Too Many New Developments Approved.
And Residents Are Talking.
Drive through Carolina Forest on a weekday morning, or scroll through any Horry County neighborhood Facebook group, and you will immediately notice a pattern. New subdivision signs. Cleared tree lines. Orange fencing around former golf courses. And residents — frustrated, vocal, and increasingly organized — asking the same question out loud: how many more homes can this county actually absorb before something breaks? That question is not rhetorical anymore. It is the defining community conversation across the entire Grand Strand right now. And frankly, it deserves a straight answer.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Let’s start with the facts, because the facts are striking. Horry County issued 17,522 building permits in fiscal year 2023–24 — that’s more than 4,000 additional permits compared to 2018–19. The total construction value of those permits hit $1.54 billion. In a single fiscal year. Furthermore, that pace has not slowed. New communities continue to receive approvals across the county — from Carolina Forest to Conway to Little River — at a rate that genuinely challenges the infrastructure supporting them.
Meanwhile, the county’s permanent population is projected to nearly double again by 2040, reaching approximately 584,000 residents. That number is not alarming on its own. Growth creates jobs, investment, and economic energy. The problem, however, is not growth itself. The problem is the speed of approvals versus the pace at which roads, schools, water systems, and emergency services can realistically keep up. And right now, that gap is visibly widening.
“The infrastructure is just not there to support this subdivision. There’s no power, no sewer, no paved road, nothing available.” — Horry County resident at a public council meeting
What’s Actually Getting Approved Right Now
Several specific developments have drawn intense resident pushback recently. Together, they illustrate a broader pattern: large-scale projects receiving approval before the surrounding infrastructure is ready to handle them.
| Development | Location | Scale | Resident Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auberon Woods D.R. Horton · Est. completion 2027 |
Conway / Hwy 90 | 1,100 homes · 758 acres | Flooding, inadequate roads, one entry point |
| Warden Station Approved Jan 2024 |
Hwy 701 South, Conway | 3,300+ units (mixed) | Traffic, school capacity, water/sewer strain |
| North Cove / River Oaks Former golf course |
River Oaks Dr, Carolina Forest | 220+ lots | Green space loss, CF area overcrowding |
| Bucksport Subdivision Approved 7–4 council vote |
Bucksville / Shelly Farm Rd | 385 homes · 175 acres | No power, sewer, or paved roads at approval |
| Bear Paw Development Approved despite petition |
Old Highway 90 | 69 homes · 45 acres | Flooding risk, flood victim opposition |
Sources: Post & Courier, WPDE, Sun News, Horry County Council records
River Oaks Golf Club on River Oaks Drive in Carolina Forest — previously a neighborhood green space landmark — was purchased and cleared for residential development in early 2025. Additionally, Diamond Shores LLC has separately requested rezoning of the 171-acre property from residential to multi-residential, potentially allowing up to 505 homes. That rezoning request sparked significant public opposition from Carolina Forest residents concerned about green space loss, traffic, and further overcrowding in a corridor that already has seven of nine schools over functional capacity.
Why Residents Are Pushing Back — And Why They’re Right To
The pushback is not simply about change. Most residents understand that Horry County is growing — and many of them moved here precisely because it was growing. Instead, the frustration centers on a specific failure: approvals happening ahead of the infrastructure needed to support them. Roads get congested before they’re widened. Schools fill up before new ones open. Flooding worsens because drainage systems weren’t designed for this density. And emergency response times stretch because fire stations haven’t kept pace with new neighborhoods.
Moreover, the process itself generates distrust. When residents show up to planning commission meetings and voice concerns — only to watch a 7-4 or 7-5 council vote approve the project anyway — the result is a community that feels unheard. Consequently, more residents are turning to legal action. In 2019, one Longs resident filed a motion for an injunction asking Horry County to pause new development approvals until an Army Corps of Engineers flood study could be completed. That kind of legal escalation signals something significant: residents aren’t just frustrated — they’re organized.
New impervious surfaces — roofs, driveways, parking lots — reduce natural water absorption. As a result, existing flood-prone areas absorb runoff from new development upstream. Several neighborhoods along Hwy 90 have experienced dramatically worsened flooding since surrounding development accelerated.
Developments consistently receive approval before road improvements are funded or completed. Single-entry subdivision layouts then funnel hundreds of households onto already-congested arterials. The gap between development approval and road widening timelines regularly runs two to five years.
Carolina Forest is the clearest example: rapid residential growth drove seven of nine area schools past functional capacity. Two new elementary schools opened in August 2025 — yet Carolina Forest High School is still projected to hit 120% capacity for 2026–27. New homes keep arriving faster than seats.
Golf courses, tree lines, and undeveloped buffers are disappearing across the Grand Strand at an accelerating pace. Once cleared, that land does not come back. Furthermore, the loss of tree canopy directly worsens heat, drainage, and air quality in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Counterargument — And Why It Also Has Merit
To be fair, the pro-development argument is not simply about profit. When Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner defended the pace of approvals, he pointed to something real: stopping growth entirely carries its own consequences. Without new investment, grocery stores don’t open. Gas stations and restaurants don’t follow. Job opportunities don’t materialize. People who want to stay — especially younger residents and working families — eventually leave because there’s nothing to keep them.
Additionally, new construction directly affects housing affordability. When supply fails to keep pace with demand in a high-growth region, prices escalate rapidly. The Grand Strand has already seen that dynamic play out in certain neighborhoods. Therefore, completely halting development creates a different problem: a market where existing homeowners benefit from rising values, but first-time buyers and renters get priced out entirely.
The honest answer, then, is that neither extreme works. Unlimited approvals without infrastructure investment breaks the community. But a full stop on development breaks the economy. The real question — and the one residents deserve a direct answer to — is whether Horry County has a credible, funded, sequenced plan to build infrastructure ahead of, or at least alongside, the homes. Right now, the evidence suggests that plan is incomplete.
If you are buying in Horry County right now, development activity near your target neighborhood is a material factor — not just an aesthetic preference. Before you buy, check whether any large-scale rezonings are pending near the property. Review the county’s IMAGINE 2040 Comprehensive Plan for the corridor. Drive the roads at peak hour. And ask specifically whether the subdivision has a single entry point. The answers to those questions tell you more about your daily experience — and your property’s long-term value trajectory — than any listing description will. For sellers, proximity to well-managed, infrastructure-supported growth is a positive. Proximity to approvals that outpaced roads and schools is a risk worth disclosing honestly.
“The real question is whether Horry County has a credible, funded, sequenced plan to build infrastructure ahead of the homes. Right now, the evidence suggests that plan is incomplete.”
The Bottom Line
Horry County is not going to stop growing. That decision was made a long time ago — by every family that relocated here, every retiree who traded a cold-weather state for the Strand, and every developer who recognized what coastal South Carolina was becoming. Growth, consequently, is not the problem to solve.
The problem to solve is sequencing. Roads before rooftops. Schools before subdivisions. Drainage before driveways. And most importantly, honest public conversations at planning commission meetings — where resident concerns about infrastructure are treated as legitimate input, not obstacles to economic development.
Until that sequencing improves, the conversation residents are already having — at school board meetings, on NextDoor, at county council — is exactly the right one to be having. The Grand Strand is worth fighting for. And the people who live here year-round deserve a county that plans for their daily lives as carefully as it plans for the next subdivision approval.
Development activity near your neighborhood affects your home’s value, your commute, and your kids’ school. Let’s have a straight conversation about what the current approval map looks like — before you make your next move.
Talk to Evangeline →
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