As Horry County tries to slow development, landowners sue over rezoning ‘moratorium’
As Horry County has added thousands of new residents each year in recent decades, developers have been busy, constructing thousands of new homes to match the growth.
The county gained more than 80,000 new residents between 2010 and 2020, the latest U.S. Census showed.
But that growth has increasingly drawn protests from residents, who often complain that schools are overcrowded and roads too congested to support additional building.
In response, Horry County leaders have tried to curb growth in several key areas, namely the S.C. Highway 90 corridor outside Conway and part of S.C. Highway 57 outside North Myrtle Beach.
The county did so by issuing resolutions saying council members wouldn’t support additional land rezonings along congested parts of those corridors. Developers frequently pursue rezonings in order to build more houses on a particular property.
The county’s resolution states that the council would prefer not to hear rezonings on a 6-mile stretch of S.C. 57, from Highway 9 to the North Carolina state line.
Now, though, a lawsuit is challenging those attempts to stymie growth. Recently, the case moved to federal court.
The suit, filed by a group of residents who own land along S.C. 57, alleges the county put in place an “indefinite moratorium” that amounts to an “unconstitutional taking.”
The landowners — William, Margaret and Karen Gore, along with North Carolina resident Wanda Banning — are seeking $5 million from Horry County for limiting their use of 66 acres of land.
A “taking,” as it pertains to land law, occurs when the government limits the use of a person’s land to such a degree that it loses value or economic viability. Courts have ruled that if a government “takes” a person’s property, it must compensate them for it.
Horry County’s resolutions on S.C. 57 and S.C. 90, though, are not legally binding. Developers can still seek rezonings, and council members can still vote on them.
Despite that, the lawsuit alleges the county put the resolutions in place to limit building “before any property owner has the chance to be heard.”
The suit raises the question of to what extent fast-growing counties in South Carolina can limit the construction residents frequently complain about. Lexington County, another growing part of the state, also landed in court recently over an effort to curb building.
Tim Winslow, the executive director of the South Carolina Association of Counties, said resolutions expressing a desire to limit rezonings don’t amount to land takings.
“I would argue the lawsuit is already frivolous,” he said. “Assuming you knew what the property was zoned when you bought it, it’s hard to argue that’s a taking.”
The suit notes the land in question is zoned for agricultural use. The suit does not explicitly say the landowners planned to develop the land, but it references “prospective contractual relationships,” defines the land as a “property interest” and alleges the county’s resolution “indefinitely terminates plaintiffs from any use of the property.”
An attorney for the property owners couldn’t be reached. Karen and Margaret Gore said they and the other plaintiffs weren’t speaking publicly on the suit.
Horry County spokesperson Kelly Moore declined to comment on suit.
County Council member Harold Worley, who pushed for the resolution in question and who is named as a defendant in the suit, also said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit. But, he said, the resolution does not amount to a building moratorium and was designed to not be legally binding.
Calling the resolution a moratorium, he said, is the “wrong word to use.” He noted that developers can still bring rezoning requests for S.C. 57 to council.
“(Developers) just have to get seven council members to agree to it,” he said. “It’s not what you would define as a moratorium.”
Worley, the most senior member of council, said he personally would continue to vote against rezoning requests on the 6-mile stretch of S.C. 57 covered by the resolution. Traffic in the area, he said, is so congested it’s become dangerous.
“Until we can get some relief from that,” he said, “I don’t know what else we can do.”
