 So this will be up here, and it will be queued up for you. And it's just forward. Yeah. And so I'm going to just do it with the fiscal rule, then. That one. Good evening, everyone. Thanks to everyone for their patience tonight. We have a whole lot of guests with us this evening as well, including a group of students from Richland. Two, R2, I2, is that the? We have students from Allen University. We've got some young people from the University of Maryland. I'll turn to the break here. We've got, well, you guys, in the very, very back here. Thank you, Ms. Wilson, for getting the crew here. Am I missing any other groups of students? I sense a lot of brainpower in here. And Ms. Stevenson, of course, a lot of brainpower in this room, and along, of course, with some of our community heroes in the nonprofit world and some of our incredible first responders. So let's go ahead and call this meeting to order. If everyone would mind standing up and joining us for the Pledge of Allegiance. The liberty and justice for all. Reverend McDowell, would you please bless us with a word? Yes. That is pray. Create a God for this day and for the beauty. We've had an opportunity to experience the graciousness of this day. Movement activities, school, and Lord, we gather now in this chamber to discuss creatively what it is you are calling each of us to do and to be about. Touch us, sensitize us, allow us to feel the radiance of your love and your care for this city of ours. We ask it. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Reverend McDowell. Madam City Manager, I guess we're supposed to call the order, weren't we, Madam Clerk? Call the roll, please. Yes. Present. Here. Here, Madam City Manager. Yes. So moved. Second, discussion. I'm sorry, is there an amendment? Madam Clerk? Which one? OK. So item 18 removed from the consent agenda, taken up independently, and taken off completely. OK. 18 removed and 34 removed. All right, with those amendments, is there a motion to second? Second. All right. So moved. Discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Yes. Aye. Aye. Aye. I'm City Manager. Yes, sir. We would ask for any public input related to the items outlined on the agenda. Please proceed. Seeing none, Council is asked to approve the February 19, 2019, and March 5, 2019 City Council meeting minutes. So moved. Discussion? Seeing none, to move the previous question. Court call the roll. Yes. Aye. Aye. Aye. There a motion to approve the consent agenda. Items 11 through 17 and 19 through 29. So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, move the previous question. Court call the roll. Yes. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Moving into a period of presentations, Mr. Mayor, the first is the Columbia firefighter appreciation month, Honorable Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin. It's always a fun time of year. We get a chance to recognize the good work of our firefighters. I'm going to read this proclamation. Whereas firefighters have one of the most dangerous jobs in the nation requiring physical strength, stamina, extensive training, courage, and selfless commitment to protecting our citizens. And whereas the men and women of the Columbia Fire Department have provided protection to the community for more than 116 years. And whereas firefighters throughout South Carolina and across the nation, in addition to their daily service to our communities, have devoted their personal time to a number of community service projects, and have joined the Muscovy District Association for over 65 years in the fight against neuromuscular diseases. And whereas the Muscovy District Association is extremely grateful for the Columbia Firefighters whose 2019 Filthe Boot Campaign will assess them in providing patient services and summer camp opportunities for local children at no cost to their families. And whereas the Muscovy District Association is sponsoring Columbia Firefighter Appreciation Month for the month of March 2019 in honor and recognition of the tireless efforts and dedicated service of Columbia's firefighters. And whereas the City of Columbia joins the Muscovy District Association in this tribute to our firefighters and thanks them for all they do to help our city and its citizens. Now their pride, Stephen K. Benjamin, mayor of the City of Columbia, along with my fellow members of Columbia City Council, do hereby proclaim March 2019 as Columbia Firefighter Appreciation Month in the City of Columbia, and urge our fellow citizens to recognize and participate in its observance. Chief, all right? All right. OK. We know what time it is. I know. I'm not familiar with it. Thank you, Mayor, Council, City Manager, for allowing us, although you hadn't boarded a jet, but I'm going to predict that we're going to be able to do it. Allowing us to get out and help the MDA. This is certainly a word to call us. And I'm not going to be long. I'm going to let Mr. Watts come up. I do want to say this. This will mark this. You all, what you're going to put in this boot tonight is going to help us get over that $3 million mark this week. And we are so extremely proud of you working with the MDA to get to this point. I can tell you the firefighters, we're extremely happy and always willing to help out with the MDA. But we also realize that we can't do it without the public. And we don't thank them as well. But I'm going to divert. I got a boot here, so we're going to be collecting money tonight. We don't want to hear no jingles. That's only for Christmas jingle bells. So again, Mr. Watts. Thank you, Chief. It's an honor to present to you today the Beverly family. This is Gresham Beverly, one of our citizens who attends MDA summer camp each year. And you had the pleasure of meeting Gresham last year and hearing him speak. He asked could he come back again this year and talk to you about his latest camp experience. And I would just like for you to know that through the generosity of our community and with the Chief's leadership, our local boot drive here in Columbia, South Carolina is number one in the Southeast. And it is number 13 in the nation. And I think that we owe a debt of gratitude to the city council, to the mayor, and to the chief, as well as the individual firefighters for their support in the leadership and the proactivity of what happens in this community for children like Gresham who would not be able to attend this camp. 140 children go to camp from the Midlands each year. This year the camp is in August. And we would welcome any of you to attend on sponsor day and visit with the children. But Gresham and his mother would like to talk. So I'm going to yield the rest of my time to them. Everyone, good day. Time. Children like me, they're in despair. But a light comes from the dawn. And that dawn is a sunraiser and all the money that all of the wonderful people help with these children to help them go to this amazing thing where with the unnatural children or natural children, they can do the zip lines saying she's all the support in what is done to end Gresham. Gresham, can I say something? Please. Young man, you are one brave young man. You know, there's a lot of grown-ups who come up to that podium and they get scared and they couldn't talk. You are one brave young man. Congratulations for all the bravery you have. Thank you. Thank you, Gresham. Thank you to the Beverly family. Thank you to MDA. And thank you to our incredible firefighters. Come on. Is the boot coming around? All right. He's hitting everybody. He's right there. He's still hustling. He's still running dialing. All right. He's working the crowd. Gresham's skills at oratory aside, he is passing that boot around the deafness of a Baptist preacher. He's making Rip McDowell jealous up here. Thank you all for supporting MDA. Thank you for supporting a whole lot of wonderful children just like Gresham. All right. Howard, you going to read that one? Yeah, I'll read that one. OK, we've got the Richland II Institute of Innovation Day proclamation, Mr. Honorable, Mr. Howard DeVall. Yes, I'd like to ask the students from Richland II Innovation Center and their teacher, Kristen Bullington, to come to the podium, please. As members of the council, we get letters from different institutions all the time, bragging on people doing things in the city of Columbia and our school district. And this particular one took on my fancy. I thought it showed a lot of determination for this class to win this award, which is a national award put out by MIT, the Lemelson-MIT program. And they've won a $10,000 grant for this. And I would like to read the proclamation. Whereas the students of Richland II Institute of Innovation and Kristen Bullington are being selected to win a Lemelson-MIT invent team grant of $10,000 and related staff support from the Lemelson-MIT program within the schools of engineering at the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology. And whereas now in its 15th year as a national grants initiative, youth are inspired to invent technological solutions to real world problems of their own choosing, the 2018-19 invent teams are comprised of students, teachers, and community mentors that pursue year-long invention projects. And whereas this highly competitive national grant initiative offers high school students a rewarding hands-on experience that engages them in the invention process. And whereas the invent teams are located in 13 different states with the state of South Carolina receiving its first invent team grant with the award of Richland II Institute of Innovation, the team's projects address its problems that affect their local community, family, members, classmate, or a community connection. And whereas the Richland II Institute of Innovation team project falls under the category of solving problems for community connections as they focus on combined bio-digester and solar power system for SIR-Ballet, is that close? Yeah, Senegal. This project is going to Senegal. And whereas in 1994, Mr. Lemelson, one of the US history's most prolific inventors and his wife Dorothy, funded the Lemelson-MIT program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And whereas it is funded by the Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering at MIT, an institution with strong ongoing commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for K through 12 STEM education. And whereas being selected to win a Lemelson-MIT invent team grant, the Students of Richland II Institute of Innovation and Kirsten Bullington are proud to become ambassadors and representatives of their school community and state. Now, therefore, I, Stephen K. Benjamin, mayor of the city of Columbia, South Carolina along with my fellow members of the Columbia City Council to hereby proclaim Tuesday, March the 19th as Richland II Institute of Innovation Day. All right. I have asked them to give a short explanation of what their project is, and this is going to Senegal. So I believe two of the students are gonna address us. Step up to the microphone, man. It's okay to smile, guys. It's okay to smile. All right? It's so serious. Before we explain what our project is, we gotta explain why. So a secondary school in Sarabalole, Senegal, were gifted a photocopier, I think at the beginning of last year, and this would help revolutionize the way they do schooling because all their tests, all their papers and books, that's all paper. They have to write everything down and they don't have much visuals. However, there was no way to power it. The village is very remote and Senegal is actually intersected by the Gambia, so it was very hard to move resources. So with no way to power it and no study lights or whatever, we wanted to invent something that could solve that. And so that's where we came in. Our solution was to make a solar and microbial fuel cell powered modular device. These devices would contain a microbial fuel cell on the inside and a solar panel on top of an angled lid in order to be able to be directed towards sunlight. And these modular devices can connect to one another in order to increase, connect in series or parallel, which means they can increase both current and voltage. And the total output of these modular devices can be adjusted and be adapted for a certain power output, which means it can be adjusted to fit a certain need by simply removing or adding other modular devices. And so in Senegal, the electricity grid runs on 220 volts, which these modular devices create around 14 volts each. So it would take around 18 devices to make 220 volts in order to power any electrical equipment in Senegal, in Sierra Berlali. And so while these devices are able to power electrical equipment on their own, they can also be used to charge any batteries, outside batteries, such as an inverter or car battery, that would be deemed more efficient to power any electrical equipment. And so you can see by using these modular devices, we can really change how these kids are able to learn in school in Senegal. That's great, y'all will come over here and we'll get the phone out. And all of our college students and high school students and elementary school students here tonight, if you take leave early, we will not take offense to that. We want you to go do homework. I have an eighth grade and a sixth grade at home. I can't help neither one of them with their math homework anymore. So if you guys still have to go do some work, we're okay with that. All right, Madam City Manager. Yes, sir. The next presentation, Mayor Benjamin, is the Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month Proclamation. And who's here to accept this proclamation? Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and read it. Whereas this designation will formalize and expound upon the designation 30 years ago of March 1986 as Hemophilia Awareness Month or President Ronald Reagan. And whereas the Federal Department of Health and Human Services designated in March 2016 as National Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month. And whereas these bleeding disorders which share the inability to form a proper blood clot are characterized by extended bleeding after injury, surgery, trauma, menstruation, and can lead to significant morbidity and can be fatal if not treated effectively. And whereas many individuals with hemophilia became infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s due to the contamination of the blood supply and blood products. And whereas this Awareness Month in South Carolina will generate greater awareness and understanding of not only hemophilia, but all inheritable bleeding disorders, including von Willebrand disease, which alone impacts an estimated 1% of the United States population or more than 3.2 million individuals. And whereas this Awareness Month will foster a greater sense of community and shared purpose among individuals with all inheritable bleeding disorders. And whereas the City of Columbia recognizes the importance of this Awareness Month as it will heighten awareness of an engagement in the inheritable bleeding disorders journey beyond the community to the general public, enabling the prevention of illness, unnecessary procedures, and disability. Now therefore, I, Stephen K. Benjamin, do hereby proclaim this to be Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month in the city and urge our citizens to recognize and participate in this observance. Please. I wasn't prepared to speak. It's okay. I'm surprised, I'm sorry. I serve on the board of Hemophilia of South Carolina. My oldest son has von Willebrand disease. Yes, ma'am. And it's been a fabulous opportunity to get to know the other families. And we appreciate this day of recognizing this as Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month so that we can help raise awareness so that we can work towards education and hopefully a cure. Fantastic. Fantastic. Thank you. Any work? All right. I'm Hemophiliac, and I just want to thank the council for recognizing this month for those who have Bleeding Disorders, such as myself. Oh, it's important for us to make the recognition. But I would say you've been dealing with these personal challenges in your life and your family's life to take on the additional responsibility of leading and making sure that this awareness is something that the entire community shares. We appreciate your leadership. So thank you so much for being here. Mr. Benjamin, the next presentation is the Earth Hour 2019 Proclamation. Is this by design tonight? On March 30th, 2019, at 8.30 p.m., the World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments, and organizations around the world to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour, Earth Hour, to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate their commitment to finding solutions. And whereas the city of Columbia has taken steps to go beyond Earth Hour by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency, including purchasing hybrid vehicles and expanding recycling programs. And whereas climate change is one of the top environmental issues of the 21st century, in the United States is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gases with nearly five times the world average in carbon emissions. And whereas when observing Earth Hour, it is important to think of ways to save energy year-round and help reduce the carbon footprint for future generations. And whereas the city of Columbia challenges all local businesses, organizations, and individuals to take part in Earth Hour to reduce their carbon emissions and the impact they have on the environment and our daily lives. And whereas all non-essential lighting in the city of Columbia City Hall, as well as all public buildings will be extinguished for one hour to conserve energy and raise awareness about global climate change as part of Earth Hour. And whereas the city of Parks and Recreation Department will offer a pre-Earth Hour twilight nature walk at Riverfront Park North, starting at 6.30 p.m. to connect people to nature and ongoing theme of Earth Hour. Now, there are five Stephen K. Benjamin along with my fellow members of the council to hear about proclaimed Saturday, March 30th, 2019 between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. as Earth Hour. And we encourage all of our citizens, businesses, and organizations to participate in this event to commit to actions to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. Who's accepting this? On behalf, I saw someone. You have Mary Pat? All right, the team, city team. I'll see you, manager. Item is the Save Our Kids update. Mr. Lee Carroll, founder of Save Our Kids, LLC. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. On behalf of Save Our Kids, I would like to present two awards to two special people in our community. The first award I would like to present to is Mr. Edward McDowell. I have to tell a little story. I feel like it's required. So when we first met, actually you did not meet me. And now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not even sure if you saw me. But it was campaign day and it was a group of students and the community members asking everyone to vote for you. And it was like 110 degrees outside. So you smoothly drove up in your car. You parked, you got out, and you did some kind of gracious vow. And at that moment, all I could think about if this man don't come over here and shake our hand and say thank you for standing out here, Bill. But at that moment, you went to every single person who was standing out there for you and you shook their hand and you said thank you. And you gave a smile that was really refreshing and I appreciated that. And since then, we were thankful for your support in our communities to the many events, summer programs that you participated in the colony apartments. And now we just wanna say thank you again. And the second award I would like to present to is Chief Jenkins. Chief, you have given our city a history mark to remember and I remember when I came to you with a crazy idea for fundraising. I knew I had a meet in coming up with you so I did my research. I found out that you were the first African-American to be the fire chief. You were a man of dignity, pride, and humbleness. But when we met, I proudly told you about my idea and it was gonna be called playing with fire. You look like you just ate a piece of sour candy. I knew it's not the best idea but you didn't say that. You encouraged us to keep thinking of new ideas and being a staple in the community. But now the tables are turned and we wanna say thank you for being a staple in our communities and supporting Saved Our Kids during our back to school and community events. And these both awards are from Saved Our Kids and we have Allen University women's and men basketball team with us today. So thank you. I can't let the moment pass. I need summer and fall intern students, okay? Yeah, keep that in mind. We need interns in the mayor's office. And we need students from Allen, all right? All right? Lauren, wave your hands, Lauren. She's sitting back there right in the front row. She'll get you straight. Thank you to Saved Our Kids and thanks to you young scholar athletes from Allen University as well. I'm city manager. And congratulations to Reverend McDowell and Chief Jenkins, Councilman McDowell and Chief Jenkins. Well deserved. Continuing with the basketball theme, we are asking Mr. Bill Ellen, the president and CEO of Experience Columbia SC to brief the council and community on the NCAA basketball tournament. Mayor and members of council, thank you for Hey Bill. allowing me to be here tonight. I'm here to give you a report on a little event we got in town this week called March Madness. Yeah. Yeah. And I know now why they call it March Madness. It's already started. It's crazy. I do want to thank you for your support and I want to thank all the city staff that's been involved. It been incredible to work with Missy Gentry and Robert Anderson and Jeff Palin and Chief Holbrook and a number of staff that I rode around some yesterday and you can really see the difference in the grass being cut, the trash being picked up. So I think the gateways into the city are going to look good for all the visitors and all that work is very much appreciated. I think everyone knows we got very fortunate in our sleigh of teams. We've got Duke University and Zion Williams South Carolina product coming in. We've got University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Garden of Webb, Central Florida and either North Carolina Central or North Dakota State. And I'll tell you how important that looks to the sporting world. Couple reasons. They announced, CBS announced today we're getting their 18, getting Jim Nance, Bill Rafferty and Grant Hill as the game announcers. They didn't get any better than that. They're there at 18. We also give you a little idea of the Zion effect when it was announced Sunday night about seven o'clock. By 11 o'clock yesterday, we'd already had over 1,700 visits to our website. And when I left this afternoon, it was over 6,000. Duke called at eight o'clock yesterday morning and they had 90 rooms blocked. They asked for additional 70. The media had 150 rooms blocked and it's gone to over 300 rooms now. So a lot of that is the Duke effect and it's gonna be very significant. NCAA estimates between nine and $11 million impact to the city. It's pretty strong for less than a week's time but all eight teams will be getting into town tomorrow. We're very excited, very prepared. I do wanna mention before some of the students get out, on Thursday there's a free practice that's open to the public and it starts at 11 o'clock and all eight teams will have a 40 minute practice session. I think Duke may fill it up at 325. But it's open to the public. It's free. You can watch all eight teams. If you wanna see how they practice, it'll be a great, great opportunity. And we're trying to encourage the schools to send as many students as possible. But we've got lots of events. We're a visitor guide for those coming in. We published 35,000 of these. It has a map. It has, we have over 30 events. So we ran out of space to put all the events that are going on in the city that are associated with March Madness. There's concerts. There's fan fest at the convention center. There's all kinds of things that are going on. And we're expecting a tremendous turnout, tremendous amount of media in town that will give Columbia four days of TV exposure that it'd be hard to afford to pay for that, but we're getting it for free. We started on this two years ago. I guess the last three or four months has been full time and it's here. I like to say the teams will be in tomorrow. They'll have practice sessions Thursday. There'll be two games early on Friday. It'll be session one. The arena will clear out for session two, which will be two more games that'll run about midnight. Saturday is open, which is great for the community because we're gonna have 25 plus thousand people looking for something to do. We're hoping to go to the zoos, the museums. As I'm on these coasters, we've got table tents for all the restaurants. There's a door hanger on all the hotels. It says I'm resting up for the basketball game. We did a lot of printed collateral and we're expecting all the hotels and the restaurants. I know I saw Terry Davis in here and we're gonna fill up Thirsty Fella and I think we'll fill up a lot of hotels and restaurants. Hopefully it's gonna mean a lot to the A-tax and to the hospitality tax in the city over the next four or five days. So we're very excited and I wanna thank everyone for their support and just for everybody to get involved in March Madness. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Absolutely, thank you, Bill. Any questions, Bill? When is Grant Hill coming to town? Does she wanna know where he's staying? Bill, don't answer that one, okay? I'm a big fan of his wife, so. Okay, all right. Did they even sound believable? But anyway, the, no, Bill, thank you so much. The work that, who was that, that hill? My name, my child, Tamia. To make it, needs a couple for date night with Devine on Sunday night. So she's looking for the hills to join in on. Oh, thank you. Bill, I know that just a couple of just very brief points. This, we didn't just draw the March Madness to Columbia. It required a concerted effort. I know when we first sat with Teresa and Teresa and Ron Morris and the whole team worked with you all to pull this together. I wanna really thank Ron and his absence here for his leadership and kind of helping plant this seed. But you guys had to put together a competitive package working with everyone to make this happen. So thank you all for your leadership. The first time this has happened in almost 50 years that we've had March Madness in Columbia that's gonna give us an opportunity, I think, a exposure opportunity, second only to the Super Bowl to really tell our story over a series of days. It's a big opportunity for Columbia. And adults also don't want to be lost in the fact that we were shut out of this opportunity for over a decade and a half because of the Confederate balaflag flying at state capital. And obviously the tragic events in 2015 that then led the state legislature, the general assembly and the governor to do the right thing and to take the flag off our state capital, open the doors up to a wealth of opportunities, some that we would never have known of and some that are very vivid like this opportunity. So it pays to do the right thing sometimes guys. It pays to do the right thing. This is a move in the right direction. I think it's gonna give us a chance to show people exactly what this city and South Carolina is made of. So, but this doesn't just happen it happens because of the hard work and good work of good folks. Just wanna say thank you to your leadership, Teresa, Ron, Scott, the whole team and everyone, several of you in this room who helped make it happen. Hal and John and Terry, just so many folks. Thank you for your leadership. Appreciate your brother. Thank you so much. And I also wanted to thank city manager for her help. She's anytime we need something, been a quick response, so thank you so much. Bill, are you leaving those with us? All right, good deal. I'm saying manager. Have a public hearing on item 37. It's an ordinance that reads as follows, 2019-012 amending the 1998 code of ordinances in the city of Columbia, South Carolina, Chapter 8, Environmental Health and Sanitation, Article 4, Pollution Division 5, regulations and requirements relating to smoking of tobacco products, Section 8, 215, findings and intent, Section 8, 216 definitions, and so forth. Thank you, thank you. All right, we're opening a public hearing on ordinance 2019-12. I have a couple of citizens who signed up to speak. I want to show if there's an additional intro. I'll just start calling on them. Ms. Beth Johnson. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm Beth Johnson with the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network. And I want to just give you some really brief remarks on the health effects of e-cigarettes. And she'll take to, excuse me, I'm reading from my phone. There are really hundreds of types of e-cigarettes right now who are on the market and the products vary considerably by ingredients, the quality of control and the ability to deliver nicotine or sometimes other substances. The e-cigarette manufacturers claim that the products are safe, but really the products have not been subject to thorough and independent testing. And so what we know is very little of the products. The health effects of e-cigarettes, especially the long-term health effects, are also still scientifically uncertain. There are some real serious questions that we're still asking about the products and about the impact that they're having on long-term health. What we do know is that the substances in e-cigarettes, the aerosol, we know some of the things that they contain and we know that they are dangerous, they are harmful, especially to our youth and even the surgeon general has said that we are facing an e-cigarette epidemic among our youth. The potential harms from these e-cigarettes, it really depends on the product itself and it depends on how that product is being used and again, there's a lot of uncertainty with that. But we support your effort in trying to add the e-cigarettes to the current smoke-free policy. Mayor, like you said, we feel like it's the right thing to do and we certainly stand behind you guys and are here to answer any questions that you may have or handle any concerns that you may have on the product from the health aspect. Thank you, Ms. Johnson, thank you so much. Thank you. Ms. Yardley-Steedly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, sorry, I was wearing my other hat for a second there. I'm with the American Heart Association, I'm the government relations director in South Carolina. Again, my name is Yardley-Steedly and I'm gonna keep my comments very brief because my partner at American Cancer Society did a good job representing our position as well. I did wanna bring to your attention, there were a couple of sections in the draft ordinance that caused the national partner some concern. I did bring this to the attention of council and specifically we're talking about section 8-217 and... 8-220. 8-220, thank you. Where it talks about possession of smoking materials, we feel like that is not necessary and might be a little hard to enforce and you could also be targeting youth as well that might have these products. So our recommendation is to take out the possession piece because we're also talking about legal products. So possessing them in and of itself isn't the problem, it's using them in public spaces where we live and play and work. So with that being said, we fully support what the council is doing here and if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. Thank you, Ueli. Thank you so much. Mr. Ian Hamilton. Thank you, mayor, members of council. I had brought a soapbox and a long statement but I'll keep it brief. I was here more than 10 and a half years ago when the council and its wisdom adopted the smoke-free air law that is currently in place. There are 64 other communities around South Carolina that have smoke-free air laws. 10 of the last 13 have adopted e-cigarettes, have included e-cigarettes in their language of smoking. Last year, Mount Pleasant and Lexington County adopted that language unanimously. So the opportunity before council is to maximize clean air protection for all of Columbia's workers, visitors and young people by adopting truly comprehensive smoke and vape free environments in all of our workplaces and public places. Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Is anyone here to speak on this ordinance? If not, we're gonna close this on. I am Wally. The e-cigarettes, I forgot to put that down because I was thinking about something else too, but the e-cigarettes is a place the old Mr. B's are supposed to be a tire place and now they got the e-cigarettes and they change it on their own and we don't need that in our community. It's a cigarettes and e-cigarettes where the old Mr. B's are supposed to be a used tire place. And my thing for when I came up here to talk about that and this zoning ordinance, just last Tuesday, March the 5th, they passed two look of stores on. Just talking about this ordinance right now. Oh, okay, e-cigarettes. Call me back up. Yes, ma'am. I will, Ms. Wally. Thank you, Ms. Wally. I'm gonna call this public hearing to close and Mr. Duvall. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make three amendments to the proposed ordinance. First amendments is to remove section three under section eight, ash 218, which is the hotel room exemption. We're removing that, so there would be no exemption for hotel rooms. I'd like to move that we remove section three under section eight, ash 218. You didn't bring it. You didn't do them all? No, I think it would be nice to have a reference copy of it. But what was that, Mo? The deuce. Yeah, your microphone's off I think. Thank you, mate. Is anything prohibiting amendments we have made at next meeting or done right now? I'd like to get these amendments adopted. This is what Patrick gave me. Patrick, you got any more copies? Can you make a copy? Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir, Mr. Durer. Not that I have anything against the proposed amendments to the ordinance that Mr. DeVal is considering. I just, I feel like we should wait until we're ready to vote on this to make the amendments if that's possible. I don't know how that works. I agree. But, and I have no objection to this whatsoever. I think it's just the less confusion into, you know, the next week or the next time we vote on this and take the first vote. Could he just say what the amendments are a little in that way? The public would know what we're thinking about. This is, this ordinance was drawn up as a committee of the whole. So if the committee of the whole instructs our lawyer to make these changes, then he can bring a clean ordinance back with all these amendments in it. The first thing that we were doing is removing the exception of Mr. Durer. I'm sorry, Mr. McDonald. Mr. DeVal, let me just make sure I understand. What you'd like to do is to include the amendments into the final ordinance. Into the document now. Right. With a vote at another time. And vote on it on the next meeting, which will be April 2nd, I believe. Okay. Now we'll consider that April 2nd first reading. Yes. All right. So the three things that we wanted to change was to, as council instructed last meeting to remove the exemption for hotel rooms, we had a possibility that they could have some hotel room guest that's smoking. And we're removing that. We go ahead and, I think it's for the public, just go ahead. It originally had that they could have not more than 25% and what we're bringing that down is zero, so that they're not required by law to have any. Exactly. Exactly. The second thing was we have a list of places where you have to be 25 feet away from the door if you're using a cigarette or a smoking device. And we missed one of the places. So the second amendment says that all of the space requirements will be at 25 feet to be uniform. And the third thing is what Ms. Seadley said, there are two sections in here that made it illegal to possess these smoking things instead of use them. And what they have suggested for sections 8-220 and 8-217 is to use the word a person smoking or possessing a lighted tobacco product in any workplace or work space or workplace should be guilty of an infraction instead of making the infraction having the possession of these things, it would be using those things in a workspace. It's any private workspace as well? Yes. That was what the Heart Association suggested. So as opposed to having smoking materials a lighted tobacco product, is the infraction or the violation? Yes. In terms of back to Mr. Badura's question, in terms of procedurally, what's the challenge with taking these up and just in context with everyone has the ordinance in front of them along with the amendments? Well, we can wait until the next meeting, but those are the three things that are proposed to be changed. Wait, I just thought he should read them so people knew what he was proposing. All right, so be it. All right, thank you, Mr. Duvall. Thank you, Mr. Badura. Yes, sir, Reverend Dowell. Procedurally, I would simply ask Mr. Duvall before that is placed into the final document and that what we're doing, of course, is to amend a document that has not been tweaked, so I would suggest just for the sake of record that we include that as a motion and that when that is done, that that which you're adding in as an amendment be included in the original document for April 2nd. Mayor. Yes, sir, Mr. Badura, I'm sorry, please. My sense is this, we are saying what we want to do, but we have not parliamentarily said what we ought to do inclusively in the document. Sure, yes, sir. And that's what I'm shooting at. The law, you want us to speak. Where is the, oh, I'm sorry. I would suggest if you're just doing the first reading, you'd wait and make any motions for amendments when you do the vote next time. Let me do it first. Without including the proposed amendment. That's right, so no vote tonight. No motion. Yeah, we're not doing anything, Mr. Badura. I think the comment that I was going to make, I agree with Theresa. I think it's going to be too much confusion that if we make some amendments today and then two weeks from now, there's something else come up that we want to make another amendment. It's just easier and safer to put all the amendments that we want to do under the ordinance, the next council meeting, when we decide to take the first vote. It's just cleaner that way. I move to do the same minus any vote. That was your E-motion, not A-motion, right? That's a smoke motion. Okay, okay. Mr. Rickenman. I would just ask, since this is a working document, that what Howard has brought forth and Patrick and Theresa have is that we get it online in the packet so everybody can read it. I think it's very important that people are reading as changes are made. I mean, these are changes that we discussed and we were talking about and I think there are changes that everybody needs to see a working document so that when we do first reading, there's no confusion. Okay, so we're going to defer this until the next meeting on April 2nd. April 2nd. Well, that would be the first reading that was scheduled. Yes. April 2nd was the public hearing for his reading. Yeah, this is just a, but we had all agreed public hearing to have time to input first reading and there still could be changes going into the second. So I mean, I think people need to be aware, but face of the ordinance is already there. We're just trying to tweak it. All right. Public hearing is closed. All right. Now we're going to open up a public hearing for first reading on zoning and planning matters. And we do have some citizens who sounded to speak on these items. Ms. Hampton. Good evening. Let's start with your regular matters under zoning. First is a future land use and zoning map amendment for recently annexed land. It's 38 and 39. They're both for the same property at 112 Silo court. It's a request to confirm the land use classification of industrial and to confirm the zoning of light industrial and light industrial in the floodplain. Is anyone here to speak in favor of or against this item 112 Silo court seeing none. Is there a motion? Is there a second? In fact, any discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mr. Benjamin. Aye. A zoning map amendment at 516 South Holly Street a request to rezone the parcel from single family residential to general residential RG2. In for clarification, we took up 38 and 39 first time, right? Yes. OK. All right. All right. Is anyone here speaking favor of or against 516 Holly Street seeing none. Is there a motion? So moved. Moved and probably seconded. Any discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mr. Benjamin. Aye. Also taking up number 41 and 42 together as they relate to the same property at 1703 McFadden Street, the first is a future land use amendment to amend the Columbia plan to modify the land use classification from urban core residential small lot to urban edge multifamily. And then to rezone the parcel from general residential that's RG1 to office and institutional that's C1. Is anyone here speaking in favor of or against this? To move Mr. Mayor. Motion by the second. Moved and probably seconded. Discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mr. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Two zoning map amendments. The first at 3601 Ridgewood Avenue a request to rezone the parcel from PUD residential to single family residential. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of or against this item? Seeing none, is there a motion? To move. Second. Moved and seconded. Discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Number 44 is to add the design preservation overlay to a parcel at 316 Hayward Street. This is also related to the development that is in number 45. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of or against this item? All right. Seeing none, is there a motion? Moved. We're approving the 44 and 45. It's 44. It's 44. It's 44. It's 44. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Ball. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. 45 is to annex, apply a future land use and a zoning classification to the property at 111, 108, 105, 103, and 101 South Williams, 101, 111 William Street in the west side of William Street, 316 Hayward Street. Assign a land use classification of urban core mixed residential and urban core neighborhood activity center, and a zoning classification of general residential and mill village to family residential. Anyone here speaking in favor of or against this? Seeing none, is there a motion? Move approval. A second. Second. Any discussion with the previous question? Court call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McBowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vang. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. A text amendment regarding wayfinding signage and the ability to apply advertising is in chapter 17 in definitions. It's a request to amend that text related to wayfinding signage. Anyone here speaking in favor of or against this? I know we're going to, are you going to speak, Deanna? Please. Good evening. I'm Deanna Stevenson with Grace Outdoor Advertising, the owner and CEO of that company. We manage and operate and sell advertising on digital screens, billboards, across South Carolina. We are a Columbia company. We started here in Columbia, but have grown to other areas of the state, including North Carolina and Georgia. So I would ask that the kiosk aspect of this project be tabled or slowed down so it can be studied better to see what the impact will be on our community. Some questions that I think should be considered is who is the company that are providing these screens and how will they be maintained and what is their track record in the past? If these screens are to break or not function, will they be here quickly to fix them? Also, will they deliver and manage these signs properly? Has Historic Columbia weighed in on this? We have a very historic city and what is their opinion on this? And also, how can local businesses and artists be involved in this project? We want to make sure that these signs are good looking and that they function properly and that they are indeed a benefit to our citizens and our community. And also, what is the effect this will have on local businesses who do some of these same things? Should they not be considered and should they not be able to operate some of these screens or work on these screens if that is what they do? So I would ask that you consider those things before this is passed and I thank you for allowing me to address you tonight. Thank you, Deanna. Just for point of clarification, just so I know, this is the Wayfinding program which the signs are being produced by Coalite, correct? No. This is actually a different part of that Wayfinding program that hasn't been deployed yet. These are the Cate. But aren't they being manufactured here? It is not my understanding that the actual kiosks, the digital kiosks are being manufactured here. Okay. My understanding was, is what I thought I heard this afternoon was that the framework and all of that was actually being done here, but the digital component was obviously being brought in because they don't manufacture a digital program. Coalite has manufactured all of the rest of the Wayfinding program. Mr. Mayor, is that appropriate to make a motion to hold this until next public meeting? Well, I do know that several of the questions are, and I thought Hal said we're gonna discuss this between first and second reading, that several of the questions that were raised have been answered by staff and we have firm answers to. I do wanna move forward with the digital kiosks with some consideration given to the various questions that I ask, including some of the local issues, but this is something we've been working on for a long time and I wanna make sure we execute. I know that some of these casings, Daniel, I'm not sure whether this procurement tonight are made here in the Midland, significant amount of them, not by Coalite but by one of the other vendors, but I don't wanna stop short of just being frank. We will have some more opportunities to deliberate between now and second reading, Moe. I know, I do be honest with you, Mayor. This is the first time I heard of an issue with this ordinance and I'd like to have a little bit more time to talk to anybody local or anybody who's interested in giving us some more feedback and I don't think two weeks is gonna hold it a lot. So our mag motion is to hold this reading until next council meeting. That's like a bet, all right. My two colleagues who are both up for reelection this year wanna hold it, so we'll hold it for you, okay? That's, we'll take it back up next meeting if there's some discussions to have that are productive to move forward on a digital wave finding sign then we need to have those between now and next meeting because we're moving forward at the next meeting one way or the other, all right? Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate it. All right, thank you. I'm sorry, and the motion, once you guys withdraw the motion, we'll just hold it. We've had the public hearing. I'm good. Motions and second withdrawn. We'll put it on the next agenda, all right? I mean, make sure. Are there any contractual complications associated with that? Yeah, I gotta speak up now. Yeah, you gotta make sure we understand what's going on. I have a question. Okay, what's the other one? For easements, but I don't want to make a move. Let's, let's, let, it's the easements. I'm sure there are some sensitive issues. Let's, encroachment issues. I'm sorry, encroachment issues. And there's no, there's nothing inhibiting us moving forward with the encroachment issues, right? Mr. Mayor, while they're discussing this, since there was a motion on the floor and second, do I need to withdraw my motion? Yeah, I want you to withdraw it. I withdraw my motion. We prefer to do first reading, Mayor, but. Now that was a discussion we'd had previous to this meeting. Go ahead, Ms. Devon. That's what I was raised my hand about. I mean, I think that we were, we were briefed substantially on this matter. And I think Ms. Divison raises some questions that, as the Mayor said, has some direct answers. And I think that people can answer that. Additionally, I think the way we have, I mean, we've gone about this procurement, we also have some funding and other things that are tied to this that are not going to change. And so I think that certainly we need to answer any questions and see how we can make sure that local folks are involved even in maintenance and other things. But we clearly talked about this and this is moving forward with a procurement that we've talked about for a substantial amount of time. And I'm not sure why we would hold it at this point when we have clear answers to her questions. What, what? I'm prepared to report. And just as a reminder, this component of the project was part of the overall weight-finding program. Quite frankly, we've been working really hard to get a lot of things done in time for March Madness. This also was, we were hopeful for this to be in place as well. Obviously it won't be, but... But it could be in place for the summer and other activities. I think, again, this is something we've talked about for a while. And again, there's, I mean, it's not like this is the first time we've heard about this project and we've been moving forward. And I would prefer to move forward, certainly meet with Ms. Stevenson, see if there's any ways that we can incorporate some of her concerns but also answer her questions. I think if she had the direct answers to some of those questions, that would probably shed some light on the bigger part of this project. And the city is a partner in this. So the questions really, as I've also shared with the Stevenson's, we need to make sure they're having conversations with Experienced Columbia SC and Duke Power. So I've committed that we're going to make sure those conversations occur, giving it a first reading is up to the public. This has been a public and transparent procurement process, is what you're saying. This has been, is it? My question, Davis, were these questions answered before tonight? I'm sorry, sir. Were these questions answered before tonight? But I've had a conversation with Hal, not, I mean, about the process, about where we are in the process. Okay, I know. I mean, the project is bigger than the service that they provide. So I think that- You want to speak, you want to answer some of the questions? The overall project is- Missy, I know that you met with the Stevenson's earlier so you can speak to some of those directly. Yeah, so I did speak with Grace advertising earlier today and explained this as part of the Wayfinding program that was the vendors were secured as part of the process through Experience Columbia SC. Originally, the digital kiosk was a part of the program that we were not going to be able to fund, neither us or Experience SC. This vendor came to the table offering the same product that vendors who wanted a million or two million dollars for were offering a product very much in line with what we were looking to accomplish in Columbia. They came to the table. They're going to operate it, manage it. We will have content on it. We, being really experienced Columbia, they'll work through us to see what messaging the city wants on it. But it will include outdoor advertising. I've committed to reaching out and finding out what their model is for securing local advertisement because we have been very committed to our partnership with Experience Columbia to allow affordable local advertisement as well. So can just to get this moving forward, if we vote tonight on the first reading, it doesn't affect us having a discussion with Grace advertising and trying to figure out that piece. We don't have to have the second reading until we figure out that piece and make sure that local participation is part of, we do it with every contract we got. I would suggest that we get moving forward so that we can get to the table and have this discussion. I think it, you know, it's very valid that we need to know that. And but there's nothing prohibiting us from changing that between vote one and vote two. Delaying vote one is not helping us advance either one of these issues forward, which is one, getting the kiosk done and two, getting local participation. I would say that we vote on, on reading one tonight and between now and next Tuesday, let's, I mean, the second, let's get these issues resolved. If they're not resolved, then we're not gonna vote on the second reading. We need to make sure we're facilitating the discussion. I mean, the contract is not with the city. I understand correct, for sure. We've already committed that we were gonna facilitate the discussion. I mean, Bill is here, everybody's on board with having that discussion. So this is a text, I mean. I would so move. Do we have any pictures of this thing? I have not heard this until this afternoon. Well, there was a pilot. We had a pilot on Main Street. Invited everybody to participate with it. I do regret if all council members didn't see it. I mean, people liked it a whole lot. We got a lot of good positive feedback from it. And I think we can work with the experienced Columbia SCM to make sure that you all get to touch it, see it, and experience it as well. Again, we had it as a pilot for what, a week or two? Motion by Ms. Devine. Approval second by Mr. Davis. Mr. Mayor. This is a discussion, Mr. Badura. Once again, I just don't think the urgency is there for us to move forward. No wonder what we do as council and we preach about bringing local businesses and locals in here to do and be part of anything we do to move the city forward. I'm really, I mean, I like to hold it another week or two, but if I don't want to hold anything up, but I just, with everything that we do with local businesses, I can't support this right now. All right, thank you, Mr. Badura. There's no more discussion on the previous question. Mr. Reconan. Aye. Mr. Duvall. No. Mr. Badura. Mr. Varn. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. All right, and we'll have what's aggressively facilitate this discussion between now and next meeting. Well, I mean, I think we're at a point now we've made the first decision. So for them to get to move forward, they need to, everybody needs to come to the table. This is the right way to get it done and get everybody discussing. So I'm pleased where we are and we will get this issue addressed. All right, item 47. Indeed, very happy to be reading this one. Repeal chapter 17 of the Columbia Code of Ordinances entitled Planning, Land Development and Zoning and adopt a new chapter 17 entitled the Unified Development Code. So we have a presentation. We won't make it as long as the nearly 600 page document. A lot of work has gone into this by a great many people, staff in the community here in Columbia. We've had numerous public meetings over the years with this project, beginning with our assessment, community meetings, stakeholder groups. We had public meetings on the separate modules as well to get public input, as well as through the We Plan Together website where we received quite a bit of input on the ordinance. And so this is adopting a brand new Zoning and Land Development Code. The first time we've done this is the late 1970s. Many of the people in this room were not yet born. And just one exception to the thing. Well, yeah, there are some exceptions. Just barely, just barely. But if you will allow me to just express my extreme appreciation to so many people, the citizens, the stakeholders who came out and provided input, valuable contributions from our BPAC on bicycle and pedestrian issues from the Food Policy Council, our Building Industry Association gave us some great incentives in the green building standards to include. The Planning Commission met many times, reviewed the entire thing. But most of all, staff, the staff of our department did a yeoman's job of reading this over and over again, having hours long meetings to debate the issues and to give terrific input. And we wouldn't be here without him. So I can't say thank you enough to them. Finally, we have an amazing consulting team who is head up by Craig Richardson of Clarion Associates. They're out of Chapel Hill. And he is going to give you most of the information on the code and then I'll follow up with some clarifying information and next steps. So let me turn it over to Craig to walk you through the new code. And while you're doing that, Chris, let me just thank you for your leadership and shepherding this. You guys, you and your department have done an amazing job just not only just pulling together all the work but making sure that the public and we were informed and had input. So thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. I am Craig Richardson, the Clarion Associates. It's really a pleasure for me to be here today. I think that just to reiterate what Krista said, this has been a lengthy process of which numerous people in the community haven't been involved. Quite honestly, you're at the edge of really a landmark action that the council has taken. It's typically most development codes are amended comprehensively about every 25 to 30 to 40 years. It's a case here, but it's significant. It will clearly impact the quality and the type of development you see in the community moving forward. And I think there are a number of very, very good things in this new, in the new ordinance. What I would like to do is just take a few minutes and cover three or four issues with you. I'm gonna start just very, very briefly from the beginning of this process because it's very important. There were some policy direction that was directed by the council in your comprehensive plan, Landge's plan, which was adopted several years ago about changes that need to be made in your development ordinance. We then translated that into how to do it in the code as a next step. And then we did the drafting. I'm just gonna talk briefly about those first steps and then overview very quickly for you the articles in the development code and the key. We started with your plan. That was adopted about three years ago which had a number of guiding principles and directives in terms of the quality, the type, the location of development in the community. From that, and we updated the development code, our first step was to develop of what we call the code assessment. And that code assessment, based on the direction of the plan, based on meetings that we had with the community came up with four overriding objectives for this project. One was to make this document much more user-friendly than your current code. Second was to implement plan Columbia. That's really been done primarily in two places. One is your zoning districts and your use regulations and the other is the development standards. And I'll point a few of those changes out to you in a few minutes. One was, a third theme was to modernize the regulations to strongly encourage redevelopment. And support infill redevelopment of the type that you wanna see because Columbia in many respects is a built-out community. And for that reason, the code you have to have is a little different than the code that you have today. What do you mean by built-out? Basically, a lot of the lots are platted. There are some form of development on many of the lots. And then there are vacant lots, but they're within a context where there's a lot of surrounding development. And that is, in fact, it's very interesting. We do a lot of work, development code update work. And in the South and on the East Coast and in our Southern communities, that's what we're finding today. We were really built starting in the 17, 1800s. What we found in a lot of places is that codes that were adopted 30 and 40 years ago weren't really designed to deal with those redevelopment situations like we've got today. So we had to provide more flexibility for that, operate those situations. And the other was to support green building practices. And we've included several, some provisions and standards and incentives in the codes to do that. So those were the goals and themes that we took to heart and we really focused on in drafting the new development code. The code itself is broken down into nine articles. It is much more intuitively, I use the word intuitively logical than your existing regulations. It's basically organized around three concepts. We're gonna consolidate all the review procedures in one article, article two. We're going to consolidate the zoning district and the use regulations. In other words, what you can do, where, what kind of use you can put where in two articles, articles three and four. And we're gonna consolidate the development standards. That's article five and article six. Development standards, site development standards in five and subdivision standards in six. So that's how the code is operated. There are a few other articles, but the heart and the core of the document really revolves around those three basic concepts. Procedures, zoning districts and development standards. With respect to article one, I'll be very brief. It's a short boilerplate article. It basically identifies the authorization the city has to adopt the code under the South Carolina codes, state codes. It establishes a zoning map. I think one of the most important provisions in this short article is something called transitional provisions. And those transitional provisions clearly establish what the rules are going to be when you go from your existing code to this new code. In other words, in situations where someone has a development application that's in the process of being reviewed, what's the rule? The rule that is established in this document is that if you have submitted your application that's been determined sufficient for review, then you will proceed under the old regulations. Fair, that's a fair treatment. The other rule in that transitional provision section deals with existing approvals. If you have an existing approval, it's going to be honored. And you can continue to comply, you can continue to develop under that existing approval. If for some reason you fail to develop, you fail to comply with terms and conditions and the approval is extinguished under the old rules, then anything else done on the site is going to have to come under the new rules. So that's an important provision in article one. Article two is where we have consolidated all of the development review procedures. It's organized into four sections. First two are very short. I think I want to highlight the first one because I think it's important. It is a summary table, which is something new and it's a place that you can go and you can look at a couple of pages and it summarizes for every different development application what the review process is. Who reviews it at the staff level, whether there is an advisory review like a review board and then who makes the final decision. It also identifies whether a public hearing is required or not. Or if there is an appeal to a board, that's also identified. So that's the summary of this entire article. The second article basically is just a tech summary of that. The other thing that we have done is we have established a set of standard review procedures that applies to every development application. Instead of having an individual procedure for every individual application, we have a set of standard procedures that applies to everything now. And if there is an exception, it's identified, but there are very few exceptions to the rule. And then finally, the final section deals with the individual review procedures and we refer back to the standard procedures. It's much shorter and there's a great deal of consistency in the section. There are a few changes, not very many with respect to procedures and there was a lot of what we call codification. In other words, there were procedures that were being used in practice, but they weren't in your existing code, so we codified them. You know, one of the things we did was South Carolina has a development agreement statute. If you ever want to use a development agreement, we established a procedure for that consistent with the South Carolina statutes. We codified site plan review, major, minor with the zoning administrator handling minor and the major going to the Planning Commission, which is the case today. We made some, you know, several procedures that are new. We added a conditional use permit procedure, which is allowed by South Carolina statute now. Basically that is a procedure which allows for a particular use to be approved if you meet specific conditions of approval that have to be identified in the code. Just basically provides for more efficiency in the process. You don't have to go through a public hearing for a special exception or special review. We have added an administrative adjustment. This is one of those tools that we have found to be extremely helpful in redevelopment situations or built communities. Basically what the administrative adjustment does is it allows for minor modifications to parking requirements up to 10% and for dimensional standards, a setback or a height by up to 20% subject to very specific review standards. It's handled administratively. It's not a variance. You do not have to meet variance hardship criteria. You have to meet other criteria dealing with things like ensuring compatibility and consistency with character and mitigating impacts. This is being used by communities in South Carolina and across the country. We have found it to be very helpful in these tough redevelopment on these lots that are either small or they're other topographical or other physical constraints on a lot. So that's new. That's basically is Article II. Article III are your zoning districts. We have organized them into base districts, plan development districts, it's an overlay districts. We have where our consolidation of the districts made sense. We have consolidated the districts to make them more sensible. We've also added about five or six districts to implement the policy direction in your plan. Primarily these are mixed use context-based districts, which I'll highlight for you in a second. With respect to the residential districts, they have generally been carried forward. You've got great neighborhoods now we carried forward those existing district, zone district regulations, basically. To implement the plan direction though, we have created, and as you can see in the PowerPoint, four or five mixed use districts. The Neighborhood Activity Center District, the Neighborhood Corridor District, the Community Activity Center Corridor District and the Regional Activity Center District. There are, you know, the focus in these districts we provided flexibility. They're scaled based upon a neighborhood context, a community context serving multiple neighborhoods and a regional context serving the region. But we have focused on form. We've added some design and form standards that would apply. And we have made these districts, the form of these districts is gonna be much more walkable. Buildings are being brought up to the street and are close to the street and a number of these districts that we require sidewalks in these districts. Those types of form standards. You know, the other sort of large area where we have in the zone districts where we have made some changes are in your institutional districts where there is a general institutional district, which is similar to what you have today, but it is districts primarily for government offices, for secondary schools, for small colleges. But then we've created a special district for universities and large medical complexes like the University of South Carolina, where there is a requirement that a institutional plan, our development plan be approved that address certain issues like parking, like transportation circulation, how to deal with the any potential external impacts around the edges of these institutions. And so that is a new district. We've created a special district for Fort Jackson, basically recognizing Fort Jackson and allowing them to continue doing what they're doing, as well as the Riverbank Zoo and Garden District. So we've tried to really tailor your institutional districts to some of these special institutions that you've got in the community. So in some, those are your zone district regulations. I'll just mention, with respect to the overlay districts, we've generally carried those forward. We have added one overlay district, and that's a gateway overlay district, so that you can, when the community is interested in moving forward on this, develop some special regulations for your particular gateways. And it's designed in such a way that you can tailor them for individual gateways based upon a plan that you develop. This is an example of a graphic that shows you how your zone districts are now laid out. This is very typical. Most of the districts are like that. They might have a third page or a fourth page. For example, some of the mixed-use districts are with additional form-based form standards for them. But as you can see, on the left side, we have a purpose statement, and then we have a graphic showing, a photograph showing the desired character of that district. Below that is a table showing the dimensional standards that apply to that district. On the opposite page is a graphic that actually shows the application of those dimensional and intensity standards. And then that final table is a reference to any other development standards. So that's how your districts are laid out, much more graphic than what you have today. Use regulations which go with the districts are in the next chapter. They are organized into principal uses, accessory uses, and temporary uses. They're tables for each. This is an example of the first page of the principal use table. As you can see, it's consolidated, it's organized. We have actually been able to collapse and make much more efficient the number of uses that you have today in your code. Probably cut them in half, but we've beefed up the definitions, but we think it makes it much more efficient, much more easier to understand. But as you can also see with this table, someone can look at a use that our district that they're interested in developing in, which all the districts are on this table, and they can determine whether that use is allowed by right as a special exception, as a conditional use. It's all there in this one table. With respect to the development standards, you have currently all street parking, landscaping, fencing, exterior lighting, and signage. Those are carried forward. We've modernized a number of those standards. For example, the parking standards have been modernized based upon studies over the last, national studies and state studies over the last 10 years. We also went from, you have special parking standards in your downtown now, but we actually went further than that. We created special, not special standards, but distinctive standards, but not only the downtown, but also some of these new mixed use districts and the rest of the community. So depending on where you are in the community, there are different standards based upon different traffic demands within those potential districts. We have refined landscaping standards. We've added onsite landscaping for non-residential uses and modest standards. We've added new standards, access mobility and circulation standards to just try to improve multimodal access on sites. Bicycle parking is now a requirement in these mixed use districts and in these targeted areas, not across the board. We have added open space standards in a comprehensive way, but integrated into the landscaping requirements, tree protection requirements. We've added neighborhood compatibility standards. This is something that you don't have today. It basically are standards that apply anytime a non-residential use is proposed to go beside a single family development or neighborhood or a two family development. Basically what that does is it establishes specific requirements for that non-residential development to address compatibility issues. In other words, height requirements. In other words, in relationship to the distance from that single family neighborhood where you can put in drive-thru facilities, you're not gonna be able to put them close to the single family neighborhood. They're gonna have to be not directly adjacent to the single family neighborhood. How you treat open space, how you deal with screening, operational standards, hours of operation, things like that. Mr. Mayor, I'm about finished. With that, we basically have carried forward and refined your land development standards. Non-conformities are all consolidated into one article. Definitions, rules, and measurements are all consolidated into article nine, and that is your development code. And Krista is gonna talk about next steps. Well, that was quick. Krista, can I ask you? So, right now, if I go to Regression County online and I go to a piece of property and then I click on it, and I can get kind of the three things that tells me the zoning and other things. And then you can kind of zoom in. Do we have that capability? If someone is looking at a piece of property that can go online and see the zoning and then go to kind of what these things are, you've segwayed perfectly into the next steps. Because right now, we are adopting the text of the zoning ordinance. We do not have a map of where these districts are going. That's our next step. So, what we do is we establish the districts, we adopt the standards. So, that's step one. We still have a lot of work to do, a lot of heavy lifting. We publish a draft map. Now, the draft map is based on a number of inputs, primarily playing Columbia is one of them. However, how property is zoned currently, how property is used currently, we'll all go into that first draft map. We will bring that out to the public for input. I'm sure we'll get a lot of input. We'll take it back, revise, bring it back out to the public. Then what we intend to do with regard to educating people about what it means is take a cue from when FEMA put out their flood maps, which you could come in and sit down, have 15 minute intervals and talk about what it means to your property. Because we realize a public meeting is not gonna provide that opportunity. So, when we get towards that final draft map, we will have that opportunity for one-on-one meetings with a staff person to say what does this mean for me and what does this mean for my property. We anticipate that that's gonna take nine to 12 months to go through all of those iterations. So, that's next. Might everyone have more time for questions? We are in the public hearing as well, so let me make sure we hear from the public. Mr. Rickiden, please. Ms. Hampton is able to clarify, because there are a lot of questions around demolition, what's in there and how it works, and that we're having a public hearing today. They're still tweaking to get done, and I know there's several questions, but I think it'd be good if Christa could just fill in the four of them. When speaking to demolition delay, I know at least a couple of citizens aren't speaking on that issue. Certainly, so what is up for review tonight, and part of the published documents include, so we published the proposed draft. There were some revisions that came after that. We didn't want to muddy the water and try to put those into the proposed draft, so we have proposed revisions that you have in your packet that relate to some of the bicycle parking and access, some of the Food Policy Council with regard to greenhouses, some landscape clarifications, but it's also the community character. The community character neighborhoods have demolition review currently. In community character, you review demolitions and new construction on newly subdivided lots. Right now, City Council is also considering a demolition delay ordinance that is wholly separate from what you have before you tonight. There is no demolition delay in this ordinance. That is still being discussed by Council and will be considered at a later time. What this proposed code does is maintain the demolition review in community character neighborhoods. But it does not impact demolition delay. Thank you for that clarification, Chris. Just to clarify, can you walk through, because there's some confusion what's published, because what's published in this is what is basically a mirror of the demolition delay. It's actually less than the demolition delay because it removes anything about cultural significance. But I guess the questions that's come forward, and you'll probably hear folks today, is that based on this, what's the timeframe? That is because of the way it's laid out and the requirements that are in here, this becomes a 120 day process. It does not. It's reviewed by DDRC at one meeting. This is just like the current regulations. Can we make sure we include that in there, that how the process is? Because I couldn't find it anywhere in here. And I'll be honest, I've been through a good portion of it, but I hadn't been through all of this. It's quite a lot. It would fall under the procedures of the regular DDRC procedures where they review everything the same month. So we do not have any procedure for DDRC where you don't make application and are heard at the next meeting. No, it's just the standard procedure, but it provides the community character protection that we wanted to make sure it was back in. Thank you for clarifying that. Question? Yes, sir. Mr. Badura. Krista, I'm like Councilman Daniel recommend, I haven't had the chance to go all of it, but I've gone through some of it. And I see some neighborhood leaders in here and one of the things that I would love for you to kind of summarize a little bit is go into the zoning districts. I know we don't have C1, C2, C3 anymore. We renamed them into different, I don't want to say category or names or whatever. So is there any way we can educate the public and the neighborhoods into what C1, C2 and C3 changed into and if there are any changes from the old code or the new code into affecting the borders of the neighborhoods. Thanks for coming, young people. That can be a challenge for anyone to understand. Is that something you can? I probably couldn't do that succinctly this evening, but I can give you an overview. So as Craig indicated, we do have new mixed use districts. We still have an OI, which is somewhat like your C1, but what is really helpful about this new code are a number of things with regard to the compatibility with neighborhoods. We want redevelopment along our corridors, but we want it to respect our neighborhoods. We've heard that over and over again from council, from our community members. So the new districts, in addition to being context sensitive, so it being either neighborhood or community or regional, so that will give you those development standards that respect the context in which they're located. You also have the neighborhood compatibility standards that you heard Craig mention that will ensure that the operational standards also respect that adjacent neighborhood. So what we'll be doing as well that I didn't mention in the next steps after we adopt the text of the ordinance is we'll be having educational sessions for the community to learn what these districts mean. So when we do go to provide the maps to them, they understand what it means to them. Does that help? To follow up a question on that. So whenever we propose the map, as in the neighborhood and commercial corridor around it, are we just gonna do a line about what the commercial corridor around the neighborhood would look like? And number one, number two, are we in every single parcel that's gonna be a reason as we are doing in our, are we doing the same thing with the new code or once we re-zone it or remap it as in commercial corridor or neighborhood, there is no rezoning request or hearing anymore? No, you will still get rezoning requests, but we will put out and we may, we're still strategizing on the best way to approach this. We may go ahead and do residential first and because that's going to be a lot simpler and then attack the commercial areas, but we will propose districts based on, again, those number of criteria that I mentioned previously and put that out for public comment at the same time educating them about what it means. And I think the other important part of this discussion, not just the residential, is the actual commercial corridor surrounding the neighborhoods. I think a lot of my district or my neighborhood will be very interested into understanding that and how that moving forward and we'll be glad to do some public sessions with the neighborhoods so they can understand. So I appreciate any help you can do and any light that you can enhance on us will be great. Thank you. All right, thank you. Any other comments? We do have a couple. Reserve the right to maybe hear from the public first and then. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Earl McLeod? Mr. Mayor and members of council, my name is Earl McLeod. I'm the executive director of the building and industry association I do wanna express some concerns about the adoption of the unified development code. In particular, referencing article 317 dash 3.7 in the overlay districts, which I didn't hear the consultant speak to those changes. In fact, in particular, the limits to demolition is the section that we have some questions about, which I believe I'm correct in saying that that language hasn't been provided in any of the public discussions leading up to the mic, is that correct? So we really haven't had public input on that section. You agree or not agree? It was not aware, I was not aware at the stakeholder meetings I attended that this language was to be included in the ordinance. Maybe that's my fault. And I'm concerned that we do have this ongoing debate about demolition and the economic development subcommittee as Mr. Reckman is chairing that may produce a different ordinance that would conflict with this ordinance, which would not make this a user friendly document. So we're concerned that we have one consistent standard, not two, but we have concerns with the current practice and limits to demolition that have been discussed for several months. And we've tried to provide that input through the economic development committee because we weren't aware that it was proposed in this ordinance. I want to at least let you know that we still have concerns and we think that it should not be part of a first reading until those issues have been addressed adequately by the public. That's what I'd like to say to you today and ask that you not give first reading including that section regarding demolition. Thank you, Earl. All right. Also signed to speak on this item. Henry Baskins. Mr. McLeod has said just about everything I was going to say except that the members of the Columbia Chamber has been calling us about these changes in this particular addition. Some clarity has been brought to me tonight and I thank Ms. Hampton for clearing it and I thank Councilman Rickman also for letting us know what's going on. However, our concern is just as Mr. McLeod was if something is enacted under the demolition delay ordinance that's contrary to what is here. Does that set some sort of pick and choose as to which ordinance I would go with to get what I want done? I'm we're concerned that there could be some conflict and is there a way for us to have more input on this? This is a massive plan and this is only one small piece of a massive plan that I understand has been in the works for many, for several years and I applaud you for the effort for going through this procedure but this one small section causes us and I'll remember some concern. So if we can have some idea that there won't be any conflict between what is enacted under what's being to discuss under the Economic Development Committee demolition delay ordinance and this and perhaps we will have more certainty as to what we can say that we're against and what we're for. Right now we're not quite sure where to go with that. Thank you, Henry. Thank you so much. Chris, you wanna address the two specific questions first around discussions previously. This came before Planning Commission and this has been part of the discussions here too for and maybe speak also to the potential conflict that both speakers raised. Certainly, yes. The proposal to have demolition as part of the community character districts did go to the Planning Commission and I believe we mentioned it at the meeting before we've mentioned it at a number of economic development subcommittee meetings because we understand that people have been confused and have been trying to alleviate some of that confusion. So that has been in the work since that time. With regard to the part- I think that's the part that I think, Chrissy, you need to explain a little bit here that what we're talking about here is limited to community care at this point. Yes, what we are considering tonight is limited to community character districts which are residential districts and they are regulations that largely exist right now. They are in place. So... Now we will still have to have the larger discussion around demolition delay and then obviously there's a number of strong positions on either side this council's gonna have to resolve but thanks for the clarification. Any other questions of Ms. Hampton? I have no other citizen's sign that's speaking this particular matter as anyone else feels so moved. All right, young lady, I'm sorry, Dan. Mayor, council members, my name is Dan DiAlberto. I'm a local attorney here on behalf of the University of South Carolina. I just want to briefly express our wholehearted support for the zoning rewrite and our wholehearted appreciation to staff for involving us in the process. It was harrowing for them to have to create, well, it's gone now, but 640 pages of code. I'm along with her staff, probably one of a few other people in the city who read it and it put me to sleep several nights but it's a wonderful new code. We wholeheartedly support it and we wanted to just be here to express our thanks to you and to staff for doing that. Part of that code as the consultant mentioned is a university and medical district. I don't want to belabor that point tonight because I know y'all are probably tired but we're gonna be coming back to you in regards to that district at some point in the near future of working with staff, working with Planned Commission and then with you. You'll hear from us again on that but I'll just leave it at that. Thank you. Well, we look forward to the university coming back with a funding source for that as well. No comment. Ma'am. Oh, darn. Mr. Davis, why she's coming up, you wanna say something? Well, I'll wait. Please, yes, ma'am. Thank you. My name is Virginia Harness and I would just also like to point out my friend Pam Kendrick would like to speak after me briefly. Would you just say your last name for me, Virginia? Harness. H-A-R-N-E-S. It's Swiss sounds, okay. It's like a horse's harness, yes sir. I guess we're here tonight because we have a concern, which is a general concern brought on by a specific situation. Actually, I've corresponded with a couple of you about this already. I guess my friend Pam lives adjacent to a property that is a gym and they lift weights and they drop those weights and it causes serious vibrations on her property. And it's our understanding that at present there's basically zilch that is in the zoning ordinance to address this. So we were very interested to see that this rewrite's happening. But just going through the document, I noticed there's wording about vibrations for special exceptions, for businesses within homes. Even light manufacturing has rules about how much vibration you can have. There doesn't appear to be anything for commercial properties, much less gyms. And I guess this is, it is a problem and I'm sure it isn't limited to gyms. I'm sure there are other commercial uses that could cause this kind of vibration disruption in other adjacent properties, be they residential or commercial. But it's an issue and it just seems odd that a light manufacturing use is restricted in their vibrations but a commercial use is not. I apologize for smiling, but you do this for a few years. You think you've heard everything and I've never heard this complaint before. This is a new one for me. Yeah, sounds very real. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought I'd be delving into it either. I did try to bring a couple of numbers for you. I mean, for example, I looked this up before I came here, a 200 pound man who was an intermediate weightlifter could lift 235 pounds in a clean and jerk. That's all the way up. If they drop that, if there's six of them in a class, that's 1200 pounds. So we're just really concerned about the vibrations that specifically gyms are causing but also potentially other properties and how it's impacting the citizens of the country. I'm very familiar with those computations as well. You think this is all genetics, it's not. It comes with a lot of hard work, so. He drops it is what he's trying to say. I guess I would just also briefly like to point out that there are gyms and wouldn't know what to look at me. I actually belong to one where they don't allow you to drop weights. And so anyway, we just like to ask the council to consider the gym issue and the vibration issue at large with respect to these, the new zoning ordinance and let PM talk to them. I'm gonna ask you a question in transition, please. Well yeah, so either you or Pam, I guess you don't have to tell me exactly where you live but where you live is a zoned residential and then adjacent, the gym is C1. Yes ma'am. So I am a residential adjacent to a C3 commercial use. And as Regina mentioned, this is not something I ever thought we would have to deal with. I was actually excited when I found out it was a gym. Pam, your last name is? Kendrick. Okay, thank you. And what we're finding out is that crossfit gyms or crossfit style gyms are actually atypical of a gym use because of this intense and extreme weight drop that creates a very low frequency noise and vibration intrusion into adjacent and nearby properties. Some other cities like Austin have started reclassifying crossfit gyms beyond just your typical gym recreational indoor facility. And that's something I would like to ask that we consider in this new code ordinance that we look at adding a specific use for that type of gym because the weight dropping is intense. And actually if you go on the crossfit website they say right there for new gym owners that these are typically louder than gyms and you should tell your landlords and your city council up front so that they are aware that this is not a typical gym use. I'm just curious. How proximity, are we talking feet, yards? What are you talking about? I actually have a, my home, a brick masonry home at the front of the lot which is maybe 150, 200 feet away. And then I have a single mother-in-law cottage that's an income producing rental property that's grandfathered in. That's about 60 feet. And the problem is that so- You made sure you said it was grandfathered in, right? Yes, and it's permitted. Okay, and it's permitted. Of course you come for it, you don't want it. It's not zoned that way anymore but a big component of this is that it shakes and rattles both houses but it's so loud and it's so disruptive that I'm not gonna be able to keep renting that the way it is. And so the other thing I would like you all to please consider in this adoption is applying those noise and vibration restrictions that are applied to the other categories Virginia mentioned to these commercial properties that are adjacent to residential as well. The gym has a parking variance to use a parking lot and that parking lot has a special exemption that prevents their use from creating noise and vibration but it doesn't apply to their building. So if they lifted weights in the parking lot I'd be able to stop it but because they're in their building I can't. And they are grandfathered in under the zoning code and I understand that but I'm trying to prevent this in the future for everybody. Mr. Mayor, would you say that the gym makes more noise than a florist? Definitely, yes. Mr. Madura. I know you, I'm not sure if you're the one who sent me the email or you're the other one. So I did forward your email to code enforcement code enforcement and the chief and to be honest with you, we've never heard of that. I'm like the mayor. We've never heard of that before but the more you research it there are other cities who have taken action on that and trying to prevent that from happening. As in what can we do for your situation right now to give you some relief? I think we're still working on it. I don't wanna say we're gonna give up but you brought in a really good point or a valid concern that moving forward into zoning and that's the area I was talking about. The commercial corridors around the residential what can we use it? And I think that is important for us to move forward into rewriting the codes and to making sure. But meanwhile, I assure you we're doing everything we can to give you some relief. I don't know how yet. I'm not gonna promise you anything but we'll figure out something and go from there but I appreciate you coming out here but it is a concern that we need to look into it. Absolutely. Well thank you for listening. Thank you Mr. Davis. Just a comment and thanks. One question ma'am. A question I usually ask in terms of the origin of the complaint. What came first? Were you at that location first and the gym was built next door to you or the gym was there and you moved there? It's a new business. I purchased the property in November 2017 and the gym signed a lease and moved in I think the last day of November this past November. So is there about a year before they moved in? Thank you. The properties and the city that has the same problem. I empathize with you. So I've been, I've gone to a number of the public hearings and I've read and still trying to read and understand the new codes and one of the things I'm liking about it now is that the visuals and the graphics are 3,000% better but at the same time I don't know that we're at a point where everything is final. So but we'll be going. It's a draft only, there's no vote today. So we're going, we're still going through the process so I think it helps to get input now even though there's some feelings that it's a done deal, it's not but a lot of work has gone into this. I can tell you that. I think I complain or I address zoning codes more than anybody up here on a regular basis but that's good because it's all about impact one way or the other. I'm sorry. I would suggest that you continue to talk with staff and get them to really understand your experiences and how the codes now and the proposed change would impact you. All right, thank you. No, as we, all right, we're gonna, Ms. Wiley, you wanna respond to that first? I just, it is certainly a draft. We don't want this to go on for much longer so we would like. Oh, we're gonna move forward. Yeah, so and things that need to be amended and clarified, excuse me, that would be my recommendation. Absolutely. But what else do we need to do because there's been advertisements and so forth and so on. Do we need to do something different moving forward? No sir, I would not. In terms of making, alerting the public to the process. It's been out there for a couple of years. Well, I mean, well, let's be fair though in that but you can't just say it's been out there. It's been a working document. We just got it not too long ago and I actually have been reading it and I think there's some incentives in here that aren't strong enough that I think we ought to talk about. I don't think there's enough flexibility in landscape. But I do think we need to have some dialogue but I'm hoping that we can take whatever we hear from the public today, add it in and move it forward here shortly because I do think there's some more discussion. Because whatever we do, it has to go back to Planning Commission for their review and advice to back to you. But that's only for any amended. They don't have to major amended. Yeah, whenever, if you make changes to this document it needs to go back to Planning Commission. A whole thing or just the actual? The amendments as a whole document. All right, any comments on the issues raised on the Schwarzenegger rule? Laying your discussion around that? Chris actually didn't say, have you thought about, thank you, thought about how we can address their concerns? Craig and I were having just a sidebar. Come here, come here Ms. Wiley. This will be quick. We've been having a sidebar conversation that we think there may be a solution that we can put in there. All right, thank you. Ms. Wiley. Will that help the C3, you know, get rid of the C3, you know, with our exception and our neighborhoods? All right, let me take, Diane Wiley. Ask all your questions Ms. Wiley. Well, of course. We had two grocery stores that come up on the 5th, on the same street, wrapped by the college, Benedict Stadium, not even four blocks. That's uncalled for. It's three liquor stores on four blocks. That's uncalled for. And I don't want to say what I really want to say, but anyway, I was just- That's never stopped you before. I'm gonna be nice, I'm trying to be nice this year. But what I'm saying, we got just two million liquor stores and convenience stores in our neighborhood and y'all know it. That's why we don't have a decent restaurant, no hotels. We're not gonna get none of that money that's coming in this weekend. Not one dime, but we're part of the city, you know. But I wanna know if that will change, because we need that change. There is a district that's similar to C3, which is GC. As I mentioned before, we do not yet know what each of these areas will be zoned. Liquor stores, we did make them at council's direction, special exceptions everywhere, to provide that additional review by the Board of Zoning Appeals. The Board of Zoning Appeals reviewed them and approved them, so. Not unless council was to look at this and direct us to permit them in only very, very limited districts, which has other implications. We have stayed with the special exception, so it still remains a special exception. Christa, is there any way to address, I guess the saturation of those type of stores? I mean, could we ask some kind of criteria that the zoning board will look at? Yeah, separation, or the number in a particular area. We added that criteria when we added them as a special exception. We talk about, there's a criteria about concentration of uses. So that would probably address, to a certain extent, Ms. Wiley's concern of the number that are coming in a particular area. Well, that exists currently in our special exception criteria that we added. So going beyond that and making sure that we still stay within our limits with regard to alcohol licensing and not run afoul of state, is a fine line to walk. Mr. McDowell and Ms. Ma'am as well, Ms. Ma'am. They disrespect our churches and the schools and right there where Benedict is a school right there and the church, Trinity right there and my church right next door, they disrespect and they wouldn't put it in their neighborhood and that's all I got to say. Thank you, Ms. Wiley. I'm sorry. I've had a conversation with both zoning and with licensing, addressing some of the same issues that has been raised. We identified places particularly on Toonard Road where there is a a volumous number of liquor stores, convenient stores and that sort of thing. These two persons have committed their time and talent in underscoring some various needs over there. The needs as it relates to liquor store, I mean, stores of convenience. They've identified those stores. We helped them to identify those stores on Monday. I think it was Monday and the appropriate persons are investigating those places. So, and we talk about C3, of course, C3 particularly down Toonard Road has been that corridor that has been C3 for a very long time. What we've done and what we've asked this new configuration and the new mapping implementation, of course, gives us some history. Some folks will be grandfathered in. Others will not be. So it gives us some latitude to work through this whole process. The other piece is this. When a store is granted a liquor license, that's not anything that we can do anything about. That's a state. That's DOR, DOR takes care of that. There has not been any conversation, of course, when a store is given that license to sell alcoholic beverages. There has not been that two-way street between the owner of that store and us or the city or whomever. I think that raises some concerns, but DOR has its own guidelines for doing that. And when a store opens arbitrarily within a community, of course, the owner don't particularly need to notify us. DOR, that's DOR's piece, I think. So, but we're working on this and the persons we had that conversation with are committed to looking at and investigating those pieces of property that we identified. Thanks for the clarification. State law, Mr. McDowell, and obviously, we need to make sure that we remain as engaged as possible and advocating for the communities as we have in the past. Any other discussions on the ordinance? Ms. Williams? Ms. Hampton, my question is for clarity, when you come to our communities to tell us about the new zones, will they already be established when she comes to tell us about the neighborhood or the community or the regional or the new mixed-use districts? Will they already be established and in place? For instance, for example, has my neighborhood already been changed? No. Are areas in my neighborhood already changed? March 2020. I just saw the word interim updating the official, those are the next steps. So everything is the way it is right now. Why don't you ask all your questions, Regina? Is that the only question? That's it. Okay, all right, thank you. Crystal, and then I'm gonna zip up this discussion, y'all. Yeah, and we've met with Ms. Williams and her community. You've had meetings already, right? Yeah, several times. And we understand their concerns and we will make sure that those are addressed when we are looking at mapping. And so we will put a draft map out there, but it will be a draft map and we'll be looking to you to provide us input on that map. And our single-family districts, I can't say with a 100% assurance, but most of them, they're gonna be single-family districts again. So because as Craig indicated, those are working, we don't need to fiddle with that. And we understand from the residents in those districts that that's important to them and we wanna keep that. So from an input standpoint, you know, I was reviewing, I started off with the proposed changes and then I've been diligently reading at night through this, but I was a little confused about the process moving forward because on this document, it says to reduce confusion, these revisions be presented as separate document after city council consider those favorable review will be incorporated in the full for final reading. And maybe I just misunderstood what you said earlier. You said any changes to this then have to go back to Planning Commission. Not including these that have already been published and brought to you because Planning Commission has seen these, have recommended approval of these. So what you have before you, the draft document and those proposed revisions have already been considered by them and recommended. So any further changes beyond this are what we would need to bring back to them just for their review, which I anticipate will happen. So what kind of timeframe should we look at? Because at reading over the green building incentives, I think there needs to be some tweaking to be quite honest. I think we also need to understand how that affects also certain districts. It's not clear to me and I've tried to read as much as I could, but honestly, it's a lot of material. Thankful there are a lot of pictures too, which make it a lot easier. From your standpoint, we've had this public hearing. We've gotten some input. Obviously the demolition delay was one I'd more have to deal with some of those because it doesn't fit all the overlay. So we still need to attack that. How do you wanna proceed now? Because obviously we can't give it full reading yet. I mean, we can't give it first reading yet until we make these changes. So were we not planning on first reading tonight? I would love it if you did, however. I'm not gonna vote for a first reading when I haven't finished the document. I mean, it's just, I'm sorry, I'm doing the best I can, but 600 pages is a lot to swallow. So and I'll, I'll defer to you and to the managers to have us get input, whether it's a work session or something of that nature. We can think about that. And let me say that this is a great document. There's been a lot of positive to it, but I do think there's a couple of things we just need to clarify. And I think we need to make sure that everything's incorporated correctly. So I mean, I personally would like to finish reading the document before I vote on it. I'm absolutely, I'll have to. All right, so continue to take feedback. We gotta make sure we have, however, move forward with some deliberate speed. Are there other issues other than the one's raised tonight? Obviously we'll give feedback back to staff. We will, I'm sure have some amendments to the document that we'll have to go back to planning commission, but we gotta make sure we stay on a schedule that allows us to get done and a reasonable amount of time. All right, any other feedback? I have no other citizens who's time to speak. We put a calendar time on this. I think it's important that we kind of set a date to get things finished. I was gonna recommend that if council members have any additional concerns, suggestions, if you could get them to Krista and Missy and myself, and then as we plan towards April starting to fill up, and as of what we discussed earlier, maybe we add a work session or something in April on an off day just for this, and we can work with your scheduling and that. If it's necessary, then maybe that would be more productive for you to just be able to focus in on the document. If you have enough concerns to do that, you know, I'm certainly... Krista may tell me the things that after I'm done with it that really don't need to go back to planning. It could just be tweaking of the language. I just don't know that, but I'm not finished yet. But is that what you said? Did you say that even minor amendments have to go back to planning commission or only major? I need to look at it. If it's significant enough, I mean the statute's fairly vague. So I sense hesitation earlier when the question was asked, okay. So let's review and consume the document. Time on the wise, we'll be back here within 30 days or so. This has been just in all fairness a rigorous process, transparent process, maybe even trending towards overkill. So if there's clarification that needs to be had, let's make sure we get answers to all questions, and there will be some policy disagreements that we will not have a resolution on, but we will resolve them and we need to move forward. Again, with all deliberate speed. So is there a recommendation from you all? We want two weeks, four weeks, six weeks? I would say... I mean, I don't know where y'all are on it, but to me, I mean... I mean, six weeks or two weeks. Six weeks? Six weeks. Yeah, I'll be prepared to... Six weeks, and I would encourage anyone within the sound of our voice, and Earl, you guys chime in, Henry, and everyone else, and our neighborhood leaders, any recommendations are consumed this document as well. It is a wonderful cure for insomnia. So, and all recommendations that you have, let's plan to move forward together as a city. Thank you, Ms. Hampton. Thank you. Great job. Madam City Manager. Yes, sir. Item 48, Ordinance's First Reading, Ordinance's Summer 2019-021, Granting and Encouraging Experience, Columbia, SC. So moved. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, move the previous question. Court, Colorado. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Say yes, Howard. Yes. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Resolutions, item number 49, Resolution number R-2019-018, permitting the fire department to collect money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. All right, is there a motion? So I move. Is there a second? That's it. I wasn't going there, where was this one right there? Oh, that was. The second, move the previous question. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Item 50, Resolution number R-2019-024, authorizing the city manager to ask you to contract for purchase and sale of rural property between the City of Columbia and Columbia Venture LLC for 199.65 acres. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, will the previous question clerk call the roll? Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 51, Resolution number R-2019-025, approving and ratifying mutual aid agreements between the City of Columbia and the City of Columbia Police Department and various law enforcement agencies, authorizing the city manager of the City of Columbia and the Chief of Police of the City of Columbia to execute all such agreements. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, move the previous question clerk call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 52, Resolution number R-2019-027, authorizing the city manager to execute a lease between the City of Columbia and EMNL for lease of the 4th floor of 1401 Main Street. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, move the previous question clerk call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 53, a resolution number R-2019-028, authorizing the city manager to execute any documents as approved by the city attorney necessary to make repairs, order to or rebuild certain properties. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Discussion? Sure. Seeing none, move the previous question clerk call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 54, resolution number R-2019-029, authorizing the city manager to execute any documents necessary to purchase properties affected by the 2015 flood through the property acquisition program. So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, move the previous question clerk call the roll. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. 55. Item 55, resolution number R-2019-030, authorizing the city manager to execute any documents necessary to purchase properties affected by the 2015 flood. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Moving into a period of appointments there to. Question. Committees. Yes, sir. Just want to stay that on the record or our meeting tonight is these properties that we're buying through the acquisition program is eventually it'll be a green space after we correct some of these properties when. Yep. Right. It's looking at the two that are on here. I think they're through a different program than the. Should be right that. Yes, sir. Or the creek as so. Yeah. So it's. Yes, sir. The policy? Where are we on? Yes, sir. Mayor Poinmore. Mr. Duvall. Madam manager, we normally have a resolution for the chief of the fire department to put his men out in the road that I traditionally vote against each time because I don't think that's safe. He looks forward to voting against it each year. He voted for it. No, he didn't. That's the one you said hi. You withdraw my vote. This isn't accounting. Broke a streak. You broke a streak. I'll pay you any help. Just took a little distraction. Get him off his game. All right. Where are we? And some of you, if we appear like we're fading, we've been here since 2 PM. And some of us since 9 AM this morning. So it's real. You're looking at me and I'm not. So the question is 12 hours right now. Some of us. We're not. There's three recommendations. I mean, did you have some other suggestions? If you want to hold that we can, I don't know. There are some urgency issues. Lauren, you have some issues? Any timeliness issues? It would be nice if we could have it today. But if it's not imperative, most of the committee turns over in June of 2019. So a lot of them will roll off unless they want to be reappointed in June. And I see you've got a couple resignations. So are y'all, are they meeting on a regular basis? Yeah, they meet monthly. They still meet monthly. Right. So are you having any quorum issues or any issues with that? So far we haven't had any quorum issues because a lot of them, they've been really diligent about attending meetings. We only had three applicants. So technically you can only do three if they all decide to come off. Yeah. Hey, you do me. And you've got a recommendation for three people from the committee. Yeah, the full committee supported all the applicants applications. It asks the question. Did you have some other names you wanted to consider? We can. OK. All right. All right. Thank you. All right. H tax. Ashley. So we've got restaurant tours and we have at-large seats. Yes. Now the restaurant tours, how many have six? How many of the existing restaurant tours are eligible for your appointment? Just one right now, right? Yes. Hold on just a second. One that's Mr. Hampton. Ms. Davis could be redone by a supermajority vote. There's actually Chris Bryan. He's eligible for re-employment and he's one of the restaurant tours. OK. I'll see him as well. And then also Drew Hampton. So there's two. Yeah, those two and four vacancies. So we need six. Give me one second, Mr. Duvall, before you start moving over there. I know you see you're operating. All right. So it's Hampton and Davis. And Terry Davis applied. They've actually already completed two terms, but they were open to serving again if counsel needed someone else to step in. What about Bobby Williams, the third? All right, so let's start with the motion for the restaurant tours. I think just listen to all the feedback. I think you might be fine. All right, so on the six restaurant tour slots, we have for reappointment Chris Davis and Drew Hampton. Yes. Requiring a supermajority vote, Ms. Davis, Terry Davis. We require five out of seven to be in compliance with the policy. So there'll be Davis, Davis, and Hampton, Rosa Daniels, Chad Elsie, and Robert Williams, the third. And if we did them as one block and had a supermajority, unanimous vote, it would be consistent. All right, and Ms. Davis, this is your last term on the committee. All right, so that's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? I'm sorry, did you have something? No, just a discussion. I love Terry, and I know she's doing an excellent job. And so there's a willingness to reappoint her. I'm certainly supportive of that, but I would like to go on the record is that this council, we seem to pick and choose when we want to enforce the policy of two members or two terms. And there's no consistency to it. And I think some people get kicked out. Oh, no, we have a policy you can't serve again. And some people we decide to change the policy. And I understand that we gave ourselves that leeway. But I mean, we had that opportunity with the airport commission. We said no. And we had that opportunity with other boards. And we said yes. And we kind of go back and forth. And I think that sends a bad message when we have people who are willing to serve. So I say that generally, it's not against Terry, because I love Terry. And I know she does a great job. And I love her service on the board. And so I will support that. But I do want to say that I feel like we are not going with our policy on a regular basis. And it seems inconsistent. If we're going to do it, we need to be very consistent with doing it, not depending on who's serving, but sticking to the rule. Thank you. And just so everyone knows, we have a policy on serving on boards and commissions that folks should serve no longer than two consecutive terms. But when there's an exception, if someone receives a supermajority vote because of exceptional contributions or service, then they can serve a third term. We've had some issues in the past. We've had some people serve a very, very long time. And we're trying to break out of that habit. This would only be Terry's third term. So I just want to make that clear. I understand that. Yeah, I understand. I understand. No, duly noted and wholly accurate. Move the previous question on those restaurateur appointments. What about Bobby? We'll take the rest. Let's do these first. Let's just do these. Move the previous question. We'll read your names again, please. Sure. Davis Davis Davis Hampton, Daniels, LC Williams. Williams. OK, you did. Davis Davis Hampton, LC Williams, Daniels. Yeah, six. Yeah, that's fine. Second. Move the previous question for Colorado. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Vyne. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benson. Howard, you had a recommendation regarding our esteemed chairman for life taking an ex-officer role. Would you please speak to that? John Whitehead's got more institutional memory than the law allows, and we need to keep him on that committee if we can. And I'd like to make John Whitehead an ex-officer member of the committee. And tell me exactly what does that mean? He would have voice, but no vote. Yeah. John's on the other side of that spectrum. John's been serving since Moses, or Lynn. John's, I think, been serving since we established the committee. He's been a fantastic chairman. And obviously, it's helped probably shape this process more than any other individual in the city. But 10 years is a long time. So we're talking about making, and we're going to have to put some structure and parameters to that. And then we're going to have to just take up the other five at-large appointments separately. We've got some degree of consistency in just talking to all of you with some things we still have to resolve. But ex-officer role for John is to be determined in some way. All you smarter people, you and DD and Margie Reese is recommending some changes that I think we can do. That was another recommendation, too, that I think DD and I discussed. All right, there's a motion by Mr. Duvall in a second. I second. Second. Is there a discussion? Do you have a previous question or a call roll? Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. DeVine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. One major challenge we've had speaking with staff is just making sure we have a diversity of interests on the HTAX committee. There are two women of color who applied, who I think would be excellent. And we can take them up one by one. There's general consistency in the recommendations by doing to put Tiffany James and LaJoyre Broughton's name in the nomination. Got it. Which one, I'm sorry? Tiffany James and LaJoyre Broughton. Yes, because he is eligible for to serve a second term. Yes. That was fine. Did we pick that up? Yes, give me that. Yeah, do you have a previous question or a call roll? Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Badura. Aye. Mr. Ryan. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. 158. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, other matters, counsel is asked to approve the installation of one speed hump on Bannockburn Drive as requested by the public works. So moved. Second. Moved in a second. Any discussion? Yes, please. Mr. Rickerman. Not necessarily on this speed hump, but we got to come up with a policy. I'm asked folks in my district to provide letters from all the neighbors that there and thing. We've gotten a bunch of new speed bumps in several neighborhoods where people on the street were never consulted. It was only the neighborhood association making the decision. And I think that's a problem because those folks aren't living on that street. I think it's got to be an effort between the two bodies. The people on the street need to have a say on that. They're the ones who have it. Almost 90% of the people, I think, want them. But I got an earful today because humps appeared. Three of them on a street in a neighborhood that the neighborhood association did not consult with the folks on the street. And I think we got to come up with a policy so everything's consistent. Let me. Can I tell you what? That was a good one. Yep. Just make sure the process is transparent. People are engaged. I also think this is the particular speed hump. This is its third term for reappointment as well. We're not going to have any more. That was a joke, y'all. Mr. Davis and we're going to wrap it up. Mr. Rickman, I agree with transparency. But I'll tell you what I've been doing as late as last night. This neighborhood, at meetings, we do hear concerns about speeding and the need for speed humps. So the process I use is simply this. Have people come to the meetings, those who have an interest in it or not, and speak to that issue. Number one, two, staff will come and we'll discuss it. Then they need to agree on where they, as a neighborhood, would like to see speed humps. And they collect that data, come back, and make a decision. But what I'm saying is, that's one. If we have to put it in writing, fine. But some folks don't want speed humps. Some don't want it in front of their house. But as long as you have that dialogue in the neighborhood, I think you've done the best you can. Yeah, I'm just having people notified and the majority of the folks are important. But when people on the street don't even know about it and it's made it a third party, I think it's just moving forward. I think it's a very important. So it can't, Ms. Wilson. Not to belabor the point. And I was purposely not going to say anything about this until after you voted. But since you're discussing it now, on top of the neighborhood discussion about it, our own staff is having heartburn. And so am I about the number of speed humps. They're just quite frankly, not necessary all the time. The amount of speed humps that we're putting before you has grown exponentially. I think residents are beginning to feel like that's the only mechanism for some type of control or addressing what they, and we're not saying that they're not issues, they were speeding, et cetera, but there are other enforcement mechanisms. And so the process that we're looking at internally as well will have a more involvement by police and fire, particularly fire. Chief Jenkins was gracious, I think, on this particular one. They have some concern about this one and the need, but we're moving forward. But the toll it's taken on vehicles is real as well. So we just need to implement those notification to the neighborhoods. Speed cameras is where we can solve all the problems. Once you do that, if once we do that part with the neighborhoods, if public safety comes back and expresses some concern, we're going to need some reassurance that that will be received well. All right, we're going to wrap this up, y'all. Now that we've brought up the subject, it'd be important. I would like for staff to bring me a recommendation of in-city school, where we can do a trial run for speed cameras in the school zone, which will be the first step to move it on. I do have a person in the Senate in the house willing to move it forward for us to do a trial. It has made a huge difference in other communities. Would this require a council request form? No. All right, fill it out. We're looking at sirens, I think, and now speed cameras in the school zone. So we'll bring that to the public safety committee. Is that a referral to the public safety committee? No. Move the previous question. Clerk, call her all. Before you do that, sir. I'm tired of talking about speed bump, y'all. I know, but I am too. I've been using it, it's not about speed bump. 7th or reaction. Mr. Anderson, can you go through the process what we have right now? Oh, no, no, absolutely not. It's five minutes, two minutes. No, no, not tonight. Parliamentary procedure, move the previous question, clerk, call her all. And Mr. Anderson will get Mr. Badura a personal process. I already know the process. On the record. Mr. Regiment, Mr. McVowell, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Badura. Thank you for being good natured. Mr. Badura. Aye, aye, aye. Mr. Davis, Mr. Benjamin. Aye. Don't bring me the speed bump, speed bump. Item 59, the humanitarian assistance program, the Honorable Edward H. McDowell, Jr. There has been a collaborative effort shared with CHA, the United Way. A new program, of course, it's called the Relocation Assistance Program, where Blue Cross Blue Shield initiated the first $15,000 and, of course, and is given an additional $5,000 for assistance with our residents. The United Way, CHA, Harvitz Hope Food Bank, churches, pastors, the whole city. Richland County, of course, made an initial donation of $125,000 and, of course, just a few weeks ago, as for another $25,000 for laundry, not appliances, but continued items that would continue to help those residents. As of 315, 100 out of the 239 families that were displaced, 150 have identified new units slash homes. Out of that 156 families, there has been, there are another 110 families that are currently waiting for inspection of homes and units to take place. So far, 83 families have not been able to find suitable housing units or homes. We continue to solicit your help as it relates to supplies, laundry supplies. It would be helpful if you would just consider those things that are necessary for our clients, for our residents. Those things are laundry detergent, dish detergent, feminine hygiene products, adult diapers, hygiene items, soap, hair care, toothpaste, toothbrushes. It is an ongoing challenge. And, of course, they continue to seek our help. Our city has been very compassionate, very thoughtful, and very given. And we would simply ask that that kind of thoughtfulness and compassion continue within the confines of our city. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilman McDowell. Thank you for your leadership. Appreciate, say, of our kids recognizing just you tonight, along with Chief Jenkins, just a stalwart and compassionate leadership, you showing this issue as a representative of, I believe, the best of us. So thank you. Any matters considered at work session that need to be taken up tonight? Council had any concerns from a public safety perspective? Chief Holbrook was here to address it regarding the tournament. We're in great shape. Sure. I think he's got a recruit class who will be graduating and go right into the street. So you have quite a presence downtown for the tournament. Thank you. Any council reports or referrals? I have one referral. We've been reading some public discussion around plastic particulates in water, not just here, but across the country. I want to refer that to the Environment Infrastructure Committee for consideration and presentation by staff. Is that second? Any discussion? Say none with the previous question. Kirk, call the roll. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. You're in all the fun together. Mr. Fedora? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. All right. Any other reports or referrals? We have almost everyone's spoken already, but ever Ms. Lottie Myers? You're speaking on behalf of my sister, Kershan Johnson. Yes, goodbye. I'm here speaking on behalf of my sister, Kershan Johnson. She's currently detained at Alvin S. Glenn on a murder charge. She's disabled. She's been there for almost six months. When they came out to question her about the things that happened, we told them that she was disabled, but they went ahead and proceeded with everything anyways. When another county came to question her, they knew instantly that she was disabled, so they couldn't go further with any questioning. But the city of Columbia went ahead and proceeded with their questioning. There's no evidence on anything. Basically, she's just being held there with nothing. They have no evidence, no fingerprints, gun prints, or anything. Well, Ms. Myers, thank you for being here. And obviously, you don't know the circumstances that you're dealing with, or that your sister's dealing with. This is not the venue that she's going to be able to seek justice, or what have you. So I'm not sure how things have moved in their way through the court process. Has she been assigned a public defender? Does she have an attorney? She has a public defender, but when I reach out to him, he never reaches back out to me. She hasn't been up for a bind. Nothing. We'll make it a point to reach out to the public defender. If you leave your sister's name and information, just to make sure they're being responsive, the attorney is probably going to be the best person to advocate on behalf of her interests. But that's not something that we take up here at City Council. OK. I just need this to go public, because nobody's listening. Like, we've been trying to get this out and heard for so long, but no one's listening. We've called WLTX, like so many places, and there's numerous of crimes that's happening in our community and in the surrounding communities. That's almost the same to the same exact incident, but no one's putting in the effort to look into it. It's just like she's just sitting there, and no one cares. Like, she's innocent. Like, we know this for sure. Like, this is heartbreaking to know that someone disabled or not able to commit this crime is being held against her. Basically, she's been coerced into making, to confessing to this, honestly. She's old. She's 19 now, but she's disabled. We've turned in all of her school records. Yes, she was 18 at the time, but she's 19 now. She turned 19 there. We turned in her school records. Everything that they needed, we've turned in, is just that they're not hearing this. They're holding her. And the investigator who actually came out to pick her up actually stated to myself and my mom that he know that she didn't do this. But my thing is, if you know this, then why are you charging her with it? What is her disability? We're not going to start litigating it right now. And I know this is an issue very close to Miss Davis's heart as well. Please share her name with us. Her name is Kershaw Johnson. Information, and we'll make sure that we reach out directly to the public defender to see if you can get some quick service from the PD, OK? How else will we go about doing this? What other ways are we going to do this? You have to ask your attorney that, ma'am. That's not something that we have any jurisdiction over here at City Hall, all right? Thank you. Thank you. Nicole and Hannah from the University of Maryland, are they gone already? I know we had some students here from the University of Maryland there with Forest. All right, I see a bunch of students here. Where are you guys from? USC, Gamecocks, J School? You picked an interesting night to be here. I hope, hopefully, it was interesting, exciting, and not boring, and maybe a tad bit silly at least. So I think you're the only one getting the course credit for being here, hopefully. So glad to have you here. Great, great school, great school. All right. Go, Moons. I know. Let me make sure I've touched everyone. I think everyone else has spoken, who has signed up to speak. Want to make sure Ms. Williams, did you have something else you wanted to say on the baseball stadium? Ma'am? You don't have to. We can move. You want to defer? I know, I know what she was asking. Yes, ma'am? Thank you. Now, I wouldn't have to say thank you. I was coming to ask when, but nobody notified me that it was going to be on here for us to have everybody out here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, when is the groundbreaking? You and Mr. Davis talk about that. You see your favorite guy right back there? Mr. Davis, y'all, this is the baseball field at Bethel Bishop. Thank you, Regina. Yes, thank you, thank you. Is there a Mr.? There will not be a groundbreaking. When we break ground, we'll be building. We'll be knocking down immediately. So it's not like we want to start immediately. We just got that word. Just did that today. I think you missed that. But $298,000 that we're going to do. And that's a real advantage for our area. And whatever my counselor says is what I do, there will be no groundbreaking. We'll follow his lead. Thank you. That's a new rule. That's a new rule. Some of you may already know that on the 23rd, we're going to have the Cornbread Festival, the corner main in Elmwood. Free admission from 11 o'clock to 7 p.m. Come out for some live music, food, craft vendors, and a kids' playground. Is that sufficient? All right, I've done a commercial for the Cornbread Festival. All right, I want to thank my man, Blake Gibbons, for being a fantastic shadow today. You did a great job. Your paycheck's waiting downstairs, OK? Ms. Devine? This is an announcement, too, that so one week from today will be the 11th annual together we can read. And I believe we still have some vacancies, if anybody, especially some of the young people. If you don't have class at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to join us to read in every third grade class in Richland 1. What's the book? We've had something about wonderful neighborhood leaders here today, too. We'll see Chef Houston. Thank you for being here, Chef. And Ms. Wiley, and all of you, thank you so much for your continued leadership. Is there a non-debatable motion to adjourn? Second? There's a question for Colorado. Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Badura, Mr. Vine, Mr. Davis, Mr. Benjamin. Aye. Have a good evening.