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Freeport aims to annex 122 acres
Published October 21, 2009
FREEPORT — Surfside Beach leaders have no problem with Freeport taking 122 acres adjacent to the village into the city limits, a move Freeport officials say is being done in advance of a possible development.
Those officials would not say, however, what type of development is being considered for the land.
Freeport City Council had a public hearing Monday about the proposed annexation, including about 1,000 feet of unoccupied beachfront. No resident offered an opinion during the hearing.
Council plans to have a second public hearing before taking action on the issue, Freeport City Manager Jeff Pynes said.
“It’s pretty much our intentions to expand the corporate limits down the beach and take in more beachfront property,” Councilman Ron Wise said.
Freeport is free to have the land, which includes stretches of land protected by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or COBRA zones, Surfside Beach Mayor Larry Davison said.
While municipalities are free to permit development in COBRA zones, structures there are not eligible for flood insurance or federal assistance in the event of a disaster, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We’re fine the way we are,” Davison said. “We don’t need to land-grab and stuff like that. They can do whatever they want to do.”
The COBRA-zoned stretches are not the city’s concern, Pynes said.
“That would be a hurdle that someone that wanted to do some development would have to overcome,” Pynes said. “But I do think that they’ve considered it and, obviously, they’re still moving forward.”
Freeport plans to annex the land, which requires the city to provide utilities and emergency services, after developers showed interest in building on the beachfront, Wise said. Pynes did not expect the requirement to provide services would be significant expense because the city already provides emergency services on the land.
Last year, Freeport officials complained that maintaining Bryan Beach, which is near Quintana Beach, was not worth the expense. But attitudes have changed due to cost-saving measures the city since has implemented.
“They wanted to change the way we managed the beach, and we’ve done that,” Pynes said. “Obviously, there was a time where it got away from us, but it’s not getting away from us again. We’re monitoring the beach, we’re putting cans out there, we’re having coordinated trash pickup with community service workers, we’re not raking it all the time. I think that was mostly what they were concerned about.”
Wise said the development, upon completion, could be very lucrative for the city.
“If those developers come through with their initial plans, it would dramatically increase our property tax rolls,” Wise said.
Wise also pointed to a possible annexation of more beachfront land next year, but did not provide specifics.
Nathaniel Lukefahr covers Freeport for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151.
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