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Why This is Important: An Introduction

The Horry County Envision 2025 Comprehensive Plan is important to the extent that county government pays attention to it -- and, immediately, how thoroughly and carefully its steering committee and public input form it.

The county council that initiated Envision 2025 apparently took it seriously, and hopefully current and future councils will model their ordinances on it. It should represent our considered vision of how the impacts of Horry County growth should and could be controlled – specifically what we want Horry County to become.

Development interests generally oppose controls because they see them as cutting into their profits. However, “controlled growth,” that all politicians claim they support, can actually improve the value of developments by increasing or maintaining the desirability of an entire area – not to mention everyone’s quality of life and the property values of residential homeowners.

Growth is inevitable. Landowners and developers should be able to profit from their land and efforts. Government, nevertheless, has no obligation to let them make every last dime of profit from them. It needs to balance their interests with those of everyone else and, in doing so, everyone’s best interest.

All elements of the Envision 2025 comprehensive plan are directed towards improving, or at least maintaining, the quality of life of all Horry County citizens. They include, or may include to various degrees, an assessment of where we are, where we appear to be going and where we prefer to go.

The March 1 Land Use Element proceedings on this GIAC Web site include a very top-level description of the information available at that time on the Horry County Web site, www.horrycounty.org, as to the Envision 2025 as a whole, and how to access it. This information consisted of the other six elements that have been finalized as far as county staff and the steering committee are concerned. The March 15 proceedings on this, GIAC, site note newer information on the county site, to then since March 1.

Both proceedings include unofficial minutes and editorial comments. Official minutes on the land use element steering committee meetings and meeting handouts are anticipated to be published on this Web site as they become available – or referenced if and when it is seen that the county Web site publishes them.

This Web site has also published much of the text of an outstanding kickoff presentation, given by Horry County Sr. Planner John Sanford, at the first land use element steering committee meeting. Among other things, it offers many tools, with descriptions, that are “out there” for potential use by Horry County council and planning.

An additional tool is described in the comments of the March 1 proceedings here, dubbed an As Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. It could be used before planning a full-fledged Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance is underway. It would provide a basis for holding up a rezoning or development request until an agreement is negotiated whereby, to the degree feasible, the post development public facilities need by that development would not exceed its pre-development need.  

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