COASTAL OBSERVER

A plan to cut the top residential density allowed by Georgetown County’s zoning ordinance from 16 to 12 units an acre was postponed this week. The county is now on track to cut the top density to five units on the Waccamaw Neck.

If that is approved, the only way to develop a high density development, one with over five units an acre, will be through “planned development” or “flexible design district” zoning. Those require public hearings and approval by County Council.

The proposed change would affect the “general residential” zoning district, which allows multifamily development and was a focus of the update to the county’s future land use plan adopted in July.

Following that vote, Council Member Stella Mercado asked the planning staff to draft a revision to the general residential requirements to cut the top density to 12 to reflect changes to the land use plan.

After approval from the Planning Commission, that change was up for a vote by County Council this week.

Council Member Bob Anderson urged his colleagues before the meeting to further reduce the general residential density to five units and set the minimum lot size for single-family homes at a quarter acre, or 10,890 square feet. It is currently 6,000 square feet.

Cindy Person, chief counsel for Keep It Green Advocacy, told the council that the change from 16 to 12 units was “a meaningless gesture to residents of the minority Parkersville community.”

She represents the plaintiffs in three lawsuits challenging multi-family development in the traditional African-American neighborhood. Those suits argue that the general residential zoning conflicts with the medium density designation in the county’s future land use maps. The cap on medium density is five units an acre.

“There are already a number of lawsuits pending,” Person reminded the council. “This still will not correct the problem.”

She urged the council to adopt an earlier proposal by Anderson that would require multifamily development and large single-family subdivisions to comply with the density contained in the future land use maps.

Johnny Ford, a Parkersville resident and a plaintiff in the suits, told the council “it’s kind of disheartening what’s happening to the minority community.”

He asked the council to do something.

When the change came up for a vote, Mercado asked “what would it take to update this?”

The change from 16 units to five would represent a reduction of more than two thirds, Holly Richardson, the county planning director, said.

“That’s a significant enough change that it would need to be advertised” for a public hearing, she said.

Jay Watson, the county attorney, agreed that the change would need to be reviewed by the Planning Commission. Whether the reduction could be limited to the Waccamaw Neck would require further study, he said.

Most of the land zoned general residential in the county is on the Waccamaw Neck.

Mercado made the motion to send the measure back to the Planning Commission for a further cut. Council Member Clint Elliott, who like Mercado has drawn criticism for previous votes on land use issues, offered the second.

The vote was 7-0.

“This was always my plan,” Mercado said afterward. “We’ve got to update the land use plan to update the zoning.”

The unanimous vote was significant because it shows that the council can work together, she added.

“I got more votes than I thought,” Anderson said afterward. “It was a milestone for me.”

He said he still wants to reduce the minimum lot size, but was happy to take the win on an issue where he has failed to win support in the past.

“I didn’t expect this, which is excellent for Parkersville and Murrells Inlet,” Person said following the vote. “High density is going into all these medium density areas.”

The commission is due to take up the reduced density in October. It could receive three readings from the council by the end of the year.

The county also expects to start rewriting the zoning ordinance to conform with the new future land use plan, part of the county’s comprehensive plan. Once the general residential density is changed, there will be no zoning for new high density residential development under the current ordinance.

The future land use plan envisions zoning districts that would allow up to 12 units an acre, but those will have to be adopted as part of the zoning ordinance before they can be put to use. That could take up to a year, Mercado said.

“That was my issue. We have this big time gap,” she said. This week’s vote to change general residential density “is how we address that gap.”