COASTAL OBSERVER

A proposed zoning change that would allow development of a convenience store and gas station at the entrance to North Litchfield is due to be withdraw after attracting opposition from area residents.

The 6.7 acres at the corner of Highway 17 and Boyle Drive is currently zoned “neighborhood commercial.” The owner, Edward Floyd, sought a change to “general commercial.”

The Litchfield Beaches Property Owners Association was told last year that the change was for construction of “a high-end convenience store,” said Kevin Corrigan, the association president.

“Of course LBPOA’s going to fight that,” he said.

Paul Holder of Carolina Holdings, a commercial real estate firm, notified the Georgetown County planning staff on Friday that he planned to withdraw the request, which was scheduled for a hearing before the Planning Commission on Jan. 15.

“In light of some community feedback (unfortunately a good bit of misinformation and some purposeful misinformation) with the short amount of time we have to respond and communicate to the public, I do think we need to withdraw,” he said in an email to the staff. He added that it would be shelved “for now.”

Georgetown County has already received several letters opposing the change, said Holly Richardson, the county planning director.

Since the request was for a zoning change not a planned development, no site plan was required, she said.

“We believe with the County’s approved future land development plan, General Commercial best represents the possible future users for this property,” according to the application.

Holder met last summer with the former association president, John Martin, to get his reaction to the proposal and spoke with the full board last fall.

“Not only are we not supporting it, it is the last thing we want,” Corrigan said.

Holder told the POA board that there were two companies interested in the site, and that one was like Parker’s Kitchen, a chain with two stores in Georgetown and one in Garden City, according to Corrigan.

In 2023, residents in communities along Highway 17 in Litchfield organized opposition to a plan by the Maryland-based convenience store chain Royal Farms to build a store at the intersection of Ford Road. While that property was already zoned “general commercial” neighbors challenged the project’s state stormwater permit and lobbied the company to withdraw.

The plan was dropped.

The Boyle Drive property would have required zoning approval from County Council.

“I’m not a fan,” said Council Member Stella Mercado, whose district includes North Litchfield. “It’s neighborhood commercial, and I’m not supportive of that changing.”

She had already received emails from constituents opposing the rezoning, she said.

The property was zoned in 2002 as a “planned development” based on the low-intensity “neighborhood commercial” uses, such as retail and offices. One condition of the planned development was that access come from Highway 17 across a neighboring tract.

After Floyd and his son bought the property in 2005, they sought an amendment to allow access from Boyle Drive. The POA opposed that, but the council approved it after being told there was no longer an option for direct highway access.

Traffic remains a concern. “Boyle is the most heavily used access point to get to the beach,” said Blair MacLachlan, president of the Waccamaw Trace POA. A convenience store will only add to congestion during the peak season, he added.

His board also opposes a convenience store.

“It changes the nature of our community significantly. That’s what’s most concerning to people, I think,” MacLachlan said. “It’s a quality of life issue.”