(A) The local planning commission shall recommend to the governmental entity a capital improvements plan which may be adopted by the governmental entity by ordinance. The recommendations of the commission are not binding on the governmental entity, which may amend or alter the plan. After reasonable public notice, a public hearing must be held before final action to adopt the ordinance approving the capital improvements plan. The notice must be published not less than thirty days before the time of the hearing in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county. The notice must advise the public of the time and place of the hearing, that a copy of the capital improvements plan is available for public inspection in the offices of the governmental entity, and that members of the public will be given an opportunity to be heard.

(B) The capital improvements plan must contain:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 6-1-960

  • Capital improvements: means improvements with a useful life of five years or more, by new construction or other action, which increase or increased the service capacity of a public facility. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Capital improvements plan: means a plan that identifies capital improvements for which development impact fees may be used as a funding source. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Development: means construction or installation of a new building or structure, or a change in use of a building or structure, any of which creates additional demand and need for public facilities. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Governmental entity: means a county, as provided in Chapter 9 of Title 4, and a municipality, as defined in § 5-1-20. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Land use assumptions: means a description of the service area and projections of land uses, densities, intensities, and population in the service area over at least a ten-year period. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Level of service: means a measure of the relationship between service capacity and service demand for public facilities. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Local planning commission: means the entity created pursuant to Article 1, Chapter 29 of Title 6. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Public facilities: means :

    (a) water supply production, treatment, laboratory, engineering, administration, storage, and transmission facilities;

    (b) wastewater collection, treatment, laboratory, engineering, administration, and disposal facilities;

    (c) solid waste and recycling collection, treatment, and disposal facilities;

    (d) roads, streets, and bridges including, but not limited to, rights-of-way and traffic signals;

    (e) storm water transmission, retention, detention, treatment, and disposal facilities and flood control facilities;

    (f) public safety facilities, including law enforcement, fire, emergency medical and rescue, and street lighting facilities;

    (g) capital equipment and vehicles, with an individual unit purchase price of not less than one hundred thousand dollars including, but not limited to, equipment and vehicles used in the delivery of public safety services, emergency preparedness services, collection and disposal of solid waste, and storm water management and control;

    (h) parks, libraries, and recreational facilities;

    (i) public education facilities for grades K-12 including, but not limited to, schools, offices, classrooms, parking areas, playgrounds, libraries, cafeterias, gymnasiums, health and music rooms, computer and science laboratories, and other facilities considered necessary for the proper public education of the state's children. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Service area: means , based on sound planning or engineering principles, or both, a defined geographic area in which specific public facilities provide service to development within the area defined. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • Service unit: means a standardized measure of consumption, use, generation, or discharge attributable to an individual unit of development calculated in accordance with generally accepted engineering or planning standards for a particular category of capital improvements. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920
  • System improvements: means capital improvements to public facilities which are designed to provide service to a service area. See South Carolina Code 6-1-920

(1) a general description of all existing public facilities, and their existing deficiencies, within the service area or areas of the governmental entity, a reasonable estimate of all costs, and a plan to develop the funding resources, including existing sources of revenues, related to curing the existing deficiencies including, but not limited to, the upgrading, updating, improving, expanding, or replacing of these facilities to meet existing needs and usage;

(2) an analysis of the total capacity, the level of current usage, and commitments for usage of capacity of existing public facilities, which must be prepared by a qualified professional using generally accepted principles and professional standards;

(3) a description of the land use assumptions;

(4) a definitive table establishing the specific service unit for each category of system improvements and an equivalency or conversion table establishing the ratio of a service unit to various types of land uses, including residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial, as appropriate;

(5) a description of all system improvements and their costs necessitated by and attributable to new development in the service area, based on the approved land use assumptions, to provide a level of service not to exceed the level of service currently existing in the community or service area, unless a different or higher level of service is required by law, court order, or safety consideration;

(6) the total number of service units necessitated by and attributable to new development within the service area based on the land use assumptions and calculated in accordance with generally accepted engineering or planning criteria;

(7) the projected demand for system improvements required by new service units projected over a reasonable period of time not to exceed twenty years;

(8) identification of all sources and levels of funding available to the governmental entity for the financing of the system improvements; and

(9) a schedule setting forth estimated dates for commencing and completing construction of all improvements identified in the capital improvements plan.

(C) Changes in the capital improvements plan must be approved in the same manner as approval of the original plan.

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