[0:39] 601. So, we will get started. Uh, I'm Sharon Reed, chair of the planning

[0:46] commission, and I welcome each of you to this our March meeting. Uh the

[0:55] for the agenda item, the one public hearing that we have, there was indeed a

[1:02] signin sheet out there, but if you did not have an opportunity to sign it and

[1:08] you wish to speak during the public hearing, you may come and sign it now.

[1:22] just give us your name and your address.

[1:32] Now, if others come in uh and have not signed the sheet, it will be a public

[1:37] hearing and so they will be welcome to speak as well.

[1:55] I just go.

[2:08] If you all are here to speak during the public hearing, you're welcome to come

[2:13] and and sign in.

[2:20] I'm sorry.

[2:46] I don't have the sun.

[3:10] Good start. >> All right. Once again, I'm Sharon Reed

[3:13] and I will be presiding over this meeting this evening

[3:19] and I now call this meeting to order.

[3:26] Uh, I wish to introduce Mr. Eddie Mazique. Mr. Mazique here is

[3:35] our newest commissioner for the North Charleston Planning Commission and we

[3:41] welcome you and look forward to your participation.

[3:47] » Welcome. Welcome. [snorts]

[3:56] I [clears throat] apologize. I'm sorry. >> No problem.

[4:01] » As we begin tonight's meeting, uh we will

[4:09] address the minutes from the February 9th meeting.

[4:15] Are there any corrections to the minutes as published?

[4:27] Hearing none, I will entertain a motion for approval

[4:32] of the minutes.

[4:36] Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded that the

[4:41] minutes from the February 9th meeting be approved as published.

[4:47] Are you ready to vote? All those in favor? I

[4:52] » I. >> Those opposed? Nay.

[4:59] » The minutes stand approved as published.

[5:07] [snorts] We have uh we're ready to move to our public hearing.

[5:16] public hearing for proposed reszoning

[5:23] Dorchester Road. We'll hear the report from staff. Thank you.

[5:31] » First item on the agenda is a proposed reszoning of the properties addressed as

[5:35] 3913 and 3917 Dorchester Road. [clears throat and cough] Charleston

[5:41] County TMS numbers 4115 00199

[5:47] and 1 198 from O neighborhood office to B2 general business in council district

[5:54] 10.

[6:00] [snorts] property can be se the properties can be

[6:04] seen here highlighted in blue on Dorchester Road

[6:09] at the corner of Brisma Street and the properties are currently undeveloped

[6:17] vacant lots at the corner.

[6:22] As you can see here in the on the zoning map, the pink denotes the O,

[6:28] neighborhood office. Uh, for reference, red is B2, general business, and the

[6:36] yellow would be an R1 zoning district, which would be single

[6:41] family residential.

[6:46] Based on the comprehensive plan, the future land use map designates the

[6:50] subject properties as traditional neighborhood development within the

[6:53] mixeduse corridor of Dorchester Road. The mixeduse corridor designation is

[6:58] designed to provide for commercial retail office and higher density housing

[7:04] adjacent to principal transportation corridors throughout the city. These

[7:08] areas are intended to promote the development of mixed uses that will

[7:13] enhance access to a wider range of services for nearby neighborhoods.

[7:17] Appropriate uses include office, retail, multifamily, and light industrial. You

[7:22] can see here on the map properties highlighted in blue. The crosshatch

[7:27] denotes the mixeduse corridor of Dorchester Road uh as well as the

[7:33] traditional neighborhood development uh in the the light green

[7:43] subject parcels are currently undeveloped lots. You can see the photos

[7:49] here. Public notice sign that was posted on

[7:53] the properties.

[7:58] The subject properties are surrounded by single family residential and general

[8:03] commercial uses. The area is developed with a mix of residential uses including

[8:07] single and manufactured houses. Uh while there is B2 zoning to the north of the

[8:12] subject property, a reszoning would introduce commercial traffic along the

[8:16] residential street of Forceman Street.

[8:22] Staff's recommendation is contingent approval.

[8:25] Given the subject property's location along a major transportation corridor,

[8:30] the support from the comprehensive plan staff recommends approval of the

[8:35] resoning from O neighborhood office to B2 general business. contingent upon a

[8:40] combination plat of the two subject properties.

[8:48] You've heard the staff report. Are there any questions for staff commissioners?

[9:00] » I do have a question. You said contingent approval. Would you

[9:03] elaborate? So uh the contingency would be that they need to submit a

[9:11] combination plat that would combine the two parcels into a single parcel for

[9:16] development and the the reszoning would not go into effect until that is done.

[9:27] » But we don't need that to be done in order to consider the approval.

[9:31] » That's correct. Planning Commission has the authority to

[9:35] recommend contingent approvals.

[9:40] » Okay. Are there any other questions for staff?

[9:48] [snorts]

[9:55] This is an advertised public hearing and we have several people who have

[10:03] signed up to speak. If you did not sign up, you are

[10:09] still welcome to come and sign the form and speak to this resoning request.

[10:19] Each person who speaks has three minutes.

[10:24] Three minutes. And actually that's a pretty long time when you consider

[10:28] [laughter] you don't have to take all of the three minutes. Trust me. Uh we have

[10:34] signed in and I cannot read your writing. The first person who signed in

[10:40] Duke Street was >> Dan Sharer.

[10:43] » Dan Sharer. >> You may come for Oh, I'm sorry.

[10:47] I'm sorry. I didn't You are also the applicant, are you not?

[10:51] » Yeah, I'm the architect and the applicant's here.

[10:54] » Well, let's hear from the applicant first.

[10:55] » Okay. >> Please pardon me. I I jumped the gun.

[10:58] » Oh, hi y'all. >> Applicant first.

[11:00] » My name is Kurt Weinberger and uh I'm the applicant. Thank y'all for u

[11:04] [clears throat] taking your time to review the application.

[11:08] Um, I've owned a business in Charleston going on 32 years and I've heard some

[11:14] talks of retirement up there and let y'all know I don't plan on retiring

[11:18] anytime soon. I'm live and active in what I do. Um, I currently own the King

[11:24] Bean Coffee business that is right two lots over from this property

[11:30] and uh, we've been there now for about uh, 15 years.

[11:35] We roast coffee and we have a small retail uh roast store where people come

[11:41] into the business and uh buy coffee. So [clears throat]

[11:47] we've been hearing that um from the community that it would sure

[11:54] be great to be able to have a better way to buy brewed coffee

[11:58] by the cup more coffee shopesque instead of just by being coffee. And so we're

[12:05] listening to the community and this is what brought about the idea uh to want

[12:10] to do our uh business concept on the subject property. And so we're all about

[12:14] community first and um you know I'm not going anywhere. I'm

[12:22] committed to what I do. We're a local business and we just want to, you know,

[12:27] do what we can to um just to maintain what we've been doing and

[12:34] support the community. I hired a local artist uh to do a mural on front of that

[12:39] building about six years ago. And it's really funny because that the colors of

[12:44] that mural, I don't know if y'all have seen it if you've driven by it, but

[12:48] that's actually our whole brand colors now in all of our packaging and bags.

[12:52] and we hope to have that carry that theme over to the new property. So, I'm

[12:57] real excited about it and I'm here to answer any questions that you all might

[13:01] have. >> Okay. Do any of the commissioners have

[13:05] questions for the applicant?

[13:09] » I do have a question. Is there any objection to staff's recommendation

[13:11] about the combination of the two plots? >> I'm sorry, I didn't hear.

[13:15] » Sorry. Is there any objection to staff's recommendation for the combination of

[13:18] the two plots? >> Oh, the two properties that make this

[13:20] up? No, not at all. In fact, you you need to do it to be able to have enough

[13:24] space. So, that was what I fully intended.

[13:30] » Any other questions for the applicant from commissioners?

[13:36] » Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Once again,

[13:40] this is an advertised public hearing and we have those who have signed up.

[13:48] Three minutes each and I go back to

[13:54] um yeah, I'm the architect on the project, Dan Sharer. And while we

[13:58] haven't gotten real, really real deep into design, one thing I did want to

[14:02] point out from the statement that the staff had was that we will not be using

[14:05] the side road. We will only be accessing on the onto Dorchester Road. So, our

[14:10] plan was not to use that. Such a small road. We don't we weren't planning on

[14:14] using the side road. >> Now, you're talking about the Forceman

[14:18] side. >> Yeah, Forceman side. Yes. That's

[14:20] » We will not That will be blocked off. >> Yeah. Well, our entrance our entrance

[14:25] and exit to the site will be from Dorchester Road. There won't be a way to

[14:28] drive. There'll be landscaping and >> no way to drive

[14:31] » right >> to Force.

[14:33] All right. That helps. And so that's really other than that it's, you know,

[14:37] we're still very preliminary. We just want to make sure everybody's aware of

[14:40] that.

[14:43] » Thank you. >> Again, this is a public hearing.

[14:49] Uh, and you all right so fast. [clears throat]

[14:53] [laughter] Uh, uh, Mr. Forom.

[14:58] » Yes. [clears throat] My name is Fred Foron and uh I've been

[15:04] both a resident of the community for more than 50 years and I currently own

[15:10] property in the neighborhood. My family has property in

[15:17] um we own the property that is currently

[15:22] next to the subject property. He also own property that is directly behind

[15:30] this gentleman's business currently. [clears throat]

[15:34] In the past throughout the years, we've had an issue with drainage from that

[15:40] property onto uh our property. It it hasn't it had

[15:45] been corrected during that time. I'm not here to throw stones, but these are

[15:49] issues that were of concern to us as land owners. Uh we are opposed to

[15:57] anything that would bring business in the community that does not support the

[16:03] community. It's been a longstanding community. There are people there that

[16:08] are generational there and continue to live and do business. We are in that

[16:15] community. We are in need of community support type businesses. I'm not aware

[16:22] as of this date the n actual numbers of people that

[16:29] support this business or that this business supports in the community and

[16:34] that is of concern. We are all experiencing

[16:40] um cases of revitalization as well as gentrification

[16:45] and we really need to look at what we can do to preserve these communities in

[16:51] our neighborhoods. >> Thank you.

[16:57] » Uh Vivian Pedigrew. >> Yes, ma'am. Good afternoon

[17:02] and thank everybody for allowing me to speak

[17:07] in Pedigrew. I was born and read on Mario Hill.

[17:11] Um I went away and went to college and came back. I have not built a home on

[17:18] the property that my father encouraged me to buy. Um, I am also the community

[17:29] vice president for our community. Our president died a few months ago.

[17:36] As a community person, we have put on several activities in our community that

[17:43] [snorts] we have solicited the businesses

[17:47] in the community to help with. We did a big um kids fair with a health fair

[17:56] and we could not get one business in our community to contribute $1

[18:06] any activity that we have. We have community meetings the second Tuesday of

[18:13] um every month. We have not been able to get any business in our community other

[18:20] than a jump young man on Bonds Avenue to come to the community meeting. I'm not

[18:26] here to throw stones at everybody and I don't know if these gentlemen were ever

[18:30] told, but we at this point um I live on Barnes Avenue and this

[18:38] morning I stopped a large truck that is not supposed to come down Barns Avenue

[18:44] that came down and the gentleman was really rude and I told the business

[18:51] owner about this for so I I can't say what anybody else is going to do, but

[18:58] for the Mari Hill community, we do not want to see any more businesses on that

[19:04] area. We have small kids coming and going to school.

[19:09] None of these businesses know anything about that. And I thank you very much

[19:14] for allowing us to speak. I have our business uh community treasurer and our

[19:23] community um secretary here with me. So again, we

[19:28] thank you and we're not opposed to growth, but businesses at this point in

[19:34] time, this community is very old. There's a lot of old people and some

[19:40] little children running around and it would not be for Thank you.

[19:49] Uh Shondaanda

[19:52] Shepard Bernell. >> Good afternoon. My name is Shondaanda

[19:56] Shepard Bernell. I am like she said the secretary of the Mari

[20:01] Hill Civic Association. I am also a resident of Forceman Street. I've been

[20:06] on Forceman Street since I've been a baby and I haven't moved. My mother

[20:10] still resides. She's 95 years old. [snorts] We own she owns property not

[20:15] only on Forceman Street but she owns property on Bonds Avenue. Um our family

[20:20] owns property on Henry Street. Mr. Wineberger says that he spoke with the

[20:25] community. I have not heard of anybody being addressed especially at our

[20:30] community meetings about wanting another brewery

[20:36] or King be another brewery or a place for coffee. If you drive down Dorchester

[20:41] Road, all you really see and our communities are flags for tobacco, beer,

[20:48] fab, and like Mr. Forom said, I think we need communities who are going to

[20:53] support our communities or and that are or our communities. If you look at our

[20:57] community, we have one grocery store in our community in a onem radius. We have

[21:04] no fresh foods, no fresh vegetables, no place for us to walk around just to have

[21:09] sit have like restaurants that are accessible to our elderly. And right now

[21:15] we do not even have a community center. So using this property for another

[21:21] business instead of putting into our community center or a park for our

[21:26] children, we don't even have that in Maro. So, you know, I'm not throwing any

[21:32] stones, Mr. Weinberger. And, you know, I've never been at King Bean. I've never

[21:36] been invited, but I know that we tried to solicit some businesses and like Miss

[21:41] Pettigru said, no businesses support our community. None of them come to our

[21:45] meetings. They aren't here for our community. And this is our community.

[21:49] And at some point, we need to stand up for our community. And I think that is

[21:53] what we're doing tonight. Thank you. [clears throat]

[21:59] Miss Mary Patterson. >> Yes.

[22:07] » Tell me.

[22:13] My name is Mary Patterson and this is part of my community because

[22:19] I was living in this community for 85 years

[22:25] and we haven't had you know vendors like that and we was out like you said trying

[22:32] to solicit vendors that help us with different things in the cage but nobody

[22:40] helped. So we need really a playground for our

[22:46] children because that's what we bring to the other meeting that we have. So

[22:52] that's the most important thing I have to say. So I'm against anything like

[22:57] that. I thank you. There are no other signins,

[23:05] but if there is someone who wishes to speak during this public hearing,

[23:14] the hearing is still open. Is there anyone who wishes to speak?

[23:25] If I may add something, you know, I would like to while this

[23:32] gentleman [clears throat] is here as a part of the community, I would like to

[23:35] extend the invitation to you to attend the meetings, maybe see what we need,

[23:42] see how your business can somehow cooperate with the neighborhood to be of

[23:48] some use to the neighborhood as well as be a business venture for yourself. I

[23:54] know you're in business for profit. We all are. But we are definitely concerned

[24:01] with preserving not only our community, but businesses and services that can

[24:06] support the longl lasting life of our community. As you can see here, we have

[24:13] people that invested in this community lifetimes,

[24:18] and we're not going anywhere. those of us who were rooted in the

[24:22] community from our parents on and I'm

[24:27] » sorry sir I don't want to step interrupt you but I think you all can discuss this

[24:31] after we've got to get through the agenda here and you just got a strict

[24:36] schedule and we got to follow but you guys are happy to discuss it after it's

[24:41] okay >> okay is there anyone else who wishes to

[24:45] speak and and as he said all comments need to be addressed address to the

[24:51] commissioners. Is there anyone else

[25:02] hearing? None. This public hearing is now closed.

[25:14] Is there a motion?

[25:18] » Recommended intent to approve. >> Is there a second?

[25:22] » Second that motion. >> It's been moved and seconded that we

[25:26] deny the request for contingent approval.

[25:34] Discussion

[25:40] » is there discussion? as stated earlier. I I believe uh

[25:45] [music] because someone in the community, they need to get together

[25:48] again and try to uh get this thing here and kind of hash out sometime

[25:54] for [clears throat] it to move smoothly. >> Any further discussion?

[25:57] » I'll say just based on the zoning, the reasonzoning does make sense to reszone

[26:01] with for with the uh two. The issue with the community I do agree [clears throat]

[26:06] with, but taking the project out of the equation, just strictly focusing only on

[26:11] the resoning metrics, it does align with the uh with the general plan, it does

[26:16] align with the current area. Um, but I do agree that the business

[26:21] owners should communicate with the community. But again, taking that just

[26:25] strictly out of the equation, it does match with current zoning

[26:30] » to be open. Uh, I am a member of this community. I

[26:37] grew up in a little circle adjacent to Murray Hill called Jenkins Terrace and I

[26:47] have returned there and have been living there with my 97 year old mother for the

[26:55] last 20 years. Um, so I am familiar. I probably pass by your current

[27:04] business every day that I go out. >> Should come in. Y'all should come in and

[27:09] check it out. I think that part of y'all just walking in the door.

[27:12] » Sir, let me >> I mean, let me make a big difference.

[27:15] » Sir, I'm speaking now. >> Um,

[27:19] I agree that there needs to be more

[27:25] interaction with the community. I also recognize your point about the

[27:35] resoning. My my concern about the reasonzoning as I went through this and

[27:41] visited the area is that the

[27:48] forceman street side I I do I am concerned

[27:54] uh and I did hear you say that there will be no access to

[28:02] four street but I also So am familiar with the

[28:09] I have been stopped several times trying to get to Dorchester Road because of

[28:16] delivery trucks that cover Bonds Avenue that I can't pass at

[28:23] that time. So that is a concern of mine especially as it relates to forcemen

[28:29] because that is a a closeknit residential

[28:34] area and there's not a lot of access from

[28:41] George etc. So that was a concern of mine and that's why I asked the question

[28:47] uh to reinforce whether or not forcement would be um affected negatively.

[28:57] Um so that's my two cents.

[29:02] Other discussions? Uh, Madam Chair, I I I do understand uh the

[29:11] um the idea the feelings of of the uh people who live in that area and the

[29:17] impact to their quality of life. It does not however sound like they are against

[29:22] a business being there or the that they are opposed to the B2 zoning. They are

[29:28] opposed to the type of business that goes in is what it sounds like. It's not

[29:34] that it it did not sound like from the

[29:38] statements that were made that they're opposed to a business. They would like

[29:41] it to be a business that is that serves the community. Um, and I know that as

[29:49] commissioners, we don't typically take into account what will be there. or we

[29:55] just is it the appropriate zoning um that's being asked for and does it

[30:01] fit with the area and it it sounds like

[30:07] there's no opposition to a business being there

[30:11] but the type of business is is the issue and that's not something

[30:16] that we typically rule on

[30:22] » heard different people say I heard some people

[30:27] say that they weren't opposed to the business, but I did hear somebody else

[30:33] say that they did not want any business. >> So, no,

[30:37] » I did hear that. I I may be mistaken, but I did hear that toward the end of

[30:42] the discussions. Additional discussion.

[30:53] Is there any further discussion?

[30:59] The motion on the floor is to

[31:09] deny the recommendation uh staff's recommendation to approve reszoning from

[31:16] O to B2. >> Okay. So the motion,

[31:23] if you are in favor of the motion, vote I. If not, vote nay.

[31:30] All those in favor

[31:38] » Mr. Felony. >> Mr. Crawford.

[31:42] » Hi. >> Uh, Mr. Mazique.

[31:45] » Hi. [clears throat] >> Uh, Mr. Monteth,

[31:48] » I sorry, nay.

[31:52] Miss Reed >> I

[31:55] » and Mr. Char. >> Hi.

[31:59] » All right. The motion to deny carries 42.

[32:07] And this item will be forwarded to the mayor and

[32:12] council with the next opportunity for public input at the public safety

[32:17] committee of city council on April 16th. >> All right. Thank you. That is

[32:24] the only public hearing that we have scheduled. Uh please note the actions

[32:32] taken by commissioners. Please note the actions taken by city council at their

[32:38] February meetings regarding our recommendations.

[32:42] Uh do any of the commissioners have comments before we get ready to adjourn?

[32:48] » Staff has comments. >> I'm sorry. has comments.

[32:51] » Oh, okay. >> Hearing none from the commissioners,

[32:56] staff has comments. >> Uh, you know, as I said last month, we

[33:02] are kicking off the unified development ordinance uh which is the rewrite of the

[33:08] zoning ordinance uh for the city. In February, we had the kickoff workshop

[33:14] with the project team to review the project goals and vision. Uh we toured

[33:19] the city. Uh we went, you know, all the way up to the north end, all the way

[33:23] down to the bottom of the south end and east and west, all over to really lay

[33:28] eyes on the city, uh see what's going on in in the neighborhoods. Uh we began

[33:34] discussions about land use and other issues needing attention during the the

[33:38] drafting of document. Uh we will in March continue to meet with our

[33:44] consultant team uh to discuss those land use issues uh as well as uh develop an

[33:51] outreach uh program to start uh the process of meeting with the community to

[33:58] get that information uh that we need to be able to rewrite this zoning ordinance

[34:02] and make it fit the city properly. And uh while the date of the public

[34:08] kickoff is not yet fully set in stone, uh it will be scheduled within the next

[34:15] month or two and the date will be provided as soon as uh we have that

[34:20] mailed out. >> Any questions, commissioners?

[34:27] » Okay. Uh if there is no other business to come

[34:32] before this body, this meeting stands adjourned.

2026-03-09 North Charleston Planning Commission

Transcript