Council, developers agree to revise Waterside plan to preserve trees; span bridge tied to higher unit count

Waterside developers asked the North Myrtle Beach City Council at a workshop to allow more housing units in one neighborhood so they can build a span bridge and avoid placing box culverts through a drainage way that would remove trees.

The request, the developers said, would fund a span bridge that preserves an existing grove of trees along the drainage corridor. In return the developer asked to raise the neighborhood’s unit count from what was currently entitled (discussed as either 89 or 91 in the meeting record) toward 100. Council members and planning staff discussed trade-offs including emergency access, buffers, and lot sizes; they agreed to send back a revised plan that reduces the proposed increase and preserves the trees for further staff review before a future meeting.

The discussion centered on how to balance tree preservation against long-term density. Shep, a developer representative, explained the engineering trade-offs and said the span bridge “spans from side to side” and “doesn’t touch the existing drainage way,” making it the preferred option to protect the tree stand. He said the bridge design would be wide enough to carry…