The South Carolina Freedom of Information Act has open-meetings requirements that apply to city and town councils, but these rules also apply to a variety of public bodies listed in SC Code Section 30-4-15 — including planning commissions, boards of architectural review and boards of zoning appeals.
Here’s several key legal requirements for planning boards to follow:
Annual notices and meeting notices
Each year, public bodies must give written notice of their regularly scheduled meetings, including the date, time and location. The notice must appear on a bulletin board in a publicly accessible place at the meeting space, as well as the municipality’s website, if any.
For individual meeting agendas, the public body must provide it to all those individuals, news outlets and organizations who request that the public body send the agendas to them, at least 24 hours before the meeting. These agendas must also be posted in a publicly accessible place at the meeting site, and on the website, if one is available.
Executive sessions
SC Code Section 30-4-70 narrowly defines the instances in which a public body may enter executive session. Not all of the allowable reasons are circumstances that are likely to apply to a planning board, but the list includes receipt of legal advice, which occurs with planning boards.
Before entering executive session, the public body must vote to do so, stating the purpose as specifically as possible along with the FOIA code section allowing it. The public body may not take action during the executive session, except to return to public session or adjourn.
Education requirements
South Carolina law requires every board, committee and commission appointee involved with local planning and zoning, as well as planning staff, to complete a mandatory 6-hour orientation training session, as well as complete three hours of continuing education credit each year. The SC Planning Education Advisory Committee recently updated their policies on continuing education, allowing planning staff to obtain certifications to host trainings without prior approval from the advisory committee.
SCPEAC has a full list of approved continuing education programs at www.scstatehouse.gov/SCPEAC. As an approved sponsor, the Municipal Association has a list of CE training resources that a municipal staff member can request access to for a group training session. Learn more about the Municipal Association’s trainings that can count toward the state’s requirements at www.masc.sc (keyword: planning and zoning training)
If the officials on planning boards do not complete these requirements, they may be removed from office. Similarly, professional employees engaged in planning activities who do not complete these education requirements may be removed from their positions.
Learn more about FOIA in the Public Official’s Guide to Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.