Tag: Pine Island

Thanks for the Memories Marion Foxworth

It was with great sadness that I watched Councilman Marion Foxworth participate in his final Horry County Council meeting Tuesday night.

With all due respect to other present and former council members, no one brought to the council dais the level of knowledge about Horry County history and the way government works as Foxworth has.

Foxworth is a master politician. Staying true to his Democratic Party roots, during a time when Horry County was moving ever more to the Republican column, he was targeted for defeat in every election campaign he ran by a succession of Horry County Republican Party chairmen.

It made no difference. Foxworth was first elected to county council in a special election in 2002 and successively re-elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

During his over 13 years of service on council, he proved himself to be more fiscally conservative than his Republican colleagues. I believe the only tax increase he voted for during his entire council service was the six-tenths of one mil for funding Coast RTA, but only after it was approved by voters in an advisory referendum.

When it came to the massive 6 mil fire fund increase in FY 2015 and 7.2 mil general fund increase in FY 2016, Foxworth was firmly in the NO column.

Horry County ZBA Reverses Thompkins Decision

At its regular meeting May 11, 2015, the Horry County ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) reversed a decision to allow DT LLC to accept third party C&D debris for crushing at its Pine Island site.

The board voted 5-3 at its April 13, 2015 meeting that an “acceptable accessory use of the applicant (DT LLC) made the acceptance of outside (third party) loads of recoverable materials” permissible.

The April vote overturned a decision by the Horry County Zoning Administrator that accepting third party recoverable materials was not an acceptable accessory use.

Controversy Grows for Horry County ZBA

The Horry County ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) is currently at the center of a growing controversy centered on the Pine Island community.

After hearing testimony over three months, the Horry County ZBA overturned a ruling by the Horry County Zoning Administrator with respect to DT LLC, a long time business in the Pine Island area owned by the Thompkins family currently run by Dennis Thompkins.

Normally members of the public are unaware of a zoning board of appeals decision unless it directly affects their property. The Horry County ZBA has quasi-judicial duties that require those speaking on either side of an issue to be sworn in.