Source: The Myrtle Beach Sun-News
The trend of transforming Grand Strand golf course greens into homes can be difficult work - just ask Centex Homes.
The developer has been working with county staff for almost three months to introduce to Horry County one of the largest golf course conversions so far in the area - turning the 54-hole, three-course Bay Tree Golf Plantation into a 2,075-unit residential community.
On Tuesday, Centex was still unable to persuade county planners to give the green light to changing the zoning to allow residential development because of concerns about traffic increases and stress on public safety.
"I certainly don't want to take a project to the county with all these questions and have them enact it," Horry County Planning Director Janet Carter said.
The Bay Tree concerns may foreshadow debate in other neighborhoods and government departments across the Grand Strand as such conversions become more commonplace.
With about 120 courses on the Grand Stand, some owners are finding it harder to make profits with the increased competition. Redevelopment may give them a way to boost profits but also can have widespread effects on residents there and in neighboring areas.
Some Bay Tree neighbors have misgivings about the project. "I think everybody who lives here came here because of the golf courses and to see all of them go away is a little disappointing," said Stuart Jenkins, a property manager of one of the Bay Tree communities. "We are concerned about what will happen to the values of our property."
A golfing boom between 1987 and 2001 created 77 new courses across the Grand Strand. The oversupply of golf courses is now causing more owners to raze the lush playing fields in favor of more housing and commercial projects.
A few owners have weighed the benefits of their golf course against the value of their land as a residential or commercial venture and decided to convert.
Gator Hole, in North Myrtle Beach, was the first area course to be paved over when it closed to become a shopping center in 1999. Now there likely will be a change to Robbers Roost in Myrtle Beach, which has been closed since May 2003 and is looking for a zoning change. Winyah Bay, in Georgetown, and Bay Tree are both slated for redevelopment.
"As golf-course management becomes more competitive, you may see more and more of them be developed into a different use," said Pat Dowling, spokesman for developer Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., which owns three courses. "It's sort of the same thing that happened to condos in the '70s and '80s. ... Everything goes in cycles."
Mike Wyatt, president of the Myrtle Beach division of Centex, said some golf courses may have potentially "served their purpose."
"Look at the old [Myrtle Beach] Air Force Base. There is a better use of that today than what there was 20 years ago," Wyatt said. "Over time, you will probably see more of these [redevelopment projects]."
Mike Wooten is representing the company and trying to resolve the Planning Department's concerns for a Thursday hearing before the Horry County Planning Commission.
The commission must approve the proposal before it can move on to a full vote by County Council members.
The county still had about 12 areas of concern Tuesday. The additional homes will mean more stress on the county's already overstressed police fire and medical staff, a problem the county has been struggling with for years because of ballooning growth, said Paul Whitten, director of Horry County Public Safety.
"It is a significant increase for the entire public safety [network], but specifically on the police department," Whitten said. The S.C. Highway Patrol would not handle wrecks on the Village at Bay Tree's new private roads, which means the job will fall to the county, he said.
Centex also must clear up traffic concerns that revolve around the need for a traffic light at the southern edge of the proposed project - an S.C. 9 intersection that also serves the Loris Medical Center.
Centex has failed so far to get the S.C. Department of Transportation to rule on whether a light will go up, mostly because of Thanksgiving holiday vacations, Wooten said.
County staff also is concerned about stormwater runoff, parking on streets and the construction schedule, which is spread over 10 years.
Bay Tree homeowner Don Plugge said he is worried too. Plugge and others around the course started a committee called Save Bay Tree. "The thing that is going to impact my life the most is the additional traffic," he said. "It could be the most beautiful development in the world, but the highway out there will not support it."
Not all neighbors think the new development could have a negative impact.
"If a planned develop district goes in here, what is important is that it is all planned out and we are all part of the process," Bay Tree resident Jack Nash said.
When it opened in 1972, Bay Tree was the first collection of courses to open 54 holes simultaneously.
Its successor, the 516-acre Villages at Bay Tree, would include a village center with commercial and retail businesses, 1,050 single-family homes, 750 multifamily units, 275 Continuing Care Retirement Community units, and bike and walking paths throughout the property.
