Council approves Pepper Tract plan changes, keeps existing vegetation and shifts indoor flex space away from homes

Mount Pleasant Town Council on March 11 approved first-reading amendments to the Pepper Tract plan development that move a proposed indoor flex warehouse away from adjacent residences and change the required buffer treatment to preserve existing trees and plantings.

The council approved a plan that designates a specific six‑acre parcel for an indoor flex warehouse use and limits the height on that parcel to 35 feet, down from a previously allowed 55 feet. The amendment also removes a prior reference allowing hospital use in the rural commercial (RC) district and clarifies permitted uses and the PD (plan development) map.

Planning staff explained that a 2018 requirement called for a 35‑foot buffer, a 6‑foot planted berm and a 3‑foot fence; staff and the applicant said building the berm would require importing soil and would destroy vegetation that has since matured. Planning staff described the recommendation approved by the council: a 35‑foot buffer with an 8‑foot masonry wall instead of a berm in order to preserve existing trees. “We don't want the berm. It's going to cause — it's going to destroy that vegetation,” Miss Reed, planning staff, said while summarizing the committee recommendation.

Council members and planning committee members said the developer had moved the indoor flex use away from residences after neighborhood input. A planning committee member who spoke during the meeting commended the developer “for agreeing to shift the space and for agreeing to come back with a much improved proposal,” adding that the buffer approach was a compromise intended to protect neighbors while allowing the revised commercial use to proceed.

The council also approved an updated impact assessment and a conceptual plan required by the PD amendment. Planning staff said the applicant addressed the commission and committee comments on landscaping, buffers and other development standards; a representative from planning confirmed that any lighting plan for the site would require separate approval from the Design Review Board.

The amendment and accompanying impact assessment were approved on first reading; the transcript records the motion and a second, with the mayor calling for the ayes and saying the motion carried. The transcript does not record a roll‑call tally for the Pepper Tract ordinance vote.

The council's actions change the PD text and map language that govern future permitting and will return for subsequent readings and any final approvals required by ordinance procedure.

Proposed next steps include returning the finalized ordinance and associated plans for the council's second reading and final vote. The council also instructed staff and the applicant to coordinate required design review elements, including the lighting plan and landscaping details, at later review stages.