PAWLEYS ISLAND — Two Waccamaw Neck golf courses could eventually be redeveloped, but Georgetown County leaders have placed tighter restrictions on what could be built there.
In February, county leaders proposed the creation of a neighborhood amenity district that would preserve green space and limit development on the Litchfield Country Club and Founders Club courses if they ever closed.
Under the previous zoning, the courses could have been developed with four houses per acre. Under the neighborhood amenity district, development is restricted to one house per five acres.
The council passed a temporary measure that would allow the county to block certain residential development on the courses while the proposed zoning changes moved through the approval process, but the changes are now permanent.
“Thank you all for supporting this,” Councilman Bob Anderson told his fellow council members at a recent meeting. “I mean that truthfully. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to the people out here.”
Anderson represents District 6, which includes Litchfield Country Club.
Although neither golf course has announced plans to close, the new zoning is intended to be a preventative measure, said Holly Richardson, the county’s planning director.
Some residents and the nonprofit law firm Keep It Green opposed the rezoning, arguing that no residential development should be allowed on the property.
“The best, most protective, and only true protection against residential development is to not allow it,” said Cindy Person, legal counsel for KIG.
The Georgetown County Planning Commission previously recommended the council wait to create a new zoning district after hearing resident complaints.
Anderson met with state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet — lawyer for Founders Group International — and KIG representatives to create a plan for the golf courses that would help ease resident concerns.
They removed language permitting cluster development from the ordinance and added a requirement that each lot have 100 feet of frontage.
Richardson said 24 houses could be built on each course under the new district.
