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MINUTES
ZONING WORKSHOP

COTTAGEVILLE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2009
7:00 P.M.

Mayor White called the meeting to order, and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Members present were Mayor White, Council Member Thomas and Council Member Strickland.

The following takes place in open session.
ATTESTATION

Page        Line        Change/Correction        Reason

Minutes approved: ______________

_________________________
Terri Crosby, Town Clerk

MAYOR WHITE:     One thing, I will go ahead and introduce the chairman of the planning commission.  She would like to make one statement.  To council and to myself.  I guess and to everyone here.
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     Yeah, everybody; it’s not a secret.
This would be our normal meeting night because that’s what we agreed upon in January when this planning commission was formed and we just wanted to let you, the council know and the community that if there’s any questions whatsoever about this document that was presented to us by Lowcountry Council of Governments, we did not bring this out of the clouds somewhere.  It was prepared for us by LCOG.  We all have been to workshops to understand it and any time we’ve had a question it’s been written down, I have called our representative at LCOG and spoken with her and she’s explained things or she’s changed things or what have you.
We changed some things that we knew about.  I’ll give you two for instances.  One was that Mr. Eustler was so upset about the Avon lady not being able to store her supplies in the hall closet so we changed the wording so that you can store your Avon supplies in the hall closet or any closet in the house.
Or anywhere on the grounds.
That was one thing and the other thing that we changed that we knew about, because somebody told us, was — The other thing was, it was about some people raising trees on land that we — that has been proposed, not by us but by LCOG, to become industrial and they left off silvaculture.
Now, number 1, first thing we had to do was bring the dictionary to make sure we understood what silvaculture is.  We went over that.
MAYOR WHITE:     Raising trees.
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     It’s raising trees.
Yeah, exactly, that’s my whole point, Miss Thomas.  We have gone over all this stuff so that we understand it and can explain it in the kind of language that we all understand.
So any time you all have any questions about anything any member of the planning commission is very, very cognizant of everything that has taken place and we would be happy to answer your questions.
We added silvaculture because it didn’t make sense to tell people they could cut their trees down but then they couldn’t replant.
It was always our understanding that commercial on Pierce Road was the Methodist Church and parsonage, nothing else, nobody else’s house, just those two entities.
I see no reason and I don’t think it occurred to anybody, including Miss Crosby, when we were going over these things that we probably should’ve put a little bit of a commercial dent in to Sally Ackerman.  Should have.  Didn’t do it.
There’s another place on Carter Lane (phon.).  That should be commercial because that’s where Steven’s (phon.) Auction is.
We don’t want to do anything to discourage anyone who’s already here and already working at anything.
The other main thing that we did was we looked very closely at yard sales because the economy’s bad and there’re lots of yard sales going on.
I’m sorry but if you bring goods to sell in front of the BP station or my front yard or your front yard and you do this every Saturday and Sunday, that’s not a yard sale; that is a weekend business.  The town needs the revenue.  That’s all we want.  That’s all we want.
We have said three yard sales a year, then you’ve got to have a license and you’ve got to pay; you’ve got to contribute to the town.  I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Those are three of the things that I’ve heard about recently and I just wanted to share those things with you but any time you have any questions about anything, please feel free; we will be happy.
Two of us are here.  I don’t know where Miss Crosby.  Is she ill or something? She said she was coming.
MAYOR WHITE:     I don’t know.  She has a — She had a reaction to a shot that she was given.  She went to the doctor today.  I don’t believe that she’s gonna be here.
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     Okay.
And Miss Womble (phon.) is out of town, I believe.  She told me she thought she would be back but please call and remind her and there was no answer.
But Miss Hardwick and I are very cognizant of what these things say and we’ll be happy to answer any questions that you all have for us.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.  Thank you.
Has council had a chance to review the zoning ordinance?
I’d better go ahead and do a roll call first.  So we have it.
Roll call.  Peggy Thomas.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Present.
MAYOR WHITE:     Rick Eustler is absent, on vacation.  Charlie Cook is not here; he’s absent.
And Carlie STrickland.
COUNCIL MEMBER STRICKLAND:     Present.
MAYOR WHITE:     And George White.
There’s certain things that when I went through this that I want to go ahead and add.  And I’ll just start right from the beginning and as we get to each area, if y’all want to go ahead and add or delete, we’ll go through, through those.
The first thing, and this is just under — This is just a general one, that any changes to the — to the zoning ordinance once it is adopted must be done by ordinance, I want to have that included in there somewheres, and that the ordinance is — that the ordinance that actually affected that document, similar to our existing document but if there’s an ordinance that affects it that it actually is included in this document as to cite that it affects it.  So what I’m saying is if we go ahead — After this thing is adopted, if we change, let’s say a fee or whatever, that ordinance that affects it, once it’s approved by two readings and a vote, we’ll go ahead and we’ll put in into the document so we know who approved it, why it was changed and it will actually be part of the document.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     So what you’re actually saying, any changes will be documented in the ordinance where we’ll know who did it and when it was done, not just fly-by-night and don’t know what’s going on.
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, that’s what makes this document so — you know, such a problem with this document, because it has changes in there and that we don’t know who made them.  And so we have a document that basically has — You don’t know whether the document is — whether the change was correct or whether it was just somebody that came in one day —
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Now, where, where would we put that, now?
MAYOR WHITE:     We’ll need to have a table of contents.
Well, we do have a table of contents.
A list of — What I’d like to do is have a list of affected pages so we’ll know that —
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Yeah, you could put that under table of contents.
MAYOR WHITE:     Right after the table of contents and then, you know, that will actually come under — That will be included in the — one of the general articles in section 1.
Okay.
Going through definitions, I’d like to have two added.  One is the definition of a grandfather clause so we know what, when somebody speaks of grandfathering we know what that is involved in grandfathering.
Also, throughout the whole document they have the town administrator.  What I’d like to do is put town administrator slash mayor, refers to overall administration of this document.  So if we have a town administrator at one time — Yeah, we do have the  definition of grandfather clause in here.
No, we don’t but we have a copy of it, of the — in this document that will —
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Can we make that L, under L?
MAYOR WHITE:     Grandfather clause will be M and town administrator slash mayor will be N.
And that’s just to — Because we, we may at some time have a town administrator that handles the overall document or we may have the mayor that does it.
Going through the other definitions or we’ll go on through there.
Under section 1.7, Affective Date, that would also be a good place to go ahead and — That would be on page 12.  That will be a good place to put the — any changes to this document must be done by ordinance.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Page what?
MAYOR WHITE:     Page 12.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     And where we gone put it?
MAYOR WHITE:     After 1.7.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Okay.
MAYOR WHITE:     You know, I’m just going through there and these are the things that I came up with.  If y’all have any concerns or anything that you feel like needs to be changed in this, please go ahead and speak up.
Under 2.1.2 we’d like to add back the last article, G.  That was changed to must be filed in the office of the commission and be a public record.  We’d like that to be changed to — Or I’d like it to be changed to fifteen days.
Under 2.1.3, Functions, Powers and Duties of the Town of Cottageville Planning Commission shall be as follows, and it goes on through and it says Administering Permits and Fee Collection. That really falls underneath Terri and Ronnie right now so I wanted to go ahead and remove that from them.  That was number A.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     What page is that, George?
MAYOR WHITE:     That is page 14, 2.1.3, number — or letter A.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     And you’re taking that out?
MAYOR WHITE:     Yeah, taking that out.  This is the functions, powers, duties of the planning commission.  Because that really is something that is done by the building official and by Terri.
B, Processing Applications for Rezoning, you know, we’ll actually go ahead and get the application together on that and that also deals with posting of the signs and receiving the fees.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     So we’ll delete that, too?
MAYOR WHITE:     We’ll delete fee and processing application for variance and special exemption.  Terri and Ronnie will actually handle that.
And maintaining the official zoning map and public records. That will actually be done by Ronnie and . . .
So that would actually be A, would fall — would start at letter E, Investigating and Resolving Complaints.  Enforcing the Zoning Ordinance would be B.  Ordinance to Protect and Preserve the Town’s Appearance and Resources would be C and then it would just continue on down but those first four would be removed.  They would be handled by other members.
Let’ see.
Section 2.2 on page 15, Building slash Code Enforcement Official.  We actually do have a code enforcement official which is Ronnie.
And 2.1.1, It shall be the duty of the building slash code enforcement.  We just took out the zoning official.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Now it should be code, code enforcement?
MAYOR WHITE:     Code enforcement and 2.2.2, Powers and duties of the building slash code enforcement official shall include the following.
A will stay the same but B will be removed under 2.2 which is Administrative Permits and Collecting Fees.  Right now Terri does that.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     That’ll be removed?
MAYOR WHITE:     Uh-huh.
Okay.
And since they all moved down, under H, H will eventually became G and Other Duties Assigned by the Ordinance – coma – Town Administrator/Mayor which will remove the planning commission or town council.  This is town administrator slash mayor or town council.
That’s because Ronnie basically works for us.  She’s the building slash code enforcement official and I direct her.
Under 2.2.3, Appeals from Decisions of the Building slash Code Enforcement, that’s more or less a typo.  I mean that’s just a, you know, one of those things that needs to be changed because of the term zoning official.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON:    Would you repeat that?  I’m sorry.
MAYOR WHITE:     The last one?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON:    Yeah.
MAYOR WHITE:     The one where 2.2.3?  That was appeals from the decisions of the building slash code enforcement official shall be referred to the planning commission.  It basically just removed the zoning office.
You don’t have any changes or nothing on 16.
It says, and I really don’t understand this.  It says on page 17, The planning commission shall fix a reasonable time for a hearing of the appeal or other matter related to it and give 15 days public notice of it in the newspaper or — of general circulation in the community as well as due notice to the parties in interest and decide the same within a reasonable time.  At the hearing any party may appear in person, or it says any party shall — was shall and y’all had changed that, removed shall?
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     No, we changed it from may to shall.
MAYOR WHITE:     Oh, okay.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Oh, so it’s shall be?  Shall appear?
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.
See, on the copy we have it looks like it’s been deleted.  So it really needs to be shall instead of may?
COUNCIL MEMBER STRICKLAND:     Right.
MS. HARDWICK:     Right.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.  Thank you.
Okay.  Nothing on . . .
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     That was a legal thing that has to be in there, according to Jenny Kozac (phon.).
We had questions about it ourself.
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.
Now, there’s been — Under page 18, Violation of Ordinance.  There’s been concern made about the violation of an ordinance but, anyway, I went through this section and section 2.3 and then — which is Violation of an Ordinance and then 2.3.1 and what I’d like it to read is after 30 days after written notice, or written notification with no action by the persons involved that person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined as determined by the court for each offense.  Each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
This is no different than what we have in our current ordinance.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Read that first . . .
MAYOR WHITE:     Okay.
It says after 30 days by — After 30 days after — I’m sorry.  After 30 days after written notification with no action by persons involved that person – comma – that person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined as determined by the court for each offense.  Each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
Two point three point two is just if the building slash code enforcement.  Where it said zoning official, it should be code enforcement.
And that completes the changes on 18.
And, really, we have the same thing under 2.3.3 which is building slash code enforcement in that paragraph.
Two point three point four which is, there again, building slash code enforcement in that paragraph and that’s in two places.
And 2.3.5, the building slash code enforcement and that’s in two places.
Okay.
On page 20, basically wherever you have town administrator it’s gonna be town administrator slash mayor.
In section 3.2, Subdivisional Land, Applicants requesting a subdivision of land shall provide the town administrator slash mayor.
And 3.2.2, the town administrator slash mayor there, shall review the application for compliance.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Where it talks about subdivision of land and housing, you know, subdivisions and all, do we have that tied down in here?  I’ve looked and I think we’ve got it pretty well covered but I want to make sure we do, while if a contractor comes in here and develops a residential, we gone have paved roads going in there and we’re gonna have a pretty entrance and it’s gonna be up to snuff before we let anybody and if it doesn’t meet these requirements.  Do we have that tied down?
MAYOR WHITE:     I don’t know if we have it tied down but we will.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     But don’t you think we should?
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, there needs to be some type of control.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Just like Clydesville (phon.), you know.  That whole thing should’ve been planned and it wasn’t.  They just went in there and did what they wanted to do, you know, and look at Summer Glynn (phon.) going out on Hendersonville Highway.  I don’t know how many of y’all go out that way.                  Nice, nice subdivision, the roads’ paved and it’s got beautiful signs going in there with landscaping.  We want the same thing here.  We’re just tired of dirt roads going up, up on pieces of land and trailers being hauled in and put anywhere.  We need some restrictions on that kind of stuff.  I don’t know where it goes in here but . . .
MAYOR WHITE:     It falls under, Miss Thomas, on page 21, 3.2.5.
The section that we were dealing with there, that was mainly just the . . .
Yeah, if you get down to . . .
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     I see where it is now.
MAYOR WHITE:     Yeah, I mean that’s pretty, pretty much that whole section.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Yeah.
MAYOR WHITE:     And it does, it does hold the developer a lot more responsible.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     We ought to require them to put in a water system the way we’re going with septic tanks and wells here. Ought to be able to put water system in there.  Because we’ve got enough septic tanks and wells.
MAYOR WHITE:     You know, that would have to be — That would have to be on the developer.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     Couldn’t you require that of a developer?
MAYOR WHITE:     No, because if he comes in and if we have our lot size down to .7 acres he can put in a well and septic tank because that’s what DHEC has said, that, you know, a well and septic tank for .7 acres.
Now, he can’t have a lot less than .7 acres but he can have a well and septic tank.
COUNCIL MEMBER THOMAS:     But aren’t we all trying to get rid of septic tanks and wells?
MAYOR WHITE:     Well, not all of us.
Okay.  Let’s see.
Page 22.  There’s just changes in the paragraphs there, 3.3.5, town administrator slash mayor. Section 3.4.1, town administrator slash mayor and 3.4.2, town administrator slash mayor.
Okay.
On this one here, 3.4.2, letter E, A Manufactured Home for Business Purposes in Commercial Districts, A temporary certificate of zoning compliance issued under this section shall be void.  We were looking at this and what I wanted to do was to remove for a period not to exceed one year.
A temporary certificate issued under this subsection shall be void and such use declared illegal and the foundation of the permanent structure to be replaced for Manufactured home has not been poured and  constructed within 90 days of the issuance of the temporary certificate.
It really needs to be up to code when it’s put in.  Don’t need to give them a temporary certificate for a year.  It really needs to be skirted in, tied down, ready to go.  I think.
CHAIRPERSON ADDISON:     The reason that was left in was because what about these construction trailers that are really there only for a year?  That’s what we were looking at there.  Anybody who’s using those manufactured buildings for business purposes or home purposes is very carefully spelled out what you have to do to, you know —
MAYOR WHITE:     So you’re saying that this is really like for a — My concern was about the commercial district, you know.  It’s saying that manufactured home because we used one, yeah, at the — Well, the car lot has one.