By Paul Gable
Horry County Council will consider second reading of a rezoning request combining two parcels off Hwy 701 at its regular meeting tomorrow. The rezoning request brings several questions.
One of the parcels, owned by HIC Poplar Church LLC, contains 93.75 acres, which are filed with the Horry County Registry of Deeds as a “Special Warranty Deed” including 12 “Permitted Exceptions”.
According to S. C. Secretary of State records, Poplar Church LLC was created January 12, 2024. The purchase of the property from Timbervest Partners III South Carolina LLC was completed January 23, 2024, according to the Special Warranty Deed.
Timbervest Partners originally purchased the property as one of 59 distinct parcels from Burroughs and Chapin in January 2013, all included in a 193 page Special Warranty Deed document.
The rezoning request is from FA to Multi Residential District-Preservation with a planned 240 single family homes when completed. When purchased by individual buyers, will the homes and lots built on the 93.75 acres also be deeded with a Special Warranty Deed including the 12 Permitted Exceptions, rather than a Warranty Deed as is normal with new home purchases?
The request provides 300 ft. buffers on three sides and 150 ft on the fourth. The planned homes would be going into an area currently including several batch plants.
According to county regulations, bringing a batch plant into an area with residential units requires the batch plant to have 500 ft. buffers. This rezoning plans to bring residential units into an area already containing batch plants. Why are only 300 ft. buffers provided from the residential sub-division instead of the same 500 ft. buffers which would be required from the batch plants if the situation were reversed?
Mt. Pisgah Cemetery Road is the current access road for the batch plants and carries considerable truck traffic already. The road is planned to be construction vehicle and emergency access to the new sub-division, if approved. At the completion of construction, Mt. Pisgah Cemetery Road is planned to become an access road to the new homes. Couldn’t other access be found, when the construction of homes is complete, to avoid mixing personal vehicles with the numerous heavy vehicles utilizing its access to the batch plants?
Years ago, a portion of the Wild Wing sub-division was constructed near existing batch plants. Even though the batch plants were there first, council hears complaints, continuing to this day, about noise, dust and traffic by the owners of the homes near the batch plants. What solutions are possible to avoid similar problems with future owners of these new homes?
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