Roll call

Representatives for Judge Matthew and Perry Jr.,Mayor Bob Coble , Gloria James, and members of Columbia City Council. Columbia City Council convened at 9 a.m. Wednesday, August 15, on the third floor of City Hall. All council members were present: Daniel Rickenmann, Sam Davis, E.W. Cromartie, Mayor Bob Coble, Anne Sinclair, Tameika Isaac Devine, and Kirkman Finlay III.

Judge Perry

Gloria James, second vice president of the board of trustees at the Historic Columbia Foundation, and Mayor Bob Coble presented representatives of Federal Judge Matthew J. Perry, Jr., a proclamation commemorating the judge's place in the city, the country, and the law.

City's favorite

Vincent Simonowicz, the city's director of informa- tion technology, introduced Tony Westmoreland as the city's August Employee of the Month. Westmoreland works in the COC- IT/GIS division, which he single- handedly started three years ago.

Economic development

Reba Campbell presented the city with the 2007 Community Economic Development Achievement Award, as granted by the Municipal Association of S.C. Joel Stevenson manages the business incubator which was the attraction for the award. Trees

Mayor Bob Coble, Dr. Harris Pastides, Jim Gambrell, and Reba Campbell. Jimmy Walters of the S.C. Forestry Commission recognized Columbia as a Tree City USA.

Bicycles

Natalie Cappuccio Britt of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition led the discussion of Columbia's becoming a bicycle- friendly city. But the progress in Portland, Or. was the most illustrated, implying the Portland paradigm for Columbia.

Public Hearing - News Racks

The city had considered organizing sidewalk newspaper dispensers in an orderly fashion, maybe even erecting its own boxes and renting access to newspapers, somewhat on the order of what Charleston tried 10 years ago. The objections came for all corners of the Fourth Estate, particularly in the voice of press lawyer Jay Bender, who appeared before council. Council asked Bender to organize a task force for a presentation before council in 60 days. Bender's task force should have the resolution in hand by then.

Jay BenderSubdivisions, McMansions, and Demolitions

Mark Mylott, the city's director of development services, walked council through three issues: (1) The practice of subdividing new residential lots form existing residential lots where the existing lot is at least twice the size of the minimum lot size for the underlying zoning district; (2) the practice of constructing houses that exceed the size of houses within the surrounding neighborhood; and (3) the practice of demolishing a large house upon a large lot, and the resulting subdivision of that lot into many new residential lots. Council agreed to a public hearing on Sept. 5. By then a task force suggested by Coble could come forward with recommendations on how to handle two major issues, demolition and subdivision. No one mentioned moving houses off lots, but that may well fall under the demolition issue. Coble recommended the task force be composed of homebuilders , neighborhood representatives, members of city staff and city council, and historic preservationists. Council voted to authorize the task force and its presentation on September 5.

Next meeting

Council meets on Wednesday, September 5, at 9 am on the third floor of City Hall, corner of Laurel and Main.

Tony Westmoreland,Mayor Bob Coble, and members of the City's information technology team.