Officials move forward with development near Pine Lakes despite resident opposition

Despite ardent opposition from some Myrtle Beach residents, the city’s Planning Commission voted to move forward with a new development set to be constructed near the Pine Lakes golf course, but officials are urging the developer to smooth things over with locals ahead of construction.

If the proposed development comes to fruition, Pine Lakes residents worry it would increase traffic issues and potentially compromise the safety of neighborhood children.

The Myrtle Beach Planning Commission was supposed to vote on the project, which requires the creation of a subdivision, in early September, but the commission decided to delay the vote until Tuesday in hopes of gaining more information and addressing resident concerns. After going into executive session to discuss the proposal with the city attorney, commissioners voted 5-3 to approve the subdivision plan.

Planners are eyeing a nearly 67-acre plot of land off Granddaddy Drive near Robert Grissom Parkway for the project. Only the first phase of the development was up for consideration by the commission. The second and third phases need to be proposed and approved separately.

The golf course will be unaffected by the development.

Pine Lakes residents brought up numerous concerns at meetings to discuss the proposal, including the safety of children who play in the neighborhood and increasing traffic congestion. It’s estimated that roughly 600 cars will be coming in and out of the development each day.

Pine Lakes resident and chairman of the Myrtle Beach Election Commission William Monckton said the proposal didn’t take into consideration the traffic impacts in the neighborhood.

“That traffic’s coming into our neighborhood,” Monckton said at the meeting. “It’s gonna be coming down and there’s not gonna be any way we can protect ourselves.”

Franklin Daniels, an attorney who represents Lennar, said the company would work with the city’s zoning administrator and the Pine Lakes community to ensure traffic wouldn’t go through the neighborhood.

“We have to adhere to the terms of the (planned unit development) and we have no intention of having traffic go through as we talked about,” Daniels said.

Numerous other residents voiced concerns, including Davis Hussey, who said his family has lived in the area for years. Even though he saw the need for the city to develop the land, he worried about the way it’s being done and said the city is “over developing.”

“My family has grown up here and our quality of life is changing probably every year,” Hussey said.

Harriet Clark addressed commissioners, pointing out that developments have changed since she attended a similar meeting about the development back in 2006.

“In 2006, there were not these cookie-cutter small lots,” she said. “It’s a whole different ball game now and it is going to destroy our neighborhood.”

A traffic report was presented to the Planning Commission and the city’s Public Works Division using data from 2019 and projected data from 2020 and 2022. The public works division didn’t raise any concerns about the report, according to Allison Hardin, a Myrtle Beach planner.

The development would include 220 single-family units and 70 town homes will make up the development, along with the addition of six new public streets, according to planners. Lennar Carolinas, LLC, is heading the project, which has been in the works since 2006, but the initial timeline was delayed due to the 2009 economic crisis.

It’s unclear how much the homes in the development will cost, and cost of the homes isn’t included in the subdivision proposal before the commission.

The proposed development is located near Pine Lakes golf course, but planners assured the commission that the course would go “untouched” if the project is approved.

At the Sept. 1 meeting, commission members also raised the concern of preserving trees and green space in the area. The developers plan to protect more than 80% of the trees in the area and green space would be present around lakes and ponds, Hardin said.

This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 4:53 PM.