Zoning Changes Pave the Way for Newberry Businesses

NEWBERRY – On Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, the Newberry City Commission met to address budget adjustments, land use and zoning changes and long-term infrastructure planning. The meeting also included a Board of Adjustment session to review a development plan for a new orthodontics office.

Assistant Director of Finance and Administration Amanda Hagan requested adoption of a resolution to provide fiscal amendments to the Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget, saying that the City’s expenditures were under budget. The Finance Department performs an end of year review of actual receipts and expenditures to identify budget and expenditure variances in need of correction. As a result of the review, the Finance Department reallocated previously appropriated funds to correct several budget variances. The resolution was unanimously approved.

In other business, the Commission unanimously approved second reading of a petition by Joy Glanzer, on behalf of Coleman, Gerald & Melanie, owners, to amend the City’s Future Land Use Plan Map of the Comprehensive Plan from Industrial to Commercial, on property located at 849 N.W. State Road 45. The property consists of approximately 1.28 acres. The request is to make the land use category consistent with the proposed use, which will be a retail store called Shirt Shack.

In a related action in a Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing, the same 1.28 acres was heard on second reading to rezone the property from Industrial (I) to Commercial, Intensive (C-I) to make the land use category consistent to the use of the property. This item also was unanimously approved on second reading.

In an additional Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing, an application for rezoning 0.16 acres from Commercial, Neighborhood (CN) to Commercial, Central Business District (CCBD), located at 22 S.W. 258^th Street, was unanimously approved. The property is located within the Urban Service Area, Community Redevelopment Area and Transportation Enhancement Project Area.

The proposed use will be Hedge Eye Care and Coffee Place. The coffee shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be a full coffee bar with a pick-up window and interior seating for 10-15 people. The coffee shop will also have a remodeled ADA accessible restroom.

The optometric facility will have four exam treatment lanes for two doctors, state-of-the-art optical and contact lens fitting with support laboratory, a new restroom for optometric patients only and will be fully ADA accessible.

In other business, a resolution of intent to implement a stormwater infrastructure and services assessment program was also approved unanimously. Assistant City Manager and CFO Dallas Lee emphasized the need to adopt the resolution by Jan. 1, 2025, to preserve the option of including the assessment on 2025 tax bills. While the assessment would primarily target downtown businesses, it excludes homeowners.

In other business, Eda Consultants, Inc., agent on behalf of RRL Newberry Holding, LLC requested approval of the final plat for Magnolia Acres Subdivision. The property is approximately 79.3 acres and contains 15 lots. It is located south of Southwest 15^th Avenue and East of Southwest 226^th Street. The plat proposes 15 developable detached single family lots at an average density of one dwelling unit per five acres. The subdivision will have private roads and utilities. The Commission unanimously approved the final plat.

In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Monty Farnsworth casting the dissenting vote, the Commission authorized City Manager Mike New to offer $110,000 to purchase of a 0.56- acre property owned by Mr. Estes. The property is parallel to the CSX tracks on a road that the City could in the future develop to run from State Road 26 to 15^th Avenue. The purchase would also have to be approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board.

Looking ahead, the Commission voted unanimously to provide Charter Officers with a two percent cost of living raise effective immediately. Charter Officers are the City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk. Commissioners also voted to hold one meeting in December due to the holidays. That meeting will occur on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. The second meeting of the month has been cancelled.

Board of Adjustment

Following the Commission meeting, the Board of Adjustment (BOA) held a quasi-judicial hearing to review a site and development plan for Progressive Orthodontics for an orthodontics office on property located south of Southwest 15^th Avenue and west of Southwest State Road 45. The property has a future land use designation of Commercial and is located within the Commercial Intensive (CI) zoning district and is located within an Urban Service area (USA) of the city. Progressive Orthodontics proposes construction of a 9,929-square-foot orthodontics office along with associated infrastructure.

The development also sought a parking variance from City of Newberry Land Development Regulations that require one parking space per 150 square feet of building for a total of 66 parking spaces. The variance request was based on trip generation calculations that use daily number of trips and the peak hour trips for the proposed use per number of employees.

According to the owner, the building will be split into three separate uses, each with approximately five employees, which generates 17 trips during the peak hour. The proposed plan is for 33 parking spaces to serve these facilities.

Although some BOA members questioned whether 33 parking spaces would be adequate, the site and development plan was approved in a 4 – 1 vote with Board Member Monty Farnsworth casting the dissenting vote.

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