County Council - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call to order our Transportation Committee meeting tonight. Tonight we have an action item, and that action item for the committee is to approve $500 allocations for memorial signs in honor of Sheriff Joe Mitchell in accordance to Resolution H5410 and the South Carolina Fund Law, naming the intersection of South Carolina Highway 322 and US Highway 321, Sheriff Joe Mitchell intersection.

Second.

I got a second. Open for discussion?

No. Fine thing. I attended it the other day. It was a good thing.

Excellent.

Yeah, I just want to, again, this is a Joe has done an amazing job, and this honor is incredible that we're able to do this again. Joe, we appreciate, again, this opportunity to represent you and honor you in this community. Thank you, Joe. All right.

All in favor?

Aye. Aye. Ayes have it. Thank you. All right. Motion to adjourn. So moved. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Ayes have it. All right. All right. Call to order the July 13th County Council meeting this evening. Tonight I will be doing the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you could join me for just a minute. Heavenly Father, come before us today in public seeking your guidance and wisdom as we ask for your Holy Spirit to penetrate through our hearts and minds as we have this meeting tonight. Help us set aside any differences and work together to ensure unity and ensure the needs of our public. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

OK. Tonight, we do not have any oath of office or showing of commission members. So we do have a brief appearance tonight by Sheriff Breeden and the council to recognize Lieutenant Nathan Clark for his service and retirement with the York County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Breeden is... Okay, sounds good. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you, sir. I don't have a whole lot to say. I started this journey 21 years ago, just over 21 years ago. I gave a lot of this department, a lot of this agency, and I want to thank the county council through the years for the support for the agency. as they have supported us. In 2020, I went through a fairly major injury that resulted in the loss of my left leg. I fought back from that injury. I went back to work full time with the Sheriff's Office. I was promoted to Lieutenant after my injury and after returning to work. And then I was called into the office in late February and basically told that, Nothing of my doing that I was being demoted by the sheriff. The sheriff had came to me and told me that I didn't do anything wrong, but you're being demoted. I was thus replaced with an individual who has been a lieutenant and has been retired for 15 years and came back to work. Well, at that point, I chose to medically retire. I felt like I was pushed out. I was offered another position. I declined it, and I feel that I was pushed out by the sheriff. But, yeah, that's all I have to say. But I thank everybody for your time and your service.

Well, we appreciate you for your service. Thank you very much. Thank you. We appreciate that.

Ladies and gentlemen of the council, thank you very much for your time. I know you're incredibly busy and you have a lot of people here that want to hear about a lot of the important matters, but we would like to speak on behalf of the sheriff and the major. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, members of the council and county management. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm speaking on behalf of Sheriff Breeden and Major Moore, who unfortunately could not be here tonight. They were both at the Sheriff's Association Conference. They both had planned to be here to honor Lieutenant Clark, but the ceremony was rescheduled over the week so that they could both be out of town. Due as it may, Lieutenant Clark has served the York County Sheriff's Office and the people of York County for 21 years. Long time. He began as a deputy on patrol. He worked his way through patrol sergeant and supervised specialty units within our agency. He ultimately made lieutenant in the support services division, where he served until he announced his retirement from the agency. We appreciate Lieutenant Clark and the service to the agency and the people of York County and wish him the best in the future in all his endeavors. At this time, we'd like to present him two gifts. Nate, for all your years of service, the badge, shadow box with your rank of lieutenant, and also your placard. Also, safe. On behalf of the Sheriff's Office, the dive team, the time that you dedicated on Lake Patrol, as well as on the dive team, sir, we've also had this knife, a certified benchmade knife with your name on it, as well as the agency you served so faithfully for 21 years. Excellent. We cannot thank you all enough for your time, and thank you for honoring this man who gave so much to the Sheriff's Office. Thank you.

yeah come on back up here i think we can go ahead and get a picture up here thank you come up here Again, I'd like to thank each and every one of our first responders for what you do in our community to keep this community safe. Thank you so much, I appreciate that. We do have a couple other appearances. Council to recognize York 101 graduates tonight.

yes councilmember audette thank you we're excited and i see our our graduates here york county 101 is a great learning opportunity for any residents that are interested today we want to say thank you to y'all who who put in the time to learn more about york county our public information manager greg suskin is going to share a little bit about the program and we're going to recognize you all this evening so thanks for being here tonight

Thanks, County Manager. Appreciate the opportunity, Council, to be here tonight to once again just really be excited about what this course is. York County 101 has been offered by this county for now 14 years. And word has really spread. I started promoting this program, I'm going to say, a couple weeks after Thanksgiving, first week of December, something like that. And within three weeks, the class was full, and we had a waiting list. So that's a good problem to have. And for those of you here in the audience that may not know, and those watching may not know, York County 101 is a class where citizens can come and learn all about York County. They hear from, this year was 27 different departments, including some of the elected officials, such as the coroner, the solicitor, or the sheriff. Learn about what they do, learn how those departments function day to day. They can ask questions, and they get to take tours of just about all of our major county buildings and county facilities. Over the year that I've been managing this, I've gotten a lot of great feedback about the class. I think people just really, really learn a lot when they come. And it's been offered now. This last class was nine different sessions over a period of about four months, from February to June. So if there's one thing I can say about this class this year, that some of the graduates couldn't be here tonight, but these folks that are here are part of our graduating class. If there's an adjective I could use to describe them, it would be engaged. These folks here were not passive listeners. They asked really good questions. They were attentive. They were taking notes. They were paying attention the whole time. They really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. So that's exactly what we want to see in this class. And as we always offer this class each year, it's our hope that they may kind of take the next step and possibly volunteer for some of our boards and commissions and things like that and maybe kind of give back and serve at a different level. So I do want to just have everyone stand up real quick that's here tonight for York County 101 and recognize you. Appreciate it. I'll have you just sit down for just a quick second. I do want to say that for those interested in this class, that we'll probably begin advertising it around the first week of December again or sometime in that period. And that'll both be on our website. There'll be an application on our website. And also, we'll be putting that out on social media channels as well. So look for that sometime then. So we'd like to take a quick photo. So if I could just stand up one more time. And we'll do that. You can come right up here.

Excellent. Yeah, we'd like to thank each and every one of you for participating in that program. 101 is a great program, so thank you all so much. All right, next on the agenda, keep York County beautiful to present their annual report tonight.

Thank you, County Council and those in county management. My name is Stephen Ballinger. I am one of the board members for Keep Our County Beautiful. And on behalf of the board, we welcome you all, and we thank you for the opportunity to join in. So to give you an idea of what we are, we're an all-volunteer. pointed by you all, as with the staff liaison involved. We operate within the Solid Waste Recycling Division, supports the events and the goals, and as an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and to Keep South Carolina Beautiful, we are required to support many of the initiatives, such as the Greatest American Cleanup, with the goal of removing 25 billion pieces of litter from public spaces by America's 250th celebration. We have three committees based on our mission and our vision. Committees have developed programs specific to KYCB and provide support to the above-mentioned entities. Now, our board is comprised of seven at-large seats and seven district seats, of which I'd like to ask those that are on board to please come forward. On our board representing Keep Our County Beautiful, we have Corey Tilley. Shelby Champion, Joel Paris, Miss Nikki Huckabee, Christina Love, Candace Pickley, Amy Hutchins, I myself, Karen McBean, and our newest addition to the board, Mr. Andrew Spear. We have two open at-large seats with an application pending. We also have seats available for District 4 and 5. Now, I know many of you are thinking, no, we're involved with litter. Well, I want to clear up that misconception because we're more than just litter. It's not our only focus. Yes, it's important, but we work equally hard to develop programs and outreach efforts that include supporting increased participation in county recycling programs, empowering citizenry to reduce and rethink waste. We want to educate the citizens to understand on Recycling Right, even with the Recycling Right York County app that we have. promoting soil and water conservation equality. We want to encourage food waste reduction through consumer education and composting. We want to support the community resilience, but we also want to advocate for native wildlife. Now, Keep York County Beautiful also helps support the solid waste collection and recycling programs that existed long before KYCB came into existence. In our fiscal year 2026 totals, the board and committee members only did 420, or excuse me, 412 hours of volunteer work, of which if you put that in monetary value, that comes out to $14,889.68. If you include the $13,500 in grants plus in-kind supplies. Now, our board members help promote solid waste collection and recycling programs, such as Litter Challenge, and adopt county roads. That's something our citizens can do. All I have to do is look on a website, volunteer, put in an application, look and see which roads are available that they can pick and maintain that road for not just us, but all of us in York County. To put that all together, if you add our volunteer work along with the citizens that are dedicating their time in the roads, you're looking at a fiscal year budget of $69,929.68. But KYCB could not provide two of the strongest longstanding programs without grant funding. We do not have a designated county operating budget, but we do receive some supplemental funding from solid waste collection and recycling for supplies. To date, we have been awarded over $230,000 in grant funding. This year, the board received $10,000 from the Keep South Carolina Beautiful Affiliates support grant, along with litter cleanup supplies. This grant is how we have been able to offer the signature programs, mini grants, and high school scholarships. This also provides funding for such things as social media ads, cargo nets to help encourage securing loads, and litter pickup incentive T-shirts. Now, normally available, we would receive a $3,500 Duke Energy Foundation America 250 grant that we will redistribute to enhance public spaces. Funding will also be used to purchase native perennial seeds, plants, shrubberies for public spaces. Embroidered flags will be purchased to replace those at the War Veteran Memorial Park here in York, including the America 250 markers. Recently, the board was recognized with the Keep South Carolina Beautiful Program of the Year and the Keep America Beautiful President's Circle Award. We are in the process of rebranding organizations to educate themselves and act as ambassadors for our county. of the committee activities that we're involved with. For one that I'm currently on as president of litter and beautification committee, we provide funding through many grants and eight community organizations. Our priority is given to initiatives that include one or more of the following elements. Beautification through planning of native species, perennials, trees, fruits and vegetable gardens and prevention of litter. Areas in the right of way with area accessible to the public. Those that include direct involvement of children or children as beneficiaries of the project. Litter education and cigarette litter prevention. Promotion of pollinator habitats or milkweed protection projects. One litter cleanup in York County is required of the recipient before the end of the grant period. The next one is the Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee. Now, this one helps assist the Solid Waste Collection and Recycling Division in their meeting waste reduction goals. Now, did you know that food waste is the number one item in landfills? The committee also helped promote recycling right through the Promoting a Recycle Right York County app and the web tools at Earth Day, Birthday, and other events. Our third committee is the Outreach and Education Committee. This one, we had an environmental sculpture installed at the York County Library in Rock Hill. The project was initiated by KYCB, and it was sponsored by Palmetto Pride, Duke Energy, and Keep York County Beautiful. You can also see clips of the crane in the photo. We encourage volunteer cleanups to support programs like the Greatest American Cleanup, the Polar Bear Litter Pickup, in York County spring litter cleanup. In the bottom right corner, you'll see evidence of our Joy of the Third Annual Waste-Free Costume Swapping Giveaway created. Now, as you might expect, we also are involved in what's known as litter index. Now, we weren't able to provide you that information tonight, but we are going to be doing that this Saturday and working into next weekend. So we will hope to have that information to you as soon as that data is provided for you. So you're wondering why all of this is important. Well, yes. And this is just some of the reasons. We have digital postcards about our programs that we would love for you to share, not only amongst yourself, but also with our citizens as well. And if anybody has any questions, you're more than welcome to contact our staff liaison, Ms. Alison Woodruff, at the contact information provided. We thank you so much for your time and for the opportunity to come before you and grace your presence.

Well, we appreciate you all, what you're doing. I tell you what, our landscape has never looked so good out there, so we appreciate each and every one and all your hard work. Thank you. Great job. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right, before I do go to the public forum, there is a withdrawal out of public hearing, which is case number 2622. That has been withdrawn, so there would not be a public hearing tonight on that.

So I just want to make you aware of it.

All right. So we're going to go ahead and move to public forum session. Again, two minutes per person. And we look forward to hearing from you. The first one up is Steve Penland.

Councilman Aldette, real quickly. The withdrawal is on item number three on our agenda for public hearing.

If you're here for that, we won't have a public hearing on that tonight, right? That is correct. OK. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Steve Penland.

My name is Steve Penland, and I live at 6457 Campbell Road in York County. My concern today is the rapid growth advancing in our area around Campbell Road. Campbell Road is only about two miles long, but it's designated on state roads as a farm road. But look at what is happening. New developments are being proposed and approved at an alarming rate. Clay Hill at Allison Creek. Dash, 199 single-family homes, 357 townhomes, 475 multifamily units, and a 48,840-square-foot grocery store. D.R. Horton Development on Campbell Road, 1,200 new homes under construction now. The old Platinum Finishing Plant, EFP, on Campbell Road, 25 acres. owned by All Points Trucking, is being marketed as an industrial site for warehouse use or a data center. I just hope the new owners investigate the property with South Carolina EPA before they start moving dirt. The present data center under construction, trucks after trucks after trucks going down Campbell Road. The developments started are not just on Campbell Road, and don't even take into account the massive developments within a mile of Campbell Road. Hundreds of homes off Allison Creek Road, the new high school on Cannonball Run or Diamond Road, the explosion of businesses at Five Points, development proposed on US 49. I didn't even mention what's happening at Newport area that's less than three miles away. Please consider all residents in our areas before making decisions that affect all the residents in our area. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate it.

Now, if you are here, we do have public hearings coming up, so if you do have an item that you would like to save it for public hearing, please do. Next one is Frank Yernack. Yernack, thank you, sir.

My name is Frank Yernack. I live in Fort Mill. Since January this year, 911 records show 19 emergency calls from the CILFAR facility. Those calls include repeated reports of trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, vomiting, severe headaches, dangerously high blood pressure, seizures, gas leaks, Evacuations, fire, and an actual dumpster fire. How fitting. Earlier this past Friday morning, a 35-year-old woman was found unconscious at a SilFab loading dock. Later that same day, an alarm, a fire alarm was called. These calls do not prove SILFAP caused these emergencies, but council cannot treat each incident as isolated while ignoring the patent, especially at a chemical manufacturing facility next to schools and homes. And we have already experienced two confirmed chemical spills. Judge McKinnon. now has so fast appeal of the unanimous BCA decision on the advisement. If he opposed the ruling that solar manufacturing is prohibited in a light industrial zone, is York County ready to act? Will manufacturing stop or will zoning enforcement remain unenforced? Council approved financial incentives for this project. You cannot take the investment while disclaiming the responsibility. 19 911 calls in the last six months. Two chemical spills, one unresolved zoning ruling. Enough explanations. Protect the public, respect the BZA, and be ready to act immediately. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, sir. Next up is Sean Dove.

Good evening, council. My name is Sean Donahue. I live at 1542 Farmstead Road, Rock Hill, South Carolina, in the Allison Acres subdivision. The reason why I'm here at this point is to talk to you guys about false information. There's been members of this council that have addressed this County and said that statements that we have proven through FOIA reports and other legal documents not to be false. And there's a member on this Council that has publicly stated in Council chambers that we're fear mongering and we're lying. So please resend those comments. Make sure you do your due diligence because us as citizens are emailing you are calling you are providing you the same documentation that we have been provided and that we have researched as citizens. You are our voices. We are trying to speak through you. We're trying to work with you. Please take this documentation and stop labeling us when we have legal documentation as fear mongers and liars. I appreciate your time. Look forward to speaking to you in the open public. Thank you, sir.

Next up, Barbara Shavers. Thank you. Before you get started, if you can just please refrain from clapping again. I understand your concerns. And again, if you could do that, I appreciate that. Thank you.

And I wish you'd have said that after my turn. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Go right ahead.

Go ahead. Can I get the two minutes?

She can speak all she wants to during public.

Somebody's needs to, are you stuck? Yeah. When I speak, it says 38 seconds. It's going to go, it's going to go ahead and start it.

You can speak in public hearing if you do would like to also Barbara Shaver.

My address is 20 81. North main street, Smyrna, South Carolina, population 55 district three. I begin my two minutes with an apology to the council and specifically to my representative. The reason is because I've been a resident of this county for 39 years and this is my first time at a council meeting. It seems evident though by the lack of adequate seating that I'm not the only one that needs to apologize. So then let me say I have come to realize that we, the people of York County, South Carolina, have been irresponsible. We, the people of York County, South Carolina, have not paid attention to the matters that affect not only ourselves but our future generations. We, the people of York County, South Carolina, have failed to read agendas, have failed to ask questions, have failed to be informed. We, the people of York County, South Carolina, have not communicated to our representatives in a timely manner. And therefore, we, the people of York County, South Carolina, will now pay consequences of our negligence through the pain of utilities, experiencing inadequate water supplies. So now let us, we, the people of York County, South Carolina, make our voices heard. in council and at the voting booth. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Assume a loud applause.

Gabby Glenn? Gabby?

OK. OK. OK.

It's Gabby Genn, I think. Genn. Oh, there we go. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Gabby.

I'm here today to talk about home occupancy and some rezoning issues. A business should never be approved to operate on a shared driveway without the consent of all property owners who share that driveway, especially when the business owner does not own the land that the easement is on. My major concerns with this business that are operating near me are All the households are responsible for maintaining and replacing the shared driveway, yet the business owner is responsible for majority of the wear and tear on the driveway. It generates a high volume of traffic, and the driveway already serves at least 10 residents every day without the commercial business. My young children can no longer safely play outside, ride their bikes. I can no longer enjoy walking on my driveway because of the constant traffic. I no longer feel comfortable allowing my young daughters outside to play in swimsuits to enjoy water activities during the summer. Since this business has began operating, we've lost all sense of privacy and security at our home. This business owner has found ways to limit the number of customers to meet the home occupancy requirements. Rules, but the overall traffic has not been reduced the owner and employees are constantly moving large vehicles in and out creating a lot of daily traffic Customers are also frequently confused about where to go and end up turning around in our driveways and yards causing damages to our properties And this is a full-scale commercial business and the county should have conducted a thorough site inspection before approving its operations. A paper application alone does not always reflect the real impact a business will have on neighboring properties. Anyone can complete an application in a way that appears to meet the requirements, but that does not mean the business is appropriate for the location. Businesses operating on a shared easement should be required to construct their own separate driveway. However, in this case, those of us who live near regulations need to be strengthened to better protect neighboring property owners, especially those who are required to share a driveway with the business. Meeting the minimum requirements on paper should not be the only factor considered when determining whether a business is appropriate for a residential neighborhood. The county should have considered the actual impact on surrounding residents, including traffic, property damage, safety, privacy, and quality of life.

Thank you, Gabby. Appreciate it. Thank you. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Do we have an address for this concern, a road address? I didn't hear it. Yeah, I didn't. May Harvey. May Harvey. May Harvey. Okay.

Bate. Bate Harvey. Bate. Bate.

Bate. Okay. All right. Thank you, Gabby. Appreciate it. All right. Shirley Oates. I don't understand. That is like here.

Good evening. My name is Shirley Oates, and I'm here to speak on the moratorium. I want to thank you. My address is 291 South Parham Road. And I want to say thank you for allowing me time to express my concerns on the data centers of York County. I want to thank you for considering an approval of the moratorium and agree you should accept it and allow time for more research on any problems that may arise in the future. To protect the people of York County, I feel by putting strong rules and regulations on the companies that come into our county, it would show that we are a strong people and a caring people who stand together against anyone who may destroy our community and our county. I have concerns on future data centers because of the destroying of our waters and polluting it, fires and dangers to structures, structures around it, air quality for those who, with breathing problems and pollution, noise control for people who have PTSD and who may have fought in battles with the noise and causing vibrations and giving them nightmares and anxiety attacks. Electromagnetic fields can interrupt signals in pacemakers, emergency signals, GPS signals and directions. Learning disabilities with having schools and daycares so close to the data center. for our future children. We are to protect them, not place them in harm. Disruption of wildlife causing them to lose the environment and food and water sources. These are a few of the concerns I care about. In researching York County, I found that York County was founded in 1785. and has grown in so many ways. There are now, as of 2024, 306,887 people and counting. And out of those, there are 190,000 registered voters. Thank you, Shirley. Okay, thank you. Appreciate it. But thank you. I appreciate your time.

Thank you. Appreciate you. All right. Barry Pomeroy.

Thank you. I'm Barry Pomeroy here to speak on behalf of the Okta Pharma Investment Opportunity, along with my colleague, Alice Stewart, is also here with me. First of all, I'd like to thank Council for voting for our project, in favor of our project, property tax revenue allocation debate that has arisen. And I want to try to reframe it a little bit differently. The property tax allocation, common part of the value being created here, The real opportunity is the economic activity and added benefits to both governments and schools that will far surpass the value of these property taxes. I ask you to focus on the full economic impact, not just this initial property tax allocation question. Because the question is not what's best for York County Council or Rock Hill City Council, what's best for all the people that call this community their home. I mean, years from now, the citizens will not remember how the percentages were divided or who won the negotiation. They will remember whether their leaders came together to secure one of the largest economic development projects in the history of the region. That is what they will remember. I mean, let's face it, governments and schools win if this project comes here. and we all lose if it doesn't. Let this project be known as a project that brought two governments together for the benefit of their citizens. That choice belongs to you as well as your counterparties at Rock Hill City Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Barry.

I appreciate it.

Rebecca Cinchy.

Hello, my name's Rebecca Sitchy. I live in the Allison Acres area of Rock Hill. Three specific things that come to mind when I wanted to address you guys today is that the project summary list that gets put out by the county It consistently has the project names listed on there that the county has identified as their project name. An example would be QTS Data Center project name. But in reality, there's project names that are affiliated with these projects like Project Cobra, Project McFly, then also project provident so I ask that you guys change or update maybe update is the better request is that you work with the county staff to update update that report of that plan summary to our project summary excuse me to actually say maybe the project name like And the example that stands out just naturally is the QTS data center. But then in parentheses or something on the side, make sure that it clearly states the project name that the state is recognizing that is. And you guys as the county are recognizing those projects. Summary says the second one. The second topic is just in. Make sure that the York County Sheriff's Office is prepared to be able to implement those zoning. Specifically when it comes to noise, the sheriff's officers that do come out don't have the equipment available with them to even do an assessment besides just basic what they're hearing. So I ask that they get staffed with the proper equipment. And then the planning submissions, the last thing that I have is that when a plan is submitted or a project is submitted, if at all possible, can it be clearly identified how much hazardous chemicals that they have on site, specifically related to EPCRA Tier 2 data, and that the fire department has to review them from a HAZMAT standpoint to make sure that we're better prepared. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Rebecca. I appreciate it. Thank you. John Sane.

Good evening. My name is John saying I live at 1141 Bate Harvey Road. I'm here tonight on behalf of my family and many neighboring families to address a critical zoning and public safety violation occurring on our shared residential driveway. My neighbor and I own the actual land the driveway sits on while a third party owner has been granted a deeded easement strictly for residential ingress and egress. That residential easement is being fundamentally abused. The third neighbor has a York County home occupation permit for a vehicle wrap print shop, but this is completely outgrown. A typical quiet home business to wrap vehicles. You have to transport them frequently. Massive commercial rollback rollback trucks, are forcing their way down our driveway and it's very narrow. They're physically too large for the lane and they routinely run off the pavement, tearing up our lawns and destroying our private property, while sometimes they block the main public road just to maneuver onto the driveway. While the property damage to our land is substantial, the immediate safety hazard to our families is unacceptable. Alongside these massive rollbacks, hurried commercial delivery drivers are often speeding down our shared driveway. My neighbor has two young daughters, one under the age of five. who live and play just feet from where the commercial vehicles are operating. Under York County Ordinance, a home occupation is strictly prohibited from creating a traffic hazard. A residential driveway should never be allowed to operate as a commercial loading zone where young children are placed in potential danger. Please understand we are not asking the council to resolve a civil easement dispute. We're asking you to enforce York County's residential zoning laws. This automotive scale logistics operation belongs in an industrial zone, not a quiet neighborhood. I ask that the council direct code enforcement to immediately review this business's home occupation permit, inspect the property damage, and step in before a preventable injury occurs. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, John. Appreciate it. All right, Lark Wells.

Hi, I live on Henry Snob Road in Clover. So my family members and I get phone calls and text messages almost every day asking if we will sell our land. This is the land that my sisters and I grew up on, laying in the pastures, creeks, and woods. This is the land that my parents and grandparents milked cows on twice a day, every day, for more than 73 years, and where my husband and I now live at the northwest edge of York County. The answer to all those calls and messages is always no. And today, we made that no even firmer by taking the next step of putting our family's farmland into a conservation easement. I encourage anyone here with roots in this community who is lucky enough to own some land that you don't want to see developed into a new subdivision, a family dollar, or a data center to consider the same. Reach out to York County Forever to get started. So now that I've put a moratorium on data centers in my backyard, it's the council's move to keep them out of everyone else's. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Laura. Martina's. Peter. All right. Thank you.

Hi, my name's Pete Martinez. I live off of 327 Currents Road between Lake Wiley and Clover. I'm here to say I support growth in this county as long as it's responsible, and it's done by responsible business owners who pay their taxes. I'd like to see more growth of that nature in our county. That's all I've got to say.

Thank you. Thank you, Peter.

I can close it.

Thank you, Council Member Audet, for taking over the meeting while I was absent. And I do want to thank folks who have come out to speak. That concludes our public forum session of the night. And we now move into consent agenda. Motion to approve our consent agenda second motion in a second any discussion also ever say aye opposed Motion carries we move to our first item our first public hearing item Rezoning action, hold a public hearing and consider first reading case number 15-38A, tax map number 65500000565300214. The request is to amend conditions of a previous GC rezoning 7.34 acres in District 1.

Good evening, Council. Thomas Newland, Long Range Planner. This rezoning request, as said, is to amend some conditions on these two properties. So the applicant proposes to develop differently from the previous rezoning that took place in 2016. Originally the site was going to be developed into a little grocery store and now the proposal is to make it into a church. The property has changed hands and in that the previous conditions that were part of the previous 2016 rezoning remain on the property and the request is to remove those. So these are the six conditions. In general, conditions one, three, five, and six all specify transportation intersection improvements. Item number two is a direct lump sum contribution. And item number four specifies pedestrian facility improvements. The proposed amendment is to remove all of these conditions. Items one, three, five, and six, again, those related to transportation, are all going to be determined in the TIA process. The TIA has already been conducted for the southern parcel, and when the northern parcel begins commercial plan review, it will also have a TIA. The contemporary TI actually shows a greatly reduced number of trips. You can see there the little of 2016, expected around 3,000, and the church now expects much, much less than that. That kind of justifies that item number two is not appropriate given this reduced scale. And item number four is superfluous under our more robust land development code. Pedestrian facility is now required as part of the base district. So staff and Planning Commission both recommend approval. The scope of the request, again, is just to amend the existing site-specific rezoning conditions. The underlying GC zone will remain there. And this will relieve the property owner of mitigation commitments for a previous proposal that originally was gonna have a much greater traffic impact. Development will still require mitigation through the normal TIA process, which we have a little excerpt there that shows a lot of these conditions that will still remain. Any questions for staff?

Any questions? Just one. This doesn't clear this property and allow somebody to come in there for the church to sell it and then somebody else to come in and get reduced requirements. It seems like... Our new land development code is kind of called up to what we had approved back then. And so I just want to say, is it equal for the most part?

Yes, sir. And if a new developer were to come in, a new TA would have to be conducted. And if the trips change, then certainly the conditions would have to change as well. OK.

So one question I do have in regards to the egress component of it. So is there, was this done as a pre-study on this thing, or is this the request that we're going to look at from a flow standpoint? What, I guess, drove this requirement to have this modification made?

Again, it was just a different request. We had different conditions within code. So again, ours is now more robust. Originally, we had to use these tools, like conditional zoning, to enforce these kind of conditions. Now we don't need to do that. A lot of these, again, these conditions are repetitive within our base districts.

Anyone else? Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak against this rezoning? We don't have any overflow, do we? So I don't need to wait. Oh, we do? OK. Is somebody going to give me a signal? We need a walkie talkie. We're good? All right. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak in favor?

Thank you, Madam Chair, Council Members. My name is Brandon Pridemore with R. Joe Harrison Associates, Civil Engineering Consultant, 1186 Stonecrest Boulevard. Mr. Audet, you asked a great question. I wanted to go ahead and address that if I could. And the reality is that this agreement was originally driven by the Lidl development site. They have since sold it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has purchased it. We've submitted construction drawings. It's under review. done the TIA, and what it did was the agreement actually kind of complicated matters as we looked at it. It has this contribution in there that Lido was supposed to ultimately pay because they were going to be the group that was going to go ahead and go right into development. They didn't do that, so now it was contractually the questions came about what does each property owner do, who's responsible for what, but again, the uses are considerably less as we see. And we just wanted to make an application and try to make it more commiserate with the use we're actually doing and the traffic impact that we're doing. So we are going to mitigate for everything that we're required to do. Everything's in place. Mr. Newland did a great job of summarizing it. The only difference is, hey, instead of $100,000, what do we need to do to mitigate it? And we've come to a consensus on that between the DOT and the county. So we're here to answer any questions you have. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak in favor? Do we have a motion to close? Motion to close.

Second.

Motion and a second to close public hearing. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the public hearing is closed. Do we have a new motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries unanimously. We move now to item number two of our public hearings, rezoning action. Hold a public hearing and consider first reading case number 26-21, tax map number 3790000029 to rezone from RUD to GC 3.06 acres in District 2.

So this project is to take this three acres in the southwest corner of this 10-acre parcel from RUD into GC. The applicant is proposing to allow the continued operation of a vehicle service and repair shop. This is a grandfathered use. It also has residential components here on the property. The idea is to subdivide out the commercial elements from the residential, potentially for that other parcel to change ownership. So here's the site plan. Certainly this will need to meet modern requirements site standards and that will be addressed during the commercial site review process. Zoning, we can see we have a lot of GCs centered on the intersection of Green Pond and Highway 55 and RUD behind that. And our feature land use represents that GC is covered by the municipal infill designation and single family residential behind that as well. Staff and Planning Commission both recommend approval with the condition that this property must be subdivided appropriately within 90 days so as not to create a split zone parcel. This is ultimately found to be consistent with the comp plan and future land use map. The designation expects non-residential uses at these major intersections. It already abuts other GC properties and GC will reflect that established legal non-conforming use. Again, that grandfathered in vehicle repair shop. Town of Clover also agrees that this would be appropriate given their zoning and comprehensive plan. Any questions for staff?

Any questions? Thank you, sir. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak against? All right. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor?

Motion to close public hearing.

Second.

Motion and a second to close public hearing. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, public hearing is closed. Do we have a new motion?

Motion to approve with the conditions. Second.

Motion and a second to approve with conditions. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. It's my understanding that item number three has already been advised that that is no longer action for council to take action on. So we will move now to item number four. Council to conduct a public hearing and consider a third reading of an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium for a period of nine months on the consideration or issuance of special exceptions or conditional use approvals on the acceptance of site plans and on all other land use or development approvals for data centers within the unincorporated areas of York County. in order to provide an opportunity for the county to study and examine the impact of data centers on critical sources adjacent and nearby properties and or infrastructure, thereby enabling the county to properly amend the York County zoning and land use ordinances with regard to data centers to provide for an extension of time by further resolution of county council if after proper notification to council it determines that the extension is necessary to complete the studies. or examinations contemplated herein to provide for a public hearing and to provide for other matters related thereto. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak against? I don't know. We'll see. OK. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor? All right. Folks, if y'all can just come forward and give your name and address when you reach the podium.

Good evening. My name is Tom Plant, and I live at 2330 Vail Lake Road, York. I'm a year-round resident and I live less than 10 minutes from the QTS project. And yes, I'm more than happy to support the moratorium, but I'd also like to make a few more comments. York County is undergoing tremendous growth currently. And with that growth comes a huge strain on the budget for repairs to the infrastructure, the schools, emergency services, and other expenses. The multi-million dollar question, who's going to pay for all of that? With Okta Pharma project now in jeopardy, and believe me, I hope it's not. Who is going, where are we going to find the revenue to pay for all these ? finishes their project. the projected annual revenue for the clover $40 million and $16 million for York County. Let me repeat that, $40 million annually for the clover school district and $16 million for York County. Once the very first building is completed, they project $5 million annually to the Clover School District. So we can all agree that there's pros and there's cons to every project, every proposal. We can all agree that passing the project on Hands Mill Highway is an eyesore. So is passing Catawba Nuclear Plant on Big Allison while you're on Lake Wylie. But let me be upfront, I'm a member of the Lake Wylie Rotary. And yes, QTS was our title sponsor for our largest fundraiser of the year. All of those proceeds have been donated to the research for a cure to dementia and Alzheimer's. I've had a chance to meet and learn who these people from QTS are. And I believe they have a genuine interest to be great corporate partners to York County for years to come.

If anybody wants to speak, if y'all just please come forward so I don't have to keep saying that.

I'll talk. Sean Donahue, 1542 Farmstead Road, Rock Hill, South Carolina. Don't usually come prepared. I had Chad, the great AI beast, prepare us something for just the beginning of this, because I could talk however long I want, I guess. History warns us that what can happen to industrial growth is welcome before proper protections are established. In Alabama, Minnesota began manufacturing PCBs in 1935. By 1975, officials had discovered that widespread PCB contamination pollution was affected residential properties, waterways, floodplains, local raised animals, and fish. Decades later, the area remains a federal wood treatment company operated near residential areas. Contaminated surrounding soils, groundwater, the site, and... improved allocating hundreds of nearby houses, cleanup later requiring approximately 550,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil to be disposed of. Fort Valley, Georgia. Wool fork chemical manufacturer pesticides for more than 60 years, chemicals polluted soil, sediment, groundwater, and nearby residential properties. The EPA placed it on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1990, followed by years of residential soil removal, groundwater treatment, and cleanup. These communities were promised industry economic opportunity. What they all inherited was contaminated neighborhoods, cleanup projects lasting for decades. We should learn from their experience. Strong buffers, independent monitoring, emergency plans, and enforceable protections must be established before development. Before development. Not after families have already been harmed.

I've lived in my house for 20 years almost.

I bought it from another gentleman that retired from the Navy and the nuclear station. I know what I move beside. I know what the nuclear station is. The nuclear station cannot be seen by 274. A few residents that live down Concord Road can see the nuclear station. I see the steam and maybe a plane avoiding the plume. That's about it. But I've lived there for almost 20 years and I've drank water from my ground. I've never really been a fan of Lake Wylie. It's a cesspool for other reasons. But now we have a possible hyperscale industry that has zero, zero safeguards against it. Zero. Who in York County Who in York County is looking at what they are not doing? Because they're just a bank right now, according to York County. According to the state, they're just another industry. We're not worried about them. SILFAB has more restrictions than an industry like this. So the one building story, when it all started, OK, it was one building. Yeah, they built one building. But they got permission by vested right to do everything. Let's stop the games in York County. Let's get this under control. The moratorium is needed for the rest of York County because what my family and my neighbors have been suffering with is unacceptable for any of my other neighbors. My parents live in Leslie. The last thing I want them to do is deal with the bull that I'm dealing with every day. The traffic, my wife does not want to take my kids out of the neighborhood because the tractor trailer trucks and the dump trucks that are screaming by 16, 17, 18, At a time, disregard for all traffic, all traffic, numerous calls have gone into the sheriff's department to say hey they're going into opposing traffic they are blocking lanes of traffic that are not during these things industrial development on this level has to be regulated i'm against government i'm against big government but the thing of matter is is i i pay into this county my family's paid in this county i've lived in this county my entire life i work for york county businesses and now i am sitting here Begging you guys to protect my family. What could happen? We don't know. But history tells us it's possible. And we as citizens continue to look up information, not from China AI. We are looking at legal documents that are stated in court. that are stating these facts and matters. So besides the moratorium that's going to protect my family that are not adjacent to this, we as a community, as a county, need to come together and properly make sure that these superscale industrial developments are not placed in residential areas. Zoning is wrong. Plain and simple, it's wrong. When the zoning was put in place, my house was built. My house was not zoned residential. I guess I don't have no vested right because I don't have any zoning on my house before it was built. But now that everything's been developed down 274 as residential, residential, residential, residential. Name another industrial development on 274 Campbell Road. Exactly there ain't. There's 800 acres of being absolutely obliterated. Stop this from happening. York County period. Not just this job, but other jobs. York County does not need this hyperscale development. Big things are not right. Small things, small government, small business, small people is the right direction this county needs. Not, hey, I give you $8 billion in 40 years if I'm not bankrupt by then, if I haven't changed hands by then. My gutters on my house don't have no warranty on them from being from Leaf Guard because they're out of business. But I paid for that warranty. So please, quit throwing out the baby with the bathwater on all the deals. Put a moratorium in place on beta centers in this county. Look into future hyperscale industrial developments. That's one thing I will agree with you, Andy, on, is industrial developments do need to be looked at in York County. But right now, we've got to deal with the monster that's in our bed. So please, save the extra 400 acres. Please, help save the rest of York County from this disaster helping again. Next.

Got a loud, booming voice. I'm going to try to stay away from this a little bit here. My name's Charles Velasquez. I live at 2065 Cutter Point Drive in Lake Wylie. It's taken multiple readings on the ordinance and moratorium to get to this point. We only wish that the same level of care and thought had been given to the data center project in the first place. What will you do with the info amassed after the moratorium has ended? Will you listen to it like you listen to the people of this county tell you that we don't want this? We don't want any data centers near our homes, our schools, or our work. Just a few days ago, Mehta's data center in Wyoming was found contaminating the local water supply and with a rare bacteria. Is this what it's going to take for the council to take real action? Do we need another SILFAB to happen? We don't want to sacrifice our forests, our water, or our health so that another developer gets tax breaks to rape our community. We implore you, listen to the news, listen to the research, listen to the people. Remember who you work for and stop these developers from exploiting our community or the people will hold you accountable. Thank you.

Folks, any folks who want to speak, if y'all just get in line, if y'all will get in line. Go ahead and make a line. That'll be good.

Steve Penland, Campbell Road. I would like to recommend the York County Council approve this third reading of the nine-month moratorium recommended by the York County Planning and Zoning Committee. First, I believe that this moratorium should not be tabled to a later date. It's time for constructive action in York County by our county council. Second, This moratorium will give the council more time to research the impact of data centers on nearby neighborhoods, the environment, electrical and water consumption, and noise pollution. There is so much that needs to be addressed before moving forward with data center construction. This action is being taken in other South Carolina communities and throughout the United States. You are not alone in showing due diligence in approving these types of facilities. Third, I would like you to know that I'm not speaking out against data centers for myself. I'm already in my 80s and will probably never see the end results of your decisions. I am trying to protect my children, my grandchildren, your children, your grandchildren, and my neighbors from the destruction of our environment and the way of life. Thank you. Thanks, sir.

My name is Sarah Wineland. I live off 2085 Cutter Point Drive. And I want to thank you guys for taking the time to hear us tonight. I am for the moratorium on new data centers. We live in an age of technology, and through advancements in fields such as medicine, engineering, warfare, et cetera, artificial intelligence is just another step in that direction. However, it is being pushed and rushed upon communities at an alarming rate. Other local leaders have been made promises of tax revenue for school districts and some jobs for their communities, but when trying to understand the cost to their citizens, the answers are less than forthcoming until it is too late. My family and I moved to York County three years ago, so we are newer residents. We moved here from Charlotte for a slower pace of life. We wanted to be surrounded by nature, know our neighbors, and be able to support local farmers in the community. We came to York County for peace and community. York County doesn't belong to data centers or any other business. It belongs to the animal species that are native here that call it home and for its people, teachers, farmers, veterans, students, first responders, families like yours, and families like mine. The environmental and human costs need to be considered, and that is why I am for this moratorium. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Good evening. My name is Ginger Harper Thompson. My address is 10 49 South Parham road, which is near the intersection of Harper road. This is an address I lived at as a child. And then again, as an adult for over five decades, thank you for considering the nine month moratorium on the data on all data centers. My concerns include preserving my family homestead. and way of life, along with health and well-being of humans and animals. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Debbie Zaber. I live at 2023 Skyhawk Drive. I just moved out here. And I'm for the moratorium.

Can you move closer to the mic? I'm having trouble hearing you. Sorry.

It's OK. I'm not a leaner. I'm sorry. Okay, so I understand some of these buildings have already been approved and that the developer may have vested rights. I heard everything that everybody was saying tonight. I'm going to focus just more on the noise than everything else, but I agree with everything they're saying. I'm super nervous about what it's going to do to our environment. That being said, I'm not asking the county at this point to take away any rights. What I'm asking is that we recognize an important decision. Approving a building is not the same as approving every operational impact that building may create. The county still has a responsibility to protect the people who live here, not just today, but for decades to come, as I was talking about. My concern that I'll bring up the most tonight is the noise. I want to start by saying I'm not opposed to data centers. In fact, I've lived near them before I moved here from Illinois. I've done extensive research before buying my home here, or I thought I did, and the presence of data centers did not concern me because I'd seen them done the right way. Where I lived, they were thoughtfully designed, responsibly operated, and respectful of the neighborhoods around them. The operator understood that being a good neighbor was just as important as building the facility itself. That's why I chose to buy my home here. I believe York County shared those same values. Looking back, honestly, if I fully understood the scale of this project, I probably wouldn't have moved here. I can't change that decision now, but I hope the families who buy the homes here in the future have the benefit of stronger protections than we did. They will deserve to know that their investment, their health and their quality of life will be protected long after the construction is complete. I'm not talking about construction noise. Construction noise is going to end. I'm talking about the operational noise that continues 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the life of the facility. The constant mechanical hum from cooling systems that simply doesn't disappear because we get used to it. It becomes a part of everyday life for the families living closest to it. Many health organizations recognize that the outdoor residential noise should generally remain around 55 decibels during the day and closer to 45 at night to help protect sleep, health, and quality of life. Sleep's not a luxury. It's essential to our physical and mental well-being. When sleep is disturbed night after night by continuous environmental noise, the effects can extend far beyond simply feeling tired the next morning. Healthy sleep, including deep REM sleep, our bodies need to recover. It's critical for our physical and mental health. Long-term sleep disruption has been associated with increased stress, higher blood pressure, which I already have, greater risk of heart disease, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, depression, and reduced overall quality of life. That's why this conversation is about much more than testable numbers on a chart. It's about protecting the health of the families who live beside these facilities every day for decades. I ask that you think about the families who live directly across the street from them. Think about the parents putting their children to bed, the grandparents hoping to enjoy a quiet evening on the porch, and the families living who invested their life savings into a home, believing they were moving into a peaceful neighborhood, like myself. Think about the young families buying homes in the new neighborhoods surrounding the project. They chose York County because they believed it was a place where they could build a future, a quiet future. They pay property taxes, support schools, invest in local businesses, and deserve the reasonable expectation that their homes will remain places of peace and comfort. If we fail to ensure these facilities operate responsibly, we're not just affecting today's residents. We risk affecting a value of the homes people have worked their lives for. A home is the largest investment many families will ever make. If buyers become concerned about living next to constant operational noise of a large industrial facility, homeowners might find it difficult to sell when life changes as we get older and require them to move. This isn't fair to the families who place their trust in this community. York County has already recognized that operational noise matters. Thank you for that. The county has discussed stronger data center standards, including noise limits at the property line. acoustic barriers and ongoing monitoring i respectfully ask you continue continue pursuing these protections wherever legally possible please require the following residential noise standards that truly protect the the nearby neighborhoods especially during nighttime hours independent noise modeling before construction before construction and sound testing after the facilities begin operating and continued monitoring. Effective mitigation if noise exceeds acceptable residential levels. Ongoing monitoring and a clear enforcement process so residents know their concerns will be addressed. Economic development is important. I do understand that, and I support reasonable growth, but reasonable growth also means protecting the people who already live here and all who will call York County home in their future. We can also respect approved development while ensuring these facilities operate responsibly. Because at the end of the day, this isn't just about the buildings, it's about the families who hear them, live beside them, raise their children near them, and hope that the home they worked so hard to buy remains a place of peace, health, and lasting value. Thank you for your time considering the health, well-being, and quality of life of the families you represent and everybody here.

Thank you, ma'am.

Council, my name is Chuck Green. I live in the Allison Acres subdivision off of Highway 274, right next to the current data center project. I want to thank the council for getting to this point that we are now. I didn't know that the project was a data center until after construction started. Some of the substation was going in, and I saw all the signs going up about the data center. So I started to try to find out what was going to educate myself, and by the time I got in, you guys were already working on the data center exceptions, revised the zoning form. And I think I was stepping in the right direction, and I want to commend you guys for that. But as that process went on, it became obvious. I got up here one night and talked during those things, and I think it became obvious that What was in place at the time was nowhere near sufficient to really make the changes needed. And not enough was gone. There wasn't enough. So to your credit again, you decided to hold up on that and let's do a little bit more research, a little more look, see what's going on, dig deeper. And then to your credit again, as that started happening, It kind of blew up. And you changed it to this moratorium that you're trying to get passed for nine months to give you an additional amount of time to do what you had originally started to do. And again, all is great. And I commend you for that. And I want to support the moratorium. But I do want to say that since I found out about the data center, my family's life has been the same. A lot of time that used to be time that we socialized, time that we entertained ourselves, maybe whatever is now spent researching and finding out and trying to look at what this data center is going to do to us and our home that is so close. It's just totally changed everything about our life. And the question has come up a couple of times, is a data center a different animal, or should it be treated like any other business? And I repeatedly answer that question that it is a different animal. There are no other businesses currently like data centers that are such hogs for power, water, create noise, eyesore, environmental issues, pollution. There's going to be more generator power there being ran by diesel generators than most power producing companies for cities and counties have. Also, on top of that, very few jobs. Very few jobs. Now, I don't know if any of y'all have made a connection, but I am a person that has emailed all y'all as a group on several occasions. with all kind of facts, even scenarios about what will go on at the data center in full production with regards to what's going to happen when they run off a diesel, how many tanker trucks coming, all this stuff. Now, I want to say now that I got tons of information. I could sit up here and give you a long list of stuff. But as I understand it, That's not necessary right now. What we're trying to do now is get a moratorium approved to then give us time for that later. So I don't want to stand here and go down a long laundry list of things that I'm concerned about. So with that being said, I definitely support the moratorium. But this is my plea. I'm pleading with you guys that if you pass and do pass, and I plead you pass this, that after the moratorium is in place, that that nine-month period is different than what things have been. Since I got involved in this thing, I don't really understand a lot. You can talk for two minutes. at the beginning of every council meeting. And like tonight, when it's an agenda item, you can get up here and talk. I am begging y'all to pass it. And then during the nine-month period, to have meetings, special call meetings, to allow the public to come and speak and share their concerns, what they found out, what they found out, and also to share the information that you guys are coming up with. I keep hearing these experts on this all field. Somebody's going to make recommendations. Make those recommendations transparent to us, the people. Let us be in the process and know what's going on as this process goes. And I'm not talking about some reading or public agenda here. I'm talking about a special time just for this. This is a big deal. It deserves that kind of time. Meetings that we can come together and we can all dialogue together. Not argue, not fight, not fuss, but dialogue. Does it mean this? Does it mean that? You know, who's it gonna impact? How's it gonna impact? What are the benefits? You know, what are the detriments? So please, please pass this moratorium and then please consider going forward a transparent process where the public can get involved and know what's going on and be a part of the decision making. Because you represent us. You're supposed to be looking out for our best interests, taking care of us. So please, please, thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Ken Sicci and I live in the Allison Acres subdivision, 1500 feet from the data center site. On behalf of well over 2,000 people on a petition to stop this, we thank you. Thank you for the decision to consider slowing down for a period of time for research. I spoke months ago about this cancer. That is data centers. And well, here we are. We let one in and already we have real estate firms marketing for additional data centers. Future data center opportunity is what it says exactly. I also spoke about the necessity for good people backing you once you're diagnosed. And I thank you for considering stepping up and be those people. During this research period, I really do hope to see you all at my home to better understand what we go through on a daily basis from the thousands of trucks a day with no care about my family. Every day is a tiptoe trying to get out onto Hands Mill Highway. I've heard them beeping at us, cutting us off. The trucks, 100% are speeding. I've asked the Sheriff's Department if they would go out and enforce the trucks. Instead, you just see cars getting pulled over. But you watch trucks passing cars on Hands Mill Highway. You could tell the cars are going 55 miles an hour. The trucks are flying right by them. And then there's a generator that runs all night on site or a piece of machinery or something. But I could hear it through my walls. Keeps me up at night. I've asked ordinance to come out and they did. And the readings that they took were 55 decibels. And they said, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do because it's 55 under the 65 decibel limit. Well, if that's 55, then that's not enough. It needs to be way less than that because my job is to stay, I have to stay up at night. I have to get up at night. I need some sleep when I get home and this is not letting me sleep. It's unfortunate at 3.30 in the morning when I can't sleep, I just get up and I go to work because I could get a better sleep at work than I can at home. I encourage all of you to visit others and utilize us and the ones that are most affected for our research and the things that we have found out. And we're the ones that you're supposed to be the voice of. So not reaching out to us and not utilizing us would probably be a breach of your oath. So I hope to see you all soon.

I'm Ron Wathen. I live at 1692 Wedgefield Drive in Allison Acres. I think a nine-month moratorium on data centers is a good start. I believe once council does their due diligence by collecting information from independent, reliable sources, sources not affiliated with data centers, that would really be pretty irresponsible and negligent if you just take their word for all the good they're doing. I think it'll become overwhelmingly obvious why the moratorium is necessary, and the information collected will validate the many concerns which have been expressed here tonight and over the last several months. So I encourage you to report and approve the nine-month moratorium. As others have said, there's been a lot of people behind me here that's done a lot of research. They've collected a lot of information, factual data. They can help guide you if you want to know where to go to look at that data and not just take their word for it. Thank you.

My name is Krisha Patel and I live on Anvil Draw Place. I want to start this off with a phrase I grew up hearing a lot. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best is now. I truly believe questions work the same way. The best time to ask difficult questions is before the concrete is poured, before transmission lines are built, before forests become construction sites, before quiet roads become industrial corridors. And by the time people realize what has changed, the opportunity to pause is often gone. This is why a moratorium matters. It gives us something we cannot get back once it's lost. Time. Time to listen. Time to study. Tonight, you are not simply voting on a moratorium. You are deciding what kind of memories children in your county will grow up with. Will they remember tree lines stretching across the horizon or transmission towers? Will they remember Christmas tree farms or walls of concrete without windows? Will they remember opening their windows to look outside at the setting sun or closing them against the endless hum of mechanical and industrial cooling systems? Other communities have already answered these questions. In London County, Virginia, families who once lived beside open countryside now describe a constant industrial drone that never truly goes away. In Ireland, a nation that embraced data centers now finds them consuming nearly a quarter of its electricity, forcing leaders to ask whether growth has outpaced resources. And I think there is something almost heartbreaking about reading stories from other communities, because none of them thought they would be a cautionary tale. No community ever thinks it will become the example other communities point to until it does. A moratorium is not fear. It is love. Love for a place that existed before us, and if we are careful, will exist long after us. forests cannot stand at this podium the rivers that will be polluted cannot cast a vote so tonight that responsibility belongs to us i refuse to believe that caring about where you live is naive i think it's one of the most important responsibilities we have because one day your kids and teenagers like me will ask what your county used to be like when you were their age i hope the answer is not you should have seen it before the data centers

Good evening, council members. My name is Ness, and I am proud resident of Westport community in York County. I stand before you tonight deeply concerned, not just about one data center, but about a dangerous pattern. There is now a land actively marketed for data center development at 6247 Campbell Road, and we already have the QTS facility. two data centers adjacent to our residential community. This is kind of unacceptable. You call this an industrial zone, but what I see is our community being surrounded by infrastructure that belongs nowhere near homes and families. When I first came to United States, I was inspired by this great country and its greatly planned roads and highways. I was inspired by visionaries like President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed the interstate highway system, the greatest public works project in American history. I was inspired by Thomas McDonnell, the brilliant engineer who dreamed of connecting this nation's roads so farmers' crops would never rot and families could thrive. I was inspired by Senator Albert Gore, Sr., who insisted those highways have safe exits so no American would be endangered on their own roads. These men didn't build roads, they built a philosophy that great nations plan carefully, separate industry from homes, and protect their citizens from pollution and harm. When a country government ignores that philosophy, it behaves no differently than the unplanned corrupt cities many of us left behind. Do not let your county become that. Right now data center companies are dictating county's future and they are choosing where they want to build. They are choosing what land gets marketed and this council is following rather than leading. You have the power to stop it. region dedicated industrial parks away from residents. Create a true industrial corridor with proper buffers, proper planning, and proper protection for families. There is a model called GIDC, which proves that businesses thrive in plant zones far from neighborhoods. Communities stay clean, and government earns the trust of its people and businesses. You can attract more data centers or more industries, more jobs, but only if you lead with vision instead of reacting with rubber stamps. Eisenhower didn't build highways through neighborhoods. He built them to connect and protect a nation. Be the change maker your county deserves. Stop being the puppets of these corporations. Please lead us in a similar way great American presidents did in the past, by taking right decisions for American people. So we all will be proud of you, and our kids and grandkids will also be proud of you. And this will be the history, because AI, we need not only data center governance, but we need AI governance as well. Do not rush. and please work for the American people. The American people will be proud of you all. Thank you.

Hello. Hello, my name's Linda Suaro, and I wrote notes all day long of what I was gonna say, and I threw them all out, and I'm starting all over, because I come from New York, as you can tell. I left the hustle and bustle. I moved to North Carolina first, and then someone said, come at my mom's house in York, and we came down here, and we loved it. I tried to get a house in Clover and was outbid numerous times. I ended up in Rock Hill. I'm there nine years. I love my home. And when I see what's going on here, it's deja vu all over again. The house is one on top of another. The data center, my friends live right there. They have farms. They have chickens. They have animals. They have children. They have to live with that. Are they going to be farming in two years or three years from now when this data center's up and all that pollution's going in the ground? Are they going to be able to drink their water? I don't think so. I lived through that and moved down here. I don't want to see it happen again. So there's 169 acres that just went on contract behind my house. And do not, please do not put a data center in my area too. I am all for this moratorium. Vote yes. You guys didn't do your due diligence at the beginning. Do it now. We have to stop this and save this county. It's beautiful. I don't want to move again. I really don't. I was retiring here, staying here forever. I don't know what we're going to do. But please, I beg you. Think about it. Think about if you lived near there. Would you put a data center by your house, your children's house, your grandchildren? I don't think so. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Sophia Randall and I came here tonight in support of the nine month moratorium. I want to begin by thanking all of you for taking the time to come out here and listen to the voices of your community. It means a lot to me as well as to everyone else out here. There are many reasons why people are against data centers, economic reasons, political reasons, and environmental reasons. Tonight, I would like to talk about two of the environmental reasons, air pollution and water overuse. So I have a hypothetical situation. Imagine sending your kid to school. You expect them to get good grades, make new friends, make great new memories. Instead, they come back home with a debilitating respiratory illness. This hypothetical situation could become reality if these data centers are approved. One of the proposed data centers is right next to a new school development and is predicted to hold over 2,000 students. And it's not just the students we need to be worried about, but also ourselves. We're not separate from the environment. We're going to be breathing in all the contaminants that the data centers send out, and we can't really walk around with air bubbles over our heads with only pure oxygen. Aside from air pollution, water overuse is also a huge issue. As humans, we only need three things to survive, shelter, food, and water. The longest we can live without water is three days. 3% of water on Earth is fresh water, and only 0.5% is actually safe for human consumption. The issue with data centers is that they're using all of this water to cool down their systems, which places an immense strain on local communities as water becomes more and more limited. We are slowly killing ourselves in the name of progress, and I hope that you will all take these factors into consideration as you make your final decision. Thank you.

Again, my name is Pete Martinez, 327 Currents Road. The AI industry is in a race to get scale, to get more and more processing power. And with any race, they are charging full steam ahead. They are not going to slow down to make sure they're doing things safely. They are not going to slow down to make sure what they're doing is best for the community. And they're not slowing down to get buy-in from the community. Since they won't slow down to do what's right, that makes it our job.

Hi, my name's Anita Green, and I live in Allison Acres. It's been my home for 40 years. My husband and I built that home. We constructed it ourself. I'm not talking about we hired a contractor. We built the home ourself. It took 14 months working night and day to get it built. And it has truly been our forever home. But with everything going on now, we're not sure that we will be able to stay there. I want to encourage the passing of this moratorium because I believe that we do need a lot more information in order to fully know the impacts of data centers. We need to look closely at the benefits that they bring our county, but we also need to look even more closely at the detriment that it brings to us and our citizens. Hopefully the nine months for this moratorium will be used wisely and thoroughly to obtain the truth about the data centers, the whole truth, and put in safeguards that can be put in place to protect our residents, our resources, and our environment. I would hope that you would involve the residents during this process rather than simply just showing us the final outcome. Many of the folks in this room have done months of research and could be a source of knowledge and information. Don't ignore the residents. We are not your enemies. We all want what is best for our county. Utilize the residents so that working together we can have the best solution. Thank you.

hey council uh... zach wilson i live at the uh... pines at campbell crossing at the corner of paraham i don't know if there's anything that i can say that hasn't already been said i know you guys have been sitting up there very patiently listening to all of us i appreciate it it's a thankless job i wouldn't want to do it i can tell you that i don't enjoy getting up here and talking but i feel that i have to part of that putting your money where your mouth is stepping up and and voicing your opinion so that that it goes on record I work for a company that installs loading dock equipment. There's currently five data centers all throughout the state of South Carolina. QTS in our area is just one of those. I got myself blackballed at my company because I put my foot down and said, if I'm going to stand up here and voice my displeasure, I have to be willing to stand on that. I told my company I wouldn't help with any construction across any of the other data centers. And in turn, I was denied promotion and put on the blacklist. It's the smallest inconvenience compared to what you guys are in charge of, which is protecting the people that you represent. Again, nothing that you haven't heard up here before. But I like analogies. I think they work really well. If you were to go to a restaurant that, you know, they're selling burgers, you walk in, you sit down, you order your burger, and then all of a sudden you hear of the same type of restaurant across the country. Hey, the waiters, you know, they're not very nice. The chefs, they don't wash their hands. They use meat from expired sources. That would give you pause and you go, wait a minute, maybe we should look at this. And if a government agency came in and said, yeah, we're going to look at all these all the regulations that we have on this business. But you already ordered your burger, so you go ahead and eat it. We're just going to apply these to the future burgers. It doesn't make any sense. The moratorium is a step in the right direction. It is a pause so that we can look at these safeguards and that we can do this safely if we are going to continue. But the fact that it doesn't apply to the current data center I think is nonsense. If we're worried about those things, the water consumption, the electrical usage, the damage being done to the environment, in the future cases, we need to be worried about that now. I know you guys, your hands are tied with a lot of vested rights. There's a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo that goes into it. But if it's important enough for the future, it's important enough for now. So I don't know if there's anything you can do about that, but I appreciate you listening to me, and have a good night, guys.

Good evening, Chairwoman Cox and members of council. My name is Dean Fail, President and CEO of the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, and I reside at 3044 Wexford Drive, Rock Hill, South Carolina. I begin by saying that the Chamber is not here to oppose a thoughtful review of future data center development. Technology is changing rapidly, and taking the time to study the environmental, infrastructure, and energy implications of future projects is responsible government. I would simply encourage Council to use this opportunity to develop a thoughtful, balanced framework that protects our community while providing clear expectations for future projects. I also believe it is important that we distinguish between data centers built decades ago and projects being developed today. The QTS data center currently under construction in York County represents what I would consider a model for responsible data center development. QTS utilizes a closed loop cooling system that minimizes water consumption. They have worked collaboratively with York Electric Co-op and Duke Energy to ensure adequate power capacity without impacting existing customers exist. And they have agreed to fund the infrastructure improvements their project requires rather than shifting those costs to our community. Just as importantly, QTS has demonstrated what it means to be a good citizen. They have established monthly community meetings to provide construction updates, created a dedicated website for residents to submit questions and concerns,

Please, please keep your comments. Allow the gentleman to speak. We don't need to be speaking out.

Thank you, Madam Chair. They have created a dedicated website for residents to submit questions and concerns. And most importantly, they have listened. When concerns were raised, about evening construction noise, truck traffic, and light pollution, QTS worked with the community to make meaningful adjustments. That willingness to engage, listen, and respond is exactly the kind of partnership we should encourage. Beyond those commitments, this project will generate substantial long-term tax revenue for the Clover School District and York County, while also providing significant support for important community initiatives, including the Western York County Agricultural Center. This is exactly the type of investment our community should want to attract, one that creates lasting economic benefit while addressing environmental and infrastructure concerns through modern technology and responsible planning. Chamber supports responsible growth, we support protecting our natural resources, and we support policies that evaluate each opportunity on its merits rather than making broad assumptions about an entire industry. I appreciate Council's willingness to carefully consider this issue, and I encourage you to use this time to develop a policy that protects our community while ensuring York County remains competitive for the right projects. Thank you for your time and service.

Thank you, sir.

Good afternoon.

I'm going to have to remove you if you continue to speak. Please, let's be respectful. Everybody be respectful.

Yeah, good afternoon. I'll just speak on behalf of all of you here. This is hard to do. I commend each and every one of you for standing up here because this is difficult for me because I've got a little bit different spin than I think anybody in this room tonight. So my name is Brian McManus. I live at 1075 Labrador Lane in Lake Wiley, South Carolina. I'm also a business owner. I'm a general contractor that is actually doing the site work on this site out there right now, Hoopaw Graydon Company. It's not just Hoopaw Graydon Company that's owned by me. It's an employee-owned company. So basically, we have 685 employees, and 128 of those employees reside here in York County. They're taxpayers of York County. and their kids go to these schools here in Clover, Fort Mill, and all over the place. We're a good company. We've been building since 1953 in this area, so we make a living for the growth of these communities around here. And I know that's tough to hear for a lot of folks, but it's true. I mean, I've watched this place just quadruple since we've been here since 2012. But the fact of the matter is we need this tax base. I mean, I know all of you here, you have kids. You take them to Clover School Systems, and every year when people walk out, they've got bags of school supplies. Why is that? But think about you've got this big taxpayer here that's coming in here. What did you say, $40 million in tax base? I mean, as a taxpayer, I feel like that's good. They're not going to need your roads when it's all said and done. You know, they're not going to, once it's built, it's built. They're not going to have a lot of infrastructure. It is a closed loop system. I mean, we're putting the water lines in. Now they're very small water lines, a lot smaller than your school system water lines for fire protection and so forth. From what I've found so far, this is a very smart growth compared to what we build all over. We work a 65-mile radius of Charlotte, and we build a lot of sites. And this site here has probably got some of the best technology that's out there. And I go back to our 128 employees. We've got roughly 150 people on that job every day, and that's just our company. That's not counting all the trucking companies, all of the economic impact that comes in from local suppliers that sell all the material to put in there. You've got the sales tax that comes in on all of the materials that are being brought in. I mean, it's just, I realize it's a tough project. It's hard to hear this from the community because I've never been up here to do any of this. I was a little bit fearful to do it, but I feel like I had to protect my 128 residents here because when we start hearing moratoriums, I mean, I've got employees like, what am I going to do, boss? What's wrong with my job? Are we going to lose our jobs? Are we going to have to go somewhere else and travel? So the reality of it is maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but I know at least for our employees, we're for this and we want to see it continue on. If you've got to have a moratorium to figure things out going forward, that's fine. But you also don't have to have a moratorium to do what you're getting ready to do. You know, if council or planning needs to go back and look at smart growth and smart ordinance and listen to some of the things that these constituents in here talked about today, that can be done. And it doesn't have to be let's stop what we're doing. So I just ask you to consider it. Consider that, you know, we're a good local company. We're going to continue to do the best thing we can out here and to look out for our 128 taxpayers that are here in your county. Thank you much.

Good evening, council. Julie Ferraro. I live in Vanderlake subdivision. First, I want to thank you all for your service. I appreciate your time. Appreciate you listening to us. I know this is a tough scenario, and I appreciate you looking for this moratorium. I'm here to implore the council. to approve the moratorium to allow time for research for the effect of these hyperscale data centers on the environment, on our health, on our property values, on our way of life and quality of life. There is plenty of extensive research out there that you can look on any website, you turn on any television, and it's everywhere about the detrimental impacts that these have, not only on the health, but also on the property values. I sell real estate and I see what's happening right now. We do want you to think about the impact these data centers have and put strict guidelines into place. We understand hindsight is 20-20 and things may not have been done the way they could have been, but now is the time for you to put that into place and to really look in and dig deep and really hire the right people to do the research and put these guidelines into place, um, to preserve our beautiful York County. Again, I moved here 20 years ago and it was just the most beautiful thing. And yeah, I understand growth. Yes. Growth is happening, you know, has real estate agent. Yeah, that's the way it is. But I do see a lot of, here right now and a lot of people who are looking in the area and they want to know what's going on over there. And I can't not say anything. Of course, it's my duty to disclose to them what's happening. And, you know, when I do disclose it, it becomes an issue, becomes a big issue. And I don't want it to be. And, you know, I understand it's kind of too late in some aspects, but I'm hoping that some of these guidelines will take effect on the future expansion and would sure be nice if that future expansion of that 400 acres maybe could be preserved, conserved somehow that the land would not be destroyed and ruin more property. The other thing I want to say is Please allow for more time on public comments like some of the other councils. That would be great. More than two minutes would be good as far as the regular meetings. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And please pass this moratorium. We implore you.

Thank you, Council. It's been a long time getting here. I do want to point out that the York County Regional Chamber's gentleman, I did speak with him just now. He did not personally benefit financially from our current data center, but in some way, who he's batched for did because they're on the community impact partner. So I just want to get that out of the way. Also, in researching these, we have over probably 4,000 pages of FOIA information. I have a lot of data, a lot of information, the current data center cited right behind me will have 548 diesel generators. We're told they're approved for Tier 2. And in discussions, they have continually said that we're approved for Tier 2 now. That's 548 Tier 2 generators to run any time under a self-regulated, self-declared emergency with zero to no oversight from any entity that I can find. This is completely different from when Duke Energy came in. They have at least five oversight ORS, FERC, you guys all know them, that oversight Duke. They also had an area around Duke, if you guys recall, that was an area of less density when they first came in. That would be ideal for something like this, which is new, and we don't know the dangers. What we do know is that a study from UNC Riverside, RIT, and Caltech has determined that by 2028, there will be 130,000 deaths from these. There will be over 600,000 asthma cases. And I have sent you guys all the information via email. That is the case study. that was just released. We have emissions points. There's 33 emission points currently on that property that is approved from DES. Those emission points, the exit temperature is 915.2 degrees from 33 sites. This is where we get the heat plumes and the heat islands from. What will the temperatures be at Mr. Penland's Christmas tree farm, at our homes? At the other farm and agriculture places, at the daycare, at the areas that are noted as the area of probable effects, which I'm included in that, it's 15 residents, as well as the Allison Creek Church, the little... National historic building that's there to the right of it, which has been relocated, so it did not get counted on the 109 section study they did. It's also Mr. Penland's Christmas tree farm, and they don't count it because he lives there on an industrial zone. They also don't include the venue. They don't include any of the other industrial zones. uh... site so there's fifteen of us self-identified in qts is own documents as their buffer they specifically say the u f f e r buffer that is the area point two five miles from the current site that they have so their current property line two point files five miles around surround them is their buffer we are living in their buffer MY CHILDREN HAVE MISSED SCHOOL. MY DAUGHTER HAS SOUGHT TO LIVE ELSEWHERE DURING HER COLLEGE MANY DAYS BECAUSE IT IS TOO ROUGH. THEY CANNOT SLEEP. MY SON IS A STRAIGHT A, FULLY, LET ME JUST SAY, IN THIRD GRADE HE TESTED AT A HIGH SCHOOL 12TH YEAR LEVEL. SO HE IS FULLY CAPABLE. HE HAD MISSED A LOT OF SCHOOL. HIS GRADES SLIPPED IN HIS SENIOR YEAR. HE DID PULL THEM BACK UP, BUT He's not someone who's ever not gotten 100 or a 90 or something like that on his grades. He struggled this year. Why did he struggle? Because he can't sleep at night. This has been ongoing forever. I have broken pool housing baskets, broken concrete, and broken on the back around my pool and on the front. We have four blasters in the current area now. i realize this is a construction issue the construction however will be a 10-year study of construction when you're cited where i am my property straddles both the 400 acres that is currently cited and the other 400 acres so i will have 20 years if this is a success for them to continue continue on with the data center so um the other the other issues what does a rollback of or power curtailment by duke look like This looks like generators running for us. They have a multi-port system which has direct connection to Unit 2 at Duke, a grid tie-in. They also have a best battery system. We don't know what the chemical battery is yet, but those are highly volatile, and many municipalities have up to 84 emergency calls within two years for these best systems. That's not uncommon. These are very volatile. And then the hot areas down here, most of these places with closed loop, when they go hyperscale, employ evaporative cooling, which is basically a 98% use of the water. There is just so many details that I could go over. And the emissions are over 40 carcinogenic emissions. Of those are the silent killers. Those silent killers are EM 2.5 and NOX, N-O-X. If you don't know what those are, those are fine particulate matter that get in the lung and later cause cancers. They're carcinogenic. There is just a plethora of now new health information that we didn't have in 2022. We have it now. I have researched since September when blasting shook my house so badly that I almost thought my glasses were going to break. So I had never experienced anything like that before. I had no idea they were there. It continued on. At the first meeting they had for the meet and greet, I realized the inconsistencies with each of their representatives, and I started to FOIA. And I have not stopped. I have continued, and I have FOIAs waiting today. The infrastructure, the electrical infrastructure that is required to service this data center that we have here cited in York County is $66.5 million on all of our Duke rate payers. A Duke rate payer is also York Electric and City of Rock Hill. This affects every single one of us. Every single person who needs electricity will now have to pay that. There's also an 11% ROE because Duke is a regulated entity. They have an 11% ROE. So that will be added to our bills. This is not grid upgrades. This is not betterment for our system. This is solely the transmission lines to service QTS and the substation. They received a FERC in 2024. They received 100% refund on a 90% usage when they cite the Walton property, which was owned by Walton and four farms and was under the holding company guys of being a subdivision. They later agent authorized, and I have those agent authorized letters in my FOIA, they agent authorized them to submit to York County permits on behalf of the current data center. After they submitted permits, they met with several people in our county, and some of you council members, they later decided to purchase that property. They now own that future possible user that allowed them to have that huge refund. The other impact company on here is the Catawba Indian Nation. Why are they on there? They destroyed the property when they went to go look for the herbs and finds. Dr. Winona Hare of the Catawba Indian Nation went out there to learn that the ground had been destroyed. She could not gather her herbs. She could not find any other herbs. cultural finds, I'm sorry, they also did an archeological dig. But there's three archeological digs on the site as well. But she did a stop work order. So in the stop work order, they communicated with Army Corps of Engineers, they want to allow us to work, what do we do? They asked for a meet and greet, they got a meet and greet in April of 2025. After the meet and greet, they come back with a one page document saying no further concerns that Catawba Indian Nation is now listed as well as the community impact partner. For our current center. It's right there. You want to see a close up of it? That's the Catawba Indian Nation seal. This has been the worst possible neighbor I could have ever imagined. We are fully aware we may be abandoning our home and likely unsellable. I refuse to lie to people and not let them know the full extent of what we are experiencing. Some of my neighbors could not be here because their husbands have dementia and they're afraid to leave them with what is going on. Some of my neighbors have now autoimmune diseases because they have not been able to sleep for so long. I myself have had to go into the doctor this week, and I've had several health issues. I was told to move immediately by a doctor. It's a surgeon. Her name is Dr. Diamond in Rock Hill. She asked me, what is going on? I have seen you before. This is not symptomatic of what you are. I'm nervous mess. All of our... All of our nervous systems have been shot after living in this, under the guise of this, for a year. This is unacceptable. We are taxpayers. I had philanthropic things that I did throughout the community, like always. I've always volunteered to all the area schools, not just the ones that my children go to, but if somebody had a need in the community, I would volunteer. I have supplied so much to so many in this community. to have a home that I cannot successfully live in. We were getting ready to do a $500,000 renovation and put a pottery studio on my side yard so that I could do pottery from home. Ironically, I used the Getty Center that's no longer now here, and I also made a bid on that and I lost, but we used the Getty Center to learn pottery so that I could do this. That is a foregone conclusion that that will never happen at this property. We are having to go somewhere else to live with the assumption that these houses may not sell. I am not alone in that. All of my neighbors and let me just say their property is absolutely gorgeous. They just renovated it and they built every bit by hand. That's all I have to say. I appreciate and I know that you know the full impacts on some of you who have come and visited us at Ground Zero at the site. I appreciate each and every single one of you. Any of the reading that you do and any of the information I send, I try to give you data that is only FOIA or verifiable studies from reputable agencies and healthcare industry. this this is the biggest atrocity i have seen and it is a race for cap acts by a small group of people holding the money bag of having the uh... private equity firm and all of our backs i mean that they'll say it's not on our backs they do say they paid for it now i will explain to you that the current data center did pay for the electrical infrastructure at the last payment Duke under law is now because of the FERC ruling has to give a full refund and then it's put into the embedded system. So it is the cost embedded recovery so that it is on all of our bills. That is how they get the refund. They say that they paid for it. That portion is true. They do not tell you that they get a refund on their last payment. That is all I have to say, and I greatly thank each and every one of you for all of your time throughout this. I know I've texted somebody in their district many times with stuff going on. I get calls all throughout the day, and people don't want to be identified. They're scared. They don't want to notify that their property has broken walls, broken floors, shattered toilets. broken sheetrock in their walls, broken concrete. They don't want to report it. They're afraid. They're afraid their property will become worthless. They're afraid that they will be pointed out. They'll be afraid they'll be recognized and known. So we end up being there for those people. I greatly appreciate, again, each and every one of you. I am full support of the nine-month moratorium for better studies and for hopefully better health outcomes for all of us in York County and all of us living here. Thank you so much.

Barbara Shaver in Smyrna. Again, I apologize. This being my first time in a council meeting, my heart is broken. You want to talk about the great tax values that will be brought into the community because of these. Well, who's going to pay for these people's broken homes? Who's going to pay for the health care of the people who get sick? These companies aren't going to pay for it. We're going to have to pay for it. And please, don't let this happen again. And what really breaks my heart is, oh, well, anything we do doesn't count for the current data center. It's going forward. I hope that's not true.

Hello, my name is Renata Sims, and I wasn't going to speak, but I was listening in the hall, and I said I have to stand up and do something. I started working with the residents in my area, and I do live here in the New York area. I bought a new home. My mom and I, we purchased a brand new home together, and we didn't know anything about the data center. And I said, instead of me complaining about what I know about data centers, I need to get involved. And so I started working with the residents. And they told us about the city council meetings. And I do appreciate you all taking out time to listen to us today and to consider the moratorium. And we do appreciate that. I listened to those today. that are not in favor of the moratorium. And I couldn't stay in the hall any longer. All I can go by is what I hear about other data centers in other areas. Virginia, how the electricity bills outweigh their mortgage and their rent. I'm asking you all to be proactive and not reactive. These things are going to happen. We've never had a data center right here in the York area, so we don't really know what's going to happen. But we do know what's going on in other areas. In Memphis, how people are getting sick over and over again, and they're fighting this. And I believe that Tennessee and part of Charlotte, well, North Carolina, they have put restrictions on data where a lot of data centers don't even want to come in because of the restrictions. We should have restrictions on everything. We shouldn't just let people come in and destroy communities. We moved to this area because it's such a beautiful area. The mountains are picturesque. And all of the nature that we see. The quiet areas. And I understand that there are so many people who have their retirement homes here. They're forever homes. And now they have to uproot because of a data center coming in. We should not let money rule what's going on with our community and the people in this community. What happened to valuing the people that are in this area, their health? We have senior citizens. We have children. They're going to be building more houses, and they're going to be building schools. They have many schools that are planning on coming in this area by the end of the year. And we need to look out for one another. It's more than just money. And I am begging you all. to consider this moratorium where we can think it through because it sounds like, and again I'm getting involved late, but it sounds like this was not done on the front end, which it should have been. They should not have been approved without you knowing clearly the risk. And I'm lost. I don't understand how this happened. I really don't. I love this area. I lived in Fort Mill for years. I lived in Charlotte for years. But out of all of that, I love York. I love the people of York. And I am really begging you all to think about what's getting ready to happen. The murky water that we're getting all ready to see that's going to come through the wells and what have you. The high electricity bills, like I said, the air pollution, the noise pollution, those people that cannot sleep. I heard the gentleman, he's part of what I'm working with, the group that I'm working with, that he has to get up at 4.30 in the morning because he cannot sleep. That is ridiculous. And so I'm begging you all to consider the people in your area. Consider us. We are human beings. Take care of us. That's why we elected you. This is a position that you hold. You're supposed to represent us. Not the businesses, the data centers, or what have you. And yes, there's a need for a lot of these things. But what happened to us? What happened to us? Thank you. Please consider what I talked about.

Hello. My name is Cole Price and I'm here on behalf of York Electric Cooperative. They are the local distribution cooperative, the not-for-profit cooperative that serves the area here. And I'm just here to talk briefly about some of the cost discussions that have been had about this data center. and maybe clear up some misunderstandings. QTS has paid for all the facilities, the infrastructure up front. I think that's been stated. And the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does provide that if said facilities provide a benefit to the system, then they are entitled to a refund. There are rules about that. It is governed by the federal government. And if QTS doesn't live up to the commitments that they made to get said facilities built, then they don't get the refund. So it has to demonstrate that it's a benefit to the network system before they're entitled to that refund. That's first. Second, there's a lot of dedicated facilities to serve a load such as QTS, and those are paid by QTS, and they're not subject to refund. So anything that's exclusively for the use of the data center is not refunded back to them, and they're just paid up front. And that's done to protect everybody, right? We could. And in other cases, you know, for other types of industry, we do foot the bill up that up front and the co-op utility, they take on that risk. But with something like QTS and bigger projects, we make sure that we don't take on that risk up front and that they take on that risk. And again, if they don't deliver on their side of the contract, they don't get their money back. So puts all the risk on them. Finally, I'll just talk about the power bills. I mean, there's a lot of discussion about rising power bills. I can't tell you the power bills aren't going to go up. Power bills do go up and are going to go up without QTS. I mean, that's the economy we're in right now. But projects like QTS can help absorb some of the fixed costs that are out there, especially in the rural communities. I mean, there's not a lot of what we call meters per line when you get out in the countryside. So in a city, in our urban area, when you've got hundreds of people living off the same line, you can collect and get the cost down. But out in the rural community, when that density is much lower, you might have four, five, six, or a dozen meters per line that pay for that, say, $2 million a mile of line. So when you have something, a project like QTS, that's not going to cause any additional cost burden by paying it up front and then still contributing to the fixed cost of the co-op that the electric utility has, it helps put the downward pressure and provide stability into the rate making. So there's a lot of pros and cons, but from our perspective, there's a lot of pros, and they'll help. And then finally, we've put a lot of protections in place with the agreements. We do that for any industrial load, but especially with a project this size. to ensure that those costs are not borne by the members of the local co-op, and that includes generation costs and the risks associated with that. So we're doing everything that we can to ensure that power bills don't go up as a result of these types of projects. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right, if there looks like we've I think we've heard from folks. I mean, if there's somebody who hasn't spoken who wishes to speak, now's your time. And I couldn't tell. Did somebody else holler? Do we have a motion?

Motion to close public hearing. Second.

Motion and a second to close public hearing. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, public hearing is closed. Do we have a new motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? I certainly support this. I would ask that the comments that all of the community has come out and given a public hearing be transcribed and that they be available as we start moving towards the next phase of this, which will be to do the evaluation under the parameters we decided. I think it's important to have that information available.

Let me say a quick word real quick. First of all, I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. This is critical, these conversations, each one of y'all. We truly appreciate it. As we go through this nine-month process, again, feedback is critical. Partnership is critical. So I do want to thank each and every one of y'all for coming out. Thank you. Appreciate it.

I'd like to make a quick comment also. I hope Laura's getting our information together on what we have already talked about. I do have a quite extensive list of things that I plan to add, and I've tentatively written down on my little calendar, we get these little calendars, every meeting for August, so beware Planning and Zoning Committee. We'll start in August with a meeting and start beginning to add some new things to this ordinance.

Any other comments, discussion?

Other than I'm 100% behind you.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries unanimously. Clock isn't working. Let's take two minutes, five minutes. Good. All right. Moving now to item number five. Council to hold a public hearing and consider first reading of an ordinance to amend chapter 155 zoning code subchapter C use regulations to add manufactured homes as a conditional use within the residential single family 40 RSF 40 zoning district and to apply existing design standards to provide for a public hearing and to provide for other matters relating thereto.

Yes, sir.

Good evening, Council Members. I've got a couple of text amendments related to manufactured housing up next. So this request generated from the Planning Commission. They asked staff for some information. They had reviewed a rezoning request for a property that was located in RSF 30, and they wanted to put a manufactured home on it. Those property owners realized they weren't allowed to have a manufactured home in that zoning district. So the Planning Commission recommended approval, and it got a conversation started about, well, we allow this in 30, excuse me, but not RSF 40. Why is that? So they asked staff some questions, and after they received that information, they made a motion to have a text amendment to allow manufactured homes with some basic design standards in the RSF 30 district. So comparing how York County regulates manufactured housing and where it is allowed in our zoning code, we're more or less already in line with what other jurisdictions do. Some go a little bit further, some are a little more lenient. We're kind of right in the middle of the pack. Some places have specific zoning districts for manufactured housing and they're not allowed in any other place. We don't do that here. And some regulate differently between single-wide, double-wide. We don't do that here either. So most places have standard conditions that apply to this type of use that has to be pinned down to guard against natural disasters, things like that. So if this amendment would be approved, we'd be in a similar situation in line with our peers on how manufactured housing is zoned. So here is really what that zoning amendment would look like. So in the use table, it would be just a matter of putting that letter C under the RSF 40 category. So you can see it's already allowed in AGC, RUD and 30. So planning commissions thought as well, why not 40? I mentioned those design standards here are all of those and really the and they're only required in the RSF 30 district currently. And really the idea behind them is to have these manufactured homes blend in with the stick built single family detached homes if they're going to be allowed in the RSF districts. So the Planning Commission recommended that these design standards that exist in 30 also be applied to 40. Staff also recommends approval on this. With the district hierarchy, it does appear to be inconsistent to allow it in 30, but not in 40. Both of those districts are very similar. There's really just a 10,000 square foot minimum lot size difference between the two, and that's the entirety of the difference between the two districts. Both of them are allowed in the same designation in the comp plan and the future land use map. And there's really a very low number of vacant RSF 40 parcels today. So with that, happy to take any questions you have.

Any other questions?

Thank you, sir. Well, first of all, I want to applaud you for putting this out to open this opportunity up for them on these homes. So thank you.

Is there anyone here who wishes to speak against this rezoning change? Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor?

Motion to close public hearing.

I'd just like to say.

You have to come forward. Give your name and address, please, ma'am.

Barbara Shaver, Smyrna, South Carolina, District 3. I'd just like to say any effort by the committee to help affordable housing for this generation at this current economic times is appreciated, and I would ask you to vote for it, especially with the already existing restrictions on those manufactured homes. Thank you. Thank you.

All right.

Motion to close public hearing. Second. Second.

Motion and a second to close public hearing. Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Public hearing is closed. Do we have a new motion? Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries. Moving now to item number six, council to hold a public hearing and consider first reading of an ordinance to amend chapter 155. Zoning. I'm sorry?

Tom asked me what I was up to and I just... Well, y'all know how I feel. I said, we're going to start telling people what color curtains have met. You know I approve anything. Whatever people afford to live in, they live in.

This allows that flexibility.

Oh, yeah, it does. Okay.

Council, to hold a public hearing and consider first reading of an ordinance to amend Chapter 155, Zoning Code 155.1195, replacement of nonconforming manufactured homes to permit nonconforming manufactured homes to be replaced with another manufactured home, regardless of dimensions, if all other applicable requirements are met, to provide for public hearing and to provide for other matters relating thereto.

So this one is a little more narrow of an issue. So right now what is common is folks often replace manufactured homes on the same lot, and very often they might upgrade with either a newer unit, a double-wide, someone coming, someone going, that type of arrangement. What's less common is if the existing manufactured home that's on the property is nonconforming, maybe the property is zoned UD, something to that effect. So when you are replacing a unit, it needs to say the same size of the existing unit so that it's not increasing the nonconformity. But we had a couple of instances in the last couple of years where someone's looking to do that and it's been solved through other means of rezoning in one case. Because of that rezoning, Mr. Atkins referred this issue to the Planning and Zoning Committee, so we talked about it, and they asked for a remedy to this situation, so came up with an amendment that would allow non-conforming manufactured homes to be replaced regardless of size. as long as they otherwise meet all the other standards of code setbacks things like that so this would allow folks that have a non-conforming manufactured home it's a single wide they want to replace it with a double wide this would allow them to do that without issue and the amendment itself is just adding that paragraph b it's very straightforward and staff and planning commission both recommend approval. This isn't going to come up very often, but the times that it does, it will be beneficial to those property owners.

Thank you, sir. Any questions?

No, I'm glad to see we're finally fixing this, John.

I agree. Thank you. This is good.

Thank you, sir. Is there anyone here who wishes to speak against this change? Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor?

Motion to close.

Second. Motion and a second to close public hearing. Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Do we have any motion?

Motion approved. Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. We move now to New Business Council to consider approving request by Shea Homes to extend York County Water and Sewer Utilities beyond the established urban services boundary pursuant to Land Development Code 154. Point 132C1.

All right, so this one is new to all of you. It's new to me. So this is the first time that this provision has come up for an upcoming development proposal. So there's a section of code that I've brought up on the screen here that if there is a proposal to extend York County water and sewer utilities outside of the urban services boundary, they require explicit approval from Council in order to do that. So we have our first request. get your permission to extend water and sewer services outside of the USB. And I just want to emphasize that this is not a permit. It doesn't vest anything. So your decision just gives them the first check mark on their itemized list that they need to go through that they know what they can and can't do with the property. So any future development application, they still have to abide by our code. This is not a rezoning. They would still have to go through the normal process. So very basically, what is the EUSB? So it's Urban Services Boundary, and it's a growth management tool. It's been on the books since the 2025 version of the comp plan adopted years ago. And it's really meant to capture where all of the services that the county and municipalities that's capturing some of the bigger ones here provide. So the theory is you keep your density, you keep your intensity, you keep your high users inside of that boundary line. That makes it easier to conserve property outside of that USB line, and it makes your services that much more cost-effective and efficient, and the lines don't need to run as far. That's the theory behind the USB. So here's a map of the application property. That's outlined in red on either side of Kingsbury Road. And the pink hatched area, that's where the USB happens to fall in relation to this project. So you can see there's a piece of the involved property that's just inside the USB line, and the balance of the property is just outside the USB line. So the zoning for this property is RUD. The acreage is just under 160 acres. And what they're proposing to do here is about 100 lots. So this is just a concept plan. So subject to change as they get further along in their designs. But right away, that math should trigger. We're looking at 158.8 acres, 100 lots. So they're coming in under what the maximum density is allowed already in RUD. They're not proposing to rezone the property. So the concept is they want to do a cluster subdivision, so they won't have any more yield overall in terms of density, but the lots will be smaller in exchange for much more open space. That's the conceptual design for the project. And as an FYI, we do have Mr. Rushing here from the Utilities Department, and the applicant team is here as well if you have questions for them on anything that they might be better suited to answer. So in terms of the proposal, you can see the green lines that are drawn here. Those are two options for water to be brought to the property through extensions of the current system, and any of the utility extensions would be fully paid for by the applicants. So the utilities department expressed a preference for option one, that it come from the north on down to the site. And then the sewer connection, there is a approved development called Stillwater. It's a subdivision that's to be built in the future, and that's where the sewer connection would come from. Once that project gets going and that connection becomes available, that's where they would tie in. So with that, happy to take any questions. Chad.

So, yeah, the question I have, again, you've emphasized here in the last part of it that Council's approval of this does not authorize development, but would have allowed any future application of development to include utility extensions. So how much, if this is extended, I mean, what is the accessibility, I mean, what do you estimate the impact of this from a development standpoint if people would identify this as an opportunity in that area? I guess my concern is that when you start looking at this and you look at the roads and the access off of these roads, etc. I mean, you know, it's kind of like a field of dreams. You build it, and they come in certain manners. So I'm just concerned. Are we putting out an olive branch, but at the same time, we're not prepared for that kind of growth? So anyways, a little bit of a long-winded question, but I'm just going to throw it back at you.

Sure. It's my understanding from the utilities department that there is capacity for both water and sewer for this proposal. So each one would have to come in line and ask for a willingness and capability to serve letter once the system, once they're ready to move forward with actual submittal of construction documents to build both the lines and the development. But anything you want to add, Mr. Rushing?

And real quick, Jonathan, I'll jump in. So in terms of the sewer capacity, this is going to the Allison Creek Pump Station, which is where our capacity is in this area. Other areas of the utility zone on this side of the lake, there isn't capacity, but there definitely is.

So does it impact people with wells and septic systems from a DHAC perspective? I know that I think we've heard in the past where if water and sewer goes up your road that you may have challenges from a DHAC organization, et cetera, to support your infrastructure after that occurs. I mean, is there a chance that this could impact people that do have their own water

wells and sewers not to my knowledge certainly if you have existing wells you wouldn't be impacted and that's the trade-off here is that if they're not able to move forward with connecting to public water and sewer they would have to go to well and septic systems for developing this property okay thank you

I guess I'm questioning why are they, is what they're asking for to ultimately construct consistent with what the, are you saying that what they're asking to build is what they're allowed to do by right?

Yeah, so they're not seeking to rezone the property. They're perfectly comfortable moving forward under the RUD that they have on the property currently. They do want to serve smaller lots with public water and sewer rather than pursuing well and septic, so their only option is to come before you to ask to go outside the USB.

That's where you lost me at the last piece. I guess here's... Normally, I'll just tell you how I think about these things. Like, normally on the USB, decisions about USB are made during the comp plan. That's coming up imminently, right? I mean, we're going to be taking that on. If we're talking about extending the USB line or doing something outside of the USB line, why wouldn't we just wait until we have that conversation then? I guess that's one of my questions. And the other is, I want to clearly understand is, If they're asking for us to consider this, are they, how are we going to be sure that there's no increased density as a result of that? Help me get through those two things. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

Yeah, so the code contemplates exactly what you're identifying, Madam Chair, and so we By this policy that's on screen here, we're not, as administrative staff, allowed to approve anything that's going to use an extension outside of the USB, even if the property itself has by-right zoning to do what they want to do, which they have. Because it's outside of the USB, they can't get an extension of public utilities without your blessing first. It's kind of like an amendment of sorts. You might consider it that way, that this is their opportunity as an applicant team to ask you, council, we understand that our project lies outside of your adopted USB, but we think our project is worthwhile essentially getting amendment to that. And then by virtue of your vote, you determine whether or not you agree with them on whether it's appropriate or not. And I think the second part of the question is it wouldn't change what they're allowed to do in terms of density because their property stays RUD even if you vote in favor of extending the USB in this instance. But if they wanted to do anything different, they'd have to rezone the property. They'd have to what? They'd have to rezone the property to do anything different than by right.

And they're asking for that. They don't want that. They're not asking to do anything to increase density. This will not increase density.

No. So their concept plan is showing right now 100 lots over 158.8 acres. And the benefits to the county? The benefits to the county, that's a difficult question to answer. You know, you have the tradeoff, I guess, is they could move forward with this project as well as septic or they could have access to public and water. So it's really a policy tradeoff for council. Okay.

So I guess for some reason I was thinking there was some comment previously that this would allow for some stations to be upgraded and would help with other things, no?

That's not what we're talking about tonight, no. But there is infrastructure investment that they would be committed to making, not the county.

What this will help with is that we don't end up with another private utility out there either. So we don't get blue granite, then put in a well system, or a private sewer system out there and having Blue Granite take it over and then we have one of those situations again either. Generally, water and sewer, DHEC likes for you to be on public water and sewer because sewer systems fail over time, cause a lot of issues environmentally Private water's a little safer because you never know what kind of well you might get out there. You could hit a bad pocket of groundwater in this area. So it's a positive and gives the opportunity for fire hydrants along the road, so it expands fire protection, expands if some of the properties, existing properties down through there have well issues, they'll be able to connect to a well or to the public water system.

Do y'all have any other questions? Do y'all have any other questions?

If you're talking about doing this, though, ain't this just opening up a can of worms for more county-wide water and sewer?

So if the line is constructed, it would be available to folks that wouldn't have access to a line that doesn't exist now, yes. But if anyone wants to do anything other than what they're allowed to do by right, they would have to come before this council to ask for a rezoning.

Right, but I'm saying once we bring it out of, the line if we just not start moving more county water and sewer. Opening it up for more county-wide water and sewer.

Well, this is right on the edge of the USB, and I think, you know, in theory, as Jonathan shared, any other applicant would have to come back to y'all to ask the same thing, who's outside of it. So, as you can see, it's right on the line there. Oh, yeah. But it would be one applicant at a time.

Any other questions? All right. Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion?

Yeah. I would also like to point out it was on a previous screen when they were showing option one. So I've had some preliminary, very preliminary discussions with the town of Clover. They would like to extend their water system over to Highway 55 to connect to the county system. so that they would have a backup redundancy in the event that something goes wrong over in Gastonia or in the event that they decide they want to buy from somewhere else. This would make that connection extremely viable because these two water lines would be close and or parallel to each other. Because this goes right up to the Clover utility boundary. So that would give, it would also be a benefit to York County to have a secondary connection also in the event that something happened to the main line feeding this area.

Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Moving now to item number three. I'm sorry, item number two. Council to consider approval of intergovernmental agreements between York County, York County Sheriff Detention Center, and each of the following jurisdictions. The town of Clover, the town of Fort Mill, the city of York, the city of Rock Hill, the city of Tigacay, and the Catawba Indian Nation addressing the associated per diem rate for inmate housing at the York County Detention Center.

Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries unanimously. Item three, council to consider first reading of an ordinance to amend chapter 155 zoning code 155.1246 interpretation of zoning map to permit a parcel with more than one district boundary to be governed by the development regulations of a district making up the greatest area in chapter 154 land development code. Section 154.004, individual plots for land divisions to allow combinations or recombinations of lots comprised of more than one residential zoning district to provide for a public hearing and to provide for other matters relating thereto.

All right. So this is another text amendment that went through the PNC committee. So we have I think professionally, I think we are in a unique situation in your county where we have a lot of split zone parcels. That's not typical. So here's a map where we've identified outlined in blue where all the properties in your county are that have more than one zoning district on that one single parcel. And it's causing some issues, and one of those is more applications for rezoning than you otherwise might see. So in order to try to reduce some of that, we worked with the P&Z Committee to try to have some administrative opportunity to regulate these properties that have multiple districts in a more simple fashion. So this is an example of split zoning. There's a couple here. So on the left, we've got a map. This is a single property. It's got AGC on two sides of it with a neighborhood commercial district portion that's in the middle. So that's kind of even odder. Usually it's on the fringes of a parcel or kind of split down the middle. But here we've got a single district on either side of another district on a single parcel. then on the right we have a larger piece here it's zoned rmx20 the bulk of it but portions of it little triangle pieces are in rsf30 so that's much more common where you have slivers and small pieces that are more or less immaterial to how the property is used but there are split zone nonetheless So here's an example. This is on Limestone Lane. We had an example last year on Sandifer Road. and here we've got there's a zoning district and whenever zoning districts were first applied in the 80s it looks like they painted a brush based on where the road is rather than where the parcels were that's not best practice for zoning and how you apply your districts but nonetheless that's what we have to work with so here we've got rsf 40 up on the road and rud up behind it so That's okay for some of the parcels there. They work out so that they fall in one district, but some of the others, they're split. So how do you regulate that? That gets pretty tricky. So here's what's in the code that's not affected by the proposed amendment, and that's that if a rezoning application comes forward and they're requesting the property be rezoned from you all, they can't request that multiple districts be applied to a lot. And here's a list of the split zone parcels. We've got over 1,000 of them in the county. Most of them, a good 3 quarters, are split between just residential districts, so some form of residential district hierarchy. So looking at those combinations, we thought, well, how do we solve that? And right now you can't combine properties so that you're creating a new parcel that has multiple districts on it, just like you can't rezone and request multiple districts on it. And you can't also recombine. So if you've got seven parcels and they're in different zoning districts, some of them, you can't put them together into one and it has multiple districts on it. So there's actually a very straightforward fix where the committee discussed using a majority rules approach. So whatever the greatest area of your property is in one district, that district would govern the entirety of the parcel. So if you've got 80% of your property is in AGC and 20% of it is in GC, your property would be considered as zoned AGC fully if you were to propose new development on it. That's what that section adds there. By virtue of having that, that allows you some ability to combine districts without creating new problems. As we discussed with the committee, we want to help chip away at one issue, but we don't want to create others. We also want to guard against people abusing that. The amendment would also allow folks to combine multiple districts in a single parcel if they are all residential, so residential in nature. So AGC through RMX 6, you could combine those as they are currently planted today, but if you had some non-residential district, you would not be able to just do that administratively. They'd have to come in and ask for a rezoning. The staff and planning commission both recommend approval of this ordinance. It helps simplify things, and for folks that just want to cure their split zoning, that option remains. Some people like to have clean zoning on their property. It's helpful for real estate deals, things of that nature. They're still able to come forward and pursue that with you all. With that, happy to take any questions.

And just for clarification, I know it says on here it's only limited to residential districts, but that means that you can't take an industrial property and combine it with an ag property and create all industrial.

Correct.

Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Yeah.

Any other questions?

No.

All right. Is there a motion?

Motion to approve. Go ahead. We're closing it out? No, motion to approve.

Yeah, motion. I move that we approve the first reading of the following amendments in section 1, 155.1246A6 shall be deleted and instead replaced with a new paragraph E, which shall read split zoning lots. for a lot divided by multiple residential zoning district boundaries the district governing the greater portion of the partial shall apply to the remainder of the partial for the purpose of the application of the new development two for a lot divided by multiple zoning district boundaries, which include at least one non-residential district and each portion of the lot shall be subject only to the regulations and standards of the district as applied by the official zoning map. A portion of the split zoning in the ID district could not be improved with the single family dwelling and another portion of RUD could not be improved with a manufacturing plant. To put all that motion in simple terms is exactly what you said, Andy, so it applies to residential only. Second. In other words, not no industrial or any of that. Basically all residential.

Is that not already a part of this?

So what the amendment does is it changes the language so that that paragraph six that you see there, that would also only apply to residential. So the majority rules approach to how a parcel is governed when you're proposing new development, that would only apply if all of the districts involved on a single parcel are residential. Currently, it's not written that way. So this would prohibit the scenario in which you've got a property that is 80% ID, for example, and 20% RUD. The amendment would prohibit the entire parcel from being considered as ID when you're proposing new development on it. It also clarifies that if you've got multiple districts and at least one of them is non-residential, so ID, GC, whatever the case might be, that each district is governed by its own rules. So the administrative flexibility granted through this text amendment would only apply to residential across the board. It would not impact non-residential districts.

So going back to the one where you had the example with the neighborhood commercial in the center, that would stop you from putting a house in the middle of a neighborhood commercial? because that parcel was mostly AGC, it would stop you from being able to put a residence in the NC zoning.

Yes, so that's a good example to use as the difference between the first reading draft and Mr. Atkins' amendment is going back to that example. So without Mr. Atkins' amendment, you could build a residential home if the property was vacant on that neighborhood commercial portion because the code would govern the entire parcel as AGC because it's the majority district. With the amendment, because it's a non-residential district, you could put a home on the property but only in the AGC portions of the lot and not on the NC portions.

And if that was the inverse, it keeps you from being able to put industrial all over the AGC portion.

That's correct.

OK. OK.

I understand. All right.

All right. Motion to second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Committee and other reports, Public Works Committee. Mr. Rudd is not here. Do anybody prepared in his stead? Or we'll wait till next time. All right. Finance and Operations Committee, Chairman Tom Aldette.

Yes. So tonight we met, myself and Councilman Atkins, and we went through some applications for committee seats. The first one was for York County Culture and Heritage Committee. There was an approval for District 4 of Jeffrey Lyons for a second term. Also, there was an approval in District 5 for Kim Oxedine for a vacancy as a first term also. Next. There was an appointment for the Catawba Mental Health Board for a vacant seat, which was for Charles Wimmer for a first term. And then also Keep York County Beautiful, there was an appointment for a first term and it was approved for April Hershey. And then lastly, Zoning Board of Appeals for District 1, there was approval for Christopher Fetting for a first term. And that is it. That's it.

Thank you, sir. We are going to, do we have a motion for executive session?

Yes, a receipt of legal advice, litigation update, and also personal matter clerk to counsel.

We have a second? Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We will go into executive session.