Financial mishaps stall development

A development plan that was supposed to revitalize Atlantic Beach with oceanfront condominium projects, restaurants and other businesses is on indefinite hold because the town does not have money to pay consultants who were working on the proposal. State legislators gave Atlantic Beach $225,000 on Nov. 20 to help finish the development plan, which has been in the works for more than two years.

The town used about $130,000 to pay past-due bills owed to Zyscovich Architects in Miami and the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments in Georgetown. Those are the consultants who were helping Atlantic Beach create development, planning and zoning guidelines to spur growth.

It is not clear how the remaining $95,000 was spent.

David Essex, executive director of the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments, said town officials had written checks for additional work but told the council this month not to cash them.

"We were told there was insufficient funds for the checks," Essex said.

A spokesman for Zyscovich Architects did not respond to a request for comment.

Bert Von Herrmann, assistant solicitor for Horry County, declined to say whether the development plan money is a focus of a State Law Enforcement Division investigation into the town's finances.

"It's an ongoing, wide-ranging investigation," he said.

SLED's investigation led to last week's criminal charges against Town Manager Marcia Conner and Mayor Irene Armstrong, who was suspended from her office Friday by Gov. Mark Sanford. Both women are free on $15,000 bail each.

Charles Williams, with the Municipal Association of South Carolina, is expected to replace Conner today as interim town manager. Town Councilman Donnell Thompson said Williams will review the town's finances to determine whether any money has been misspent.

"When we get money for a development plan, I expect it to go toward a development plan," Thompson said. "If it didn't, the council will have to take action. We're going to do everything by the law."

Essex said his group and the Miami architects have had trouble getting payments from Atlantic Beach. When the newest checks couldn't be cashed, Essex assigned his staff to other duties.

"We couldn't afford to be back in that situation of doing all this work and not getting reimbursed for it," Essex said.

Mark Hoeweler, the regional council's land use planner, said Atlantic Beach paid off $30,000 in past-due bills to that group in December - more than eight months late.

Hoeweler said the town also paid about $100,000 in past-due bills owed to Zyscovich Architects.

Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, said there were few restrictions on how the money could be spent because it was a direct appropriation from the legislature, not a grant with specific guidelines.

PRT was the pass-through agency for the appropriation. The budget line-item only states that the money is to be used for "marketing, tourism and planning."

The town has at least three proposals from developers who own oceanfront land and want to build condominium projects. A depressed real estate market, combined with the town's financial struggles, means those projects won't happen soon.

"Due to market conditions, there is no way we could move forward now," said Charles Washington, spokesman for La Casa Real Estate Development of Winston-Salem, N.C.

"When the town is ready and market conditions have stabilized, we'll go forward," Washington said.

Amy Breunig, the owner of three hotels and some vacant land in Atlantic Beach that she would like to develop, said Armstrong's suspension and Conner's departure could have a positive impact on the town.

"They have done everything they can to block development here,'' Breunig said.

"Now that they are no longer in control, I think you'll see things start to happen very quickly.''

Contact DAVID WREN at 626-0281.