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Town Council - Nov 7, 2005 |
Town Council for the Town of McClellanville met on the above-noted date. Mayor Rutledge Leland presided at the meeting, and all Council Members were present: Bob Gannon, Gussie Humes, Aaron Baldwin, and Jim Scott. Also present were Town Clerk Mary Duke, the town’s planning consultant Kathryn Basha, and guests including Bud Hill, Malcolm Baldwin, Kathy Livingston, Chris Claussen, Oran Baldwin, Cheves Leland, and Bernadette Humphrey. Legal notice of the meeting had been published in the Town Newsletter and the Charleston Post and Courier. Council first reviewed the minutes of the October 3rd and October 25th meetings. Gussie Humes made a motion to approve the minutes as written, and Bob Gannon seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous to approve the minutes. Mayor Leland then recognized AICP Planner Kathryn Basha, who told Council that she had been working with the McClellanville Planning Commission and that the Commission sought Council’s approval to approach Charleston County to request that the County approve an overlay district for unincorporated County properties adjacent to the Town’s Highway Commercial District. Within the overlay district, proposed to include all unincorporated properties located along US 17 between the existing north and south boundaries of the town at a depth of 1/5 mile from the centerline of the highway, the Town’s HCD lot and building requirements and design guidelines would be applied. This would prevent inappropriate development of properties adjacent to the Town’s HCD. Kathryn said that the Planning Commission would also like to seek establishment of a formal process for McClellanville Planning input to ensure implementation of the County’s comprehensive plan policies for rural zoning/development within a five mile radius of the Town. Council expressed no objection to the Planning Commission’s proposal. Gussie made a motion to allow the Commission to contact the County with this proposal, and Bob provided a second to the motion. The vote of Council was unanimous to approve the Planning Commission’s efforts to obtain the County’s approval for the overlay district and Town input into zoning decisions for the northern and southern approaches to Town. Dr. Stephen Cofer-Shabica next addressed Council and the members of the public at the meeting. He told those present that he had discussed with Council at a previous meeting his suggestions for keeping track of the status and maintenance history of septic systems in Town without the need of any regulatory authority. He said that the database created from information gathered during the Town’s grant-funded wastewater survey included information such as when, if ever, a system had been pumped or repaired, the age of the system, and so forth. He said that each year approximately 40-50 systems would be due for five-year maintenance. He suggested that postcard reminders could be sent out to the owners of those systems to let them know that regular maintenance might be needed. The two-part postcard would include a portion that the property owner could return to the Town to indicate whether or not the maintenance was done, so that the database could be updated. Response to the postcard reminders and any maintenance work would be voluntary on the part of the property owner. Stephen said that he felt that it was important to maintain a good record of the state of the septic systems in Town. He said that this record could be helpful to the Town as evidence that septic systems were being maintained and were working well as a method of wastewater management for the Town. Stephen added that he would encourage the Town to provide educational information on septic system maintenance for residents. He said that he had supplied the Town with brochures and refrigerator magnets containing this information, and that these could be distributed to anyone needing the information, particularly those applying for building permits. Bob asked Stephen if he could submit a written description of his proposal for Council’s review, and Stephen agreed to do so. Bob then made a motion to approve Stephen’s proposal in principal, pending Council’s approval of the written program outline from Stephen. Gussie seconded the motion and it was approved by unanimous vote. Stephen said that, in response to Gussie’s request, he had researched opportunities for monetary assistance with septic system repairs. He said that both the State Rural Community Assistance Program and the State Revolving Fund should be able to offer aid in funding such repairs. Stephen said that the Town could also consider charging an annual $1 - $2 fee per lot in Town to property owners as a means of raising money to assist low-income residents with needed repairs. Rutledge said that he was concerned as to how a determination of eligibility for such funds would be made. Oran Baldwin then spoke to Council regarding his ongoing problems with flooding of his property due to poor drainage in the area of Morrison and Baker Streets. Mary and Rutledge discussed how attempts that had been made to solve this problem in past years had met with little success due to the inability to obtain necessary easements from property owners and funding for proposed repairs. Rutledge said that he felt the Town could find the money to pay for pipe and other needed supplies if the easements could be obtained. Malcolm Baldwin volunteered to speak to the new owner of the property across Morrison Street from Oran’s property about granting an easement for drainage. Council next considered first reading of an ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance to add a Residential Transition zoning district. Kathryn Basha told Council that the idea of allowing a Residential Transition (RT) zoning resulted from an annexation inquiry from owners of property currently with residential use but adjacent to the Highway Commercial District. The property owners were interested in annexing into Town if they could receive commercial zoning. The Planning Commission had tried to determine a means to allow limited commercial use for properties such as this that were adjacent to the HCD, so that any permitted commercial uses would be compatible with existing residential uses. Council discussed the details of the proposed ordinance with Kathryn and members of the public present at the meeting, regarding the uses that would be permitted and where the RT zoning would be allowed. Jim made a motion to hold a first reading on the ordinance. Gussie seconded the motion and the vote of Council was unanimous for first reading of the ordinance. Rutledge suggested scheduling a public hearing on the ordinance for a night other than that of the regular Council meeting, as the ordinance was rather complex and might require lengthy explanations and discussion. Council agreed that the public hearing should be scheduled for the second Monday in January 2006. Council then considered a proposed ordinance to annex a parcel of approximately 9 acres located on Highway 17, TMS # 764-00-00-019, into the Town of McClellanville. Malcolm explained to those present how the property was contiguous to McClellanville. Jim made a motion to hold a first reading on the annexation ordinance, Bob seconded the motion, and the vote of Council was unanimous to hold first reading. Council then directed that the annexation ordinance be sent to the Planning Commission for a recommendation as to zoning for the property. Council also noted that an informal poll would be scheduled and advertised in order to allow residents a chance to vote as to their support for or opposition to the annexation. Council next reviewed the latest revisions to the proposed contract between the Town and R.L. Morrison & Sons for improvements to the R.E. Ashley Boat Landing. Mary said that the only important change seemed to be a provision that, should one party in the contract bring legal suit against the other, the losing party in such suit would be responsible for the legal costs of the other party. After discussion, Council agreed to accept these terms. Gussie made a motion to allow Mayor Leland to sign the contract. Bob seconded the motion, and the motion was carried by unanimous vote. Rutledge then signed the contract. Council then considered the sample ordinance provided by Charleston County as an example of an ordinance to transfer authority for conducting municipal elections to the Board of Elections and Voter Registration of Charleston County. Bob asked whether Town Attorney Frances Cantwell had yet had a chance to review the ordinance, and Mary said that she had not. Council agreed that they would like for Frances to see the ordinance and to have an opportunity for further study of the matter. Jim said that he would move for first reading of the ordinance in order to place the matter on the table for review. Jim made a motion for first reading, Gussie seconded the motion, and the motion was carried unanimously. Mayor Leland suggested scheduling the public hearing on this ordinance for the same night as the hearing on the RT District, the second Monday in January, and Council agreed to this suggestion. Bob told Council that he had spoken with Oliver Puckett from the County Sheriff’s Office, and that he had reported that deputies had written several tickets in October for speeding on Society Road, after complaints about that problem. He said that Deputy Puckett said that they would continue to monitor speeding on Society Road as often as possible. Bob then asked about the Town’s CRS Rating of 8, and wondered whether anything could be done to improve this rating. He noted that Charleston County had achieved a lower rating of 5, which afforded residents in the unincorporated area a 25% savings on their flood insurance. Mary said that she and Building Official Paul Fields could certainly try to improve the rating, although she felt that they had already tried their best and had been somewhat frustrated with what she felt was a lack of recognition for their efforts by the Community Rating Systems and the ISO. Mary said that she felt that compliance with the CRS and ISO requirements was much more difficult for small communities with limited staff, no public works department, etc. She added that the present CRS Rating of 8 at least afforded residents a 10% savings on their flood insurance. Bob said that Carl Simmons, Director of the Charleston County Building Services Dept., had said that he would be willing to work with Town staff to try to improve the rating, though he doubted that McClellanville could improve much beyond a Class 7. Bob then said that Mary had brought to his attention the fact that the office in the Government Services Building that had been designated for use by the Charleston County deputies seemed to be seldom used lately, and that she had noticed that the office was in need of a thorough cleaning. Council agreed that Mary should find out whether the deputies still used the office and also schedule it for cleaning. Council reviewed information from the Coastal Conservation League containing excerpts from discussions at the Town of Mt. Pleasant’s Annexation Committee meetings, including proposals for extending Mt. Pleasant’s planning area, Mt. Pleasant Waterworks’ service area, and the possibility of annexation as far north as Steed Creek Road. Council expressed concern over this information, and Jim Scott noted that the Town of McClellanville might need to take another look at its own annexation policy and consider protecting its borders. Cheves Leland told Council that she was trying to encourage as many people as possible to attend Mt. Pleasant Town Council’s public hearing on Nov. 8th in order to make Mt. Pleasant aware of local opposition to the plans for annexation into the Francis Marion National Forest. She said that another meeting on the expansion plans was scheduled for the November 29th at the Sewee Center, and she encouraged everyone to also attend at that time. Cheves said that she felt that the Town needed to make its opposition to big development known. Council again discussed the possibility of finding funding to try to purchase the Deer Head Oak lot at the corner of Pinckney and Oak Streets. Council agreed that they would regret to ever lose public access to the historic oak tree or to see the lot developed. It was suggested that half-cent sales tax monies earmarked for green space acquisition and preservation might be available to help in purchasing the lot, and that grants might be a possibility. Council instructed Mary to contact the lot owner to ask whether she might consider selling the lot to the Town. Bob Gannon said that he would speak with Curtis Bostic at Charleston County, who should have more information on the availability of the half-cent funds. Aaron Baldwin said that he would like to see the Town pursue acquisition of some green space areas in the vicinity of Silver Hill, also. Mary told Council that a member of the Archibald Rutledge Academy School Board had asked her whether the school could get a copy of the Town’s newsletter mailing list. She asked whether Council had any concerns regarding release of the list. Council agreed that the information would probably be public record according to the Freedom of Information Act, and that they did not foresee a problem with releasing it. Council instructed Mary that the list could be made available for a $5 charge. There being no further business, a motion was then made, seconded, and carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 PM. Mary S. Duke Town Clerk |