Grande Dunes residents request help from Myrtle Beach over ‘perilous’ roadway
Myrtle Beach city leaders are looking for a safer way for Grande Dunes homeowners to travel within their community with a current roadway a cause for concern for residents.
Some residents of the private community requested council’s aid regarding the practicality of a private bridge that runs over the Intracoastal Waterway. Their plea comes two weeks after city officials narrowly voted down a proposal that would have built a road connecting the Grande Dunes Members Club and former Waterway Hills Golf Club.
Currently, residents can only access their homes by the singular bridge, which is an issue for the neighborhood, according to resident Doug Ralph.
“There is currently only one official paved access route in and out of our neighborhood that has over 650 homes and a lot of mostly retired residents and that is over the bridge,” Ralph said on behalf of nearly 30 residents at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “It is certainly not right from a public safety standpoint.”
The bridge has been undergoing major structural repairs since June, Ralph said, leaving only one traffic lane available for use. He added that the bridge often closes during icy conditions and when there’s sustained winds of over 40 mph, has limitations for heavy traffic and can only support one truck or emergency vehicle at a time.
The only other access road available to residents is Henry Road, a 1.3 mile dirt road riddled with potholes that is owned but not maintained by Horry County, he said.
While the road is not Myrtle Beach property, David Schwerd, Horry County director of Planning & Zoning, said both the county and S.C. Department of Transportation own portions of the road, but the access point within Grande Dunes falls under SCDOT’s jurisdiction.
“It is not maintained at any level that would allow a vehicle to safely traverse,” said Ralph, adding another dirt access road, Watertower Road, is closed with Waterway Hills Village’s nearly 900 home development being constructed.
While Watertower Road was closed to residents but available for delivery, construction and service trucks to travel, Ralph said it was the quickest and best alternative route residents could use if the bridge closed down.
“The truck traffic is now being routed over the bridge and through the neighborhood,” Ralph said. “With one point of paved access for our residents and emergency responders, it puts all of us in a more perilous and vulnerable situation.”
Road project denied
LStar Ventures, who bought the 2,200-acre Grande Dunes development from Burroughs & Chapin Co. in 2013, proposed amending the Grande Dunes Planned Unit Development to connect two limited access private roads at the northern end.
The company’s goal was to build a private road from a planned development called Waterway Hills Village to the Grande Dunes private Members Club at Terra Verde Drive. The connection would be blocked by a gate that could be opened by members of the club.
The properties west of the Intracoastal Waterway touch at the border of the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach with Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach and Waterway Hills to the north. LStar was looking to increase membership at the Members Club by allowing future Waterway Hills residents the opportunity to join.
When the project went before the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission in June, residents came out in droves asserting their stance on the project. Following a few contentious meetings, planning officials recommended city council deny the proposal.
City officials followed suit during their July 9 meeting by voting down the project in a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Brenda Bethune, a former Grande Dunes Resident, and Councilwoman Jackie Hatley both voting in support of connectivity solely to enhance public safety.
“For me, this is an issue of public safety,” Bethune said before casting her vote. “I know how I felt when I lived there with the bridge, and there were times where the bridge was not operable, and I was there when fires occurred, so for me, this is only about public safety.”
Residents who strongly opposed the project said connectivity had the potential to devalue their homes and dramatically impact their roads by providing unlimited access to Waterway residents, while others said they purchased their homes with the understanding it is a private community.
Supporters of the connectivity believe connecting the roadways would provide additional access to residents and emergency personnel if the bridge closed down.
Following the vote, Margaret Lacalle, president of LStar Ventures Coastal North Division, said the Members Club will be converted to semi-private within the month, ultimately increasing traffic to the community with drivers only able to access the club by the bridge.
Next steps
Following the July 9 vote, Bethune said she met with a group of residents concerned about an alternative route in and out of Grande Dunes, which resulted in City Manager John Pedersen exploring public safety within the development.
Pedersen said city staff has devised several options for the Grande Dunes community to consider, including a paved access road, stressing the inability for emergency personnel to access communities on a dirt road.
“For public safety purposes we need to be able to get police and fire in that neighborhood to respond if the bridge goes out,” Pedersen said. “We have million dollar pieces of equipment (and) fire vehicles here that we just simply can’t roll down those dirt roads.”
Pedersen said they city will need to go over future plans with Horry County and LStar, with further discussions with residents held during one of the city’s monthly workshop meetings.
“There are plenty of situations the bridge could go out,” Pedersen said. “We have to be ready to provide emergency services to those residents.”
— Tyler Fleming contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 4:43 PM.
