July 17, 2024 Update

For those who missed the meeting on July 16th, regarding the Bluwater/Barefoot Lakes with Planning Commission, the first public hearing has been rescheduled for August 20.

In a positive development, the city and the developer have requested a meeting with the BRRA and Shep Guyton to discuss this project and explore options for collaboration. I will keep everyone updated on our progress. Once we nail down what options we have, we will communicate them with the community.

Your involvement and opinions are crucial, and I encourage everyone to stay engaged. Please continue to send letters to the city as we work towards a resolution for this project.

Thank you for your continued support and participation!

Maggie Szabo
BRRA Secretary

July 10, 2024 Bluwater/Barefoot Lakes Announcement

Hello Barefoot Community,

We have an important update regarding the BluWater/Barefoot Lakes development proposal. The developer has once again submitted an application to develop Barefoot Lakes, and your participation will be crucial and appreciated.

Below is the FOIA application we received from the city, which is still incomplete. I am still waiting for the complete package but didn’t want to delay sharing this information with you as the City Planning Commission meeting is coming up on July 16th at 5 PM.

The board met with the Voting Members on Monday and provided them with the details from the FOIA report we have received from the city.

Here are some points we have so far:

1. “The advertisement for the Blu Water project appeared in the June 27th edition of the North Myrtle Beach Times,” per Suzanne Pritchard at the city. I have not been able to locate this article online, but am told it was in print.
2. “There are 3 agenda items related to the proposal. One is whether to annex the site into North Myrtle Beach city limits or not, and what zoning classification to assign to it (in this case, R-1, our lowest-density single family residential district). A second item is a proposal to amend the Barefoot Resort Planned Development District (PDD) in order to allow construction of a public access right-of-way extending from Marsh Glen Drive into the project. And the final case involves a proposed Development Agreement setting forth certain financial and other contractual obligations between the City and the Developer. The latter contractually limits the project to 59 homes,” per Suzanne Pritchard at the city. However, it’s important to note that we have not been provided 3 items through FOIA, only 2 items. We have requested the 3rd item, as the meeting is next week.
3. The July 16th meeting at 5:00 PM is a Planning Commission meeting. “The Planning Commission is an advisory body and will merely forward a RECOMMENDATION to City Council to either approve or deny the proposal,” per Suzanne Pritchard at the city. “City Council is the final authority in granting approval or denial. They are free to accept or reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation. It will first appear on their agenda at the August 19th meeting, at 7 PM. If approved at that meeting on first reading, it will then be placed on the September 16th agenda for Second (final) reading. If it is denied at the August 19th meeting, it ends there and will not receive further consideration. Public comment is welcomed at both the Planning Commission and City Council hearings.”

We encourage everyone to attend the Planning Commission meeting on July 16th and to participate in the upcoming City Council hearings. Your voice matters in these discussions!

Thank you for your attention and ongoing support for our community.

Please contact the city as soon as possible with your opinions on this development.
City council email addresses are as follows:
Mayorhatley@nmb.us; jobaldwin@nmb.us; bccollins@nmb.us; jfcoyne@nmb.us; njfontana@nmb.us; rtskidmore@nmb.us; Hank.thomas@century21thomas.com; lspritchard@nmb.us

Maggie Szabo
BRRA Secretary

Barefoot Resort Developer Rights

Many owners have asked why they were not given a vote for the Barefoot Lakes project? Some have asked if the Board of the BRRA approved the project.

This is intended to explain in layman’s terms the complex rights established by the developer of Barefoot Resort without legal citations for all the documents which have been recorded in the Courthouse and are posted as Documents on the BarefootHoa.com website (listed below).

In the late 1990’s, Silver Carolina purchased tracts of land that would become Barefoot Resort. Exhaustive studies were done to identify space to develop four golf courses, the infrastructure for twenty to thirty neighborhoods, plus a town center and other projects. Environmental studies were required, coordination with the Army Corp of Engineers was done, plus planning meetings and approvals from City, County, State, and other Federal agencies were needed. The total investment was hundreds of millions of dollars.

As neighborhoods were ready to be built, Silver Carolina assigned certain rights to the developer of each neighborhood to allow each builder to operate freely within the original conceptual design of Barefoot Resort. Among the rights was the authority to appropriately place the neighborhood into either a single-family “village” or a multi-family “village” and to allow the developer to place the neighborhood under the governance of the Barefoot Resort Residential Owners Association (the BRRA). All these rights were assigned or delegated to the developer with Silver Carolina retaining “veto power”. So long as the developer followed the conceptual plan for Barefoot Resort, Silver Carolina essentially approved the neighborhood plans by not vetoing them.

Silver Carolina initially assigned these developer rights in 2001 to Centex who then built many neighborhoods in Barefoot Resort. When the Great Recession hit in 2007, Centex ceased development in Barefoot Resort and was eventually acquired by Pulte in 2009. Over many years, Pulte completed the neighborhoods that had been started by Centex.

When it became apparent that Pulte would develop the property along Barefoot Resort Bridge Road (at Putters Pub), Silver Carolina then assigned the same rights to Pulte that it had given Centex. Pulte then developed Barefoot Townhomes using the authority assigned to it by Silver Carolina to bring this new neighborhood into the BRRA as a multi-family community.

Most recently, the owner of the property along Marsh Glenn Drive and behind the Cedar Creek neighborhood selected Pulte as the potential developer of that property. If the development is approved by the City of North Myrtle Beach, Pulte will again exercise the rights assigned to it by Silver Carolina to develop the property and bring this new neighborhood into the BRRA as a single-family community.

At no time during the development of Barefoot Resort or any of these recent projects was the BRRA Board of Directors in a position to approve or disapprove any of these neighborhoods. Likewise, no owner within Barefoot had a vote nor would have a vote to approve or disapprove any of these neighborhoods.

The governance structure, defined in the CC&R’s and by subsequent amendments, is established to preserve rights to the original developer (Silver Carolina) and through assignment to other developers (Centex and then Pulte) to develop property consistent with the conceptual design of Barefoot Resort. If any development was inconsistent or possibly detrimental to the massive investment Silver Carolina has made, Silver Carolina would have the right for forty-years* to intervene and veto any project.

Silver Carolina’s veto power extends to the amendment of the CC&R’s, bylaws, and governance structure of Barefoot Resort, which it can use if it believes any proposed changes would materially adversely affect Silver Carolina’s exiting or proposed future plan for Barefoot Resort.
___________________________
*Silver Carolina established Barefoot Resort on April 13, 2000, and retains rights until April 13, 2040, so long as it owns residential property in Barefoot Resort. It owns the four golf courses, the real estate office, and several other properties.

Related items in the Document Library on the BarefootHOA.com website:

• BRRA Master Deed – CC&Rs
  • see Article I, Section 1.2   Section 2.31   Section 16.3
  • see Article IX, Section 9.1
• Assignment from Silver Carolina to Centex Homes (2001-12-14)
• Assignment from Silver Carolina to Pulte Home Co. (2021-10-28)

The BRRA Board has received numerous emails and contact forms from the Barefoot HOA Owners’ Website with questions regarding the Blu Water Development.  The Board has taken the opportunity to include the questions and answers to those questions most frequently asked so that everyone is aware of the information being provided to individual residents.

We apologize in advance for the length of this email and encourage everyone to read it completely.  The BRRA Board continues to believe, based on the Web Committee statistics, that an E-Blast is the best way to communicate with all residents since an average of 75% of the residents registered on the Owners’ Website open an E-Blast.

Regards
BRRA Board of Directors

FAQs on Blu Water Development

August 16, 2023 North Myrtle Beach City Council Workshop Letter from the BRRA Board President

We would like to begin by thanking the Mayor and members of the City Council in giving  us the opportunity to read this statement for the record and if you have any questions, the BRRA Board members in attendance would be pleased to address them.

On March 2, 2023 Mayor Hatley met with the BRRA Board and informed the board that there was an effort to build on the property adjacent to Cedar Creek in Barefoot, owned by Keith Hinson.  Mr. Hinson had entered into an agreement with Blu Water Investments, whereby Blu Water would act as developer of the property.  The developer wanted to bring this property into the Barefoot PDD, and the BRRA.

We discussed this among board members; and felt that it was necessary to inform the residents of Barefoot to see how they wanted the board to respond.  After a series of meetings with the city and the developer by March 28th, the board needed to inform the residents.  On March 29th a meeting was called with the Voting Members, one from each of the 28 single and multi-family communities, and residents of the Cedar Creek neighborhood, which, abuts the Blu Water property, and would be the community most affected by this development.

As Silver Carolina retained the right to approve entrance into the Barefoot PDD, and had given Blu Water that approval, it was now up to the residents to decide how they wanted us to proceed.

In the end, Voting Members reached a consensus and the residents and voting members decided that we should talk to the developer and see if we could “negotiate “the best outcome and least impact on Barefoot.  We then formed a committee made up of residents, and this committee was led by the Voting Member from the most affected community, Cedar Creek.  One member of our board met with the committee to act as a liaison.  The committee created a “wish list” of items for the board to negotiate.  Additionally, other members of the Barefoot community were encouraged to submit items they thought should be on the negotiating table.

By April 5th, Meetings were set up with the developer and architect, and attended by our board and the Cedar Creek resident committee chair to listen and negotiate.  In the end almost all of the “wish list” was agreed to by the developer, including paying the sum of $1.16 million dollars to the single family community to help offset the impact the new development would make on the Barefoot amenities for single family home owners.

Together, the Barefoot Board and Blu Water put together a proposal, which, was submitted to the City, which would bind Blu Water and Barefoot together so no changes could be made without approval of the other, thus ensuring Barefoot residents of the degree of transparency surrounding this agreement.

After the Development Agreement was signed, an announcement went out to all the Barefoot Communities represented by the BRRA describing the results of the negotiations.  Even though the agreement reached between the BRRA and Blu Water has been met with mixed reactions from the residents of communities represented by the BRRA, the Board believes it has acted in the best interest of our Barefoot Community, to ensure Barefoot remains one of the premier communities in North Myrtle Beach.

August 4, 2023 Update on the Blu Water Investment Property

The purpose of this communication is to provide a summary of the proposed Blu Water Development and the results of the NMB Planning Commission meeting held on July 18, 2023. We conclude with likely next steps for this project.

Background

• On March 2, 2023, the BRRA Board was requested by Mayor Hatley to meet with her and others to hear a proposed plan to build single-family homes on a tract of land that sits between the Cedar Creek neighborhood in Barefoot and South Carolina Highways 22 & 31. The Mayor and others cautioned that the owner plans commercial mining operations on the site if the planned neighborhood is not approved.
• On March 29, 2023, the Board met with Cedar Creek owners as well as Voting Members from all communities to inform them of this situation and to seek input for next steps.
  • Four options were presented by the BRRA Board:
    • Oppose the development, which is every owner’s right to do
    • Do nothing, which would not be responsible
    • Cooperate with the developer, so as to minimize impact
    • Attempt to purchase the property, which was not an offering and not a practical option
  • the BRRA Voting Members and Cedar Creek residents generally endorsed that the BRRA Board work with the developer to minimize the impact on Barefoot.
  • the Board recognized that this direction was not unanimous and understood that some residents would oppose the development and risk other outcomes for the property, as was previously cautioned by Mayor Hatley.
• The BRRA Board and the Cedar Creek Voting Rep then worked with the developer to seek the best outcome assuming the Barefoot Lakes Development would move ahead. This effort resulted in major concessions including deeding of two parcels of land and a commitment of over $1 Million for improvements to the Residents’ Club and Beach Cabana.

July 18, 2023 Planning Commission Meeting Results

• The Planning Commission voted 5-2 to annex the subject property into the City of NMB. If approved by the City Council, it would move this unincorporated parcel into the City limits of North Myrtle Beach.
• The Planning Commission voted 6-1 to not recommend approval of the PDD Amendment, which would have supported the planned development. If the City Council accepts the recommendation, the Blu Water development project would not proceed and the owner would decide what to do with the property.
• The Planning Commission vote is a recommendation to the City Council of NMB.
• The City Council makes the final decision.

Next Actions

The City Council meeting on this subject is scheduled for Monday, August 21, 2023.

• • Barefoot residents can attend that public meeting, request to speak, and express their opinion (pro or con) to the Mayor and City Council.
  • Prior to the City Council meeting Barefoot residents can also provide input to the Mayor and City Council members as follows:
    • Mayor Marilyn Hatley, mayorhatley@nmb.us
    • Jay Baldwin, jobaldwin@nmb.us
    • Nikki Fontana, njfontana@nmb.us
    • Trey Skidmore, rtskidmore@nmb.us
    • Bubba Collins, bccollins@nmb.us
    • Fred Coyne, jfcoyne@nmb.us
    • Hank Thomas, Hankthomas@century21thomas.com

Finally, the BRRA Board of Directors appreciates the feedback we have received from residents. Some people are generally concerned about any change and any additional residents. Others are concerned about what happens if this new neighborhood is not approved. Through it all, we applaud those who have helped us with thoughtful and considerate input to the process.

June 12, 2023 Update on the Blu Water Investment Property

The BRRA Board members have met several times with the potential developers of the property located behind Cedar Creek. The outcome of these meetings is that the developer has agreed to reflect in their planned submission to the City of North Myrtle Beach many concessions that would help relieve the impact on Cedar Creek residents as well as Barefoot Resort as a whole.

First, a description of the planned community:

• There will be eighty-four (84) single-family homes with a design akin to the Pulte development at Del Web.
• Lot sizes will be 7,000 square feet or greater.
• Home sizes will be 1,800 square feet or greater.
• The project will be developed in twenty-one (21) sub-phases with each sub-phase consisting of four homes.
• The project is expected to begin after eighteen (18) months of permitting and approvals.
• The project may take five years for completion but could be accelerated based on demand.

As a result of discussions with the BRRA Board members, the main concessions include:

• an entrance to the new community would shield homes on Seabird Court by building a 4-foot berm with plantings along the top to block views of traffic on the new street and to reduce noise.
  • we have requested that the berm be extended to conjoin the existing shrubs along Marsh Glen Drive.
  • existing trees along the line of the berm will be removed as requested by owners.
• minimize the number of single-family home sites (84 new homes) and have them equivalent in value of existing nearby homes.
• there would be no multi-family homes in this new community.
• restrict the location of new homes such that no back-up to existing homes on Whooping Crane Drive and Falcon Landing Circle.
• a three-way stop at the intersection of Marsh Glen Drive and the new street will slow traffic on Marsh Glen and minimize the risk of incidents at this new intersection.
• additionally, a yellow flashing light would be installed under the SC-31 overpass that would be triggered by oncoming traffic on Marsh Glen Drive from Water Tower Road (southbound traffic); a “fisheye” mirror would be installed at the end of the new road to assist drivers entering Marsh Glen Drive.
• all signage would conform to BRRA standards, and the new community would conform to ARC standards.
• developer will minimize removal of trees throughout the rest of the new community.
• developer will deed to the BRRA two tracts of land to prevent future development.
• and, in exchange for support for City approvals, the developer will make a significant financial contribution to the BRRA. These funds will be earmarked to alleviate impacts of the additional residents on the affected BRRA amenities, such as the Residents’ Club and/or the Beach Cabana. The financial contribution would occur at the time of permitting for each sub-phase of development and is set at a per home fee of $13,900 for a total of $1,167,600.

If the development plan is approved by the City, the new neighborhood would join the BRRA in Barefoot Resort with all the benefits and responsibilities of membership including access to the North Tower pool, the beach cabana and shuttle, and would contribute to the 1% Fund upon resales of these homes. Because it would be a single-family homesite community, owners would have access to the Residents’ Club and pay dues just like other single-family homeowners within the BRRA. It would not have its own pool or amenity center within the new community.

Before construction, the developer will be required to satisfy the City of North Myrtle Beach and the Army Corp of Engineers that its stormwater management plan is sufficient and that it would bring no harm to Outfalls #1 and #2 that traverse Barefoot Resort and empty into the Intracoastal Waterway.

During construction, the developer will take all reasonable measures to control dirt on their access road and during each phase of construction. They will be required to manage the cleanliness of Marsh Glen Drive from construction debris and spillage from trucks.

The developer will seek approvals on a fast track with initial “technical reviews” of their plans to occur in June, approval of the Planning Commission in July, and City Council review and approval at its meetings in August and September. We believe approval is highly likely.

At this point, the BRRA Board of Directors is prepared to support this development with the conditions and concessions noted above. We will represent Barefoot Resort at the appropriate public meetings when they occur and do our best to make certain that the City oversight of this development is sufficient to protect the interests of all owners of Barefoot Resort.

April 10, 2023 Update on the Blu Water Investment Property

As you know, the Board met with Cedar Creek owners plus all Voting Members on March 29 to share what information we had on the proposed development behind Cedar Creek. We sent a summary to all Barefoot owners and asked for advice on how to address this issue including ideas to mitigate the impact of residential development if the project proceeds. The comments we received were very constructive and helpful.

Earlier today we met with the lead partner in the engineering group that is preparing documents on behalf of the builder and the property owner. The attorney for the owner was also present. They are working on documentation to submit to North Myrtle Beach for zoning and construction approvals. We were there to discuss many topics seeking various forms of relief from the planned project. The meeting was very productive and we included the Cedar Creek Voting Member, Bev Livezey.

We believe the next steps will be for the engineering group to consult with Pulte and the lawyer for the owners to decide what changes they will make to their plans before proceeding with the City. We expect to have at least one more meeting so that we can learn what changes are accepted and to make any additional appeals.

Some key governance points have been clarified over the past several weeks:

1. While it is true that the BRRA Board has no power to halt this project, it is now clear that the City of NMB only has power to annex the property into the City, to rezone the property, to add it to the Barefoot Resort PUD, and to approve or deny plans for development. It does not have to power to include it in the BRRA.
2. The provisions in the governing documents concerning additions to Barefoot Resort describe pathways for joining Barefoot Resort and the BRRA: the primary one is for Silver Carolina, the original developer of Barefoot Resort, to assign rights for development. We confirmed today that Pulte has been assigned the right to develop the property by Silver Carolina.

We will continue to keep Barefoot owners informed as this project proceeds.

On March 2 of this year, the BRRA Board was asked to meet with Mayor Hatley and others to hear a proposed plan to build single-family homes on a tract of land the sits between the Cedar Creek neighborhood in Barefoot and South Carolina Highways 22 & 31. The meeting did not go well as the proposal envisioned 94 homes that would encroach on existing Cedar Creek homes and require a new road off Marsh Glen Drive. The Board members asked many questions and left the meeting needing to know much more. Additional meetings were scheduled with various North Myrtle Beach (NMB) officials, including the Mayor.

At a meeting on March 28, the Board learned additional details from the engineering group and attorney representing the current owner of the property, Blu Water Investments LLC (BWI) and their potential builder: Pulte. The Board members were informed that informal meetings with NMB City Planners have rejected plans for 94 homes without specific direction as to the allowable number of homes. Further, we learned that the agreement between BWI and Pulte expires at the end of this year if a plan to build has not been approved by NMB. Further, we were informed that the prior owner of the property holds a sizable mortgage on the property and there is a risk that the property could revert to the prior owner should a build plan not materialize. We were told that given the high demand for construction excavation materials (dirt) right now, it was likely that the former owner could mine the property to excavate large quantities of dirt to be trucked to other building sites. This risk is believed to be credible.

On March 29, the Board met with Cedar Creek owners as well as Voting Members from all communities to inform them of this situation and to seek input for next steps. In a presentation by Board member Eric Zimmerman, four options were presented with pros and cons of each. A video summary by Eric is available below. Of these options, it became clear to all that only the option of cooperating with the builder was viable at this time. Fighting the proposal would likely fail given the political support for the project. Doing nothing would be irresponsible. And offering to purchase the land was not an available option at this time. Many Cedar Creek owners expressed concerns, disappointment, and anger over the news of this proposed project. Many questions were asked and answered including confirmation that the developers own the access to this track of land via Marsh Glen Drive. Further, it is likely that the builder would request entry into Barefoot Resort as a new neighborhood with all rights and obligations of BRRA membership; NMB currently is in control of granting this entry as a BRRA neighborhood should the builder submit the routine request. The meeting with Cedar Creek owners concluded with a discussion of possible “wish list requests” to the builder that would help mitigate the impact of this project on homeowners in Cedar Creek and on traffic generally for all Barefoot residents. The next step will be to gather this list and to meet with the builder to negotiate the best possible outcome for Barefoot Resort should this project proceed.

Owners are encouraged to send constructive suggestions to the BRRA Board members by April 5 so that the Board can prepare to negotiate with the builder.