An Horry County woman criticized a developer. Now she has a restraining order.
The video Dawne Dunton posted online last year was unremarkable.
But it’s now earned her a restraining order from a North Carolina developer.
Dunton, a part-time nature photographer, would often walk around her Island Green community, in the Burgess area, recording what she saw. She did the same in last fall.
Walking on Bellmonte Drive in Island Green in October 2021, Dunton recorded a video of damage to a small bridge that leads into an area where developers will be building 134 new homes. Developers had built the bridge over a small stream and rain had washed part of the concrete out, leaving cracks in the surface. The bridge is about a mile walk from Dunton’s home.
Dunton criticized the “shoddy work” in her video said the developer doesn’t “care about our safety.” She said she worried drivers or children on their bikes could get hurt.
There are no homes on the other side of the bridge, which to this date are dirt lots with utilities and no through roads. The bridge appears to have been repaired and is seems to be in good order as of last week.
But after she posted the video to YouTube and Facebook, developer Bob Williamsen pressed charges against Dunton for trespassing on his property. In Dunton’s arrest warrant, Williamsen cited the video she posted. Horry County police officers took Dunton to jail for a day in November before she posted bail.
The bridge and road leading into the construction site is considered private property. A road leading to another neighborhood that residents use, runs past it.
It’s an escalation, Dunton and others said, of the conflict between residents and developers in Horry County, one of the fastest growing areas in the country.
Williamsen could not be reached for comment for this story and his agent in Horry County, Steve Powell of Venture Engineering, declined to make him available. But Powell said Williamsen pressed charges against Dunton because she knowingly trespassed on his property and “promoting bad publicity” about his development.
Dunton maintains that no “no trespassing” signs were posted near where she shot her video. Williamsen, though, told Horry County police officer Joseph Dodd that he did have signs stating, “No Private Property, Trespassing is strictly prohibited,” according to the arrest warrant.
“She was just on his property filming and let’s say promoting bad publicity,” Powell said about why Williamsen pressed charges. “I’m not really sure what all she had to say on the film but I do know that Mr. Williamsen felt that it was all negative and he hasn’t done anything to deserve the negativity.”
Amy Lawrence, Dunton’s attorney, said in an interview that video from Dodd’s body camera did show “no trespassing” signs, but that it wasn’t clear when those signs were posted. In South Carolina, the posting of a “no trespassing” sign is considered a first warning, meaning a person can be fined or arrested if they ignore one.
“I think what’s questionable is when those signs went up,” Lawrence said. “No one could testify on when those signs put up.”
The Sun News last week viewed “no trespassing” signs near where Dunton filmed her video. The one closest to the road and bridge where Dunton was accused of trespassing did not have a date showing when it was posted. Other nearby “no trespassing” signs also did not have dates showing when they were posted.
Dunton’s restraining order, Lawrence said, prohibits her from standing or walking on places where Williamsen has posted signs and on the sides of the neighborhood’s roads. Dunton is still allowed, Lawrence said, to travel to and from her home as well as visit friends in the neighborhood.
Crucially, though, the restraining order prevents Dunton from “protesting” anymore of Williamsen’s building.
“Ms. Dunton has right of way to (and) from her property only. No protesting on property,” the restraining order reads.
“She can’t go protest on his property or go and take pictures,” Lawrence added.
Still, Dunton and others said, hers is a case of a developer retaliating against a resident for criticizing their work as one of South Carolina’s largest counties continues to grow rapidly.
One of Dunton’s Island Green neighbors, Cathi Hallock, said Williamsen overreacted to the situation. Hallock lives near the bridge that was damaged and said she didn’t recall seeing “no trespassing” signs there until after Dunton raised the issue.
“I don’t feel she did anything wrong, she’s walking on the street, she’s taking pictures of birds and whatever and she discovers that the thing has fallen down,” Hallock said. “Had I been walking, I would have taken a picture, absolutely. Somebody’s life is at stake here.”
At Planning Commission and county council meetings, residents frequently complain of over-building, or of growth outpacing infrastructure like roads, and many post their opinions on social media. At one recent planning commission meeting, for example, Loris residents shouted in the face of a developer looking build 259 homes near their neighborhood. And Carolina Forest residents last year threatened to gate their neighborhood if council approved a developer’s request to build townhomes nearby.
But when Dunton criticized a developer, she was charged, arrested and hit with a restraining order, a situation she called “ridiculous.”
“I never thought in a million years I’d have a restraining order,” she said Wednesday. “Now I’m kind of scared and I shouldn’t be. I did it for the safety of my community, nothing more nothing less.”
Another case last year also saw a developer calling Horry County police on a resident who criticized their building. In that case, Longs resident Lyda “Liz” Greene would frequently warn her neighbors and prospective buyers that the neighborhood floods, which it did during the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Police officers and a Realtor told her to stop.
The issue of how much say residents have compared to developers has become an animating issue in Horry County politics, and has featured in this year’s race for chair of Horry County Council. Incumbent Chairman Johnny Gardner has pushed forward zoning changes and building rules to curtail developers’ influence and reduce the risk of flooding. He also helped pass impact fees on developers to help pay for infrastructure.
Challenger Mark Lazarus, meanwhile, told developers at his campaign launch that he wouldn’t let residents “shut down” development. (Gardner and Lazarus will meet in a run-off election June 28.)
County council member Gary Loftus, too, said Dunton was within her rights to complain about development in Island Green which he called “a total mess.”
Dunton and others in her neighborhood have protested additional building in Island Green for years in part because there’s only one road in and out for an area with 1,200 homes. Horry County now requires additional access roads for large developments.
“The developer probably deserved it,” Loftus said.
Powell argued that if Dunton wanted to protest the development she could have done so from home. He said Williamsen is a responsible developer trying to be a “good neighbor.”
“He wants to be a good neighbor, he’s an exceptionally good guy,” Powell said. “And if anyone has issues they can reach out to Venture Engineering and we’ll do everything we can do resolve issues.”
Hallock, Dunton’s neighbor, also questioned why police arrested her.
“We can’t get the police to come when there’s a problem sometimes and he got them to come and arrest somebody,” Hallock said. “I mean, really? And then magically there were signs up.”
In the meantime, Dunton’s restraining order will last one year. She said that means she won’t be able to take photos of the wildlife, like limpkins, that call the area home.
“Can I see the limpkins?” Dunton said through tears, referring to the species of rare bird. “Can I see the big alligator in the pond?”
