Always a dreamer: Planning director leaves lasting legacy on Myrtle Beach after retirement

His name may not be known by all in Myrtle Beach, but recently-retired Planning Director Jack Walker’s thumbprint is well-seen across the city.

Whether it’s the high-rise oceanfront resorts, The Market Common or even Broadway at the Beach, Walker’s vision played a large part in making the city what it looks like today, those who’ve known and worked with him for the past 31 years said.

“You need to have somebody who can dream,” former City Manager Tom Leath said. “I would much rather have people that I am sort of trying to hold back and rein in than to be kicking them in the butt and saying that you need to be thinking more creatively.”

Despite abruptly resigning in June, Walker still has big dreams for the city, including creating a truly walkable city with green space, paths and biking trails.

Councilman Randal Wallace said there were times that Walker’s vision outpaced those of City Council members.

“He was often way ahead of where we are because he was such a dreamer and a visionary of what he wanted,” Wallace said. “Now that he’s retired, I hope he gets the credit that he deserves for a lot of what you see in Myrtle Beach.”

Becoming a planner

Walker, who grew up in Columbia, said he knew he wanted to be involved with planning neighborhoods from a young age.

“As a kid I had a paper route,” he said. “I got up, starting at about eighth grade, every morning at four or five delivering papers Monday through Friday and at night on Saturday and Sunday. ... It bothered me to see how the land was being used. I thought what I wanted to do was get in to some type of field that influenced how neighborhoods were developed.”

Walker – the oldest of six children – said he was very familiar with Myrtle Beach, taking several family trips to the area growing up.

“When we went on vacation we usually went and rented a beach house,” he said.

Walker went to Clemson University to get an architecture degree with the goal of getting into planning while having a design background, he said.

He said he spent the first 15 years of his professional career in the Columbia area working on historic preservation before working for a consulting firm that did planning for municipalities nationwide.

Walker also was a charter member of the Columbia Landmarks Commission, which is similar to Myrtle Beach’s Community Appearance Board and dealt with historic buildings. It was an appointed body where he served as a volunteer.

“As a result I got an even closer understanding in the close relationships between the built environment and the human environment,” he said. “That probably got me into the whole idea of greenways – understanding the importance of having a healthy community that’s multimodal. Greenways are a way to pull all those things together and protects the environment at the same time.”

It was while he was working as a consultant with Wilbur Smith and Associates that he began a contract to rewrite Myrtle Beach’s zoning ordinance in 1984. That led to a job as the city’s first planning director.

“Richard Marvin was the new city manager at the time,” Walker said of being offered the job.. “I always felt like Myrtle Beach was an unrecognized huge asset to South Carolina. ... It was a big choice because I was very happy working as a consultant. But there’s something about working for a local government – you know you have a chance to make a difference.”

The Sun News editorial board had high hopes for Walker after he was hired in 1984, which came after a year-long search, according to the editorial.

“Just as the road was long in choosing a qualified planner such as Walker, the road will be longer still in planning the direction that growth in Myrtle Beach will take,” the editorial board wrote. “We Wish Walker luck as he tackles the problems that await him. He has a tough job but a job that can be rewarding as he helps shape the future of one of the fastest growing areas in the United States.”

‘Golden age’

By the 1990s, Walker said the city moved into what he refers to as the “golden age” for planning in Myrtle Beach.

“In 1991, Tom Leath had me do a long presentation at the city retreat looking into the future,” Walker said. “The city was recovering from [Hurricane] Hugo. It was time to put our crystal ball out there. At that retreat that year I did an hour-and-a-half presentation with a vision looking at 2020. That kicked off a decade of what I consider to be the golden age of planning in the city.”

Walker said a lot of big things started happening due to the economy picking up. There was a new zoning ordinance, 10 different high rises were under construction, and new master plans for the downtown area, the Myrtle Beach Pavilion area and for reuse of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base – which would become The Market Common.

“That series of 1990s processes actually created the framework for decisions through now,” he said.

Walker and Leath said they believe plans for downtown Myrtle Beach spawned what became Broadway at the Beach.

“I said, ‘Jack, think about how do we redevelop the downtown?’” Leath said of his conversation with Walker in the ‘90s. “What would you do if you had a clean slate and the money to do what you want?”

Walker dreamed of a downtown that included canals to deal with stormwater and a monorail to improve public transportation. Leath said Walker also looked at the Withers Swash area to have canals with entertainment and retail along the water’s edge.

“Lo and behold, a big lake is dug and a bunch of retail is around it and you have Broadway at the Beach,” Leath said. “Nobody’s feelings are hurt because Burroughs & Chapin [Co. Inc.] had the wherewithal to build it. ... I think a lot of the Broadway at the Beach pieces came from things Jack [conceived].”

Also in the 1990s, the city adopted the alleyway swap program and the implementation of planned unit developments to allow for the construction of large resorts on the waterfront.

“Oceanfront PUDs allowed hotel owners to redevelop properties into what the market was desiring through the alleyway swap [program],” Councilman Wayne Gray said. “Before we basically had pencil-thin hotels that were maybe 10 stories tall.”

While Walker said he believes it was a group effort to establish viable partnerships in the creation of The Market Common and takes little credit himself, many point to the mixed-use development on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base as one of the former planning director’s signature projects.

“The city took a strong stand in the redevelopment of the Air Force Base,” Walker said. “We made it really clear that the city’s role in that was critical. We were at the table making all the decisions in the development of the strategy in economic development after the base closure ... but the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority was a true partner in making it happen.”

Walker said The Market Common is a perfect model of what the future of Myrtle Beach could look like – creative land use, public space, sidewalks, roads and parks all coming together with retail and residential.

“It makes it easy to envision how you can have shops with housing above on Kings Highway when you look at how successful it’s been,” he said. “In the distant future it could be the kind of thing that could happen around Broadway at the Beach in the parking areas – a village that’s not just for the tourist community.”

He said he hopes that The Market Common will inspire similar development throughout the city – in places like Broadway at the Beach, Northwoods and the former Myrtle Square Mall site between Kings Highway and Oak Street near the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

“The ultimate goal would be to connect all the neighborhoods in the city and out into the county by those greenways,” Walker said. “Hopefully in the future that is applied as [the city begins] to connect biking and pedestrian into the county as well.”

Decision to move on

Earlier in the year, Walker said he planned to retire by the end of 2015. When he went to work on June 9, he said did not know he would put in his resignation within the next 24 hours and leave the job he’d had for 31 years three days later.

Walker said his strong connection to historic preservation left him upset that the city might demolish the former Fitzgerald Motel it was in the process of purchasing in June and now owns.

The Fitzgerald Motel and the now-demolished Charlie’s Place in the once-segregated Booker T. Washington neighborhood of Myrtle Beach once was the site of performances from renowned artists including Little Richard, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles. Residents had asked the city to purchase the motel and turn it into a museum and cultural center.

“The final thing was the whole lack of appreciation for what Charlie’s Place could be,” he said. “It was clear there was a preference to demolish among leadership. ... There was a lack of appreciation for things that were important to me and I could see a lot of frustration in the future.”

Earlier this month, City officials met with a nonprofit group formed to revitalize Carver Street with Charlie’s Place as a centerpiece and the groups decided that the bulk of the motel would be demolished to create a cultural center on the 1.5-acres.

“There are things of our past that we need to constantly remind ourselves,” Walker said. “With Charlie’s Place, there’s a story that needs to be told. ... That whole episode with City Council and senior management was extremely disappointing to me.”

Walker also pointed to what he called a deterioration of the relationship between the Planning Commission and City Council over several years.

“Back in the golden era, the Planning Commission and City Council worked closely together,” he said. “That relationship has somehow gone away.”

Leath said he takes responsibility for any tension between the two groups.

“It’s been going on for some time,” he said. “I should have done more with the planning staff and the Planning Commission to get them on the same page as City Council. It’s one of my great failures.”

Planning Commission Chairman Derrick Mozingo said it was disappointing the way Walker suddenly resigned.

“The man gave 30-something years to the city,” he said. “I wish it happened a different way.”

City Manager John Pedersen said it’s going to take a meeting of the minds with council, the Planning Commission and a new planning director to get things back on track.

Pedersen said more than 100 people from across the country – including some in-house applicants – applied to be the next planning director. Senior planner Diane Moskow-McKenzie has served as acting director since Walker retired in June.

The city interviewed 10 applicants and narrowed that list to three candidates for a second round of interviews last Friday. Finalists include Horry County Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning Carol Coleman, Berkeley County Planning Director Eric Greenway, and Burlington, N.C., Planning Director Amy Nelson.

Wallace said he believes the city is going to miss Walker and his influence.

“He’s had a huge impact on the community,” Wallace said. “It’s good to have a dreamer – it does help you get to where you want to be – just like he did with Market Common.”

Walker still had dreams for the future of the city he loves, but instead he spends his time traveling back and forth to Columbia to renovate a house he owns there and said he hopes to do some camping in his free time.

“It happened sooner than I thought it would, but I’m enjoying retirement,” he said.

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 6:25 AM with the headline "Always a dreamer: Planning director leaves lasting legacy on Myrtle Beach after retirement."