[0:00] call the bza meeting to order take a moment look at the march minutes

[0:06] if you would

[0:28] sorry

[0:35] if there are no additions or corrections the minutes will stay in this present

[0:43] item four is a letter of request for special exception

[0:47] for the firehouse um yeah so the uh the mayor pointed out

[0:55] that uh we needed to uh have the

[1:00] the site plan for the firehouse uh approved by the planning commission uh

[1:05] but uh stacy pointed out that um house is not allowed on our in our

[1:12] table of usage except by special exception so

[1:17] we asked the mayor to sign these this letter of request

[1:21] uh for the special exception for us to actually uh

[1:24] build our long-awaited firehouse down there on the property that we purchased

[1:28] for it which is officially 400 north e street

[1:32] we got that from 911. so the property is located right there on old jackson road

[1:41] and north east street and midlands on the other side at frontside three

[1:46] streets anyway we're requesting that

[1:52] the bza approve us approve the for the town to build the firehouse on

[1:58] this property uh by special exception

[2:04] that's pretty straightforward would someone like to uh

[2:07] make a motion

[2:10] i'll move the acceptance one second okay okay

[2:18] motion in a second and another person present um

[2:22] could we have a roll call on this please yeah

[2:25] let me just check and make sure richard you're not here

[2:29] is richard here i'm here okay i'm here i saw a telephone number

[2:37] there i'm not quite sure your phone number yet anyway uh looks

[2:41] like there are a couple of phone numbers on there somebody i might not recognize

[2:46] someone else present that i don't know yes for the next meeting sorry yeah yes

[2:56] okay roll call vote thank you uh tim hi judy

[3:07] george hi matt hi richard

[3:15] hi betsy hi mayor

[3:24] did we lose the mayor he did he's on silence well he's on the board

[3:41] okay

[3:45] it's so confusing yeah i just sorry about that

[3:50] all right guys have it guys have it okay well if there's no other business

[3:55] for the bza then i'd like to adjourn that meeting

[3:59] and open the planning commission meeting

[4:02] where ronnie and judy are members right

[4:10] take a minute to look at the minutes

[4:27] i see emotion was mad

[4:32] i actually changed that uh on my okay sorry already i noticed that too

[4:49] if everybody's had enough time to review the

[4:52] minutes and and they have no additions or corrections the minutes will stand as

[4:58] presented we'll go on to item

[5:04] for an update on the rezoning ordinances so uh so after uh actually stacy

[5:11] thoroughly reviewed the uh the uh the site plan

[5:15] uh for the minor subdivision and uh noted that uh the properties

[5:21] uh we were supposed to rezone those two properties as low density residential

[5:26] however she noted that uh the properties are two to three feet

[5:30] short of being allowed to build a house uh

[5:33] as a in a low density residential area it's not quite wide enough they're like

[5:37] two or three short feet short from being 100 feet wide

[5:40] where the house would sit so what we did was he had the board

[5:45] amend that zoning ordinance to to high density residential

[5:49] instead of low density residential so even though it it's virtually

[5:54] uh a lock that it could have fit into low density but we didn't get to the

[5:58] other side and and not be able to build the houses

[6:01] that uh mr wright wants to build on those lots because we're in

[6:07] we've re-zoned in the wrong zone so i just wanted to let you know that's

[6:11] what happened with it uh so if you see it was zoned to high density residential

[6:15] it was changed by the board of mayor alderman

[6:17] uh the staff all right in reviewing the preliminary

[6:23] plant and this is a preliminary plant we uh

[6:28] again stacy and and i re we uh thoroughly went over

[6:31] this preliminary flat and i'm gonna see if i can zone in a little bit whoops

[6:34] sorry zoom in a little bit sorry

[6:41] we made sure that uh everything that is supposed to be on this

[6:45] flat is on the plat including the hdr the high density residential uh also

[6:52] everywhere that that's mentioned it also mentions high density residential we

[6:56] fixed a few other little odds and ends like cities summerville

[6:59] town of summerville type things and uh and kind of got it all ready to go i

[7:06] don't think there's any problems with it anymore uh one of the things that we

[7:09] added also you see on each property now says hdr on

[7:13] each property not ldr uh and also has the

[7:18] uh the owners of the adjacent lots called

[7:21] out um that were not on there originally so

[7:24] uh do you have anything to add to that stace

[7:32] no i think uh we pretty much

[7:37] went over with a fine-tooth comb i think we i think we got it together

[7:42] yeah so uh what we're what we're hoping to do is get uh

[7:45] a preliminary approval on this um a minor subdivision uh for mr wright so

[7:51] that he can go ahead and print it up get it ready for the

[7:56] uh board me at the planning commission meeting the special call planning

[8:00] commission meeting on the 11th of may uh the rezoning process if it goes

[8:05] through will be complete on the 10th so um then it would be we could have a

[8:11] meeting on the 11th which is the tuesday of may

[8:13] and and finalize the minor subdivision for mr wright so he can go ahead and

[8:18] uh stub out the utilities and pave the road which is what his

[8:23] ultimate goal is here so um of course sell the lots too i'm sure

[8:30] i'm sure he'll find someone interested in them they're lots are going

[8:33] like hotcakes around here so uh

[8:38] are there any i will note bob that i've had several phone calls

[8:41] really uh the most people are very happy that that's going to be

[8:47] uh residential and not commercial one

[8:51] person was not right one person was not

[8:56] otherwise every other phone call i got was but they were happy

[8:59] yes

[9:03] and again this public hearing uh that's on the 10th will be in person

[9:07] that's the monday the 10th at the ut martin center

[9:11] and then um the planning commission meeting will be in person on the 11th so

[9:17] um just wanted to bring that up again remind everybody we're going back to

[9:21] real meetings again in in-person meetings are there any any did anybody

[9:27] notice anything on here uh on the on the final plat for this

[9:32] subdivision this preliminary plan

[9:38] we also called out all the covenants that are all currently listed to make

[9:42] sure that the these lot these lots conform to the

[9:44] current covenants in subdivision so that was another thing we added that

[9:50] wasn't on that flat originally any questions

[10:10] it makes it harder to see but you can see the whole thing right now

[10:15] sorry i'm playing around with it

[10:20] there you go that's a little better so i have a question what did we approve

[10:26] last last meeting uh we didn't approve this

[10:29] we held off on this because we wanted to wait till the

[10:33] uh the plaque sorry go ahead i mean i mean in terms of zoning we approved

[10:39] the low density residential uh our board our planning commission to

[10:44] prove the low density but the board of marion alderman had to

[10:48] change it to high density to make sure that we could 100 houses on

[10:53] the lot yeah i understand all that i'm just wondering about the legalities

[10:57] of you know we approve one thing

[11:02] and then send it to the board and the board changes it is that

[11:05] is that kosher effect that's why the board reviews it they do

[11:10] additional work on it you can change an ordinance uh between readings

[11:14] if you wanted to if the board wanted to they could make a motion to change it

[11:17] which they did make them change it before the first reading and then

[11:21] read it actually it was all one motion to change it to hdr yeah they can do

[11:26] that we do that all the time we're going to do that with the budget

[11:29] uh you know because there'll be a there'll be amendments to the budget

[11:32] between the first and second reading and the board will review the new

[11:36] amendments uh before they approve the budget also so

[11:39] yeah sounds like that issue i mean we don't we don't deal with the budget but

[11:44] what i was getting at was what if what if the and i'm not saying

[11:48] this would ever happen but you could apply it to a different

[11:52] situation where it could happen what if he came to us and said i want to

[11:55] make this uh high de high density residential and we

[12:01] say well we'll we're willing to recommend it

[12:04] to the board as low density residential but we don't think it should be high

[12:07] density residential i think the board is very

[12:10] impossible i think the board of mayor and alderman still has the final

[12:14] say and all that that's why it goes to this yeah because what we're doing

[12:17] george is we're making a recommendation we're not making a decision

[12:26] was ill-formed but yeah if the board if the board of mayor

[12:34] and alderman do not accept the recommendation of the

[12:37] planning commission they have to approve whatever they

[12:42] decide to do by a majority of the full board

[12:46] so it would take four well actually it would take take

[12:53] four votes on the board to change anything the planning

[12:57] commission recommends

[13:02] could i say something this is don you know

[13:06] on the original i'm sitting here looking at the plans here

[13:10] on the original it says the minimum lot size is 15 000 square feet

[13:17] and all of these is a lot larger than that

[13:20] i mean it's not downsizing anything the original subdivision

[13:26] on the plant that was approved says fifteen thousand

[13:30] square feet but it's already

[13:46] yeah so you're saying that a high density residential

[13:50] i mean a low distance from residential has to have a minimum width

[13:54] at the street at the la at the where the house

[13:58] yeah right now i actually think these lights meet that

[14:04] requirement too bob the the locks that's on the front of

[14:08] the street there's a lot of lots in the subdivisions that that is

[14:12] narrower than these four lot than these lots

[14:17] i made sure of that yes sir but that that was

[14:21] done as a play in unit development where these are not included in that unit plan

[14:25] unit development which might i don't think they are

[14:28] anyway well we had to add the number one

[14:33] uh we couldn't number one two three four we had the number on uh following what

[14:38] was in the rest of the subdivision yeah the the the

[14:42] previous subdivision was not a pud and and i think what that happened was

[14:47] that those uh bulk regs predated our current

[14:51] bulk regulations which is when that all the

[14:54] zoning change in 17. yeah right and

[15:01] as far as i can see about 69 i can't 68 and 69

[15:08] are those the closest one the ones that are you scrolling a little bit

[15:15] 73.9 feet

[15:20] now they're they're all well over 100 feet

[15:23] wide it's with from inside the setbacks is what we determined isn't that correct

[15:29] jim that's not i don't i don't think that's

[15:32] right bob i think these lots meet the minimum requirements of a low

[15:36] density okay because i think the uh

[15:41] yes you have to be a hundred feet wide at the setback

[15:45] at the building line but you don't count the thirty feet against

[15:50] it it's a hundred feet and then you could be 30 feet

[15:55] of setbacks so stacy can i have my dollar back then

[16:01] i think the way you no sir because we spoke to

[16:05] we spoke to mr and those

[16:10] the set the building area is within the setback line

[16:18] not where the setbacks are but normally you require a lot to be a

[16:24] hundred feet wide but you don't but you're the way you're interpreting

[16:27] it it means a lot has to be 130 feet wide

[16:32] that's not the way i normally read these interpreters yeah that's not

[16:37] that's not how the bulk rank is read is it no it should be the uh the

[16:42] width of the lobby well whenever we spoke to

[16:46] yeah can we jim answer for us because we spoke to jim about this directly so jim

[16:51] yeah i might have understood your question yes it's the width of the lot

[16:54] measured at the front building setback line but all the way across from

[16:58] property line to property line but not at the front property line it's

[17:02] measured at the building setback line but it does it does go all the way

[17:06] from from side to side side line the side lock side lock line

[17:10] you can have a 100 foot lot and then you have a 15 foot setback on each side

[17:17] right correct correct you don't have to have a hundred and thirty foot wide lot

[17:23] that's correct so you're measuring from the bolded lines and not the dotted

[17:27] lines right down for me yes yeah

[17:32] the distinction is the point of the lot that's measured um

[17:35] because some people look at the at the very front property line where it meets

[17:38] the right of way but that's not correct you measure it

[17:41] from side to side uh back at the building setback line

[17:45] but but again all the way from side to side

[17:48] yeah the perfect example would be lot 36 right below lot 68 where you would

[17:55] where you see at the street it's very very short comparatively speaking but by

[17:59] the time you get back 30 feet deep on the lot it's gotten

[18:02] wider that's where you measure with the lot but i would point out that

[18:08] none of this really matters because he's still keeping the 15 foot

[18:12] building setbacks and high density residential

[18:15] allows for 10 foot side yards and if you're going to keep the 15 foot

[18:20] building setbacks it really doesn't matter whether it's

[18:24] a high density or low density still got the same

[18:28] building setbacks on the side yard right [Music]

[18:33] so are you arguing that we should go forward since we've now

[18:36] changed this this preliminary plant to reflect that it's a high density when it

[18:41] could qualify for a low density but stick with the

[18:44] high density just to get it through there's no downside to that

[18:49] so currently it's listed as high density on the rezoning

[18:54] high density on the on the uh subdivision preliminary plat here

[19:00] so they're meant they match so we want to sorry let's not change

[19:06] anything let's just go we can go back if you want

[19:13] we can well that would be up to to the owner

[19:17] what which he wants not what we want and i don't know if there's any upside

[19:22] or downside to going back other than it slows down the process

[19:26] maybe or does it even you've got to redo the

[19:29] documents that's pretty much it

[19:36] the the the four locks is going to match the rest of the subdivision

[19:41] you know the builders that's looking to buy is bill and how

[19:44] has built the house is in there uh they're not building smaller

[19:49] they're you know they're know the the price has done got

[19:53] 400 000 and more in the subdivision they're not going to be

[19:57] building a small house on the front okay so you don't want to you you'll you're

[20:03] comfortable keeping it as it is on as presented

[20:07] tonight as a high density even though it would qualify for the low density

[20:13] yes okay all right does anybody ever have any other discussion about this

[20:18] just just to clarify there's no action being taken tonight

[20:21] correct this is more of an update on yeah in progress the only action is that

[20:26] we want to make sure that the planning commission

[20:29] is comfortable with this preliminary plat

[20:31] so that mr wright can print those this week

[20:35] get the required signatures so that when uh in the inevitable uh approval of this

[20:41] final plaque uh he can go ahead and get him

[20:44] registered that week of the 10th 11th after the meeting so so he can get going

[20:50] on his uh getting his uh utilities put in and

[20:54] get and get them paving the road and selling the lots and everything else

[21:01] okay well i'll start obviously i i intend to

[21:05] vote for variable

[21:08] well but but jim is saying we don't need to vote for approval

[21:14] that we just need to i'm saying

[21:20] okay bob what did you say we can consider their approval the

[21:25] preliminary plat that way we know it's for sure ready to go

[21:29] okay someone want to make a motion to to approve this modified preliminary

[21:37] plant it's all moved okay do we have a second

[21:42] okay okay who was the second was that you mayor

[21:45] george yes george either one both ty okay could we have a roll call

[21:52] vote on this yep matt hi

[21:58] richard hi uh betsy hi george

[22:05] hi tim hi mayor hi and

[22:13] judy sorry that's okay ah i crossed you out on the other one

[22:21] i got a question have this hearing been uh advertised in the paper about this or

[22:25] just a residential note no it's been uh advertised there is a

[22:29] there are signs on the two lots uh we've had telephone calls about that

[22:35] people are somebody wondering if a petition was needed he wanted to sign it

[22:41] [Laughter] people want this to happen there was one

[22:46] man who i guess wanted a gas station built up there or something i don't

[22:49] really know but um anyway uh so that was it uh you

[22:55] know if a state general business you know potentially a gas station could

[22:58] have been built up there i would imagine but

[23:01] um anyway i think uh a lot of people are for this uh but the

[23:06] signs have been up there and it has been advertised in the paper

[23:11] okay all right let's move on to the review of the

[23:14] fire station side plan well we didn't get it

[23:17] so okay that'll be on next month's agenda

[23:21] all right we were trying to they you know it's surprising that they can't uh

[23:26] uh well with all that stuff they've been working on for the firehouse that they

[23:30] can't create a site plan in seconds but um

[23:34] they don't have one so i don't know what we're gonna have to do we're gonna have

[23:37] to go through a process with them to get a site plan from them

[23:41] um i have pieces of a site plan but i don't have a site plan i have all the

[23:44] little pieces separate but i need one i need it on one

[23:47] piece of paper so i'll work on that with them and then

[23:51] maybe we'll have it by the 10th or the 11th i mean

[23:54] okay hopefully we'll have it by then

[23:59] all right so then we can move to any other

[24:03] business we may have another minor subdivision coming up on the

[24:07] on the 11th also what's that uh mr mcadoo is working on a subdividing

[24:13] a property so when i we get the final version of

[24:16] that together we'll uh i'll bring that to the planning

[24:19] commission on the 11th or or the following meeting depending on

[24:23] how fast you can get it together

[24:27] okay is that the property that we looked at several months ago

[24:34] no it's a different property okay [Music]

[24:40] all right any other business

[24:45] so the next meeting will be live live and in person well that's good

[24:52] i like those better all right uh well if no one has any other business to

[24:58] present i'd like to adjourn this meeting thank you everybody thank you thank you

Planning Commission Meeting 4/27/2021

Transcript