In June of 2025, City Council voted unanimously to implement impact fees on new development, paid by developers and builders, which then took effect July 1, 2025. I wrote about impact fees during that time here.

The adoption of impact fees is directly attributed to our residents who made impact fees a priority in our updated InnVision Comprehensive Plan and asked for us to implement them at nearly every turn.

So, a year in, what kind of impact are impact fees having in Fountain Inn? Let’s take a look.

Quick Reminders

Fountain Inn actually collects three (3) impact fees - Fire, Police, and Parks and Recreation. State law is fairly robust when it comes to impact fees, and is fairly inflexible, but here are some basic guardrails:

• Each fee is collected at the time a building permit is issued.

• Fees apply to any new construction. They cannot be waived.

• Fees apply regardless of the applicant and are based on the underlying land use (residential, commercial/retail, industrial, office, or institutional).

• Fees collected must be attached to a capital improvement plan and funds are restricted to that plan, and must be used for their designated purpose.

  • You can’t use Fire impact fees to pay for a park, or to pay for roads.

I would encourage folks to read my previous post on this issue for a deep dive.

Here’s a breakdown of each fee as presented back in May of 2025:

$1.2 Million in 12 Months

All told, impact fees collected July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026 totaled $1,284,833 (unaudited figures). Here’s the breakdown by fee:

• Parks & Recreation: $695,826

• Police*: $172,628

• Fire*: $416,379

• Total: $1,284,833

What’s also really important to note - during roughly this same time period, the City was undergoing the adoption of our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), rewriting our entire zoning ordinance. While that process was underway, City Council approved no new major residential developments. These fees were collected only on developments already approved in years past.

*While the impact fee ordinance went into effect on July 1, 2025, Fountain Inn delayed the collection of Fire and Police impact fees by six months, so those two fees technically kicked in on January 1, 2026 while Parks & Recreation has been in place since July 1, 2025.

What Impact Fees Are Funding

In the City’s budget which took effect July 1 of this year, one major improvement was included that is fully, and solely, funded by impact fees - improvements to PD Terry Park.

Estimated at a little over $700,000, Phase 1 of improvements to PD Terry Park were approved by City Council with funding coming directly from Parks & Recreation impact fees.

Back in 2024, right around the time we adopted our city’s InnVision Comprehensive Plan, we also adopted our first-ever Parks Master Plan which included estimates and designs on various upgrades to all of our parks.

PD Terry Park is of course part of that plan. One of the most requested, and one of the most actionable, upgrades right now is the complete renovation of the park’s tennis courts, “Phase 1”. The court has been resurfaced so many times that another resurfacing is not possible - and so it has to be completely replaced, from the dirt to the paint. We’re also taking the opportunity to create one of the top recreation requests we receive from citizens - the addition of pickleball courts. Phase 1 will include all of that, plus new fencing and lighting for the court.

Future phases for PD Terry Park are still in the works - including field improvements, playground improvements and more. But most of those items are dependent upon other recreation decisions that will be in front of us in the future - namely more recreation fields, parks, and playgrounds. Until we firm up how, and where, our recreation assets can expand, we’re focusing our immediate efforts for PD Terry Park on the tennis courts.

The Police and Fire impact fees have not yet accrued enough revenue to put into action, but future needs such as facilities and equipment are all likely to include impact fees as part of the funding mix.

When paired with our new zoning ordinances, impact fees are a great complementary tool we have deployed to control the growth we are experiencing. By having these impact fees in place, we can ensure that the additional burden that a new home has on our recreation, fire, and police services is minimized for existing residents.

Today I want to give everyone a quick level set on many of the projects that you see around town, some that have been completed, and some in the works.

On a personal note - I haven’t been able to make a newsletter in quite some time due to an extremely busy time in our family and in my work. That is clearing and I’m excited to get back to highlighting what’s in front of our community.

New Businesses Open on Main Street

1. M.Judson Booksellers.

   M.Judson - the very popular, locally-owned, indie bookstore located on Main Street Greenville - opened its second location on our own Fountain Inn Main Street earlier in June, occupying an existing building. It’s a wonderful store offering readers of all ages an opportunity to pick up a new book, a great gift, and more.

2. Benny’s Sip & Scoop

   After purchasing Steam Coffee & Cream, the new owners refreshed the local coffee shop’s interior, retooled their menu, and relaunched as Benny’s Sip & Scoop, offering not only locally roasted coffee, but also delicious ice cream.

3. Limitless Bricks

   Opening this weekend and located next door to Benny’s Sip & Scoop on Main Street, Limitless Bricks brings LEGOs to Fountain Inn. Pick up a set of new, or beloved, LEGO kits here - a new and exciting addition to our downtown!

Springhill Suites Starts Construction

Springhill Suites has gone vertical in downtown Fountain Inn, across the street from The Mill at Fountain Inn and directly behind our Farmers Market.

The Marriott brand hotel will feature 109 rooms, a pool, and a few meeting spaces — it will not include a restaurant and/or bar. It is slated to open mid-2027.

Parking Improvements: The hotel site includes over 110 parking spaces, meaning hotel guests will park on-site and not in existing public parking spaces/lots.

More Public Parking

Speaking of parking…

The former site of the City’s Public Works and Natural Gas Departments at the corner of Jones and Wall Streets, directly across from the hotel, is also transforming into a new public parking lot by the end of summer with 61 new parking spots.

With the addition of this lot, the City will have added over 125 new parking spots in downtown over the last three years on public property. This does not include the private parking lot for The Mill (75 spots in a gravel lot a few steps away), nor the hotel (110+ spots on-site).

Main Street Paving

South Main Street

Our South Main Street renovation project ended a few months ago, updating about half of our historic Main Street to match the northern end which had already been updated over a decade ago.

The project itself, while funded in part by the City, was technically a contract between a paving contractor and the Greenville County Transportation Committee and overseen by SCDOT - the City was not part of the contract due to road ownership (DOT owns the road).

The final paving, which occurred last fall, did not pass inspection by SCDOT - seams are too exposed and will result in early deterioration. DOT is requiring that South Main be milled and paved to a higher standard. A different contractor has been selected to conduct the new paving.

While it is good to see that quality is a priority for this project, this will require an interruption in the use of Main Street, at least a portion at a time. Luckily, this part of the process is relatively quick.

Paving is expected to take place August 18-20, pending weather (milling August 18-19, paving August 19-20).

**UPDATE**: After initial publishing, we received an update that due to delays on the job before ours, paving on S. Main has been rescheduled to August 24-26.

**Repaving will be done at no cost to the City.**

North Main Street

After a decade of use, and new cuts for sewer and water access creating more bumps in the road, the northern end of Main Street is also set for repaving.

Luckily, our $10 million sewer rehab project, which is also now 99% complete, came in under budget and we are able to use the balance of those funds to repave North Main Street (Fairview to Jones), without any additional cost to the City.

A timeline has not yet been established.

Main Street businesses were alerted to both of these paving projects earlier this Summer and have been informed as schedules have been confirmed to us by contractors.

Chick-fil-A Breaks Ground

This month we were also able to celebrate Chick-fil-A breaking ground right here in Fountain Inn!

Led by Matt Webber, who also runs the two Simpsonville Chick-fil-A locations, the new location is on Highway 418 across from Exxon and diagonal from QT.

My very first job was actually working at Chick-fil-A, so it is a joy to see it land right here in our community!

CFA aims to open in November/December of this year.

Traffic Impacts: Chick-fil-A has been required by DOT to install two turn lanes adjacent to their property.

“Fountain Inn Medical Park” Breaks Ground

Prisma Health purchased roughly 50 acres a couple of years ago from a local family on Highway 418 and in July broke ground on the “Fountain Inn Medical Park”.

This project includes two medical office buildings that will house an ambulatory surgery center, over a dozen specialists, a pharmacy, and much more. The total project announced and underway is expected to result in a $180 million investment and encompass around 180,000 square feet.

The facilities are expected to open in the winter of 2027.

Traffic Impacts: Prisma is in active conversations with SC DOT to finalize their share of required improvements along 418 as part of this project. DOT owns 418 and dictates the improvements necessary, though the City has provided input and is working with all stakeholders.

Swamp Rabbit Trail Under Construction

The Simpsonville-Fountain Inn Swamp Rabbit Trail connection is now well underway!

Made possible through partnerships with local nonprofits, neighborhoods, and private property owners, the new trail section will connect Heritage Park to Fountain Inn High School, leading into the existing Fountain Inn trail and connecting to downtown Fountain Inn.

Work should be completed in the next few months!

Fire Station #3 Construction to Start Soon

With funding approved by both the City and the County, Fire Station #3, located at Jones Mill Road and Scuffletown Road, should see dirt move this fiscal year.

Construction will take likely 12-18 months from its start.

The new station will not only service our northern city limits, but also the growing area outside our city limits in our Greenville County fire service area (the area outside the city limits we cover on behalf of the County).

PD Terry Park Court Upgrades

In 2024 we adopted our first-ever Parks Master Plan to help us gather input from our community and then identify and prioritize improvements and expansions needed for our parks facilities.

I’m proud to say that in our FY27 Budget, which took effect on July 1, we have fully funded the first phase of improvements to PD Terry Park.

Specifically, the improvements will include an all new tennis court, with the addition of pickle ball court lines, new fencing, and new lighting.

The project is still in design and bidding phase, so a completion date has not been established yet.

The total cost of the project, around $700,000, will be fully funded through Recreation Impact Fees on new developments which were adopted by City Council just last summer.

There are a few ways to keep tabs on projects like these, and others.

1. Visit the Special Projects section of the City’s website, which is updated regularly.

2. Read the monthly City Council meeting packet, in particular our Department Reports. Every month, citizens can view the exact materials in front of City Council, and that includes internal reports on departments and citywide projects.

3. Attend or tune in to City Council meetings. Regular meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00PM in our courthouse located at 300 Wall Street. The City also livestreams regularly called meetings on their YouTube channel, available for streaming in real time and immediately after adjournment. You’ll hear updates, questions, and discussion on many of these projects.

4. Reach out! I am always more than happy to answer an email, call, or sit down over coffee and answer any questions.

Read our newly adopted UDO* »

*I also offered this amendment, which was adopted, but may not yet be reflected on our city website as of writing, though it will be once staff updates the text of the ordinance.

Our new code better balances the role of government, property rights, community character, and the free market. Zoning is the most responsible tool government has to balance all of those factors, and our new zoning makes these rules stronger so that we can make clearer, objective, decisions around growth and not subjective decisions that lean on weak laws.

Key Impacts

Our new zoning code will help us in a few key ways:

1. Stronger Control on Growth: Overall, the code provides stronger, stricter, and more comprehensive regulations to manage and control growth. Larger lot requirements, better street standards, traffic impact studies, stronger tree protections, and more appropriate zoning districts — it’s all in the updated code.

2. Clarity for Everyone: Our old code was clunky, at times contradictory of itself, and confusing to follow for anyone. Our new code, while still covering the complex nature of land use, is much easier to follow and helps all who read it understand the intent of our community and how to meet the character we intend to protect.

3. Modernizes Land Use Policies: The new code also brings our land use policies into the new century. It is more responsive to how development has occurred over the last few years and includes stronger oversight and more clear restrictions. It also enhances policies around things like home occupations, trail networks, short-term rentals, and more - land use policies that were not deeply contemplated when our zoning was first adopted in the 80s and 90s.

4. Match Community Input: The UDO is tied directly to the input we received in our Comprehensive Plan and throughout the review and approval process of the UDO itself.

How We Got Here

The process for this began two years ago with the adoption of our city’s Comprehensive Plan. Developed with robust public input, the Plan included set of top ten recommendations from our community, with rewriting our zoning laws being one of them.

We heard from the public and acted. While our team was assessing our previous codes, we also held public input sessions, gathered notes from our Planning Commission and City Council members, and more.

We didn’t rush things though. The internal review and development phase took over eight months. Our draft ordinance was first published for public review in October of 2025, five months ago. We collected online public comments for about six weeks, maintained a dedicated webpage to keep the public informed, and we held workshops for City Council, Planning Commission, and our Board of Zoning Appeals before the formal approval process began.

In October I also dedicated most posts for On the Agenda to breaking down the proposed changes (this is the 7th and final post in that series). Many of you have told me that these overviews helped you digest the large, and at times dense, technical document. Thank you for that positive feedback!

Folks should know that we incorporated nearly every public comment received, BZA and Planning Commission suggestion made, and City Council amendments offered into what was ultimately adopted. Our code is different, and better, than where it started because of the input provided by everyone throughout this process.

What’s Next

Our new code is now in effect. Anything that comes before our Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, and City Council must match our new code.

For things that are not in compliance, but already complete, they are mostly grandfathered in - however if major changes occur, then they may need to be brought up to new standards (e.g. a business expands, then their parking may need to be adjusted if it isn’t in compliance with the new code already).

For some other types of uses (like short-term rentals), there will be a period of time for them to come into compliance before fines or other enforcement measures are implemented.

I want to thank our team for their hard work - from our Comprehensive Plan to our rewrite, they have shepherded this process, ensured public input was sought and included along the way, and have worked with us on Council to dive deep into our land use policies. Thanks also goes to my fellow City Council members - everyone has focused in on this rewrite and my colleagues have asked great questions, provided meaningful changes, and great insights.

I also want to thank the public - your input made our zoning laws better.

But we’re not just going to call this new code perfect and leave it alone. While we do have to give the code some time and see it in action, we also will keep monitoring and tweaking it as we come across unique situations or unexpected conflicts. Zoning codes can always be amended.

PD’s impact will be felt forever in Fountain Inn. Whether it’s through his direct interaction with thousands of our Recreation program participants and their families, his work with all of our area schools (especially Hillcrest High School and Fountain Inn High School), his active Rotary engagements, and as an avid cheerleader for our community - PD’s mark is forever left on us in Fountain Inn and beyond.

PD has the ultimate home field advantage now, and we’re grateful for the time the Lord, and his family, let us borrow him in Fountain Inn.

I have proposed a Resolution honoring PD to be considered by City Council at our January 8th meeting, which also includes declaring January 9th as “PD Terry Day” in Fountain Inn.

If you’ve been following along, you’re well aware that Fountain Inn is in the process of rewriting its entire zoning ordinance. You can read my previous posts here - which I recommend doing as they dig in on each part of the proposed ordinance.

Today I’m providing an update for folks as our Planning Commission’s December meeting included the draft zoning ordinance for consideration and because Council begins their deliberations at their January 8th meeting.

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Planning Commission Recommends Approval

At their December 18th meeting, our Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of our updated zoning ordinance, moving it forward to City Council.

Our Planning Commission, comprised of citizen volunteers appointed by Council, is required under state law to be the first public body that reviews any changes to our zoning ordinances. Their role is to review those changes and make a recommendation to City Council. From there City Council has the ability to make amendments on text and then ultimately vote yes/no on all changes. It’s an important part of the process that allows non-elected members of the community to provide their input, weigh proposals against the city’s adopted Comprehensive Plan, and gather additional public comment.

The Planning Commission’s meeting, which you can watch at this link, included a presentation from the City’s consultant partners on the zoning rewrite project, a few public comments, and some great discussion by Commission members. The Commission also received a staff report containing summaries of the public comments received during the online comment period and/or sent via email into the City.

There was a lot of good discussion about the proposed ordinance and the concerns raised by Commissioners and the public (in-person and electronically submitted) were then taken by staff to try and incorporate as best as possible into the version City Council will consider.

City Council First Reading on January 8th

In the January 8th proposed ordinance in front of City Council, here are some of the larger changes that have been made since the Planning Commission meeting in response feedback from the Planning Commission, public comments submitted, and others:

• Increased the minimum lot size requirements in Residential-Conservation zoning districts. [Article 4.3.2]

• Increased Planning Commission oversight for staff-level “final decisions” on key steps of development process. [Article 3.2.5 - Table 3.2]

• Changed Home Occupation regulations from a selected list of “permitted businesses” to a list of “prohibited businesses” to allow for greater flexibility on home-based occupations in the modern era. [Article 6.11.7(A)]

• Updated regulations related to Temporary Signage and Election Signs [Article 9.1.4(A) and Article 9.1.4(C)]

  • Changed dimension requirements to reflect standard yard sign sizes and increased number permitted without a permit (any time of year), with expanded sizes and no restriction on number allowed during an election period.

• Made a number of changes to the proposed tree protection portion of the proposed ordinance that help protect more tree cover. [Article 5, multiple sections]

At the January 8th Council meeting you can expect to see an overview of the proposed ordinance, the changes that have occurred since the first draft was published this fall, and discussion on potential additional changes.

To help make things easier - at the link below is the full agenda item materials for the zoning ordinance. It includes a staff report, the zoning map, a summary of changes made to the document thus far, a full updated version of the zoning ordinance itself, and a summary of the public comments provided to our team.

2026 Jan 8 Zoning Rewrite Proposed Agenda Item

23.3MB ∙ PDF file

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Download

What’s Next

City Council meets at 6:00PM on January 8th. The agenda and full meeting packet are available online, including the full proposed draft zoning ordinance (as linked above). Any additional changes will come via amendments made by City Council.

The proposed zoning ordinance will be up for first reading at this meeting. Should it pass, second and final reading will take place at our February meeting.

You can watch the meeting live (or later) on the City’s YouTube channel here.

On December 24, 1886 the stagecoach stop affectionately named “Fountain Inn” was chartered as a City in the state of South Carolina.

For the last 139 years, our community has kept Christmas close to its heart. In times of prosperity, need, triumph, and grief - Fountain Inn celebrates Christmas unlike any other community because it’s a part of who we are.

Christmas in Fountain Inn isn’t just about the experience families, neighbors, and friends share on those hallmark carriage rides. It’s the joy that comes with sharing a meal or a gift with your loved ones. It’s the peaceful walk around the block reflecting on the many gifts we’ve already been given by our Savior.

I like to think what continues to make our community special was a seed planted by the Lord 139 years ago, when neighbors got together on Christmas Eve to formally create this community, forever encapsulating the Christmas spirit in Fountain Inn.

My message this year is the same as always - may each of us continue to be like the shepherds in the greatest story ever told; may we never stop searching for the good in this world and the good in each other.

From our family to yours, we hope you all have a Merry Christmas, right here in Fountain Inn.

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Zoning Update

Our Planning Commission met December 18 and unanimously recommended for approval our zoning rewrite. You can watch the recording of the meeting here. The zoning rewrite will come before City Council for first reading at our January 8 meeting.

If you haven’t read my previous posts, I would ask that you take the time to do so before reading further. My previous posts provide you with an overview of this project overall, plus a review of each draft article of the zoning ordinance. Having that knowledge in your mind will help make today’s post a bit clearer.

• Part 1: Overview

• Part 2: Articles 1-3

• Part 3: Articles 4-6

• Part 4: Articles 7-10

Today I’m going to cover our new Zoning Map, a vital tool in this process that illustrates where each new zoning district is applied.

This is likely one of my last posts on our new zoning code for a bit (and the shortest!) for two reasons. First, this concludes a review of all of the text of the proposed changes; there are no other sections, articles, or attachments to go over.

Second, the draft now will be considered by our Planning Commission starting with their regular monthly meeting on December 16th 18th (my original post and email incorrectly said the 16th), and then by City Council. Future posts on this topic are likely to be responsive to those discussions.

Be sure to visit our city’s dedicated webpage on this topic as it has been updated with the most recent drafts after a review of comments submitted since its first iteration this fall.

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Updated Zoning Map

In one of my recent posts, we reviewed the updated zoning districts. As a quick refresher, here’s a list of the new zoning districts being proposed:

As part of the zoning ordinance, there is required to be an official “Zoning Map” of the City, maintained by the Planning Department. This Map is meant to be the official record of zoning and city boundaries - it’s a very important map.

For purposes of our zoning rewrite, the map illustrates where these new zoning districts will be implemented, geographically.

Our team has put together a wonderful online “swipe map” tool that allows you to drag / “swipe” across the map between our existing zoning districts and the proposed new districts.

Pro-tip: you can also download various file formats of what you zoom in on in the swipe map if you click the “share” icon on the screen.

A PDF of the map is also available at the link below, and posted on the city’s dedicated zoning update webpage.

Fi Zoning Map Dec 10

3.61MB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Once the map and ordinance is adopted, all properties will see their zoning district updated to reflect one of our new zoning districts. These updates will be lateral for the most part - meaning properties will be moved into the new zoning district that best aligns with their current district with no underlying “use” changing. So, if you’re an in an R-12 district in our current code, you’ll update to a GR-1 in our new code (Article 4).

All properties seeking a re-zoning or annexation after adoption of our new code must comply with the updated regulations.

There are additional answers in our recently-added “FAQs” document on the city’s website.

I hope these posts have been helpful to folks and have made this complex process a bit easier to understand and follow. This is an important conversation for our community and I’m grateful for the feedback received thus far.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and holiday season!

Status Update (as of the this blog’s publish date):

Fountain Inn’s Planning Commission will discuss the zoning update and hold a public hearing at their regular monthly meeting on December 16th 18th (my original post and email incorrectly said the 16th) at 6:00PM at 300 Wall Street in Fountain Inn.

• The full Agenda and Meeting Packet can be found here.

• You can livestream the meeting on the City’s YouTube page.

Once Planning Commission makes a recommendation, it will move to City Council for first reading.

The draft zoning ordinance is still a draft, subject to amendment.

Disclaimers:

My summaries are not exhaustive of every section and sub-section of every article, but rather a “highlight reel” so that you are informed on overall themes, major changes, and/or specific changes I think are particularly good to lift up.

My comments are also not necessarily reflective of every member of City Council, the Planning Commission, or our staff - they are my thoughts alone. This blog is not an official publication of the City of Fountain Inn.

Fountain Inn shines at Christmas, and our annual “Christmas Inn Our Town” festival kicks off this week with our Tree Lighting on Tuesday, our Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas Parade on Wednesday, and carriage rides start Thursday.

I hope you’re able to join us! Click here for information.

As Fountain Inn continues to consider our proposed zoning rewrite, I am using my newsletter to dive deeper into the specific articles of the draft, giving you an overview of some of the major changes being proposed, flagging some areas that I think will warrant further discussion and amendments, and some context on why some of these elements are important.

Today I’ll cover Articles 7-10, the last four articles of the proposed draft:

7. Parking, Access and Streets

8. Utilities and Stormwater

9. Signs

10. Definitions

These are the regulations that dictate what new neighborhood streets must look like, how much parking is required for developments, how stormwater is handled, and various regulations regarding signage. Like in my previous posts, I will do my best to cover some of the major highlights but I won’t be able to dig in on every single detail.

I encourage everyone to take the time to read our full proposed draft, submit public comments online, and review other relevant materials on the City’s dedicated website here.

This is the fourth post in a TBD-part series covering Fountain Inn’s zoning rewrite. The first three posts can be found here (overview), here (first 3 articles), and here (additional 3 articles). As always, the full draft zoning ordinance and relevant materials can be found on the City’s website here.

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Article 7 - Parking, Access and Streets

Let’s tackle this article in two parts - parking and streets (access is woven throughout).

Parking

The draft zoning code provides for parking standards for each zoning district in the City, and also separates those out further by specific types of uses.

Again here (as I did in my last post), I’ll highlight the document itself. While our current code contains some charts and guides, our new zoning code makes things even clearer. Below is a sample of the parking minimums and maximums for various uses - the full chart can be found on pages 212-215 (Table 7-1 and 7-2) of the draft document.

The draft also goes into specific dimensions of parking spots, layouts, and also ways to reduce parking minimums (e.g. if a large employer creates “carpool” parking for employees). The document includes things like the following graphic, helping both builders and the public know what is expected in parking lots.

Streets

This part of the code update (Section 7.4, starting on page 225 of the draft document) can get particularly dense. This section not only prescribes various street layout standards, but also gets into the angle of curves in roads, access points at intersections, and even material requirements for paving and inspection points.

If you’re not a traffic engineer, this section can get a bit overwhelming, however - as I have continued to highlight - the document itself contains pictures and charts to help explain what is written in the text of the code. For example, it includes a helpful graphic on how streets should intersect like the one below.

There two parts of this section I want to call out because I think they will have tremendous impact on future developments in Fountain Inn.

• Residential Street Tree Requirements
  The draft document includes a brand new standard for residential roads (neighborhood streets). Drive around our subdivisions in Fountain Inn and you can almost tell when they were approved by how the streets look. Older neighborhoods have no sidewalks and many have older tall street lamps. Newer neighborhoods have sidewalks and decorative street lights.
  
  Our new code will require additional street improvements inside neighborhoods. Most notably - street trees. No longer will there be a road, curb, one-foot of grass, then a sidewalk. Instead, our code calls for enough of a green buffer between sidewalks and the street to include street trees. Going forward, they will be required for nearly all residential neighborhoods (very few exceptions). These street trees first and foremost make it safer for pedestrians, but they also naturally slow people down.
  
  Additionally, our code now allows bump outs for on-street parking in some zoning districts which help pull cars out of the middle of the road in neighborhoods and into dedicated parking spots.
  
  One note here - City Council expressed an interest in making sure driveways were at least a bit longer for residential lots with front-loaded garages to help reduce on-street parking where it’s not supposed to happen.

  

  
  

• Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA)
  The first question we get around a new development is traffic. Previously our code required a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) during the approval / permitting process however it had one fatal flaw in my opinion - the engineering firm selected to do the TIA was of the developer’s choice.
  
  TIAs determine what, if any, traffic improvements are necessary in order to minimize the impact of a new development on existing street infrastructure.
  
  Our new code requires that any TIA be conducted by a traffic engineer engaged by the City (paid for by the builder). This helps ensure the City’s interests are front and center and not a developer’s. What a TIA should include is outlined in the draft document (Section 7.5, page 255).
  
  That said, any TIA will still have to be in line with industry standards and best practices, and keep in mind that state law prohibits us (the City) from requiring a lot of improvements “downstream” of a development - improvements are nearly always restricted to anything that touches the property in question.
  
  But going forward (if adopted), TIAs will finally center the community’s needs first and not only the interests of a builder.

Article 8 - Utilities and Stormwater

This article covers some of the requirements related to water and sewer in particular. Electricity, natural gas, and other utilities are governed mostly by state law and various public regulatory bodies so this article is not as robust as you may imagine.

For sewer and water, this article requires that development in the City must have pre-approval from whatever utility provider they are engaging that capacity exists and they can be served.

One thing to note here is stormwater. The entirety of the stormwater section reads as follows:

Section 8.6 Stormwater Design Manual

All storm drainage design for subdivisions shall comply with DES and the most recent version of the Greenville County Stormwater Design Manual.

For a topic as important as stormwater, you may be expecting more - that’s understandable.

However, two things are at play here.

1. The adoption of Greenville County’s stormwater manual is good for Fountain Inn overall. First, this provides uniformity with surrounding areas so that water impacts are easier to align and mitigate, inside or outside the City limits. Second, this is applicable to properties in the City of Fountain Inn on the Laurens County side. By adopting Greenville’s manual inside our city limits, we have uniformity in our city limits across the county line.
   
   But even more importantly - Greenville County’s Stormwater Design Manual has more restrictions and requirements than the state minimum - created and managed by the SC Department of Environmental Services (SC DES - formerly DHEC). Laurens County, for instance, does not have their own stormwater design requirements, they adopt DES requirements. By adopting Greenville County’s, we actually increase the standard in Fountain Inn.
   
   Note that we have been doing this all along - this is also in our current code, which leads me to my next point.
   

2. Greenville County has authority in regulating stormwater. We are included in what’s called Greenville’s “MS-4” - a specific permit issued by the state that allows the County to regulate stormwater.
   
   There are pros and cons to this of course - the City doesn’t have to create/staff a department on stormwater, leaving it to the County which has the resources and personnel to do so - but that means leaving a lot of these regulations to the County to create and enforce. The County does this for every other city in the County as well, which does help further that uniformity I mentioned.

Article 9 - Signs

Our next-to-last article in the draft covers signs - all of them.

Signage is regulated in the city based the type of sign, and then by zoning district. The best way to illustrate how signage is regulated in the city is to showcase the document itself.

First, here is an overview of the “types” of signs defined/permitted in our code, and where they are permitted by zoning district.

But the document of course goes deeper for each sign type. Below is a sample of the signage regulation for an awning sign:

Similar overviews are provided for all sign types from pages 298-311 of the draft document.

That’s not to say this section is perfect. There are a few areas our team and residents have already brought to my attention that need to be tweaked a bit more - for instance, making sure seasonal decorations aren’t accidentally in violation, or how to make sure murals are encouraged.

I also mentioned signs are a bit complex - and that’s due to one big reason, a Supreme Court case.

Without diving into a legal brief, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in Reed v. Town of Gilbert that cities can only regulate the time, place, and manner of signs - not content. The city in the case had a sign ordinance that, among other regulations, limited the number and size of signs permitted for temporary events - and had different regulations for other signs. A church, who used different locations throughout the town for services, sued the city on the argument that the government should not be able to regulate signs based on their content. The Court ruled that in order to regulate “temporary event signs”, the town was required interpret the message on the sign to determine if it was an “event” sign - and therefore qualified as regulating speech, and violated the First Amendment.

Our draft ordinance reflects the Court’s ruling while still ensuring community character remains intact - focusing on time, place, and manner of signs (location, size, overall design, etc) and not their content.

Article 10 - Definitions

This is fairly self-explanatory, but this final article provides definitions of some key terms used throughout the document. This article is very important. The definitions used here help either answer questions that maybe you have had when reading through the zoning ordinance draft, provides clarity for anyone seeking a zoning change or permit, and also is an area Council may be able to tweak more easily than some other technical parts of the code.

Provide Your Input

I encourage everyone to take time to read through our proposed draft, and I especially encourage you to share any comments you may have through our public comment form online — links to all of this can be found here.

Up Next: In my next post, I’ll cover the updated zoning map and some technical process items.

Future posts on this topic may be more update-oriented and responsive to discussions and actions by the Planning Commission and/or City Council. They also may be more sporadic due to the holidays and the pace of the process.

Status Update: As of this blog’s publish date, the proposed draft is being reviewed by our Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, and City Council. There was a City Council Workshop on this topic held October 21 (view the slides here), and a joint Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals review held on November 6.

The draft document is still a draft, subject to amendment. Neither the Planning Commission or City Council have taken action on the draft, nor is it on the agenda for City Council yet. It must first have a vote by the Planning Commission before heading to City Council.

Planning Commission will first have this for discussion and potential action in December.

Disclaimers:

My summaries are not exhaustive of every section and sub-section of every article, but rather a “highlight reel” so that you are informed on overall themes, major changes, and/or specific changes I think are particularly good to lift up.

My comments are also not necessarily reflective of every member of City Council, the Planning Commission, or our staff - they are my thoughts alone.

I also want to stress that the document is currently a draft, wholly open to amendment by the Planning Commission and City Council.

Today I’ll cover Articles 4-6:

4. Zoning Districts & Regulations

5. General Development Standards

6. Conditional Use & Special Exception Standards

These articles are in many ways the “meat” of our zoning code. These name and define zoning districts, provide some uniform standards, and provide some really fine detail in many areas.

These articles are important, but there is a lot to each of them. I will do my best in this post to keep things brief, but informative. I won’t be able to cover every section of these articles and so I advise folks to follow along with the draft document here.

I encourage everyone to take the time to read our full proposed draft, submit public comments online, and review other relevant materials on the City’s dedicated website here.

This is the third post in a TBD-part series covering Fountain Inn’s zoning rewrite. The first two posts can be found here (overview), and here (first 3 articles). As always, the full draft zoning ordinance and relevant materials can be found on the City’s website here.

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Article 4 - Zoning Districts & Regulations

Article 4 is the most consequential article in the update for a simple reason - it defines every zoning district.

As stated in my first overview - every property in the city limits is required to have a zoning district attached to it under state law, even vacant parcels. This means that every property inside the city limits is going to fall into one of the districts listed in our draft document. (All properties are already assigned one of 15 existing zoning districts.)

What zoning a property has dictates what’s allowed to be built there, and the characteristics of that development. This applies regardless of scale.

Our proposed ordinance consists of 14 zoning districts and 2 overlay districts.

A few things to highlight here:

• Creates a new Residential Conservation zoning. This zoning, while somewhat similar to our existing R-15 zoning, has some important changes that make this more reflective of what we’d all like to see in the outer parts of our city limits more often - larger lots, less dense housing, and more. Paired with the requirements on new streets, sidewalks, and tree protections (later in our document), this is markedly better than our current zoning.

• Creates an Open Space zoning. This is a zoning district specifically for “…parks, open space and public and private recreational areas. Uses include active and passive recreation facilities, golf courses, preserved lands, gardens, agriculture and cemeteries. Structures may include those supporting recreation, outdoor amphitheaters or museums.”
  
  This helps protect things like our parks which right now are nearly all zoned R-15 - meaning if for some reason they were to no longer be a park, they could have houses on them under different ownership. Note that this is different than our “Residential Open Space option” (more on that later).

• Creates an additional commercial zoning district to protect downtown area. Our current zoning only allows for three types of commercial, with only one of them meant for downtown (C-1). The proposed changes introduce a new downtown-oriented zoning, Downtown Mixed Use (D-MU). This helps support growth around our core downtown area that compliments our historic Main Street (think Wall Street to Woodside Avenue - those types of areas).

I also wanted to highlight the document itself here. Our previous zoning code was a series of confusing text articles, sometimes conflicting each other depending on the page you were on.

Our new code includes excellent overviews of each zoning district laid out in a visual manner that is easy to read and understand. While you may have to read some of the text before or after the overviews to dive deeper, the public and property owners now have a clear, single source of information to understand each zoning district.

Instead of writing a detailed overview for each zoning district, I thought it best to highlight this element of the document for you to learn about each one.

The following are samples from Section 4.3.2 and Section 4.3.3. They show the type of overview for each zoning district in the document. Folks should scroll through the draft (pages 65-78) to read more information for each district (adding pictures of all 14 doesn’t work the way you’d like it to on Substack’s platform).

Another helpful element in our updated code is our “Table of Permitted Uses” (Table 4.5), also in Article 4. This combines our zoning districts with the types of specific uses allowed in each, and the process/approvals required. It’s a helpful quick guide to a majority of our zoning ordinance.

It labels each use as “Permitted”, “Conditional” (approved if certain requirements met), “Special Exception” (requires action by our Board of Zoning Appeals before approval), or “Prohibited” (blank cell).

Below is the first page of this chart to give you an idea of what’s in the document - the full chart can be found from pages 86-94 in the draft.

If you’re looking to take a small break - this is a good spot. I know this part was a little dense.

Article 5 - General Development Standards

This article covers some critical development standards for all of our zoning districts. In particular, I want to zoom in a few elements:

• Open Space Option: A number of months ago, City Council approved an updated “Open Space” ordinance, including a new “Residential Open Space Option”. In what is the most land-protective open space option in Greenville and Laurens County, the policy adopted is carried over into our new update with only slight tweaks (that favor more open space protections). The purpose of this section is to encourage protection of natural elements of properties in every new development and, if taking the “Residential Option”, incentivize additional preservation.

  • All developments are required to preserve a minimum of 15% in “open space” (not developed) off the top - our previous code had no required open space.

  • If taking the “Residential Open Space Option”, a minimum of 40% of the property must be protected as open space. In exchange for taking this “option”, smaller lots are permitted to ensure 40% of the property can be preserved.

  • Two changes to note here in our rewrite:

    • The definition of “undevelopable land” is altered in an effort to ensure that developers don’t add stormwater ponds or creek beds, for example, to their % of open space calculation — the property preserved must consist of at least 50% “developable” land.

    • Requires that all “open space” must have a deed restriction or be placed into a conservation easement, ensuring its protection into perpetuity.

• Buffers: Our proposed update includes greater clarity and definition to buffer requirements around developments - and expands them in many cases. To make it easier, the update also provides illustrative examples each type of buffer (below).

  

• Tree Protection: Our current ordinance does not protect trees well enough, in fact it’s nearly silent in regards to any meaningful tree protection requirements. Our proposed ordinance protects more trees than ever before and prioritizes the protection of existing tree cover, requires re-planting of trees, and provides for financial penalties if requirements are not met (penalties which go to planting more trees).

Article 6 - Conditional Use & Special Exception Use Standards

This is an important part of our code because it clarifies how some types of uses may be approved, but not automatically. For many types of uses, there is a community interest in making sure certain requirements are met to minimize neighboring properties experiencing negative impacts, or to ensure safety and well being of those on-site. This includes uses such as some unique residential developments (e.g. “cottage courts”) and some business types (e.g. childcare centers).

“Conditional Uses” are those that require some level of staff review before obtaining approval and are compliance-related (e.g. is the fence tall enough as required), and “Special Exception Uses” are those that require approval by our Board of Zoning Appeals (e.g. all schools require approval by the BZA).

A couple of specific changes I wanted to highlight:

• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): As we’ve seen at many homes across our community, adding an “in-law suite” or garage apartment is becoming more common. ADUs have become popular for younger adults who live with their families, aging parents moving close to their children, and also as guest suites for visitors coming in for family events. ADUs previously were challenging for property owners in our existing code - our code wasn’t really written with them in mind and it would often be burdensome on a homeowner.

  • I’m a believer in property rights - and as long as a homeowner can add these types of units to their homes safely and up to all building codes (including parking), then our code should provide appropriate permission for it.

• Home Occupations: The draft provides a better list of more modern home occupations that will be eligible for home occupation. The draft was written/finalized prior to a recent amendment approved by City Council that provided greater clarity for things such as vegetation (flowers, vegetables, etc), animal products (e.g. eggs, honey), and the like to not be classified as “supplies” - that change will be reflected as the draft is updated.

  • I will be proposing another change here. In addition to our redefinition of “supplies” noted above, I will be proposing that we switch to a list of “prohibited occupations” instead of only a list of “permitted occupations”. We can’t predict what type of innovation and/or entrepreneurship will be home-based in the years to come, nor should we restrict it as long as there are no adverse affects on neighboring properties.

• Short-Term Rentals (STRs): Our current code is silent on STRs (AirBnB, VRBO, etc), which has created challenges at times for homeowners, neighbors, and our staff. Centered on property rights first, our draft ordinance permits STRs, however it provides for the following protections:

  • Cannot be rented for special events/parties.

  • Limited to two (2) persons per bedroom + 2 additional individuals.

  • Parking must be provided on-property.

  • Owner must obtain a business license annually (and remit requisite Accommodations Tax).

  • Whole homes can be rented, as can individual rooms - however multiple rooms may not be rented out separately.

  • Note that “Short-Term Rental” is defined in Article 10 as “Any dwelling, or a part thereof, rented for less than 30 days.”

Provide Your Input

I encourage everyone to take time to read through our proposed draft, and I especially encourage you to share any comments you may have through our public comment form online — links to all of this can be found here.

Up Next: In my next post, I’ll cover the last four articles - parking/streets, signs, utilities, and definitions. (Articles 7-10 if you want to read ahead here.)

Status Update: As of this blog’s publish date, the proposed draft is being reviewed by our Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, and City Council. There was a City Council Workshop on this topic held October 21 (view the slides here), and a joint Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals review held on November 6.

The draft document is still a draft, subject to amendment. Neither the Planning Commission or City Council have taken action on the draft, nor is it on the agenda for City Council in November. It must first have a vote by the Planning Commission before heading to City Council. Planning Commission will first have this for discussion and potential action in December.

Disclaimers:

My summaries are not exhaustive of every section and sub-section of every article, but rather a “highlight reel” so that you are informed on overall themes, major changes, and/or specific changes I think are particularly good to lift up.

My comments are also not necessarily reflective of every member of City Council, the Planning Commission, or our staff - they are my thoughts alone.

I also want to stress that the document is currently a draft, wholly open to amendment by the Planning Commission and City Council.

On this Veterans Day, thank you to those who have served our country in the US Armed Forces, and thank you to their families. Our democracy only exists because of their service - thank you.

Fountain Inn is in the process of reviewing its draft updated zoning code of ordinances. A few weeks ago, I covered some of the basics: what is zoning, why the update to our code is needed, and more. You can read that overview here.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be turning my attention to the specific articles of the zoning rewrite, giving you an overview of some of the major changes being proposed, flagging some areas that I think will warrant further discussion and amendments, and some context on why some of these elements are important.

Today I’ll cover the first three articles of our draft ordinance:

1. General Provisions

2. Administration

3. Applications & Procedures

Together, these three articles layout out the “how”, and some of the “why”, behind the zoning code of ordinances as a whole.

I encourage everyone to take the time to read our full proposed draft, submit public comments online, and review other relevant materials on the City’s dedicated website here.

If you want to follow along with the draft document, you can view the draft directly here.

Disclaimers:

My summaries will not be exhaustive of every section and sub-section of every article, but rather a “highlight reel” so that you are informed on overall themes, major changes, and/or specific changes I think are particularly good to lift up.

My comments are also not necessarily reflective of every member of City Council, the Planning Commission, or our staff - they are my thoughts alone.

I also want to stress that the document is currently a draft, wholly open to amendment by the Planning Commission and City Council.

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Article 1 - General Provisions

This article is perhaps the simplest article out of the ten. It covers some legal requirements such as SC Code references and other general items.

Notably though, it covers what is impacted once the entire zoning code is adopted. The short version is - if it was there before adoption, it can be there after adoption, and if it’s new it has to conform to the new laws.

One particular area of interest for residents and business owners will be “nonconforming uses” - Sections 1.5.5, 1.5.6 and 1.9.1-1.9.9.

Nonconforming uses are properties that may be out of compliance upon adoption of the new zoning codes. Those properties may include - commercial properties that move into a different zoning classification, properties with structures on them that may be out of compliance (e.g. may be too close to a property line - “set back”), etc. Those properties will not be required to come into compliance after the new code is adopted. Rather, they can continue to be out of compliance until such a time that they are either abandoned/vacated or there are improvements made to the property that meet certain thresholds.

Section 1.11 deals with the effective date of the ordinance, which is TBD - it’s effective date will depend on the final vote of City Council (not yet set) as well as additional legal guidance.

I will be recommending that this section, or another section if it’s more appropriate, be amended to allow that any property owner wishing to re-zone their property in response to the new zoning code can request to do so without any sort of filing fee after the first 12 months of adoption. They would still have to follow the re-zoning process (detailed in Article 3). I am looking for additional burdens we could eliminate to make that process easier as well.

Article 2 - Administration

This article lays out the framework for how our Planning Commission [PC] and Board of Zoning Appeals [BZA] shall operate, the role of the Planning Director, and other administrative procedures (e.g. appeals, amendments, etc).

For the most part, it’s pretty standard. State law governs much of what Planning Commissions and Board of Zoning Appeals are charged with, but localities have some flexibility in the process of how those decisions are made.

For instance, this article discusses how members of the PC and BZA are appointed. There are no real changes in this section from what we have historically done - each member of City Council appoints one person from their ward, and the Mayor also gets one at-large appointment. One tweak that has been made is to account for if a City Council seat is vacant, and a vacancy occurs in that ward’s PC or BZA seat at the same time. It’s a highly unlikely scenario, but it’s something that wasn’t accounted for before.

Another area I wanted to zoom in on here is related to our BZA. In our prior code, the BZA’s charge was very broad in nature and left a lot of guidance up to internal practices and not necessarily policy. Our previous code did not fully articulate the legal role of a BZA.

The BZA is made of residents who are appointed by City Council. BZAs vote on primarily two things:

1. Variance Requests: These are requests for property owners to do something differently than required by our code. For example - if a homeowner wants to build a detached garage, but they want it to sit closer to their neighbor’s property line than our code allows for, they could request a “variance”. It’s not guaranteed, but it is something any property owner can avail themselves of.

2. Appeals: Just like their name implies, the BZA also hears some legal appeals related to land use - particularly appeals of staff rulings/interpretations.

The BZA is a quasi-judicial body. While they must base their decisions on the codes adopted by City Council, their rulings (votes) are not forwarded to City Council - they are final. In that regard, how they consider items carries a lot of weight for our community.

Previously, our code did not provide enough guidance to the BZA in my opinion, particularly around variance requests. The proposed rewrite gives more guidance and clarity on how the BZA should approach variances (Section 2.3.11).

BZAs and Planning Commissions are vital because they give citizens the ability to participate in critical decisions of the community, and our code should provide them clarity on their role, the guidelines used, and give them the direction they need to do their jobs well.

Article 3 - Applications & Procedures

Coming in at 45 pages long, this is one of the longer sections of our zoning rewrite, and for good reason. Article 3 covers exactly how each decision presented before the City related to land use is managed. It covers everything from how annexation works to how staff-level reviews work and when various permits can be requested and/or approved. It also details how the appeals process works for each of those decisions. It can get pretty dense - but it’s all important.

One key piece of information in each process to note is who has the “final decision” for each. This is important for a few reasons:

1. It helps property owners seeking a change in their land use and the public understand which body and/or individual they may have to interact with.

2. It determines which process must be followed.

3. It determines what the appeal process is should the applicant or the public disagree with the decision made.

Below is a chart from the draft document laying out the various “decisions” in front of the City when it comes to land use, and what role staff, the BZA, the Planning Commission, and City Council play in each of them (or the Court of Appeals in some cases). It’s a good visual representation of much of the text in this article. Note the “key” in the top row.

There is one change to note in this article, one that City Council, our PC, and BZA have raised - there are a few final decisions that are being shifted away from our Planning Commission and to our Planning Director (staff). The decisions making that move are more non-discretionary in nature - meaning they are usually checkboxes for compliance (“does this meet the requirements?”) and not subjective decisions (“should something be here?”). Note that there are more items staying put than changing - only a handful are moving to a staff “final decision”, but I think the change is important to highlight regardless.

By moving some of these decisions, like “Preliminary Plat Approval” for example, to the staff level, it helps provide three checkpoints that I believe are worth mentioning:

1. For the property owner, it ensures they are being measured on their level of compliance to the law.

2. For the public, it provides direct accountability to City Council. Decisions made by the Planning Commission on the items that have been altered (e.g. Preliminary Plat Approval) would be final and City Council would have no oversight. Staff level decisions have a higher degree of accountability to elected officials. While staff’s job is to carry out the laws as written, City Council has the ability to change how those laws are written if necessary.

3. For the public, and property owners, who disagree with staff rulings, this change provides for a local appeals process through the Board of Zoning Appeals (comprised of city residents) instead of a higher court being the first appeal. Decisions made by the Planning Commission (and City Council for that matter) are only appealable to the County’s Court of Common Pleas. And, if someone is not satisfied with the BZA’s ruling, they can still pursue an appeal at a higher level.

That said, City Council has already expressed a desire to codify some level of public notice, review, and/or input into these types of decisions - changing what is in the draft (and in the chart above). For example, a Preliminary Plat Approval process may be altered to require a public hearing at a Planning Commission meeting along with Commission discussion. This would all be required to take place prior to staff issuing their decision on a Preliminary Plat.

This type of amendment could balance out the rightful need for transparency and public comment, while still retaining the objective approach that a staff-level final decision brings, and a localized appeal processes.

The draft document does not reflect this change as it was brought up during recent workshops - it will likely come when either the Planning Commission or City Council begin amending the zoning document.

It’s important to note that in all of this, City Council has every ability to amend the requirements presented to property owners. So, while there may be times that a property owner or a member of the public disagrees with a final decision issued by staff, the Planning Commission, the BZA, or City Council - City Council always has the authority to change the law that resulted in that decision should they believe it warrants changing.

Don’t Forget to Weigh In

I encourage everyone to take time to read through our proposed draft, and I especially encourage you to share any comments you may have through our public comment form online — links to all of this can be found here.

Up Next: In my next post, we’ll dig into the meat of the zoning update including zoning districts, regulations, development standards - the rules that govern what development should look like moving forward. (Articles 4-6 if you want to read ahead here.)

Status Update: As of this blog’s publish date, the proposed draft is being reviewed by our Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, and City Council. There was a City Council Workshop on this topic held October 21 (view the slides here), and a joint Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals review held on November 6.

The draft document is still a draft, subject to amendment. Neither the Planning Commission or City Council have taken action on the draft, nor is it on the agenda for City Council in November. It must first have a vote by the Planning Commission before heading to City Council.

One of those priorities is now taking the stage - rewriting our zoning code of ordinances.

After a ton of work by our team, the draft Zoning Update is now published online for public review and public comment.

Today I’m kicking off a series of posts meant to dive into key areas of the rewrite to make sure you’re informed on what’s being proposed.

Up first, a general overview of Zoning, what the rewrite is, why it’s important, the expected process, and how to submit your comments.

What is Zoning?

Very basically, zoning laws govern what is permitted to be built on a piece of property. Zoning attaches an overall “allowable use” to every property inside the city limits. Our current zoning includes uses such as Residential (R), Commercial (C), Service (S), Industrial (I), and Multi-Family (MF). There are subcategories under most of these (e.g. R-15 means a residential parcel with a minimum of 15,000 square feet of property to build on).

All parcels have a zoning classification in the city, they are required to by state law. Even if you’ve never had to think about the zoning of your property; if it’s in the city, it has a zoning classification - this includes vacant parcels.

When it comes to growth, if you want to balance the role of government, the free market, property rights, and community character - zoning is the most effective, responsible, and appropriate tool we have under state law to do so.

Why the Change?

Our current code was largely adopted straight from Greenville County’s zoning, first established in the 1980s, and tweaked only slightly since then. The growth imagined nearly 40 years ago is not the growth we are wrestling with today.

Our current code, which you can read here, is out-dated, bulky, inefficient, and confusing. While zoning and land use isn’t exactly the simplest bucket of public policy out there, ours should be better than what we have currently.

In order to “control growth”, we must have underlying laws that better guide development in a cohesive manner.

If adopted, the new zoning code would replace our existing laws. This includes the zoning classification of all properties in the City - though current zonings would translate laterally (if your property is zoned residential, it won’t be zoned to commercial for instance).

What’s Been Done Thus Far

Our Comprehensive Plan was a state-required update to our existing Plan adopted five years earlier. We used that process as an opportunity to gather robust public input to make sure that we had a strong footing and understanding of what the public wanted to see at a high level. It was no surprise that one of the top ten recommendations from the public was to rewrite our zoning laws.

After adopting the Comprehensive Plan, our team worked to begin assessing our existing code, identifying areas for improvement, holding public input sessions, discussing high level needs with City Council, and ultimately spending a number of months completely rewriting our zoning code - all 350+ pages of it.

The Draft

The City has created a dedicated webpage for this project. On that page, you will find:

• Draft Zoning Update Ordinance

• Draft Updated Zoning Map

• Previous Materials from Public Meetings/Workshops

• Links to our Comprehensive Plan and Current Zoning

• Draft Timeline

It’s important to note that the published document is a draft. It is subject to change at every step in the approval process (detailed below). I have notes myself on some tweaks I’d like to see, and I look forward to discussing other changes in the coming weeks.

Click Here for the City’s Zoning Update Webpage

Your Comments

The public is critical in this process. We’ve turned to the public at every stage thus far. Our Comprehensive Plan had the most public input of any Comp Plan we’ve ever had, we hosted public input sessions during the research portion of this zoning rewrite - and we’re asking you for your input now.

Alongside the draft, our dedicated webpage also has an online form where you can submit your comments to the City. The online comment period will be open for a number of weeks.*

We know the draft update is lengthy and at times pretty dense, so we wanted to make sure you were able to submit your comments when you are able to as you review the document. You can submit multiple comments in one form, or you can fill out the form numerous times.

Additionally, we will have numerous opportunities for public comment in-person during various meetings of the Planning Commission and City Council.

*The exact date the online form will close is TBD as we are working on identifying a date for a joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting (maybe mid-November). We will likely close comments prior to that meeting so that both the Planning Commission and City Council can have summaries of the public’s input. Public comment will still be taken at meetings of both bodies.

What’s Next

Our draft timeline is on the website.

Overall, it’s important to note that the first “round” of meetings on this will be strictly overviews for City Council, Planning Commission, and our Board of Zoning Appeals.

Ultimately, any changes to our zoning laws must first be approved by our Planning Commission. Once the Commission has issued its recommendation, it will then move to City Council where it requires two readings (votes). The text can be amended throughout this process. There is no firm set date for final adoption.

I look forward to digging in on this issue. There are a lot of other items I will be covering in the weeks to come, but this post today should serve as a good starting point.

This is a vital conversation for our future. Without changes to our zoning laws, we will continue to rely on laws created forty years ago that simply can’t control growth instead of using laws that reflect our community’s current goals and modern needs.

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In the hours before Hurricane Helene’s treacherous winds and rain hit South Carolina a year ago today, our family made the decision to go stay at my parents house. Just down the road in Fountain Inn, we wanted to be sure we were all together and help them out should something happen to their home, or if we were unable to get to them the next morning.

The decision to be at my parents home instead of ours is one I attribute completely to God.

It wasn’t until about 7:30AM on September 27, 2024, after the bulk of the storm had passed, that we got a text from our neighbor’s daughter, a good friend of ours, asking how we were doing. We told her we were fine and at my parents’ house. We asked her how our home was, and it was then we learned that we were going to have to find a way to our home quickly.

On our way to our house, we saw neighbors working with our firefighters in my parents’ neighborhood, Quail Run, cutting through the tree blocking the only entrance and exit. As we drove down Main Street we saw dozens of trees laying on the ground, many of them sitting on, or through homes.

As best we can tell in the security camera footage, at about 6:00AM on September 27, 2024, a 250-year old oak tree in our backyard gave in to Helene’s 70mph sustained winds and 90mph gusts.

The tree went through the roof of our 120+ year old home, landing squarely on top of, and in, our daughter’s room and a significant portion of the back of our home.

When we got to our own home, we found our backyard chickens safe in their coop, and three other trees down in our backyard.

My wife and I ran inside.

Water was pouring in from the roof onto our daughter’s bed. Her closet had a large branch of the tree inside it. Our upstairs bathroom was completely smashed in. Water had found its way through the floor and into one of the rooms downstairs, with standing water all over the floor. Our back sunroom was crushed, our laundry room destroyed. Outside, an old stable-like storage building was barely recognizable underneath the tree’s trunk that was nearly six-feet in diameter.

We found our cat hiding in a closet and put her in a safe spot.

We were able to get a 30-second phone call over to my parents before the call dropped. My father was able to get out of their neighborhood and rushed over while our daughter, who was about to turn four just two weeks later, stayed with my mother.

Our next call was to our insurance company. With nearly no cell service in the area, I found a spot in front of Gio’s on Main Street where my call was crystal clear. We got the process started with them and then turned our attention to everything inside our home.

We gathered our most important belongings that first day, plus anything that was could be salvaged from the most damaged parts of our home. We found a hotel, one we would call home for about ten days before moving into a rental home in Fountain Inn, just a mile away from our home.

What followed after that morning has been the most consuming and challenging experience our family has gone through, and we’re still not done with it a year later.

As of today, our home is still down to the studs - it was gutted due to water and physical damage. We see light at the end of the tunnel - electrical is roughed in, plumbing is starting, and there’s been a lot of framing and internal work.

We should be waking up Christmas morning in our home again (fingers crossed).

We’re one of the lucky families amidst all of this, a fact we fully understand and appreciate. That morning we saw the videos from Asheville and surrounding areas and felt incredibly blessed to still have each other, our pets, most of belongings, a path forward for our home, and family and friends nearby to support us.

We’re doing fine, and we will be fine - and we are lucky in that regard.

I share our story because I think it’s important for us all to know that Helene’s impact is still reverberating in our area. And it’s not just us - families across the region are still without a permanent home, without a path forward, and many suffered tragic loss and damage that they may not fully recover from. Entire communities are still trying to recover from Helene in North Carolina. Major infrastructure is still being repaired or replaced. And our natural terrain in along rivers and streams is, in many cases, permanently altered.

Just around us in Fountain Inn, according to the SC Office of Resilence, there are still 363 active cases from Helene in the counties of Greenville and Laurens being managed by Disaster Case Managers. In total, over 116,000 individual assistance claims through FEMA were filed in the wake of Helene across Greenville and Laurens counties.

The road to recovery is long for many in our region.

In addition to calls with insurance, packing, clean up, and more - I was also checking in with our team, sitting in on staff calls, representing the City on county and state calls, meeting with our team, and communicating with various local, state, and federal agencies. I’ll admit, it was a challenge to balance the priority of tending to my family with making sure our city operations were adjusting as needed to serve our community. But our team and community stepped up.

I continue to be immensely proud of our employees and our community for how Fountain Inn handled those days following Helene. Our employees worked tirelessly to respond to the immense volume of public safety calls, clear mountains of debris, check in on our seniors, get our parks cleaned up, and support one another at every turn.

Neighbors helped neighbors, folks grabbed their chainsaws and worked around town helping anyone in need, churches and organizations provided vital resources, businesses helped each other and opened their doors as quick as possible so families could get the food and supplies they needed. Individuals stepped up to organize food drives and debris cleaning. In our worst moments, we came together.

I was prouder than ever to be part of this community, and it’s a pride that continues today.

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Update: In June of 2025, Fountain Inn adopted impact fees as proposed in this post. Parks & Recreation fees were implemented July 1, 2025, with Police and Fire impact fees taking effect January 1, 2026.

One of the top ten recommendations from our city’s Comprehensive Plan, adopted just over twelve months ago with broad public input, was to explore implementing impact fees on new development.

On May 8, our City Council followed through on that recommendation and provided initial approval for impact fees. Before the item comes up again in June for potentially its second and final vote, I wanted to highlight this topic - because it is arguably the top question I get in relation to our area’s growth.

Impact fees aren’t simple, nor are they a silver bullet. But they are a valid tool for our community to consider using as we balance the realities of the free market and our vision for the future, and I want your input.

• Read the full Impact Fee agenda item - including staff report, draft ordinance, and impact fee study - here.

• Watch our discussion at the May Council meeting here.

• Watch our Planning Commission’s discussion in April here.

• Here is an overview of Impact Fees from the Municipal Association of SC if you would like a primer on the technical elements of impact fees.

• Want the full state law? SC Code of Laws 6-1-910 governs how impact fees are structured.

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Impact Fees Proposed

Let’s break down what’s included in the proposal before City Council.

What many would consider one impact fee for Fountain Inn, is actually a combination of three proposed impact fees:

• Fire

• Police

• Parks & Recreation

There are only certain kinds of “impact fees” permitted under state law, and these are the ones most applicable to Fountain Inn.

We can’t just pick a number out of thin air though. State law mandates that we complete an Impact Fee Study which determines what types of impact fees are appropriate, what the “impact” of a new home/business has on various eligible services, and the maximum fee that would cover that “impact”. We have completed that study, and it is available at this link.

Now, to the numbers.

The fees listed below are the maximum allowable fee. City Council has the ability to approve any amount of fee under what is outlined below, but cannot go over it.

Residential

• Single-Family: $3,137

  • $1,283 (Fire) + $1,333 (Parks & Rec) + $521 (Police)

• Multi-Family: $2,678

  • $1,096 (Fire) + $1,138 (Parks & Rec) + $444 (Police)

    • Per Unit, so 10 apartments would be $2,678 x 10 = $26,780

Non-Residential (per 1,000sqft)

• Industrial: $576

  • $410 (Fire) + $166 (Police)

• Commercial/Retail: $2,889

  • $2,055 (Fire) + $834 (Police)

• Office: $1,282

  • $912 (Fire) + $370 (Police)

• Institutional: $1,763

  • $1,254 Fire) + $509 (Police)

It’s important to note that under state law, we cannot only have a “residential” fee - impact fees must be applied to every type of use if they are adopted. You cannot pick and choose.

What about roads? Transportation impact fees are allowed under state law. However, two factors are at play as to why a transportation impact fee is not in the cards for Fountain Inn. First and foremost - we don’t own the vast majority of our roads, the state or county do. Impact fees must be tied to specific capital purchases (equipment/facilities). If we don’t own the road, we cannot guarantee that the project will actually get done as we don’t control the timing and pace of SC DOT nor the County’s road paving schedule. Second, transportation impact fees cannot pay for repaving - they can only pay for new roads directly related to new development. So if you’re looking for better existing road conditions - impact fees aren’t the solution.

Why Are They Different?

Each type of “use” listed has a different level of impact to the related city services. For instance, residential developments (single family and multi-family) have a very clear impact on our parks and recreation programs, while industrial developments do not have that same impact. Homes = permanent residents (especially families and children) = more park users = impact to parks and recreation programs.

Differences between uses are also articulated in our full report.

What Gets Charged an Impact Fee?

Whether it’s a new home on a single vacant lot on the corner, or a new neighborhood with 100 homes; or regardless of if you’re a lifetime resident building a new home in town or a brand new resident moving here from somewhere else - every single new home built will have to pay this impact fee.

If it’s a new commercial building being built, whether it’s a brand new shop for an existing local mechanic or a brand new national chain restaurant, each one pays the same fee per 1,000 square feet. Same is true for industrial, office, and institutional.

Impact fees would not apply to someone moving into an existing building or home. It also does not apply if you are rebuilding a structure to its original square footage, and not adding any additional “units” to it. Nor does it apply to additions on a home, as long as it does not increase the number of “units” (more people = impact to city services). It also does not apply if you were to build a detached shed or garage at your home.

Impact fees cannot be applied differently based on who’s building or what they’re building. Churches, homes, grocery stores, and warehouses - each of them will have to pay their appropriate impact fees.

As a general rule of thumb, impact fees also cannot be waived. While there are some ways in which impact fees can be reduced in the proposed ordinance (e.g. if a developer donates park space, it can count as a “credit”), for all intents and purposes, it’s important to remember that impact fees are not permitted to be waived outright under state law.

Who Pays These Fees?

Whoever pulls the building permit for the new home/business is charged the impact fee and responsible for its payment.

There’s no denying that for homes in particular, these fees are passed on to the homebuyer, increasing the cost of a home. In our report, we estimate what impact that would be for the average homebuyer. At a 2.5% interest rate, it’s $12/mon on a 30-year mortgage. At an 8% interest rate, it’s $23/mon on a 30-year mortgage.

What Happens with the Money?

Under our proposed ordinance, impact fees are paid at the time a building permit is issued.

Each fee (police, fire, parks and recreation) is placed into a separate account, restricted only for the applicable impact fee. Funds cannot be spent for any purpose other than what was stated in the original study’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), unless the CIP is altered by City Council.

Once a project is started, and paid in part or in whole by the related impact fee, the impact fee funds must be spent no more than three (3) years after the planned completion of the project. Short version - the money cannot sit there forever. If funds aren’t spent in that timeframe, they are returned to whomever paid the impact fee (for residential - the builder/developer would receive a refund, not the homeowner, as the fees are paid at time of permitting, not when someone buys a home).

Impact fees can cover capital expenses related the impact fee. So, for instance, our study includes things like additional recreation spaces, new police equipment, and new fire apparatuses. Our final study report lists out where funds would be allocated.

How Long Do These Fees Last?

The City must publish a report annually on the progress of each impact fee detailing the revenues and expenses related to the fee.

Additionally, every five (5) years the City must review its impact fees. If the City believes they need to be adjusted, it requires a new Impact Fee Study to be completed to justify the increase.

The City can also stop implementing impact fees at any given time after a vote of City Council to rescind them.

We’re Not Alone

Zooming out a little, we’re not the only community exploring impact fees. Not only have Greer and Clinton already imposed them, but Greenville County Council has now started the formal process of exploring impact fees.

We should keep in mind that, should Greenville County pass impact fees, for services that are purely County services inside the city limits, their fee would be added to ours - they stack.

For example, the County Sheriff has jurisdiction in cities, so you could likely see two Police impact fees on new builds (homes and commercial), one for FI and one for Greenville County. But, only on the Greenville side of Fountain Inn. The Laurens County side would only have one Police fee.

Which leads us to another complexity unique to Fountain Inn (and Greer) - we’re in two counties. How can we balance two counties, one exploring impact fees (Greenville) and one that has not yet started (Laurens), while at the same time ensuring that the impact to Fountain Inn’s services remain our priority.

What’s Best for Fountain Inn?

I want your input.

Impact fees are one of the top things I hear our residents ask for. But as I hope you can see, they’re not the silver bullet some make them out to be. They don’t cover all of the things you think they can (or should), they don’t just apply only to the new neighborhoods, and they can indeed impact affordability.

At the same time, impact fees are a way to ensure that “growth pays for growth”, and they can address real needs in some of services.

I am not opposed to impact fees at all, but I do think we need to be certain that we are comfortable with them in their entirety.

So, what do you think?

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With Spring finally in town, and Summer on its way, event season in Fountain Inn is getting started this month with our annual Mac Arnold Cornbread & Collard Greens Blues Festival on April 12 (with our annual Jeep Jam folded in!).

You can find the full listing of events over on our website, but this month I wanted to highlight why our events, which run from April through December for the most part, are so important to Fountain Inn.

1. Celebrating Community

What better excuse to meet new people, catch up with friends, and fully experience the community you live in than at a festival!

In this modern age, we order nearly anything to our door, we comment online instead of knocking on the door or picking up the phone, and we get trapped in the new series on Netflix - all instead of spending time together, getting to know our neighbors, and creating bonds with our community. Our events help break that cycle and get folks back together again.

Our events help encourage folks to get out of their house, out of their regular bubble, and meet their neighbors, reconnect with friends, and enjoy the fellowship that comes with getting our community together. It’s these connections that help form the tight knit community we all love in Fountain Inn.

Events help make sure we are continuing to build relationships in our community, build traditions, and enjoy time with our loved ones. Take our Sounds of Summer concert series for instance. Every Friday from late May-August, you can head on down to our Commerce Park Stage, set up a lawn chair, and spend a couple of hours unwinding from the week with anywhere from 500-1,500 neighbors - every week. It’s a great opportunity to not only meet new folks, but also meet up with friends and family regularly throughout the season.

Or take our banner events such as Aunt Het and our Christmas festival. Events like those are steeped in tradition and are so much a part of Fountain Inn, they help define it.

Events help us celebrate our community, not just the physical location of Fountain Inn, but what makes our town great - it’s people.

2. Economic Impact

Over the course of an entire year, our downtown sees over 1 million total visits (including repeat visitors). Every time we close Main Street for a major event, we average 7,000-8,000 people in attendance. Those are real numbers from the data tools we use to track the impact of our events and downtown tourism. And those numbers have a real impact on our local economy.

Our businesses - Main Street and beyond - can see their foot traffic and sales increase with each of our events. These events are part of the annual modeling for our area small business owners and are important to keep their business thriving.

Events also help expose visitors to all that our town has to offer and to entice them to return and become regular customers. While attending a festival, they may pop into a store they haven’t visited yet and find their new favorite shop to pick up gifts for their family. Or they may try a new dish that puts Fountain Inn on their list of favorite places to eat.

So, if you haven’t made it to one of our festivals yet, or you’re looking to connect with other families and make some new friends - I encourage you to join us this event season. We can’t wait to see you.

The Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS) is not a household name by any stretch of the imagination - maybe this is even the first time you’re hearing about GPATS. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Honestly, before taking office in 2019 I had never really come across GPATS other than maybe a mention or two during Fountain Inn City Council meetings that I attended as a citizen.

And then after I was elected in 2019, I got an email telling me that, as Mayor of a community within the GPATS region, I was automatically a member of their “Policy Committee”, and I had a meeting to attend.

So I went, and I’ve made it to nearly all of those meetings ever since.

Fast forward five years and, just a few weeks ago in late February, I was elected Vice Chair by my fellow committee members.

Metropolitan Planning Organizations

GPATS is one of about 450 federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) in the United States. MPOs, in the simplest of definitions, help prioritize the allocation of a set amount of federal funding for transportation-related projects in its defined area. Their boundaries are determined by Census data at the federal level, plus some input and oversight from the US DOT and state DOTs. They are created around “Urbanized Areas” (UZA) with populations of over 50,000, and also areas with populations of 200,000 or more.

MPOs are ultimately governed by what is commonly called a “Policy Committee”. The Policy Committee of an MPO includes elected and appointed officials from various jurisdictions within the MPO. The Policy Committee is the body that provides actual approval of all plans and funding allocations. Some MPOs (like GPATS) may have additional review groups under the Policy Committee to help provide additional review.

MPOs utilize a variety of regional plans to prioritize and rank projects. At the top of the list is the region’s “Transportation Improvement Plans” (TIP). These TIPs are combined together with TIPs from other MPOs in the state, plus those from more rural areas and Council of Governments (COG) and the state DOT to create what is called the “State Transportation Improvement Plan” (STIP). The STIP is what feeds up to the federal level to paint a national picture of how a large chunk of federal funding for transportation (though not all) is being planned across each state.

Why is it this way?

Think about it - who do you want making decisions on what local transportation projects should receive federal funding? Federal workers in an office in Washington, DC - or folks from your community?

It’s this local decision making that ensures these federal dollars help locally significant projects.

Zoom In: GPATS

GPATS is one of three Upstate MPOs. Spartanburg has SPATS and the Anderson/Clemson area has ACATS. The area GPATS serves includes nearly all of Greenville County plus portions of Spartanburg, Pickens, Anderson, and Laurens counties. See the map below for the GPATS area, outlined in the dark green line.

While the Study Team of GPATS, which provides an initial review on projects, consists of planning and transportation staff from all over the region, the GPATS Policy Committee is comprised of around thirty members, including all Mayors within the GPATS area and members of the region’s County Councils, Legislative Delegation, DOT Commissioners, and transit authorities. GPATS is housed under Greenville County’s umbrella on behalf of the region.

How Much Are We Talking?

GPATS is responsible for the allocation of over $20 million annually in federal funding for eligible transportation projects ranging from roads and bridges to trails and transit. This includes a variety of federal sources such as Guideshare, various FTA funds, the Transportation Alternative Program (TAP), and others. It’s important to note that, since these are nearly all federal funds, there are very specific regulations for each of these sources - it’s not a $20 million unrestricted pot of funding.

Funds are used for the planning and construction of a variety of projects, including roads, bridges, intersection improvements, public transit, trails and sidewalks.

There are a number of plans that GPATS uses to prioritize, select, and fund projects, but there are two primary ones to keep in mind - the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) [links are below]. The LRTP is a 20-year outlook on transportation projects that will have GPATS funding attached. As projects become more “shovel ready”, they are then moved to the TIP, which as mentioned before, feed into the state’s TIP (STIP).

These two documents together help chart a strategic, realistic, and actionable path forward to improving our area’s transportation infrastructure.

What’s most important to note here is this - GPATS is not DOT. Rather, it’s a local body that helps prioritize select federal funding for local projects. These projects always have additional funding running alongside them from cities, counties, the state, or other sources. Projects can be somewhat small in nature such as a small trail extension in a community, but are often projects larger in scale and maybe fairly complex. For example, the I-385 and I-85 interchange in Greenville and the East Butler Road Project in Mauldin are two local projects that include(d) GPATS funding.

What’s on the List?

All GPATS projects are publicly available for review and linked below:

• Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)

• Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP)

  • Active Project List

• State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) [DOT website]

• Additional Project-Related Plans

There are many, many more resources on the GPATS website related to data, other plans, and general overviews that are very useful.

Fountain Inn has benefitted from GPATS funding on numerous occasions. The two most recently completed Fountain Inn projects that were funded by GPATS were the Woodside Streetscape and Woodside Connector projects, which I wrote about previously here.

I’ll close with this thought - I know that at times transportation projects are extremely frustrating to follow, and seem to take way too long to complete. Plus, there are far too many acronyms.

But imagine the alternative for a moment: funding decisions made quickly by folks not here at home, but rather in DC or somewhere else; subjective plans and loose policies that allow for anyone to bend the system to their will; or gut feelings in the moment with no thought to a regional picture.

I would rather have objective decisions, measurable results, and local perspectives all rolled into actionable, realistic, and pragmatic plans.

Fountain Inn’s City Council met on Thursday, March 13.

You can watch the recording of the meeting on the City’s YouTube Channel, and download the full meeting packet on the City’s website here.

Meeting Recaps may not reflect full Council discussion, nor are these posts official Minutes. Only agenda items requiring City Council action are listed, plus key updates.

Key Updates

Highlights other than votes.

FI Recreation - 12U Junior Fury State Champions Recognized

For the first time in Fountain Inn history, our FI Recreation League’s Junior Fury (12U) Football team won the state championship! Celebrating these athletes was a joy and an honor!

Old Business

Items that are held over from the previous meeting, or require an additional vote.

AXZ 2024-04: Annexation of Property at Jones/Durbin (First Reading)

Action: Tabled (7-0)

This item was carried over from our October 2024 meeting.

The property in question had originally requested a Planned Development (PD) zoning, and later agreed to switch to an R-15 zoning. However, in October of 2024, City Council voted to postpone this item until March of 2025 as the City makes its way through a zoning rewrite, so the item automatically was added to the agenda.

Instead of postponing, Council agreed to a motion to Table the item.

Robert’s Rules:
Tabling is different than “postponing”. Postponing to a future date pushes the item on the agenda to a future meeting where it is automatically added. Tabling requires a majority of the body to agree to bring the item back up.

New Business

Items which appear for the first time on our agenda and require City Council action (e.g. “vote”).

R-2025-02: CDBG & HOME Funds

Action: Approved (7-0)

Every year City Council adopts a Resolution agreeing to accept federal block grant funds that flow to the city through the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority. For FY26 (July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026), Fountain Inn is slated to receive a total of $130,702 in federal CDBG and HOME funds. These funds can be used for limited projects. Most recently, funds were used over the last few years to fund the construction of ADA restrooms at Emanuel Sullivan Sports Complex, next to our Miracle League field. The full presentation is available in our agenda packet.

Robert’s Rules:
Resolutions only require one vote of Council.

MOU Amendment - Drug Enforcement Unit

Action: Approved (7-0)

City Council approved an amendment to an agreement with the multi-jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit. Our own Chief Patrick Fortenberry is the current Chair of the DEU. The amendment alters language on how seized funds/assets are managed between the federal government, the DEU, and local departments.

Robert’s Rules:
Contract agreements require only one vote of Council.

Next City Council Meeting: Thursday, April 10 @ 6:00PM

In 2015, Fountain Inn cut the ribbon on the renovation of our historic Main Street, which had followed the addition of Commerce Park (Farmers Market, Amphitheater, Museum and Visitors Center). The renovation of about three blocks of Main Street helped transform our downtown into what you see today.

Our Main Street is more than just those three blocks though - we’ve always known that we would need to tackle the rest of the project at some point.

After four years of planning and coordination with DOT, I’m happy to report the time has come to finish our Main Street.

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Project Overview

Starting March 3, crews will begin the Main Street Streetscape (Phase 2) project, improving our historic Main Street from Jones Street to Highway 418.

The streetscape you currently see from Hellams Street to Jones Street (the 2015 project) will be replicated the rest of the way down Main Street to Highway 418.

The project includes:

• Wider Sidewalks

• Decorative Pedestrian Street Lighting

• Landscaping & Lighting

• Underground Utility Work

• Repaving of Main Street (Jones to 418)

What we saw with our initial Main Street project in 2015 is what we expect to see with this second phase - a more unified downtown aesthetic, increased foot traffic for businesses, traffic calming, and a stronger Main Street identity.

Project Timeline

The project will begin on March 3. Traffic patterns will be altered throughout the project.

The project will begin in front of Groom Bar and work its way down to 418, and then come back on the other side of the road, ending in front of Gault’s and Rotary Park. One side of the road will be impacted before switching to the other side - “the switch” is slated for July.

The project is set to complete by the Winter of 2025, dependent on weather.

Project Impacts

The contractors have put forward a plan that will help minimize long term impacts on businesses and residences along the project’s route. This plan includes:

• Traffic patterns will be altered, though vehicular traffic will continue to flow both directions throughout the project. Please drive carefully and pay close attention to signage, safety barriers, and construction crews.

• Crews will be on one side of the road at a time, starting on the Southbound side of Main Street before turning back and going North.

• Work will take place in 100’-200’ segments, lessening the impact in front of businesses. Each segment will take approximately 2-3 weeks and will include most of the major hardscaping. (Paving and landscaping will have to be at one time towards the end)

• Parking lots along the route will remain accessible, with very minimal interruption.

• Pedestrian access will be preserved so that all businesses can be accessed as normal. This includes a protected pedestrian pathway the length of Main Street, and individual access to businesses from Main Street.

  • If any impacts do occur, the contractor will work with the business to accommodate different access points or schedules.

• No power or other utility outages are expected as part of the project scope - power for the lights along the road will be their own line, so businesses shouldn’t see an impact.

• Events that utilize that portion of Main Street may be altered, but the crews will also work with the City to minimize that impact as best they can.

Parking:

Most of the businesses impacted along this portion of Main Street have their own private parking lots, which should see no, or minimum, impact on access or use. Street parking will remain open on the side of the street not under construction during the project.

The project is expected to result in a loss of about only 5 parallel parking spots as planters and benches are installed (just like the other half of Main Street).

The City during this time will also be constructing a new 60-spot parking lot at the corner of Jones Street and Wall Street (old Public Works site). That project is expected to finish before the Main Street project is complete.

Communication:

The City has launched a dedicated webpage for this project where updates will be posted for the public. The public will also be able to read updates through the City’s newsletter and social media page.

Businesses along the project’s route will receive bi-weekly updates via email from city staff. Our staff will also be ready to field any individual questions about the project and be sure that businesses and the contractor are connected when needed.

The City held a public meeting on February 18 with business owners and residents to review the project scope and timeline. Slides from that meeting are available at this link, and are also posted on the project webpage.

Funding:

The project will cost over $5 million and is fully funded.

Initial funding, $2 million, for this project was approved by City Council in 2021, along with funding for our Public Utilities Complex.

The remaining funds (over 50% of the total cost) were secured through non-city sources including the Greenville County Legislative Delegation Transportation Committee (CTC) and the State of South Carolina.

I can’t wait to see our Main Street finally complete!

Fountain Inn’s City Council met on Thursday, February 13.

You can watch the recording of the meeting on the City’s YouTube Channel, and download the full meeting packet on the City’s website here.

Meeting Recaps may not reflect full Council discussion, nor are these posts official Minutes. Only agenda items requiring City Council action are listed, plus key updates.

Key Updates

Highlights other than votes.

FI Police Department Receives FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award

Our Police Department received the prestigious FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award at February’s meeting. The Award recognizes departments whose command staff have completed a series of rigorous leadership trainings. Our Department is just the second department in the state, and one of only 184 in the nation, to receive this award since the award’s inception in 2018.

We’ll have a full press release on the City’s website soon.

Record Natural Gas Use Reported & Higher Market Prices

Residents may see higher gas bills this month due to January’s record consumption of natural gas in our system. As frigid temperatures swept across our region for multiple days, homes and businesses needed more gas to maintain comfortable temperatures. See the information below from our Natural Gas Department:

• For many parts of South Carolina, January 2025 was the coldest January in 25 years.

• A winter storm hit the southern United States from January 9-11, 2025, bringing freezing rain and snow to the Carolinas.

• Daytime highs were unseasonably cold for most of January.

• January Gas Volume: 255,027 Dths (All time consumption high for any month), in addition we had 4 consecutive daily consumption records.

  • 17% higher than January 2024 and 12% higher than the 3-year average for January.

Additionally, the cost of gas was higher in January in the market due to high demand across the southeast as cold temperatures impacted everyone from Texas to the Carolinas. Fountain Inn had the second lowest “Rate per Therm” in the region for January (see chart in our meeting packet).

It is important to note that the City does not mark up the cost of gas - the price the City pays for natural gas in the marketplace is the same cost passed on to consumers. Customers may see higher bills due to higher consumption at higher market rates.

Main Street Renovation (Part 2) - Public Meeting February 18

Our long-awaited Main Street Renovation (Part 2) will start in early March! This nearly $5 million project (fully funded with a mix of sources) will continue our Main Street streetscape from Jones Street to Highway 418.

The public, and in particular businesses and residents along the project, are invited to a public meeting on the project before it gets started. The contractor and city staff will be on hand to go over the project.

Tuesday, February 18
5:00PM @ Fountain Inn Activities Center

Old Business

Items that are held over from the previous meeting, or require an additional vote.

No items.

New Business

Items which appear for the first time on our agenda and require City Council action (e.g. “vote”).

R-2025-1: Annual Safety Statement

Action: Approved (7-0)

Every year City Council adopts a Resolution committing the City to safety in the workplace as part of our insurance requirements.

Robert’s Rules:
Resolutions only require one vote of Council.

Appointment of Brison Taylor as Public Works Director

Action: Approved (7-0)

City Council approved the hiring of Brison Taylor as the City’s new Public Works Director. Brison is coming to Fountain Inn from the City of Clinton where he currently serves as their Director of Public Works. Brison is expected to start mid-March.

Robert’s Rules:
All Department Head hires are recommended by the City Administrator, but require City Council approval (one vote).

Next City Council Meeting: Thursday, March 13 @ 6:00PM

Woodside Streetscape

Around the same time we began planning the renovation of what was known as Woodside Park into the Emanuel Sullivan Sports Complex, the City saw a need and opportunity to make the walk from downtown to ESSC safer, more attractive, and more useful. The project finally wrapped up a couple of weeks ago (long story on why it took so long) and now, everyone can enjoy wide, protected sidewalks stretching from the intersection of Jones and Wall Street, down to Woodside Avenue, and then along Woodside until you get to the park. There are also street lights that match Main Street, helping make the route safer throughout the day, and landscaping which will mature over time.

Woodside Connector

You may remember the roughly 3-foot wide asphalt trail that ran from Fairview Street at the bottom of the old mill site, weaved through the woods on the back of the mill village, crossed the creek, and ended at the picnic shelter at Woodside Park (now ESSC). It was crumbling, barely wide enough for a stroller, and you had to jump the creek in one spot (fun, but not quite the best public amenity).

No more.

The trail has now been upgraded significantly, widened, paved, and includes a new pedestrian bridge over the creek. It still connects Fairview Park (in fact it was extended to physically connect closer to the courts there), and Emanuel Sullivan Sports Complex, but it is a much safer and pleasant trail.

Project Funding

Both of these projects were funded with two phases of “Transportation Alternative Program” (TAP) grants. These are federal transportation funds that are restricted for non-vehicular projects (trails being the primary example) to help connect folks to their community. They are awarded through the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS)*. Fountain Inn received two waves of TAP grants for both of these projects, which cover roughly 80% of the costs, saving our community hundreds of thousands of dollars.

These projects are now complete and ready for public use! Have fun everyone!

*GPATS is a federally-designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and is overseen by a committee made of the region’s mayors, county council members, state legislators, and a few other agencies who help prioritize some of the state and federal funding for transportation at the local level. I’ll try and cover more about GPATS in a future post, it’s a bit complicated.

I get a lot of questions that go like this, “When are we going to get a _____?”, or “Why did you let [insert business] open up there?”

I wanted to demystify this a little bit today.

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A version of this was also published in the Simpsonville Sentinel in 2023.

Many people tend to think that “the city” (any city) picks and chooses who opens up shop in their city limits. And while of course a city has a vested interest in advocating for a healthy business economy to meet the needs of its community - there is no “Store of Stores” that cities have access to where they can pick anything they want for their town. Instead, it’s a balancing act - property rights, community vision, the free market, existing laws, and the appropriate size and reach of government.

All commercial entities, and especially household names, look at a few things when they decide to locate somewhere - number of people nearby, traffic counts, demographic data, land, and other factors. If the right number of people live in a certain radius and they have the spending power needed for that particular business to make a profit, then that business will often look at opening up a shop around those people. At that point, they begin looking at properties that meet size, location, and price specifications for their store. There are other factors of course too - competition, ability to finance, etc - but related to selecting a property, those are the bare bones.

In order for things to move forward from there, someone has to sell their land to the business. The City does not own every piece of land in the city limits that currently is vacant - private citizens or companies do, and they do not, and should not, need the City’s permission to sell their property.

None of these things involve the City’s legal authority - it is all the free market. The City’s authority enters this conversation only in the context of laws - zoning laws in particular.

If a property is already zoned commercial, it is the owner’s right to build whatever is allowed under that zoning. If the zoning needs to be changed though, or a variance is needed from one of our building codes - then the Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, City Council, or a mixture thereof, do get involved and decisions are made.

For example - when Starbucks came to Fountain Inn a couple of years ago, they selected a property that was already zoned Commercial. They didn’t need any City Council approval, though they did need a variance for their sign which was granted by our Board of Zoning Appeals.

Fun fact - around that time, Starbucks actually changed their “corporate formula” to expand into smaller markets. That’s why you saw a couple of Starbucks open up around Fountain Inn, Laurens, Clinton, and other pockets of the area in 2022-2024.

Aside from approving, or not approving, rezoning requests or variances, the City also can change the zoning laws themselves. Fountain Inn has done this along Highway 418 in our “418 Overlay District” (a “bonus” set of zoning laws specific for just that corridor). For instance, in 2021 we made a change to only allow things like gas stations and car washes if they are 2,000 feet apart from the same use. The effect? The new QT and Big Dan’s Car Wash are the last gas station and (only) car wash you’ll see on that side of the interstate on 418, unless the law is changed.

So the next time you drive by a vacant lot and think, “Why doesn’t the City put a ______ here?”, remember that there is no “Store of Stores”, there’s a free market, zoning laws, and property rights - all on that one site.

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City offices are closed today (January 10) due to inclement weather and to reduce our staff’s travel on roadways. Public safety and emergency crews remain on standby as winter weather arrives this weekend. Everyone is encouraged to exercise caution and not drive if necessary.

Fountain Inn’s City Council met on Thursday, January 9.

You can watch the recording of the meeting on the City’s YouTube Channel, and download the full meeting packet on the City’s website here.

Meeting Recaps may not reflect full Council discussion, nor are these posts official Minutes. Only agenda items requiring City Council action are listed.

Old Business

Items that are held over from the previous meeting, or require an additional vote.

Wall Street/Ellison Street: Re-Zoning to Flexible Review District
(2nd Reading - Final Vote)

Action: Approved (6-0)

The owners of approximately two acres directly behind the Farmers Market and Commerce Park have requested rezoning their property from Commercial to “Flexible Review District” (FRD), adding it to the development that includes The Mill at Fountain Inn.

The project, which was made public during the Planning Commission’s November meeting, will be a downtown hotel. A 109-room Springhill Suites (Marriott brand) is planned for the site, as stated by the applicant during the Commission’s meeting, and reported by GoFountainInn.com. The site will include all necessary parking for the hotel and the construction of sidewalks along Wall Street.

Flexible Review District (FRD) zoning is being used by the applicant primarily to tap into remaining historic state tax credits in the The Mill at Fountain Inn development. Additionally, it allows for certain variances (such as placement of dumpsters) to be granted alongside the zoning request.

Importantly for the community, this FRD zoning also locks in the site plan and the uses permitted on the property. This would secure the property for a hotel specifically instead of allowing simply any commercial development to occur. If something happened to this project and a new use wanted to be placed there, they would be required to go back through the Planning Commission and City Council to do so.

Robert’s Rules:
Zoning Ordinances require a recommendation from the Planning Commission. All “ordinances” require two (2) readings (vote) of Council.

• Approved by City Council 6-0 on 2nd Reading (Jan).

• Approved by City Council 6-0 on 1st Reading (Dec).

• Recommended for Approval (5-0) by Planning Commission (Nov).

New Business

Items which appear for the first time on our agenda and require City Council action (e.g. “vote”).

Approved: Appointment of Director of Community Relations

Amanda Benfield was appointed as the new Director of Community Relations for Fountain Inn. This is a Department Head position, reporting to the City Administrator.

Amanda will join the City in late February. She currently is the President & CEO of the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce. She has previously served as Executive Director of the United Way of Laurens County, and was also a small business owner in downtown Laurens for a number of years.

Robert’s Rules:
All Department Head hires are recommended by the City Administrator, but require City Council approval (one vote).

• Approved 6-0 (Jan)

Executive Session: Discussion of contractual matters related to a franchise agreement.

Executive Session was not needed.

Robert’s Rules:
Executive Sessions are permitted for closed discussions related to sensitive matters, defined under state law, including personnel matters, legal counsel, contractual arrangements, economic development, and other items. No votes are permitted to take place in Executive Session, though Council may vote on items discussed in Executive Session only after first returning to Regular/Open Session.

Disclaimer: This content was created and distributed by me (GP McLeer), and is not an official publication of the City of Fountain Inn.