North Myrtle Beach council gives nod to annex nearly 1,900 acres

Sun News - NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- The City Council has given an initial approval to expand the city by more than 1,800 acres west of the Intracoastal Waterway.  The council took a first vote Monday night on the proposal to annex about 1,877 acres west of the waterway near Robert Edge Parkway into the city.  The council also had a second public hearing on a development agreement between the city and landowners SLF IV/SBI Sandridge LLC, SLF IV/SBI Bay Landing LLC, SLF IV/SBI Spice Hill LLC and Main Street Commercial Partners LLC.  According to the development agreement - which the council also initially approved Monday - more than 1,460 acres would be zoned for single-family homes, multifamily homes and/or commercial units, and the city will purchase about 136 acres from Sandridge for a sports tourism facility and about 8.5 acres from Main Street for access to the park site.  Resident Robert Flanagan expressed concerns about why the city is purchasing land for the sports facility and has increased its property tax rate from 32 mills to 38 mills over an eight-year period to pay off a $15 million general obligation bond being used to pay for the facility and the site it will occupy.  "In this time of recession, I don't understand now buying all this property," Flanagan said. "There's a lot of ways to spend money. I don't see spending money out there in the wilderness."  Mayor Marilyn Hatley said the sports facility is for the community and economic growth in the city.  "We're talking about at a time the lowest you can buy land," Hatley said. "Even with the 6-mill raise, you still have the lowest millage in the whole county. We have to continue to invest in our community, in our youth."  Though pleased with majority of the final work regarding the proposed development agreement and proposed annexation, Councilmen Greg Duckworth and Bob Cavanaugh expressed concerns about the timeline in the development agreement for the city to build an access road to the park site.  According to the agreement, the city will begin construction of the road within 60 months from the effective date of the agreement. If the city is unable to meet the time frame, then the landowners have the right to terminate the right-of-way dedication for that portion of the road.  "We have a lot of timelines, including building the road, but they [developers] don't have a built-out timeline," Cavanaugh said. "Are we going to build a road before development?"  Cavanaugh and Duckworth said they want the issue reconsidered before the council takes a final vote on the development agreement, which could be at its June 20 meeting.