Author: Paul Gable

International Drive Talks Fail

Talks between Horry County officials and representatives from environmental groups over the International Drive project came to an abrupt end Monday.

The talks were aimed at attempting to find a middle ground between the two groups so that a contested hearing in Administrative Law Court on the issuance of permits for International Drive could be avoided.

The talks were initiated by Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus.

Monday was the second meeting between Horry County officials and representatives from the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation aimed at forming some compromise that would allow the International Drive project to move forward.

The first meeting between the two groups was held August 6, 2015, with county officials coming away hopeful that a compromise could be reached that would allow construction to begin on International Drive in the near future.

That ended Monday afternoon when new demands were introduced into the discussion by Amy Armstrong, lead attorney for the SC Environmental Law Project representing the conservationists.

According to Lazarus, two new issues tanked the discussions. The first was a request for electronic signals, instead of signs, warning motorists of the possible presence of wildlife near the road as they were travelling International Drive.

However, the second request was the killer. Lazarus said the conservation groups requested that the county pay to The Nature Conservancy an amount equal to that already spent purchasing wetland mitigation credits for the project.

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More Economic Development Exposure

Economic development incentives will be more transparent thanks to a new Governmental Accounting Standards Board disclosure requirement.

The GASB is a private nonprofit agency that provides standards and oversees governmental accounting throughout the nation.

Thanks to this new requirement, government agencies must now tell taxpayers how much tax breaks given under the guise of economic development incentives actually cost.

The new requirements take effect December 15, 2015.

Those incentives often take the form of state income tax credits, property tax reductions through fee-in-lieu agreements, free or reduced rental payments for government structures and cash incentives.

It is past time that taxpayers were told just how much governments are giving away to corporations who promise to create new jobs and sometimes actually do.

In a report that accompanied the new requirements, the GASB said giving up revenue (in the form of incentives) is sometimes a gamble.

I would say it is primarily a gamble.

Corporations play this game well. It’s not about economic development or creating new jobs to them. It is only about where they can get the most for the least cost to them.

Who cares if the taxpayers fill in the rest?

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Missing in Atlantic Beach

(Ed. Note – Filing for municipal elections opens next week. Grand Strand Daily is going to pay special attention to those in Atlantic Beach and Conway, two communities that are missing opportunities but, ripe for change.)

Driving through the streets of Atlantic Beach yesterday, I was shocked by the dearth of people and cars.

Atlantic Beach is probably the only oceanfront community on the Atlantic coast in mid-August with almost empty streets and a nearly empty beach.

The only cars in sight were those parked on the empty oceanfront lots by people either patronizing the local parasail business or enjoying the quiet beach.

The approximately four block oceanfront has only a couple of small buildings breaking up otherwise empty land on what would be the first and second rows of commercial establishments in other beach communities.

The avenues running from Kings Highway to the oceanfront and the cross streets connecting them have a number of empty lots. Empty, often overgrown lots only minutes from the beach!

Atlantic Beach could be a modern case study on missed opportunities.

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The Great EPA Animus River Conspiracy

The rush to see a major conspiracy by the EPA around the recent Animus River contamination in Silverton, Colorado is premature.

It is much more an example of what can happen with the current political disconnect in this country.

Conspiracy theorists center their argument around a letter to the editor of the local newspaper by Dave Taylor, a retired geologist with 47 years of experience in the field.

Based on his professional experience, Taylor correctly predicted, one week before the massive spill, that the EPA effort to divert leakage from mines in the area to holding pools would result in disaster.

“Eventually, without a doubt, the water will find a way out and will exfiltrate uncontrollably through connected abandoned shafts, drifts, raises, fractures and possibly from talus on the hillsides,” Taylor wrote in his letter.

Taylor said the EPA plan would eventually increase contamination in the Animus River and its Cement Creek tributary. He speculated this was the EPA plan all along so the agency could designate a Superfund site.

What Taylor did not mention, but locals in the area know, is contamination in the river was increasing slowly on its own.

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Russell Fry Wins Nomination in Rout

Russell Fry claimed the SC House District 106 Republican nomination yesterday in a rout over opponent Tyler Servant.

The final vote totals saw Fry with 1,736 votes (59.82%) to Servant’s 1,166 votes (40.18%).

Fry’s name will be the only one on the ballot in the September 15, 2015 special general election for SC House District 106, which makes him a virtual shoo-in to be the newest member of the SC House.

Fry will serve out the remainder of Nelson Hardwick’s unexpired term and be up for re-election in 2016.

Fry thanked the many campaign volunteers who worked through the summer heat to help him win the nomination.

“This is all about the people of District 106,” Fry said in addressing the crowd. “I intend to work hard for them and I truly appreciate the trust they have put in me.”

Fry, who has been very active in the local Republican Party, ran an excellent grassroots campaign in his first attempt at elected office. He nearly doubled his margin of victory over Servant from the first round of primary voting.

Servant’s loss means he will continue as the Horry County Council member for District 5, a seat he has held for only seven months.

Therein lies the problem with the Servant candidacy. It is extremely difficult to go to the voters twice in 12 months asking them to elect you to different offices. It gives the impression that you are in politics for yourself only. Any campaign consultant worth his fee would have discouraged this candidacy.

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Irony of Myrtle Beach City Council Seismic Testing Vote – Update

When the Myrtle Beach City Council votes on seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean later today, the result will mean nothing.

The resolution opposing seismic testing will be a statement of the sense of council, if it passes. However, local governments are not part of the decision process.

Local media reports speculate Myrtle Beach City Council is split 4-3 with Mayor John Rhodes, and council members Wayne Gray, Susan Grissom Means and Mike Chestnut opposing seismic testing while council members Randal Wallace, Phil Render and Mike Lowder reportedly support it.

But, it really doesn’t make any difference what Myrtle Beach City Council does.

SCDHEC determines consistency of permit requests with coastal zone management practices. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issues the permits.

Seismic testing uses loud blasts of sound from airguns to gather data about what oil reserves might be under the ocean floor.

The hoped for result is that seismic testing will prove oil reserves of sufficient size to justify recovery are present under the ocean floor. Those supporting testing see this result as an economic boom for the state.

Opponents of seismic testing, and later drilling, point to the potential harm to sea mammals and the ever present possibility of another Deepwater Horizon oil blowout that devastated the Gulf Coast in April 2010.

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SC House District 106 Election Absurdities

The special Republican primary election for SC House District 106 has taken some absurd turns in the past two weeks.

The Republican primary runoff between Russell Fry and Tyler Servant will be held Tuesday August 11, 2015 with the winner gaining the nomination and almost assured election since there will be no other candidates on the ballot.

A Facebook post followed by an attempt to turn this post into a credible story saw Fits News question whether the Confederate flag would play a part in this election.

Susan Chapman claimed to change her preference from Russell Fry to Tyler Servant because Fry said he would have voted to take the flag down while Servant said he would have voted for a referendum on the flag.

Evidently Chapman prefers a candidate who passes the buck to one who can make decisions. I don’t pay any attention to what Chapman says, but, does this mean she no longer supports Lindsey Graham who was also outspoken about the flag coming down?

Then, questions about Servant’s legal residence and his affinity to dodge live forums and questions emerged.
According to a report in the Sun News, Servant claims his residence as a house that has been rented to tourists for 56 days over this tourist season.

Attempting to explain the situation, Servant was quoted in the story as comparing his situation to legislators spending several nights a week in Columbia during the legislative session.

“It’s not an issue” Servant was quoted as saying. “If it was an issue that would make every single legislator in the state of South Carolina have a residency problem since they go to Columbia six months out of the year, every week for two days.”

Oh really – are all the legislators renting out their houses each week while they are gone?

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More Talks for International Drive

Yesterday’s meeting on International Drive ended with further discussions scheduled for August 17, 2015.

According to several sources who attended the meeting between Horry County officials and representatives from the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation, yesterday’s talks were very cordial and very open.

The sources said both sides presented several options that could be considered for a compromise on the current International Drive standoff.

“We gave each other some options and both sides are going to talk about them,” said Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus. “Hopefully when we get together on the 17th we can come to some type of agreement. If it works out, I believe everyone will be happy.”

Specifics on the options each side presented are not available. Lazarus said both sides agreed to keep those confidential until the next meeting.

Lazarus said he emphasized the importance of International Drive to the citizens of Carolina Forest and the strong support of citizens in the Carolina Forest area to getting the project completed.

The International Drive project was initially scheduled to be completed in 2013 as one of the last roads on the Ride II list of projects.

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International Drive Talks

Representatives from Horry County, the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation will meet this afternoon to discuss International Drive.

The talks will be an exploration to determine if any compromise is possible to get the International Drive construction started.

As of right now, the environmentalist groups have until August 29, 2015 to determine if they will appeal a recent decision by the SCDHEC board not to conduct a final review on the project.

If it comes, the appeal will be made to the Administrative Law Court.

Representatives of the CCL have indicated in media reports that they may be open to a compromise solution that would avoid more legal action and move the project along.

Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus reached out to the groups after the SCDHEC decision to determine if any compromise is possible.

Lazarus told me he thought it was proper to take the initiative on attempting to find a compromise.

“IF it goes to court, I will feel better being able to say we tried to find a compromise,” Lazarus said.

I salute Lazarus on the attempt. There is really nothing that should be stopping the International Drive project from moving forward other than senseless roadblocks put up by the environmentalist groups.

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Cam Crawford Newest Horry County Council Member

Cam Crawford swept through the special general election for Horry County Council District 6 Tuesday.

Crawford, who was unopposed on the ballot, gathered 240 of the 250 votes cast.

Rumors of a write-in campaign to challenge Crawford did not pan out as only eight write-in votes were cast.

Crawford can now be sworn into office in time to attend the next scheduled Horry County Council meeting on August 18, 2015.

This election brings council back to full strength, at least for the time being.

In other local election news, Republican runoff candidates Russell Fry and Tyler Servant are scheduled to face off in a debate Thursday August 6, 2015.

Fry and Servant will be opposing each other in a special Republican primary runoff election net Tuesday, August 11, 2015, to see who will be the Republican nominee in the SC House District 106 special general election scheduled for September 15, 2015.

Fry led the first round of primary voting last week with 1,152 votes to 851 votes for Servant who finished second. The winner of the runoff election will be the only name on the special general election ballot as there are no Democratic candidates in the race.

The South Strand Republican Club will be hosting tomorrow’s debate. It will be held at the Horry County Recreation Center in the South Strand government complex on Scipio Lane.

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