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Lake Waccamaw town officials recently discovered that more than 400 lots in the western half of town are not large enough for even a small house, despite being zoned for residential use.
The current zoning rules date back to 1971 and have been changed over the years, most recently in 2005, when the town created a permanent “grandfather clause” allowing existing homes to be rebuilt if they are damaged by fire or hurricanes. Amazingly, about 70 percent of the lots along Canal Cove Road and Waccamaw Shores do not have the minimum required area of 10,000 square feet.
Town Manager Darren Currie said the issue just hadn’t surfaced until recently, when a landowner wanted to move a stick-built house onto a 50-foot-wide lot at Waccamaw Shores. Another lot owner faced the same problem recently after tearing down a house off Canal Cove Road, only to find the lot was too small to allow a new house.
As written, the rules essentially drag the market value of these lots down to zero. That’s not good for the landowners, who have a right to develop their property following sensible rules. It’s also not good for the town, because property values and the taxes on property pay for most government services.
The rule has put a few folks in a temporary bind, but the manager, town planner and the Planning and Zoning Board have recommended changes that should provide a permanent solution. As long as a house can meet setback restrictions for all sides, it will be allowed, even on lots smaller than 10,000 square feet.
Town Council will consider this reasonable change next month.
The fact the problem has surfaced now shows us two things. One is that computerized Geographic Information Systems are a powerful, valuable tool for planning that in this case, helped show the scope of a problem quickly.
The more important point is that Lake Waccamaw is growing and changing. No longer are folks merely fixing or replacing cute little cottages.
As the town ponders a simple fix to its zoning rules, it would be wise to take a long, hard look at what to expect for the Lake Waccamaw of the future. Like it or not, development pressure is mounting. If residents don’t decide now what they want their town to look like, developers will do it for them in the future.