Riverkeeper urges council to adopt 15‑foot wetland buffer, citing flood protection

Preston Kelly, Riverkeeper with the Linear Rivers Alliance, told the Horry County Council on April 21 that a proposed 15‑foot wetland buffer ordinance is "absolutely a meaningful start." Kelly said wetlands function as natural infrastructure that absorbs floodwaters, filters pollutants and supports wildlife, and warned that continued development has reduced wetland acreage across the state and county.

Kelly gave several figures and local examples: he said South Carolina has lost more than 2,300,000 acres of wetlands since 1875; that Horry County lost nearly a fifth of its forested wetlands between 1996 and 2021 while land development increased; and that wetlands still comprise roughly 38% of the county. He pointed to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge as an example, saying it held "nearly 90,000,000,000 gallons of water during and after Hurricane Florence," which spared downstream communities greater losses, and urged the council to look to Georgetown County's ordinance as a model.

Kelly told the council a 15‑foot buffer "may not sound like much, but it's absolutely a meaningful start" and said protecting wetlands is both sound policy and a resilience measure for homes, businesses and roads. He closed by encouraging the council to build on the ordinance with stronger buffers and protections calibrated to local growth patterns.

Context and next steps: Council is actively considering zoning and land‑use ordinance changes across several agenda items; one councilmember noted staff and developers would meet to work through technical details and that second reading of related ordinances may be deferred to allow further stakeholder input.