HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Carolina Forest is one of the fastest growing residential areas in Horry County, but county leaders want to temporarily change that.
Horry County councilmen want to stop the construction of new homes in Carolina Forest, until Ride III road projects in the area are complete. “It seems we’re always behind our infrastructure needs when we’re doing all this development. Development is going crazy in Horry County right now,” said Councilman Johnny Vaught.
He is helping draft a resolution that would prohibit rezonings for new housing developments. Commercial developments would not be affected. “We’re trying to come up with a way to put a throttle on it, if you will, rather than just let it go unrestrained and wide open,” Vaught said. He and other county leaders haven’t set an exact timeline on the proposed moratorium, but want to at least wait until Carolina Forest Boulevard expands to four lanes. According to this Ride III project list, the county expects that project to finish in December of 2018.
“I don’t know how they can hold everybody else up for something they haven’t done,” said Hal Dixon, co-owner of Flagship Construction in Myrtle Beach. His company is currently building a new subdivision in Carolina Forest. “It’s gonna slow things down,” he said of the proposed resolution. “That’s one of the few places left where we can really grow in this area.”
Dixon also said delaying new residential development would also be bad news for home buyers. “Carolina Forest, the people that want to be there, want to be there. So I think it would drive up the prices on the existing homes.”
Vaught says the restriction wouldn’t apply to any developments the county has already approved. He feels the proposed moratorium is what Carolina Forest residents have asked for. “Hopefully they’ll realize that council is doing something about it. We’re trying to show them that yeah we’re listening,” he said.
Vaught said Horry County Council will likely discuss the resolution at its meeting on November 14th.