§ 5-6. M-2, Heavy industrial district:

It is the intent of the M-2 zoning district to provide areas for commercial, manufacturing, storage, and transportation-related activities within the city.

(a)

Permitted uses: The following uses shall be permitted in the M-2 zoning district:

1.

Industrial uses and processing plants;

2.

Bulk storage of petroleum or any products thereof;

3.

Transportation facilities incidental to and required for such uses including railroad yards and docks.

4.

Dance halls, taverns or clubs.

(b)

Conditional uses: The following uses shall be permitted on a conditional basis in any M-2 zoning district subject to the stated conditions:

1.

Uses permitted in the B-2 zoning district excluding single-family dwellings, multi-family dwellings, town or row houses, mobile homes and mobile home parks. These uses are permitted on the condition that the property is not located in the Noise or Accident Potential Zones associated with Charleston Air Force Base. The proposed use and location shall be submitted to the zoning administrator, who shall determine the compatibility based on the proposed use and location of the property.

2.

Open storage of junk or salvage materials or processing or recycling of such materials, provided that such uses are enclosed and separated from any adjoining uses or public or private rights-of-way, excluding points of ingress or egress, by a fence or wall at least eight (8) feet in height and screened with vegetative material sufficient to conceal all such uses from public view.

3.

Unmounted container storage facilities, whether temporary or permanent, under the following conditions:

A.

Facilities with no stacked containers may be established on M-2 zoned parcels so long as the facility complies with the following:

a.

In addition to any other setbacks established in the building and zoning codes there shall also be a minimum ten-foot setback area in which no truck, trailer, chassis or container parking shall occur twenty-five (25) feet from the front property line; and

b.

Areas of the parcel on which truck/trailer/chassis/container parking occur shall be screened by an eight-foot opaque fence or wall in addition to any other buffering or screening requirements set forth elsewhere in this ordinance, provided, however, that the provisions required herein shall be waived along boundaries where the parcel adjoins another parcel with like zoning. Retroactive installation of the screening described herein shall not be required where a parking area has been lawfully established without the need for the buffering/screening described herein and a subsequent change in zoning/use occurs with respect to an adjoining parcel; and

c.

A site plan has been submitted to and approved by the planning and zoning department showing:

i.

The size of the subject parcel;

ii.

The area(s) to be used for container storage, including required setbacks from property lines; and

iii.

The specifications for the required opaque screening present and/or to be provided.

B.

Facilities with stacked containers may be established on M-2 zoned parcels only after Council, after public notice and hearing, grants approval to a detailed container stacking plan based on findings that:

a.

The proposed stacking will not substantially injure the actual or permitted uses of the neighboring or nearby properties;

b.

The proposed container stacks, except for points of ingress or egress, will be reasonably screened from view. For purposes of this requirement screening shall be accomplished by opaque planting, a berm, a fence, or a wall. Such screening shall in no event be less than eight (8) feet in height above finished grade.

This sub-section is not intended to limit or otherwise regulate the use of shipping containers/trailers as on-site storage in accordance with the provisions of Section 4-8(e)(2).

4.

Uses involving the processing of solid bulk materials stored in the open.

5.

Gambling cruise vessels and gambling cruise vessel support activities, provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

The dock/pier/wharf for such use is on a privately owned parcel that fronts the Cooper River and is located to the South of the City's Riverfront Park and Base Memorial.

b.

The dock, terminal and parking facilities for such uses are located at least one thousand (1,000) feet from any:

(1)

Church, synagogue, mosque or other place of organized group worship; and

(2)

Any property on which a public or private elementary or secondary school is located.

For the purposes of these gambling cruise regulations, the one thousand (1,000) foot measurement shall be made in a straight line without regard to intervening structures, between the closest part of the dock and/or terminal wall associated with the gambling cruise vessel and the property line of any use listed above.

c.

Submittal of a site lighting plan in keeping with the provisions of Article IV, Section 4-17.

d.

Submittal of a site signage plan meeting the requirements of the Article VIII, Section 8-11.

e.

Submittal of a parking and interior circulation plan in keeping with the following:

(1)

Off-street parking is provided at a ratio of one (1) space for every fifty (50) square feet of boat floor/deck space.

(2)

Adequate parking must be provided separately for each departure. (For example, a boat with one thousand (1,000) square feet of floor/deck space that makes two (2) departures a day would be required to provide forty (40) parking spaces.)

(3)

If more than one (1) boat is served from the same facility, parking must be calculated separately for each boat.

(4)

Parking may be provided off-site, provided that (a) such off-site location is within two thousand (2,000) feet of the embarkation/debarkation terminal; (b) the applicant has a lease for use of the off-site parking site that features a term equal to the lesser of five (5) years or the length of the lease term (if any) associated with the gambling cruise vessel's dock/wharf/pier facility; (c) termination of the use must cease immediately at any time at which the approved parking facility becomes unavailable or inadequate and operations may not recommence until an alternate parking and interior circulation plan has been approved.

f.

Submittal of a buffering and landscaping plan in accordance with city ordinance requirements.

(Ord. No. 1990-34, 6-28-90; Ord. No. 1992-37, § 1, 10-8-92; Ord. No. 1995-59, 11-11-95; Ord. No. 2006-49, 7-25-06; Ord. No. 2006-51, 7-25-06; Ord. No. 2010-013, 2-25-2010; Ord. No. 2010-044, 7-22-2010; Ord. No. 2010-071, 10-28-2010; Ord. No. 2017-034, 5-25-2017)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 2010-071, adopted Oct. 28, 2010, set out provisions intended for use as § 5-6(b)2. For purposes of classification, and at the editor's discretion, these provisions have been included as § 5-6(b)5.