North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By Kaye Collins
The Loris Planning Commission convened on Thursday, October 30, in the council chambers at 6 p.m. to hold a Special Meeting. Attending the meeting were Chair Linda Morrison, Vice Chair Christopher Spivey, Eric Milam, and Chad Bennett. Absent from the meeting were Ruth Ann Jones, Joseph Flesch, and John Adkins.
Following the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, Morrison officially opened the meeting to address the annexation concerning the last two phases of Silver Oaks Cottages LLC, a development that will feature 31 single-family homes on 6,000 square foot lots. This property spans roughly 16 acres and is designated as R-17 (medium density residential), situated close to the junction of Main Street and North Cox Road.
The final phases include the construction of two storm water drainage ponds, two streets, a cul-de-sac, sidewalks and 27 home lots. In September the developer received conditional approval to allow them to secure highway access permit for North Cox Road from the South Carolina Department of Transportation
The approval conditions for phases two and three require the Loris Board of Zoning Appeals to grant a variance, along with the finalization of a table that details the acreage allocated for open space, wetlands, ponds, right-of-ways, and residential lots.
A variance is necessary to bypass a stipulation in the Loris zoning ordinances that categorizes any open space as a lot, which would then make it subject to the minimum lot size requirement of 6,000 square feet in the R-1.7 zone.
Meredith Holmes, City Planning and Zoning Director, stated that the ordinance will ultimately be revised to remove open space from the lot-size requirement. However, a variance will be requested as it can be approved more swiftly, enabling the project to move forward.
The area in discussion is a landscaped strip of land adjacent to future streets designated for tree planting. Should the variance be rejected, the developer plans to circumvent the lot-size requirement by integrating the landscaped open space along the streets into the residential lots, as stated by David Schwerd, the project engineer from Diamond Shores of Conway.
Another requirement for approval is the completion of a table detailing the amount of land allocated for open space, right-of-ways, and other purposes. Schwerd mentioned that the final numbers cannot be calculated until the infrastructure is established.
The specified conditions must be fulfilled prior to the planning commission releasing the final plat that illustrates the division of the land tract, which is necessary for the issuance of building permits for the homes. In November 2023, Silver Oaks Cottages LLC acquired the 10.68-acre tract that includes phases two and three for $225,000 from Robert N. Prince
