Columbia City Council Regular Meeting - September 1, 2026

The Columbia City Council met on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 1737 Main Street, Columbia, SC. The agenda advertised a 4:00 PM start; the minutes record the meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM. Mayor Daniel J. Rickenmann presided, and all seven council members were present. The meeting opened with an invocation and a moment of silence for Officer Christopher DeLong Jr., who was killed in the line of duty, and Officer David Dymock, who survived the shooting; the Mayor emphasized the need to confront domestic violence and strengthen public safety systems.

Call to Order, Invocation, and Agenda

• Council adopted the agenda as presented by unanimous vote.
• Council voted 6-1 to defer Item 21, the amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance for reestablishment of nonconforming non-depository personal credit institutions, with Mayor Rickenmann voting no. Before the vote, the Mayor argued the amendment was needed to allow better development of the property and warned that rejecting it could leave a worse project or continued blight.

Public Comments & Testimony (Agenda Items)

• Beth Lamberts, President-Elect of the Hollywood-Rosehill Neighborhood Association, expressed support for the temporary moratorium (Item 19), citing disruptive undergraduate-student rentals, overcrowding, noise, code-enforcement gaps, and narrow streets unable to handle parking.
• Tommy Johnson expressed support for the moratorium as a necessary pause to protect Columbia's historic neighborhoods, describing cumulative intensification through added bedrooms and higher unrelated occupancy.
• Tom Gottshall, 1824 Senate Street, expressed support for the moratorium, said many downtown residential neighborhoods are more than 50% rental, and criticized treating every home as a venture-capital opportunity. He cited Binghamton, New York as a city that restricts student rentals; the Mayor responded that no SEC city mayor has yet found a durable legal solution.
• Adam Nagler, 330 Catawba Street, expressed support for the moratorium and reported that homeownership in his neighborhood fell from about 55% to 8% (11 homeowners out of 137 houses), with houses converted to six-bedroom rentals and long code-enforcement cycles.
• Kit Smith, 206 Wateree Avenue, expressed support for the moratorium, noting university enrollment grew from about 10,000 students in the 1970s to nearly 50,000 projected by 2030, and stating the city needs 17,000 housing units.
• Vivian Armstead, 906 Oak Street, expressed support for the moratorium, describing overcrowded student rentals, noise, traffic, parking congestion, and trash in the Martin Luther King neighborhood, and questioned whether developers or taxpayers bear the added costs.
• Femi Olulenu expressed support for the moratorium, stating that students are not neighbors and that neighborhoods like MLK are oversaturated with high-density student housing.
• Brent Dees opposed the moratorium, arguing that limiting conversions of single-family homes would restrict housing supply, raise rents, and weaken the city's tax base; he encouraged more duplexes and triplexes citywide and supported parking maximums instead of blocking housing.
• Speakers who addressed deferred Item 21 included Bob Petrulis, 527 Avondale Drive, who opposed allowing a payday-lending company paired with an oversized 16-pump gas station at a key neighborhood corner; Debbie Wellslager, 3527 Kensington Road, who warned of corridor decline like Two Notch Road and Decker Boulevard; Betsy Newman, 311 Westwood Avenue, who said her neighborhood is neglected and should not settle; Basil Garzia, 612 Wildwood Avenue, who warned of unintended consequences and blight; and Paul Mishoe, 3101 Gadsden Street, who asked that the matter return to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a full explanation of how the proposal meets required criteria.
• Lynn Shirley, 303 South Saluda Avenue, encouraged the moratorium study to also address parents buying homes for college-age children and informally subletting bedrooms, noting six such homes in Hollywood-Rosehill.

Approval of Minutes

• Council unanimously approved the August 18, 2026 Regular Meeting Minutes.

Presentations

• Item 2, the Community Partnership & Public Service Recognition Initiative with Mr. Mykle Bowman of ASC Management Group, was rescheduled because Mr. Bowman was not present.
• City Manager Teresa Wilson took a moment of personal privilege to recognize City Clerk Erika Hammond for 25 years of service to the City.

Consent Agenda (Items 3-18)

• Council unanimously approved the consent agenda, which authorized:
  • DataGard backup, disaster recovery, and cloud backup services from VC3, Inc., in the amount of $204,960.00.
  • Purchase of vehicles/heavy equipment from multiple vendors totaling $699,308.73, including a Chevrolet 3500HD crew cab truck for Wastewater Management ($65,340.00), Ford trucks for Streets and Water Distribution ($54,325.00 and $158,820.00), a Western Star dump truck for Water Distribution ($260,581.00), and a Brinex Advantage brine maker tank for the Street Division ($160,242.73).
  • A grant agreement with DESA, Inc. for business development services, not to exceed $300,000.00 for a 12-month term.
  • Supplemental Agreement No. 4 with SCDOT for Carolina Crossroads Water and Sewer Relocations, Phase 3A, at no cost to the City.
  • A professional services contract with Hazen and Sawyer for the Brentwood Court Waterline Relocation Project, not to exceed $139,010.00; Hazen and Sawyer is the mentor at 75.90% and DESA, Inc. is the protégé at 24.10%.
  • A construction contract with GH Smith Construction, Inc. for the Howell Court-to-Public Works water main extension, not to exceed $81,755.80, with Smoak Construction, LLC as protégé at 20.00% and Staline Waterworks, Inc. supplying materials at 28.29%.
  • Sole source contracts totaling $182,547.95, including de-energized testing at the Canal Water Treatment Plant ($91,999.80) and a Vaughan chopper pump purchase/rebuild for the Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant ($90,548.15).
  • A professional services contract with Duke's Root Control, Inc. for Sanitary Sewer Root Control, not to exceed $663,829.00.
  • Encroachment ordinances for Lady Street Associates and 836 Catawba LLC, a Dominion Energy easement for the new Olympia Fire Station, an office lease to Huitzi The Bus Coffee Shop at 1401 Main Street, removal of 120 Clemson Road from the corporate limits, and three annexation/land-use/zoning ordinances: NX Shop Road Extension, 551 Spears Creek Church Road and N/S Spears Creek Road, and 4116 Farrow Road.

Discussion Items

• Temporary Moratorium on Residential Intensification (Item 19; Ordinance No. 2026-077, second reading): Justin Steinmann, Director of Planning and Development Services, explained that an amendment closed an inadvertent loophole in Section 3(b) that would have allowed newly constructed duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes to build unlimited parking areas. Council unanimously approved the ordinance as amended to limit vehicular use areas for newly constructed two-, three-, or four-family dwellings to 20% of the lot area or 1,600 square feet, whichever is less, and to regulate expansions for existing dwellings.
• Zoning Map Amendment for 513 S. Saluda Avenue (Item 20; Ordinance No. 2026-059, first reading): Council unanimously approved rezoning the property from Employment Campus District in the Airport Safety Overlay District (EC, OV-A) to Residential Mixed District in the Airport Safety Overlay District (RM-2, OV-A). Staff and the Planning Commission recommended approval, and the public hearing was held July 21, 2026.
• Ordinances - First Reading (Items 22-24): Council unanimously approved Ordinance No. 2026-069 consenting to inclusion of property in a Multi-County Industrial/Business Park (Project Stoa); Ordinance No. 2026-079 authorizing an equipment lease purchase agreement not exceeding $15,000,000; and Ordinance No. 2026-080 granting a nonexclusive telecommunications franchise to PBT Communications, Inc., d/b/a Comporium.
• Resolutions (Items 25-28): Council unanimously approved R-2026-058 authorizing release and abandonment of a portion of a 15-foot water easement for the new South Carolina Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Treatment Facility; R-2026-061 accepting loan assistance monies from the South Carolina Water Quality Revolving Fund Authority for the project "Evaluation of Advanced Technologies for PFAS Removal"; R-2026-062, the first lease amendment with Main Street Technologies, LLC for 1401 Main Street, Suite 200; and R-2026-063, the third lease amendment with Executive Management and Leasing, Inc. for 1401 Main Street, Suite 670.
• Event Resolution Items (Items 29-30): Council unanimously approved R-2026-059 authorizing beer, wine, and liquor at Vista Lights presented by Prisma Health on Thursday, November 19, 2026, and R-2026-060 authorizing beer, wine, and liquor at The Drop on Main on the 1600 block of Main Street on Thursday, December 31, 2026.
• PFAS discussion: Mayor Rickenmann stressed the need to include all relevant partners in evaluating emerging technologies and to secure adequate funding. Clint Shealy, Assistant City Manager of Columbia Water, explained that the City received a forgivable $2 million loan from the State Rural Infrastructure Authority to conduct testing, which also supports litigation to hold polluters responsible for future construction costs.

Appointments

• Council unanimously reappointed Vivian Clarke to the Central Midlands Council of Governments for a three-year term.
• Council unanimously reappointed Carolyn Gleaton to the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority for a two-year term, allowed beyond two consecutive terms because the service has been deemed exemplary and further service beneficial to the board.
• Council unanimously reappointed William Baker, Ralph McCarthy, and Linda Ward to the Columbia Prepares Advisory Committee and appointed Susan Kuo, all for two-year terms.

Committee Reports, Referrals, and New Business

• Councilor McDowell reported that the Administrative Policy Committee met August 25, 2026, to discuss a proposed flag policy, with the next meeting on September 22, 2026.
• Councilor Herbert reported that the Municipal Court Advisory Committee is working to fill a vacancy in Municipal Court.
• Councilor Brown reported that the newly formed Executive Management Committee is developing five-year revenue projections and a ten-year financial model and distributed the 2026 Strategic Retreat Roadmap, a three-month initiative focused on strategic outcomes including economic growth, organizational effectiveness, built infrastructure, safe communities, beautification, and communications.
• Councilor Johnson reported that the Health, Social, and Environmental Affairs Committee met August 25, 2026, and received updates from Harvest Hope Food Bank, the Neighborhood Stormwater Greenspace Collaborative, and Palmetto Pride ambassador Joshua Croffie. Council approved a referral asking the committee to review stormwater lots, with an added request to develop a path forward for the Shandon-Rosewood stormwater projects within the next six months.

Public Input (Non-Agenda Items)

• Carmen Pendergrass shared her experiences seeking assistance at the Hope Recovery Center and asked the City to consider feedback from frontline staff and volunteers to improve service consistency for people overcoming homelessness; she left written questions with the Council.
• Wade Fulmer urged the City to close mid-block crosswalks in Five Points, citing safety hazards, obstructed views, and distracted drivers. The Mayor responded that the crosswalks were a community-driven project and that the information would be shared with DOT for re-evaluation.
• George Crouch supported pedestrian-safety improvements in the Assembly Street corridor but urged the City to consider creating a signature civic gateway with an iconic median design reflecting Columbia's identity.

Key Outcomes

• Agenda adopted unanimously; Item 21 deferred by a 6-1 vote.
• August 18, 2026 meeting minutes approved unanimously.
• Consent Agenda Items 3 through 18 approved unanimously.
• Ordinance No. 2026-077 approved unanimously on second reading with the parking-area amendment.
• Ordinance No. 2026-059 approved unanimously on first reading.
• Ordinances No. 2026-069, 2026-079, and 2026-080 approved unanimously on first reading.
• Resolutions R-2026-058, R-2026-061, R-2026-062, R-2026-063, R-2026-059, and R-2026-060 approved unanimously.
• Appointments approved unanimously: Vivian Clarke, Carolyn Gleaton, William Baker, Ralph McCarthy, Linda Ward, and Susan Kuo.
• Referral approving review of stormwater lots and a Shandon-Rosewood stormwater path forward approved unanimously.
• The meeting adjourned at 6:33 PM.