 Welcome to the July 1st 2021 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting members, staff and guests. We ask for your patience during this virtual meeting. Multiple staff members are behind the scenes to make sure all applicants and citizens are able to communicate with the board at the appropriate times. Board members and applicants are participating via zoom. Some are using video and all are using audio. For applicants, I will unmute when your case is called or ask you to unmute yourselves. Everyone, please be aware of your audio and be mindful of anything in the background of your video just to eliminate distractions. The public can participate in a number of ways. They can watch via city TV. They can submit emails, call in on the phone or log in to publicinput.com. To stream the meeting through city TV, you can go to youtube.com slash user slash Columbia SC government. You can submit letters and statements via email to COC board meeting at Columbia SC dot gov leading up to and during the meeting up until the time the board goes into board discussion. You can call in at 1-855-925-2801 and when prompted enter the meeting code 4318. And after entering the meeting code, you can either hit star one just to listen in star two allows you to record a voice message. That will then be played back into the record and just make sure to speak clearly and leave any case information so we know which case you're calling about. And star three allows you to be placed in a queue to speak live and you can hit any of those prompts at any point on the call. We just ask that if you are calling about a specific case wait until that case is called to hit star three so that we know which case you're in the queue for. You can also stream at public input comm slash COC Boza dash July or JUL 2021. And if you're calling in by phone while also streaming on your computer, please mute the audio on your computer and just use your phone audio just to avoid any playback audio issues. There's no audio delay between zoom and the live recording. So if you notice that we pause every once in a while it's just to allow the audio to catch up to give citizens time to call in or email. And I'll go ahead and do roll call. Mr. Dinkins. Mr. Gregory. Here. Mr. Prime. Miss Stevens. Miss spinner. I see her miss winners here. Mr. Gignard. Here. And Miss McIntosh. Here. All right, we have a quorum applicants with requests before the board of zoning appeals for a lot of the presentation time of 10 minutes. This time should include but is not limited to an overview of the project case history in any pertinent meeting held regarding the request. This time also includes all persons presenting information on behalf of the applicant, such as attorneys, engineers and architects. This time limit does not include any questions asked by the board of zoning appeals or staff regarding requests. Any member of the general public may address the board in intervals of three minutes or five minutes advice folks person for an established body or for a group of three or more. The applicant will then have five minutes for a bubble. The board reserves the right to amend these procedures on a case by case basis. The board uses the consent agenda to approve non controversial or routine matters by a single motion and vote. If a member of the board or the general public wishes to discuss an item on the consent agenda, that item is removed and placed on the regular agenda. The board then approves the remaining consent agenda items. The first matter on the consent agenda today is the approval of the June 3 2021 minutes. We have case one which is 2021-0069 a variance at 519 Winment Drive. This is a variance to the maximum requirement in the front yard setback. Case 2021-0071 a special exception at 514 Jervais Street sweet sea. This is a special exception to permit a tattoo shop. Case 2021-0073 a special exception at 3620 North Main Street, a special exception to permit a print shop. And that completes the consent agenda. If anyone wishes to have a case removed. They can let us know prior to the board vote. So we will pause for a second to give the audio time to catch up and to see if we have any citizens on the line. I don't see any emails that have come through their Erica or Shane can let us know if anyone's on the line. Rachel. Yes, we have no caller comments or new emails. Thank you, Erica. At this time, I'd like to ask for a motion for the consent agenda please. I move that we approve the consent agenda. Subject to staff comments. Okay, we have a motion and a second all those in favor please say aye. Hi. Hi. Can you want to pose motion passes. And any applicants that were on here for the consent agenda you're welcome to log off you don't have to stay on for the remainder of the meeting your cases are good to go. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. You too. All right. So for the regular agenda, we will use the following outline. So I will introduce the case. The applicant will have 10 minutes to make a presentation. Board may ask questions during or after the presentation. And then the public will be allowed to participate via email voicemail or phone. The applicant does have an opportunity for a rebuttal. And then board discussion and action by the board. The first matter on the agenda is it was deferred from last month just due to lack of quorum. And this was for case 2021 dash 0059 for 5744 Farrell road. I believe Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Gregory are recused from this one if you don't mind just turning your video off and audio off during this case. So, and we do have to this is a unique circumstance since both our chair and vice chair are recused from this matter. We do just have to appoint someone to head up this specific case. If anyone wants to volunteer they're welcome to where we can do a vote but is anyone comfortable kind of standing in as chair for this case. I mean, I would need, I don't mind, you know, kind of stepping in. If you would just would be someone to call for the motion. Yeah. Thank you. No problem. All right, so this is 5744 Farrell road this is a variance to the minimum buffer yard requirement I do believe Mr. Marantz on the line he's welcome to unmute himself and go over his request. Good afternoon members of the board. Um, basically we had a request about using the minimum buffer zone and replacing the is the fence that's in our plans, which is a partial wall we want to make a full fence that's wooden, a privacy fence that's at least eight foot tall. Um, as you can see in the pictures that are before as there are other properties around that use the same fencing. So we thought it would be a good idea to use the same type of fencing at our property and still keep our minimum buffer zone. We also have included with some letters from the adjacent property owners saying they don't mind us using the same type of fencing. Basically, there was a fence on the initial silver engineering plans that was like a six foot misery wall. And it was partial basically we thought that it would not provide us with the adequate security to secure our property and make sure we cut down that theft prevention, because we've been having a lot of theft on our property and we thought the fence will help out with that. We enclosed the whole property. So just to clarify, the original plans did have, since it's a 30 foot buffer on reduced the six foot masonry wall reduced it 50% to the 15 feet. They are wanting to go higher than that and instead of having to do it as a masonry wall they would prefer to do an eight foot wooden fence to get that added height. And that is where that variance comes in. So what in fence would normally only reduce a buffer 25%. So they're asking for 50% to reduce it to 15, but with an eight foot wooden instead of the masonry wall. Do the, the board. Are they clear on the present the information presented or would you like for them to go through the criteria one by one. If I understand. Okay, so we are reduced if they. If they used a masonry wall, they would not have a problem. The problem is that they want to use a wooden fence. But otherwise the buffer yard is the same as what it would be if they used a masonry wall. Correct. All right. So we're just talking about a wooden fence instead of a masonry wall. Yes. The buffer yard thing is kind of a little confused there. Okay. I mean, it's within the buffer yard requirement, those reductions come in, but really it comes down to masonry wall versus they're requesting to use that fence to reduce instead. Sure, sure. Okay. But if the, if the buffer was larger, the wooden fence wouldn't be a problem either right. Correct. The wooden fence. Yeah, so it's a 30 foot unreduced. If it was reduced to I think it's 22.5 feet with the eight foot wooden fence that would be allowed outright or 50% 15 feet with the six foot masonry wall. So they're wanting the ultimate goal is to provide that 15 feet, but instead of doing the wall. It's the 15 feet with the eight foot fence. So that's a lot of walking going around. And we have no comments from the outside world. I haven't seen any emails or anything come in, but we'll have to see if we have anybody on the phone line. If you all want me to turn it over. We have any public input at this point. Can I ask you a question. The application in favor. So we did not receive any statements of opposition prior. Okay. I have a quick question on the to the applicant. So the, you could do eight foot fence with 22 and a half foot buffer with no problem. But you want to stick with 15 foot buffer but still provide the eight foot fence is there. I know the eight foot, the six foot fence isn't giving you adequate security is there a reason why, or what's the main reason for not just having the 22 and a half foot buffer, and then maintaining your eight foot fence. Some of the plans on the silver engineering plans, it will kind of push us back and close us from using utilizing proper space to park vehicles. So we were hoping that we can keep that buffers on to keep that extra space that we need to move the vehicles around within the lot. Also, one, one of the other things the masonry wall was only partial it's only about, I think, I think it's about 30 feet long on one side and about 30 feet 30 feet long on the other side. The wooden fence will enclose the whole property. So as far as the buffer zone goes though, I think it was just a matter of being able to utilize the space, we already have a retention pond that reduces our usable space down tremendously. So we were hoping to know keep that good parking lot space. Ask but maybe a dumb question is going from the partial fence to hearing the entire property. Do you mean all four sides of the property or sort of the three back sides that might be most at risk to theft. So on on the three sides of the property will be full wooden fence on the front side of the street property there's a landscaping plan that we have that requires us to have like some types of treating up in the front. So we're just going to fill in the size up up to the parking lot with the fence and then the landscaping will cover the rest of it. So from the street side from the street view side you probably won't be able to see the fence in between the trees you'll probably have to see in between the trees and shrubbery, but for the most part we'll have that that backside completely encased with fencing. So we're meeting all other landscaping requirements on this site so they'll have a street protective yard and any tree density requirements met. So this was the only thing they were asking to vary. All right, do you all want me to see if we have any public input. Yes, please. Yes. So again no new ease of coming so we will pause for a second to let the audio catch up and see if Erica has any callers on the line. I have no call or comment or email. Okay. That was faint but she said there are no callers or emails on the line. Yes. Is this is this the point where we asked for any any other board any board discussion. Sure, yes. Any other board discussion outside of the comments that have already been offered. All right. Well, there are no more discussion. Is this the point where we asked for a motion to approve the variance emotion either a yes sir. Yeah. Okay. I would like to offer a motion to approve the variance for 5744 barrel road. I move that we approve the variance subject to staff comments. Second. Motion has been made and probably second. This time we'll take the boat. All in all in favor of the approval. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed. Motion carries. All right. Thank you, Mr. Maria. You're welcome to log off. Thank you. I appreciate that. You all have a nice day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dingens and Mr. Gregory. You're welcome to rejoin us. And thank you, Mr. Primus. For volunteering and helping. We haven't had that come up before. Where we've had to appoint a new. It's been an interesting year. Good way to put it. Yeah. Good. Good. Good. All right. The next matter. Is case 2021 dash 0070. This is a special exception for 3705. Moss Avenue. This is a special exception to permit an alternative parking surface at a religious organization. I believe the applicant is on the line. Welcome to unmute himself and go over his request. Well, hello. It's good to be back with you again. I'm Bob Morgan. Pastor at Rosewood Community Church. And we. Have had a good transition in the middle of a crazy year. The last time we were with you, we were working with the property. Down in front of publics on Rosewood drive. We have since sold that the case and group moved down. We've had a lot of ways to. To. Moss Avenue bought that property there. And it was a church, a Lutheran church that had been. Closed for about two years and vacated for about two years. We bought that facility and renovated that property and completely upgraded the facility and brought it back into. The city codes as far as. Anything that had been grandfathered into that building before has now been. Updated. We. What had happened was that the church had. That was there prior about three years before they closed. They sold the property adjoining across the street that they had been using for parking. And when they sold it, they used that money to kind of sustain the church for about three more years till it closed down. And then. They, but during that time they basically started parking on the church lawn. And on the grass and some on the street, but mostly on the lawn there and they had a little bit of handicap parking available. So. What we've asked is what we've done is really what the church had been doing before. We're parking on the grass lawn part of the church. But what we've tried to do isn't just make it safer. We've gone out and put parking bumpers in. We've measured everything off to make sure it was safe. We're staffing a parking ministry team to help people on Sundays. Be able to get in and out effectively. And what it will also help is. Some of the local businesses in that tight little area. I have been parking on the street and even in areas that have been designated as no parking areas. But by organizing and kind of making a safe parking area. And opening it to the public people. That utilize some of those local businesses now have a safer place to park than parking on the street. So really we're not trying to do anything different than it has been done before. We just want to make it safer and continue to be good neighbors in the community. Thank you, Bob. I have a couple of quick questions for you. So right now, currently the church is in operation and is meeting. I'm assuming at least every Sunday. Is that correct? Yes, sir. We have Sunday services. There. And. Okay. I think you might be frozen. But they are set dates. There's nothing on a regular rotating basis. So I think we'll probably have a Wednesday evening or a Sunday afternoon service in that facility is a lot smaller than we're used to. We're, we're growing into it pretty quickly. So I expect. Multiple services in the next year or so. So, but we will be managing the flow of that. With the parking team that we've put together. Understood. On any given Sunday, how many cars can we expect to park? Or how many cars? How many, I guess a better way to ask it. How many vehicles. Do you have that a service on any given Sunday total approximately? Right now, our attendance is running anywhere between 40 to 60. We've been coming back from COVID. And people are just starting to bowl in the return. So we. We're seeing. Oh, I would guess 35 to 40 cars right now. And we're using now we, we have a great relationship with the music academy across the street. And we're not. Having an event or anything. They're more than welcome to use our parking area. And they have given us the same currency. We park across the street and use their facility as well. This is just so that we can utilize the space we currently have and do what the church had done before. Understood. So basically, you just were not aware of the fact that you had to come in front of the board of zoning appeals to make these minor improvements. Is that the whole reason you're here basically? Yes. Or we had. Have a click. We didn't know that. We were just when we met with the seller of this property. They had just told us they've been parking on the yard. And I guess because they'd never put any bumpers out or. Or organized it in any way that nobody ever knew that that's what they were doing. They had done that for what I've been told. About three years. So we just tried to make it a little safer and organize it. So that people wouldn't be bumping into each other and it would alleviate the street parking and any congestion so that emergency vehicles, if ever needed to get back and forth in there on a Sunday morning, it wouldn't block them up. Understood. Well, I think I understand the, the gist of your request here and it makes sense. I just have one sort of technical question before I want to see if some of the other board members have some questions. The distance between the bumpers, I'm looking at. I guess this is on everyone's screen. The distance between the bumpers that are closest to the roadway. It's not moss. What's the other road that leads directly from Rosewood? Is that. What road is that? You're talking. Prospect. Prospect. What is the distance from the closest bumpers to the edge of the asphalt roadway along Prospect. In the photo. I'm looking at. I guess this is on everyone's screen. The distance between the bumpers that are closest to the roadway. It's not moss. The distance between the bumpers that are closest to the edge of the roadway along Prospect. In the photo. In your application. I can't tell by scale, but it looks all too close to the traveled way. We made sure we talked to. We. Weathers. With our renovation. And they've done this kind of. They had their people come out and measure. And there's a. That's all paper. So the road. The road. The road. The road kind of ends and then there's about another. Four feet of asphalt that actually is like city asphalt. That kind of dips over onto the church property itself. So the cars, when they pull in, there's. There's the distance required is to keep anybody. Off the street. But I guess it's about a two and a half to three feet. There at least three. And then there's the street. Where the edges of road would normally be. So they're, they're definitely further over in the parking on the street. Because when you park on the street, it's basically you're in the road. You actually are kind of semi block in the road when people park on the street. This actually gets them completely off the street. And let's them be out of the way. And Jean, just. For staff to address a few things. I mean, I think it's important to note that. Because our zoning inspectors aren't out on Sunday. To see the fact that sometimes cars parked on grass. The previous church did not have permission to do so. And had we been notified, it would have been a violation. As it is. Grass. And it's also a residential district. When the renovation permits were pooled and. We were notified. We were told at the time that there would not be parking on the grass. So our inspectors were notified when. Parking stops. Started being placed on the property. And a violation was issued. So. Any parking will have to meet land development. The contractor pooling the permit was notified that we would need to be. Looped in once they were prepared to start moving forward with parking. We were told at the time that there would not be parking on the grass. So. We will have to meet land development. And any other development codes, I mean, they will have to get a zoning permit for it. So. If any of those parking stops result in cars backing out into the right away, they will have to be relocated. So there is something, it would probably be best for staff to be sent a plan. Should this be approved? So that we can ensure that your parking meets all requirements. So. I'm glad to do that. No problem at all. Thank you for that clarification. Great. So basically, I'm glad you pointed that out. So. Board. Then let's disregard specific site issues such as that, that I was trying to prove into this. Great point of clarification. Anyway, I feel like I've asked an awful lot of questions. Can we have any other board members certainly want to give. Everyone else a chance to ask questions. Thanks for bearing with me. I have a couple of questions. One. Yeah. Would they be permitted. To park there. If they were to asphalt it. Because it is on the. Even though it's residential because it's on a parcel with a approved use, so it would be parking for the church. If it wasn't improved parking lot, then yes, they would not have to go before you for any requests. What other surfaces would be permitted as a bright gravel. So gravel would not. So gravel would be considered an alternative surface, just like grass. So that would trigger the special exception as well. So it would need to be asphalt concrete. Those kind of improved. So an impervious surface and impermeable. All right. So what is the sort of, what is the, the ground, it looks like it's sort of hard packed sand more or less, plus some grass. Is that basically what it is on the ground there? Yes, man. It's, it's very hard packed ground. We haven't had, you know, with all the rain we've had, we haven't had any. Any issues with, with it being muddy or sliding or anything like that. We haven't had any issues with that. And especially with all this rain. And we've had, it's obvious that there's been a lot of parking on that grass before. So this church has been here since the 40s. So. What other questions do we have from members of the board? Okay. I'm not hearing you. I did have a couple more. What, you know, I think this is interesting. I have, obviously you've considered some sort of a, a gravel parking lot here. Am I correct? Yes, sir. We, it'll be our intention to, at some point as the, as we continue to grow and get healthy. To get actually paved and you'll be within the compliance. We're talking about how long that'll take. Of course we'll have to, that all has to do with finances and, you know, church is a non for profit. We, we really totally depend on ties and offerings to be able to even improve the current facility. We utilize the resources from the sale of the other building to upfit where we are. And, you know, this is going to be our permanent home going forward. So we'll be very intentional about. We'll be able to follow up key and improvements as we go forward. So Rachel question for you. Just let's just say that this request for special exception is denied today. They are allowed to continue operating, but city will see to it that they're, they're no longer able to park on the grass and they're parking this around the neighborhood. Is that the deal? Correct. So I mean, we are aware that that violation is in place. Yeah. We would not be able to allow parking to continue on the parcel without being in some kind of improved parking area. If this is denied. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. Is there any sort of handicap parking there now that is permitted and, but is also available? Yes, ma'am. If you'll look at the picture currently on the screen, there's two pods that are, I don't know if you can see us or not, but they're right on that corner. Those, that little area right there is the only paved parking that the church has. And then you had reserved it for handicap spaces. We have gone in, they had actually put in after they, I guess, gotten approval. They had put in sidewalks and some barriers that made it inaccessible for handicap. And in our renovations and upfit, we've gone on in and knocked those sidewalks down and rounded off those areas so that handicap accessibility is a lot easier. You know, the church didn't even have handicap accessible bathrooms. They had been grandfathered and we have gone in and widened those and made it possible so that it's, it's accessible. What would your ADA parking requirements be? In other words, are you meeting your current, with those paved spaces? Are you meeting the current ADA mandated? Yes ma'am. That's what we were told when we came in, we didn't take any of the prior handicap. And we are general, we have left all the handicap spacing available. And I said, it is actually by redesigning it a little bit. We have about a space. So now have more than was there before. But isn't there something, I mean, I'm only minimally aware of ADA requirements. I'm ashamed to say, I'm ashamed to say that. But there's some basis on how many spaces you're supposed to have. That's why, you know, you go to Lowe's and half the. That's Catherine. That's that through our building. Side of things. They look at that when they're doing plans review. So they would have checked that when they were. I believe. Right now for that. Yeah. I'm just trying to picture in my mind right now, seven handicap parking spaces. Okay. I'll be willing to guess that for that size facility, it all might be more than it was needed. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. You mentioned. Review by the building department, but they, the applicant, they have not submitted a site plan. For this alternative surfacing parking lot, correct? No, that's what we will need to get together for, for a zoning permit after when it came through for the renovation. There were some things on there and at the time. Hope the deputy zoning administrator spoke with the. Applicant for that permit at the time and explained that a special exception would be required in the future. And they stated they would come back for that. Should they move forward with that. So that they could go ahead and move forward with the actual renovation and get that building permit. So there was some miscommunication there and that. It didn't necessarily come back to us for the special exception when they were ready for that part. This wasn't a part of that review. I'm going to ask you a question. I'm going to ask you a question. So Catherine, a lot of your questions are the same questions that I'm having. And Mr. Morgan. I understand completely that you didn't realize that you needed to have. A plan or a special exception to do this sort of parking area. But these are the reasons in my mind. What we really need to see this site plan and how this is going to work on this matter. Because just to go and delay the wheel stops out there. In the parking area based on the contractor's recommendation. I mean, I'm sure it's a good recommendation. You may be right. But you're going to have to do this anyway. I really think you need to get your site plan drawn and come back in front of us. That's just my opinion because. We just, we just, we don't know that we don't know about the ADA disability. The number of spaces, the distance from the wheel stops to the roadways. I think, I think it'd be more appropriate for us to have a site plan in front of us before we're burning. I'm actually coming from a slightly different direction, but okay. Yeah. I think my concern, my concern is that. We, in my neighborhood, we have a terrific problem with people parking on front yards, front yard parking. And I lived directly across from the former women's club site, which the Catholic church now Catholic diocese has purchased. And someday they may want to do the same thing, park on the dirt. And the, I mean, on the grass. And the problem there is, of course, it's a big muddy mess that doesn't seem that it's going to be a problem here, but I don't think that's a refinement we can make. I hate to see. I hate to see things paid for no good reason. I hate to see things paid for no good reason. I hate to see things paid for no good reason. I'm not able to park on the dirt on the, on the ground. I suppose that's better than paving it in from an environmental perspective. At the same time, it sets a bad precedent in terms of front yard parking. So I'm very conflicted about the whole thing. By ADA questions where I hate to see that church members who really need a place to park would not be able to park up close. But if the other, the issue is that the other church members simply have to walk farther. So it's like, I don't know. If I can get a place to park. If I can get a place to park. So I think the issue of that is that the community doesn't feel as compelling a need. Does that happen? Can I come from a different angle? Sure, please. I just want to clarify that this is a special exception. This isn't a variant. So I just want to make sure that that's. No. All right. Yes. And that's. I think from my perspective is with the intermittent nature. I feel like the neighborhood impact would almost be less. If they can find an appropriate way in a safe way. To park in that area. Rather than distributing all those cars. And being in conflict with the neighborhood. Cause the soil in Rosewood is kind of. Seems conducive to that. But again, I'm a gene. We don't want to approve anything. Without a site plan that's, you know. Thoughtful and. Appropriate for safe traffic flow. Well. I mean, if the board prefer staff is happy to sit down with the applicant and development team to make sure that they have. The requirements that they need. If you all wanted to have them come back next month or whenever you wanted them to come back. Staff's happy. Meet with them for sure. Well, let's. Okay. Well, it's my fault. I started this. We sort of. Bleed it over into the board discussion. So before we go any further, these are all real good points. And let's discuss all this. But I guess let's add. Does anyone else have any specific questions for the applicants? Okay. Not more discussion. If again, I started, but. We have any questions for the applicant. Okay. All right. Very good. So what we need to do now is let's check and see if we have any public input. Especially I'd like to see if there's any resume. Neighborhood. Association members. Any resident neighbors that have any say on this matter. We have not received any written correspondence. We have not received any phone calls. We have not received any calls leading up to the meeting. And that's why I made sure to just kind of speak from a staff perspective early on about what is going to be required for this parking and that. It will have to meet development regulations. That was the concern expressed in previous phone calls. But I don't see any written comments that have come in during the meeting. And I will turn it over to Erica to see if anyone has called in. Rachel at this time, if anyone has any comments or any new emails. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Erica. Okay. All right. Great. So now let's discuss this matter. I think we were off to a really good start. I'd like to hear the board continue. Let's kick around this matter a little more. What, what everyone else thinks about this. I think that this is an appropriate special exception to get these cars out of the neighborhood. I know that this area of Cornia. I know that this area of Cornia, I know that this area of Cornia, I know that this area of Cornia has a lot has a problem with narrow roads and people parking on the street. And so I think this would be helpful. To be able to put this in the yard. And the fact that they can, like Catherine said, go ahead and. Pave over it right now and just do it. I think it's preferable. In my opinion to leave it. Non-paved. Yeah. That's, that's where I stand. That was our. The, the, the, the community of. The city of Cornia. I think it would be a burden on the neighborhood work. We're here as a church to, to serve the community. The. Claw the roads with a lot of roadside parking. On a Sunday or any for war. Community events that we would do. One of the things we did. Hit in our renovation site plan. As we've actually added. Back. Venue. An outdoor venue for other. community can come in and and actually do outdoor events using our facility so we wanted to be able to keep as much parking out of people's way in order to be that good neighbor that the church really wants to be. So that was the purpose of utilizing the space. If you look at the picture that's on screen now the two houses on the left right there on prospect that used to be the church's parking lot and the church sold that space all and then two developers built there and we were very intent to keep Rosewood church in Rosewood and rather than taking those funds and moving to a different area of Columbia we wanted to stay where that church was established in 1937 so that's why we went to this facility specifically and and bought it. And and just one other thing to address Gene's point is that you know I just think the particulars of the site worked out with city staff. I trust city staff to do that and that we would just be approving the special exception. There's no design review of this in this area right? There's not. Okay so after a special exception if it's approved it would still then go back to staff to develop the appropriate organization of the parking area. Is that right? Yes with parking if they were disturbing the land they would go through a land disturbance process but if they are just working with what's there and just placing parking stops they will go through a zoning permit review and zoning landscaping and land development would review to make sure requirements are met. Marcellus what do you think? I'm kind of in agreement with Catherine and Jenna get that parking off the street and I mean it sounds good to me. I agree. It sounds good to I don't have a problem with parking on the site and I think it has a lot and not paving it for environmental reasons but it's almost like the other six days of the week you've got to stare at a bunch of parking parking blocks there that are not being used so it's just going to look a little weird the rest of the week. I wish there was something that maybe it just didn't quite contrast so much with what's there now but could still allow them to park. Well I don't know John it doesn't look any different than if it was a gravel lot. Yeah but it could be to your point too Jean it could be if a plan was put in front of us of exactly how it was going to be structured might be easier to approve knowing that it's you know done in a thoughtful way that takes into account the whole reason that this you know requirement is you know or takes a special exception is to keep the character of the neighborhood. Yeah I agree and that's what I initially thought that's why I brought it up but after hearing the other board members and hearing Rachel's explanation I think we just have to take comfort in the fact that in order to do this that you know they are going to have to have a plan review and I'm kind of a plan guy so I would like to see it right now but you know listen to everyone else's comments don't really think it's necessary you know we either approve the alternative service or not and we just will have faith that it will comply with all the land development regulations. But it seems to me that what we have here is a choice between at the current time because they don't have the money to black top it either we allow them to park on the grass or they clog up the city streets. I mean I really think that's where we're coming down to and I think that from what I'm hearing from everyone and I kind of agree also I think that it's much better that they park on the grass frankly then that they pave it but that they park on the grass then that they clog up the city streets. Okay well before we start the motion then I guess well let's let's give the applicant one final how about Miss Morgan let's give you one minute or so do you have any rebuttal for any of our discussion I most of it's pretty positive for your request but just want to give you one more chance. Well yes the one thing I do want to make sure you know and if you guys wanted to see how we have laid it out and things I'm more than glad to give you that information we got together with Weathers and we didn't just welly-nilly go throw some parking bumpers out. We did all the measurements and we made sure that the space was allotted and and like I said when we have any event there one of the things we want to make sure of is that that safety is observed and that you know we have a lot of children and and and we do have handicapped elderly and we want to make sure that it's safe for for coming out and so we went out and measured and when we set those spaces those bumpers out in uniform space one of the things I don't know you know I could you could see it here I actually we laid it all out and made sure that it was that the measurements were correct and and that it would fall in in compliance with what parking lots do and look like so it wasn't like a bunch of guys in the church just decided to get one day and throw out a bunch of bumpers we really took the somebody a lot smarter than me that actually took take measures out there and did the mass and that was I know about preaching I don't know about mass so they they had made sure there was safe and we are park and we won't have events even Sunday mornings and events without utilizing a parking ministry where there will be helping you know people back in pull in and back out and there will be people in the parking lot for any and all events that we do to help with the flow of that. Okay well let me just say one thing about that I I understand that appreciate you putting some thought into it and your contractor but I think see I don't think whether it's has any civil engineers they're they're contracting in a building firm you're not a civil engineering firm so we're I'm okay with all this I just want to point out as Rachel said I do think you can have to engage a civil engineering firm to prepare a real site plan and we'll see how well you did so not saying it doesn't work I feel like this board has decided that all that can be worked out with staff so I just want to point that out for the record that you may have measured it you may have had they had one of the things in our site plan from what I understand was that they wanted the handicapsable parking that's on that paved area to be I guess redesigned and weathers went and found a company that came in and not only laid those parking spaces out but we re-blacked top that paved area and then paid painted the lines for those handicapped spaces and hung the signs and so we did get a civil engineering company and that's the company that helped us put the bumpers out and do all that oh okay very good well then that changes everything okay very good all right thank you for your presentation and thank you board good discussion I think we'll go ahead and call it um right here could we please get a motion regarding the special exception I move that we approve subject to staff comments and subsequent staff requirements requirements and approvals second okay we have a motion in a second all those in favor please say aye hi hi you want to okay motion passes thank you very much good luck with it all right and Mr. Morgan just please have your contractor reach out to staff so that we can go over what's needed to get the zoning permit for the parking okay well thank you miss miss Bailey we appreciate thank you and thank you buzz we appreciate the work you guys do and if we can ever help you in any way if you ever want to find a cool place to hang out on Sunday morning y'all come on the church we'll take care of you all right thank you all right the next case on the agenda is case 2021-0072 this is a variance at 2716 shop road extension 150 shop road 5 and it is to the internal parking lot landscaping requirements for the internal tree parking requirements for tree islands for a trucking use I believe Mr. Burnett is on the line I apologize that your name is spelled wrong on this slide you're welcome to unmute yourself and go over your request okay thanks Rachel um do you Rachel do you have the image that I sent you to the column rendering would you mind putting that up on the screen just for reference um is it this way no no that was an overall yeah that's it right there okay perfect thank you um I just want a brief introduction I'm point Burnett I'm a civil engineer with the land plan group and the applicant for TMC transportation I've also got Matt Montgomery with Montgomery construction out of Lexington who's also on the line who's acting as the owner's rep so if you have any questions that come up for the owner you can probably answer it a little better than I could just a brief background on TMC they're one of the the leading flatbed transportation trucking companies really throughout the country they've got 10 offices all over the country from Arizona to South Carolina with South Carolina posing as their kind of main southeastern headquarters they have over 3 000 employees and are looking to expand their operation here in Columbia they currently have a training facility which is at the corner of shop road and shop grove drive which is a newer industrial park it's at the former location of the thermal king if that sounds familiar so anyway they've converted that building into a really nice facility for training their truck drivers and so what they want to do is they they purchase the adjacent 35 acres and want to expand their operations to employ up to 300 people with a 20 million dollar expansion of additional training administration maintenance logistics all that kind of stuff storage and so one of the the things that came up in our review with city staff was that there was a requirement for landscape islands and a large expanse of a paved area and so with this being a training facility these large paved areas have a lot of trucks on them and they're they're brand new drivers and so we felt like having obstructions in that that training area would actually be a hazard not only for the for the islands but for the truck drivers the they actually had a similar requirement for one of their facilities in Indianapolis and it became such a problem that they ended up having to take them out because it was causing so much damage to their trucks but these new drivers trying to navigate around them and learning new trucks all the the gears and you know how to drive and then also having to look out for you know these obstacles in the way and so that's what we're here before is to get a request to not have to do these islands I will note if you look on that site plan you know we will have to do some screening along shop Grove Drive to try to hide those and they they do want to save a fair number of trees as many as they can which is always noble especially in an industrial park so with that I think that kind of sums it up I'm glad to answer any questions if again or Matt so just let me know all right anyone have any questions what's the difference between the green space that you are proposing and the green space that you would be required is it just simply moving stuff around or are you are you still providing essentially the same amount of green space but shifted into different configuration I mean we're we're providing probably way more green space than we would ordinarily be required I mean Scott Holder requires us to have so many units per acre I mean but we're saving I think it's like four acres of woods which would equate to way more units and trees than we would ever need so we feel like that we're you know we're going to make up for it in spades overall sure and they're more useful and they're more useful I think to the environment if they're right that's right and and if you haven't been by their facility for an industrial park it really is a nice facility I mean they've got nice landscaping they have they have a pavilion for their employees without a kitchen and you know just they went the extra mile to add landscaping and they intend to do that for this addition as well so they planted way more than they were required to plant and they're that first 10 acres out on shop shop road question and it may not be relevant but it looks like the existing paving a lot of that is concrete and a lighter colored concrete is that what is proposed for the rest of the site or is that more black top asphalt no it's actually all going to be concrete we just hatched in a little difference you can tell what was existing versus what's proposed they use concrete and all the facilities the asphalt just doesn't hold up and so the whole thing is is is a concrete now the the the um the um fully parking that may be asphalt but all the trucking areas is all concrete and that you know kind of there's a couple guys that are on the board that are in the know you know they've got I think it's a 10 inch section of concrete that they installed they've got one foot big curb nine inch tall so you know they they've spent a lot of money beefing this thing up making it almost indestructible yeah I was I was asking more from a heat gain consideration because that's the trees in the island a lot of that is really what that's for so you know a tree off the the woods isn't you know from an environmental standpoint isn't super helping you know columbia's heat island um but yeah yeah their entire existing facility is all concrete uh and that that's their intent uh at least for all the trucking areas now again the employee parking that may be asphalt but but all the rest of the trucking areas are going to be concrete okay is that all the questions for hoy okay sounds like it well Rachel do we have any public input regarding this matter doesn't look like any emails have come in um I'll we'll see if Erica has any callers on the line Rachel we have no callers comments or new email all right thank you thank you Erica well at this point when it's moving to the board discussion portion of the item um is there any I'm look Jane I look at this as like a distribution center or another large facility that has a lot of trailer requirements you know truck stops and so I kind of compare it to something like that because that's the intent and the vehicle is going to park here so I understand the nature of the request and the fact that they're saving a good chunk of green space I mean I see no reason to not approve it from my perspective any any other thoughts from any other members yeah I mean I agree with John it's um looking at the photos of other facilities and what they do it looks like they take good care and it's you know it could be much worse so um I don't have any problems with it especially with the concrete it seems as if it seems to me that that they've done what they can to mitigate the impact that it's best they can because the issue is functionality and that they're having a real functionality problem if they meet the landscaping of the the tree islands so it seems very reasonable from that regard yeah I mean if you haven't seen their facility it is a class A facility and with the trucking shortages that we have right now I mean we need as many drivers we can get I'm sure it's going to be an expansion of that class A facility so all right well those are some pretty favorable comments I don't think there's any reason to ask Coy to chime back in um at this point like to ask for a motion I'm moved to make a motion that we approve this uh variance request subject to staff comments second okay we have a motion and a second all those in favor please say aye hi hi hi anyone oppose all right motion passes another good project thank you guys you'll have a good day have a good fourth thank you all right um just under other business I just want to go over a couple of things before we adjourn won't keep you too long um we will hopefully be in person in august um I will keep you all updated as to whether we will be in council chambers like before or if they're going to have us in a larger area um so we have a meeting next week to talk about it and I will keep you all in the loop so that you're prepared um but the plan is to get back in person which will be great so that new members and old members can finally meet each other in person so we have that coming and also the biggest announcement of them all is we are moving forward this time with the effective date of august 30th for the new ordinance it's happening it's coming so you might see over the next few months a a decrease in cases that come before you um especially next month and september because that cases are submitted we are looking to see if it's something that would be allowed outright or with an administrative adjustment which is new under the new code so I will keep you all posted on that transition as well but there probably will be just an overall decrease in the length of our agendas going forward once the new code comes into effect so again that full text and the new zoning maps they're all available at weplandtogether.org I do encourage that you all flip through it obviously you're not required to know it but um it's it's very user-friendly so I encourage you just take a look and get a little bit more familiar with it as we move towards it finally becoming effective but I will aim to kind of set up that work session that we had talked about to get everybody together just to go over everything around that new code coming into effect so we can go over that at the same time and cover both so I'll keep you posted on that and I will keep you all posted on the in-person meetings so but that's all I have I hope you all have a safe and happy fourth and you are welcome to adjourn okay let's get a motion to adjourn this way and move second second motion second all the favor please say aye aye aye aye aye aye aye okay so thank you very much everyone have a great month see you everybody bye bye everybody thank you all bye see you soon