‘Deserves a constitutional challenge’: Little River resident suing Horry Co. over condos

Katrina Morrison, an out-of-state attorney and resident of Little River, is suing the Horry County Council and the county Planning Commission after both bodies in recent weeks approved a condominium project near Coquina Harbor in Little River.

According to Morrison and her lawsuit, county officials should have never approved the developers’ request to build the condominiums because the plans to do so were based off of what she says is an outdated consent order for the property. Morrison — as well as some members of county council — contend that consent order the county reached with the previous owners of the property should not apply to the current owners.

“The question has to be asked in court by a judge, ‘Does this consent order transfer to the new owner?’” Morrison said Thursday. “I think this deserves a constitutional challenge.”

Morrison said she holds a law degree and works as an arbitrator and mediator in legal disputes, and has plans to become a registered attorney in New York later this month. She moved to Little River in 2015 to be closer to family, she said. She spoke before county council to oppose the project in June, and said Thursday she filed a lawsuit because she thought county leaders would strike down the project without a legal challenge. She said she planned to serve county officials with the lawsuit personally on Thursday.

According to Morrison’s lawsuit, the consent order from 2006 was made to circumvent the planning commission. In doing so, they “acted negligently and breached a duty of care” by granting special privilege to a specific developer, which violates county rules and regulations.

The project developers are proposing is a 120-foot, 12-story condominium building with 336 units, 8,800 square feet of commercial space, 11,000 square feet of conference space, a 746-space parking garage and a 24-space parking lot. The developers would add turning lanes to Highway 17 to allow residents and visitors to turn into the project.

Morrison, though, argues that such a project wouldn’t fit in with the surrounding community, and that traffic in the area is already congested, and adding more could increase public safety issues. She said a number of traffic accidents already occur in the area — near the intersection of Highways 17 and 90 — without the added people and cars.

“I moved here because it’s a slower pace, fewer people, less traffic,” she said. “Why on earth would we want something like this built here? Nobody in the community wants it.”

The county and planning commission went out of their way to “defraud” residents and “circumvent the law,” the lawsuit states.

At issue with the development is Horry County’s zoning rules, and how they’ve changed over the years. Under original zoning rules — put in place between the 1980s and early 2000s — some areas in Little River, particularly near the highways and waterways, allowed for buildings up to 240 feet high. In 2006, developers sought to build condominiums 180 feet high on a 4-acres in Little River under those rules, according to court records. Around the same time, though, county council members, including Harold Worley who represents the North Myrtle Beach and Little River areas, sought to change those zoning rules, and reduce possible building height to 60 feet, with an exception up to 120 feet if county leaders negotiate a specific deal.

After negotiations with county leaders — and after a judge signed off the plans — developers agreed to build under a consent order, up to 120 feet, Worley said.

“When these guys came through and bought that property, they wanted to put a 180 foot building there, I balked on them,” he explained June 10 regarding the history of the property. “But we ended up going to court and then we ended up settling the thing and said, ‘Okay, how about 120 feet?’ We were in a bad position, the county.”

The developers, though, never built on the land under the consent order. In 2013, the land was transferred to a new developer who sought to build on the land. At planning commission and county council meetings this year, the new developers, represented by George Redman and Howell ‘Skeets’ Bellamy of the Bellamy Law Firm, sought to have the county approve a special development plan that would allow them to build up to the 120 feet allowed under the new zoning rules.

The attorneys argued before council that because the county had agreed to a consent order for a previous owner, it still applied to the land now that it was under new ownership, meaning the county should agree to the special development plan and allow for building up to 120 feet.

At first, council members appeared poised to vote the project down, not agreeing that the consent agreement transferred between owners. That would mean that the new owners could work to negotiate with the county to build up to 120 feet, but otherwise would be restricted to 60 feet of building height. At the end of council’s June 1 meeting, Bellamy suggested that he and the developers could sue the county if the council didn’t agree to let them build up to 120 feet.

Bellamy said then that he and the developers had chosen to work with the county on a special building agreement, one that would allow building up to 120 feet in Little River, in part to “prevent a lawsuit.” Bellamy said he believed the consent order from the previous property owner still applied to the property.

Council members then delayed a vote on the matter for two weeks. At the time, Worley said he hoped the vote to rezone the property and allow for the 120-foot building would fail.

“I think the council will vote no on the rezoning, at least I hope so,” he said. “Look, I’m the councilman down there, if anyone is going to take any heat for it, it’s (Council Chairman Johnny Gardner) and I.”

Council, however, ultimately voted to approve the rezoning, and the building plan allowing for 120-high condos to be built there.

On Thursday, both Redman and Bellamy didn’t comment on Morrison’s lawsuit before publication. Worley, too, didn’t return a voicemail message prior to publication.

Morrison said she was shocked to learn that council approved the building request, and filed suit as a resident because she opposes the project. She added that such a tall building could also lead to other environmental issues, as such buildings are anchored deep into the ground to keep them standing.

“When I saw this proposal I thought, ‘There’s no way they could possibly allow this just because of the environmental issues,’” Morrison said. “I think this was handled inappropriately.”