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Planning board debates big-box rules: size threshold, buffers, design standards and special-exception role
Summary
On April 7 City of Newberry planning staff presented a proposed ordinance to regulate large-scale retail. Board members debated the 80,000-square-foot threshold, overlay buffers and design controls and gave staff direction to revise the draft (board favored a lower threshold and stronger overlay coverage). No final adoption occurred.
The Planning & Zoning Board spent the bulk of its April 7 meeting on a staff-led review of proposed land-development regulations for large-scale retail (so-called “big box”) and related updates to the city’s overlay district. The board did not adopt the ordinance but gave staff direction to revise the draft and return with firm language before the City Commission.
Staff described the draft definition of a “large single retail establishment” as a single building occupying 80,000 square feet or greater serving a regional market and listed examples such as membership wholesale clubs, discount and home-improvement retailers. The draft also ties large-scale retail to design standards in the highway overlay district and would make large-scale retail a special exception in selected commercial zones while prohibiting it in the CBD and commercial neighborhood districts.
Board members raised several substantive issues and requested specific changes:
- Size threshold and ranges: staff said 80,000 square feet was the working threshold but acknowledged developers can design around hard cutoffs. Board…
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