City Asks Developer Limit Primary Resident Voters

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David Hucks
David Huckshttps://myrtlebeachsc.com
David Hucks is a 12th generation descendant of the area we now call Myrtle Beach, S.C. David attended Coastal Carolina University and like most of his family, has never left the area. David is the lead journalist at MyrtleBeachSC.com

CITY COUNCIL ASKS DEVELOPER TO LIMIT PRIMARY HOMEOWNER  PURCHASES – COUNCIL KNOWS PRIMARY HOMEOWNERS VOTE

 

The city’s concerns became clearer,  however, when City Councilwoman Mary Jeffcoat asked for assurances that these secondary homes would not  be  occupied by annual rentals.  She stated the city would prefer daily and weekly rentals above any annual rentals.  In short,  annual renters  vote.

 
LStar Management, the owner of Grande Dunes Golf Resort, met with Myrtle Beach City Council and Mayor John Rhodes  this week in a workshop communicating its plan to  build hundreds of new homes on the undeveloped tract of land between the Intracoastal Waterway, U.S. 17, Robert M. Grissom Parkway and the marina north of 82nd Parkway.  These new homes are all being built inside the city limits of Myrtle Beach.

It’s a very rare opportunity, and I would tell you it’s one that our firm is more excited about than perhaps any other project we have, due to that broad expanse of undeveloped land,” LStar’s Chief Operating Officer Hampton Pitts told city council.

As our readers can hear in the video of that meeting above,  the city’s key concern was how many of the units would be occupied by primary homeowners versus secondary home buyers who live out of state.   Councilwoman Mary Jeffcoat,  City Councilman Wayne Gray, and Mayor John Rhodes each grilled LStar  stating that they would prefer second home owners in that neighborhood above and beyond primary residents.    Each postured the matter as a cost issue.    Since residents pay for water, utilities, and trash collection monthly,  the  added cost for city government  centered around what a primary resident would add to the “supposed” cost of  fire and police patrol.

Grande Dunes

Mayor Rhodes asked LStar, “What percentage of these homeowners are 4 percenters versus 6 pecenters?”   As Myrtle Beach charges tourists a tax, of which a tax credit is given to local primary residents,   the difference between what a primary resident pays in home taxes versus what a secondary resident pays for the same property in taxes can be as much as $3500 annually.  To the dismay of Mayor Rhodes,  LSTAR commented that 70% of current buyers were primary homeowners.

Residents we spoke with  asked us how the police costs for a primary resident could possibly increase more than incrementally above those of homes occupied by daily and weekly renters.  Many said that primary residents in high end neighborhoods, like Grande Dunes,  would actually lower costs above and beyond visitors who have no investments in those neighborhoods.

Concerning such political discussions, management consultant Peter Drucker says, “The most important thing in communication is to hear, what isn’t being said.    Again, the most important thing, the most important thing in communication is to hear, what isn’t being said.”

 

The city’s concerns became clearer,  however, when City Councilwoman Mary Jeffcoat asked for assurances that these secondary homes would not  be  occupied by annual rentals.  She stated the city would prefer daily and weekly rentals above any annual rentals.  In short,  annual renters  vote.

 

Councilman Wayne Gray addressed LStar C.E.O. Hampton Pitts this way,  “Hampton,  I’ll offer this to you.  I was part of City Council when this property was annexed into the city budget and when the planned unit development and development agreements were agreed to. It was a different time twenty years ago with a different company and that company has changed. I suggest to you that this development agreement would not be agreed to today.

 

As the meeting proceeded,  most of the twenty or so attending  the workshop were shocked to witness the city asking a developer to  limit primary residents who vote.

 

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