Rezoning on Dills Bluff?

At the July meeting of the James Island Public Service District Commission, Chairman Alan Laughlin proposed moving the JIPSD headquarters from its current location on Signal Point Road to Dills Bluff Road.  That would include both their administrative and industrial activities such as parking, cleaning, and maintenance of the District's fleet of garbage and sewer trucks.  The Chairman gave a long presentation regarding a 2014 plan that had been rejected by the Commissioners after an outcry by residents of Whitehouse Plantation, the neighborhood adjacent to the District's property behind the Camp Road Shopping Center. 

Most Commissioner's spoke against the proposal, reminding the Chair of the public outcry the last time the District proposed parking garbage trucks next to a residential neighborhood. Vice Chair Kathy Woolsey said that the first step would be for the Chairman go to the Town and ask to rezone the property to industrial.  The Chair's proposal never came to a vote.  The Chairman asked the Commissioners to give him an opportunity to share his proposal to the community.  The proposal to move from Signal Point Road to Dills Bluff as well as ordinances that would instead begin the process of selling the property were postponed until the August meeting on a 5 to 2 vote.   Vice Chair Woolsey and Commissioner Brown Crouch voted against the motion to postpone because they were ready to vote against the Chair's proposal and to move forward with selling the property. 

The Chairman said he was completely against selling the property.  Commissioners Engelman and Platt also spoke against selling the property, with Commissioner Platt proposing that the District move the administrative offices to Dills Bluff.  Those Commissioners in favor of selling the property argued that the District cannot afford to move its Administrative Offices and needs the funds from the sale of the property for other more important capital expenses such as renovation of the fire station on Harbor View Road.   Nearly all of the property is zoned single family residential.  If it is sold, then no more than 15 single family homes could be put in the area. 

The Town and District have begun monthly meetings between the Mayor and Chair.  At our meeting in August, I explained to the Chairman that his proposal to move their garbage and sewer operations to Dills Bluff would require that their property be rezoned to industrial.  I explained that I don't believe that there are any members of Town Council willing to vote for such a drastic rezoning.  I said that I would support rezoning at least some of the property to office residential to allow the District to move its administrative offices to Dills Bluff Road. 

The Chairman then discussed the matter with the Town's Planning Director.   She explained that moving the garbage truck operations would require a rezoning to industrial.   The Chairman said that she was wrong and that he would challenge her ruling.   Any such challenge would go to the Town's Board of Zoning Appeals.   The BZA ruling could then be appealed to circuit court.   While the District has every right to file an appeal of the Planning Director's opinion, I would think that it would only go forward with a favorable vote by the Commissioners.   I think that there is only one Commissioner, the Chair Alan Laughlin, that would support seeking a rezoning from the Town.