GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — The Georgetown County Council will not allow any residential development on two golf courses at the center of a contentious zoning debate.
After a closed session at Georgetown County Council’s Tuesday Regular Meeting, Councilperson Stella Mercado moved to enact a pending ordinance doctrine on the ordinances to enact the Neighborhood Amenity District and rezone the Litchfield Country Club and Founder’s golf courses from R-10 to the new zoning district.
The South Carolina Municipal Association defines the pending ordinance doctrine as a legal principle allowing local governments to refuse permits for land use not permitted under a pending and later-enacted zoning ordinance.
Currently, both golf courses are zoned as R-10, allowing for roughly four homes per acre. Residents and the advocacy group Keep It Green have opposed the proposed Neighborhood Amenity District, claiming the county needs to return the land to a “Private Recreational” zoning status used before the 2024 Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Element adoption.
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While Georgetown County officials view the new district as a measure to restrict redevelopment, residents argue the county’s failure to update zoning laws since 2007 has led to the current predicament.
“The reason we are in the situation we are in right now is because the county failed to update the zoning from 2007 until 2024, and we shouldn’t even be here. The zoning should have been changed decades ago,” said Cindy Person, executive director and Legal Counsel of Keep It Green Advocacy.
Tuesday, Mercado took aim at the group, saying the group has “stoked fear and confusion within the community, resulting in conflict, mistrust and division within the community between neighbors, the people and elected officials.”
Mercado went on to say KIG Advocacy has created a “mess” that she is attempting to clean up.
“The Neighborhood Amenity District that county council is putting forward results in a 95 percent reduction in zoning density,” Mercado said.
This tit for tat also led to a Letter to the Editor publishing by Councilperson Mercado. In response, Person said Mercado is attempting to clean up actions she brought upon her own District.
“Councilor Mercado blatantly disregarded her constituents and voted to change the longstanding ‘Private Recreational’ Comprehensive Plan designation to a category that allows residential development,” Person wrote. “After putting golf course residents in jeopardy, Mercado turns around and claims to protect them by concocting a poorly drafted zoning proposal that, curiously, still allows residential development and adds commercial.”
Council read all three ordinances into the record on Tuesday, as is customary for the First Reading.
