SC lawmakers to vote on Grand Strand Humane Society's new location amid resident pushback
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — The ongoing battle between Waterside Drive residents and The Grand Strand Humane Society will be settled Wednesday when state lawmakers vote on if the shelter can build on a piece of property located on Waterside Drive in Myrtle Beach.
The piece of land was offered to the shelter by Santee Cooper and just a few months ago, Horry County Council rescinded their support for a 40-year lease between the shelter and Santee Cooper.
“This is not a unique situation. Santee Cooper has done this dozens of dozens of times all across the state. So, it is not unique to Grand Strand Humane Society that they’re offering the land," Executive Director at Grand Strand Humane Society Jessica Wnuk said.
Wnuk said the land is zoned for limited industrial, so they're allowed to build a new facility on it.
“It doesn’t make sense for us to go out to Aynor or Longs or Loris. With the demographic that we serve, it’s right here in downtown Myrtle Beach. These folks need us, they depend on us, they depend on our low-cost vaccine clinic, they depend on our services for if they have to go to the hospital, they get arrested and they need to be able to walk to get their animals. We need to be in close proximity for the demographic that we are committed to and have been committed to for the last 50-plus years. Again, this land is the right property for us," Wnuk said.
Blake Sloan lives in the neighborhood and said a facility like that so close to their homes would impact their quality of life.
Other residents said they love their quaint, quiet neighborhood, and dogs' barking constantly is not ideal.
“No one here is against dogs, everyone here has animals and I think that’s been the challenge here is that everyone wants a great spot for the humane society, just not within 26 feet of residential neighborhood," Sloan said.
Sloan is a real estate agent and said millions of dollars in equity would be lost if a new shelter was built near a residential area.
When you have something like this that affects the livability through noise, through sounds, through 100 plus dogs barking. But in addition to driving past a large commercial building like that in both entrances into the neighborhood, it drastically affects our values just with desirability," he said. "People drive in, they get out the car to look at it, you hear lots of dogs barking, the buyer gets right back in the car and goes and looks at a different property.
Residents said they're not against the humane society or them getting a new building. but they did say they're against the proposed location because the facility would be just feet away from where they live.
“I love it here, I love where I live, but I do wanna have some form of quality of life. And that’s why we all mentioned that we don’t disagree with them getting a great location, it just should not be right next to a residential neighborhood, in this case 26 feet away. That will harm property values and harm their livelihood. There’s a lot of people here who have been here for 30-40 years and all their entire wealth is tied up into their home equity taken way," Sloan said.
Another resident who spoke with ABC15 said she's upset about the amount of traffic the shelter would bring into the area.
She said her entire family lives in four different houses all on Waterside Drive and her granddaughters love to ride their scooters up and down the street.
That resident said if the facility is built, her grandkids won't be able to do that in their own neighborhood anymore.
Wnuk said more than 4,000 people have signed a petition in support of the humane society's new location.
The Joint Bond Review Committee will meet Wednesday at 10 a.m. to vote on the future of the Grand Strand Humane Society.
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