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Commission approves UDO amendment to require mixed-use at riverwalk-adjacent properties
Summary
The Planning Commission approved amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance to eliminate WRD subdistricts and require mixed-use ground floors for properties adjoining the riverwalk; the change is intended to expand pedestrian activity and public access along the riverfront.
The Planning Commission voted to approve amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance affecting the Waccamaw Riverfront District (WRD). The amendment removes WRD subdistricts and adds a requirement that properties adjoining the riverwalk include a mixed-use component: ground-floor nonresidential uses and multifamily permitted on upper floors.
Staff said the WRD had been split into WRD‑1 and WRD‑2; WRD‑1 contained a mixed‑use requirement aimed at the riverfront core. The revision eliminates the two subdistricts for clarity and extends the mixed‑use requirement to properties adjoining the riverwalk so that future riverwalk extensions would be served by active ground-floor uses and pedestrian-oriented upper-floor housing where appropriate.
The amendment also clarifies that office uses classified as solely office would be allowed only as accessory or secondary uses across the WRD rather than as principal uses in certain subdistricts.
The public hearing produced no comments. Commissioners discussed the parcel on the other side of U.S. 501 that is currently WRD; staff said that property will likely be rezoned in the future to a more appropriate district because it is not adjacent to any future riverwalk extension. A motion to approve the amendments to Articles 2, 4 and 6 carried by voice vote.
