North Myrtle Beach City Council has busy meeting

Prior to the December 2 meeting, City Council met in a 6:45 p.m. executive session to consider a potential contract between the city and Beam and Associates. Council took no action.

City Councilmen J.O. Baldwin, Fred Coyne and Hank Thomas, all successful in their reelection bids during the City’s November 5 general election, took their oaths of office to serve new four-year terms on City Council.

Mayor Marilyn Hatley issued a proclamation declaring December 6, Arbor Day in North Myrtle Beach.

In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. The first Arbor Day saw more than a million trees planted in Nebraska.

In her Proclamation, Mayor Hatley said that trees help reduce the erosion of topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife. She noted that trees are a renewable source giving us paper, wood for homes, fuel for fires and countless other wood products. Trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community.

Mayor Hatley also said that community forests offer some protection to life and property from damage caused by high-category hurricanes and tropical storms. She added that trees, wherever planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.

For the 14th consecutive year, the city received a Tree City USA award from The Tree City USA® program, sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. The program provides direction, technical assistance, public attention and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities.

The many benefits of being a Tree City USA include creating a framework for action, education, a positive public image and citizen pride.

In order to become a Tree City USA, a community must establish a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

City Council approved a motion to adopt its regular meeting schedule for 2020. The meetings are January 6, February 3 and 24-25 (Budget Retreat), March 2 and 16, April 6 and 20, May 4 and 18, June 15, July 20, August 17, September 21, October 5 and 19, November 2, December 7.

City Council adopted a resolution revising the Employee Personnel Manual per Chapter 17, Section 17-2 of the City’s Code of Ordinances. The manual requires periodic legal review and updates. Staff worked with the city attorney and a labor attorney to review, update and incorporate all necessary revisions to the manual.

City Council adopted a resolution appointing North Myrtle Beach residents John Bullard and Edith Phillips to the Fireman’s Insurance and Inspection Fund board of trustees.

City Council passed second (final) reading of an ordinance annexing and zoning 11.84 acres located off Old Crane Road and the Intracoastal Waterway. The land is zoned Planned Development District (PDD). The development adds a new Phase 1B to the Bahama Island Resort PDD, relating to the portion known as the NMB RV Resort and Dry Dock with a continuation of the RV uses operating in Phase 1A since 2017.

City Council passed second (final) reading of an ordinance amending the Bahama Island Resort Planned Development District (PDD), Phase 1B of the NMB RV Resort and Dry Dock portion [Z-19-12]. NMB RV Resort and Dry Dock operated 107 RV and 22 pop-up camper sites and on-site amenities since 2017, including allowance of permanent park models. The development also provides boat storage using an existing dry dock storage building (96,100 square feet) and infrastructure for boat storage and a ship store building (3,159 square feet).

The applicant requested a major amendment to the NMB RV Resort and Dry Dock section of the Bahama Island Resort PDD (TMS #130-00-08-217, 117). The remnant portion of the PDD (Phases 2 – 5), owned by the Canal Land & Timber (TMS#130-00-08-058), remains unchanged.

The amended ordinance:

Adds an adjacent 11.84-acre tract as Phase 1B (separate annexation and zoning proposal Z-19-13 and development agreement were submitted simultaneously). Adds 107 RV camper sites for a total 214 RV and 22 pop-up camper sites. Adds boat slips. Provides a new splash pad, clubhouse and dog park. Reserves the rights entitled under Horry County’s jurisdiction to construct 200 multifamily (condominium) dwelling units, should the owner decide not to proceed with expansion of the RV Park. The final layout, design and architectural standards of the condominium units have to come back to the city as a separate future major amendment. The internal private roadway system will have two additional accesses into the addition from the existing NMB RV resort. The additional access establishes three points of ingress and egress via the unimproved portion of Old Crane Road.

City Council passed second reading of an ordinance amending the Planned Development District Master Development Agreement adding Phase 1B to the Bahama Island Resort.

Myrtle Beach Power Sports (MBPS) filed a petition to annex 11.84 acres into the city of North Myrtle Beach. The property is adjacent to the existing Bahama Island PDD (B.I. PDD) owned by MBPS and Canal Land and Timber. MBPS also petitioned to have the annexed land joined into the existing Bahama Island PDD and zoned as PDD. The site plan submitted by MBPS shows the primary use of the newly annexed land into the PDD is RV resort, consistent with the existing use of the portion of the B.I. PDD owned by MBPS. The site plan also shows a secondary use of the land for 200 condominium units.

The amended B.I. PDD Development Agreement provides for the following:

MBPS will pay a beach access fee of $400 per RV site, due prior to the issuance of the final electrical inspection. If the owner pursues construction of 200 condominium units following review and approval by City Council through a future major PDD amendment, the city and the owners of Phase 1B will negotiate an additional beach access fee, less the $400 per RV site, if previously paid. The owners shall not place any of the property in Phase 1A or 1B into a conservation easement.

City Council passed second reading of an ordinance amending the Parkway Planned Development District (Parkway PDD) Development Agreement, changing the method of reimbursement to the city from the various landowners within the Parkway PDD regarding construction and paving costs for the Parkway PDD interchange. Council’s affirmative vote was contingent on a change in language reflected later in the summary of this agenda item.

The city paid $3.2 million for the interchange and the paving of a portion of Water Tower Road. The original development agreement obligated the landowners to pay the city a fee of $475 per residential unit and $800 per 1,000 square feet of commercial space at the time of issuance of a building permit. However, since the signing of the original development agreement, a portion of the Parkway PDD is now in a conservation easement. To resolve the problem regarding reimbursement to the city caused by the area placed into a conservation easement, the city and the landowners agreed to a fixed reimbursement amount each landowner is obligated to pay the city:

Henry Road West $869,000, Coterra $864,000, NDG II $532,000, NDG I $150,000,  Apache $443,000, Chubby Chicken $300,000 (Conservation easement) and Myrtle Holding $42,000.

Total: $3,200,000

With the exception of Chubby Chicken, the owner of each tract repays its share of the reimbursement in five equal payments based on an eight-year amortization schedule, beginning December 31, 2020, with a balloon payment of amounts still due and owing on December 31, 2024. Chubby Chicken will pay three equal payments of $100,000 beginning on December 31, 2020.

If any of the landowners, including Chubby Chicken, sell all or a portion of their land, the landowner will owe its reimbursement fee or a percentage of the portion of the land sold within five days “as part of the closing disbursement.” (Council passed second reading of the ordinance contingent on the landowners acceptance of a change in language reflected in the preceding quotation marks. The original language read, “five days of closing the land transaction.”)

If any of the landowners applies for subdivision approval for any portion of their land, the landowner is required to pay its proportional share of the reimbursement fee as part of the subdivision application process.

As an incentive to promote early payment in full of the reimbursement fee, the amended development agreement authorizes a 5% discount for any full or partial payment made prior to July 31, 2020.

In the event of breach by any of the parties to the Amendment to the Master Development Agreement, the original development agreement controls, providing the breaching party with a timeframe to cure the breach. If the breaching party fails to cure the breach, the city can sue for specific performance of the obligation.

City Council passed first reading of an ordinance regarding the document identified as the Separate and Independent Amendment to the Master Development Agreement, which pertains to the portion of the Parkway Planned Development District (Parkway PDD) owned by Coterra Chestnut, LLC.

Coterra Chestnut, LLC seeks approval of the document titled Separate and Independent Amendment to the Master Development Agreement for the portion of the Parkway PDD owned by Coterra Chestnut, LLC and its successors and assigns. The proposed amendment requires that the owners of this parcel, Coterra Chestnut, must pay to the city a Park Enhancement Fee in the amount of $400 per residential unit and $200 per 1,000 square feet of commercial space prior to the issuance of each building permit. In addition, Coterra Chestnut and its successors and assigns must pay a Beach Access Parking Fee of $1,100 per residential unit at the time of issuance of each building permit for this portion of the Parkway PDD.

City Council passed first reading of an ordinance to approve the document identified as the Separate and Independent Amendment to the Master Development Agreement regarding the portion of the Parkway PDD owned by NDG Property II, LLC.

The document titled Separate and Independent Amendment to Master Development Agreement for the portion of the Parkway PDD owned by NGD II, LLC (NDG), recognizes that NDG previously paid the city $265,000 for its Park Enhancement Fee and, therefore, NDG will not be obligated to pay additional monies for the Park Enhancement Fee.

NDG will be required to pay a $1,100 Beach Access Fee for each multi-family unit up to 336 units and $200 for each single-family unit up to 880 units. The fee for the single-family units in the NDG tract is less than the fee for the other tracts within the Parkway PDD because the owners of the single-family homes within the NDG tract will have access to the beach through the Grand Dunes Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. Additionally, the owners of the single-family units in the NDG tract will have a multi-million dollar amenity center with a pool located on the Intracoastal Waterway as an option for homeowners and their guests to use in lieu of going to the beach.

When a building permit is issued for each applicable unit type, the Beach Access Fee applicable to both unit categories must be paid

To ensure construction of the amenity center, NDG will begin construction of the amenity center within 30 days of the issuance of 150 certificates of occupancy for the single-family portion of NDG’s site plan and complete construction within 18 months of the issuance of the building permit for the amenity center. Failure to do so results in NDG paying a Beach Access Fee of $1,100 for each single-family unit remaining to be constructed until a certificate of occupancy is issued for the amenity center.

City Council passed first reading of an ordinance to amend the Parkway PDD adding a package delivery facility within the Apache Tract [Z-19-11]. The original Parkway PDD approved in October of 2008 encompassed several large tracts of land totaling about 1,363 acres. No amendments to the site plan have occurred in this section of the PDD, known as the Apache Tract. Apache Properties, LLC requests an amendment to the Parkway Group PDD affecting 10 acres of the Apache Tract to permit a package delivery facility employing about 175 persons, depending on the time of year.

According to the Master Site Plan, Limited Industrial/Commercial is the intended land use category for the Apache Tract. A Master Development Agreement also accompanies the PDD and is simultaneously under consideration. The agreement will control the pro rata reimbursement to the city for the SC Highway 31 interchange.

The proposal includes the following:

A single, one-story package delivery facility consisting of 39,640 sq. ft. with 122 employee/customer paved parking spaces, 53 employee gravel parking spaces, 6 ADA parking spaces, and staging for 21 trailers, 6 trucks, 3 tractors, 7 package cars and 5 dollies screened by landscaping. A possible future 5,684 square foot expansion of the facility. The implementation of the expansion will be an administrative decision reviewed by staff, provided it is consistent with the Master Site Plan.

Proposed parking exceeds zoning code limits but is consistent with package delivery facility parking requirements based on similar facilities. The parking layout would accommodate a possible future expansion.

Access to and from the site is via Water Tower Road, providing additional access to SC Highways 31 and 22. At the boundary of the project, a new 66-foot public right-of-way identified as “Hunt Club Drive” provides access to the project.

Vehicular traffic improvements are necessary to accommodate the project. Construction of Hunt Club Drive and improvements along Water Tower Road, such as median closure, turn lane installation, and installation of deceleration and acceleration lanes are required. A pro rata reimbursement to the city for the SC Highway 31 interchange is required, in accordance with the First Amendment to the Master Development Agreement for the Parkway PDD. Additionally, when the Water Tower Road profile changes to include curb and gutter with underground storm drainage, the developer will install street trees along each boundary of the project facing Water Tower Road in accordance with city regulations.

The applicant made two notable revisions to the building in response to the Parkway Group pattern book and staff comment. Higher quality building materials are now included on the front façade facing Water Tower Road closest to the customer entry, such as aluminum clear storefront windows with anodized finish, stucco water table and split-face concrete. The remaining front building façade, side and rear elevations use metal wall panels, coiling roll-up doors for loading and a flat standing seam metal roof.

City Council tabled first reading of a proposed ordinance to amend Chapter 20, Land Development Regulations, of the Code of Ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. [STX-19-03] until its December 16 meeting.

City Council tabled first reading of an ordinance to amend the Parkway Group Planned Development District (PDD) [Z-19-10] until its December 16 meeting.