From left to right: Mayor Pro Tem Lemont Glasgow, City Manager Jason Taylor, Parks Recreation and Tourism Director Collin Shealy, and Mayor Foster Senn. (Courtesy photo).
NEWBERRY – Proclamations and good news were shared with City Council on Tuesday during their July meeting.
The first, recognizing Park and Recreation Month during the month of July and celebrating the vital role parks and recreation play in communities.
Next, council recognized National Night Out, taking place on Tuesday, August 5. National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie.
Mayor Foster Senn then shared a variety of good news to include the city’s most recent employee spotlight, Scott Storrs from the planning and development department, the success of the most recent Juneteenth event, photos from summer fun in the city to include tennis, the RecMobile, arts programming and the splash pad. Senn shared photos from Camp Conservation and the Blessed by the Best ribbon cutting.
He shared that Glenn Street was being repaved, with more roads soon to see repaving in both the city and county.
Other news included the renaming/purchasing of the Ronnie’s restaurant (2067 Wilson Road), which has become MiMi’s Place. Senn said they planned to have a ribbon cutting within the next month or so.
Belton Zeigler, a partner with Womble Bond Dickinson, presented his opinion of the city’s new Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) contract. Senn shared that Zeigler had been working with the city on the renewal of the contract and had also worked with several other cities within PMPA.
Zeigler shared that when PMPA was created in the 80s, no one anticipated a nuclear plant would last 50 years, much less 80 years.
“All of the agreements had a 50-year timeline on them,” Zeigler said. “At present, the current contracts expire in 2034, which is a long way off in a sense, but the contracts with Santee Cooper with managing the capacity you’re getting will expire in 2029, not that far away.”
Zeigler said that the contracts worked as they always have and that they’d retained most operative terms, made it easier for entities to sell their capacity and that most other changes were those necessary because the original contract had been negotiated before Catawba had been completed and PMPA had been formally organized.
“I think you have a great contract that will help you monetize more of your capacity, and it should be helpful to the city,” he said. “I think all parties think it’s a good and fair contract.”
Old Business
Under old business, council approved second and final reading of an ordinance to amend the zoning and future land use map for parcel 343-8-7-31 located on SC By-Pass 34 to BI – Basic Industrial. Motion to approve second reading was made by Councilperson Lemont Glasgow and seconded by Councilperson Jackie Holmes.
Prior to second reading a public hearing was held with David Burriss speaking in favor of the ordinance. Following the direction of the city’s planning and development director, Burriss said they’ve condensed the land area to only using approximately three acres to limit the impact to the area as well as plan to do landscape adding a buffer for any potential noise.
Second and final reading was then held of an ordinance to annex TMS 451-4 contiguous into the city limits. Motion to approve second reading was made by Councilperson David Force and seconded by Councilperson David DuBose.
Following a public hearing to amend the zoning and future land use map for parcel 451-4 located on SC Highway 219 to GC – General Commercial, council approved second and final reading of an ordinance to rezone the property.
City Manager Jason Taylor shared that a pump station owned by city utilities currently sits on the property and he felt it made sense that it should be annexed as it was under city jurisdiction.
With no one speaking in favor or opposition of the ordinance during public hearing, motion to approve second reading was made by Glasgow and seconded by Councilperson Clay Smith.
Next, council approved second and final reading to annex properties located at tax map number 393-6 and 395-3 into the city limits of the City of Newberry. Motion to approve second reading was made by Councilperson Carlton Kinard and seconded by Holmes.
Ordinances to amend the zoning on both of the above properties was then approved by council. The first, TMS 393-6 located at 1948 Mt. Bethel Garmany Road was rezoned to RD -Residential Development. Motion to approve was made by Holmes and seconded by Kinard.
The second property, TMS 395-3 located on Short Cut Road was rezoned to OS – Open Space and GC – General Commercial. Motion to approve second reading was made by DuBose and seconded by Force.
Prior to second reading, a public hearing was held for each of the above properties with no one speaking in favor or opposition to the ordinances. Senn declared each public hearing adjourned.
Lastly under old business, council approved second and final reading of an ordinance to amend Article IX of the city’s zoning ordinance to better address digital signs. Motion to approve second reading was made by Holmes and seconded by Kinard.
Prior to second reading a public hearing was held on the above ordinance with no one speaking in favor or opposition of the changes. Senn declared the public hearing adjourned.
New Business
Under new business, council approved a resolution, making provisions for the signature and adoption of the Catawba Project Sales Renewal Agreement, as presented.
Motion to approve the resolution was made by DuBose and seconded by Holmes.
Council then approved a request to appoint the utilities director as voting delegate and the assistant to the utility director as the alternate voting delegate from the city to the South Carolina Rural Water Association (SCRIA).
Motion to approve the request was made by Kinard and seconded by DuBose.
Council then approved an outside water request for 135 Main Street in Silverstreet, SC. Senn said the property owner had executed an annexation covenant and an annexation petition, indicating a willingness to annex if the property becomes contiguous to the city limits and City Council determines it is in the best interest of the city to annex the property.
There is a $2,500 water tap fee and a $1,000 impact fee.
Motion to approve the request was made by Glasgow and seconded by Force.
First reading of an ordinance was then denied to amend the zoning and future land use map for parcel 343-6-7-22 located at 716 Drayton Street to GC – General Commercial. This is the result of the owner’s petition to reclassify the parcel from BI – Basic Industrial to GC – General Commercial.
The Newberry Planning Commission did not recommend a zoning classification of General Commercial, nor to amend the zoning and future land use maps at their June 16 meeting, Senn said.
Motion was made by Kinard and seconded by Holmes to concur with the planning commission and deny the request for rezoning.
First reading of an ordinance was then also denied to amend the zoning and future land use map for parcel 343-7-16-2 located at 107 Boundary Street to GC – General Commercial. This is the result of the owner’s petition to reclassify the parcel from R-6 High Density Residential to GC – General Commercial.
The Newberry Planning Commission did not recommend a zoning classification of General Commercial, nor to amend the zoning and future land use maps at their June 16 meeting, Senn said.
Motion was made by Glasgow and seconded by Holmes to concur with the planning commission and deny the request for rezoning.
Motion was then made by Force and seconded by DuBose to reappoint David Wiseman to the Zoning Board of Appeals as his term was winding down.
No action was taken Tuesday on an agenda item to appoint one person to the Newberry Planning Commission.
Kinard then made a motion that was seconded by Holmes to reappoint Keith Avery and Bill Davis to the Newberry Opera House Foundation Board, as well as to appoint Chad Jenkins to the board.
Public Comment
Under public comment, Ernest Shealy shared some of the history of Newberry’s Boundary Street. Several other residents of Newberry – Barbara Miller, Brandi Brooks, Lillie Hunter and Lisa Toland also shared sentiments on the potential closing of a block of Boundary Street.
Each shared concerns about the implications of closing the road in what they felt was a heavily utilized area. Hunter shared a petition with council members.
Also under public comment, resident Frank Burnside shared concerns about a recent power outage impacting his area and neighbors in which there was a problem with the outage getting reported.
Taylor shared with Burnside upcoming changes being explored by the utilities department to expand the way outages can be reported and communication with customers.
Newberry City Council will hold their next regular meeting on Tuesday, August 12 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall.