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Commission approves College Park/Berkeley Farms annexation and planned development with expanded affordability conditions
Summary
The Planning Commission approved annexation of about 36.25 acres and a planned development that allows mixed residential and commercial uses and added an amendment raising the affordable set‑aside from 10% to 20 plus rental and sale-price conditions tied to AMI.
The City of Goose Creek Planning Commission approved, by voice vote, an annexation and planned development (PD) for multiple parcels along College Park Road and Berkeley Farms Road after amending the PD to add stronger affordability conditions. The approximately 36.25‑acre PD envisions a mixed-use district with commercial frontage, residential neighborhoods and a potential multifamily component subject to a contiguous 8‑acre threshold.
Andrew Todd Burke, a landscape architect with Kimley Horn presenting for the applicant, described a plan that reserves commercial frontage along College Park Road, limits multifamily to areas near commercial access, provides open space and buffers, and relies on stormwater facilities on site. Burke said the proposal includes an affordable-housing component initially framed as 10% of units, with rental units set to serve households at 80% AMI and owner units targeted at up to 120% AMI. He also said the PD limits multifamily to areas at or above an 8‑acre contiguous threshold and that the concept would require coordination on utilities (Berkeley County and Charleston Water and Sewer were identified as current service providers).
A commissioner proposed three conditions to strengthen affordability language: cap maximum sale price tied to 120% AMI (described in discussion as a multiplier), set rental caps at 30% of 80% AMI, and increase the affordable set-aside from 10% to 20%. As proposed in public discussion: "Do we want to contemplate the 3, conditions where we allow maximum sale price shall not exceed 3 times 120% AMI, rent shall not exceed 30% of the 80% AMI, an increase from 10% to 20%," the commissioner said. The amendment passed, and the commission then approved the annexation and PD (as amended) by unanimous voice vote.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about how AMI would be applied (the meeting referenced a Goose Creek metro AMI of $86,100 in the discussion), whether sale-price limits would be enforced through PD language or a separate ordinance, and what the practical parking, stormwater and utility arrangements would be. The applicant and staff said sale-price limits were not explicitly set in the PD language as drafted but that purchaser eligibility language and rental-price formulas were included; the amendment tightens those commitments. The item will go to City Council for final action.
