Mount Pleasant will now ration building permits for new homes.
Town Council voted 9-0 Tuesday night to adopt a building permit allocation system, giving final reading to Ordinance 18097, according to the council’s minutes. The vote came after hours of amendments, and after the town’s Planning Commission voted 7-0 on Dec. 19 to recommend denial.
The system sets a fixed number of permits rather than a percentage growth rate, Planning Director Jeff Ulma told council when it gave the ordinance first reading on Nov. 13. It allows 600 additional residential units a year: 500 in single-family categories, which include detached houses, attached homes and accessory dwelling units, and 100 apartments or other multifamily units, or 500 over the program’s five years.
Carolina Park and Liberty Hill Farms, two developments covered by existing development agreements, are not counted. Ulma estimated they would add about 220 permits a year on their own. With about 40,000 dwelling units expected in town by the end of 2018, he said, the program works out to growth of about 2.1% a year, compared with an average of 3.54% in permit issuance over the past five years.
How it works
Permits are released twice a year, half on Jan. 1 and half on July 1, and are issued first come, first served, Ulma said. Unused permits roll over to the next period, and applications beyond the limit wait in a queue. Construction must begin within six months, or the permit goes back into the pool. Replacing an existing home one for one does not count against the cap.
Council amended the ordinance Tuesday to cap the permits any single development can get in an allocation period, so no one developer can claim the whole allotment, Councilman Joe Bustos said. Council first set the cap at 40, then lowered it to 25 on staff’s recommendation. The amendments also widened an exemption for affordable housing. The draft exempted low-income projects for households earning 80% or less of the area median income; the amendment covers incomes up to 120%.
At Councilwoman Kathy Landing’s suggestion, council combined the permits for single-family detached and attached homes into one pool, so the market can decide how many townhouses get built. Council also voted to have staff evaluate the program twice a year.
Objections
Roy Neal, the Planning Commission’s vice chairman, asked council to take accessory dwelling units out of the program and to start it in July, when the town’s budget year begins, the minutes show.
Will Jenkinson, broker in charge of Carolina One New Homes, said his firm represents eight developments in Mount Pleasant by smaller, local developers and builders that the town had already allowed to move forward. He said the draft’s limit of 60 townhouse permits a year would drive up the cost of living, since townhouses offer a more affordable option.
Councilman Jim Owens moved to delay the program until July 1. That failed 7-2, with only Owens and Landing in favor. Owens said he worried that fewer permits would mean less impact fee revenue for the infrastructure the town needs.
Why now
Owens said residents asked council to slow growth after the 2015 election, and that council has worked to do so since the beginning of 2016. The town first used a permit allocation system in the early 2000s, when growth hit 13%, he said. Ulma said staff built the new ordinance from the version the town used in 2007.
The permit cap follows a two-year moratorium on new apartment complexes that council adopted in March 2017.
Councilman Kevin Cunnane said passing the ordinance is only the start. The real work, he said, is getting town services to catch up, from staffing in the Fire and Police departments to roads.
Council also voted 8-1, with Councilwoman Guang Ming Whitley opposed, to have staff look into ways to encourage permits for homes designed for town police officers, firefighters, public service employees and teachers.
