A Week of Public Hearings in Florence

A busy week for the informed public...

Tonight:

6:30PM (City County Complex, Room 803) - the Planning Commission meets with an agenda including an amendment to the Administrative Procedures of the Comprehensive Plan. In essence, this document directs how the Comprehensive Plan is utilized and updated. Tonight's update proposes to amend the Procedures so a Comp Plan amendment and a zoning or re-zoning request can go ahead at the same time.

6:30PM (SiMT, Florence-Darlington Tech, 1951 Pisgah Road) - the State's DHEC holds a Q&A and a public hearing about an air quality permit requested by Johnson Controls, who is slated to build a battery recycling plant on Paper Mill Road.

Thursday:

5:00PM (Timmonsville High School) - the SCDOT holds a public hearing about the widening of 76 from I-95 west to Timmonsville. This is the second public hearing and may show an update to the Main Street intersection.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Full Week Ahead for Planners

The Florence County Planning Services staff have a week of comprehensive (Comp) plans, transportation scenarios and reporting duties. Plus, our City of Florence colleagues kick off the City Comprehensive Plan this Wednesday at Poyner Education Center, 6:00PM.

The County's Land Use element is making its way to the County Council on September 17th for its public hearing. This meeting will include time for the public to speak about the project before next month's Council vote.

The Administrative Procedures portion to the Plan returns to the Planning Commission September 22nd to review a procedural modification: allowing a rezoning and a Comp plan amendment to occur on the same agenda at the Commission and subsequently, the Council meeting. This amendment will minimize the time to rezone a property if the new designation would include a Comp plan change (to show a coordinated direction.)

Two more elements to go!! We are in the beginning process to tackle the Priority Investment and Transportation elements. Lots of meetings and lots of data! What's very exicting with the Transportation element is playing with Community Viz - a tool that allows the user to change thresholds that change outcomes - a scenario planner! We look forward to sharing these various outcomes.

In the meantime, Kimley-Horn and Associates are making strides to complete the FLATS long-range transportation plan for the urban area. FLATS is the Florence Area Transportation Study, the local metropolitan planning organization which utilizes federal planning funds to lay out a future transportation plan for the more populated area of Florence. A second public meeting will be coming out soon!

We miss our intern - All the best, Dana!

Busy Thursday!

The public should feel very lucky to have two opportunities to hear what's going on around Florence:

First, there is the second (rated a 'thumbs up' by Florence Morning News) meeting in the three meeting series to discuss the Future Land Use map at Eastside Christian Church, 3541 East Palmetto Street. County Planning staff will be there from 5-7PM with a presentation at 6:00PM. Feel free to drop in anytime.

Then, if that wasn't good enough, the Florence Trails Committee will be having a meeting at Naturally Outdoors (2519 W. Palmetto) from 5-6PM to discuss a grant opportunity from the State Parks and Recreation Department.

And best of all - visit both meetings and get a bonus - I'll hold off the 6:00PM Land Use presentation for 15 minutes so you may join in on both experiences. Florence County will have staff attending both meetings to answer any questions.

Two meetings, 60 blocks apart - this is your public meeting challenge of the week!

Have kids? The first child to ask a land use question (at the Future Land Use meeting) will get a large color area map to share with their school classmates.

Comprehensive Plan Update!

Last night the Planning Commission heard presentations of the new Community Facilities element and Administrative Procedures.

The Community Facilities element is on its way to County Council: to be introduced on February 19th, public hearing on March 5th and final reading Mar 19th. These dates are shown at the calendar to the right and will be updated if there are any changes to the schedule.

The Administrative Procedures, however, will be returning to the Planning Commission February 24th. Language on how to approach non-compliant zoning requests will be revised. The revision will allow the Planning Commission to recommend zoning requests that are not compliant with the Comprehensive Plan.

For those that are confused about this change in language, a brief description may help. A little background first: the goal of any comprehensive plan is to capture the public's vision of what is perceived as the direction for the next 20-30 years. Of course this is difficult, which is the reason why the plan must be redone every ten years.

This vision is embodied into the document called the Comprehensive Plan. This Plan includes nine elements: Economic Development, Cultural Resources, Natural Resources, Population, Housing, Community Facilities, Future Land Use, Priority Investment and Transportation.

The next element is the Future Land Use. This part of the plan categorizes all of the County (except for those municipalities that do their own - Pamplico, Florence, Lake City) area into land use groups. These groupings will then be the basis for allowing certain zoning in the area. Also, as mentioned last night, is the basis for the potential of county-wide zoning.

This is where the Administrative Procedures (not an element, but dictates how to amend the Plan) come into play: For example, a zoning request is presented to the Commission that does not comply with the intent of the new comprehensive plan.

The Administrative Procedures presented last night to the Planning Commission would have forced the Commission to recommend denial of the rezoning to the Council. In order to approve the request, the Council would first be directed to change the Comprehensive Plan (public hearings, notice, input, etc.) to correct the Plan.

In essence, the Planning Commission is looking for more flexibility in their recommendation to the County Council when hearing such a request.

If you continue to be challenged in understanding the Plan or actions taken by the Commission last night, feel free to contact us.

Who's New?

Lisa Jackson, that's who.

She's the new EPA Administrator-designee and she is already listing her goals for her tenure at this federal regulatory agency:

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• improving air quality
• managing chemical risks
• cleaning up hazardous waste sites
• protecting water resources

Check out her memorandum to employees posted on the EPA website.

Luckily, Florence County planning is following similar thinking as the EPA. Starting last year with our close 'run-in' with air quality exceeding the EPA's ozone standard. Now, we are focusing on the Future Land Use element (at a public meeting near you) which will include protections for our rivers and stream while improving our governments' ability to provide services to residents.

Are you new too? ...to your neighborhood? ...to planning? ...to comprehensive plans?

Comp Plan Countdown

Five down, four to go - with the next opportunity to comment right now!

Tis' the season for comprehensive plan updates. Darlington County recently made the news about their updates to their Future Land Use proposals. Likewise, Florence County is planning on a series of public meetings to focus on discussing the Future Land Use for areas around the City of Florence... but that is on the horizon (e-mail me if you want to be notified of these meetings)

For now let's talk about the part of the comp plan that will be heading to the Planning Commission on January 27th. The Community Facilities element has been taking shape for the past couple of months by surveying the community stakeholders for information, a workshop for the Planning Commission members and lots of public comments (THANK YOU!). You still have time to review the document... even if you only want to look at the pictures. Go to the Florence County Planning website and scroll to the bottom - there you will find a link to the element's pdf document.

Also, you will find the Administrative Procedures portion for the comprehensive plan. This document will guide how the comp plan is updated and used. Although not an element like the Community Facilities or Land Use, this is a very important part!

We are ticking down to a complete County Comprehensive Plan!

What's next? Future Land Use (already in the works), Transportation and Priority Investment.

Stay tuned and share your vision for Florence County's future!

The Week Unfolds

It's only Tuesday, but the Planning team has worked hard enough to believe it's Friday.

The FLATS (Florence Area Transportation Study) Policy committee met yesterday morning to discuss penny sales tax projects, regional road improvements and the long-range transportation plan for the urban Florence area. The Policy Committee gave the go ahead to negotiate with the point-leading consultant, Kimley-Horn, to help with the plan.

Also, the Committee requested more information to make their decision on adding new members to their Committee and the FLATS Study Team (technical team). For the next meeting, we will provide maps of the areas that currently may be better represented with these additional stakeholders.

Last night, the Planning Section visited a full house (about 30 people) Town Hall meeting in Scranton. [I still think it's one of nicest little towns in Florence.] We described the comprehensive plan update and presented their Future Land Use map. Some people were at the Schoolhouse BBQ Town Supper meeting when the townspeople first saw the map.

Interestingly, the one similar comment was made last night: we need a place for kids to hang out after school. One suggestion that was brought up was to utilize school facilities for after-school activities. Try to drum up some volunteers to monitor the schools library and/or gym for community usage. In Scranton, their school is within walking distance from most neighborhoods and is an existing facility!

Sounds good to me.

What else...

...more Comprehensive Plan (scroll down the linked page to see all elements)...

On Thursday, the Planning Commission will be at a working lunch presentation at the Founder's Room of the Library to solicit feedback and affirmation of our direction on the drafted Community Facilities element. We hope to post this element to our website within a couple of weeks, send it to the County Planning Commission agenda in December, and present it to County Council for public hearings starting in early 2009.

...and I would be remiss if I failed to mention air quality opportunities!

DHEC has recently released a request for proposals for a nearly $250K grant to reduce diesel emissions. It just so happens that we presented the County Council with a list of air quality increasing options on October 16th. Two qualifying projects were included in that list: diesel engine upgrades to the County fleet and a truck stop electrification system at Exit 169. This technology allows the truck engines to stop (as opposed to idling all day and night) and hook up to a power outlet and A/C vent, decreasing diesel emissions. Another point: this truck stop is within two miles from the ozone monitor!

Are we busy? Yes.

Want to help review a Comprehensive Plan element, write a grant, gather community support, or share an air quality idea?

Leave us a comment, and we'll be right with you.

Tis' the Season for Public Hearings

As Florence County Future Land Use and Transportation plans are being worked on, public hearings are scheduled to get the public in on the planning level. Check out and visit the bottom of the blog for public notices for your area.