Carolina Forest residents oppose proposed townhomes. Will they gate their neighborhood?
A pair of new townhome buildings, totaling around 100 units, has rankled nearby residents in Carolina Forest so much that some are considering extreme measures to get around the problems they believe the buildings will cause.
Residents worry the new townhomes will increase already heavy traffic along Gardner Lacy Road and in the Waterford neighborhood. Some also cite concerns about flooding, saying heavy rain already dumps water in their yards and garages, and they worry that more impervious surfaces nearby could push water indoors.
The concerns are grave enough that residents say they’re contemplating turning Waterford Plantation into a gated community to restrict access to vehicles that use the neighborhood as a shortcut.
“That would be our response to the development probably, that we would try to obtain a gated community, just because we know (the project) would increase traffic,” one resident said at a community meeting Monday that focused on the project.
Developers propose constructing two sets of townhomes on narrow strips of land on either side of Gardner Lacy Road in Carolina Forest. The land is now zoned for some single-family homes, townhomes and businesses.
Developers want to build a higher density of townhomes than currently allowed and seek a rezoning approval from Horry County Planning Commission and County Council.
County leaders called Monday’s meeting to hear resident concerns ahead of the rezoning going before either body. In a raucous meeting that lasted nearly three hours, developers, county planners and the County Council heard concerns and comments from more than 100 Carolina Forest residents. Most oppose the townhome project.
Timmy Pierce, who lives in the Waterford Plantation development that would border one of the townhome buildings, is one of them. He said he’s considering selling the home where he’s raising his young daughter and moving elsewhere, before the construction begins.
“The problem is, right now, where are you going to move?” Pierce said at a community meeting.
Other residents proposed that neighboring communities join together and pool funds to buy the property from the developers, an idea that’s unlikely to come to fruition.
The developers have said county leaders should approve the rezoning because the townhomes they want to build are a more compatible and less “noxious” use of that land, compared to single-family homes, mini-warehouses or other businesses that could be established there without county approval.
Felix Pitts, an agent for the developer with G3 Engineering, said the townhomes would produce less traffic than a potentially high-traffic business that could be built in the same area.
“These folks don’t want traffic, then they ought to be a fan of our proposed rezoning. It eliminates high-traffic uses,” he said. “If they truly say that traffic is their issue, then they ought to support this plan.”
The rezoning proposal is slated to go before the county Planning Commission in coming weeks, followed by County Council. The public will have the chance to offer input on the rezoning at the Planning Commission meeting and at County Council’s second hearing of the issue.
Becoming a gated community?
At the Carolina Forest Recreation Center, residents packed into a meeting room as developers and county planners outlined plans for the new homes and took resident questions.
As residents learned that other solutions to their traffic woes — including extending Gardner Lacy Road to International Drive — could be years away, more people voiced support for the idea of turning Waterford Plantation into a gated community. Doing so would prevent speeding and congestion.
Two of Waterford Plantation’s entrances connect to main thoroughfares — Gardner Lacy Road and Carolina Forest Boulevard. Residents say that means drivers use their residential streets as a shortcut to avoid traffic on Highway 501 or other roads.
“That’s my biggest concern, the fact that they’re going to be building more homes so more traffic is going to go through Waterford,” said Joy Watson, a Waterford Plantation resident. “I love the gated community idea because it would make our neighborhood safer.”
But becoming a gated community would not be an easy solution, and any effort to do so would likely face an uphill battle.
To establish a gated community, the Waterford Plantation homeowners association would first have to hold a vote indicating that a majority of residents want to put up gates. The plan would need to go before the county, where a special planning district would be established as well as a budget for maintaining the roads, Planning Director David Schwerd said.
If a community is gated, that means Horry County no longer is responsible for the upkeep of the roads. Residents would be responsible for the costs of repaving and road maintenance, like filling in pot holes.
The plan would then go before a judge, where residents inside or outside of Waterford could challenge the proposal. Even one person challenging the plan could jeopardize it, Schwerd said.
“Even if the county decides that they don’t want to object, there might be 400 residents from Clear Pond who would object because they want to get to the school. Just because the county may agree doesn’t mean that road will be gated or closed.”
Residents also said they are unsure about how successful an effort would be to gate Waterford, but called the traffic “unbearable.”
“It’s crazy, I live right close to that. We just sit there and watch the craziness, every single day, it’s every day,” said Jim Madaras, another Waterford resident, about the traffic. “I don’t think the gate would come to fruition because there would be too much opposition.
“That doesn’t mean it couldn’t work,” he added.
Previous efforts to become gated
Carole VanSickler, a Waterford resident and the president of the Carolina Forest Civic Association, noted that previous leadership of the neighborhood’s homeowners association pursued the gated community idea but that the county blocked it.
“I think it would be the smarter thing for Waterford to do, I think it’s time to cut off the access,” VanSickler said, noting that she was speaking only in her capacity as a resident. But, she said, “I just don’t know if it can be pulled off.”
Johnny Vaught, one of the county council members who represents the area, pledged that he and the council would stay neutral on the issue. He noted that the Myrtle Trace neighborhood, a 55+ community, successfully transferred its roads from public to private and became a gated community.
He said he would work with residents to find a solution to the problem, whether it’s a gated community or something different.
“It would obviously alleviate the problem of non-residents blasting through there, no doubt about it,” Vaught said of the gated community proposal. “I’m perfectly willing to sit down and come up with some other solution, because that would be a costly solution for Waterford to pursue. It’s not cheap to pave a mile of road.”
Vaught said it can cost between $600,000 and $800,000 to re-pave a mile of road.
Steve Williams, the current president of the Waterford Plantation HOA, said the community doesn’t have specific plans to pursue becoming a gated community, but that the idea has come up in discussions.
He said the HOA would need to do its due diligence first to determine if becoming a gated community is the best course of action, but didn’t dismiss the idea. At Monday’s meeting, he said becoming a gated community would be a natural response if county leaders don’t stop the rezoning request for the townhomes.
“If this happens, we need to become a gated community,” he said. “The thought of more traffic coming through is a scary thing.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
