Socastee land appraisal did not account for poor soil

The appraisal for the new Socastee-area middle school land the district purchased didn’t take into account the poor soil.

The land appraisal dated February 4, 2015 by Myrtle Beach-based Beckham Appraisal Service, LLC showed the land for the new Socastee-area middle school valued at $1,725,000, or $75,000 per acre.

The 24.28 acres of land for the new school was bought from a larger 206-acre tract that the tax assessor’s office appraised for $7,230,500.

The district paid The Jackson Companies (JACO Property Investors, LLC) a total of $1,978,258.62 for the 24.18 acres of land for the school according to the property deed.

First Floor Energy CEO Robbie Ferris said the land will require an additional $2.5 million in change orders for additional work to reinforce the soil to make it suitable for building. The change orders have not yet been approved by the board.

The delay could push the completion date for the school into December 2017.

Henry Beckham of Beckham Appraisal Service, LLC, said the appraisal that was done a year before the soil testing did not include an analysis of the quality of soil.

He said that the appraisal took into account wetlands, but that there was only a “limited amount” of wetlands on the property.

“I’m not a soils expert,” said Beckham. “That’s beyond what I do. If I knew we had a soil problem, I would state that. That’s really something that’s outside of my expertise. Just like when we appraise a building, we assume it’s structurally sound. I’m not an engineer; I’m not a soils expert.”

The district bought the land June 1, 2016, despite a geotechnical analysis dated January 28, 2016 showing that the soil wasn’t dense enough to support a two-story school.

Horry County school board Chairman Joe DeFeo said he had been told the soil was bad before the district purchased it.

“The property from the beginning, I felt we shouldn’t have even paid the appraised value for it,” he said.

But DeFeo said that he could defend the board’s decision because it would have cost more money in the long run for extra bus miles and redistricting if the school was built on more stable land farther away.

The appraised value for the land takes into account the completion of Esso Road, and according to the district’s contract, The Jackson Companies is in charge of building most of the road that isn’t in the immediate vicinity of the school.

“My understanding is they are paying for the road,” said DeFeo. “We are paying for just the road in front of the school, but we’re not paying for the road from the bypass to the road in front of the school.”

DeFeo said that district couldn’t spend any more time looking for land because it could cause additional delays to the school’s completion date.

This story was originally published September 23, 2016 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Socastee land appraisal did not account for poor soil."