COASTAL OBSERVER
February 20, 2025

To the editor,

Gary Weinreich’s diatribe last week in this newspaper about county council was disappointing in its lack of factual accuracy, particularly as it relates to the county land use plan and his assertion that it “greatly increases density and development.”

It’s just not true.

Last July, county council adopted a land use plan and future land use map, after significant public input, that slashed development density by 50 percent compared to existing zoning on the Waccamaw Neck. The plan and map maintain existing neighborhoods as low to medium density, down zone 1,000 acres of General Residential property, maintain the existing building height limit, and protect golf courses from redevelopment, among other meaningful measures designed to protect our quality of life.

This newspaper wrote extensively about adoption of the land use plan and how it reduces development density. A July Coastal Observer editorial about the land use plan stated: “Either the proposed [land use] element or the current element will cut future residential development by half of what the current zoning allows.”

Go to the “Comprehensive Plan” page at www.gtcounty.org and get the facts.

County council is in the process of rewriting the zoning ordinance to include the policies contained in the land use plan. But to protect our quality of life in the interim, County Council members Stella Mercado and Clint Elliott led a successful effort to reduce multi-family density by 70 percent (16 units per acre to 5 units) on the Waccamaw Neck.

Elliott led a successful effort to amend the future land use map to down zone 76 acres around the Bypass 17-Highway 707 interchange from high density to medium in response to citizen concerns.

Weinreich asserted that county council was “tone deaf” to the priorities of Waccamaw Neck residents concerning council’s goals at its recent planning retreat.

Not true.

At the retreat, Mercado led an effort to start an immediate amendment to the zoning ordinance to protect golf courses from redevelopment, which is a priority for residents, especially if they live in neighborhoods with golf courses. This issue has gained urgency in the face of golf course closures and redevelopment in Horry County.

County council also set these goals at the retreat: pursuit of another Local Option Sales Tax referendum, a tax which would be offset with property tax credits, more competitive pay for county employees to curb employee turnover, a business license fee, and an update of the county’s beachfront management plan, certainly a priority for the Waccamaw Neck.

Weinreich had the audacity to criticize county council for not “improving traffic congestion” at the Bypass 17-Highway 707 interchange, when in fact County Council Chair Clint Elliott was successful in taking action to address this failing interchange between state and federal roads.

Elliott at his first Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Policy Committee meeting on Feb. 7 helped get the interchange added to the all-important regional project list and secured a $1.5 million study of the interchange that will speed approval of an improvement plan.

Facts do matter.

I appreciate the efforts of county council to protect our quality of life and particularly the efforts of my County Councilman Clint Elliott.

I’m also appreciative of the fact that for the first time both the county council chair and vice- chair (Mercado) are from the Waccamaw Neck in leadership positions that will have a big impact on enacting our priorities.

Keep up the good work.

Preston Edwards
Murrells Inlet