GEORGETOWN — Certain residential developments on the Waccamaw Neck would require at least half of their acreage contain open space if a proposal heard by the Georgetown County Planning Commission on May 26 ultimately clears the county council.
Georgetown County Councilman Bob Anderson originally approached county staff regarding ways to avoid residential density on the Waccamaw Neck, covering an area from the Horry-Georgetown county line to the northern border of Georgetown.
The proposal would require new developments in general residential zones of the Waccamaw Neck to comprise at least 50 percent open space if the development takes place on a tract three acres or larger and more than 10 lots or units of housing are planned.Â
The proposal was adapted from a recommendation made in a study of the U.S. Highway 17 corridor. It aims to alleviate density on the coastal peninsula framed by the Waccamaw River and the Atlantic Ocean, which saw 601 percent population growth between 1970 and 2010.
Concerns expressed by the Planning Commission included the suitability of targeting the Waccamaw Neck with such a proposal, instead of the entire county, and the effect an open space requirement would have on development of affordable housing.
"It tends to reason that the less they build, the more costly they are," county Planning Director Holly Richardson told Georgetown Times. "I mean, we're having issues with affordability, and everyone is. Certainly, the land prices on the Waccamaw Neck make an affordable housing development very difficult anyway."
The county does not have any requirements for open space in general residential developments, Richardson told the commission. The required open space, she said, could include a number of amenities, such as walking trails, stormwater retention ponds, utility easements and driveway access.
Commissioner Robert Davis said the proposal might be better off applied countywide instead of only on the Waccamaw Neck.
"Whatever benefits are going to come out of it, everyone will benefit," Davis said.
Commissioner Marla Hamby noted that the plans needs to accommodate ways to allow for affordable housing since the open-space rule could help drive up prices with construction of fewer homes.
"We need affordable housing, and I think that Councilman Anderson was trying to help the residents of the Waccamaw Neck by reducing the density that has occurred there, which is becoming, quite frankly, untenable," Hamby said.
A memo provided to the commission by Richardson also noted that an open space requirement would help preservation of the county's tree canopy and environmentally sensitive areas.
No action was taken on the proposal on May 26. Richardson said it will undergo a public hearing at the commission's June meeting.
