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Sumter County Council adopts screening standards for salvage-style businesses, grants rezoning first reading and advances Development Board change
Summary
At its April 8 meeting, Sumter County Council adopted Ordinance 25-1024 to expand screening options for used motor vehicle parts merchants, granted first reading to a rezoning for a used-car lot at 3584 Peach Orchard Rd., and advanced an amendment changing appointing authority for one Development Board seat to second reading.
Sumter County Council on April 8 adopted a zoning amendment and approved a series of procedural measures affecting land use and governance.
Planning Director Helen Roodman presented OA-25-01, which County Council approved on third reading as Ordinance 25-1024. The amendment allows earthen berms or combinations of berm and fence/wall to be used to meet the existing 7-foot screening requirement for used motor vehicle parts merchant wholesalers in the Light Industrial–Warehouse (LI-W) district. The ordinance retains other screening options (solid opaque wall or fence) and adds explicit design guidance for fence color and berm vegetative stabilization.
The ordinance also establishes operational and environmental controls for these businesses: areas for fluid drainage or crushing/shredding must be at least 500 feet from residences, schools, churches, National Register historic resources or public parks; crushing/shredding is limited to 8 a.m.–6 p.m., Monday through Friday; permanently installed crushing machinery and stacking vehicles atop one another are prohibited; landscaped buffering (two canopy trees, one understory tree and 15 shrubs per 100 linear feet) is required outside opaque screening; and a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Industrial Stormwater Permit must be effective before a county business license is issued for such uses. Council adopted the ordinance by unanimous vote (motion by Vice Chairman James R. Byrd, Jr., seconded by Councilwoman Tasha GardnerGreene).
Council also took action on several other land-use and governance items. On a motion by Councilman Artie Baker, seconded by Vice Chairman Byrd, the council granted first reading to rezoning request RZ-25-01, a petition by Ashley Amore to rezone a ±1.86-acre parcel at 3584 Peach Orchard Rd. from Agricultural Conservation (AC) to Neighborhood Commercial (NC); Mrs. Amore intends to operate a used-vehicle sales lot at that address. The first-reading approval was unanimous.
County Attorney Johnathan Bryan presented Ordinance 25-1023, a proposed amendment to Ordinance 04-550 to change the appointing authority for one seat on the Development Board — removing the Chamber of Commerce’s appointing role and adding an additional council-appointed seat (increasing seats to five). The council granted second reading unanimously (motion by Vice Chairman Byrd, seconded by Councilwoman Vivian Fleming McGhaney); the Chamber’s current appointee will continue to serve until the term expires or the member resigns, and the Chamber President and CEO will remain ex officio members.
Council approved three committee-recommended appointments without opposition: Thomas Bowman to the Accommodation Tax Advisory Committee, Craig Simmons to the Airport Committee and Rudolph Wheeler to the Litter Advisory Board.
The meeting adjourned at 6:26 p.m. after a unanimous motion to close the session (mover: Vice Chairman Byrd; seconder: Councilman Charles T. Edens).
