July 16, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the July 16, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

Commissioners Gohagan and Dougan were present. Commissioner Gohagan was sworn in as the temporary Presiding Commissioner for the meeting by a representative from the County Clerk’s Office.

The first agenda item was “Wastewater Variance Board Appointment.”

Eric Folks was nominated unanimously to replace Alan Parker on the board. As is the county tradition with most appointees, he made a half-hearted effort to avoid the appointment, but was eventually seized by the deputy, pinned down, and appointed.

The second agenda item was “First Public Hearing to reduce the speed limit on Mimosa Beach Drive.”

Nobody was present at the meeting for or against this speed limit reduction. Mimosa Drive is apparently pretty tame despite its name.

The third agenda item was “First Public Hearing to add a yield sign at the intersection Little Island Lane and Little Island Drive.”

A resident was present to speak for the addition of a yield sign. He said the intersection of the road is dangerous because people drive too fast to get up the hill on Little Island Lane and they don’t stop to check for traffic. There used to be a yield sign there, but someone stole it (Probably someone from Fulton).

There is no record of the yield sign ever being installed so the Commission will have to go through the road hearing process before the sign can be installed.

Nobody from Fulton was present to oppose the proposed yield sign.

The fourth agenda item was “Planning and Zoning Hearing: PZ26-0085 Lucas Hamm- Rezone B-2 to R-1.”

Lucas Hamm wanted to re-zone his property from B-2 to R-1. Nobody, including Hamm, was present. B-2 to R-1 re-zones are rarely controversial, so the Commission voted to approve the change.

The fifth agenda item was “Rewrite A-1 and Appendix L.”

This item was presented by Stacy Shore and Kris Franken who are both members of the Uniform Land Use Code (ULUC) re-write committee.

Section 904 A-1 Agriculture covers the A-1 Agricultural code.

The committee proposed changes to how the A-1 code addressed airports and wineries/event centers.

The new version would give airports the ability to build zero-lot hangars that could be sold or leased to private parties. There would be restrictions to prevent the hangars from being used for residential purposes. Airports were also added to the Principal Permitted Uses section.

Wineries, event centers, associated onsite sales, and wedding venues were moved from Principal Permitted Uses to the Conditional Use Permit portion of A-1.

References to the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) ordinance were removed since the Commission revoked that ordinance. It was also noted on the new section that quarries and mining operations are principal uses under Industrial I-1 zoning.

It seemed like they put a lot of work into the ULUC changes and it’s clear that Sarah Lipp, the new real estate attorney for the county, has been doing an excellent job of advising the committee.

The County Attorney recommended that the Commission table approval of the section so both he and Presiding Commissioner Skelton could have time to carefully review it.

The Commission voted unanimously to table the approval of the changes.

Appendix L is a new appendix of the ULUC that covers data centers.

I’m not going to go over this portion in excruciating detail. I’ll give you the broad strokes.

The appendix classifies data centers as Micro, Small, Medium, Large, or Hyperscale. These sizes are determined by either square footage or energy usage. Annual compliance reports are required and all reports will be publicly disclosed. The approval process involves quite a few agreements and permits including a majority of registered voters in a county-wide referendum (paid for by the applicant).

Data centers are required to have a year’s worth of water stored at the facility and they have to conform with rules regarding where they get their water from. In the event of drought, data centers will face escalating fees for water consumption.

The structures will have to meet EMF, vibration, and sound specifications. Waste disposal is heavily regulated. They will also have pre-build bonding requirements for any potential environmental cleanup should the site be abandoned.

Overall, the appendix is probably everything somebody who is concerned about data centers might desire. It is exhaustive. In fact, it makes it hard to imagine that anyone would want to build a data center within the Planning and Zoning District.

Blake Hodits from MO Lake Development, LLC was not a big fan of the proposed Appendix L. He filed his list of questions with the Commission and asked that the Commission not approve Appendix L at this meeting. Since the Commission intended to wait until a later meeting to give everyone a chance to review the proposed ULUC changes, there was no objection to his request.

And that was that.