At the August 15 city council meeting, under new business, the city had item 7E on the agenda that reads:
“Ordiance/First Reading: Creating the RL Bell Tract Development Agreement and to authorize the city Manager to sign the document on behalf of the City.”

This is a new development off Watertower road that was issued a permit by the Horry County Council where 150-200 new homes will be built. It is one of two developments in addition to the already built-out Bells Lake developments that I reported months ago. Besides the name Bells Lake, I did not have the names of the other two planned developments; but knew that Horry County had already issued permits. Actually, we knew this last fall when our board attended a GSATS meeting to request Watertower Road improvement and widening due to all the “new” developments planned.

There is no surprise that Watertower Road is being developed with new communities and lots of new homes. The concerns expressed to GSATS was about evacuation from Barefoot onto Watertower with all the traffic these new homes would generate. Our efforts for Watertower Road are ongoing with the State and County.

I had a phone conversation with our new House of Representatives rep, Tim McGinnis. It was a follow up conversation about the requested sound walls for routes 22 and 31. Tim believes the cost outweighs the possibility however, expressed interest in addressing our board at the next board meeting in September, accompanied by a representative of the Department of Transportation who will likely attend via zoom.

During the public comments, I introduced the council to Karen Ward who was representing the Beach Cleanup Committee in Barefoot. Karen provided the council with an outline of the recent activities, types of items found on the beaches and future scheduled cleanups. This report was very well received and the Mayor commented favorably about Barefoot’s community services. Karen described the Windy Hill cleanup activities and I added that Mike Atwood, our former HOA President and current Vice President started the Crescent Beach cleanup years ago and is ongoing.

The next meeting of the City Council is scheduled for Monday, September 19th. At that meeting, I plan on presenting Barefoot’s Caring Council as another of the many volunteers who perform community services. Linda Ort will represent the Caring Council.

Neal Witkin
BRRA Board Secretary & City Liaison