MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Tuesday Myrtle Beach city leaders will talk about amending the Market Common master plan.
Myrtle Beach City Council will have the first reading on a proposal from developers to convert 33 of the live and work units to 23 townhomes and convert 88 townhomes into 50 single family homes.
Ed Carey lives in The Market Common district, and he says he invested in the area nearly ten years ago.
He says he’s worried as more changes are added to the area, the vision he bought into is changing as well.
“They’ve done a lot of changes in the past, and they said they are going to blend them in, but they really haven’t,” said Carey.
The original master plan for The Market Common showed 2,018 residential units in an urban village with commercial property and parking throughout.
That plan has been changed nearly 20 times, but Myrtle Beach City Planning Director Carol Coleman says that’s not unusual for a project the size of The Market Common.
“Ideally, you get a master plan and you stick to it, but in this case I think it’s growing pains more than anything,” said Coleman.
Carey says he’s worried the new changes won’t blend in with the area surrounding it, and that the new homes will eliminate an estimated 100 parking spots that were in the master plan.
“If they build single family homes on that area that’s supposed to be a parking lot, we can’t get that back,” said Carey.
Coleman says she’s been to The Market Common during special events and noticed empty spaces in the parking garages, and says there is parking as long as you’re willing to walk to where you need to go.
“Parking is always a concern anywhere you go. If you have parking available, you want it to be convenient, but the situation we have here it this is an urban village, and an urban village is supposed to be sort of like an organically grown downtown area, and you’re not going to have perfect locations for parking but you want to have adequate parking available,” said Coleman.
City Council will have the first reading for the plans Tuesday.
Carey says he and some of his neighbors plan to be there to voice their concerns to council leaders.
Count on News13 to keep you updated.
