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Jasper County staff propose tightened U‑Haul/Broad River overlay rules, drop RP‑10 and change PDD thresholds
Summary
County staff presented revisions to the U‑Haul/Broad River overlay district that would remove the contested RP‑10 zoning, prohibit heavy commercial uses, lower PDD thresholds from 25 to 10 acres, require 30% usable open space and limit wetlands to 20% of required open space; staff will return revisions to the planning commission before further council action.
County planning staff presented a package of revisions to the U‑Haul Broad River overlay district designed to protect rural character and limit the types and scale of new development.
Denise Krivowski, a consultant working with county staff, told the council the proposal responds to community concerns about road capacity, traffic and loss of open space. She said staff recommends removing the previously proposed RP‑10 zoning district and the rural small‑lot subdivision provision because both drew strong pushback during earlier review. "We are proposing to remove the RP‑10 zoning district altogether," Krivowski said, adding that the project team will also drop the rural small‑lot subdivision option and instead focus on stronger protections inside the overlay.
The ordinance draft would prohibit community‑scale commercial, industrial and resource‑extraction uses inside the overlay and allow only residential, village commercial and limited community‑oriented uses. New standards for planned development districts (PDDs) inside the overlay would apply to projects of 10 acres or more (down from a previous 25‑acre threshold) and require a minimum of 30% contiguous, usable open space. The draft also limits the share of wetlands that can count toward required open space to 20%, meaning most of the required open space must be upland usable area.
Krivowski said the county will refine administration and enforcement details and return the revisions to the planning commission before coming back to the council; staff noted state law requires additional planning‑commission review for the kinds of changes proposed. "We will bring back alternatives for how you can demonstrate a development will not place an undue burden on public facilities," she said, citing possible approaches where the county sets thresholds or places the burden of proof on the developer.
Council members pressed for more specifics on how the PDD standards would be administered over long multi‑phase projects, whether clustering could be permitted to achieve green space goals and how property owners’ rights would be balanced with community protections. Several members said they supported the overall goal of preserving rural character but asked staff to provide examples and comparative language from jurisdictions such as Bluffton.
Next steps: staff will prepare a revised ordinance and map changes, return them to the planning commission for required review and aim to return to council for further consideration, with a tentative planning‑commission hearing scheduled in January.
