Georgetown County’s new comprehensive plan could bring community changes

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) — More developments in Georgetown County could soon be underway as officials work to create more residential and commercial spaces across the county.

However, some residents are worried that development in the area could be going too far.

Officials have been working on a comprehensive plan, a 10-year framework for how the county and surrounding areas will evolve over the coming years, including what land to develop and how to develop it.

“The land use element is one piece, but probably the most important,” said Holly Richardson, director of planning and code enforcement for Georgetown. “Most people would say the land use elements spell out where and what kind of future development the county will see over the next 10 years. It involves future land maps, which show the different tracks of the different areas of the county.”

Leaders said they are focused on creating an economic impact by bringing more jobs, building affordable and attainable homes, and fixing infrastructure to prevent traffic congestion, but one resident said she fears that the more development there is, the more problems could seriously affect the culture of the county.

“Yeah, we’ll see a lot of loss of local mom-and-pop businesses, primarily what we have on the Waccamaw neck now,” said Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the Keep It Green advocacy group. “I think we’ll see what we see in Mount Pleasant, in Myrtle Beach, which is the franchises and big-box stores coming in,”

Officials have yet to finalize the plans but say the population is growing and that’ it’s their job to create a plan that will benefit everyone in the community.

“We feel like growth is certainly coming here,” Richardson said. “It certainly comes to our neighbors to the north and the south, and we need growth, affordable housing, and housing. If we’re going to have increasing jobs, we certainly need places for those folks to live, and what this does is give us some guidelines and guidance on how to see that development in the future.”

County officials plan to have a second reading on the land use element of the comprehensive plan on Tuesday. The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Howard Auditorium.

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