak in public comments. Having said that, is there anyone that would like to speak? If so, raise your hand. Yes, sir. Come on up. And if you would just state your name and address, we know where you live, but just fire. My name is Alex Sunorski. I'm at 1200 Cherry Street Extension um just outside town limits. Um today's minutes talk about the um um question I had about whether or not the agenda [snorts] and the um proceedings uh adhere to state code. and I said I was going to reach out and get some guidance as to whether or not that uh was or was not the case. [snorts] And uh I I I did secure a response back from the legislative council and uh it it basically says that yes, you the the restrictions uh that you adopt and the agenda uh you present doesn't meet the qualifications of of the code. Um I don't know if you want me to read their response. It's it's preliminary. Uh it's not from the attorney general himself. Um, but I I can tell you that what what I did was [snorts] my wife and I spoke to April Cromer and uh she took my

inquiry to the legislative council and and they emailed back to her um a response and and I have it that I can I can read to you today uh and and leave a copy of that that with you. you can place in the minutes. Uh, do you want me to do that or do you want to place me on the agenda at another time today? That'd be up to council. I guess you'll just complete your comments, then we'll discuss that after it.

Yes. If you could just read it and make sure we get a a copy of it, that would be great tonight. Okay. Um, well, I guess the best thing to do is go ahead and read it. Um, and you have three minutes. How much? You down to a minute. That's Yeah, not accurate. I'll explain. Oh, okay.

Why? Um, uh, [sighs] this was sent to April, so it's the legislative council speaking. And what they say is um assuredly municipalities are indeed authorized to develop rules and procedures for public hearings and they're allowed to set how they um how they run council but and there's there's nothing that prohibits them from limiting who can speak and for how long they can speak. Uh the it goes on to say that being said I do think your constituents and that's referring to Lyndon and myself uh that they bring up a valid point in that this section I told you 629 760 it's specific to zoning and development.

Okay, times up. We're going to call it right here. Um you you can't call This This is not a public hearing, sir. This is public comment. You mentioned public hearing. This You don't have a public hearing on the agenda. That's right. This is not a public hearing, sir. It's not a legal agenda. This is a council meeting. We have rules for a council meeting. This is not a public hearing. Your time's up. Please sit down. Statement supersedes council rules. What do you want? It doesn't. Go ahead and sit down, please. Do I have to get an attorney? You do whatever you like, sir. You have someone's sergeant of arms or something. Sir, I'm asking you nicely. You No, I No, I understand. Yes, sir.

To the sergeant of arms. I have a document that says I'm permitted to speak. Council has rules. Council has ordinances. Council has policies. My job is enforce council rules. Council policies and stuff. Mr. Borski, when the mayor who leads this session gives every single member three minutes for public comments, that's what the rule is. And you've had your three minutes according to the town clerk and then it's now someone else's turn. You're also sworn to uphold state. Mr. abortion. If you'll come see me tomorrow, I would love to look at what you've got

so that if we are doing something in properly, we can correct it. And then if we're not, we can both be on the same page and understand why what's being done at the time is being done. I'll pass on to the mayor. Okay. Thank you. And now speaking from my wife and I, um, want to thank the mayor for being receptive uh, to our input, comments, going to [snorts] miss you. Miss you, too. Best of luck in retirement. Thank you. And I'll see you around, I'm sure. And we'll look at you. Thank you.

All right. Would anyone else like to make a comment? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and close this section. Got one. Sorry. almost live by me.

Am I at the cop tonight in M Street? I would like to give everyone this did a beautiful job at W3. Thank you. Did a great job three. Anyone else like to make a comment? If so, raise your hand. All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to reports. First of which will be the police department report from our chief Robert Cros.

Mayor Council, good evening. Um, let's get this over with [laughter] since I got to read Tommy's report. So, um, over 713 calls for service in October. We took 37 reports. 23 were cleared via arrest andor warrants. um 48 warning tickets and 32 citations. Um one of those reasons is accidents have gone up about fivefold since last month. So we've been trying to slow people down. Um and I'll touch on the fire department. Uh couple quick highlights. Officer Andrews recovered and seized two firearms over a half a pound of marijuana plus fentanyl this month. We participate in the Pendleton career day or Pendleton Elementary career day. Uh we participated in the trunk or treat event which was glorious as always all the kids. Um and officer Bish has completed our new taser 10 upgrades. Um the big point takeaway from that and he is planning on trying to do something for council as well is the new VR training that was implemented this past month. The thing about the VR training is is a cost effective measure for us to have here that we can utilize existing space to conduct over a 100 real world training scenarios that go through the VR goggles in deescalation, the reduction in force, uh reduction in use of the force and stuff like that, which is very important for, you know, obviously our job and everybody we're here to serve. Um the goal is to get council through that VR training um to show you guys what you know kind of we experience on a dayto-day through some of the scenarios and dealing with um behavioral um issues with patients with behavioral healthc care issues and some other things and armed versus unarmed suspects and stuff like that. So we'd like to get everybody through that. Um it's kind of it for the police department and to cover the fire

department. Um, the Pendleton Fire Department responded to 66 total calls for service. 50 of such were with inside the city limits, 12 inside the fire district outside, and four calls assisting um, as a mutual aid assist. Um, one new member was voted in as a junior firefighter. Good for them. Um, two fire academy courses are currently being taken by members within the department. Engines one and squad two attended a fire prevention event at the Peeps um at the United Methodist Church. Um engine two attended the elementary school fall harvest. Um engine 21 attended a birthday party. Um we will come to your birthday party as well. You don't always have to call the fire department. We will show up. Um let's see. The Engine 2 unit 2 and squad 2 attended fall festival and on 1020 2025 the fire department held live uh annual live training which they conducted a control burn at the training facility here in Anderson County. Um 13 personnel attended that training. So always good that the fire department gets their real world training in on that stuff. Um pending any questions? Um

I have one for um the fire chief. Thank you, sir. How many um volunteer firemen do we have that will be stepping down? And when? Um as of right now, we don't have any that said they're going to step down. So, we're we're at about 30 right now. Okay. And what's your average age? Um, our average is between 14 and 60. Probably go with 32. [clears throat] [laughter] It's an average.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. All right. Next, we have our planning department report from Dave Olson. Mr. Mayor, council, good evening.

Good evening. planning had a a good month in October. We issued 19 permits and those broke down into we we didn't issue any new home permits in the month of October. We issued five interior renovations, one new roof, four electrical mechanical permits, four encroachments, one accessory structure, and then four other permits which included building additions, new decks, new signs, or grading. Code enforcement answered five complaints. They also identified 20 businesses or subcontractors working in town without a business license. resulted in $3,615.77 collected in licenses fee and then a $75 permit fee for a total of $3,690.77 for October. Owens continue to do a really good job in code enforcement. Um and we're glad to have him aboard. In the month of October, planning uh staff had a the opportunity to assist the planning commission with their regular meeting. Um this meeting they considered the tiff district design guidelines. This is the the the guidelines that will, you know, foster the development in the tiff district. Miss Rebecca Vance is here tonight to kind of go over the the ordinance that she's put together that you guys are going to be considering a little bit later. So, it'll be a pretty neat information section on, you know, what we've identified as as what the development should look like and what we've gotten from feedback from citizens and from multiple public comment sections of how that should be steered into a direction. So, it'll be a good presentation she'll get to here in just a few minutes. Um, in October, staff also attended Tri County Tech State of the College. It's always fun to go over there and listen to what they've accomplished, what they have going on. They're doing some really neat things over there. Some some really good programs. Staff also assisted the Pendleton Police Department with the Pendleton High School homecoming parade. We always enjoy working that event even though we get stuck in the intersection directing traffic. Um, uh, Boza, we assisted the Boza with their work session. So Boza has two variance requests that are before them right now. One is the Pendleton Candy Shop and

other one is Fast Bay Automotive. They were signed to get some legal advice which they did at a work session from our town attorney. They are planning on taking that session up again in November and December. So November the 18th they will hear the consideration of the variance application for the Pendleton Candy Company and then in December at at their meeting in December they'll hear from Fastay Automotive. So that will be again on November the 18th. Uh staff also assisted with the Pendleton Fall Festival. This is always a good time. We we have a good time working this thing. Lindsay did a really good job with this being her first one. Amber did a good job with and keeping everybody together and all of staff was it was just a good time. One thing that we did in the month of October I was kind of proud of, we had the opportunity, planning staff to present um our tiff district design guidelines or greenway plans to the Anderson County Water Committee. This is a committee that's made up of the Savannah River keepers. During this commit, during this presentation, we were allowed to to present what council has identified as important to them and what staff has done in the planning sections of the greenway section of the TIFF. And this was a competitive uh grant process that we were asking for for their consideration. And I just found out just the other day that the town of Pendleton was awarded a $100,000 grant to support the development of the greenway program in our TIFF because of the presentation and the work that have been put in by you guys and staff on this TIFF district greenway project. So, I'm proud of that and and I think you guys did a really good job and it's something to be proud of and we enjoy doing that. Um, again, November the 18th is the only other meeting we have coming up which is the board of zoning appeals. And that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. I'll be glad to answer any questions if you have any.

All right. Anybody got it? If not, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Yes, sir. Next, we have administrator report. David Bent say congratulations. Thank you.

So, the uh um and not to let Amy be left out, she also used to contribute heavily to the fall festival and has now been able [snorts] to gratefully turn that over. I did not hear her complain once about not being in charge. [laughter] She's snowing. So, yeah, she's all right with uh bill date for the month of course is 1020. Uh we build uh 10,355,000 gallons of water. It's $12,000 and 9,995,000 gallons of sewer, $128,000 and $34,214 in our flat rate building. Uh we rented a depot building six times and Barrett's Place shelter 10 times. Uh, for some reason nobody wanted the shelter today. Can't figure out why. I'm about to be sold. Um, revenue we collected $6,611 business tax uh $26,777 in motor vehicles and negative $16,164 uh in property tax. We had um to return $36,658 to Edgewood Square because the state has deemed them a nonprofit.

Why? Yeah. Uh that is not something that we or the county get to do. Um we did [clears throat] follow up and got the response back that however they have changed their their corporation structure, they are now a nonprofit. So, what does that do for code enforcement? It doesn't change anything. That's good. It It just means uh we had to write I will say that they had it before, but they changed owners and the new people had to so they got a new owner. Not necessarily.

I don't know. I don't know if you picked up where the association's been talking about how we've been fighting the bill where you can bring a nonprofit in as a minority owner and it exempt you from the whole taxes. So that's under affordable housing. That was one of the things they're trying to close that loophole. I don't know if this is it, but this the section of reference. Well, they need to close the loophole because I mean the thing that bothers me about that whole apartment complex is the fact that whoever owns it, they don't keep it [clears throat] where it's a comfortable nice living space and the people who live there won't speak out because they don't want to be retaliated against. And you know, affordable housing is not lowincome housing. And we have we have enough problems not having enough affordable housing. But good God, when it comes to low income, we're just like everybody else at the bottom of the spectrum. But still, this just surprises me that that you know, you don't do stuff worth of crap, but you get rewarded as 5013C. I guess I'll be going to Columbia soon, huh? So, so we practice [clears throat] we processed 726 in-house transactions. So, it was a,711,000. The bulk of that, of course, being the wastewater treatment plant upgrade. Uh we had 1,171 transactions online for $103,000. You can see the breakout there. And Clemson Community Care assisted one of our residents. Uh just some general updates. Uh we got the new sanitation truck last week. Um we are going to slowly start integrating that thing into the routes and get the drivers trained on it. Um it is a very nice truck. Uh and it is going to take some time to get

them used to working by themselves and actually on that truck. Uh the leaf back, the new leaf back should be here this week. Um, and of course we're still running dual trucks because of the weight concerns with being overloaded right now. Uh, we hired uh Terry Reed as a new assistant public works director and boy did he get introduced to Pendleton last week with a break and two boil water notices. Uh, so we worked him really good and he showed up today.

Um, the uh, Belvadier 2, they participated in the startup lift station there. uh they still have some site uh grading to do around there for us to sign off on it and then they'll start building that area out and once that gets out of warranty they'll turn that over to us. Central Road, if you've been by, you've seen the big aluminum platform we've started building there. That's actually where all of our equipment's going to sit. Uh you have on your agenda tonight the modified existing loan grant. The state's actually granting us another $400 and something thousands to do that. With that, we've approved a change order to go ahead and have a generator installed there.

So, we won't have to worry about doing pump and hauls when the power goes out. And right now, the only delay is we're trying to coordinate with Duke Energy to get them to to start moving their three-phase power into us. Um, wastewater treatment plant. Couple major things that we're going to have to start dealing with is they have declared 18 milei creek to be an impaired creek and they are placing every permit that deals with waste treatment or has any discharge. So waste treatment, storm water into a total maximum daily load limit. Uh so we submitted comments back in the last week. We did it jointly with with Clemson and Anderson, Pickings County, U Pickings County Wastewater, Central Wastewater, just everybody that had a permit on there. They did not give us long submit it. They only gave us 15 days from the day that they uh told us about it to get it submitted last Friday. Uh not sure what this means except it is going to mean some upgrades for us.

Um, additionally, we're in the final stage of trying to spend all the federal money. Luckily, that went to the state. Uh so that $10 million we got from the federal government has been spent and we had the last 600,000 spent oursel. Uh you can see the last 30 days on what's been constructed. Uh the next 30 we're going to be finishing the pipe installation at the influent pump station. Uh completing the installation of pipes and equipments at the headworks. uh beginning the installation of aqua equipment in the three basins and completing the interior finishes of the electric electrical building along with more piping in the small equalization basin in the in the uh BNR system and the yard piping to go to EQ uh the town hall veterans park. We met with Mosley um Mosley and working out the schedule. We should have y'all a Seymour for approval by February, we believe, at which point the Seymour can start giving us pricing on all the different products and then come back to council and y'all can essentially be given a menu of maintenance items you can pick from to spend at Veteran Park and Town Hall. Uh, and then once y'all pick that, we can release to Seymour and they can start construction. Uh, tip of course tonight you have the presentation on design. Uh then once y'all can discuss that, we can continue moving forward in some direction. Winston Street, Duke Powers basically hold up on everything we have. Uh the additional 60 days is not because of our contractor. There are two lines down there that we cannot get them to move that are interfering with what we've got to clear. And our clearing uh tree company doesn't want to go in there to the trees until they get them moved. Uh so we've got the work order in for Duke, but we are going ahead to start the curve and gutter from Thompson Street down to Key Street. Uh Riverside Middle School on

the 12th, we're hosting another meeting with the steering committee including Jeff and Barber to see if we can get some more updates from Tri County Tech District 4 and the Bruise parking lot for everybody. We are going to start on some of the utilities in there um to try to get those in place, but we have been asked by some of the businesses and we've talked to the contractor not to start till after the Christmas season and after Chris Kendall Martin and so they the contractor has agreed to do that. Steve, is there any way, and I mean, I don't know, people may not be interested in this, but you know, we've got a lot of money in the wastewater treatment plant that's out on um God, that's the road, you know,

right? And there's a lot of stuff going on out there because Dr. You got the um uh veterinary center. But I think to me, I would like to have a day when they would allow the public to that they can bring people through to see that operation so they can see where this money is going and hear why we have to do this. You know, this is not something that is just going to last a a few years. this is going to take us way down the road, but we still need to see what we're dealing with. And and I was fascinated when I went and didn't get to see everything because, you know, we would have drowned in mud. But, um, if we could get something set up to where we could have some type of a bus tour with these facilities just, you know, I I'd like for people to walk around the water treatment. I know we can't walk around, you know, the vet center until they say, "Okay, it's open." and then set something up. But I think if if these entities are going to be a very big part of pending, um I think we need to see more than just the results of backup traffic.

Right. Um let me talk to the contractor. We've already talked to them. We know August of 2026 we are going to be shooting where we can take more public through there. Um, we are having Colton County up so that they can see the process. They're bringing they're supposed to be bringing their people up. U, but as far as large groups, I can tell you right now it's just not safe with that. No, no, I know it's not safe, but if they could have it and have people sign, give people an opportunity. Yeah. And let people know it's limited, you know. So, we might be able to do a limited thing, you know, to get them out there. Uh but I let me talk to Harper and see what see what they say

if people are interested. People may not be interested. They may not even care for all while I know. But I just feel that that's something we need to Yes, ma'am. to do. Just before we move on, I just want everybody to know evidently we are having technical difficulty with our camera. People at home can hear us, but they cannot see us and we're not sure what is going on, but just wanted to acknowledge it. Okay. Um, I will I will say we're trying to get the catwalks up on the uh the reactor basins. That's going to be a couple more months. That's going to be an impressive when you can actually get up on the catwalk safely and see down in there. [snorts]

Steve, is there any update on the oil mill planning process? Uh so we actually met with John Gumpert with the 3D designs uh this week. Um he's actually going back to the design team to have them expanded designs because the concerns were how do you get to show the routes from downtown and town hall and some of the others so you can see them in 3D. Um, and then once he's looking to host a meeting with those designs, once he gets the loft mill apartments completely open, so the people can see a finished product there and then maybe that will help them see the 3D designs. And this is just the streetscape uh, and the walkways and the trails and stuff. So,

and when will the chaining mill be all the way open? Uh, so they're leasing them right now. Um, I would I would think they're actually probably going to be completely open in the next three or four weeks. Um, the inside the main building may be done. They've got the old store they're working on right now and they put the land they put a lot of landscaping in over the last couple weeks.

All right. Thanks. Can you give us some more information on the wastewater treatment and the total maximum daily load and and how quickly we'll hear back from I I assume you were appealing or you were asking for clarification.

Um so we submitted our comments so that there's uh we don't really know a whole lot right now except they declared it. Uh so we submitted our comments and what we wanted and what we were afraid of, you know, it went through there as as a group and they will have to come back and answer them at some point and then at that point they'll probably start trying to assign limits. One of our our biggest concerns is like we have a whole working, you know, now with the vet school and everything else right beside us and the horse arena and everything. Well, all that contributes to the E.coli and total maximum load because you have horses in the field and everything else and where does it go when it rains? Um, and how are you going to get credit or not credit for what we cannot treat and and where we cannot treat? And I I it's been done on the Saluda River. It's also been done in Lake Greenwood and so it's not something they haven't done around here. We were just kind of surprised they they are in this creek

um cuz it's not it's not that impaired, but obviously you're getting more built up environment around there. it's going to be impaired at some point. So, the limits would impact us in what way?

Um, it would mainly probably at our plant be nutrient removal, uh, which we're going to have a pretty high efficiency rate of nutrient removal right now with the operation we have, but they're they're wanting us to get to limits where we may have to add a process to the back end called me bearing filtration. And that's what they do at Cochran Road plant. The city of Clinton already does. That's probably another5 to$6 million process you're adding to the back of it. Um, if you get into, we know ammonia is going to be high, but ammonia is, you know, and oxygen kind of go together. So, you can kind of control ammonia sometimes, but ammonia you also get from the die plant that's discharged in there because it's also got its own waste treatment. uh you get, you know, ammonia comes from animal waste. Ammonia comes from people putting fertilizer on on their lawns and that running off in there along with nitrogen and nitrates. Uh and so all that's probably going to be controlled. We already have permits for all that, but now they're going to want to tighten it down even more. So us expanding is probably going to save us in the long run. And some of these plants like Pickkins County's plant is just above us. um is is probably going to get impacted severely. Our problem is we are at last discharge

and so we get everything above us before it gets to our discharge point and that's that hurts us. So is it equalized across question where did where did the impairment they think the impairments are coming from the pollutants

uh I don't know right now Vince if I guess they had samples all up down the creek um and it's probably it's probably creek wide [snorts] it's not like and when we say impaired it's not like you're going to get in the creek and you're going to grow a third eye [clears throat] it's just you know you've got some some limits that are starting to exceed. We're talking parts per billion, you know, is what we're measuring in. And so that's I I don't know. They they really didn't they kind of sprung it on us and said, "Hey, we're here doing a thing and then three or four months later, hey, we're declaring impaired." It's probably the fastest I've ever seen dees move. So, um, so I, you know, I think it's going to be one of, and when they start down this process, like we're probably going to be talking about it for years before they get to a final decision on it. So, did I answer everything for you, L?

I think so. I don't have a lot right now. So, okay. Anybody else? If not, we'll move on to the strategic plan update from our plan coordinator over here, Lyn Merchant. Thank you. Um, team one has uh received eight responses to the branding RFP. Um, they will meet tomorrow to score those uh open and well, they've already opened, but to evaluate and score those um proposals. And then uh team two um has the survey has been distributed. Not sure

Robbie our survey when's that coming out? I know no I know I'm just What's our goal? December December 1st. Yeah, December 1st is our goal for the survey. So, the survey the survey will be distributed by December the 1st. Yes. Yes. And evaluations will be be completed by December the 31st. The police department will be doing their evaluations the first week of December due to uh other commit commitments and um but Amy's group and Jay's group will be doing theirs in January.

Okay. [snorts] Um, and team three is working on the UDO, which seems to be moving along fairly well. Um, and then we will be working on our business plan. We're [clears throat] getting some insights from from the different businesses and from other people in the community.

Okay. And that's it.

That's it. Okay. Very good. Thank you. All right. Moving on. We have consideration of discussion of a four-way stop at the intersection of West Queen Street and Mechanic Street and directing staff to prepare resolution for council approval at their December meeting. Uh the town council will consider the potential installation of a four-way stop at that intersection. South Carolina Department of Transportation has been evaluating traffic operations at this intersection since council last discussed this option. SC DOT is preparing to modify lane designations on West Queen Street, changing the current configuration [clears throat] so that the right lane will cover a right turn and through lane, while the left lane will allow left-hand turns. With the anticipated closure of Riverside Middle School, [clears throat] SC DOT has indicated a willingness to remove the existing traffic signal and install a four-way stop at this location. Council's direction is requested to authorize staff to prepare a resolution supporting the installation of the four-way stop which be will be brought back for normal approval at the December town council meeting and this is a council decision. So what say council?

I say go forward with the forward stop doing the proposal. When we had when we had this discussion before we there was some discussion about also having a four-way stop at west I mean at queen and mechanic is can we do both of those?

I'd say you can definitely request them. You can't I know you can't get them to light there but they may be more willing. I didn't talk to him about that when they called back to talk about this issue, but I'd say we put it in there and let them see it. Um because they're probably willing to do it and they're they're willing to to take this light out after Riverside closes, which is, you know, actually a fairly major project for them to take out. So,

and will that give us more room to have a sidewalk in front of the Hunger Store? Uh yeah, ultimately the plan called for that light to come out and for that lane emission to come out and then you control it with stop lightss and everything be, you know, one lane do everything. When Riverside closes, uh it'll even be more advantageous not to have that lane at that point. That's the only side of that intersection that has a turnlight. Um, and it was built, from my understanding, it was built solely because of trying to make a right-hand turn in that wall right there. But then you can do the bump outs. You can do those stuff. You can pick up more. You should pick up more room on the other side where the old Evans house is.

And that should allow you to do some bumpouts and pedestrian landings. You're not going to get them in right now that traffic wouldn't. But isn't the flow of traffic better without the light and and having the four-way stop? Because I mean, I sat through three lights and pill of all places. I sat through three lights trying to do a lefthand turn. Yeah. So, with a four-way stop, you know, it kind of Yeah. You just got to keep going. So, [clears throat] you know, that's the that's the benefit of four-way stop that you can everybody stop. So, if you need to make a left-hand turn when it's your turn, you got it. You got it. Yeah, you're not waiting on on all this other stuff. You get rid of the bus traffic there

and and that's going to make a big difference. You know, that's what blocks it. That's what backs up all the way past Bruise a lot of times when the buses are coming. Oh, there weren't no buses this time. This was just solid traffic. So, crosswalks at all at both intersections if they if we can do that. Um they will not be set up for well what other side has it this side there would still have to be some infrastructure work done to have crosswalks all the way around you don't have anywhere to land on the Hummer store side okay you got crosswalks on

the other side that definitely help with the pedestrians traffic not dodging when you're crossing over there that was flying up Queen Street so in the plan it would go there is possibility for sidewalk all the way around Hunter store. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Yep. It um in the uh north uh yes, I know there are sidewalks all the way around Hunter store. I don't know if I've already got them pre-esigned, but at least on the master plan they're showing. We have a fair amount of that design going down toward Winston already. And I believe we have both sides designed. So a sidewalk down to that first building. No, they go all the way down. So there'd be sidewalks on both sides of Mechanic Street. Okay. Aren't there already sidewalks on both sides of mechanic?

Actually, when you get past there, it just stops. There's nothing. Past what? uh past the quick stop. So on the quick stop side uh it is like a 8 or 12 foot multi-use path. So how far are you planning to take the sidewalk down? Well, the west side project takes it down to springs or east side springs and then down to Excelsier and it's a loop back for you to walk back and the actual overall North Macan Street West Queen Street plans takes it all the way to the bridge.

A bridge over troubled water. Huh. That's right. Yeah, that's right. [laughter]

I I just want to acknowledge that when we talked about this before, there's a lot of sentimental attachment in the town to the one stoplight of town. And uh I think that's a significant change to make, but uh I do think in the long-term interest of trying to slow down traffic coming through downtown that this is one major thing that would make it clear that it's not an expressway on Mechanic Street going through Pendleton and that where in future future years, you want more crosswalks and more safety for like the Pendleton Playhouse and things like that. Uh Macasa neighborhood trying to get downtown in terms of walkability. All those things will become easier once this changes over to a four-way and kind of declares reinstates an even smaller small town type of traffic situation. So I think I think that overcomes the the sentimental attachment to the one stoplight. They'll have to say where the stoplight used to be. Well, we can always, you know, ask the DOT to let us have the stoplight to put in a park and memorialize it. [laughter] And I was being dead serious. Really, I'm serious. I mean, you know, if things are disappearing, so I think, you know, put it in a park so people can see what a stoplight actually looked like before AI took over [laughter] and driverless cars.

So, are we needing a motion? Can I make a motion to request two stop two stop signs a four-way stop at Queen um as well as Maine? We bring that to y'all back in the resolution. Yeah. Yeah. Second.

We got a motion second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries unanimous. Mr. Mayor Kaya. So I would like to add that when the stop signs do go in, expect a severe increase in traffic collisions at that intersection. We had a increase when we added the stop signs on Queen already because no one was used to it and we are going to have an uptick in traffic collisions at that intersection. I just so the full everybody understands that it's not going to be the end all be all for slowing people down. Well, you didn't have to, you know, reveal our whole, you know, money-making scheme. Thank you.

Yeah. I just [laughter] It's good It's good to be prepared when they say, "Well, we've had 16 collisions in the past two months there." Because Well, old old habits are hard to break, right? Right. That's exactly right. Old habits are hard to break. Yeah, definitely.

All right. Um, if nothing else, we'll move on to consideration of presentation and discussion on the Village Hills Design Overlay District guidelines. Rebecca Vance of Vance LLC will present the draft village hills design overlay district guidelines to the town council for review and discussion. The council will provide direction to staff for preparing follow-up materials for the December meeting. Following the discussion, the council may consider one of the following directions. Approve the resolution from the planning commission at the December town council meeting or direct staff to submit the resolution back to planning commission with recommendations from town council for review. Council can schedule a called meeting to review and discuss further with Rebecca Vance and staff. So, council has the options as outlined. This is a council decision.

I make the motion that we have a call meeting. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? I second the motion. All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your hand. [clears throat] Motion carries. Unanimous. All right, moving on. We have consideration of Do you guys want me to give a presentation or Okay. Sorry. So, sorry. We have I have to you you rather not? I think [laughter] I think Yeah, since we haven't some people here that might be expecting if we can do that. appreciate that. Thank you. Absolutely. I'll be quick. I'll try to be No, you take your time. We We'll stay all night if you like. No, sure. It's cold outside, I think. Okay.

So, thank you guys. I, like I said, I'll be quick. Um, we've This is kind of the next step in your master planning process for the Village Hills um property. We've I think we started in last last spring. David looked it up. We started last spring. We've had several meetings with the planning commission. had a work session with the planning commission. Again, all those are public public meetings and we had a cheret um October September

September this fall September and the boards are outside um on this wall with with the stickies from the public. So, we got some good comments for those and then incorporated those and the planning commission made a recommendation to approve it uh and move it forward to for your consideration. Uh, so the design guidelines, uh, I want to commend you guys and staff for the the way that you guys do projects like this. You you you take the time to do a small area plan for these areas that you want to develop. You let the community come in and give comments. In this one, you went went the next step and did a tiff district, which is great because then that funds all all of your infrastructure. Um, and then now my job is to create an overlay district that basically legislates what you guys want to happen. So, no matter which developer comes in for residential or commercial um and what the the town does with your civic space, it uh legislates kind of how that's going to look and what's going to be there. So, I want to commend you for that process instead of just waiting to see what's going to be brought to you. You're telling the community and you're telling the development world this is what you want to happen. So, I commend you for that. Um these design guideline purpose that the purpose this comes from your master plan that you did. So, those are all the same. I won't read those to you. Um I these are the list of different things that are considered in the overlay district. Um looking at design, the thing I like to say is that it's like baking a cake. You have to decide what kind of cake you want and the rules and regulations are the ingredients that go in to create the cake you want. Um so when you look at that you want to have for this design you want to have use standards regular design principles like site planning building design principles residential design principles and then your streetscape and sustain sustainability and things like that. When you're looking at your overall design principles, we went as far as um giving guid guidance on site planning, setbacks, lot layout, parking, uh color

palette, which we had some discussions about um height and massing architectural style and even your your accessory structures. Um use standards. Uh looking at this property, obviously through your master plan, you wanted it to be a mix of residential types. So, we went in and talked about each of the residential types that were going to be allowed, the commercial uses, mixed use, encouraging mixed use in in your commercial areas. Um, and then talked a little bit about the civic standards and the civic prop properties that you're going to have. Also, for the building design, this is kind of where you create the you put the ingredients in to create the the cake you want to bake. looking at things like the height and massing of buildings, the [cough and clears throat] material materials guide, facade, the entry design, so porches, facade arrangement, things like monotony code, um requiring porches and stoops to make sure things look residential even if they are multif family. Those sort of standards, [snorts] residential design standards. Um, I always like to put this picture up there because I ask people which one they prefer, the right one or the left one, and then kind of go into what are the ingredients that what are the regulations that would spit out the house on the right versus the ingredients that would regulations that would spit out the houses on the left. Um, we went through and and talked through those with the planning commission and and did a we did a good job, I think, of talking about the different things that we wanted to to be able to to regulate. things like um porches, um garages, things that really make uh the appearance of the buildings and we put in regulations that we think will help create community. Um I earlier we were talking about of community. It will help create a community, not just a subdivision. Things like sidewalks, street trees, um [clears throat] porches, uh making sure that the garages are not the dominant feature on houses. Those are really important to making a community, not just making a subdivision that's just house after house. We also

for single family detached homes, we added in an allowance for cottage homes. So cottage homes are going to be smaller houses on smaller lots that don't necessarily have to have a garage. Um, that's kind of the trend looking at affordability, providing smaller houses with smaller lots that usually front on some sort of open space. So, you're you you just kind of they can be alley loaded. Uh, and they're houses that for your first-time buyers or for um your people who are retiring, [snorts] you want people who want to move from their big houses in town, stay in town, be be in a walkable community, but not have to take care of a big house. That's kind of one of the things that people have started trying to do. This is our an effort to allow people to have a single family detached house, but to still provide some sort of affordable option. And especially if you put them along the greenway that you guys are creating, I think that could create a really nice community for for the people who want to live there.

So, you're talking about affordable housing and I looked at this and I have a concern that this is an area basically I mean they turned it blighted. So, you're looking at lower income. So, what's going to happen with the people who were in that area now? How how how far are they going to be displaced? Because it seems to me that everybody's coming in. Have you talked to the people who actually live there as to how this is going to affect them?

So me personally, no, but I know that staff has. And I think that the key to um affordability is having a diff having different options, having a diversity in the options of types of housing. So I think you will have between single family detached attached um stacked flats and some multif family that there should be options for a range of people in age groups um income brackets and just you know ideals and what you know what people want as for their housing. There should be on that one in that one development an option for people from beginning to end where they live.

So they had incorporated lower income housing in this as well. So they've incorporated different housing types, not lower income or upper income. So a house can the the design of it doesn't ne necessarily dictate um the price of it. We're trying to say that we're allowing for a lot of different residential types and that should allow for different income brackets and and you know price points as you move along uh in your life. So Steve, do you want do you want to address the the parcels?

As far as there's a couple issues that we've heard. There's one about displacement. So, if you own your property, you know, you're not being made to leave the house you live in, which that would be displacement. And then there's uh so people that are in there, if they're living there, you're not going to ask them to go anywhere else. They can stay living there for as long as they want. And then if they decide to sell or move, you've got the zone orders written over top that you know what use can go in there. So, it's quite likely they probably get more for their property at that point as it builds out. And then you start talking about,

you know, pricing points. When you write a zoning ordinance, you write designs, that part of the government's not faced or that part of government's not addressing to some degree who you can sell to and who you cannot. If you want to get into an attainable or lowincome housing policym stuff, then we have to do that through really a much different process unless we're offering a developer some incentive to do it for us. And so the state has slowly still not where it needs to be at, but they've allowed you to use some of your hospitality to do it if you have your affordable housing plan that you have to do. I think Hilton has the only one successfully done it yet.

You pass it out. Well, the thing the thing is I think we need to keep in mind you keep talking about you know um all these things what makes it a community but I just my concern is what part of the community will will the people who are living there now going to to to feel a part of but that's why we'll have a meet later on. So go ahead.

Yeah. So, I do think part of one of the ways that I've been looking at with with different zoning ordinances is when I'm writing them, the key is if you just have a regular single family residential um you know, R2, R1 zoning, whatever you want to call it, and you require that people just build single family lots that they have to be 8,000 feet or 6,000 square feet. Some people can't afford that. and in in different areas, just the construction costs and the the price of the dirt is so high that that limits you uh in in kind of your price points. So, if you're able to put in different in this district, if you're able to allow a diff different types of houses, smaller houses on smaller lots, usually that can can kind of interject some affordability into it to to give people different options. Not everybody wants a small house and if they don't they can buy a larger single family detached house but it does provide some sort of options for people that aren't necessarily there now. So um looking at single family attached and this is kind of where we get into some options. Some people you know there there are single family single people when they got out of college your kids or um anyone who doesn't necessarily want to live in a in a detached house. there are younger people, older people, and they may not want to live in an apartment either. So, you want to provide all different types of options for all all of your community members now and and in future in the future so that they have different options of places to live. And that does hopefully address some of your affordability. If you're not having to build a big house on a big lot, hopefully it's more affordable for people. Uh, one of the things when we looked at each of your for your single family attached, we wanted to make sure that even though they are, you know, duplexes, triplexes, quadruplexes, that they're integrated into the subdivision so that they look like single family houses, requiring things like porches, requiring things like the, you know, the garage limits and putting them in the rear, things like that kind of affect the appearance

of it. So even though you can have a duplex next to a regular single family detached house, it can still look like a neighborhood. The idea is that you know necessarily you're not regulating the use. You're saying you can have multif family if you want to. You can have duplexes or triplexes or quadruplexes. Um but you're saying it does have to look like it's in the neighborhood. So a good example of this is Shanden in Colombia. So if you you guys I know I'm talking about I'm talking about Carolina and I know I'm in Clemson world but uh it's a great example. There are duplexes, there are quadruplexes, there are big single family houses. Um, some of those are rented, some of those are owned, students, um, workers, different people, but it's a very big mix. And most normal zoning ordinances right now would never allow that. So, we're trying to interject, you know, the way communities used to be built back into zoning ordinances by allowing for some of these different uh, residential types. Uh the overlay district does allow for stack flats and apartments but limits the size of them to 45 feet or three stories. Um some of the apartments uh are the stories are bigger. So you'll have 10ft ceilings or 9 foot ceilings or or things of that. So it may be that it's two stories but it's still 35 ft. Or it may be that it's three stories and it's 45 ft. just looking at allowing uh nothing taller than three stories, but allowing for the the actual height of each of the the floors to be different. Uh we also put in requirements like porches, um things like um articulation for the building to where you can't have just one blank wall. Um things like where the parking is, landscaping, um looking at the different colors and requiring windows and transparency. So transparency and articulation are kind of the big things that that kind of make a building look different. You want to be able to have not just one big blank wall. You want to have windows. You want

to require for all four sides to be developed and designed, not just the front or the sides. Um so that the entire building looks this the same. Um and we put in requirements for different uh details and then the materials for it. commercial standards kind of the same. You want to have material standards and you want to have facade arrangement. So you want to there to be articulation in the way the buildings look and to have requirements for transparency. And transparency is just a fancy way to say it's like you know street storefronts whenever you're walking down Main Street. when you walk down a commercial build, you know, when you walk down a commercial district, you want to be able to look in the store and a see that there's people and it's safe, but see what's in there. And that transparency creates kind of a storefront.

Uh, Councilman Collins, I want to know is can they have flat roofs on the multif family? [clears throat] No, it requires a gabled roof. Um, there are actual requirements [snorts] in there for that. Quart the gable roof in he said. Okay.

Yeah, [laughter] good question. because, you know, hopefully people have learned not to build flat [clears throat] build um flat roof buildings anymore, but you never know. Um so, so those are all of kind of the standards. You have the actual the actual overlay district. If you have any questions, let me know. And if we want to talk about it, if anybody wants to talk to me about it kind of between meetings or anything before your next meeting, I'm happy to talk about it. Does anybody have any questions? Okay. Thank you. All right.

All right. So, we'll uh move on to consideration authorization to commit funding for the 2026 fireworks event. Um staff is seeking council authorization to commit funds for the event to ensure the fireworks vendor can be in secured in the event date reserved. Uh following the request for the town to assume coordination of the event, uh staff has been in communication with Clemson area chamber of commerce to determine [snorts] whether the event will be organized as a partnership between the town and the chamber. The chamber's board is currently reviewing this opportunity to decide on its level of involvement. In addition, staff has met with Presley Bellinger Kipling, previous [clears throat] event coordinator, who has expressed willingness to assist with the events planning for 2026 while the town finalizes its partnership discussions. Regardless of which entity ultimately leads the event, an early funding commitment is necessary to proceed with the vendor scheduling. The fireworks display cost $7,900 in 2025 and an estimated amount up to $10,000 will be required to secure the vendor for 2026. Staff recommends allocating $5,000 from the hospitality tax contribution to grants account and up to $5,000 from the accommodations tax contribution grants account to fund the fireworks contract. So, the recommended action would be to authorize the commitment of $10,000 in funding for the 2026 event with 5,000 hospitality and 5,000 room accommodations uh to secure the fireworks vendor. Having said all that, what's council's pleasure?

I make a motion that we um commit to the authorization for these funds. I have a question. I mean, do we know what type of event this is going to be? it would be structured pretty much like it was last year. Um, y'all still have to determine if it's going to be called fireworks for firefighters. Um, I had always said if the town took it over would necessarily be a fundraiser at that point and that's just something council will have to determine. Yeah. So, that's up in the air I guess something. Are are we putting the cart before the horse or maybe? Well,

well, it's one of these things where we need to authorize because we don't authorize, we ain't going to get no fireworks. [clears throat] It's a time constraint is setting these things up. So, if we're going to continue to do this and we, you know, I know there things we're looking at, but it's it's still a scheduling thing that we need to get done so that that it we do have fireworks. Otherwise, we're gonna commit money and have people waving sparklers, I guess. Yeah. The only thing I can tell you is that apparently we need to reserve the pyro technic this coming month. Um, and I guess it's the 26. I am that correct.

And that is that the deadline to book it? No, I'm talking about that date. At this point, I'm not sure if we missed that or not. So the sooner we can let them know they get a date. If nothing else, you'll have fireworks. I second the motion.

Okay. Have a motion, a second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries unanimous. All right. Next, we have consideration of waving fees and insurance requirement for special event. Uh, council has asked to consider waving the standard facility use fees and insurance requirements for the Christmas Eve service hosted by Village Church on the Village Green. The estimated cost to wave is approximately $130. The event will not require the support of the town staff during the event. And what is council's pleasure on that? Make a motion we approve it. You have a motion. Do we have a second? Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries. You were you up? Oh, yeah. Unanimous. Yeah. Gotcha. All right. Next, we have consideration of a resolution requesting funds allocated by the town of Pendleton uh to the Pendleton Volunteer Fire Department for fiscal year 2025 2026. Uh the town council will consider acceptance of a formal resolution submitted by Pton Volunteer Fire Department. This resolution outlines the decisions adopted by the department that require approval by town council as per the agreement. Acceptance of this resolution will complete the $40,000 allocation provided by the town to the department for the current fiscal year. The department still has remaining stipen funds available for utilization. Um any questions or comments or motions on that motion to approve?

Have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries unanimous. Next, we have consideration of resolution requesting funds allocated by Town of Pendleton to the Pendleton Recreation Association for fiscal year 2025 2026. Council will consider resolution authorizing town of Penalt provide the Pendleton Recreation Association with requested funding in the amount of $27,000 $9545. If approved, the P will have a remainder of 32,90455 for capital and equipment per agreement and it's outlined in this resolution. Any uh discussion? If not, do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Got a motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

Have a motion. Second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries. It is unanimous. Next, we have consideration of a resolution authorizing and approving the acceptance of certain loan assistance monies from the South Carolina Water Quality Revolving Fund Authority, authorizing the mayor to execute that certain loan assistance agreement between the town of Pendleton and the South Carolina Water Quality Revolving Fund Authority and other matters. The Department of Environmental Services has notified the town of Pendleton that the Central Road pump station project is ready to proceed. This project will be fully funded through South Carolina Water Quality Revolver Fund Authority with all principal forgiveness. The town has received a loan assistance agreement package providing $986,535 and all principal forgiveness to fund the Central Road pump station project. This resolution authorizes and approves the acceptance of these [clears throat] loan assistance monies and authorizes the mayor to execute the loan assistance agreement between the town of Pendleton and South Carolina Water Quality Quality Fund Authority. Approval of this resolution will allow town to move forward with the project, securing the necessary funding for improvements to the town's wastewater infrastructure without incurring debt obligations. It's kind of a no-brainer to think, but [snorts]

motion to approve. I got a motion. Did you guys set Oh, sorry. I think that's my computer died and I lost bins. It's on yours. Oh no, cuz we took him off mine. We closed mine out. Okay. Can you pull them up on your computer? Mhm. He said his was dying. You dying. Okay. Sorry. I don't have anywhere to put my hand. Oh, you better. Okay. Do we need to get a generator?

No, we need to ask [laughter] we need to ask a little faster. All right, we got Vince. We got Vince back. [clears throat] So Vince is voting yes or is that just welcome back? Okay. So, [clears throat] we had a motion and a second, I believe. Second. Okay. All in favor raise your hand. It's raised. Everybody ra unanimous. Motion carries. All right. Now, [clears throat] we have consideration first reading an ordinance to change corporate limits and annex property located in the village hills area into the town of Helms, South Carolina, and defy temporary zoning of conservation.

Okay. [laughter] The owner of this property submitted a written request for annexation to the town of Felton on May 28th of 2025. This parcel is located within the village hills tax increment financing district and is contiguous to property already within town limits. Following the public hearing held on August 5th, 2025, Town Council unanimously resolved to annex this property and set temporary zoning of conservation open space cove. The first reading of this ordinance is recommended action uh located village hills and set temporary zone. Having said that, do we have a motion to approve or discussion? Motion to approve.

Okay, got a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Got a motion. Second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries. Unanimous. Yep, this is good. So, motion carries. Okay. Now we have consideration second final reading of an ordinance to amend the business license ordinance in accordance with the business license standardization act uh 2020 act number 176. Town council is asked to adopt the amended business license ordinance due to 2020 act 176 by the general assembly. The town is required to adopt the latest standardization business license class schedule as required by the standardization act and make other minor amendments as recommended by South Carolina Municipal Association. This new ordinance must be passed by December 31st, 2025. The 2026 business license fees are not increasing, but some business license fees may increase or decrease depending on the class schedule that they are uh under.

Motion to approve. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second amendment.

Okay, we have a motion and second. All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries. Unanimous. Next [clears throat] we have a executive session pursuant to South Carolina code of law section 30-04-70 [clears throat] A1 and two uh discussion of personnel matter related to appointed boards and commissions and discussion regarding proposed contractual matter related to acquisition by purchase or imminent domain of certain real property located in the village hills taxing financing district. Having said all of that, if we go into executive session, we will come out if any decisions are made, but we'll be coming back out into open session. So, with that, do I have a motion that we're going to executive session?

So, moved. Motion. Do we have a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion. Second. All in favor? Motion carries.