COASTAL OBSERVER

The group seeking to create a new town in Pawleys Island and Litchfield hopes that information sent to Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver this week will lead to an agreement over law enforcement for the town.

Weaver sent the Pawleys Litchfield Municipal Study Group a list of questions in August in response to the group’s proposal that police protection in the new town would continue to be provided through the sheriff’s office. Weaver previously disputed that claim and told the study group that he wanted to see their “Plan B” for law enforcement.

Andy Hallock, who chairs the study group, said there is no Plan B.

The study group is preparing documents to submit to the S.C. Secretary of State to hold a referendum on the creation of a new town between Brookgreen Gardens and DeBordieu, an area that encompases the 29585 ZIP code.

The effort is in response to Georgetown County’s approval last year of a new land use plan that critics say will increase the residential density of Waccamaw Neck as a whole and the study area in particular.

The town would provide planning and zoning services, but contract for other services or continue to use existing county services, under the proposal that the study group began presenting to residents in May.

The state law that governs the incorporation process requires a feasibilty study and “a proposal for providing either directly or indirectly a substantially similar level of law enforcement services to the area’s existing law enforcement coverage.”

In other incorporation efforts, that has been done with a letter from the county sheriff, who under the state constitution is the chief law enforcement officer.

“He’s very important to the process,” Hallock said.

Weaver’s questions covered town operations, he said. The answers were prepared by the Columbia law firm that is helping the study group with the process. They were delivered Monday to the Georgetown County attorney, Jay Watson.

Hallock said he wanted to check with the group’s lawyers before releasing the questions or the answers.

At a meeting this week hosted by St. John AME Church in Parkersville, County Council Member Bob Anderson told the audience of about 100 residents that a new town will need its own police department.

There are already three municipalities in the county with police departments. “They’re going to sue us and want to have that done for nothing,” Anderson said.

He also said the new town needs to plan for public works and a municipal court, which aren’t included in the financial plan that the study has presented to residents at a series of community meetings.

At a meeting with residents of The Reserve community in Willbrook this week, Hallock alluded to Anderson’s claim about a police department.

“It’s wrong,” he said.

Hallock and other members of the study group were in the audience at St. John AME. The Rev. Dr. Norvel Goff, the church pastor, said the goal was to get information about the proposed town in addition to what was presented to residents of the Parkersville community by the study group in August.

In addition to his church work, Goff served as the majority leader of the City Council in Hartford, Conn.

“We have a right to hear from all sides and then make a decision,” Goff said. “If we’re going to tax our people out of this community, we ought to have a say-so.”

The study group’s plan doesn’t include a municipal property tax. Revenue will come from a share of the state tax on insurance premiums, state revenue sharing and accommodations taxes.

Along with Anderson, speakers at St. John included Council Members Stella Mercado and Louis Morant along with County Administrator Angela Christian and Vincent Davis, president of the Pawleys Island Civic Club.

Davis said the civic club, which has worked in the community for decades, opposes incorporation. Multi-use paths on Martin Luther King Road and Petigru Drive are due for funding through a county capital project sales tax, and the club doesn’t want to lose momentum on community improvements, he said.

At the same time, residents in the traditionally-Black Parkersville community are concerned about new developments built or planned for vacant tracts in the area. They said the county ignored their pleas to deny approval for some of those projects.

“It’s painful to me to see that there is no real desire to bless the people who grew up here,” said Demarco Thomas. “If you are listening, the question becomes who are you listening to?”

Alice Young shared a concern with proponents of incorporation. “We’re not getting the representation we need in Pawleys Island,” she said. “We need to start thinking about who we put in office.”

But she said incorporation will mean “more money out of your pocket for taxes.”

Mercado pointed out that the county reduced the top density of multifamily developments allowed in the zoning ordinance from 16 to five units an acre as soon as it adopted a new land use plan.

“I do see you,” she said.

She has a day-long open house scheduled Monday at the rec center in Parkersville.

Mercado said she doesn’t support incorporation based on what she has seen. She lives in The Reserve, but didn’t attend this week’s presentation because the council was meeting at the same time.

She said that she wants to see the actual feasibility study.

Hallock said that’s 90 percent complete, but said Mercado’s claim that the study group doesn’t have a plan “is ridiculous.”

Goff plans to hold another meeting at St. John AME for the study group to make a presentation and answer questions. Hallock said the group would consider that and noted that it will continue to hold community meetings.

Goff said he also plans to have Weaver at a community meeting. The sheriff was invited to this week’s event, but had a conflict, Goff said.