Manning County amends zoning to set master-planned community minimum at 640 acres, plus or minus 10%

The Manning County Board of Commissioners voted during a public hearing to amend subsection 3.94.6 of the county zoning ordinance to set the minimum acreage for master-planned communities at 640 acres, plus or minus 10%.

Tristan Borgwin, assistant planning director, told commissioners that the Planning and Development Council recommended a countywide change after deliberating whether to grant a reduction for a single applicant. Borgwin said the applicant had sought to change subsection 3.94.6(d) from 750 acres to 550 acres. He said the ordinance's existing larger acreage figure appeared to be “just an arbitrary number,” and that 640 acres corresponds to the size of a survey section of land. Borgwin summarized the council recommendation as a change “from 750 acres to 640 plus or minus 10%, and that's the recommendation you have before you.”

A commissioner moved to adopt the text change to read 640 acres with a plus-or-minus 10% allowance in section 3.94.6. The chair called the vote and those present responded “aye.” No opposing votes or abstentions were recorded in the portion of the transcript provided.

The amendment standardizes the minimum parcel size for master-planned community designation across Manning County, rather than applying a different standard only to the applicant who requested a smaller minimum. The record shows the planning council weighed whether to grant a site-specific change or to adopt a countywide standard; the council recommended the latter and the commission approved that recommendation.

The transcript does not show an ordinance number, exact vote tally by member name, or a timetable for the ordinance's effective date. The Planning and Development Department will retain responsibility for administering the ordinance language and any minor-variance decisions allowed under existing ordinance provisions.