MYRTLE BEACH — North Myrtle Beach City Council members will consider the second reading of an ordinance Monday that officially will set new beachfront zoning now that the city has done away with it W-1, entertainment zoning.

What’s proposed, said city spokesman Pat Dowling, is to extend the zoning currently on land behind the old W-1 zone to the beach.

The change could make a significant difference to at least one piece of North Myrtle Beach real estate, Dowling said. It would allow Boulineau’s business at the ocean end of Sea Mountain Highway to put in a parking lot for the pier it has proposed putting into the ocean.

The business has the approval of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the new pier.

And the resort commercial zoning that likely will come into being with Monday night’s vote will allow the parking lot for the vehicles of fisherpeople and pier strollers that wouldn’t have been allowed under the old zoning.

Then Boulineau’s would need just one thing before it could start construction: a permit from North Myrtle Beach.

Protecting timesharers

A bill introduced into the S.C. General Assembly would offer some protection for timeshare owners by regulating businesses that thrive on selling the shares that belong to owners who want to withdraw from the partnership.

The bill would require that time sharing resale services have written contracts with individual sellers that give the name and contact information of the company or its agent, a complete description of the company’s services, a time period for the contract and a description of any fees, costs or other remuneration the company is to get.

The contracts would have to include a statement in larger-than-normal, boldface type that tells sellers they have five days after a sales contract is signed to cancel the deal.

Most importantly, perhaps, the bill requires that resale companies must be reasonably certain that any buyer can pay the assessments and taxes that will come with a timeshare purchase, and that failure of the buyer to do so is evidence of an intentional and purposeful violation of the ordinance.

It will further be illegal for the resale service to sell a timeshare to a person it knows or should have known has a history of not paying the fees and taxes associated with the purchase of a timeshare.

These two sections would protect the remaining owners from the liability of new owners found through a resale service who didn’t pay the required assessments and taxes.

Violators will be judged as having committed an unfair trade practice.

The bill specifically excludes individual sellers, vacation time sharing associations, managing entity and sellers of seven or fewer timeshares per calendar year from having to comply with the new requirements.

Affordable housing loan

A partnership formed several years ago to create more affordable housing in Georgetown County has gotten its first loan and will use the $375,000 to purchase and rehabilitate the Winyah Apartments, according to information from Jackie Broach, public information officer for Georgetown County.

When completed, the apartments in the 14-unit complex on Duke Street are to be rented to residents earning 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. The affordable rent must be continued for 20 years under the terms of the loan from the Tri-County Regional Development Corp. to the Low Country Housing Trust.

Broach said there are some residents in the complex now and that the plan is to rehab the vacant apartments and move the current residents into them and then rehab the others.

Georgetown County partnered with the Trust in 2010 to build workforce housing that would be affordable either for purchase or rent by people such as firefighters or teachers.

The partnership conducts first-time homebuyer classes for those who purchase residences through the program. Completion of the coursework is required for buyers to qualify for down payment and other buyer assistance programs.

The third in the series of classes is to begin March 23 at the offices of the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments at 1230 Highmarket St.

The partnership includes the county, the Trust, the COG and the Frances Bunnelle Foundation.

Contact STEVE JONES at 444-1765.