A - Town Council Meetings

SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, June 13, 2023, 5:00 p.m. Municipal Complex, Council Chambers 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 MINUTES Click here to view the presentation. 1. Call to Order Mayor Haynie called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. Brenda Corley, Howard Chapman, Laura Hyatt, Gary Santos, Jake Rambo, John Iacofano and Guang Ming Whitley were all present. Carl Ritchie was absent. 2. Public Comment [None] 3. Review and selection of design options for Town owned property on Faison Road Mr. DeMoura stated Council selected three uses for the property, which were open space, attainable housing and economic development, and tasked the design team with preparing three options which will be presented momentarily. Mr. DeMoura said the next step is to select the option which will allow us to move forward to negotiate an economic and financial agreement with the developer. Mr. Matt Brady stated staff worked with Landmark Enterprises to develop three possible directions in which to go based on feedback from Council. He introduced Jonathan Oakman with Landmark Enterprises who will review the options. Mr. Oakman gave the following presentation. Page 2 of 10 Page 3 of 10 Mayor Haynie asked if this was what was presented to the Economic Development Committee. Mr. Chapman responded in the affirmative and stated Scheme II accommodates some of everything Council asked for, and recognizes a need for open space, as well as having a nice program of trails and open space which blends into the sports potential. It also has two lakes that are part of the stormwater management. Page 4 of 10 Mr. Iacofano stated he likes Scheme I as it brings enough Economic Development and synergy. He would like to propose Scheme I and add attainable housing to it. Ms. Hyatt said she is partial to Scheme I if there are opportunities for attainable housing in other areas. She said Council voted to do economic development and attainable housing, and to increase the acreage if it included workforce housing. She asked how much acreage is left with Scheme I. Mr. Oakman stated the original parcel is 38 acres, and as Council can see there are some wetland areas. Scheme I uses eight acres for development, not including ponds or open spaces. He stated that would leave about 14 or 15 developable acres remaining, stating the ponds are being incorporated into the recreational portion. Ms. Corley stated she thought the Town should retain the property and keep it as an asset. She is looking for the least intrusive scheme possible. She asked when the northern part of town would be brought into the conversation as she thought half may support and half may not. Mr. DeMoura stated they had not planned to have an open house. Input has been received all along the process which has gone on for many months, it has been on many public agendas, both subcommittee and full Council, but we are reaching a point, given the 2025 calendar year deadline, where a decision must be made. Mr. Santos stated we need more opportunities for recreation. He stated traffic is terrible, and he is constantly hearing from parents that are tired of going outside of Mount Pleasant. More recreation options are needed for the northern part of town. Ms. Whitley stated we as a community just approved a $50 million referendum for recreation and what we need at this juncture is economic development to bring high paying jobs to the community and amenities to the northern end of town. She said she is in favor of Scheme I, but we also need attainable housing and she is open to the possibility of adding that to Scheme I, but she also understands we bought this for preservation as well. She said there was an attempt by the same developer of Gregorie Ferry to place attainable housing in Carolina Park and it was met with incredible opposition from the community. Page 5 of 10 Mayor Haynie stated that was a very different scenario and it does not compare. He said attainable housing is economic development and is the number one priority of every regional economic development group. He said we just passed an ordinance telling the private sector that if they are going to develop housing, fifty percent of it must be attainable housing. Mayor Haynie said in his mind if we add attainable housing to Scheme I, we have Scheme II. He said he could not support anything that does not make a significant contribution to attainable housing. Mayor Haynie asked if the open space is natural or ball fields that are treated and mowed. Mr. Oakman said that will be up to the determination of Council. Mayor Haynie asked if trees would be cut down to create open space as opposed to green space. Mr. Oakman responded in the affirmative. Mayor asked if the people would own the housing, asking Mr. Pagliarini if this would be a ground lease to the developer or if the property would be sold to the developer. Mr. Pagliarini said possibly a ground lease but that would be up for discussion. Mayor Haynie asked for clarification if anything that was attainable housing would be a rental. Mr. Oakman said this is all up for discussion but the way it was thought about, is that it would be similar to Gregorie Ferry, for purchase. Mr. DeMoura said once a scheme is chosen, then the financial arrangements could be discussed. He stated the intent was that ownership would be negotiated for the attainable housing portion. Mayor asked if Landmark would develop the attainable housing portion or would that be portioned out to someone who does that. Mr. Oakman said they would partner with someone who specializes in that. Mr. Oakman said they have been focusing on what the program is, and there have not been discussions about the financial and ownership structure of any of this. He said that is the next step after Council determines the scheme. Mayor Haynie asked if Landmark would be managing and leasing the spaces. Mr. Oakman stated the presumption is that for the economic development buildings they would manage the facilities, but the attainable housing would be a very different question. He said they are open to any way that the Town wants to do this. Mayor Hayne said he and Mr. Iacofano sit on the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority board and would be happy to assist with bus transportation as it would certainly be needed. He also asked if Page 6 of 10 there is any sort of pro forma on any of this as he did not think the Town would make a profit, but we will have property that could be leased in the private market and we will be competing with them. He said what we gain here could be negatively affecting the other development at Carolina Park. Mr. Rambo asked if there had been some high-level conceptual estimates on whether or not it is ever possible to build twenty-four units for a certain price that could be sold as attainable housing. He said it could be completely unfeasible. Mr. Rambo said post-COVID, there is a decent amount of office space in Mount Pleasant that is available for lease, and asked if the Town is subsidizing office space, would we be undercutting what is available in the private market. Mr. DeMoura said Council has asked staff to expand economic development uses in the community. He said the reason we have a strategy and there are specific points in the strategy is because they do not already exist in the community. He said in order to expand job opportunities, these things are necessary, so this is an add more than a take-away. Mr. Rambo said so the uses and buildout should focus on space that is not readily available. Mr. DeMoura responded in the affirmative. Mayor said he did not expect Landmark to turn down a tenant who is trying to make a decision between something that is on the free market and something that is in our taxpayer subsidized space. He asked how we dictate what type uses go in this space. Mr. Iacofano said it sounds like there is some confusion and clarified that we will not be renting this space except for at market value, and Mr. Oakman stated that is the assumption. Mr. Iacofano stated he believes Scheme II and III will continue to lose the Town money as they do not have enough economic development. The economic development strategy we paid for specifically pinpoints this area for information technology, life sciences, architectural and engineering, marketing and design and financial investments. Mr. Iacofano stated he is in support of affordable housing, but the only way we do not continue to pour money into this property is by using Scheme I and adding attainable housing to it. Page 7 of 10 Mayor Haynie asked how we would control a different outcome than there would have been if it had stayed privately owned and was developed by a private developer. He asked how we are changing the outcome by having invested $6.6 Million in effectively eight acres of land. Mr. DeMoura said if we did not purchase the property it would have been sold to be any myriad of things allowed under the planned development, and most of those items do not meet our economic development goals. By moving forward with this we will be able to dictate the uses that will go on the property which further our economic development goals. Mayor asked how we dictate who can and cannot lease the property. Mr. DeMoura stated that is one of the big reasons that Mr. Brady was hired, to work with realtors who are helping to fill the space, ensuring they are uses that will further our economic development goals. Mr. DeMoura stated these are all excellent questions, but we cannot provide answers, especially to financial questions until a scheme is selected. Mr. Rambo said before a scheme is selected, he would like to get feedback from the residents of Carolina Park. He said he would rather hear it now than after we get too far into the planning process. He would like to hear what they would like to see in their neighborhood. Ms. Whitley said the community has had ample opportunity to give their feedback. There have been articles about the purchase of this land, public meetings with public comment, published agendas and information out there. She said we do not need to extend the timeline and she does not think input will be received that will shift the needle for any of us. She stated the purpose of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds is strategic investments in long-lived assets, and she thinks the land is the long-lived asset, but the strategic investment component of that is the economic development and potentially the attainable housing which will create a long-term benefit to our community. Mr. Rambo asked for confirmation that ARPA funds were used to recuperate losses and revenue, and general fund money was used to purchase the property. Mr. DeMoura stated that ARPA funds made it possible to have funds available to purchase this property, but they did not directly purchase this property. Mr. Rambo clarified that the ARPA Page 8 of 10 guidelines for what can and cannot be done with this property do not apply and Mr. DeMoura responded in the affirmative. Ms. Hyatt said she is leaning toward Scheme I but she wanted to know if there is an opportunity to change office flex building E to become attainable housing. She asked what building height is allowed on that property as well and Mr. DeMoura responded thirty-five feet. Mr. Oakman said the buildings are designed to be one to two stories, and it could be a little taller, but it is a small footprint. He said on the housing side, there must be enough for the finances to work and whether or not that can be achieved with building E he is unsure. Mr. Chapman said it would be better to make one of the buildings in the back attainable housing as the frontage buildings are better for economic development. He suggested Building C would be most appropriate for attainable housing. Mayor asked those who are suggesting Scheme I, how many units of attainable housing are they expecting to see. Mr. Iacofano said he does not know how many units would be needed to break even, but there is additional area, and adding attainable housing to that point may make the most sense. Mr. Iacofano moved to select Scheme I and add attainable housing to it and send it back to the Economic Development Committee for discussion, seconded by Ms. Whitley. Mayor Haynie said it would be helpful to clarify the footprint, asking if all of the schemes are within eight acres. Mr. Oakman responded in the affirmative. Mayor Haynie asked for clarification if adding the attainable housing would be within the eight acres. Mr. Oakman said in Scheme I eight acres of developable area has been used, not including the stormwater, so to add attainable housing to Scheme I, more developable area would need to be opened up. Mr. Iacofano said his motion is to add necessary space for attainable housing and to send back to the Economic Development Committee for that discussion. Ms. Hyatt said she is not for enlarging the footprint. Mayor Haynie called for the vote. Ms. Whitley and Mr. Iacofano voted in favor with Ms. Corley, Mr. Chapman, Ms. Hyatt, Mr. Santos, Mr. Rambo and Mayor Haynie voting opposed. The motion failed with a 2-6 vote. Page 9 of 10  Ms. Whitley moved to adopt Scheme II, seconded by Mr. Chapman. Ms. Whitley, Mr. Chapman and Mr. Iacofano voted in favor with Ms. Corley, Ms. Hyatt, Mr. Rambo, Mr. Santos, and Mayor Haynie voting opposed. The motion failed with a 3-5 vote. Mr. Rambo moved to send this item back to Committee for further discussion and to have some of the unanswered questions resolved, seconded by Mr. Santos. Mr. Iacofano asked if there is a list of questions. Mr. Pagliarini stated as he understands it, there were motions made for Scheme I and Scheme II, particularly in Scheme I to determine location of affordable housing. He said he is not sure if there any other questions to articulate. Mayor Haynie said Council Members that have questions can submit them to the Committee before the next meeting. Mr. Iacofano said this has gone on for quite some time, there are deadlines and a lot of time and money invested. He asked if we can at least narrow it down to Scheme I and II, asking Mr. Rambo if he would amend his motion. Mr. Rambo responded in the negative. Mayor Haynie called for the vote. Ms. Corley, Ms. Hyatt, Mr. Rambo and Mayor Haynie voted in favor with Ms. Whitley, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Iacofano and Mr. Santos voting opposed. The motion failed with a 4-4 vote. 4. Adjourn Mr. Rambo moved to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Santos. Mr. Rambo, Mr. Santos, Mr. Chapman, Ms. Corley and Mayor Haynie voted in favor, with Ms. Whitley, Mr. Iacofano and Ms. Hyatt voting no. The motion to adjourn carried 5-3. The meeting was adjourned at 6:01 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Christine Barrett Clerk of Council June 13, 2023 Page 10 of 10