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Berkeley County land-use panel approves multiple rezones, postpones one pending traffic study
Summary
The County’s Land Use Committee approved a package of rezoning requests and related ordinance readings on a series of parcels while postponing one application until a traffic impact analysis is complete.
Berkeley County Council’s Committee on Land Use on April 2025 approved a series of zoning map amendments affecting multiple parcels across the county and postponed one rezoning until a traffic impact analysis is completed.
Committee members approved multiple ordinances and combined readings for several bills with little debate, while voting to postpone bill 25-24 — a proposed rezoning for a 4.7-acre site on Black Tom Road intended for a Food Lion store — until the applicant’s traffic impact analysis (TIA) is finalized.
The zoning items approved as presented ranged from small commercial rezonings to site-specific changes that committee staff said will require subsequent administrative review, special-exception hearings or site-plan conditions. Planning staff and the applicant for the Food Lion parcel told the committee that the applicant had commissioned a traffic study and that the county’s own Black Tom Road study is expected in two to three months.
A handful of the rezonings approved were explicitly identified as requiring further steps before development: applicants seeking outdoor storage uses must still obtain special exceptions from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). Committee staff said BZA approval is required for outdoor storage as the primary use and that a rezoning alone would not guarantee the discretionary special exception.
Committee members repeatedly urged that traffic and connectivity issues be resolved before final readings on major commercial parcels. Councilman Dan Owens moved to postpone bill 25-24 until the TIA is completed; the motion passed. Other bills — including combined readings for bills 25-15, 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 and 25-21 and a later group (25-08 through 25-12) — were combined and approved with unanimous voice votes.
The committee also awarded an indefinite-delivery contract (IDC) for zoning code text amendment support to Westin and Sampson, a consultant selection announced during the meeting.
The approvals mean several applicants may now proceed to the next administrative or Board of Zoning Appeals steps (site plan review, special exception requests or FAA/airport land-use compatibility checks), but development remains contingent on meeting those subsequent requirements.
Votes at a glance: bill 24-25-24 (rezoning for Food Lion parcel on Black Tom Road) — postponed until traffic study completed; bills 25-25, 25-26, 25-27, 25-28, 25-29 — approved on committee motion; combined bills 25-15, 25-17, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 — approved; combined bills 25-08, 25-09, 25-10, 25-11, 25-12 — approved. Specific roll-call tallies were not read into the record; approvals were recorded by unanimous voice vote where noted.
The committee signaled heightened scrutiny of traffic impacts, cross-access requirements and airport land-use compatibility for commercial rezonings going forward. The item postponed (25-24) will return for further consideration after the TIA is submitted and reviewed.
