Full meeting transcript - April 28, 2026

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» Hello. Hello. Goodbye. Still Hannah. Can y'all hear me? It's sound check, Councilman Jones. Can you hear us? You're live. Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. We've got 3 minutes. Okay, thank you.

» First check, can you hear me? First check, can you hear me? I'd like to welcome everybody to the Tuesday, April the 28th Kershaw County Council meeting. Officially called to order and I would like to ask Councilman Danny Cato to have our invocation. But before I ask him to do that, I would like to mention that Ben's father has had a stroke today and has been in surgery and we've we've had reports that everything is is going well, but we're going to pray for the Carnells specifically. Like to ask Danny to do that now. Thank you. Heavenly Father we come to you tonight with humble hearts. First of all dear Heavenly Father thank you for all our many blessings. Lord you're such a gracious and good and forgiving God. We just thank you for that.

» Lord we come with heavy hearts and minds tonight for the Carnell family. Lord I just pray dear Heavenly Father for Ben's father Joseph as as he's undergoing these medical procedures this evening. Lord I just pray that you'll be with him. I pray that you'll be with his family, his his wife, his children, his grandchildren. Lord he is a great father great and great grandfather and husband. And Lord we just lift him up to you tonight. And we just ask that your will be done. Whatever that is Lord that your will be done. And that we'll accept it. Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you be with us tonight as we conduct the business of this county. I ask that you would be with us and help us to make the right decisions. That we'll do it in a way that would be pleasing unto you.

» Lord Jesus just be with us in the upcoming days. Lead, guide, and direct us and forgive us of our sins. For us in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. All right. We're at the point of adopting the agenda. Is there a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? Mr. Vice Chairman I'd like to make a motion that we adopt the agenda as submitted. Is there a second? Second. All right, The is on the floor. All those in favor uh we'll start with Councilman Jones. Councilman Jones, can you hear us? Give him a minute. Okay. All right, so we we've got a yes from Councilman Jones.

» Is that correct? Yes. All right, all those all those here by show of hands. Please show that it's unanimous by all those present and voting and Councilman Jones. We're going to start with a proclamation, Stewardship Week. Uh Derek, would you like to read that proclamation in Ben's absence? Sure, happy to. Whereas the National Association of Conservation Districts is a non-profit organization that represents America's 3,000 conservation districts and the individuals serving on the governing boards of those conservation districts. And whereas conservation districts are local units of government established by state law to carry out resource management programs at a local level.

» And whereas the Kershaw Conservation District serves an important role in putting conservation on the ground through contracts which have brought over $500,000 into Kershaw County by cooperating with landowners to manage and protect natural resources on their own land. And whereas the NACD has celebrated Stewardship Week annually since 1955 between the last Sunday in April and the first Sunday in May to remind us of our individual responsibilities to care for natural resources. And whereas NACD 71st Stewardship Week will be held April 26th through May 3rd and is focused on soils. And whereas fertile soil and clean water is the lifeblood of nutrition and soil conservation is a benefit to everyone.

» And whereas effective conservation practices ensure soil, water, animals, plants, and air provide a rich standard of living. And whereas, Kershaw County wishes to support the work of NACD and the Kershaw Conservation District of South Carolina and Kershaw County. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Kershaw County Council that April 26th, 2026 to May 3rd, 2026 is designated Stewardship Week to applaud and promote the work of NACD in providing educational learning experiences for students and adults to increase awareness about the importance of natural resource Uh that is the proclamation, Mr. Vice Chair, and I guess I would move to adopt that proclamation. Second. All right.

» All those um will vote and then uh is there anyone here that would like to receive the proclamation? Uh hey, that was the big crowd, so sorry. Would you like to come uh speak to us prior to our vote? Yes, I can make some comments. Yes, we'd love to have you up. Please. Uh be mindful of the mic. It needs to be adjusted to play that to be able to be heard correctly. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Donna Douglas, the district coordinator with the Kershaw Conservation District. Um this week is Stewardship Week and is recognized nationally and locally as we celebrate the same the theme, soil, where it all begins. This campaign is a reminder to all of us that we have the responsibility to care for, conserve, and protect our natural resources.

» Some of the outreach activities we have planned in the schools and community include grocery bags that have been decorated by art students in the county, specifically Jackson Elementary School students, with this year's logo on it. And these bags will be used by customers throughout the week. We will have an outreach table with soil soil health information at the farmers market on Saturday, May the 9th. Also on the 9th, we will have a soil health tunnel there for people to walk through and see visuals of all the things healthy soils do for us. I will be in the classroom tomorrow and three Friday doing presentations on soil health and doing the enviroscape, which is a demonstration of a watershed with an emphasis on clean water and storm water runoff.

» Um we also sponsored a poster contest throughout the district and the posters will be judged at our May board meeting. First place winners will go to the state competition and will be judged by South Carolina the South Carolina Association of conservation districts. Um some of our recent accomplishments include being recognized as a certified conservation district by our state partner, which is the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Our board completed 13 training modules developed by the SCDNR and upon completion, we received the certification. We were recognized at the annual partnership conference in January that was held in Spartanburg.

» Um I think um one way we've really grown a lot is just in visibility because I know nobody's ever heard of a conservation district and we're right across the street, but we are a partnering with other agencies and just trying to be more visible. Um we recently awarded seven schools in the county with mini grants up to a thousand dollars each and these funds allowed the schools to implement their own conservation projects on their own school grounds. And as I said, we are focusing on being more visible and I thank you so much for the funding you provide because without your funding, we don't get our state funding. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Douglas. Um are there any comments from council? Does anybody have any questions? I'll start with um Councilman Jones since he's called in remote.

» I have no comments. Appreciate you being here. Okay, thank you, Council. Thank you. Thank you. Any comments? Well, I'll say while I while I've got you here, um I think it's it's fitting that you're here tonight because there's going to be large conversations regarding development and agronomy and ecologies um all part of development and how we how we live here on Earth. So, appreciate you being here. Thank you for uh Thank you for your presentation and we do have to vote and then we do have a proclamation to give you. If you want to join us, then we can have a photo. That would be great.

» all those in favor, Councilman Jones? In favor. All right. All those here? All right, it's uh it's unanimous, Ms. Hannah. Thank you so much. Um if we could grab a photo real quick, I've got the proclamation. That's all right. right there. So, the chair sits nice and high. I need to steal one of those. You need to order a few of those. I'd be sitting nice and high. All right.

» low Moving through proclamations. Next, we have public comments. How many do we have signed up, sir? 11 speakers. All right. Um I'm no math, that's a minute 43, so call it a minute 45 per speaker. I mean, 2:45. Okay. Apologies. All right, so Mr. Vice Chair Yes, sir. Could you please have the attorney and give us speaking to the mic? I think you're not Okay, yeah. Yeah, he Councilman Jones asked that you speak into your mic, Mr. DeBose. We want you to be able to hear, for sure. Um All right. We can have the first speaker come up. We've got Please set the clock at 2 minutes and 45 seconds. First speaker is Linda Canatsey Growth. Good afternoon. Excuse me. Can you reset the clock, please? Uh Well, sure. We'll We'll get it started on the right foot. Go ahead.

» All right, council members. Last year, when Kershaw County was working on the update of our comprehensive plan, I attended several planning committee meetings. During one meeting, the committee was discussing the sketch plan for a subdivision, trying to decide whether or not to approve it for a building permit. After much discussion, the chairman asked the former director of planning and zoning, "How many impact studies have you received on this property?" The answer was none. He was asked how many were sent out. Answer, usually 10 to 12. Then, how many are usually returned? Answer, from none to maybe one or two.

» Is it any wonder that we have a major growth problem? Why are we even thinking about issuing permits when the ZLDR required impact studies have not been received? If the procedure our staff is using to obtain these this required information isn't working, why not change it before moving on in the permit process? Let's prioritize the required impact studies on all large developments, making sure that the infrastructure and services in the area can support the proposed development. We put the transportation and traffic study first, school capacity second, followed by other services. These will be done by our Kershaw County staff in-house and paid for up front by the applicant.

» Once favorable impact studies are done to the satisfaction of the planning committee, only then the permit process moves on to the sketch plan and finally our limit on the number of permits. Before passing the current smart growth plan tonight on the second reading, please consider these changes. The first ordinance listed should deal with the impact studies as required by our current ZLDR. Second ordinance would read permits limited to 350 per year, not 350 permits automatically given out on a first serve first come basis. This is your opportunity to prove that you are really serious about our growth problem in Kershaw County. Thank you. If you'd like to provide a copy of that to our administrate administrator, he can have copies for every council member if you'd like. All right.

» Next speaker is Lee Reed. The topic is Liberty Hill. Mr. Reed. Good evening, Council, and thank you for your time with a very full agenda tonight. To reintroduce myself, my name is Lee Reed. My wife and I live on Lake Wateree in Liberty Hill. And along with other all other county residents, we pay taxes to Kershaw County to cover services to be provided to all county residents. Along with our Liberty Hill neighbors, we remain extremely concerned with the as yet unresolved issue of timely first responder services to our area, especially EMS.

» Per the presentation to Council on March 24th by Executive Director of Emergency Services, Will Glover, Beaver Creek, aka Liberty Hill, maintains an average EMS response time of almost 27 minutes, the longest response time in the county, 17.6% longer than the next zone, Baron DeKalb, and more than double the average response time to three of the 19 county zones. While I'm not sure of the time window on another Will slides that evening, that graph indicated that EMS response time to Beaver Creek registered second highest only to Mount Pisgah on call responses greater than 30 minutes with over 15% of the county's plus 30-minute responses. Overall, ranking 18th worst out of 19 county zones. Those are statistics, but we are not. We are Kershaw County taxpaying residents.

» As a reminder of the real and personal nature of this issue, I want to quote briefly from comments made by a good friend and Liberty Hill neighbor at the February 24th Council meeting. And I quote, "On January 18th, I experienced one of the most terrifying moments of my life. My husband was having a medical emergency. I called 911. The dispatcher took my information and then told me to he had another call to take and hung up. I was left alone, frightened, not knowing if my husband was going to survive. First responders did not arrive for approximately 45 minutes. The ambulance arrived around 45 minutes after my initial call. End quote.

» Since our Liberty Hill community meeting February 18th attended by 75 to 100 concerned residents along with multiple county representatives, we have presented County Council the current and ongoing need for timely emergency response to our growing area. We have shared with you and Executive Director for Emergency Services Will Glover has confirmed this critical issue in our area that our actuality in Liberty Hill versus EMS target response is unacceptable. So far though, these have been presentations without much dialogue. And while we have seen a brief show of support with an initial flurry of law enforcement presence, and even a QRV parked for a very brief time at the Liberty Hill Fire Department,

» Mr. Reed, I hate to cut you off. We've we've come to our end of our time. I can give you 30 more seconds.

» 5 minutes. Is that not true?

» Two 2 minutes and 45 seconds because of the amount of speakers. Oh, okay.

» Sorry sorry to cut you short. I'll allow 30 more seconds. Okay. Options and alternatives exist. My request is this, approve, fund, and install a full-time ambulance or full-time QRV in Liberty Hill. Best option. Alternatively, reposition existing unit resources, units, resources, or finally, contract third-party EMS services to be stationed Liberty Hill until and unless we have access to emergency responses services located elsewhere that can and will consistently meet stated target responses for Kershaw County as determined by Will Glover. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. Next speaker is Emily Martin. The subject is growth. Ms. Martin, welcome. Good evening. Good evening.

» First and foremost, um I think I speak for everyone behind me when we say our thoughts and prayers are with the chairman. So, horrible news, but thank you for letting us know so we can direct our prayers towards him, his dad, his family. Thank you for that. My name is Emily Martin, and I am here representing the BIA, an organization of your neighbors and fellow community members. And I recognize Kershaw County is going through significant growth, and the council wants to respond. That is not beyond me. However, I respectfully ask for you to table the building permit allocation system ordinance until the next meeting, and just to meet with me and BIA members.

» Just a 2-week delay will allow us to collaborate between stakeholders, experts, decision-makers to find better solutions and we are ready to meet at your convenience. Regarding all of the ordinances under second reading from the Smart Growth Committee, I do encourage you to heed um your chosen experts, your Planning Commission's recommendations and supporting points. However, I want to especially ask that you follow the non-support of the building permit allocation. And I know several members on Council have admitted that the cap system is not the best option or ideal. And they have to do it because of growth. However, there are no other options or ideas. But I come today bringing ideas and I'm happy to have a further discussion on these if tabled today. One option, special tax districts.

» Fund infrastructure improvements through additional taxes on properties within the new developments. Therefore, the current residents of Kershaw do not have to raise their taxes and they are not burdened with the costs of the increase of population. Two, fiscal impact analysis requirements. Mandate that the developers demonstrate the tax revenue from the development will exceed service costs for rezoning requests by allowing profitable projects to proceed and scaling back those that are not. And third, incentivize wanted development. Implement a points-based system for projects based on specific criteria such as density, cost, design to prioritize the developments that align best with community standards, goals, and wants.

» When established, this is seamless, creates a clear and defined structure, eases staff burden, and aligns development with the community goals. I strongly urge you to table the ordinance until next meeting so that we can discuss a better, more appropriate solution to address the county's growth. Please let the VIA be a resource. Thank you. Thank you so much. If you could provide a contact and leave it with our administrator, he can give us those resources. Of course. Mr. Bose. Next speaker is Ashley Raven. The subject is growth. Ms. Raven, welcome. Hello everyone. Good afternoon. I'm Ashley Raven and it's no secret my husband and I own a septic company here in this town. I'm here to speak about the building allocation ordinance. This county has been built on builders of this community.

» Builders are not only the person that builds a home, but every sub they employ. The septic guy, the HVAC company, the roofer, the landscaper. I could go on and on. Once you hurt the builder, you have hurt everyone they employ. The triple trickle-down effect of this will hurt every business in this town along with the money they will be able to put back into this community. Such as supporting sports teams through the rec department and other non-profit events such as teacher of the year, etc. Anything you would ask for a donation for will slow down because the building business will slow down. I'm also not sure how you tell someone who owns property in this county and has paid taxes that they can't build on it.

» They have to get on a waiting list and you all will decide when and if they can build. That will bring numerous lawsuits to this county. Our tax dollars will then go to fight these lawsuits instead of bettering our county. You all know as well as I do that once we make permits exclusive, it will only drive the cost of homes up. With the prices of grocery and gas, we will drive the long-term residents that have grown up here and wish to live here right out of town just like Mount Pleasant did. As I sat in the planning and zoning meeting 3 weeks ago and they voted against the building allocation, they understood these concerns. They have implemented several changes such as lot sizes and impact fees for instance.

» We haven't given those changes a chance to work before implementing another change. Planning and zoning has come up with several other options instead of building allocation. Why are these people appointed by you all if you aren't interested in listening to them? Why waste their time? Why not table this discussion for now until you all go over the new options with the planning and zoning committee which you all appointed? What I'm asking is that you give this county time to see if the changes that have been made work before we make more. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Raven. Next speaker is Kelly Bowers. Subject is growth. Ms. Bowers? Good evening. My name is Kelly Bowers. My husband Ryan is a lifelong Kershaw County resident and has been a builder here for 25 years.

» We employ four individuals and as Ashley said, we also employ so to speak 40 plus or so subcontractors in any given year. If our ability to pull permits is taken away, which is essentially what is on the table here, then our ability to work is taken away. And it's not just us. It's not just the Bowers family who's affected. It's all four of our employees and all of our subcontractors. While track home builders and subdivision builders have a lot more leeway in their ability to permit pull permits quickly, that doesn't necessarily happen for custom home builders like us. Our clients typically, I would say 90% or more are going to go through a a bank. They have to get a loan to build their home. Well, they have to get approved for that loan. That takes time.

» So, we can't go pull their permit if we don't know that they're approved for their loan. Well, if by the time their loan is approved, there are no more permits to pull, they now have a construction loan that they have 1 year to complete their home and we have to wait 6 months to get a permit. Who pays the interest on that loan? Those individuals who have who have gotten a loan now and don't have a house that they can build for at least 6 months if we can get a permit then and it just depends. So I'm asking as someone who has lived in this community for 25 years, loves this community, and wants to stay here and wants to continue to build here that you reconsider the ordinance for the permit allocation and find something that is going to help keep our builders in this community and help contribute to this community. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Bowers. Mr. DeBose?

» Next speaker is Lynn Conto. Uh subject is overgrowth. Ms. Conto. Rampant residential growth with stagnant home sales is one of my biggest concerns I see in the future. You have some tough decisions in Kershaw County to make and your decisions will impact all generations to come. If got the government doesn't manage growth, who will? Let's be the model for the state and the country. You value quality infrastructure and realistic amount of traffic in our community. Your constituents are counting on you to do what is the best interest of the community as a whole. The urgency is clear. Protect our community's infrastructure. Approve a permit allocation system for at least 1 year to assess infrastructure. Unchecked development is not acceptable.

» Common sense tells us we need to have logical plan for growth. South Carolina's the fastest growing states from 2024 to 2025. Even the House and Senate are clamoring and looking at the concurrency bill to curb growth based on infrastructure. We need to pass a local safety net to preserve our community. Developing progressive smart growth strategies is a must. We have experienced a severe drought just recently from March to April, the fifth driest year in 132 years. One 100% of Kershaw County was impacted by this drought. There were burn warnings issued multiple times. They even recommended voluntary reduction in water use. As we build more, this becomes even more serious. Future threats of water takings have been suggested upstream at the Catawba water river basin. It will happen.

» It's a matter of time. Are we prepared? Do we have a plan? We had 473 fire calls in 2025 and in 2026 we've had 47 fires on seven buildings, seven vehicles, and 33 minor fires. That's an estimated 1.5 fire calls per day. 1,363 EMS calls. This is a high volume of calls and impacts safety in our community. Growth is coming but we determine how rapidly and if we're ready. I'm not against development. I just want it to be planned. A permit allocation system is a solution. It's an excellent tool for growth management to control the pace of development. It matches growth with infrastructure capacity. Some counties have formal permit systems to regulate growth. Other counties have bi-annual allocation methods based on a category specification.

» A cap on residential growth is definitely needed and would be applauded by the community. County Council members would be heroes by the majority who elected them. There are top regional approaches and strategies for smart growth. Enforced growth boundaries, infill development, a county concurrency plan, impact studies completed by the county, not by developers, but paid by impact fees, phase development, rural and agricultural zones increased two to five acres to discourage sprawl, Is it time? urban growth boundaries,

» Ms. Canto. I was so enthralled with your speech that I overlooked the time. It's okay. I'm afraid you're out of time. Okay. Um I have one more idea.

» And and I think I've already allowed some overage, so I Thank you for All right, thank you. Next speaker is uh Martin Brown, I believe. Growth. Thank you. Say that name again, Mr. DeBose. I think it's Martin Brown. Martin Brown. Okay. Okay. Morland. Hey, Morland. Welcome. I've been called worse. Right. Good evening, members of Council. First, I want to say that I do not envy any of you tonight. I understand that whatever decision you make is going to leave someone happy and I respect the position you're in having to wait the outcomes. With that said, Speaking of my community, yes. With that said, I'm here because I believe this bill will have serious consequences for our community, especially for the people who make their living in the building and construction industry.

» In this county, that's not a small group. It's a significant portion, around 70% of our local economy depends directly or indirectly on this industry. From where I stand, this field builds this bill feels like government overreach. It places limits on how people can work and grow their business. And it does so in a way that doesn't impact everyone equally. For example, allocating a third of building permits automatically to large big box builders puts local contractors at an immediate immediate disadvantage. These are the small and mid-size businesses that have built this community. People who live here, pay taxes here, and spend their money here. When you cut into their ability to do business, it doesn't just affect the contractor.

» It affects their office staff, their crews, and their subcontractors that they rely on. It's a ripple effect that reaches far beyond a single permit. At the same time, many of the people who may benefit from this bill are not directly impact impacted by those losses. That imbalance matters and is worth considering carefully. If the goal is to manage growth, there are other approaches that could achieve that without placing such a heavy burden on local workers. Neighboring counties have explored options like increasing minimum lot sizes some to 3 acres, which helps control density while still allowing businesses to operate.

» Right now, this bill puts a cap on opportunity for local contractors, and when you cap their ability to work, you're also reducing the flow of money through our local economy. These are the same people supporting local businesses, paying local taxes, and contributing to the community every day. I urge you to take a step back and consider whether this approach is the best path forward or if there is a way to address growth concerns without hurting the very people who helped this country county run strong. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Next speaker is David Dabney. Subject is permits, I believe. Mr. Dabney. Good evening. Um man, y'all cut me short here. There ain't no way. Um usually come up here and kind of shoot off the hip.

» I'm going to do a little bit of that as well, but I got a few little stats I wanted to try to provide to you guys. Um the playbook that y'all chose for this permitting allocation program that y'all have uh tabled once or or or passed once already and second reading tonight uh uh came from Mount Pleasant and um it's pretty cut and dry that it was cut and paste from there. Um kind of want to look at what we're comparing here. Uh Mount Pleasant is a city within Charleston County. Uh population of about 96,000 people. Compared to Kershaw County is 72. Uh they have 49 square miles in Mount Pleasant. Kershaw County has 730 square miles.

» That the that that that equates to a density of 1,800 people per square mile in Mount Pleasant as compared to Kershaw County a little less than 100 per square miles. Um Mount Pleasant is built out uh pretty much about 95%. They said 75% is kind of kind of used up. 15% covered by water. And about another 10 to 15% covered by wetlands. Uh so they can't do much else. Kershaw County um it not being landlocked like Mount Pleasant is only built out 30 to 40%. Meaning 60 to 70% still available. Of course there's some wetlands, there's some water there too. But not near as much as what they've got down there.

» So how are we comparing these two? Why are we just coming up with this program and putting it out there and voting yeah let's do that when they're they're not even anywhere close to the same. Not even and not even really close to the same. Um and the last thing like I said I did not prepare for cut time. Um Lugoff Elgin Corridor represents 40% 40 to 50% of all growth in Kershaw County in 2025. Um that's not to say it come from all the builders. Um some of the stats that you guys put up actually made me feel like it was local builders that were doing that before we left last year or last time. Um that's just simply not the case.

» Uh So the Lugoff-Elgin corridor 40 to 50% uh Lugoff and West Camden that's from Camden this way or that way is tagged unincorporated area and is basically 25 to 30% of the growth. City of Camden 5 to 10% um which means 65 to 85% of all growth is that way. Um I've kind of tried to come up with

» Mr. Dabney, I just allow 30 more seconds to finish. I've tried to come up with several analogies, but I the best way I can come up with it is um we need to address Lugoff-Elgin corridor and kind of leave the rest of the county alone. Um Many different reasons as we don't have 15 seconds more for me to talk about it, but hopefully somebody else will get up here and kind of expand on that, but I just I just wanted to give you that information as well. I don't think we're comparing apples to apples here and uh I think you need to drop back and punt and uh take heed to what your your committees are are telling you as well. Thank you, Mr. Dabney. Next speaker is Melody Harden. Subject is Pecan Orchard. Ms. Harden, welcome. Good evening.

» As County Council already knows, my name is Melody Harden and I am here again speaking about the Pecan Orchard. At the last County Council meeting on April 14th, the Pecan Orchard was discussed and unfortunately several untrue statements were made. Mr. Tucker and Mr. Templer stated that work was being done on Blackberry and tremendous progress has been done. That is completely untrue. In fact, no work has been done on Blackberry since the end of March or the beginning of April. And during that time, the only work that was done was a little bit of trimming on one side of Blackberry and a small amount of ditch clearing on Blackberry. The county simply scraped some debris out of the ditch and deepened the ditch in a few spots.

» We understand that people need to be consulted for major work, but there is plenty that the county can do now on each road to help with the storm water and draining. We cannot We can't even get the ditches to be reestablished on all three roads to help with the storm water. Also, it was stated by a county council member that things take time, can be slow, and there's other projects. We completely understand that. Let me remind you, I personally brought this issue to the county's attention 2 years ago. I personally believe I have been patient enough for something to be done. If you believe that 2 years is not enough time, many of my neighbors have been dealing with the county on this issue for more years than I have. And Mr.

» Templer admits that he has known about the Peakin Orchard issue for over 10 years, and again, nothing has been done. To the county council member that have this stance of county can be slow and things can take time, let me ask you, do you agree that 10 years is way too long to have ignored an issue that is affecting a neighborhood? Next, it was also stated at the last meeting that the county is responsible for the roads, not private property, and has no control of what happens on private property. I disagree. Do you have control of what is happening on people's private property? You do have control of that.

» When the county is not maintaining their roads and ditches, continuing to ignore an issue that they have known about for over 10 years, and is not willing to do simple projects to even try to help with storm water and drainage, it is a county issue. Also, it was stated by council member that we were Monday night quarterbacks and becoming overnight engineers and going to AI. I promise you we are not. We are neighbors

» I'll allow 30 more seconds. We are neighbors that have a major problem that needs to be addressed and being let down by our county council. To use his words, we are not beating anyone by the head. We have given the county opportunity and time. We have been told we will be helped. We have been told that emergency funds will be used. We have been told plans will be presented week after week. All we hear is excuse after excuse. It has been 10 plus years. It is time to do what you all agreed to do 2 years ago. Thank you, Ms. Horton. Next speaker is Linda Franklin Moore. The subject is planning and zoning board.

» 30 seconds for everybody just when I started at 3:15? No one else want to jump in? No, it's okay. I'm going to keep I'm going to keep

» I'm going to keep things consistent. I've got a system. But, thank you. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Make sure you guys got to finish your thought. Um good evening. I want to thank council for its hard work and effort on the comprehensive land use plan and a smart growth plan. I support permit application system as a start to promote smart growth. Obviously, this will have to be tweaked over time, and you're not going to have a plan that's set in stone for years to come. It will have to be moving and growing. Um remember, we have limited infrastructure tied to economic development. You have homes versus industry, and hopefully we can have a good mix of that, but we do have limited infrastructure as I have stated in the past, just call me the sewer preacher.

» Um I'm greatly concerned, too, that the planning and zoning commission has the monopoly of real estate agents on the commission. This should never happen. We need a variety of professionals on the planning and zoning commission. I urge council to rectify this as soon as possible. It's a conflict of interest and a monopoly voting block. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Moore. Next speaker is Stan Beckley. The subject is growth, and that is the final speaker. Mr. Beckley, welcome. Yeah, my name's Stan Beckley. I reside at 506A Delmar in Lugoff. I'll come back to that 506A in a minute. I know some of you, some of you know me, or you know my children, who are county residents as well. I'm proud to say that I have served over 50 years in the building supply business.

» It's a It's a honorable profession, and I'm proud to be a part of it. Uh it kind of feels like some of these um new resolutions are trying to run us out of business. I know that's not the intent, but I can tell you that that's how a lot of us feel. And you need to know that. The um I asked the the building industry association, which I'm an active member, some of you may know it as Home Builders Association. I asked them to do a study on Kershaw County and the impact of housing. Um if you don't have that, we have that available to you. I think members of the Planning Commission have copies of it. But it's pretty interesting information.

» It uh it kind of sit states that I know everybody thinks this is going to be a a burden on taxpayer, but actually we pretty much pay our own way as an industry. Um smart growth. I don't know, to me it seems like smart growth people think of it as no growth. I like the word responsible growth better. Um you know, I've been dealing with this my entire career. Um how do we know where we're at and yet we're considering nine resolutions to slow down growth. I I may have the time frame a little bit wrong, but what we went from a third acre minimum size to a half acre minimum size to a moratorium within 18 months or so. And yet we don't really know the impact of where we're at and we're trying to figure out more ways to stop growth. Doesn't make sense to me.

» We need to stop and then wait and see where we're at with all these actions that we've already taken, let alone trying to pile on top of them. Um I think the impact of these actions are going to have a negative impact on the county. We want economic growth, but how do you have economic growth if you don't have housing? Think of this story. Factory wants to come to the county, 250 jobs. Really they to want to know? Mr. Beckley, uh we've gotten to the end of time. I'll allow 30 more seconds, sir. All right. So, they um they want to know about housing. So, what? Yeah, we got it. We got a moratorium on um and if you get half acre lot and get in a waiting list. Yeah, we got it. How's that going to wear? Think about the economic growth.

» Think about all the businesses that are impacted by what we're talking about here. Let's not shoot ourselves in the foot. One last comment. If we would take the energy in this room from the the pro-growth and the non-growth side and work on infrastructure and we can handle all this growth going forward if we combine our efforts and work on our legislators. Thank you, Mr. Beckley. All right, I think does that conclude public comments? That does, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you. Okay, I want to thank everybody for coming. We we've heard both sides and um I want to just say that I appreciate everybody's perspective. Um we're moving now into a public hearing. I'm going to open a public hearing.

» It's an ordinance to amend Kershaw County, South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations, the ZLDR, Section 3 .3, Conditional Uses, Rural Country Club Requirements. I now open the hearing. Do we have any No, Mr. Vice Chair, there's no one signed up to speak on the sign-in sheet. Okay, I'd like to offer the opportunity for anyone to speak on this subject. With nobody coming forward, I'll close this public hearing. Thank you. Um I'm going to say you don't knock a hole in that thing there, buddy. I'm used to using a hammer. I see that. Jump over every time. Okay, um no vote being needed for a public hearing, we'll move to the approval of minutes. Um I'll lean on John Debose to keep me in check or Sammy. Mr.

» Vice Chair, I make a motion that we approve the minutes as submitted and I'd like to thank Ms. Hannah for doing such a great job in keeping our records. All right, I'm going to go to um well, we need a second.

» I'll second. Thank you, Councilman Cato. I'll go to uh Councilman Jones first. How do you vote, sir? In favor. Okay. Councilman Jones is in favor of the approval of minutes. Everyone here, please, by show of hands. Appears to be unanimous. By all of those here present and voting. Moving on to 9A. Um This is something that I put on the agenda. I'd like to uh have a just a open discussion amongst council about the possibility of a parade honoring our 250th year of existence as uh United States of America. Would anybody like to put the motion on the floor? Yeah. I so move, Mr. Chair. Okay, well, Councilman Jones and second from Councilman Cato. So, this is just a a very pleasant and and general conversation. I'd personally like to see a county-wide parade.

» Um I'd like to hear y'all's thoughts on a parade for the 4th of July. Anybody? Brent? Danny? Any thoughts Any thoughts on a parade? I would not be here. Well, let me say that I've I've been approached by a I'm not leaving America, but I won't be in Kershaw County. For For us, a lot of us do take vacations as as I typically do. I I'd just like to put the idea out there that I think Kershaw County um deserves a parade for 250-year celebration. Um I know there're going to be a lots of things going on. I just want to keep an open dialogue and everybody here that's present, I'd like to hear from everybody. We'd love to see a parade. It could It could start in Lugoff and end in Camden or Councilman Sheumaker, if you'd like for it to start in Elgin, we can make it a long haul.

» It's a long parade. That'd be a long parade. Right. Anyhow, It would have been a traffic a very general a very general uh discussion and I just wanted to put that thought in everybody's mind. So, with that, we can move forward. No votes needed. Thank you. Um I'm going to move I'm actually going to strike the discussion for homestead exemption because it's it's on the agenda later as a resolution under 11A. So, I'm just going to take chairman's prerogative to strike that and move into uh ordinances. Ordinance 10A.

» We've got a first reading in title only, an ordinance to provide our budget appropriations for county purposes in the County of Kershaw for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027 and setting the millage rate for Kershaw County for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026. And adopt and implement the change that I'm sorry that the charging collection of service and user rates and fees and other tax purposes in county appropriated appropriation purposes and matters related there to. Um So is there a motion? Mr. Vice Chair, if I may. Um I would like to at this time make a motion to have first reading and title only for our 26-27 budget for Kershaw County. Okay, so is there a second? Second. All right. Um any discussion? Councilman Jones, any discussion on uh title only budget? No discussion. Okay, so I I do have

» First reading First reading first reading, correct? First First reading, yes, sir. I I've got a a few remarks. Um spoke to our administrator, Danny Templar, and he says it looks like we're going to be pretty neutral this year. He He has not seen any millage increases um or need for any. I think the natural growth is has taken care of that. He'll have a more precise look at our next meeting on second reading. Does that sound about right? I don't want to put words in your mouth. I just want to repeat what we discussed. Yeah, as we sit right here now, what our approach has been is to um absorb the inflationary costs and cost of doing business with any organic growth of the mill and that's where we sit right now at in title only first reading. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Danny.

» Thank you very much. Okay, with that we'll go to a vote. Uh first, Councilman Jones, how do you vote? Yes. Okay, that's a yay. Um, all those present. Okay, it passes first reading. 10A Moving down the list. Um, this is a a bit of a housekeeping item. This is first reading entitled only as well, an ordinance to approve a lease of Kershaw County owned real property located at 632 West DeKalb Street, Camden, South Carolina to the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service for the purposes of operating an extension branch office and to approve certain obligations and responsibilities by and between Kershaw County and Clemson University Cooperative Extension. Uh, service as fully set forth in the lease agreement.

» So, basically we're we're working through our lease agreements and making sure they're up-to-date. And this is just a bit of housekeeping. So, um, is there any discussion on this item? Mr. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, I'd like

» make a make a motion. Yes, thank you. I'll second. Getting ahead of myself.

» That's okay. All right, we've got we've got a motion from Councilman Tucker and a second from Councilman Shumpert. Any discussion on this item? Councilman Jones, any discussion? Okay.

» No no questions. Okay, seeing there's none, I'll go to Councilman Jones first. How do you vote? Yes. Okay, that's a yay from Councilman Jones. All those in person, how do we vote? It looks like it is unanimous by those here in person. All right, moving on. Now, the fun begins everybody. This is what y'all all came for. I think everybody in the audience just about is here for uh item C, the second reading. An ordinance to implement a building permit allocation system. First reading was March 31st. Um is there a motion to put this on the floor? Uh yes, Mr. Chair. I'd like to I'd like to make a motion to put this on the floor with an amendment. So, my motion would be to adopt the permit allocation system on second.

» Let's make a Let's make a motion and get a second first for this and then we can add the amendment. We can do that. I checked this with legal just so we can avoid doing it twice, but if you want to do that, it's up to you. You're going to throw me off, Derek. You know I can't I'm going to

» I'll make a motion to adopt the the uh permit allocation system. Thank you. Do we Do we have a second? I'll yield. I didn't hear about yours. I'll I'll second. Okay. All right, so we've got a motion and a second. Um now Mr. Mr. Chair Yes, sir, Councilman Jones. I I have an amendment. Okay, I think Well, let me let me get my amendment first.

» Uh Coun- Councilman Jones, he uh Derek was was moving straight into his amendment. If I may let him go first and then come to you. Normally we would go to the the one who

» Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. I just Please guys, talk directly into your mic. It's hard to hear. Okay.

» hear that. Okay. All right.

» I I absolutely will yield to Mr. Shumake. Okay. Councilman Shumake, your amendment, sir. So, I would make a motion to amend uh the permit allocation system after some discussion with Chairman Connell. Obviously, he cannot be here tonight. Uh but I did discuss this with him so that I'm you know, speaking after some compromise discussions with him and some others. I would make a motion to adopt the permit allocation system on second reading with the following amendments. Um it would be that the first 6 months of the permit allocation system would have a 0% decrease with the 500 cap that we've discussed. So, it'd be a 500 cap, which is our historical average. For the first 6 months, there would be 0% reduction. The second 6-month period of the 2-year window would have a 15% reduction.

» And then the third and fourth periods, which is the entire second year, would move to a 20% reduction. And these numbers may be adjusted by council at the end of each 6-month interval. That is my amendment. All right. Do we have a That That's your amendment with a motion. Do we have a second for this Shoemate?

» that. All right. So, we have a second.

» I have an amendment. Okay. Let's I have an I have an amendment. Uh Councilman Jones, let's take a vote on the first amendment and then I can I can address your amendment. Um all those in favor of Councilman Shoemate's amendment? All right. I need to get Jimmy's vote first. Councilman Jones, how do you vote? No. Okay. A nay from Councilman Jones. All those present on the amendment, how do you vote? Those in favor are Shoemate, Tucker, Cato, Tomlinson. So, the amendment passes. I I'm also voting no on the amendment. So, it passes four to two. Um now uh Councilman Jones, I can hear from you and your amendment. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to table further consideration of this motion until first meeting of council in February 2027. That's the motion and the amendment. Okay.

» So, um about a 10-month table process. Um So, that's your motion. I'll I'll second your motion to table it. Um I don't know that it needs to be quite that long, but I'll I'll I'll table I'll I'll agree to I'll agree to make a motion to second second your motion. So, um discussion. Mr. Jones, I got a quick question for you. Uh you trying to do this so it can be after you get off of council? That is absolutely incorrect, Mr. I I was I was just wondering. Who is Who is it? Who is that I'm talking to? This is Blaine. That is absolutely nonsense. I've been here 20 years and I've never dodged I've never dodged a vote in my life. And I'm not dodging this and I'm just So, I'm going to give you guys an explanation as to why I'm making this motion.

» If I make it in time to go first as everybody else does, that's they make a motion with an amendment. Go ahead, sir. Go ahead, sir. Okay, thank you. Okay, guys, this is first I've heard of this, the amendment tonight. And we have not communicated effectively with the public. Obviously, cuz they're coming in they're probably hearing all this for the first time tonight. Uh the planning commission voted not to recommend it. We need to refer it back to the planning commission for further study and to present a recommendation that manages growth without imposing a hardship on hardworking citizens. Provide time for people to adjust to any possible proposed drastic changes.

» This would allow time to consider the needs of the citizens, the county including the livelihood of citizens which is Well, well, excuse me, which this ordinance would adversely impact and hurt. Which we heard that tonight, folks. Growth is an issue, but so is the livelihood of working people and businesses. I want to protect families. We need to consider people, jobs, and families. Yeah, I I don't understand how we can come in and in in one night make a motion and pass something that's going to drastically affect so many people. And uh But but that that's what we've done. Yeah, I feel that uh this ordinance is a uh wolf in dressed as sheep's clothing. I really do. I'm going to ask for it. It's a In my opinion, it's a Here's something that I've always said and I've always thought about.

» And I hope everybody's listening to what I say. But they're then right about 99% of the time. I do not understand how council Council didn't invest as well. Spends millions of dollars on economic development to attract new jobs and new people, and then at the same time wants to pass what is in effect a partial moratorium on economic development. You know, that's that's that's just confuses me. But, you know for me to be asked if I'm postponing this 10 months because I'm dodging a vote. I think I've made some pretty bold statements here tonight. I'm not intimidated by anybody on council. I'm not dodging any votes. All right. My wife just handed me something. So, let's Let me just say this. Guys, give the people in this county Let's take 10 months. Let's study it. Let's work it.

» Let's don't do a shoot from the hip decision. Let's Let's be able to work with folks on both sides. And let me tell you something. I live Lash Cut Road in Pigeon Forge. And I can tell you now I feel it. But, I don't live in Pigeon Forge. I live here. But, I can I I feel the growth. I see the growth. Every county in this state is feeling the same growth. You know, we got to do something. But, I would be more than happy to sit down and some citizens involved, and the planning commission involved, smart growth committee involved. But, also extend out to some of the associated that's going to affect their pocketbooks. And you know, they have a right to be upset. Cuz I'm not going to say it's been I know the guys on this council has had in the past back door agreements.

» But, I'm not saying that with this group. I truly feel you guys are doing what y'all think is best, but it's not. But, um This is my reasons for making this is not to escape anything. I could care less what anybody thinks of me at this moment. What I care about is the citizens. And I'm not asking for anybody's vote. I don't need anybody's vote. I'm doing now what I've always done for 20 years. I'm asking you guys I'll work with you. If you don't want the 10 months, let's go 6 months, but I want 10 months. I think that's the right thing to do so that we don't jump just just just jump into something just like we're coming up every night or every meeting now with the new amendments and uh 10 months too fast.

» Uh So, once again, I hope we'll put the large majority of people first or even the less majority of people first. And let's just have open discussion just sunshine on this. I think that's very important. Okay. Councilman Jones

» Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. Thank you Thank you for your comments. Um I've got a few comments of my own. I grew up in a house that was My mother was a nurse and my father was a carpenter, so we worked for local builders. I think we're at a unique crossroads here in Kershaw County. We've been ripe for a long time. And now we're being targeted as as a developable county in a way that we've never seen before. In no way, shape, or form will I ever vote to restrict someone's ability to make a living. However, I do like the idea of keeping the integrity of Kershaw County whole. And frankly, I think we've done that. We we did that 2 years ago when we re-zoned and redefined R6, R10, and R15 as a half acre.

» Uh frankly, I'm that was a bit of a a bold move and and I was happy to to support that along with Councilman Shumate and and others here. I think it was by and large popular. And I think that's going to help with quality and and a way of life that we've enjoyed here in Kershaw County. We We like to be able to stretch our arms just a bit, right? When we walk outside, we don't want to bump into our neighbor's house. We certainly don't want to hold hands through windows. And you can you can drive just across the county line and in the Richland County and you can see the difference. It's quite evident. And I think we've really addressed that in itself.

» The the permit allocation system, I agree, has some issues and we can dive into that in in another discussion in a moment, but in accordance with the Jones amendment, I'd like to say three things. Everybody in this house in this room lives in a house unless you're homeless. And I would I would hope that everyone here lives in a home. So, we can't be terribly hypocritical of someone else who wants to live in a house or home. So, while hearing both sides of the discussion, frankly, I think we cannot restrict someone from being able to build a house in a in a period of time. It reminds me of this may sound a bit extreme China's one-child rule in the '80s. People are going to reproduce. And we're going to want our children to move home.

» I have a son who's moving back to South Carolina after being in school in Virginia for 4 years. I welcome him home with open arms and I'm very excited about that. And I hope that he'll choose Kershaw County to live. I hope he's able to find a house. And I'm hope I'm able to aid in that process. I too am in the building industry. Uniquely, probably less than 5% of my product, maybe less than 3% of my product stays in Kershaw County. So, I've got I've got a position of really being able to see both sides, but I see my friends and my neighbors, people I do business with in this audience tonight.

» And it really takes me back just a few years to COVID when the federal government and the state government said, "Well, you're going to have to close your business and you can no longer work." But wait, we're going to give you a loan and you may or may not have to pay it back. All the banks got terribly excited. They really wanted to loan that money. Every business in the nation was approached by their banker to make a loan. It didn't help the federal deficit. All it did was put us in a position to be frankly scared and uncertain about how we were to to do business. That was a other than the '08 recession, that was the largest uncertainty I've ever had in my business and I just I can't cap someone's ability to work.

» Now, I will say there are other options and avenues and the lady from the BIA, I'd love to hear her comments. Um I know everybody's frustrated. Hearing both sides, I'm frustrated. My family, I hear my father and my mother talk about the traffic. I think we lack infrastructure and we lack the ability to receive proper infrastructure at a state level. We need infrastructure in our community. And And I'm willing to join with my colleagues to fight for that. With all of that being said, I would support a 3-month Councilman Jones, could we Could we say it's a 3-month time frame to hear from the BIA and others and build a better a better plan that involves the community? Councilman, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. I'm thinking about that. Okay. Well, I I think 90 days

» Let me say Let me say No, let let me say this. All right. If this council will agree If the majority will agree tonight, I'll take anything to stop it right now. We need to We need to talk. We all need to get involved. And we need to get the citizens involved who were there tonight on both sides. You know, and uh So, if if we we do that, absolutely. I I I support that tonight. Well, I think it's I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't think it's long enough, but I will support that tonight. Well, that that that can give you the ability to be here. And and I I I think that's important. And you know, with all due respect to my colleagues, especially Councilman Shoemate, I think he's done an He's committed an extraordinary amount of time to trying to find a solution.

» But, I think we need more input. We need to to have some meetings as a group, and I would love to be able to do that with you all. Uh we we've all got very busy lives here, and I've tried to connect multiple times over the last 2 weeks and have have not been able to do that. So, with that, you have my second for a 90-day moratory uh a 90-day tabling. Then you you have to make an amendment to my amendment. Well, okay.

» revise his amendment.

» You can revise your You can revise yours. Quickly. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I Let Let Let me do that. Okay, I'm going to change my motion. I make the motion to table further consideration for discussion of the uh motion until within for 90 days. How's that? Okay. And that would affect um just item C. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. All right. So, you have a second?

» is on table. You have a second and

» is on table. I believe it got a second. Would anybody like to discuss this? Yes, sir. I guess this would be a legal question, um Mr. DeBose. So, if we pass the second reading tonight, how much time do we have legally before we have to bring the third reading back into play? There's really no set um time period. I mean, bodies typically consider uh things consecutively, but there's no legal impediment um to deferring something or tabling something to a set time at a later meeting. Um I think if the will of council was to want more time and set a definitive um time on it, then there's no there's no hard and fast issue with that.

» So, we could pass this second reading tonight, keep it keep it open, and hear from the building association and others, and come back at a another time that we deem necessary to have a vote on the third reading. Yes, I mean, the one thing I would caution against, um, just procedurally for anybody would be an indefinite, um, tabling or deferral. And I only say that because I know this council wouldn't do it.

» say there, John? We didn't say indefinite. Someone

» Nobody's brought that up. Someone could, um, uh, that could lead to cynical delays of things that never get put back on the table, essentially. Um, so, again, I think the preference, procedurally and just for, um, notice to the public would always be, if there is a desire to delay something for further consideration, to delay it to a set time, which I understand is the motion before y'all to delay for 90 days, and my understanding of that would be that the first, um, regularly scheduled meeting after 90 days would be when the matter would reappear.

» It would be July 28th. So, I I would I would support, uh, passing second reading with with the third reading not being prior to July 28th. So, and and just to clarify, I believe the motion before council right now is for a, um, deferral for 90 days of this reading, um, just as a articulated by Mr. Jones. If if the, um, Mr. Jones' motion is in fact, uh, to allow second reading for two proceed, but to defer third reading, No, I didn't say that. I did not say that.

» I was seeking clarity, that's all. You know what, John? You know I didn't. I made a motion to table for any consideration for 90 days and certainly to come back and we start the process over with our votes. Right. So, with Councilman Jones, if I may, um, we're just I think we're trying to find something that we can, um, agree to. I think Councilman Cato's, uh, seems to be amenable to that. Um, I don't know if I'd want it to go to live, but I My question

» know why it'd be 90 days.

» Yeah, my my question was if we could put it off, say at least a couple of meetings, something of that nature to where we could at least hear from them. From the building and Well, I'm I'm assuming my 90 days. Yeah, and Councilman I don't know if it's or 90 days. Yeah, Councilman Jones, to be clear, I I definitely understand that your motion

» very confusing. It's very confusing, with that com- that that scenario you gave. So, I mean Okay, so

» my motion is very clear on what I said. All right, I'm I'm going to

» here and I I Can I finish, Mr. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Councilman. I went to I went to 10 months and I in good faith went back to 3 months. And then we're going to circle meeting or something. What? I don't know. We stop it, we table it for further discussion for 90 days and then we come back and we take our votes, three votes. Okay, uh, Councilman, understood. I will call I will call the vote on your amendment. Um, gentlemen, I'm going to call the vote on the amendment. Uh, Councilman Jones, I will support your your vote. All those in favor? Councilman Jones, how do you vote? I vote yes. Okay, uh, I'll vote yes as well. All those in favor? It's just two of us, Councilman. Thank you. All those opposed? Shumake, Tucker, Cato, Tomlinson oppose, uh, the 90-day delay. Mr.

» Chair, I was going to say I have some comments as we move to voting on it as amended. Whenever you're ready. Yes. Now, I would um I need to move the second reading as amended by Shoemate's amendment to discussion. Yeah, so I have a a couple comments. I just want to address a few things. Um first off, I appreciate everyone in this room. I appreciate everyone in this body. I know everyone's given a lot of thought to this. Um nobody's coming at this with a sort of ill kind of ill temper. No one's coming to this with sort of bad intentions, regardless of the side you're on. Obviously, I'm supportive of this. Um I was instrument- you know, I was instrumental in working on this with Councilman Tomlinson and our Smart Growth Committee.

» So, I admittedly have a dog in this fight and that I've been working on this for a long time. I don't want to address just a couple things if you give me just a few minutes cuz there's been a lot of questions and issues raised, and I want to make a a clear record for those people who've had questions. Um as I've said to many people who called me, and I've either taken the calls or tried to call those folks back, you know, the first answer is do we have or the first question is do we have a growth problem in Kershaw County? I haven't heard anyone say no. Um that's the easy question. The second question is, well, what is the answer? I think that this is the best answer for this time. I I don't think we And to address a couple of the issues that were brought up, you know, we could wait.

» We could defer third reading, but here's the problem. The growth is happening now. We were under an 8-month moratorium so that we could do something to get a handle on growth. This is the mechanism the Smart Growth Committee pushed out to do that. It's a 2-year program. So, some of these ideas we have talked about may work to replace this. Certainly, they may. Uh and those things may take time. I'm certainly not against any of the meetings we've discussed, but those should happen as a parallel track while we're doing this to manage our growth. Um there were some comments about the Planning Commission and some of their votes. I think it's important to note that the Planning Commission is not a policy-making body.

» The Planning Commission is there to, you know, take our policies and our ordinances and vote based on whether something comports with them. The Smart Growth Committee, however, was a policy uh recommendation body. And the Smart Growth Committee, which consisted of Planning Commission members and Council members and members of the public, voted all of these ordinances out. Um so, I do think it's important to note how that came about. Um I also think that when we talked about some of the other ideas that were mentioned, um some of them were decent ideas, but here's the problem. I'll just kind of go through each one real quick. Special tax district fiscal impact on residences and incentives um incentives for sort of one to development.

» That's great for major subdivisions, but it doesn't address growth as a an an inherent concept cuz it doesn't address growth outside of major subdivisions. And we have a growth problem. We don't have a We have a major subdivision problem, and that's what these other eight ordinances address. Certainly have that. But we have an overall growth problem. And so, the special tax districts and those things may work for major subdivisions. They also take time. And those are things that we can discuss while we have the system. And our moratorium is only 8 months long. I don't think the will of this Council is to do another 2-year moratorium while we talk through these issues. We have to do something while we decide if there is, in fact, a better issue out there.

» People mentioned impact fees and lot sizes. As to impact fees, which we do have, impact fees are very limited in how they can be used. Our impact fees are are limited to only solid waste and recreation because the impact fee ordinance, with all due respect to BIA, was written in large part with the BIA at the helm. And so, it's written in a way that is fairly restrictive. It's not an unlimited, "Hey, you can throw impact fees and do whatever you want." It's written in a way that says you can only use impact fee money to address growth. Perfect example, I wanted to use impact fee money to improve the Elger Recycle Center, which is in needs some help. We couldn't do that. We could use the impact fee money to make it larger cuz it is literally directly addressing growth.

» Can't use it to improve what's there. So, we can't we can use an impact fee to buy a new ambulance, but we can't staff the ambulance. We can't use an impact fee to improve a station. We can enlarge it. Impact fees go directly to address growth. So, it doesn't really impact the sort of lag that we're seeing. Um, and it's also a small amount of money uh relative to what we need. Lot size growth has been possibly somewhat helpful, but we haven't seen it quell our demand. We saw our demand uh really not peter off at all. I mean, we're still we're we are still averaging 500 homes building permits a year even with the lot size increase. I think you're driving the demand different places, which is a good thing, but you're still not addressing that core growth issue.

» Um, in terms of uh waiting uh the 6 months one of the issues was was mentioned about having to wait 6 months to be on a list with loans. And obviously, I know that banks will work with folks in contingent type loans where it'd be contingent on the permit. But also, no one would be waiting 6 months unless we saw a thousand permits come in a cycle, which we shouldn't see. Um, if we see what we see historically, you might be in month four or month five and told you have to wait till the next period begins. You might be waiting three, four months. I have two children that are well, one's about to be in college, one is now. I want them to come back to Kershaw County as well.

» If the price of not growing into something I don't recognize is that my son has to wait 6 months to buy to build a house, I can live with that. And you know, so uh some of the other things that were mentioned is um property rights. That's a big one. Um, I get it. But here's the here's the just stark reality. We've adjusted property rights when we expand minimum lot sizes. All the stuff against major subdivisions impacts someone's property rights. Unless you're building a house with sub with uh solar panels on well water that never gets the police called, uh has no ability to use EMS, and doesn't drive on the road, and doesn't send their kids to school, when you build a home, you are taking advantage of public services, and those public services are used by all of us.

» And when we start seeing taxes on those public services, we have an ability, and I would argue a right as a governing body, to step in and say we have to allocate these public resources in a manageable, meaningful way. Our litigation was mentioned, it's possible. New things tend to get sued on. Uh if we sit here and govern out of fear of litigation, then you will get nothing from this council but what you've had before. Um I'm not afraid to be sued. I'm a litigator, so obviously it's a little different for me, but I'm not afraid to be sued. If the worst thing I have to do is stand up in front of my constituents and say we did our best to address growth and a judge said otherwise, I can live with that. And I think most of our constituents can.

» Someone mentioned about unfairly targeting kind of local builders. This doesn't do that. What this says is most of our growth has been in the outside of subdivision category. That's just a numerical fact. But the flip side of that is the vast majority of our permits are going to the local guys. Most of our permits are going to be allocated for those people building outside of subdivisions. If we start picking and choosing those people, that is where we get into legal trouble and create ordinances that can't be sustained. There were some comments about Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant is a substantially different place. Totally own that. I was using the ordinance because it's an ordinance that has been around.

» The actual fundamentals of Mount Pleasant are very different, which is why we have a categorization that is completely different from Mount Pleasant. And the way we handle our percentages and our buckets are very, very different than Mount Pleasant ever did. There are places around the country that do what we're doing. There just haven't been a lot in South Carolina because this growth is a relatively new concept that we're all addressing. Economic development was mentioned about if a factory comes. Uh as part of the Smart Growth Committee, which had the benefit of the talking to folks, uh Jeff Burgess, our economic development director, actually briefed the Smart Growth on that exact issue and told us that housing supply is not a problem.

» Getting There's a lot of other problems with economic development, he and he's working on those, but he's never had housing supply be an issue in bringing uh industry to South Carolina. So, that's not an issue we've noted. The housing availability both here and in contiguous counties. In fact, let me tell you what housing availability can do. It can continue to turn Kershaw County into a bedroom community cuz that allows people like Fairfield and Sumter and Richland to say, "Hey, build your factory here and put all your people in Kershaw County. It's right across the border." I'd rather build the factory in Kershaw and put all the houses in Lee, Fairfield, or Richland.

» So, in terms of time to adjust, um this does give us time, right? This gives us time to adjust because we've had, you know, this was put on the agenda for first reading. The Smart Growth Committee had it for several months. There's been a news story about it. Our third reading won't be for another 2 weeks. So, there is time to adjust. And it is a 2-year program. Unless this council affirmatively extends it at the end of that 2 years, it is a 2-year program. So, this is a chance for us to do something while we look at some of these other options, which may be which may be very valid. Um every county does see growth, but not every county sees it like us. We may be the We are the seventh fastest-growing county in the state of South Carolina, the fastest-growing state in the country.

» We are the fastest-growing inland county. If you are not on the coast or bordering a state, you are sitting in the fastest-growing county in South Carolina. Our problems are unique. And this isn't shooting from the hip. Um I have personally spoken to every single council member directly about this. At least as the latest would be maybe a month ago. I've spoken to every person who's called me. I've put as many Facebook posts up. I wish we had a local TV station that could advertise this stuff more. Uh but I I I can't think of another way we could have convened this. The fact we have so many people here today shows that the word was getting out. And we'll have 2 years through this program to refine it, to come up with a better replacement. I have no problem with a better replacement.

» What I do have have with is just hitting a pause button or taking a wait-and-see approach. So, for those reasons and many others, I already talked too long, but for those reasons and many others Agreed. Indeed. I'm supportive of this. I do want to say the last thing to my friends and neighbors who are out here. Um I get it. And you know, when you elect somebody to to do this job, sometimes you have to give hard answers. Councilman, I'd like to address one thing that Mr. Chair, can I go next, Mr. Chair? Yes, sir. I've got one major point I'd like to make, but go ahead. All right. Well You know Kershaw County is not the same. You go to Bishopville, I mean, excuse me, to Bethune. You go to Antioch. You go to Elgin. You go to Lugoff. It's not the same everywhere.

» And And I love this whole county. I have always said that I I am not a councilman for District 4. I'm a councilman for Kershaw County. I think all of you have to feel that way. I I really do. So, guys, what we did tonight will affect There is There is no county explosion. We know the problems are in West Wateree. We know that. We know Elgin and and and West and Lugoff. But what we've done is taken a vast, huge area that doesn't have this problem and we put them under the same ruling with this. I just I just don't Once you don't fit all sizes, then I just think that we should have done a little bit more discussing conversation and taking things like that into consideration. And and and I realize some may say, "Well, there's a legal issue." No, there's We can do We set the law.

» We're not afraid of getting sued. I think we made that clear. I've been sued five times in when I was in the county before I got on county council. Um But anyway, Mr. Chair, thank you so much for yielding to me. I know you had to do your thing. Thank you so much for doing that. And members of council, thank you for listening to me. Thank you. Of course. Thank you, Councilman Jones. Um I do have a legal question. Um as I read the ordinance, I'm going to read it and I'm going to ask John DeBoer to clarify something for me. Um this ordinance is a second reading an ordinance to amend the Kershaw County Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations by revising section 5.2, Land Development Submittal Requirements and Approval Processes. What This is um I'm sorry. I've I've pulled this out of the wrong ordinance. Yes.

» Um But the concern is this. I see in this ordinance, which will be getting to, which is directly tied to this, that planned development districts are exempt. Is that correct? As drafted, there is a provision that it is not an automatic exemption, but that county council could consider exempting or accepting, to be fair. It's uh stated as an exception. Um development projects submitted in conjunction with development agreements, the um section of the ordinance sets forth the rationale for it. But basically, in enacting the local government development agreement act, um the general assembly um made findings that that legal mechanism where developers can negotiate with local governments Okay. was a good idea to offset um All right, so

» development impacts.

» Okay, so before we get too far down that road, I just want to stop and pause. And I want to make this point of clarification. I I jumped ahead to tie this in. We're going to potentially allow major developers to not have to abide by the same rules that we're applying to the general public? Is that what I'm hearing? I can answer that from a policy perspective cuz that's what

» to hear his answer first. Well Well, I I to be fair, I do think it's ultimately a policy question, but the development agreement act again was explicitly passed so that developers and local governments could discuss and negotiate for developers to offset their expected impacts on public services. Um and that they can provide property donations, rooftop fees any number of mechanisms to offset expected impacts. Um development agreements Okay, so

» provide for a schedule of buildings so there's predictability of when lots appear, but again, it's it's purely a policy call. So I I think I've I've seen this in in in Lancaster County and Indian Land. I've seen it here in Kershaw County in Elgin particularly Councilman Shewmaker's area where these large developers with a lot of money get special treatment and they get a key to unlock the door to Kershaw County when everybody else doesn't and I think that's unfair. I think it's unjust and I think it's unconstitutional. We've never had a PDD in Kershaw County for the record. This would allow it. Well, it already is allowed. Yeah, well, as we're further and restrict people who've grown up here. That's the point I'm trying to make.

» If we could if we could exclude that as when we get to it but all that ties together. All that ties to to what we're voting on tonight and to take a 90-day moratorium, which we didn't. I think we could have talked about this a little more. I think we could have gotten the community involved and Let me tell you something. Politicians are bought cheap. That's why I'm not a politician. Well, first off, I

» hold on, I'm speaking.

» All right. Well, I want to speak next cuz the implication that we can be bought cheap I think

» I'm not talking about you specifically. I was about to make my point. What we do today you're not going to be here in 4 years probably. You're you're probably going to be done. Sammy

» I am.

» You might be here another 20 years. I don't know. I'm done in 40. I can promise you that. My point is if you get some young gullible council member in the future that's persuaded by finance contributions I did was not targeted towards you, Darrick. Please. I'm So, I needed to All right. to finish my But, I've seen it. I've seen it happen. And while our intentions may be good tonight we're setting policy for the next 20, 30, 40 years. And I just want to be real cautious when we do this. This is This is unique and I get that. It's Everybody wants a solution to the traffic. That's infrastructure. Nobody wants to see 150,000 people in Kershaw County in 10 years. We've made some changes. Everybody would like to see quality development in in fair housing.

» Those are constitute Well, those are congressional laws. Those are federal laws, fair housing. So, as we as we move forward through this boat, I want everybody to be very careful to think about how it would affect your family if this was your industry. Okay? And the thought of of the future councils, not us. I'm not implementing anybody here at all. But, ton of respect for everybody here. Um but it can happen. Okay? So, with that being said, that's all I'm going to say. And I'm going to call the vote because the discussion is going too long. I'm sorry, you did want to say something else.

» good. I'm good. We're I'm good to call the vote. Okay. I think Mr. Thompson had something. Councilman? Yeah, I think um Mr. Shumake hit a lot of my my talking points I was going to do and um I I see where you were going with your comments, Mr. Brazell, and those are those are noted and over the past couple weeks I've received quite a few phone calls, especially from a lot of the local guys. Um and your concerns are heard. They are. Um sitting up here, I look at Kershaw County for the character that it is, the reason we all live here, the reason you have the jobs that you do and raise your family here and build homes. Which is one reason we put in the 60% of those allocations out of 500 permits annually over the past 5 years. The 60% mark goes to single family non-subdivision.

» That's your majority of it. When you look at Kershaw County all the way from the hills, the sand hills, the Wateree River, I don't want Camden and and our side of the river to be Lugoff and Elgin. I want to keep its rural character. I love I love the horse community. I love our farms. We got a small farm in Antioch. However, I do want to keep this a place that my kids can come back to and have the same opportunity to go out on a four-wheeler and ride. I don't want to be Lexington County. I have no no want to have Indian Land here. I remember when I was in college riding through Indian Land it had one stoplight. Yep. Now it takes you an hour and a half to get from one side to the other in rush hour traffic in a place that's what, 8 square miles? That's crazy. That's not Kershaw County.

» We're not trying to hurt little guys at all. That's not my intent and I can probably speak for every single council member up here. It's not their intent. We want y'all to thrive. This 2-year sunset clause with the amendments, and I know there are some people locally that have some money on the line right now. Pretty much build ready. And I do think that 0% cap for the first 6 months is fair. Um and we're going to be looking at this every every 6 months and readjusting. Is this the right answer? I don't know. But I'm willing to give it a shot. Because while I'm sitting up here, I will never allow Kershaw County to be Lexington County. You know, when DuPont came here in the '40s, there was 33,000 people here. They employed 5,000. Think about that percentage.

» You know, I know the BIA sent stuff out and a lot of people spoke tonight about a house equals a job. DuPont came here without employees here. I mean, heck, that's a huge percent of the population. We live in a metropolitan area. The reason people are moving here is because there's nowhere else to move. The cost of building is more expensive. Richland County, Lexington County, we have Lancaster County right there, you have Sumter. Everybody's coming here because it's cheaper to build. And we're put in a situation to put regulations in place to keep our history, our environment, our natural resources, the reason that our families moved here. And I will be supporting this, and I will not be voting to table it. Thank you. All right. We already know that. All right. Councilman Cato, please.

» I just I just got a few comments. I had a quite a few phone calls. Some of you may be here tonight that I've talked to. Um I tried to I don't think I missed a one. If you called me, I I tried my best to either answer or return your call. Um and I told each and every one of you that I talked to that after the first reading, I voted for the first reading so that it would can continue the discussion. But I was not in favor of the 30%. I thought the 30% was too drastic. And I still believe that way. Especially to start off with. It was just too much. Um I ask Chairman Connell, and I and I respectfully have had some pretty um intense conversations with with Mr. Shumate. I mean, we don't see eye to eye on some of this stuff.

» And that was one of them, but we we um we just had to agree to disagree on stuff, and it that's the way it's been. But I want to thank them for looking into this and and us putting our heads together a little bit, and I think that this 0% for the first 6 months and a gradual increase if we see necessary, I I feel that that's a fair um way to do things. I would never have supported 30% off the bat in the in the third reading. It would not have happened. Um, but I feel that this at least gives people time to adjust, and I don't think it's that big a hit. I don't even think 15% is that big a hit. But, it's starting somewhere, and with the growth in this county, and just like Mr. Tomlinson um, stated, I mean, I agree with everything he said. I mean, we we've got to do something.

» And so, I wanted to explain my position on this, and uh, this is nothing against uh, I've got family members that make their living off this kind of stuff also. I understand. I do understand. I As you could tell tonight, there's no win for nobody up here on this board. Nobody. Everybody's split on it. So. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Councilman. Mr. Vice Chair. Yes, sir. Councilman Tucker. I think I've sat very, very quietly. You have. Yes, I have.

» I've been impressed. Um, first and foremost, I want to say thank you to all of you builders, contractors, developers, real estate agents, and all that who have reached out to me. Um, I received your concerns and had conversation with you. The ones that didn't have conversation with me is because we played phone tag, but I've returned every call that has been um, that I have received. Uh, with that being said, um, there's there's other issues out there that I'm concerned about, um, that I do want to put on the table so you know that we will be thinking about them between now and third reading. Um, I know people are very tricky. All it takes you is a $75 and a no good lawyer, you can file suit on anything you want, right, Mr. Shubael? It's $150, but the no good part's right.

» All right, inflation. I'll give you that. Um, I'm saying that because I know there's tricks of the trades of the game where big boxers come in and, you know, they LLC up and start going into your parts of the allotment there that is that's there. Um, we're going to be in conversation with our county attorney and others and also anybody else that I can get their opinion on uh along with my colleagues and administration uh to see what what type of uh defense we can put in there without creating a lawsuit as legal as possible. Um, I would say too uh Councilman Cato spoke on it. Uh, zeroing out the allotment for the next 6 months give you some surety to get started on your um projects that some of y'all is what I call got uh shovel ready.

» You actually moving dirt and got curbs and gutters is the word I'm looking for. Continue to work. I mean, you shouldn't have to worry about that and and your investment. There's nothing up here that would hurt me more um, is for us to make a decision that will destroy local builders. Um, that's I've never taken a vote up here in 20-something years I've sat here to hurt any of the citizens of Kershaw County and their business and it's not going to start now, but I also know this room wouldn't be filled if this did not have a little bit of substance and what we're going to have to rethink how we do things and re-plan. Um, I use this example all the time um, since we've gone into this new phone sale cell phone ordinance. They passed a law last year. We started enforcing it this year.

» There was a grace period there. So, let's all sit down, conversate, figure out what we need to do to continue to be successful and share that back with your representatives or myself um, so we can make sure that we're not leaving a donut hole. That's the part that I'm afraid of. A donut hole that will be able to hurt you. So, for those reasons I'm going to support tonight, but I will continue to work on this ordinance and fine-tune it. And let me say this to to all of you. We, County Council, has the power to recall, adjust, or change any ordinance that's in our um venue or um a right. So, um when 6 months come up and there's something that's going to ride and we see that we made a bad decision um from zero, we can make that adjustment and and so on and so on.

» Um there's nothing that prevents us from recalling something or um adjusting or um whatever we need to do. So, I don't want you to think that this is sunset and life is over cuz it's not it's not gloom and doom. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Councilman Tucker. Yes, Mr. Vice Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. Vice Yes, one one one more comment and then I'm going to call the vote. All right, this is my comment. This is my comment. I want to thank everybody on Council for not personally taking a jab at anybody except for one person jabbing me tonight. Thank you so much. If I have to jab anybody on Council tonight, I appreciate that. You've been a gentleman. Thank you, sir. I'll get you when you get back home. Listen, we got we got a lot to do, guys. We got a lot to go.

» These people are here waiting on you. You the contrary. I'm going to make one more suggestion prior to calling this vote. I would like to make an amendment that all subdivisions that have been started in Kershaw County be exempt and grandfathered in um as prior to this because there are people who invested millions of dollars into infrastructure that won't be able to build their their homes and they won't they may even lose their builders completely because if they're only allowed to pull eight to 10 permits uh per year, they won't put a um they won't they won't put a a foreman on site to oversee the house building. So, there's people that could lose entire subdivisions that that they have already been started. So, I'm making amendment to grandfather in existing projects. That's my amendment.

» I'll second that. Okay, we've got a second. It's on the floor. I have no further discussion. It's pretty cut and dry. Gentlemen, how do you vote? Jimmy, you first. Well, I mean I'd I'd have a I mean I I think it'd be interesting. I'd like to see the numbers. I'd like to see that you know, kind of like you did with the nurses and stuff. I'd kind of like to see the numbers of how many existing projects and how many permits and I I mean what you know, how long these permits some of the permits have been out. The existing permits. I mean, I don't think that it's right for somebody to hold on to a permit for five or six years. I can address some of that if you'd like.

» Go ahead. Yep. So, um let me just pull up uh So, right now we have So, I I I will just say at the front end I'm opposed to the grandfathering provision because we've got it built in already. One of the things we I've talked about doing on third reading with Chairman Canella and I, but obviously he's been indisposed, was taking in the major subdivision category and making the vast majority of those um for existing projects. So, that only about 10 or 20% of those permits can go to new subdivisions. And if you look at that, that the it should only slow the rate of growth. The reason for that is there's 1,485 lots inside of approved subdivisions. If you were to grandfather all those in, you pretty much have the permit allocation system uh written out of existence. The other thing is that

» Well, only for 1,485 lots, though. Correct. But, what I'm saying is you would you would you could in theory grow 800 lots next year. It wouldn't actually limit growth is my point. It wouldn't do what it says about limiting growth. But, I will say that of the 1,485 lots, all but 117 received approval more than 2 years ago. So, we're dealing with lots that have been approved for more than 2 years that have not been built. So, we're not talking about, you know, with the exception of 117, which again and under this thing no single sub-development can have more than 25%. So, the those recently approved subdivisions would still be competitive. They'd still be able to do that with a rollback. So, that's that's kind of the short version. I wasn't anticipating talking about this.

» I can talk about it more if we need to, but that's that's kind of a base some of the basics on those numbers. All right. So, before we take that vote, I just want to do one thing. If you're in this If you're here tonight and you feel like that this could push you into potential bankruptcy, raise your hand. There are two people that feel like they could be pushed into potential bankruptcy if we pass this tonight. That's because they have borrowed money at a bank. They have invested a lot and we could take their livelihood from them. I want you all to think about that. That's a real question. That's a real question, guys. Let's grandfather what's existing and be fair to these people. Can I say something this year? Last year? Yes, sir.

» This is second reading and if council would support this, they would have more time to look over it, come back on third reading. Uh Jimmy, are are you suggesting I I support second reading. No, I'm I'm supporting No, no, no, no. I'm supporting second reading as it is. I'm just explaining that we still have another reading to go. Things could change then, but I think that's a This is the first I've heard about it. I think that's a very good motion. This is last year. I just wish our colleagues would give it some thought and and vote in favor for the next and then we got a third reading coming up. Do you suggest we hold off until third reading? Is that what you're suggesting? No. No. I'm saying we move forward and we move forward. You make an amendment.

» Aren't you making an amendment to third reading? Okay, so are you All right, so I've made Is that a separate Is your motion a separate amendment from anything else? Yes. My My motion to amend would grandfather existing projects. And Okay, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I'm in favor. I'm in favor of your motion.

» Okay. Thank you. Um Guys, I want you all to consider this because these people planned these projects before these laws were implemented. If we can do that, then I think it's a win. I think it's a happy medium. I really need you to consider this amendment. So, with that, I'll call the vote. Councilman Jones, how do you vote on my amendment? In favor. Okay. All those present and voting in favor, raise your hand. That's some strong no's. Two yes's. All those opposed. Consider it on third. All right, well, I'll I'll have to lean on someone else to to make that motion on third. And maybe we can have some positive conversations between now and then. All right.

» Calling the the vote on the second reading of an ordinance to implemented a building permit allocation system as amended by Councilman Shoemate. All those in favor? Jimmy? I'm not in favor. Nay from Councilman Jones. Nay from Councilman Brazell. All those in favor? Councilman Shoemate, Councilman Tucker, Councilman Cato, Councilman Tomlinson. All in favor, it passes 4-2. All right, we will have to see how that plays out, y'all. We've got one more reading. Maybe we can have some conversations between now and then. I must move on to the second reading of an ordinance to amend the Kershaw County, South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations. Give it just a second, Mr. Vice Chair. Let the room quiet down, please. What's the matter, Mr.

» Tucker? I can't I didn't hear you. We We just We're taking a break. I'll tell you what I'll tell you what we're going to do. I'm going to put us into recess for 5 minutes to allow everyone a break. This has been We're 2 hours in.

» Mhm.

» We're back in session. All right. All right, just finishing C. Um We are going to I'm going to take a chairman's prerogative. If I can find it in this mega packet we have. Mhm. Lord have mercy. Where is the golf course in a minute? Will came his first turn? Well, I'm trying to find the one I was going to jump to. John Debose. Yes, sir. Um, can we have Stephen Smoke approach? Oh, he likes that. He popped up. Come on, Stephen. We're going to we're going to get you out of here. Chairman, is he ill? Right. That's what he wants. We are We are in the weeds, guys. All right. Let's I'm sorry. I had that associated with two others as a slate. I apologize. Um, I'm going to jump ahead to M and then we're going to back up. Um, so that you and your clients can get out of here.

» We appreciate the consideration. Yeah, of course. So, I think they love us. I'd like to make a motion for third reading an ordinance to amend Kershaw County's South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations Section 3.3 Conditional Uses Rural Country Club Requirements. We've had two readings. Um, I'm excited about this project. I think it's very positive for Kershaw County. Um, does anybody have any questions? I'll make a motion. Second. Your motion.

» a second? So, this is um, Tell us Tell us all the fun facts. Yes, thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. Um, this comes at a request from uh, Candy Root, which um, they have a large presence on social media, um, many of you have seen, but it is a uh, golf course development in in a rural part of the county, uh, Councilman Cato's district, and uh, Mount Pisgah, Jefferson, almost Jefferson area. And um, it's it's exciting. My clients are um, prepared to invest a significant amount of money in the county. We'll also create some jobs uh, and while at the same time provide recreational opportunities for both tourists and our own citizenry. So, all in all we think it's a a very positive thing for the county and something that that everyone can look look forward to enjoying in the future.

» And these are some changes as you well know to the ZLDR which will you know, help the project along and help it be successful and we don't have any other changes to the ZLDR since second reading. And we just appreciate your consideration of the changes tonight. So, as as I've understood it, they just want to build a a nice clubhouse not to exceed 8,000 square feet that that would be lodging for a guest at the golf course. Is that correct?

» That's correct. Yeah, not not for you know, residential lodging for long-term Not a not a subdivision. Not a subdivision, not at all. Not a zoning change. Not a zoning This is just to allow it's just to allow folks to have a a place to sleep when they're here. And I'm excited about the golf course. I just one thing prior to the vote. Would you promise me that you'll come back with a presentation from from the golf course and let them show us how wonderful it's going to be?

» a few of the representatives who are here tonight Candy Ridge folks and and they would be excited to do that sometime here in the very very near future because the first course the plan is for it to be open and playable this fall. Great. Fantastic. And we'd frankly, I think we'd like a tour. We'd like to see the project. Great. Stephen, could you coordinate that? I'd happy to. With with Ben or myself and and we could we could have everybody out for a tour. Really excited. Thank you for investing in Kershaw County. Amen. Um very appreciative and um hopefully we can continue to support you guys in any way possible.

» With that, um any other comments, discussion? Yeah, I would just like to say this this is being built within probably a mile and a quarter of my residence and uh it look the the landscape that's up there is just unbelievable. Um this first course looks like it's going to be a remarkable course just from what I've seen from the road and and for the most part, especially after we knew that there was no no housing developments and that was the that was the false narrative that was put out there. But after we found out really what they're wanting to do, we're looking forward to some growth, some responsible growth in that area that's going to provide some jobs and and some great recreation and very excited to see what she had to come for Candy Root. Looking forward to it. All right, all those in favor? It is unanimous by those here in voting in in person.

» to hear Councilman Jones be in good favor of this. I think Councilman Jones probably don't. Oh, okay. All right. No, I was just just picking on him. It's past his bedtime. My old colleague.

» Right, right. I think he's had enough. Well, uh Miss Miss Vice Chair, if I can, um Mr. Smoke, make sure that the um owners and developers have a special tee time for the Tucker brothers. It won't be a course until myself and my two brothers get on the course and play. And destroy it. Listen to I've seen your brother Clayton play and uh yeah, I don't know about that. We'll have fun, right? Thank you and thanks and have a good night. Mr. uh Vice Chair, point of order. Sure, yes, sir. Um Mr. Jones is not feeling well. He said y'all tired him out after 2 hours and um, he's going to rest so he So understandable. Understandable. Thank you for sharing that. Councilman Jones, thank you for calling in tonight. Um, All right.

» So now we reset to letter D is second reading of an ordinance to amend Kershaw County, South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Development Regulations to add section 5.3.3 major subdivision design standards. Uh, do I have a motion for this reading? Bless you. Uh, so Mr. What? I was going to say Mr. Chair, I do have a motion that we consolidate some of these but um, I'll defer to you if you want to take them one by one but

» Well, I I've actually got I've I've studied this some and I've got an amendment I would like to propose. Okay. That I think would be more than helpful to um, further enhance some of what you've already done. Okay. Um, so for D, okay, then I would make a motion to adopt D on second reading. Okay, perfect.

» Second. So we've got a motion and a second, Shoemate and Tomlinson. Um, it's on the floor. Um, I'll defer to your amendment. Okay. Any discussion needed before I make an amendment? Okay, seeing none, I would like to make an amendment. I would move that we amend I don't intend to limit on grade slabs to 25% of the total homes in a subdivision in section 5.3.3-5 section A, page three. Mr. DeBose, is that clear enough of a motion for I think you've precisely identified the the section. Yes. And I think what we would do is enhance the developments that we see by limiting that. Does anybody think that's a good idea and and would like to second that motion? Say where you're at again. Okay, we're Yeah,

» We're I know. I know it's been We had a We had a We had a lot going on. So, it's D. Everybody is D a second reading. Yep. And and all I'm suggesting is that there there be a section added to limit the amount of on-grade slabs. So, in in traditional home building you have you have a crawl space. You have a stem slab or raised slab, which is like 18 in in elevation, and then you have an on-grade slab, which is useful especially in townhouses, and in particular, um, it's a it's a style of building, but I think to to many of the points that you made earlier, um, being a very special place, um, it would further enhance quality construction. It would promote, um, a type of home that that people could cherish and really enjoy living in. And so, I think that would enhance what we're doing.

» What what um percentage are we looking at? Well, my proposal is 25%, but I'm happy to hear from you. 25% has to be on crawl space is what you No, it's 25% would be the maximum amount allowed of slabs. On-grade.

» All all type

» Oh, on-grade. No, just on-grade.

» Just slabs on-grade, not not elevated raised.

» Yep, not not elevated or raised, right. That would include barndominiums? Um, no, because a barndominium would be a a one-off. Well, barndominium a lot of born aluminums are on slabs. Yeah, but you could

» Well, they wouldn't be a major subdivision

» wouldn't be in a major subdivision. This is just in a major subdivision. Um Yeah, I mean I I'm fine with limiting um or at least it'll give a variety in a in a subdivision. We had we did have I think it would I think it would lend itself to variety. This is something that um Mr. DeBose and I as we were reviewing this at 4:30 um kind of came up and there's a lot going on today, so my apologies for not being able to get to

» is limited just to be clear limited to subdivisions. Yes, sir. Major or minor? Yeah, this so this is this is So, you're just major. It it only it only it it just it prohibits so if it's 100 houses, 25 of them can be on slab. can be a an on-grade slab. 70 The rest of them can be

» raised slab.

» raised slabs. But I think that town homes would be your on-grade slabs if if I were the developer. I would build my town homes which are also limited on an on-grade slab. So, if someone is is a maybe an elderly couple in a wheelchair and they need that on-grade slab without a ramp. The that would be available to them or home house. So didn't want to eliminate I knew the city of Camden eliminated it completely. It did. Do we have a second? I I have comments.

» Well, I I I got I got

» No, we we we we frankly hadn't done it correctly. We hadn't put it on the floor. So, I need a second. I'll second it. Thank you. So, so I I I originally was in supportive of of the concept of maybe even elimination. We had some comments in the smart growth committee meeting that sort of went the other way. I'm definitely not against it. Um we're on second reading I could vote for it tonight with a really big caveat that I could change my mind. I don't want to kind of mislead people. I have no trouble I I almost maybe the I would almost maybe invert the percentages. But I'd like to I'd like to think about it a little bit, but I don't want I don't want your amendment to fail and then you can't raise it again. So, I would vote for it with the understanding that I may Sure. vote against it cuz I do think cuz we did talk about it. I just want to go back and look at some of those materials.

» We We did. We did.

» Um before I commit to it. But for purposes of second reading, I can support it just so we can not have it be you know, against. Any other discussion? Yeah. Um All right. All All those in favor? All right. Those voting in person and well, those voting it's unanimous. The The amendment votes. The amendment passes and now we need to vote on the ordinance as amended. So, um to to reiterate, uh we're going to vote on the second reading say letter D with amendment. All those in favor of the ordinance as amended? I'm sorry. Can you see? Are you raising your hand? Yes. Oh, I just wanted to It's uh It's It's It's unanimous. Thank you. What y'all confused about? Th- Th- Thank you, gentlemen. I know that was um needed some discussion.

» Uh moving on, we are at E, second reading an ordinance to amend Kershaw County, South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning and Land Regulations, ZLDR, Section 3. 5.4, Buffering, Screening, Open Space and Landscaping Regulations. Is there a motion to put it on the floor? So, Mr. Chair, I I'll go back to what I said before. If I guess what I'd ask is if on E through K, if there are no amendments proposed, I would move them as a packet. If there is, I would ask that we can go to the ones that council members may have amendments on. But if not, I'd like to move them as a packet, but I'll defer to how you want to do it. So, I and And promise I think this is the last one. I actually have an amendment for this as well. Okay. That that could be friendlier. Um I would like to Well, I'll make a motion that it be adopted on second reading. Okay. Second.

» going to second. You can make your amendment. All right. So, we've got a motion from Councilman Shoemate, a second from Councilman Tucker. Correct. And I'd like to propose an amendment. The part of this regulation I think that maybe stuck in some of the crawl of the developers was the fact that none of the wetlands had credit. So, if if you were to develop 100 acres, 20 acres was a river bottom, which was a beautiful river bottom, which rarely flooded, they didn't get any credit for that 20 acres as a um as part of their open space. When if it were on the Wateree River, it drops off into a flood zone, you actually could still build in that flood zone uh legally, but that wouldn't if it were left open, it wouldn't be considered um green space. green space.

» So, what I wanted to do is split the difference and give a 50% credit for any wetland area for the green space. That is my amendment. Does that take into account like actual water acreage? No.

» Say if you have have a swamp or something.

» No. No. Or I I don't think it would take Dubois, help me clarify that.

» It wouldn't take into account a pond. It would have to be open land. Yeah, I don't believe that our ZLD are classified bodies of water as as either a wetland or a flood plain. Um certainly between now and third reading, I'll make very sure that there's not an unintended consequence on that.

» Okay. And um to be clear, is your uh this regulation currently um does not provide credit for I believe, wetlands or flood plains. Is your amendment a 50% credit for wetlands and and flood plain acreage?

» Yes.

» Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood it. Yes. Because, frankly, there's it depends on where you're at. It depends on the type of soil. It depend goes back to the lady that was here earlier. What what kind of soil is on the property? Is it Is it black dirt? Is it a swamp? Or is it a river bottom on along the Watery River? That's, frankly, just like our Veterans Park. That would be a qualifying area. So, that's my amendment.

» Do we have the definitions of wetland and flood plain? They're in the larger ordinance.

» What What's our definition of wetland? If you'll give me a minute, I can look it

» The reason I'm asking that question is yeah. All right. Um, but I yeah, I have with with the flood plain, I mean, they're similar to the river park, right? That can be usable space. In my mind, a wetland is is a is a swamp. It's unusable. Um, and for that aspect of it, I would not like to include that piece in there. I wouldn't mind the flood plain, uh, strictly because just like we have issues, um, with Pecan Orchard, right? And in areas that have wetland has the ability to flood and more open space near those wetlands allow space for that water to go. Um, so I would like that not to be included in that percentage. However, the flood plain I would be happy to have included.

» Yeah. If our definition meets our definition

» That's That's a fair point, um, councilman. I I think that's a very fair point. And, um, I I I frankly don't have any problem with that.

» Okay. So, I I believe our definition more or less paraphrases the, um, wetlands classifications, um, by Army Corps and, um, scientific testing, but it's areas that are inundated, saturated by surface and ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support and that under normal circumstances do support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapt- adapted for life in saturated soils. The key indicator for wetlands is the presence of hydric soils. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. So, directly to your point, I'm giving you the long lawyer answer, the precise definition, but it would not include ponds or bodies of water. Okay, so I'll I'll retract mine and I'll let you make an amendment if you like. No, you can you can make your amendment. I as long as you take out wetlands

» Okay, so so so then I'll I'll rephrase my amendment to include 50% of flood plain, not wetlands. And um I think that's a very fair uh discussion. So, thank you. Who was the second

» that. Yeah, Lord help, I can't remember. Mr. Shoemake, I think. Who? Who was the second on that, Miss Anna, on the amendment, Russell amendment? I I second it. You did? Okay.

» Yeah. Thank you. There you go. All right, all those in favor of the amendment? You guys you don't like the idea? I thought Brent and I did a good job. You did.

» We played nice and everything. Come on guys, one more. You You You going to make me call Jimmy back? You got your five. You You got your majority. It passes. Um that's true. We're down We're I I had never had a a three-vote pass. Well, we got it that time. There you go.

» we squeezed it We squeezed it down. You want our official no votes? Yeah yeah. Please. It passes, three in favor and two two against. Uh things are happening tonight. Miss Anna, you you got us covered on that? Doing your best, as am I. So, going to pass it as amended, Mr. Chairman?

» We are passing it as amended. It has passed as amended. No, that was the amendment, Mr. Chairman. No. No, one more. All right. All those in favor as amended. Okay, you going to vote for the whole thing? There Yeah, okay. All right. All right, as amended. Second reading has passed. E. Moving on to section to F. Second reading of an ordinance to amend the Kershaw County, South Carolina Unified Code of Zoning Land Regulations to amend sidewalks, paths, and required sidewalks. Councilman Shumate, I can adopt this as a slate. F through K. K. So yeah, Mr. Chairman, I would make a motion that we adopt as a slate the ordinances for second reading in F through K. These ordinances were approved These ordinances were approved unanimously on first reading.

» So I would recommend that we adopt these ordinances as they were approved on first reading by this body. Second. Okay. Any discussion? Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. As I see no discussion, um voting on the slate F through K. Um all of these are at second reading. All those in favor, please raise your hand. Councilman Shumate, Councilman Tucker, Councilman Brazell, Councilman Cato, Councilman Tomlinson. It passes unanimously. All right. Thank you very much. We are now at L. Third reading an ordinance to amend the official zoning map of Kershaw County to rezone 32 acres tax map number 062-00-00-025, located at 41 Youngs Bend Road, Kershaw, South Carolina from RD2 rural development district to general development. And this is Carolina Motorsports racetrack, am I correct? Yes.

» Yes. Adjacent property. It's It's that gray headed fellow out there. So, um I think we've talked about this. We've discussed it. Any Any further discussion? He's He's basically protecting his property and um any potential expansion and and I'm okay with it. I think it's a valuable asset.

» get a motion already? Yep. So, Who made the motion? I'll make the motion. Okay. All right. I'll make a second. And all those in favor? Councilman Shoemake, Councilman Tucker, Brazil, Cato, and Thomason. It passes. Third reading and final. We've addressed M. On to N. Third reading of an ordinance to amend the codes of ordinances, Kershaw County, South Carolina, Chapter 24 offenses to add Article 3, solicitation and panhandling establishing regulations governing solicitation and panhandling within the unincorporated areas of Kershaw County, South Carolina, and establishing penalties for violations. Um this passed the first two readings. Do I have a motion? I would make the motion that we adopt on third reading. Second. Councilman Shoemake Councilman Tucker with a second.

» Um any discussion? I've I've noticed that this has increased and has been a increasing problem in our community. So, um all those in favor, please raise your hand. Councilman Shoemake, Councilman Tucker, Councilman Brazil, Councilman Cato, and Councilman Thomason all vote in favor. It's unanimous. All right. Now, to a fun item. I have a resolution for a homestead exemption. Where is it? Yep. Here's the resolution proposing an amendment to local state code to increase the homestead exemption amounts. Do I have a motion to put this on the floor? You're making the motion? I'll make the motion. I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second your motion. Thank you. I'm going to read this and then I'm going to have some discussion just so everybody kind of understands.

» A resolution proposing an amendment to local and state code to increase the South Carolina homestead exemption amounts. Whereas Kershaw County Council recognizes that rising property values has significantly increased the tax burden on homeowners and whereas the homestead exemption is a vital tool for maintaining housing affordability by reducing the taxable value of primary residences and whereas current economic conditions necessitate an adjustment to existing exemption levels to provide meaningful relief to seniors, disabled veterans, and other qualified recipients. Whereas increasing the exemption to a fixed dollar amount, such as a plan below, provides more impactful relief for individuals as age hinders the ability to earn income as they enter their golden years of retirement.

» Now, therefore, be resolved by the Kershaw County Council that the proposed change to the homestead exemption for Kershaw County shall be outlined by the following: Changing the age from current state law to to the age starting at age 60 with increases as the individual homeowners age. If the home is owned jointly by a married couple, the oldest resident is eligible and qualified applicant. Phase one, age 60, the homestead exemption will be $100,000. Phase two, at age 65, a homestead exemption of $200,000. Phase three, age 67, with a homestead exemption of $300,000. Phase four, age 70, with a homestead exemption of $400,000. Phase five, age 75, with a homestead exemption of $500,000.

» The eligi- eligibility would would be that the exemption should only apply to an owner-occupied primary residence where the owner has held title for at least two years. The implementation phase one would commence in 2027, starting an onboarding process of all phases until 2031, when phase five is completed. The proposed outcome is that we expect that the proposed changes will do the following. It would be protection for fixed incomes. Many seniors live on social security or pension benefits that do not keep pace with rising property taxes. Increasing the exemption ensures that these residents are not taxed out of their homes that they've worked all their lives for. Response to rapid appreciation. National home prices have risen significantly, especially since the pandemic.

» Exiting uh flat dollar exemptions have lost Existing flat dollar exemptions have lost their relative value. Increasing the exemption as proposed follows inflation and rewards seniors. Economic stability for seniors, lowering the tax burden allows elderly residents to allocate more funds toward essential maintenance, health care, and preventing neighborhood blight and reducing the need for state government-funded social services. Early retirement support, by lowering the age from age 65 to 60, it supports those who retire early due to health issues or industry shifts, providing stability before they reach the full social security age.

» Community retention, providing tax relief earlier encourages long-term residents to stay in the community rather than relocating to states with more aggressive senior tax breaks. Revenue offsets, we acknowledge that the loss of property tax revenue must be managed through a 5-year onboarding process. We recognize we can offset a portion of the losses through organic revenue growth, as well as working with finance to forecast these losses, and offsetting gains by looking at a 5-year historical revenue changes from 2020 to 2025. So, all that being said, I think seniors deserve to own their homes, and I think that this is something um I spoke to some individuals in finance, and the idea isn't as far-fetched as one might think.

» This is actually something I would like to to pass this resolution and refer it to Dennis Alridge for his review, and I'd like to refer it to finance for finance to review and find out what this looks like, and if this is something that we could actually put to a vote. Tonight, it's just a resolution. We're not voting on implementing this, we're voting on letting finance look at it and Dennis look at it. Mr. Brazell. Yes, sir. Quick question. I don't I'm glad you put pen to paper and you said you were going to do that last meeting. Um the only problem I have with this resolution is it kind of is a preemptive um almost looks like a promise from council that implementation's going to start in 2027 phase through 2031 or 2031, right? Yep.

» A resolution doesn't mean anything. I'd I would completely strike that out. Um and then also I'm not I guess it's a legal question. Is are we even allowed I know that the state Yeah, the Like a state law that county administers, are we allowed to change individually? The state sets the um homestead exemption. There are some provisions I'd have to go back and study on it, but uh applicable to municipalities that I believe allows for some further relief, but at the the gap has to be bridged. I don't know that there's the same latitude for um counties. So, to answer your question, it might be a uh preempted scenario where there is state control over it, but it's certainly something that can be explored um in the you know, Orridge consideration or or any other consideration of it.

» Um could certainly also look at it and um get back to council at a later meeting on it. Well, then I can um defer this to the next meeting and we can answer those questions. Thank you. I Yeah, I'm happy to do that. Yeah. Yeah.

» And I just didn't want to put like passing a resolution on our behalf and then say 2027.

» This is something that's is very important to seniors and frankly I appreciate.

» Yeah. I I I like the idea. I I think I think it's something good for the could be something good for the community. I'd like to know what have the impact on the county and having to the finance. We can we can even look at getting the numbers and stuff of what this affects prior to this resolution but just seeing if we even have the ability to do something like this one and then I I would like the 2027 start time taken out completely cuz I think that gives people false pretenses. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Um yeah, I know you and I had conversation. We hadn't had a chance to get together on this. I really want to see what this looks like. Now I do know from other councils especially the ones that represent us over at the Association of Counties that lobby for us.

» You can always give more relief. You can't undercut the state. So um there's some possibilities but uh my question as one of the finance members is as I ask you is what's the cost for us locally if we do something um and what does that makeup come from? Yeah, so so that's obviously tonight I'm starting conversation, right? And and that's that's what I I'd like for our finance team here at Kershaw County to tell us. Um and and and beyond the finance committee because I don't want to put the burden on you. I'd like to have uh county staff Oh, absolutely.

» have a look at this. Yeah, I think I think it could be a collective effort. So what I'd like to do is I'll withdraw this resolution for tonight so that I can place it on the next meeting and Mr. DeBose, if you could help me write something that is more in line with Councilman Tomlinson's thoughts. Um I think can you share again what you like to see stricken, sir? Um yeah, just the implementation timeline. I don't want to give any any false hope to someone. In my mind, this even though it's a resolution and doesn't mean anything, um, just just a thought on our behalf. However, it says will commence in 2027 starting on boarding process. So, I think this is something that, um, you know, can be started with communications at the state level if we are we are not allowed to to do this by by state statute or just remove implementation and then we can get the numbers and everything Good.

» Um, to look at it, right? And and fair. Fair enough.

» Would Would the finance committee have enough time to look at this in 2 weeks? It's going to be tight, but we'll we'll we'll make it happen. Thank you. Thank you. And I I think that, um, our our county staff can can assist Oh, they're always at our meetings.

» And and really, um, some of the earlier conversations have been more positive than I had hoped. So, um, more just Can we work with you?

» any block. I thought I thought it was going to I thought it was going to get squashed a lot quicker and frankly, I thank you for your consideration. I I think I think everybody at these ages, I think everybody deserves some relief. They've paid all their life and um, this is something I'm very passionate about. I'll I'll work with council is is however we need to to to get these answers and to find out how to pass this. Mr. Mr. Brazell, would it be possible to push it to after we get done with the budget just cuz I know staff is going to be the budget time this year is going to put a lot of weight on staff.

» want to push it that far and, um, the reason why I think the budget process would lend itself to answering some of these questions, frankly. Yep, I agree, but having a 2-week window on on the resolution Well, let's do four weeks then, shall we? That's good with the finance He has a tougher schedule, so I respect that of trying to make the meetings cuz he works in Columbia. So, I'm willing to yield to my colleague if he's if he's wanting more time cuz I know how it is to work out of town and try to make these budget meetings. And we have several. We'll put this Ms. Hannah not the next meeting but the 26th of May. Thank you. Okay, no votes needed. Moving on. We've got some appointments. Recreation Advisory Commission, Councilman Danny Cato, are you making an appointment tonight? I do.

» I would like to make a motion that we reappoint Jason Bittner to the wreck commission. Second. All right. We've got the motion on the floor to appoint Jason Bittner to the Recreation Advisory Commission. I've always heard wonderful things about him, so any any further discussion, Mr. Cato?

» Just just briefly, Jason served here since I come on council. I appointed him to the wreck commission. He's done an outstanding job, Jason. He has a vast knowledge and he has really helped us with the development of these ballfields and that's that's kind of his thing and he he provides a lot of feedback for us and I am just very thankful of the work that he's done for us. So, I ask that y'all support him in reappointment tonight. Absolutely. Thank you. All right, all those in favor. It's unanimous by those here in voting. Jason Bittner is reappointed. Um Councilman Derek Shumate, you have a reappointment as well, sir. Yes, I would like to appoint Andrea Larrimore back to the Recreation Advisory Commission.

» She's agreed to continue to serve and has just done the one term and also part of this group that has spearheaded all this through wrecking. As we're driving home, I want to make sure we get it done right. All right, we take that in form of a motion. Second. Second from Councilman Tucker and all those in favor. All right, it's unanimous. Um further appointments for the assessment appeals board. Um If we can who's Mr. Connell's appointment? Should we should we wait until he's back? Does it need to be done? Is she like a term expired or can we wait? Okay. Yeah, let's wait for Councilman Connell, so we'll push that and then uh Councilman Shumpert, you have an assessment appeals board appointment you'd like to make. I do. Um I don't have the her packet in front of me.

» I don't want to mess the name up. Who's who's currently serving on my spot? All right, Rosalind Franklin. I couldn't remember if it was her or the other one that was my appointment, so I would move to reappoint Rosalind Franklin as she also agreed to continue to serve. Okay, and a second? Second. All right, we've got uh the motions on the floor. All those in favor? And it's unanimous. Thank you. All right, we move to council member briefings. Um start with Councilman Tomlinson. Um Mr. Vice Chair, no briefing this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Cato. Well, I don't really have a whole lot. I should after this meeting cuz there should be a lot to talk about, but you know, I just want to reiterate and I've said this many many times that this is not easy.

» It's not easy and you got a lot of people that you try to satisfy and a lot of people that you can't satisfy and some you just do and it's it's it's nothing it's nothing against people individually. I make my decisions based off what I think's best for Kershaw County. And and that's that's what I do. Um that's the only thing I can say about that. But um I it's it's an honor and a privilege to serve people of Kershaw County up here. And I'll continue to do the best I can. And that's all I can do. That's all I have. I have to agree.

» And my prayers and and I definitely want to send out prayers for Vince's family again. We're we're thinking of him. I mean, that's Absolutely.

» on my mind tonight. Absolutely. Thank you. Councilman Shumpert. Yep. Come on. Switching around. I don't have much. Again, just I thank everybody here. You know, one thing I will say about every person on council to include the ones that are not here with us is they're they're all, you know, stalwart fathers. They're they work hard for their family. And everybody wants their family to have a Kershaw County they can go back to. So, I appreciate the discussion tonight. You know, these are issues that are complicated and tough. And I just appreciate everybody stepping up and having those discussions in a in a meaningful way. Um it's tough. I mean, as Councilman Cato said, um I want to to say the thanks I I guess thanks and sort of uh Godspeed to the teachers.

» It's testing week across Kershaw County. So, our various teachers are doing all their testing. This is the time of year when my wife sends a text in the morning that says, "Do not call me unless it's an emergency." So, call your dad and Derek, you better be available. So, um appreciate all the hard work our teachers are doing. And um that's really all that I have. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Tucker. Thank you, uh Vice Chairman. Um thank you for filling in today. I just I'm going to do my mother's um move. Uh sometimes less is best. So, I'm not going to comment on a lot of things um tonight. But I do want to say uh to the Carnell family, my prayers and um love is sent to you sincerely and um I hope all goes well with Mr.

» Joe Carnell and that he's able to have a speedy recovery and turn back to some type of normalcy. Um that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, councilman. Um our administrator. No report, sir. No report? No report. Our attorney, John DeBose. Nothing outside of executive session. I'm going to keep the streak alive. All right. Um yeah, you you are on a streak for sure. So, um I'll just briefly state that that I certainly appreciate everybody being here tonight. Um we've got a potential amendment that would grandfather um that would grandfather existing projects into the uh allocation. It would exempt it from the allocation system. I'd like for everybody to to genuinely think about that between now and third reading.

» Um respectfully, I think there's a lot of people here tonight that are that are actually I didn't ask the question lightly. Um do you feel like this could bankrupt you? Because I know that I've heard from people that have borrowed lots of money to be in business that they're in and frankly, they're worried that that these projects closing that they're working on uh they'll be in some real trouble. So, I hope everyone will consider that. My prayers go out uh to uh Mr. Joe Carnell and his family and Ben, we're we're praying for you guys and hope that um the surgery was very successful and um recovery goes well. That ends my briefing and um need to make a motion to go into executive session. Um we may have a vote coming out of executive session, so with that, do I have a motion to go into executive session?

» make a motion that we go into executive session on items A, B, and C. Okay. Do I have a second?

» Second. All right. All those in favor? It's unanimous. We are now in executive session.

» Mhm.

» Who sorry. I'd like to make a motion to exit executive session.

» Make a motion to exit executive session. Second. All right. We are now back in regular session. Take the vote. Oh, let's all those in favor of exiting executive session. It's unanimous. Thank you. Um I have a motion.

» Councilman Councilman Shoemate, you you have something? Yeah, I would like to make a motion that this council authorize Chairman Connell along with any councilman he deem appropriate to have with him. Authorize Chairman Connell to negotiate with a our current growth contractor on the current contract for rewriting the ZLDR. That is my motion. Yeah, I'll I'll second that motion. Okay. No discussion. Any Okay. All right, all those in favor? And it's unanimous. All right, with that being said Motion to adjourn. We're done. Do I have a second? All right, all those in favor of adjourning? All right.