Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2015

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of the community through proper planning.”
He added that Farrell’s job is “tremendously difficult.”
She and her 30 employees face a wide range of responsibil-
ities that include building inspections, making recommen-
dations on rezoning property, issuing building permits and
providing valuable input to the town council for Mount
Pleasant’s Comprehensive Plan, a document that “pro-
vides a framework for future growth and development and
serves as the foundation for zoning and planning for the
town,” according to Mount Pleasant’s website. The 10-year
plan, mandated by the state, was updated during its fifth
year in 2014.
Though Farrell and her staff play many roles in making
sure Mount Pleasant grows at a steady but reasonable rate,
one of their most important jobs is to provide input on new
neighborhoods. Several entities are involved in the process
before the town council makes the final decision, and many
of the people who say yes or no depend on information
gathered and analyzed by Planning Department employees.
For instance, let’s say a developer wants to build a com-
munity in Mount Pleasant. Its request would first go to the
Planning Department, which would review the details and
provide recommendations for the Planning Commission
and, eventually, for the entire town council.
The Planning Commission, consisting of nine local
residents appointed by the council and serving without
pay, studies the plan and gives its opinion to the council’s
Planning Committee, whose current members are Thoma-
sena Stokes-Marshall, Elton Carrier, Chris O’Neal and
Mark Smith. The final step is for the full council to grant
its approval or turn down the developer. The process usu-
ally takes around three-and-a-half months, “if it’s relatively
straightforward,” Farrell pointed out. For larger develop-
ments that require an impact assessment, a study of how
the new development could affect the town in a variety of
ways, it might take four or five months.
The most important factors that are considered are how
the new development will affect the flow of both drainage
and traffic – where will the stormwater go and will, for
example, 250 new homes require wider roads, more turn
lanes and additional traffic signals.
“With drainage, we review water quality and water
quantity,” Farrell explained. “What we review with new
developments is that the post-development rate of flow
cannot exceed the pre-development rate of flow.”
In other words, the Planning Department must make sure