Myrtle Beach 7-Eleven appeal back in court after illegal vote first time around

A consortium of residents in Myrtle Beach’s Grande Dunes neighborhood have refiled a lawsuit looking to halt construction of several businesses in their community.

The Myrtle Beach Healthy Neighborhoods Coalition lodged a Circuit Court complaint Feb. 23 in the wake of a Feb. 4 ruling by the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals that cleared the way for a 7-Eleven, Bojangles restaurant and two other establishments at the corner of 82nd Parkway and Kings Highway. That’s within 50 feet from several homes and a community center and pool open to Grande Dunes residents.

At that meeting, the Board of Zoning Appeals upheld a decision by Kenneth May, the city’s zoning administrator, to allow the 7-Eleven and other businesses to be built.

“A 16-pump gas station that operates throughout the night and early morning is not compatible with the residential and community center uses 50’ away,” the lawsuit states. “Children and families spend time outside on their porches and driveways in their yards and walk and ride bikes from the nearby houses to the neighborhood pools.”

Grande Dunes is a planned use development established in 1998, and its founding ordinances make clear that a gas station falls outside allowable uses, plaintiffs argue.

Classifying the 7-Eleven’s pumps and underground storage tanks as an accessory use to the convenience store is also a faulty decision, the lawsuit argues, citing a section of city code disqualifying accessory uses that “create hazard, noise, odor, vibration, light, traffic, congestion, dust or other pollutants, or impair the use or enjoyment of nearby property” in a greater amount than that of the principal use.

Language in the suit is virtually identical to one filed late last year following the initial Zoning Board of Appeals approval of the project. A Circuit Court judge tossed that decision last month, saying the vote was taken illegally since there wasn’t a quorum.

Spencer Wetmore, a Folly Beach attorney representing the Healthy Neighborhoods Coalition, told The Sun News Thursday she believes the law is clear.

“All along, we’ve believed we have a strong position as to why this shouldn’t be an allowed use. It’s not listed as an allowable use in the PUD; the residents relied on that,” Wetmore said.

Geoffrey Kay, who’s named as a plaintiff, has unsuccessfully tried to petition the city council to create a 500-foot buffer zone between gas stations and residential properties.

But city leaders on Feb. 23 declined, fearing a wave of legal action by developers who have already won construction approval.

Citywide, there are 32 gas stations and all of them are within 500 feet of residential properties — the minimum setback is 17 feet under city code.

“I think there may be some opportunity to do something with gas stations,” city council member John Krajc said at the meeting. “I don’t know that this is the right answer. I think it’s kind of a knee-jerk reaction to a problem.”