Panel visits NMB site of townhouse project

Developers are looking to put more than 500 townhomes and condominiums on nearly 68 acres of land in North Myrtle Beach.

Planning Commission members and residents on Tuesday were allowed to tour the site commonly known as Hope Plantation on Willard Lakes Drive off Little River Neck Road.

The 67.66-acre property adjoins Tidewater Plantation, Riverside Drive and the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Planning Commission decided at its last meeting to hold Tuesday's on-site workshop.

The project is on the commission's Tuesday meeting agenda but likely won't be voted on then because developers have proposed changes, said principal planner Greg Lipscomb.

Property owner Hope Plantation Group LLC has asked that the city rezone about 25 acres of the land on the north side of Little River Neck Road from single-family homes to a planned unit development. The group also has requested that the city annex and zone, as a planned unit development, the remaining 43 acres on the north side of Little River Neck Road and fronting the waterway.

The proposed project called "Esperanza," which means hope in Spanish, would consist of 505 townhouses and multi-family homes, and a 100-unit drystack boat storage facility.

Residents expressed concerns about the multifamily homes overlooking their property. That building would be 54 feet tall.

Some residents also oppose the developers building a 57-foot-tall drystack boat storage facility near their homes. They want to protect their view.

Developers are considering putting residential units there instead of a drystack boat storage building, Lipscomb said.