** Blue text = Mike’s opinion **
Consent Agenda
This is where we approve a bunch of administrative things all in one go. The biggest here being the 2023 budget calendar. Here we go with the 2023/24 Budget process…
Open House, Wednesday, January 18, 4-6pm, Town Council Chambers
Budget Retreat, Thursday and Friday, January 26&27, all day, Fort Fisher Military Recreation Area
Manager’s Update
This is where Bruce Oakley gives us an update on all the projects going on around town. Playground at CB Lake, North End rocks, new bathroom at the Boardwalk, city-wide paving, Starfish access improvements.
click this link for all the latest on town projects.
Golf carts… in November we approved new golf cart safety regulations with a long term goal of having all golf cars registered with the state as “low speed vehicles.” This means license plates, safety features and insurance. Council agreed to set a goal of 2027, meaning you have 5 years to get your golf cart up to snuff to be registered by the state… or get a new one.
My take… I’m a libertarian type of guy, but I have to agree here. There just reaches a point where a vehicle is too big, too fast or too heavy to be uninsured. And I think a 900lb golf cart going 21 mph is that point.
Here’s a personal anecdote. Two years ago my wife had a head on collision with a golf cart. It caused quite a bit of damage to our car. The golf cart driver was drunk and the head light was so dim that Janet didn’t see it until the last second. (It happened at dusk.)
The golf cart was not insured. When I called our insurance company I found out that our uninsured motorist policy doesn’t cover a golf cart. (It would cover a tagged and registered golf cart, because it’s essentially just a smaller car.) So we had to use our comprehensive policy and guess who was responsible for the deductible? Yep… us! And guess who’s premium went up? Yep… ours! Ain’t that some shit?
It’s a good thing Janet wasn’t in my truck, because I only have liability insurance, meaning we wouldn’t have been covered at all.
[For the record, the person who hit us agreed to pay the deductible. That was kind of them. But had they been unreasonable we would have had to sue. Ugh.]
Annexation at 601 Augusta Avenue
There’s a 21,000 sf parcel right at the entrance to Carolina Sands (my neighborhood.) For some reason it has never been incorporated into the town, but it does have a zoning designation – “conservation.” This means that one (and only one) home can be built on the lot.
It was recently sold by a family that owned it for a very long time. The new owners voluntarily asked to be annexed into the town. Council approved their request 5-0.
My take… a number of neighbors opposed the annexation. Why? Because they think it’s the first step before asking to rezone it to R-1, which allows single family and duplexes which would possibly result in 8 units being built. I understand the concerns, but I’m not going to turn down their request based on something they might do. Interestingly, they could build a house without being incorporated… they would use tour roads, utilities and fire/police protection… all without paying taxes. The lot should be annexed. And they should pay town taxes. So I voted yes.
As for future re-zoning… I think the zoning should remain the same and they should be allowed to build their one house if they wish. But that’s a question for another day.
Conditional Zoning for 22 Units on Spartanburg
This is one of the last big chunks of land… between Spartanburg, Greenville and 2nd Street. By it’s current zoning (R-1) it could be built as 11 different lots resulting in 21 total units. The development group proposes to build it as an organized development of 22 units with a pool and pickle ball court. Council approved it 4-1
My take… I was the dissenting vote. The good – since it’s developed as one project, the stormwater system will be better (no water dumped onto the streets) and they won’t try to cross the big (and important) stormwater ditch on 2nd street. (they’ll build their own access within the project.) The bad – we allowed them to build within 10’ of the front property line on Spartanburg and Greenville. (Normally you must be 20’ from your front property line.)
I think that the reduced setback will render any sidewalks useless. Our enormous American vehicles will be parked all over the place and in the right-of-way making Spartanburg messy. Along with the uninspired architecture (all of the buildings will be essentially identical and 40+ ft) the reduced setbacks will result in a looming cavern along Spartanburg. (My opinion.)
Often a centrally planned development works out nicer… they’re more cohesive and organized. For this one I’d prefer just letting them build one at a time. Then there’s at least a chance that they aren’t all duplexes, 40+ feet, identical and so close to the road!
Oh well, all I can do is vote my conscience.
Next council meeting… Tuesday, January 10, 6pm