 March 2022, City of Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Welcome to members, staff, and guests. We ask for your patience during this hybrid meeting. Multiple staff members are behind the scenes to make sure all applicants and citizens are able to communicate with the board at the appropriate times. And the public is able to participate in person or via the following options. The meeting can be streamed at youtube.com or at publicinput.com. You can submit letters and comments via email leading up to and during the meeting at COC board meeting at Columbia SC.gov or you can call in via phone. You would dial 1-855-925-2801. When prompted, please enter the meeting code 2826. Press star 1 to listen, star 2 to leave a voicemail to be read into the record, or star 3 to be placed into a queue to speak live when prompted. Please wait until your case is called to hit star 3. If participating by phone while also streaming the meeting on your computer, please mute the audio on your computer and only use phone audio so as to avoid issues when being patched into Zoom, the Zoom meeting to speak. There's a large audio delay between Zoom and the live recording on City TV and publicinput.com. We will be pausing at certain times to allow the audio to catch up and give citizens time to submit any comments. Now we'll proceed to the roll call. Mr. Dinkins. Here. Mr. Gregory. Mr. Primus. Here. Ms. Spinner. Here. Mr. Guineard is absent. Ms. McIntosh. Here. And Mr. DeVall is also absent as well. All right. Applicants with request before the Board of Zoning Appeals are allotted a presentation time of 10 minutes. This time should include but is not limited to an overview of the project, case history, and any pertinent meetings held regarding the request. This time also includes all persons presenting information on behalf of the applicants such as attorneys, engineers, and architects. This time limit does not include any questions asked by the Board of Zoning Appeals or staff regarding the request. Any member of the general public may address the board in intervals of three minutes or five minutes if by a spokesperson for an established body or for a group of three or more. The applicant will then have five minutes for rebuttal. The board reserves the right to amend these procedures on a case by case basis. Okay. Those of you who plan to speak must be sworn. If you are here as an applicant or here to speak on any case, please stand at this time and raise your right hand. Do you affirm or attest that the testimony you will give today is the truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. I do want to remind board members to please speak into the mics clearly when you're speaking or especially on the votes making your vote. Please speak into the mic. And onto the consent agenda. The board uses the consent agenda to approve non-controversial or routine matters by a single motion and vote. If a member of the board or the general public wishes to discuss an item on the consent agenda, that item is removed and placed on the regular agenda. The board then approves the remaining consent agenda items. The first item on the consent agenda is approval of minutes from the January 6, 2022 meeting because we did not have a meeting in February just to remind everyone. The next item on the consent agenda is 2022-0010-B 214 Sloan Street. This is a variance to the maximum fence height requirement in the rear yard. Does anyone wish to speak on a case or remove the case from the consent agenda prior to the board vote? At this time we'll also pause to give time for the audio to catch up. We don't have anyone who wishes to speak on this case. Okay let's get a motion then for the consent agenda please. I move that we approve the consent agenda subject to staff comments. Second. All right we have a motion and a second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay motion passes. Moving on to the regular agenda. We use the following outline for regular agenda items. Staff will introduce the case. The applicant will then have a few minutes with the iPad. Okay we'll see if we can get someone. The staff will introduce the case. Applicant will have 10 minutes to make a presentation. The board can ask questions. Public will be allowed to participate via email, voicemail, or phone comment. Applicant will have five minutes for a buttle and the board will take action. First case on the regular agenda is 2022-001-V317 Watery Avenue. The variance to the side yard set back for an addition to a single family residence. And the applicant is here and can speak. Okay thank you. Okay would the applicant like to approach please? State your name for the record please. My name is Susan Hillsman. Do you want me just to explain what we're going? Let's start with a brief overview of what you'd like to do. Okay so the house at 317 Watery just for background was originally built in 1922. And the distance from the existing side of the house to the property line is 2.8 feet. The variance is requested for repairing and replacing an existing deck that is pretty much rotten. And it would follow the same, the new structure would follow the same line as the existing structure. Would not be getting any closer to the property line than the house and the existing deck. There is a screen porch with a roof that is included in the proposed design. And the roof line of the screen porch would be contiguous with this roof line of the existing side deck. And it should be minimally visible from the street due to some large bushes on the side of the house that don't give you a straight view. And the goal is to preserve the architectural integrity of the home. And as you can see on these design renderings we are trying to conserve and preserve the magnolia tree that's in the back of the house as well as the other trees. And so therefore proposed structure assumes that shape. So the the footprint of the proposed structure it is it would be increased from the current situation or no? No it's the exact same the same footprint just replacing. It's it may be difficult to tell but on the photographs in the center bottom is that is a wooden deck and then the magnolia tree that is on the right hand side of that photograph is surrounded by a brick deck. And so the replacement would be a wooden deck for that area but nothing greater than is what what is currently there. There was a site plan as part of the proposal. There was earlier. I thought so too. But it basically what you're doing it from what I can see is you're building a screen porch straight out from the back of that sunroom sort of thing on the side. That's correct. And you're going to extend the roof. You're not I mean you're the artwork is a little confusing in terms of you're not adding anything more on the back line which isn't relevant to us really anyway. That's correct. I think it did extend the print of the porch a little that's why I said ask about the site plan but again your neighbor's driveway is the adjacent like there's there a lot of house on the other side of the property line. Is that correct? Yes. And we've talked to them there this will most definitely be an improvement from what is existing. And let's see on that aerial shot that house is not there. One more report. It's it's it's an old house. I'm not sure why that doesn't show up. Now it does on the back. If you look at the green pin in the middle of this photograph if you go to the left because we're looking at the back of the house that is one Myrtle Court and the street changes names from Myrtle Court to Watery from their house to our house right in between. And they don't have a problem with it is what she said. They're they're thrilled. Just from our perspective is when we are looking at setbacks that you're not increasing the we're not. I don't have any other questions any other board members have any questions. Okay thank you very much. Thank you. Okay well I think we'll move into public input portion of the presentation. Are there any members of the public here who would like to speak on this matter? Okay let's check and see if we've got any online on the phones. We have no one no emails. All right well so let's move into board discussion if there is any. Seems like an improvement to me. I like the design of the tree in the middle that's really did a really good job with that. I like that. Yeah very nice. And I think the hardship here is that the lot line was so tight to begin with. Yeah but that whole area is everything's very tight you're backing on to Wheeler Hill which is even tighter and it is a small lot residential not a large lot residential like Saluda is. So it seems like all in all a plus and seems like it's I mean we're not we're not into the design part of it but it even looks like it's going to be architecturally appealing. It looks nice. Yeah it looks nice. Yeah I mean when you have an existing condition that you have an applicant just trying to improve without expanding over and approaching anymore into the setback I'm usually in favor of matters like that. So I can't think of any reason why we shouldn't be let them improve their deck that looks like it is in poor condition. All right well if no one else wants to make a comment like that's for motion please. Motion to approve pending staff comments. Second. We have a motion to second all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed. All right very good. Motion passes. Welcome. Okay next item on the agenda is 2022-002 SE 725 Hazelwood Avenue. This is a special exception request to permit a convenience store again is here as well for this case. Good afternoon. Actually please state your name for the record. I'm sorry Victoria Staples. Okay we're actually trying to put a convenience store in this area there's one that's actually on the other end of the street in this area here there's a lot of apartments and no way for people to get around except for to go on the highway and a lot of people are walking so that's basically the reason why we wanted this area for essentials for the community so paper you know paper towels you know cooking oil things of that nature and also myself that live in that area you know as opposed to going to Walmart or going the other direction to a food line. The store itself was a propane it was company but the owner tells us that it was it was a convenience store from the beginning and then they changed it into a propane we know for the for the community for heating homes and things of that nature so basically we're just trying to put it back to a convenience store. Okay how about give us a brief rundown of store hours numbers of employees. It's going to be a family-owned business the family and close friends running it because in the area there are it's a big area basically there's a Bojangles next door barbershop across the street of a oil company that just came up like changing your oil but it's going to be for like seven in the morning to ten in the evening Monday through Sunday Sunday you know seven days a week Sundays until nine would you be there running the store would you hire? Yes myself and my brother-in-law he doesn't speak very good English but yes I will be there you know actually helping him as well as my granddaughter and my grandson just a family you know basically. Okay so on a given just a random period of time would we have one employee in the store typically or two? It would be more so like two to three someone cleaning the outside of the property indoors someone running the register and of course my brother-in-law will be there. What sorts of security measures do you have in place? I mean you're sort of off the big highway so I would speak. Actually the there is a police that come all the time that put that area because it is such a big area as you said and the person clean you know someone if there's someone hanging around the store would you ask them to please leave the property you know it's not a hangout or whatever and you know and if that and that doesn't work then we'll have to result in calling the police but other than that they do patrol the area very often. Are there any residential how close are you to other residential is actually diagonal across the street and then also down further maybe about I'd say maybe a 10 or 15 minute walk is apartment complexes so it's it's needed in the area they actually but you're not really right next budding on anything. Are you familiar with the good neighbor plan? No sir I'm not. Isn't that part of the criteria? There are criteria in the new unified development ordinance so those should have been included they were provided to us with the application. Can we turn to those sections of the application so we can all take a look at some of that stuff. The name of the store that we're running to put is Five Star Mini Mart. The zoning article three the use of the convenience store complied with the general standards of all accessing uses and structures. Five Star Mini Mart for article four the convenience store complies with all rules and regulations listed in article four. Number three Five Star Mini Mart will approve vehicle traffic and safety by allowing an open flow access to the parking lot as well as having access to a side street from the side street from the side parking lot. All right can I have a question? What is the side street? I don't see a side street. You're on Hazelwood right? Yeah there's actually no side street there is like where they had the they were selling the propane they had real huge containers which we are that's closed off now because there is none the owners did that so there's no so your only ingress and egress is on Hazelwood yes yes okay so that's not accurate then correct that is not accurate is there any way we can see the responses because I know they were in our packet and I looked at them we don't have that on our iPad the actual responses I mean I saw them in the packet and I didn't bring them out let's see this I can provide I can bring that up too for you to see if you would like I guess what she's saying is can we flip some of these slides it's not on the presentation it's not on the presentation I got it yeah I thought it was okay we can't do that all right that's okay understood yeah actually this is a very old picture next door to just right there is now bull jangles in which they sold that property to bull jangles which is what the owner told us and on the other side used to be a bar which is closed now it was there for years and they finally closed it down so hope could you tell refresh me and tell the board this good neighbor plan that we always are asking questions about and we see when we have these cases the citizens around and asking if they have an objection to that not not really is okay there's something a little different we're gonna get the zoning administrator fill us in give us a brief you're referring to I don't think it's called good neighbor plan anymore in the ordinance but I know what you're referring to is litter control and all of the conditions and that's a that's a key part of yeah these types of discussions we and it is part of the application yeah she was just on the wrong she was going through the criteria but she can read through right all right so who who who did who prepared these answers his wife my sister and she works for the airlines and she's out of town okay so that's why I'm here understood um special exemption permit for lottery control program will enforce a lottery control program which it will include having signs that show that the lottery is completely prohibited these signs will be placed in and in and around the property litter control program will ensure that a list of two receptacles are provided one site customer use and written verification to provide that the owner of the five star mini mark will conduct daily litter pickup as well as the litter pickup among sidewalks adjacent to the store sign pledge program five star mini mark will be responsible for complying with the regulations regarding signage for the property and will make sure that signage is included in the total display surface area permitted we'll comply with all with the standards for signs as stated in section 17 5 10 for signs by using and main and maintaining signs as a mean of communication to maintain and enhance the aesthetic environment encourage environmental I'm sorry encourage economic development and growth improve traffic safety minimize the adverse effects of signs on nearby public and private properties establish a fair and predictable base for import for base of and for enforcement crime prevention and awareness program five star mini mark will be participating in a crime prevention and awareness program provided in the city of in the city of columbia as well as work closely with the crime prevention unit to ensure that that we are made everything is made all right so do you have any cameras playing on the outside I'm sorry are there going to be any security cameras outside and inside and in the back of the store that's good that's good building I got a question I'm looking at y'all's application now and value a project $50,000 can you it says just value a project $50,000 can you just elaborate on what y'all are planning to do to improve the property like where's that money going well actually the $50,000 was given I mean that was from the owners of the property to change the building and to back to a convenience store for a bathroom a back door which they did not have so there's a still door that was placed there beer cases and soda cases like a 10-door refrigeration unit also a lot I mean just those kind of things the lighting of the facility that's basically where that money's okay that's the owner's money they're the ones putting them so they're adding like a egress ingress egress on the back that was not there before they they uh they they changed the build the building was was one way but they put the money into the store to change it to a convenience store look there's no change there's not going to be a back way in and out is that correct there is an equity it's going to be a back way there is I mean that is there oh I see okay so is that for employees or what's the purpose of that I'm sorry would that be for employees to come or patrons or what's the purpose of the back entrance well the back door well the purpose for employees actually wait I think we're talking two different things I mean you're talking about a draw I think what we're asking about is a driveway out of the back of the property right for I mean that door yes I mean yes there's a back door too yes right right on the side of the air that you can go to the back of the building to park your vehicles and that way the employees can come that way and and also to leave parking availability for the front of the store but there's no is there a way to get out to that oh no no ma'am not at all no so the only way you can get in on and off the property is through Hazelwood isn't right my question was more like the fifty thousand dollars where is that money going and I must I would think this building would have multiple doors to get in and out of the building correct no sir um they redid the roof so there's just one door to get in and out the front door there's what there's a door in the front I mean there's you know like a double door in the front of the building yeah yeah and the door in the back of the building yeah I mean that's for safety like you gotta have just building yeah that's all you've got and and you said they're adding a bathroom the bathrooms there bathrooms there as I said they used to sell propane for heating as well as for you know people that use for I guess grills and stuff stuff of that nature um so they just you know made it look more like a convenience store as opposed to are they going to be putting plate glass windows or something on the front there actually my son works for a glass company and they're wanting to put the glass window I mean the plexiglass or whatever it is with the bars he said had to be gone on the front of the building for our safety as well as other people and then also a a glass plexiglass I don't know what it is but he said that it's like all the way around like for the register area and all that for our safety as you know although if nobody can see in yeah I'm sorry I'm a little concerned of people if you can't see in very easily that's not much protection if the cops can't see in easily no the glass there's a glass all the way across we're just talking about enforcing it so has has anyone drawn any plans or renderings or anything of what you're going to do it I think it'd be helpful to the board if we could see what this what the goal is the end goal what this was actually going to look like I mean I don't really have a good idea what yeah I don't I mean I'm looking at this picture and it doesn't look has anyone drawn any plans or anything our purview is not we like the design of the store yeah I'm just saying I don't have a real good feel for what it's it'll look like when it's improved yeah I realized I'm not trying to pick apart well it's on the application so I'm just asking it is an application yeah $50,000 oh yeah yeah yeah but is there a site planning oh no I'm concerned about the safety issues all right well let's let's well hey go on let's don't we really shouldn't get in the board just let's don't get in the board discussion here he's got a couple of pictures of the outside I hope did you see any kind of site plan or anything like that even no even a street level view yeah you know what it looks like from the street just looking at yeah he does have he's got that okay that'd be good I suppose I could pull it up on google or something but egress and ingress free for all for better or worse so they did pull a permit already for the interior renovations this for the site and so we have the contract value and everything on that and it didn't trigger landscaping or anything like that improvements to the site got you understood at google earth it looks kind of oh I see yeah it does have I can see that it has windows in the front yeah in the picture it looks like this just got a little slit okay wait oh I see at the top you see I'm talking about there yeah yes I see what you're saying and so they're they're not really any planned improvements to the exterior of the building correct yes ma'am get ma'am sorry yes sir there is there are yeah just actually it doesn't look like that now it's it's very nice the the building is really nice they really did a lot of work prior to us come into there it's got I mean just all of that is like expanded where you have parking where that white truck is it's it's parking over there and then it's gated off the whole thing is gated off the back is gated the back is gated off yes okay good yes that controls a lot yes it it's it's like there's no easy access to that so okay so again did anyone draw that on any sort of a plan or a diagram I have no idea I I truly do not know that that would been something that the owners did because those details are helpful and important but we didn't know it until we just asked a question actually he just had pictures of the inside of the building and the front of the building all right well let's let's move this along all right do any I think we've got a good idea of what you're trying to do any of our yeah that's what I was gonna ask um just to clarify y'all would be the only tenant on the property correct right okay cool thank you for your presentation thank you very much all right would any other members of the public like to speak on this matter well don't see any do we have any callers our text messages or emails or no emails no callers okay all right thank you so we'll we'll move into board discussion and let's talk about this a little bit um I'll just start briefly and then let all y'all talk I I don't know if the applicant testified that the responses were written by um someone else so I'm not sure that she was the best one to be the applicant today was the best one to be presenting this case in front of us to begin with I'm concerned that this we and I know it used to be called the good neighbor plan hope so we don't call that anymore but I'm concerned when we have an applicant for a convenience store who doesn't know what that is that's a key point in our discussions here when we're looking at these convenience stores for safety and it's just that's a key point so I'm concerned about a couple of those matters and I'll just I'll just start with that and see what you all think that's no way of no way an endorsement for my you know vote against or for I just I have some concern I think for me I mean high level I mean I don't have an issue with the request but I just would like to see I mean you mentioned they did pull a permit hope they did pull a permit yes so that means they got a any any improvements got to be the code correct yes that's correct and to get a ceo they'll have a final building inspection and all that we can check really quick the permit was issued so yes okay so that I mean that makes me feel feel better that a building inspector's going to go through there and inspect what they're doing so it is a little concerning they don't so it's I'm looking at the application it's a loitering control program a litter control program a crime prevention and awareness program and a neighborhood communication program those are the key things because something very important parts I think we need to be thinking about when we're approving or denying a request like this because that gets straight to public safety when I'm hearing that it's being run by the family which is wonderful but that's not something that would be required you know in the thing so we don't know who would ever ultimately be running it or what would be going on there I'm very concerned that we're not approving something that would become a blight on the area on the other hand it sounds when they're talking like this is a real going to be something that people would really benefit from and not have to take their lives into their hands crossing Garner's Ferry and stuff like that so I mean and I don't want to add this is a small project it's not a kind of project like the one you know where you've got lots of money going around like that I think this is a pretty shoestring project but then once it's approved it's approved so yeah and back to those programs I mean there's things in here they have to do so I mean they're part of the code yeah the operator provides written verification they will comply with the standards and section so I guess they'll have to do that before they get their approval to open for business yeah they have to meet all the conditions of the community store that are in the neighborhood communication program the operator has provided written verification they will provide local contact information to the adjoining neighborhood association or business for the documentation of any problems they may have with current business practices that impact adjacent neighborhoods or businesses so there's just I think there's things out there that would mitigate some of the concern but I mean you guys the operators just need to be aware of them and I guess they work through staff on that kind of stuff to help make sure they're doing that so right so then so do they meet I guess you know asking board do you do y'all think they meet the criteria for the special exception can we meet them or do they not and we can go through it I mean we don't have to go through all of them just I mean I guess hopefully we've been through them but I sort I think they kind of do I mean I think that they do I think it's subject to staff comments subject to staff approval of the final project so all that sort of stuff staff final approval in terms of the the big picture I mean it's a low it's a low budget project they're not going to have a pretty site plan for us and stuff I mean then that's fine that's a good point and if it's not triggering any of the landscaping from the site improvements no it doesn't seem out of keeping with the area it's a commercial area there's plenty of site access I mean it fits nicely yeah definitely fits the area I move that we approve okay we have a motion do we have a second all right we have a motion second all those in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed okay motion passes good luck with it thank y'all oh subject to staff comments thank you thank you moving on to the next case 2022 0009 se it's 4505 4515 Clemson Avenue and 1600 1612 and 1620 Brennan it's a special exception request to expand a major utility facility and the applicant is here to speak on the case good morning my name is William Land I'm with Thomas and Hutton I'm here on behalf of the applicant on Dominion Energy and as you can see from the application the project is uh the excuse me the application is for a special exception for three residential properties okay I can pass these around perhaps we do have some surveys and site plans that I don't get made it under the presentation but as I mentioned the existing partials are zoned rm1 and my understanding based on the zoning code would would be that a major utility would be approved use under a special exception Dominion has an existing substation and I think once you see the site plans it'll make a bit more sense but they do have an existing substation you can see in the uh two north northern parcels that substation it currently has an existing wooden privacy fence that goes around it and so there's the three residential lots that we're we're looking at on the you know southeast and southern portions of the of the project along Brennan and Trenum those houses were actually flooded in 2015 because Penn Branch is just to the south of there and then my understanding is that those houses have been vacant since then and Dominion has since acquired those properties and so the purpose of the project is is is really twofold one one of the existing transformers in that substation has basically reached the end of its service life and so they have some work they need to do to basically replace that transformer and install something that's more more modern and consistent with the current electrical requirements and then also there's an existing transmission line that runs kind of along the western fence line along the existing substation that is is really really close to the transformers and doesn't meet the current electrical code and so ideally they would need more space to separate those those power lines away from transformers so that when they're in the in in they're doing work on the substation and whether it's replacement of the existing transformer or just general maintenance work they have a bigger safety buffer because a lot of that with high voltage wires and stuff you've got a lot of safety concerns also in the northwestern corner of the property now or the excuse me the existing substation during larger storms they tend to see some ponding that some what uh stormwater ponding like ponding ponding yeah water okay this couldn't quite make out what the word was oh yeah that's okay no it's okay just um so you know the drainage is poor and that that part of the substation and so part of this project would be to install a storm stormwater swale along Brennan that would catch that runoff and and bring it around to a proposed stormwater facility it could be a pond or a fire retention cell or something on the the most southern property and i think it'll make more sense when you look at the site plan and so in order to do that they would basically need to expand the existing gravel pad and and privacy fence and everything to the west and so basically it would demolish those three homes and expand the gravel pad to the west to give them more space inside the substation mainly for safety and then route the the stormwater runoff around the west side and down to a stormwater facility on the southern portion of the site the project we would plan to combine the five lots into one to help with any setback issues the site plan we put together i believe is consistent with all of the the setback requirements and everything and um also our application does address the 13 criteria for the special exception if you had a chance to read through that i think i think your presentation is very good and i think the criteria were addressed very well in the application i read them before i came carefully well one thing that it did mention was you would provide some off-street parking where where is that i don't see that on the plan it's kind of hard to see on the aerial but there is an existing entrance into the substation off of climson road kind of on the southern portion of that substation so there's a double swing open yeah i think i've seen it and they wouldn't need any more um driveways or access than what's what's already there that would just expand the substation to the west so it would just be pulling up into an unmarked gravel lot basically right in front of us that's right and and the three residential houses houses as i mentioned have been my understanding is vacant since 2015 so they're somewhat in disrepair you know the project would include a wooden privacy fence to match what's around the existing substation and some you know evergreen trees to provide some screening along long brin and to make it as attractive as possible for the for the from the street view that that storm pond is interesting so you wouldn't have to do that for a pre versus post situation would you hear you're not expanding enough in pervis area are you well probably not but it just seems like a good opportunity for some stormwater management there is a existing catch basin on the corner of brennan and trinam that would provide an ideal outfall location and i think you know just combined with the existing now granted it's upstream and so just providing positive drainage away from the substation would would should alleviate the existing drainage issues that are there now but it is a good opportunity to put in a stormwater practice just in just in terms of being a good citizen so yeah not not to get into more discussion matters but i think that's really good see he can he basically what he's saying is that they're not adding so much in pervious area that he would really need to put the storm pond in but they're doing it the sort of hell the drainage in the area so that's very good are you very good i mean i when i look at it i i immediately think oh it'll be a lovely little water feature are you planning for that to actually be a somewhat kept in a somewhat attractive fashion than not in there's some kind of well i i you know given that you know there's existing houses there that would be removed those are impervious you know we'd be adding a gravel adding some gravel um pad um on the the northern two watts to the west um so you know i i think the actual stormwater management requirements you know may not be significant but i i think especially with the frontage along trunham road it's an opportunity to do something and it would look nice and um you know we'll have to get into the engineering design to determine what exactly it looks like but i think it's definitely an opportunity to make something well and it would have to be maintained obviously but i don't think kathar what you get i don't think it would have water in it most of the time obviously because it'd be a detention pod so it would be a almost think of nice and maintain this way and being so close to turn them road and everything i i think it would have to be somewhat shallow so it wasn't a safety concern or anything like that but you know there's some existing pine trees along trunham road now so it does have have a little bit of buffer already but you know we certainly don't want it to be a um a hazard in any way very good i don't have any questions do any of the board members have any questions on the site plan there was noted a gate on what should be the west side or gate tbd um because that's what some of our questions were sort of access to the site and so was there a second entrance plan or a second entrance not to my knowledge i believe the only entrance was on climson road the existing entrance into the substation yeah the existing wood fence where says gate over on the west side says proposed great inlet that might have been what you saw oh yeah no that's not what like on the rendered site plan sorry here it looks she's she's wondering if there's any other egress egress tonight not it and see it not a i don't think any additional e uh driveways would be necessary um compared you know based off what they've already got is there um are y'all planning to put a fence around the entire property or some sort of fence just the substation part of it the portion along you know basically that southern residential lot would would be unfenced um provided that you know the storm water practice there was not a hazard of any sort i mean i'm just you know it better than i do but there's a lot of kids i mean in this area and i'm just a little concerned about a pond without a storm water pond without it i mean really think right there grass depression basically it's not really yeah i think it's not really a pond in tradition i think we could make something that was shallow enough where um it wouldn't be a you know a hazard for neighborhood children yeah and still have some storage in it this would have to go through land disturbance permitting as well and there's a lot of um you know existing um you know utility services and stuff to those houses that would have to be demolished and we'd have to um you know we'd preserve as many trees as we could but i think you know some regrading of those three lots is going to be necessary to make make everything drain properly and get it um you know properly just for ideal drainage and get everything working functionally i'm sure will there be more transfer lines going in or out with the increase no there's really no my understanding is there's really no increase in you know electrical capacity to the area it's mainly just to um get the existing substation um get that transformer replaced and bring it up to current safety codes so that you've got sufficient space between power lines and transformers and so people that are operating switches and stuff um are standing in and water and and okay that was my understanding what that was to increase capacity so no it's mainly just a a refit of what's there and in the application i noticed that y'all um applicant proposes to provide adequate screening to improve the visual aesthetics of the area um i guess how how set in stone is this layout from january because i see you want to hear y'all have proposed evergreen i mean it would be good if all that landscape and trees that they were installed i mean that that that's our conceptual plan right now so unless um something dictates otherwise that's where we would would begin our site plan okay i mean you just can't see it right now from trinam you demo all those houses i mean you're gonna see right into that substation and it is kind of unattractive when you drive down yeah i mean so i mean as long as we i think this screening is good so as long as we do that should be good and it's thoughtful like if you look on the google earth now there are the arbor vidy i guess that have been there since 94 and a lot of them are cut in half as trees yeah all right do we have any more um some questions for for that good all right thank you jay thank you okay is there anybody else here who'd like to speak on behalf of this matter any callers okay no emails no callers all right well and then we'll start for discussion this is a heavily traveled popular area of the city and i noticed the posted signs um gotten through there a long time ago y'all've had it posted must have posted it it's been posted for a while so if we had any neighbor issues we would hear in this area you know right here off trinam road so clearly the neighborhood's okay with it i mean these things are kind of a necessary evil right i mean you have you have to have these throughout the city i mean that power so but i think they can be treated thoughtfully and i think that one one of my major concerns was you know the character of it what is it from trinam road how is it a neighbor you know on this the little cul-de-sac sure you know sure if you live right beside it so i mean piggybacking off what you said i think they've done about as good with it as you possibly could i guess i'd like to i mean i guess we can't require them but it should be nice if they would enhance those trees existing trees along clemson it really is ugly when you drive alongside it well stands out to you but i don't i don't think we can ask them to do that um you know this is dominion how much money they got trees give it give it 10 years they got trees 15 years well i don't know you know i mean can we put something in the approval that just makes the adequate adequate landscaping just really hammer it on there if possible i would i mean you can put conditions if you voted to approve you could put a condition on it um it's not tied to a specific site plan and there's been no site plan approval you know to date so it's the special exception is for the use but i mean you could put a condition on landscaping or however you yeah and i'm not asking to do anything out of the ordinary but just to really just reinforce it well i don't know about that i mean i think who we're we're dealing with a tremendous huge company here who has a stake in the community who's you know they i can't imagine them um not making it i would say if you do that to make it after they completely butchered the their contractor butchered the red bud tree in my front yard because i don't know overhanging on a guy wire really but yeah okay well i guess my i guess what i would like to see is some sort of mandated consultation with forestry and beautification or something like that and i'm not even sure how to do that well i'm sort of not even in terms of the setback from trinam you know like that kind of helps you is because no offense to you know that if there's no site plan approved then you just meet the minimum setback and it really changes the character all right i mean it will it will go through site plan approval and land disturbance approval and all of that um at some point so i will say if you decide to put conditions on it keep in mind it would need to be pretty specific and enforceable by staff when they're reviewing the plans so keep that in mind off of off of trinam um well for a building setback give us one second sorry yeah absolutely sure so the setbacks of course are going to be for a structure for a building we'll say a building so there's no structure well it sounds like we still have just a couple questions will please approach and fill this back in thank you this is helpful sorry to interrupt i just wanted to respond to the setback comment i guess one you know that basically that entire southern lot off of trinam would essentially be a green setback there's no proposed fencing or buildings or gravel pad on that whole lot so that would be a pretty generous setback and then i also want to mention if you know if there's something with the plantings that you'd like to see different change um what types of plants we put out there or the density or whatnot but i think um i think the site layout offers a lot of opportunity to have a nice you know to meet the needs of the substation and also um make something that looks attractive from all directions i think that's my concern is that like i feel so much better about it after seeing the site plan that's alleviate a lot of concerns and i think just the thought is how we capture the things that are right about the site plan that there's not once it's all one property you know things change a little bit too to make sure that we're not there's no bait and switch or that the needs of the project don't change and that there's nothing to and this project will have to go through full city review for um zoning and landscaping everything as well so we'll have that opportunity to what is the landscaper to you when when is the landscaper no what is it what is it what would that constitute so the landscaping part of our ordinance i mean it addresses street protective yards um buffers which i think the buffers were addressed in the application so you probably saw that if there's a parking lot the interior parking lot landscaping things of that nature so that's but for this project what would that actually have to be what would be the mandated so mainly buffers um depending on the adjacent property zoning and use and street protective yard thank you will yeah the the buffer is not i'm just going back to the screening i i view them as two different things you got a buffer which is a distance it's got to be away and then you got screening which visually blocks seeing it so i'm focused my focus is on the screening and i guess they have proposed evergreen trees i don't know if the landscape ordinance this is forgive my ignorance but for a utility if there's special landscaping requirements for a more intensive use such as this with residential around are there more intensive screening requirements not for this specific use it's broken down into categories but um i believe a type d was required in this one against adjacent parcel but the buffer does actually require like vegetation and screenings it's not just a distance away so it does require vegetative material i mean could this be a specific request they have proposed evergreen trees can we hold them to make sure they plant evergreen and not deciduous i mean the board can put whatever conditions that you would like to i mean is that specific enough i would just want to be very specific with the location on the plan of where the those need to be i mean how they have it is fine um on the southern side facing Trenum and on the western side giving an evergreen buffer to those homeowners on Brennan so that would be what i would like to see is there i don't i don't know i mean this is a conceptual plan you i like your idea and i like you live across the street and they're no hideous trees and you saw into that here's what i'm getting at kim can you craft your motion in such a way that doesn't tie them i mean some things might change can you craft your motion in such a way that accomplishes the same thing without saying you got to put this evergreen tree 30 feet back from Trenum yeah i don't think you have to do that i'll just say it would be where they have where they per the landscape ordinance because it doesn't specifically require the type of tree you say as long as they meet the ordinance but plant evergreen trees what do you think i think you kind of understand what i'm asking for get what you're asking for but there's also like certain levels of specificity because an evergreen tree could be 10 feet tall or it could be you know it could be a pine tree that has no branches until 40 feet and then you know so or it could be outside of our purview to say you know arbor vitie that you have to plant red tips 100 gallon arbor vitie day one if i can interject one more time yeah go ahead i think i i believe in dominion's intent here is to um to provide an attractive vegetative buffer to break up that wooden fence from a visual aspect from britain road especially um because that's where it's going to be closest to the edge of the road so you know as far as how you require we do that you know that conceptual plan is our current proposal if um you know however y'all want to handle that it's fine but that's our intent i i i just keep going back to the idea that i'd like to have some final consultation with city people who would have some discretion who are knowledgeable about landscaping well it will yeah well yes we do have a landscape planner i think he's been present at some of these board meetings before but we do have a specific landscape planner on staff and he reviews as part of the site plan review and he would be doing that for this yes okay so it's built in it's gonna hit every it's gonna hit every department it feels that the landscape ordinance is very specific so and he he enforces that for every you know every site plan review all right so that's built in it's very specific yes okay good um do we have any thoughts or concerns about keeping existing fence and adding new to the inside or outside of our purview because the existing fence is pretty aged upgrade the upgrade the existing fence you could ask what that is why not it was just a question of feels from the board if that's necessary the fence that question right there's an existing wood fence that goes around from the existing site and then adding i mean that that's code enforcement i would think like if it's falling down i'd like to make a motion if i can yeah absolutely and i'm going to try i am going to say something about the evergreens and i'm going to try to make it and so if it so i'd like to make a motion that we approve this um special exception request subject to the applicant um subject to dominion the applicant um um working in coordination with the landscape with the staff landscape what's his title with the landscape scott holder is his name any planner landscape planner subject to coordination with the city of columbia's landscape planner to plant uh evergreen trees on the southern and western side of the property adequate to screen the property adequate to screen the improvement to trim road and vrennan you got that should i try it all of it i'd like to make a motion i'd like to make a motion to approve the special exception request subject to the applicant dominion energy working closely in coordination with the city's landscape planner uh specifically to plant evergreen vegetation trees uh adequate to screen the improvement is that okay i'm not a word smith you i'm not i'm not i'm not gonna i'm not gonna dictate that accomplishes what and subject to staff comments does that get everything that joe would like them to do can you read it back to us can you read it we read read it back to you um so motion to approve subject to applicant coordination with the landscape planner to plant evergreen vegetation slash trees adequate to screen what was the last part adequate to screen the project adequate to screen the the improvement yeah the improvement okay from the street street view from all streets from all streets yeah yeah yeah yeah i think you know if you've driven down brenner brenn road recently or even looked at it from you know trend number one sin you know i think what we're proposing is gonna be a pretty big visual improvement over what's there right now those houses have been um been vacated for um a long time and and it doesn't look very good so i think even with a wooden fence and some nice vegetation and then especially on that that southern parcel along trinam it's going to be a big visual improvement i just want to point that out thank you and i think all we're concerned about is that there's adequate vegetation screening it year-round i mean year-round models and they're you know you can see through them half a year all right well so does that get it i think so i think so do we have a second go with that no not yet all right so who is the second oh i second okay there we go i hope it's on top of it so we got a motion a second all of the favor please say aye aye aye any opposed no okay very good motion passes okay and there's no other business on the agenda today got you thank you nothing else all right you have a motion to adjourn we have a second second all the favor please say aye all right all right meetings adjourned