AB's limits on building expire

A law that all but halted any building for nearly two years - leaving vacant both highwayside and beachfront lots - will expire soon, reopening Atlantic Beach to commercial activity.

Facing an uncooperative market and concerns about the town's political turmoil, however, developers say any major project is still years away.

Even so, letting the town's strict regulation expire will leave Atlantic Beach exposed to the same overly permissive land uses that raised the need for restrictions several years ago, one land planner said.

Moratorium, of sorts What many in town refer to as the "development moratorium" is not precisely a ban, said Mark Hoeweler, planning director for the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments, the nonprofit agency that has helped Atlantic Beach with planning.

The law actually allows traditional houses to be built in the city limits, but requires anything more to go through extra steps with the planning commission.

"Anything condo, multifamily or commercial would have to come under strict scrutiny," Hoeweler said.

Describing the town's old zoning laws as incohesive, Hoeweler said Atlantic Beach began seeking better control over development more than two years ago through a new master plan.

As planners began drafting the new rules governing what types of businesses could open and what new buildings could look like, the Town Council passed the so-called "moratorium," giving itself review over proposed development.

The rule was extended several times while new zoning laws were being crafted, but the town fell behind in payments, and the planners stopped working on the new plan.

"For a while, we didn't even know who to talk to," Hoeweler said.

After Mayor Irene Armstrong and Town Manager Marcia Conner were suspended from office in late March amid criminal misconduct charges, Interim Town Manager Charles Williams' recommended reopening the town to development.

In April, council members agreed, voting to remove the law and proclaiming the town open for business. Earlier this month, however, they discovered they hadn't followed the proper procedure for removing the law and promptly replaced it.

Whether they initiate the proper removal of the law or not is a mere techni-cality, Williams said. Its next expiration date is June, meaning it will likely die on its own.

The wrong time Although the door is creaking open, developers say they aren't rushing in.

"We have kind of shelved our project for the time being, because of the econ-omy of the condo market," said Cliff Rickard of La Casa Development, an N.C. company that owns oceanfront property in Atlantic Beach. "It has more to do with the oversupply of condo units in the Grand Strand area."

Charles Washington, a former La Casa manager, recently left the company for another development group he declined to name but said it is seeking to acquire Atlantic Beach property for a project.

"Right now, we're three years off from seeing anything major happening devel-opment-wise with Atlantic Beach," Washington said.

Dr. H.H. Cooper, a retired dentist who now lives in New York, also has plans to develop property his family has long owned on the beach, but does not expect to start soon.

"The ban wouldn't have too much bearing on whether we participate," Cooper said. "The economy is tight. The banks don't want to finance anything."

Though La Casa is not building, the company isn't that interested in selling, either, Rickard said. After all, it is still oceanfront property in a growing overall tourist destination.

Time to quit? As he tries to get the town back on track, the town manager said commercial growth will be essential to restore solvency, and halting development to wait for laws that aren't being written makes no sense.

"We're no closer today than we were over a year ago," Williams said. "The whole master plan was nothing but a stall tactic."

Even in a prohibitive economy, Washington said allowing unfettered develop-ment while the rules are being written is "not necessarily a good thing." A lack of proper growth guidelines could create problems down the line, he said.

Having a development plan makes sense, Cooper said, and the unfavorable economy buys time to plan.

Work on the ordinances was about halfway done and could have been finished and adopted in four months or so if the town had kept up with payments, Hoeweler said. With no signs that the town is going to resume its planning efforts soon, he said he worries that years of expensive effort will be wasted.

Until the ordinances are completed, a landowner who submits a plan that takes advantage of the lack of height restrictions in the current, permissive laws could legally force the town to accept it.

Without the ban, Atlantic Beach cannot reject a project or business that fits the old codes, or it puts itself at risk of a lawsuit.

Contact ROBERT MORRIS at 626-0294.