During the Irmo Town Council regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 19th tthe town council adopted the first reading of a hate crimes ordinance that would add an enhanced charge for intimidation to the current list of offenses and provisions in the town code where hate is a motivating factor. “Only half of our town is covered by a county hate crime law”, said Councilwoman Phyllis Coleman. “We need to offer it to everyone in our town.” Coleman was referring to the hate crimes law already established in Richland County. Lexington County has yet add one.
A public hearing along with second and final reading will be held on Sept. 16.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states to not have a statewide hate crimes law.
The town passed first reading on an annexation of three properties totaling 18.92 acres into the Town of Irmo. These properties are southeast of the Walgreens at the corner of Dreher Shoals Road and Dutch Fork Road and would change their zoning to General Commercial from Homestead and Residential Transition.
The town put a restriction on a new fast food restaurant in the form of a ten thousand dollar bond to ensure that they construct a required traffic island median adjacent to their store once SCDOT is done realigning Dutch Fork Road. The new Chipotle is located at 1079 Dutch Fork Road and will be refunded the bond once the construction is completed.
The town appointed Eric Hoh to the Board of Zoning Appeals to serve for a term ending in March 2029.
The town also appointed Owillinda Brooker to the Accommodations Tax Committee for a term expiring June 30, 2028. The committee distributes accomodation taxes to applicants and only meets once a year.
Midlands Family Chiropractic owner, Dr. Matt Boyeson, gave a presentation about the District Five Foundation for Educational Excellence. Boyeson serves as co-chair for the organization that raises funds to help supplement the Snack Pack program along with providing needed supplies to teachers and classrooms. “The foundation is about unity,” said Dr. Boyeson. “We raised $140,000 for the Snack Park program alone so that these children in our district will not go hungry.”
Tide Law Firm was recognized as the August 2025 Small Business of the Month. Richland County councilman and owner of the firm, Jason Branham, received the award. “I’m grateful to be a part of this wonderful Irmo community,” said Branham.
The council honored the Irmo Little League’s Seniors Baseball, Intermediate Baseball and Juniors Softball teams all of which made it to the Little League World Series this year. “These are tremendous athletes,” said Mayor Bill Danielson. “We could not be more proud that they represent our town of Irmo.” The council presented trophies to the athletes of which four teams made it to the series. Eight hundred children participated in Irmo Little League this year.
