Understandably, cities and towns up and down the eastern seaboard are working towards a sustainable future by adopting polices and changing ordinances to avoid problems from new development.
Mature trees are a local treasure in Georgetown County, yet as I wrote a few weeks ago, are falling at an alarming rate.
A few weeks ago the Planning Commission had a public hearing on the Land Use Element and thankfully the community showed up to reject the higher density being proposed for many areas that are not only prone to flooding, but very much out of line with the Resilience Element that was adopted over 8 months ago!
Sadly, many of the people wanting to participate in the public hearing, could not even make it into the building.
Why does Georgetown County fail to live stream these meeting?
Recent removal of public comment or scrutiny and input on new development in Georgetown County is all the more reason that the county should see the opportunity to rebuild public trust by actually doing something by way of local governance rather than leaving it up to developers to do so.
In essence, Georgetown County’s new Land Use Element is adding more people and property in the flood zone at a time when Sea Level Rise is showing signs of heightened increases along the Atlantic Coast.
Something tells me that the planners along the coast here would rather ignore the obvious signs of the need to move development away from the coastline, yet our county is full steam ahead. Notable to me is the fact that areas with the red dots and highest rise in sea level since 2010 are at our door.
The updated Land Use Element only mentions 4 King Tides when this year there are at least 27 days where King Tides can impact our shores. What are they hiding?
Maybe the questions is - who are they kidding?
When misplaced development in wetlands and the flood zone increases, so does the taxpayer funded bailouts. Meanwhile, developers are proposing underground storage on the creek in Pawleys Island so they can develop a parcel that is estimated to contain numerous wetlands. What water table?
The blessing of county council was given for this 27 home development in the floodplain and changing from Conservation Preservation zoning in part because Councilor Mercado made the big splash by saying the developer was going to give “all the county public access” with a minimally sized kayak launch - to a resource we hold “near and dear”. Where do you think they will park?
The body language of the Planning Director as she answers the public access question seems about right.
When our county fails to responsibly manage land use, we are all going to pay.
Great citation and observations on tuning out to the reality of sea level rise and flooding.
I noticed a legal announcement for Horry County- might be going on in Georgetown County
also from Homeland Security and FEMA requesting public input on flood hazard determinations.
It's time to get serious about flood insurance and resilience. https://www.floodmaps.fema.gov/fhm/BFE_Status//bfe_main.asp