HORSE DISTRICT ACCESSORY BUILDINGS ORDINANCE – At our last meeting, Council approved a change to amend the existing ordinance to remove the 50% limit and to approve requests on a case-by-case basis. Council took this action despite input from the Equine Committee which recommended that the current ordinance not be changed. I voted against changing the ordinance preferring to support the recommendations of the Equine Committee. If the new change causes problems, I have no doubt that the issue will be re-visited.
ABANDONED VEHICLES ORDINANCE –This ordinance was approved giving the City the means to deal with abandoned vehicles.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MEMORIAL HIGHWAY DESIGNATION – Council is still struggling with this issue since part of Whiskey Road has been designated as a memorial to a member of the Brinkley family. Council finally decided to amend the resolution for the designation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Highway and designate the area of S.C.19 north from the city limits south down Laurens Street ending on Laurens at South Boundary and that the City Staff work with the Highway Department to make the size of the signs in the downtown area appropriate for the area.
SILVER BLUFF MEDICAL COMPLEX – Council approved this request on first reading. University Health Services is asking for approval of a concept plan for a medical office complex to be located on Silver Bluff road across from the Center South Shopping Center. This project consists of three medical buildings totaling 72,000 square feet to be built in two phases. The first phase will consist of a one-story building with 17,000 square feet close to Silver Bluff Road. Entrance to the complex will be from Silver Bluff Road, but entrance to the first building will be from an internal parking lot within the complex. The proposed entrance does not comply with three provisions of the access management section of the Zoning Ordinance and the applicant has asked for a waiver of these three areas. The Planning Staff has reviewed the applicant’s request for waiver and feels that it is not a concern due to the gradients and location of other driveways in the area. Due to the fact that Silver Bluff Road is a five-lane roadway and to preserve trees, staff is recommending that these waivers be accepted. This application was approved unanimously by the Planning Commission.
There are some significant traffic issues with this project. First, it may increase exit time from Town Creek Road onto Silver Bluff Road, but staff feels that any increase delay is not considered excessive and a traffic signal is not warranted at this time.
UPDATE ON SILVER BLUFF MEDICAL COMPLEX – I have received several calls on this issue. One is in support of the complex and the rest expressed concerns about traffic and adverse business impact to the Aiken Regional Medical Center. While Council discussed the traffic impacts at our last meeting, it did not seem to be a major concern. Since that time, however, I have heard increasing concerns about the impact to Town Creek Road and the intersection at Dougherty Road. With no timetable for the widening of Silver Bluff Road and continued development beyond Richardson's Lake Road, the City needs to carefully consider traffic impacts from developments along Silver Bluff Road. If you have a concern about this project or support the project, I urge you to attend Monday’s City Council meeting which begins at 7:00 P.M. This is the second item on the Agenda so there will not be a long wait until the issue is heard.
OTHER ITEMS ON THE AGENDA – Council will also discuss the lease of property on Price Avenue to a person building a compounding pharmacy and approval of an agreement between the City of Aiken and Habit for Humanity to help further the goal of constructing new affordable homes within the community of Aiken.
ON-LINE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – Keep in mind that City Council agendas are available on line. The complete agenda includes supporting documents that we review to determine a course of action. The link for Monday’s City Council agenda is http://www.aiken.net/weblink7/docview.aspx?id=99270.
CITY COUNCIL HORIZONS GOAL SETTING – On Friday and Saturday City Council will meet for the annual goal setting conference. We meet at Rye Patch. The meeting starts at noon on Friday and resumes on Saturday morning at 8:00 A.M. As is always the case when the Council meets, the public is invited.
E-WASTE COLLECTION DAY– I was pleased to have attended the recent e-waste collection day held at the Home Depot parking lot on January 3, 2009. This was the first time that we had a vendor who shredded documents at no cost. There was also a vendor who collected obsolete and old electronic devices (at a nominal cost). This is an excellent program which keeps many unwanted items from our landfills.
Posted by Dick Dewar
Wrong, wrong wrong.
ReplyDeleteLook at the link you provided yourself, as the amended ZO says the following:
ACCESSORY BUILDING OR STRUCTURE
Applicability
Paragraphs B.D.and E shall not apply to any 1any lot in the Horse District zone.2any lot
in the RSS zone in the Historic Overlay District.or3any lot of one acre or more in
the RSS zone outside of the Historic Overlay District.
Yes it eliminated the 50% rule on Gross heated space of the accessory buildings in those zones and it allows for any size by right as their are NO restrictions. No restrictions as to where on the lot, the square ft. or height of the accessory building. There is NO case by case review.
It's amazing how obtuse you are considering you either refuse to read that which you are spoon fed by staff or just don't understand it.
Glad you are not charge of homeland defense or security type facilities...
Councilman Dewar,
ReplyDeleteIt is Dougherty, not Daugherty. Also Richardson's Lake, not Richardson Lake. I hope you do not feel this is splitting hairs, as the names of these roads represent threads in the fabric of Aiken's history.
Respectfully,
Sully