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Planning Commission OKs allowing schools in T2 rural as special use with infrastructure conditions
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Summary
Beaufort County planning staff and the Planning Commission approved a text amendment to permit public and private schools in T2 (rural) zones as a special-use review, adding requirements such as proximity to water/sewer and Transportation Impact Analyses; motion passed 5–2.
The Beaufort County Planning Commission voted to amend the Community Development Code to allow public and private schools in T2 (rural) zones through a special-use process, with conditions intended to limit development in rural areas.
Planning staff explained the change had been considered at the March meeting and that the county and the school district prefer a special-use permit to a staff-level conditional use so proposed school sites would receive public notice and Zoning Board of Appeals review. Staff said recommended conditions include being within 500 feet of existing water and sewer and, where applicable, a Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) to address queuing and circulation around sites.
"With those conditions and it being a special use and having a public process built in before a school site is approved, that meets the objectives the planning commission raised," staff said. Commissioners pressed staff on how existing nonconforming schools would be treated; staff replied that nonconformities would generally be addressed when a site seeks expansion or redevelopment, not immediately upon the zoning change.
Connor Blaney of Ward Edwards Engineering, speaking for the school district, said the district favors special-use review because it allows public notice and case-by-case ZBOA conditions. A commissioner raised Okeetee Elementary as an example of existing queuing problems; staff said the TIA threshold used in practice is roughly 50 peak-hour trips and smaller additions may not trigger a TIA.
A motion to amend the code to permit schools in T2 rural as a special use, carrying the conditions described, was moved, seconded and passed with five votes in favor and two opposed. After the vote commissioners discussed whether the county or the school district should proactively review the three already nonconforming school sites; staff said that review would be a conversation for the school district and that expansion-triggered reviews are the typical mechanism for bringing sites into compliance.
The commission’s action sends the recommended text amendment onward consistent with the Planning Commission’s authority and creates a public permitting step for future school-site proposals.
