County cuts top limit for multi-family projects

COASTAL OBSERVER
December 12, 2024

Multifamily developments on Waccamaw Neck can have no more than five units an acre, unless they provide affordable housing, under a zoning change that received final approval from Georgetown County Council this week.

The change followed the adoption of an update to the land use element of the county’s comprehensive plan in July.

It reduces the maximum density for multi-family developments in the ”general residential” zoning district from 16 to five units an acre. The maximum number was limited to efficiency apartments and had never been used.

The updated land use element called for reducing the number to 12 units an acre. County Council member Stella Mercado proposed reducing that to five.

The county plans to start work next year rewriting its zoning ordinance. The reduction in multi-family density is a stopgap measure, Holly Richardson, the county planning director, said.

The limit doesn’t apply to single-family developments, which can have lots as small as 6,000 square feet (equal to 7.25 units an acre).

“Like it or not, higher density is required for affordable housing,” Richardson said. A ”density bonus” of two to four units is allowed if 20 percent of the project meets the criteria for affordability.