Horry residents object to Habitat subdivision

CONWAY—The residents of one Horry County neighborhood said they are not quite ready to welcome Habitat for Humanity into their community.
 
Gail Olive, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity said the agency is looking to build a housing development just outside of Conway, off SC 905, but breaking ground on the first home could take a long time.

Olive said the 28 or 29 affordable homes, if completed, would be the agency’s largest subdivision in the area.
   
But it is the size of the proposed Hopes Crossing Subdivision that has people who live in area concerned and speaking out about a plan they said doesn’t fit their community.

Anthony Richardson said the proposed subdivision is too much for the high traffic area, he said he’s not trying to prevent people from home ownership, safety is his main concern.

“It’s not just giving somebody a house, how safe are their kids going to be, next to a major highway. One of our little cousins got killed on this highway and he’s not the only one,“ Richardson said.

Richardson, who lives across from the site, said the heavily traveled and dangerous stretch of road is not the right place for so many houses.

Olive said the location is just the reason the area was chosen.  She said they try to build house in areas that are close to roads, jobs, and services, she said the more homes they build, the more people they can help. 

“Because we don’t make money and we don’t charge interest on our loans, the more houses that we can get on a parcel and the infrastructure cost make it more economically feasible for us to do more houses in an area.“ 

Olive said the agency wanted to build more houses, but after hearing from Richardson and other neighbors, they scaled back, added green spaces, and will make the area safe for children, but said neighbors are still resistant to the idea. 

“The sense that I got is that they just do not want Habitat in their community, and I think that’s terrible, I don’t agree, but obviously I’m concerned about our homeowners as well,“ Joaquin said.

Richardson said he would be happy about the development if there were going to be fewer homes and a better plan for access from what he knows to be a deadly stretch of road. 

“They need to do something, they need to think this thing through instead of just you know trying to cram as many houses in here as they can,“ Richardson said.

Horry County council was scheduled to take up the issue of amending official zoning maps at Tuesday’s meeting, so Habitat for Humanity might be one step closer to breaking ground, but the item was pushed back until Jan. 16.