MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) — A ban on the construction of new apartments and townhomes in certain parts of Mount Pleasant has ended.
It was first put in place in 2017 and extended four times over the last seven years.
The move to let it expire comes after the town updated necessary zoning regulations and created a new comprehensive plan, which are tools used by officials to guide future projects and development.
Mount Pleasant ends 7-year ban on new apartments and townhomes, managing growth (WCIV)
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Mayor Will Haynie said Mount Pleasant became one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the region in 2017. The ban on new apartments and townhomes was an attempt to get ahead of it.
“When you grow that fast, the amount of police, the amount of schools, the amount of fire, the amount of roads, your infrastructure has to keep up,” Haynie said. “So, we slowed growth to a manageable point.”
Haynie said the pause let the town focus on those needs, while population growth from 2017 to 2023 was nearly cut in half compared to the five years before.
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From 2012 to 2017, the town population jumped by roughly 15,202 people, compared to an 8,000 increase from 2017 to 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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But the building moratorium didn’t cover all of Mount Pleasant including growing neighborhoods like Carolina Park.
“Those are planned development agreements that whoever is mayor and council now, we cannot undo those. We're bound by what was agreed to decades ago,” Haynie explained.
The mayor admits Carolina Park is an area that’s seen a lot of growth and development. Michele Stine, who’s lived in the area since 2018, said it’s congesting their roads, and she fears it won’t stop.
“Three o'clock in the afternoon should not be rush hour and yet you've got the equivalent of rush hour at 3:00 p.m.,” Stine said. “All of that has changed.”
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Mount Pleasant’s housing market could’ve also been impacted by the halt in development, with median sales prices jumping from $446,000 in 2017 to $885,000 in 2024.
But Brian Beatty with Keller Williams Realty based in Mount Pleasant, thinks letting the moratorium expire could bring good news for buyers.
“I think that by opening up some new development in Mount Pleasant in strategic areas, depending upon what they build, it will help kind of balance that supply, which will help affordability,” Beatty said.
Even with the ban expiring, the town’s building permit limits will continue through 2029. This caps the number of new single-family units to 2,400 and another 500 permits for multi-family units.