Commission defers amended addition and larger retail phase for Highway 25 site plan

Ronick Patel returned to the Hartsville-Charlesdale Planning Commission seeking to amend a previously approved 1,129-square-foot addition to a larger 1,373-square-foot addition at a market on Highway 25 and to discuss a future second-phase retail building of roughly 10,079 square feet.

Patel said the immediate request was for a modest enlargement of the earlier-approved addition and that the larger retail building would be a later-phase project. Staff planner Amanda Harrington read a set of corrective items generated by the site-plan review: missing five-foot topographic contours; removal of the word “proposed” from an already approved building; verification that 34 parking spaces exist; 10% of parking devoted to landscaping (Article 5, Section 5.044); identification of off-street loading/unloading (Article 4, Section 4.020); adjustment of front and side setbacks to 30 feet; and total lot coverage calculations (maximum 40%). Amanda recommended deferring the site plan until those deficiencies were addressed.

Rosalie and other commissioners discussed vesting and the three-year substantial-compliance timeline; staff advised submitting one comprehensive site plan that shows both phases with phasing identified. Commissioners voted to defer the amendment and later the second-phase plan until the applicant provides a consolidated submittal that addresses staff’s checklist items.

Why it matters: The commission’s checklist items focus on technical compliance (contours, parking, landscaping, setbacks, stormwater and lot coverage) that affect public safety, stormwater management and zoning conformance. A consolidated, phase-aware submission would establish vesting and reduce repeated reviews.

The commission deferred both actions pending corrections and a consolidated site-plan submittal; staff will re-review when a corrected package is submitted.