Horry County Council will again consider amending its flood ordinance with a view to reducing the height for building in the county’s designated supplemental flood zones from the current three board height to a two board height.
County staff and the county Infrastructure and Regulation Committee recommended the two board height in the original ordinance, but council bent to the will of group of citizens demanding the three board height, apparently in an excess of caution against the next flood.
The amendment would apply only to county designated supplemental flood zones, not to FEMA designated flood zones. The county added supplemental flood zones after the Hurricane Florence flooding events in 2018.
At the center of the issue is a plot of land sub-divided into 46 lots for development off of Hwy 905. The land was prepared for development in accordance with FEMA requirements. There were no additional county requirements at that time.
Then, Horry County Council passed a new flood ordinance establishing flood zones supplemental to the FEMA maps and requiring homes in those areas to be built a further three feet above FEMA required levels.

click on headline above to read more