Myrtle Beach’s planning commission looking out for public good

Myrtle Beach’s planning commission saw two oceanfront building proposals Tuesday and sent developers for each away with demands for more public improvements and other considerations.

A 200-foot, 271-unit condominium building that would rise next to the Landmark Resort Hotel on Ocean Boulevard along 15th and 16th avenues South drew a lot of public interest, planners said, primarily from homeowners who live outside the area.

The new building, on property that is currently a parking lot and the Sportsman Motor Inn, would link with the Landmark and its westerly parking garage. The proposal is to rezone the lot as an L-shaped, planned-unit development, a zoning distinction that lets developers skirt certain city rules often in exchange for public improvements.

Developers said those improvements would include widened sidewalks, handicapped beach access, streetscapes along 15th and 16th avenues South and a turnaround drop-off point at the beach end of 15th Avenue South.

Commissioners also said they were concerned about population density and parking around the property.

The commission also got an updated look at a proposed 690-unit-time-share development on Sixth Avenue South by Orlando-based Westgate LLC.
Responding to the commission’s earlier protests, the developer split one large tower into two separate towers and shuffled the heights of the buildings. Westgate also increased setbacks around the buildings and tweaked a few other things.

City planner David Peete said it often takes several rounds through planning commission and then a few rounds through City Council for a development to move past its blueprints and get off the ground.

Source: Lisa Fleisher, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC