Zoning board grants variance for Highway 707 trade shop after applicant says architectural comments missed in portal

The Horry County Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance for 8370 Highway 707 on a reconsideration request after the applicants said county architectural-review comments were missed in the plan portal.

Steve Strickland of Earthworks Group told the board the building's front 20 feet received stucco and brick veneer, but the sides and rear were finished with metal panels because architectural comments were sent by email rather than returned in the portal during an early-stage review. "The reviewers dropped the ball," Strickland said, asking the board to grant relief for the two sides of the building so the owner could avoid retrofitting those elevations.

Board members pressed staff and the applicant for chronology and prior approvals. Staff noted two prior variances on the parent parcel for materials and setbacks. One board member said the five-factor variance findings require the board to be satisfied that staff's prior determination was incorrect in this instance; another said the parcel's narrow, elongated shape and the approved landscaping buffer supported relief.

The board moved to approve the variance with the conditions recommended by staff. The motion carried with a roll call in which a majority voted yes and one member opposed. The board's approval applies only to the sides described in the applicant's presentation and attaches the standard staff conditions.

The applicant said the building was nearly finished when the oversight was discovered and that retrofitting the stucco on the sides would present waterproofing risks. The board's action resolves the immediate compliance question; staff will incorporate the approval and conditions in the project record and the owner must comply with any remaining permit requirements.