More development is coming to this crowded Horry County intersection. But what kind?

Nine minutes.

At the wrong time of day, that’s how long Patty Jernijan has to wait at a traffic signal before turning onto U.S. Highway 501 from Legends Drive.

“And that’s only with the 1,200-something homes and businesses we have there” now, Jernijan said.

The intersection about eight miles north of Myrtle Beach is brimming with activity: Restaurants including the Grumpy Monk, Walk-Ons and Olive Garden are all nearby — Tanger Outlets is across the highway and at the end of the private road is an exclusive five golf course resort that pulls in almost 200,000 players a year.

As the only link in and out of the neighborhood, an overbuilt Legends Drive is the stuff of nightmares for those who rely on it.

“Any future development would just have a negative impact on us that we would literally be trapped in our communities,” Catherine Lindsey, who lives off Legends Drive, told the county council Jan. 10.

Horry County’s newly seated council — including three freshman members — is pushing off a decision to rezone 20 acres at the top of Legend Drive from highway commercial to one that would allow for a mixed-use project expected to include hundreds of apartments and a “community activity center,” according to planning documents.

Between the property’s $9 million market value and an average annual daily traffic count of nearly 51,000, the question isn’t whether the development will find it but when and what kind.

“Until we can come to a solution that people on all sides of the aisle accepts and everybody’s happy, then we go nowhere,” county council member Michael Masciarelli, whose district includes the Legends Drive area, said.

In June 2018, voters rejected creating a special tax district that would have paid for improvements along Legends Drive. At the time, it would have meant $214 more annually on a $200,000 home.

Masicarelli, a real estate agent who previously served on the county’s planning commission, said it likely will take “four to six months of nonstop work” before the rezone comes before county leaders.

“If I’m going to approve something, I want to know specifically what you’re doing,” he said. “My concern is the overall health and safety of the people who live in my district, then, ‘does it make it sense?’, and, ‘can it be economically beneficial to the community?’ and then we can approve it.”

Residents told council members they’ll be watching closely.

“I wasn’t ready to move into a more congested area than I came from and to me, it’s almost a betrayal of the people that bought here, that planned to be here,” Sago Plantation homeowner John Pafumi said.