Will Possum Trot Golf Club become a retirement community? There is a preliminary proposal
North Myrtle Beach will get its first retirement community if a preliminary proposal that was presented Wednesday to city council and some community members around the former Possum Trot Golf Club comes to fruition.
A Del Webb 55-and-over community that includes approximately 500 homes – about 2.7 homes per acre – and 55 acres of common areas is proposed to be built on the course that closed Oct. 31.
There are several steps that must be taken, most importantly an annexation of the property into North Myrtle Beach from unincorporated Horry County and either a zoning change or change in land development regulation.
The annexation is required because the development would need to tap into the city’s water and sewer system.
PulteGroup of Atlanta, which is building the large Del Webb community at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, would be the developer and homebuilder.
But its purchase of the 167-acre property from a trust involving dozens of members of the Bell, Edge and Gore families is dependent upon the annexation and rezoning or regulation change approval, according to PulteGroup Director of Land Acquisition Graham Hawkins.
PulteGroup has yet to submit a formal request for annexation into North Myrtle Beach as it continues its due diligence for the project.
Possum Trot’s land is currently zoned SF6, which allows for single-family homes with minimum lot sizes of 6,000 square feet – the equivalent of about seven homes per acre.
North Myrtle Beach mayor Marilyn Hatley believes the development would be a good outcome for the property. It was a 6,966-yard Russell Breeden-designed course that was in operation for 51 years before closing after The Glens Group’s long-term lease to operate it expired.
“I think this is probably the best development for this property,” Hatley said. “Del Webb is a very good company. Their developments are popular with the people who live there. They do a quality development. What I was looking for for Possum Trot was a development that fits well with the surrounding communities and I feel that the Del Webb community fits very well.”
About three dozen members of residential properties around Possum Trot attended Wednesday’s city council workshop at the J. Bryan Floyd Community Center and a few expressed concerns dealing primarily with traffic and stormwater mitigation.
The preliminary proposal calls for a network of ponds that account for 14 percent of the property and connect to a canal that drains into the Intracoastal Waterway nearby.
The proposal includes three access points to the property — one off Possum Trot Road and two off Tom E. Chestnut Road. Possum Trot Road would likely be widened, at least where it intersects with U.S. 17.
PulteGroup is working on a traffic impact study, which city council indicated would be required.
Hawkins said residents of Del Webb retirement communities tend to drive at non-peak times because of their demographic and often stay within the property because of the many amenities, so the traffic strain is less than a typical residential community.
Indoor community amenities would include a heated pool, fitness center, lounge, multi-purpose rooms and a ballroom, outdoor amenities would include a resort pool, pickle ball and bocce ball courts, and an outdoor kitchen, and other amenities would include social clubs, lawn maintenance and a community manager/lifestyle coordinator.
The development would be surrounded by 20 acres of buffer space that would produce a minimum of a 50-foot buffer from adjacent properties.
Proposed homes are in three primary sizes that range from 1,200 to 3,700 square feet, with between two and five bedrooms and two and 5.5 bathrooms. Though a price point hasn’t been established for the proposed homes, those in the Dell Webb Grande Dunes community begin near $300,000 and peak around $600,000.
North Myrtle Beach’s planning commission had received a couple redevelopment proposals last year from another developer for a residential community called Tidal Walk that included Planned Development District zoning. The most recent one featured 512 total single-family detached homes and attached multifamily units, and eight acres of an assisted living facility with 60 to 80 beds.
But PulteGroup is now the developer vying to purchase the property.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
