On Feb. 6, the Town of Summerton held a regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting. The well-attended meeting was called to order and after verifying notification to media, the Commission approved the minutes from the last meeting.
Also on the agenda was the election of a Chairperson and Vice-Chair for the year. The commission elected Whitney Phillips for Chair and Rodney Boyd for Vice Chair for the year 2024.
The main item on the agenda for the evening was a rezoning request for the property located at 24 South Church St., Tax Map #078-11-01-015-00. That address is primarily associated with the Short Trip convenience store and gas station. The request is to change the primary use of the parcel behind the gas station from commercial to residential. The commission opened the meeting for public comments before the owner of the property, Rajesh Patel, spoke regarding the purpose of the request.
The first to provide comment was Elaine Wood. Wood had researched the location and found that eight different businesses were using that address. She then provided the commission with the documentation she had collected from the Clarendon County Tax Assessor to support her claims, adding that the address needed to be clarified before the commission was able to vote on the request.
The next resident to comment on the rezoning request was Thomas Gibbins. Gibbins’ residence is adjacent to the property on 24 South St. He raised several concerns about the purpose of the rezoning request, including that his home and surrounding area was already inundated with trash. “It’s a wreck. It’s not coming from my yard. I don’t go back there and throw bottles or anything in my yard. So, we’re dealing with a serious problem because that all goes - all the gasoline, all the bottles, all the trash, all the stuff inside the lightbulbs - it’s all going into our water system. And I’ve contacted [the gas station owners] and they’re like, ‘what can we do?’ And so, I’m very concerned. I don’t know what’s the big game plan here ... but I don’t want my property ruined.”
After the public comments, the commission asked Patel to address the meeting and explain the purpose of the rezoning from commercial to residential. “We are planning to put some trailer homes in that empty lot. That’s our plan right now,” said Patel. Patel was then asked how many manufactured mobile homes he was planning on putting on the L-shaped parcel, to which he responded with two to three, depending on how many he was able to fit.
Town Administrator, Kenneth Geathers, explained to the commission that Patel wanted to transition from commercial to residential under ordinance R10, which requires 10,000 minimum square feet per lot. “He’d have to have it subdivided and change some things around if he wanted to put more than one mobile home on that property,” Geathers continued.
After some back and forth with Patel, Geathers, and the commission, committee member Meg Martin explained that mobile homes are not permitted under R10 at all, only under zoning as general esidential. “Under residential, single-family dwelling is permitted, bed and breakfast/homestay is an exception, single family dwelling in group housing is an exception. Manufactured housing not accepted and manufactured housing and group housing development not accepted. Manufactured housing park not accepted.”
Once the ordinance was read and clarified, the commission was clear that the request would need to be resubmitted under general residential. Patel would also need to resolve the issue of how many businesses were attached to the address. As such, newly appointed Chairperson Phillips made a motion to table the vote regarding the rezoning request until Patel had resubmitted the correct documentation.
Lastly, Geathers addressed the commission and crowd regarding his new role as town administrator before adjourning for the evening. “This is officially my second day. This is a very engaging group and I think we could benefit from some training and some other activities with this board, but I look forward to being involved with your community.”
