Bothered by construction noise? Horry County wants to crack down on developers.
If you’ve ever lived near an active construction site, Horry County Council member Gary Loftus feels your pain.
“When there’s construction of hundreds of homes right behind your home, especially when it used to be a golf course, it’s a little bit disconcerting to have the noise start before 7 a.m.” he said, adding that dawn breaks in his neighborhood, “because the front loaders are out there running around.”
So, to push back on the builders working at all hours, Loftus said Tuesday he’s pushing forward a revision to the county’s noise ordinance that would restrict the times that construction sites can generate significant noise. He said he’s working with county attorney Arrigo Carotti to draft legislation that would tighten the county’s noise ordinance to restrict activities like construction during early morning and evening hours.
Currently, the county allows high-noise activities in the unincorporated areas from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days per week. Under the changes that Loftus is pursuing, those hours would change to the following:
- On weekdays, construction sites could make noise from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- On Saturdays, construction sites could make noise from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- On Sundays, construction sites could make noise from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At County Council’s regular Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday, Loftus said he was pursuing the changes to the noise ordinance to hold builders and developers accountable. He said he’s been disturbed by early morning and evening construction near his home, which also caused dust to coat his yard and swimming pool.
The changes would only affect the unincorporated area of Horry County. Other municipalities, like Myrtle Beach, have their own noise ordinances.
Horry County considers a noise in violation of its code if it “annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others” and applies that definition to construction sites, cars, stereos, people, events and businesses.
Horry County in recent decades has grown rapidly, adding thousands of new residents and homes each year. That means that new home construction is common, and as the county grows denser, it’s more likely that construction is happening closer to where existing residents live. Facing increasing pressure from residents to respond to the rapid development of new homes and businesses around the county, County Council members have begun responding.
Last month, after considering such a measure for years, the county enacted impact fees for the first time, a fee charged on new construction that can help pay for certain infrastructure.
And currently, County Council members are considering pausing rezoning requests along the Highway 90 corridor, a once rural farm-to-market road that’s exploded with new residents and homes in recent years. The pause on rezonings could slow the rate of building, community members and county leaders hope.
Loftus acknowledged on Tuesday that enforcing a tighter noise ordinance on construction sites could be difficult — issuing a violation of the noise ordinance requires that a code enforcement officer is able to witness the noise and evaluate if it does indeed violate county standards — but said that nevertheless, he wanted to send a signal to the development community.
“I’m calling on the construction industry themselves to be responsible, be good neighbors, c’mon,” Loftus said. “Somehow we have to get a message to them. They don’t care, they just don’t care.”
Loftus said he doesn’t care if developers push back on his plan.
“So? It doesn’t matter. I mean, just be a good neighbor,” he said.
Loftus and Carotti said they hope to have a draft of the tighter regulations done by the time the public safety committee meets again next month. If the measure passes a vote of the committee members, it will go before the County Council for three readings and three votes before becoming law.
In addition to curbing noise, Loftus said the restrictions on construction sites could also help reduce the amount of dust that can blow from those areas during dry weather. He complained that he’s had to clean dust out of his backyard multiple times because of nearby construction.
“Let’s shut things down at 5 p.m. so we can at least have a cookout on the weekend without dust coming into our barbecues,” he said.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
