COASTAL OBSERVER
March 19, 2026

To the editor:

It appears that Carole Farrell did not review the facts before writing her recent letter criticizing Georgetown County Council members Stella Mercado and Clint Elliott, as well as Sheriff Carter
Weaver. While I am glad Ms. Farrell survived her medical ordeal, it is unclear how County Council could be responsible for staffing decisions at a private hospital.

The record shows that Council Members Mercado and Elliott have led some of the most significant reductions in residential development density on the Waccamaw Neck since zoning was first established in the 1970s.

Documentation of their votes is available through the county’s public records portal: georgetowncosc.portal.civic-clerk.com

On July 23, 2024, they voted to approve a future land use map that reduces potential residential development on the Waccamaw Neck by roughly 50 percent – eliminating approximately 12,000 potential housing units under current zoning. Information on the comprehensive plan and future land use map can be found at gtcounty.org.

On Sept. 24, 2024, they supported a council-initiated rezoning of nearly 80 acres at the intersection of Highway 707 and Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet, changing the designation from
“community mixed use” (up to 12 units per acre) to “commercial corridor “ (up to six units per acre), a 50 percent reduction in residential density.

On Dec. 10, 2024, they voted to reduce allowable multi-family density on the Waccamaw Neck from 16 units per acre to five units per acre, a 70 percent reduction.

Then on June 24, 2025, they voted to protect neighborhoods from golf course redevelopment by rezoning golf courses from “R-10” (20 units per five acres) to “neighborhood amenity” (one unit per five acres), a 95 percent reduction in potential development density.

These actions represent historic efforts to reduce tens of thousands of potential housing units on the Waccamaw Neck.

Regarding the incorporation effort, state law does not require counties to provide services within a municipality. Any new town on the Waccamaw Neck – like Pawleys Island or Andrews – would be responsible for funding its own law enforcement while residents would still pay county property taxes that support the sheriff’s department.

This is information the incorporation study group should have understood before collecting petition signatures.

Sheriff Weaver is simply explaining state law and protecting county taxpayers. He has my full support.

Michael Oliver
Hagley Estates

By Charles Swenson
COASTAL OBSERVER
January 20, 2025

Clint Elliott took over as chairman of Georgetown County Council last week saying he wants the ability to direct the agenda to focus on issues such as the update of the zoning ordinance.

He replaced from Louis Morant, who served as chairman for four years after Elliott’s predecessor in Council District 1, John Thomas, was unable to muster support for a second term. Elliott is midway through his first term on council, as Morant was when he was elected chairman.

Elliott said he talked with Morant about the chairmanship.

Morant said Elliott didn’t have to twist his arm.

“I’m a team player,” Morant said.

 The most important thing Elliott learned from watching Morant was “patience,” he said.

“He’s one of my favorite people,” Elliott added.

Council Member Stella Mercado was elected vice chairman, the position held by Lillie Jean Johnson, who didn’t run for re-election to council last year. Mercado represents District 6. This is the first time representatives for the Waccamaw Neck have held the two top spots on the council.

The chairman doesn’t have any more authority that the other six members, but he does get to set the agenda and keep it moving. 

“You’re an arbitrator more than an advocate,” Elliott said. “You set the agenda and direct it.”

His priorities are adopting a wetlands ordinance and revising the zoning ordinance to meet the goals of the county comprehensive plan, which was updated last year several years behind schedule. Elliott and Mercado drew criticism during that process from constituents who said the updated land use plan will increase residential density.

“The tough part is not taking the grief, but things that weren’t true or half-truths and distortions,” he said.

Changing the zoning code will make a difference.

“We’re zoned for what nobody really wants,” Elliott said. That makes it hard to withhold approval for projects that meet the ordinance. “All we do in denying it is cost the taxpayers a lot of money” in lawsuits, he said.

Elliott said he has already met with attorneys at the S.C. Environmental Law Project, which provided the county with a draft wetlands ordinance. The county planning staff has said it also has a draft of an ordinance.

“Wetlands  should be a case by case basis,” Elliott said. He doesn’t want someone to be able to fill wetlands on the Waccamaw Neck and mitigate that by preserving wetlands elsewhere in the county that wouldn’t be developed anyway.

Although Elliott lives in Murrells Inlet he grew up in Pleasant Hill, which gives him a rare perspective on issues across the county. Getting residents to see common needs can be frustrating, he said.

That was driven home last year when the council put a capital project sales tax on the ballot. Elliott said he got questions from constituents about why their sales tax should benefit people in the rural areas.

“Because that’s where the needs are,” Elliott told them. 

He said he was shocked that the tax passed, even if only by a narrow margin, while a local option sales tax that would have provided a property tax credit failed.

“We failed,” Elliott said. “We didn’t explain it good enough.”

He expects the council to put the local option tax back on the ballot in 2026.

Another item on Elliott’s agenda is starting talks with the Army Corps of Engineers about raising the height of the Murrells Inlet jetties to keep pace with rising sea level. 

“It’s not working like it’s supposed to,” he said.

Water flowing over the jetties is carrying silt into the inlet. The county is currently seeking state and federal permits for dredging that will be funded by the state.

Elliott is also reading up on Roberts’ Rules of Order, something he last studied as a student at Clemson University.

“He’ll do well,” Morant said.

Click here for the article.

COASTAL OBSERVER
January 9, 2025

To the editor:

My thanks to Clint Elliott, our Murrells Inlet County Council member, for his successful efforts to fully fund $212,451 in accommodations tax grants to the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District for marine/beach safety and bike week emergency medical response.

The need for these programs is driven by tourism, so it’s very appropriate that they be funded by accommodations taxes that are paid by tourists. The Murrells Inlet Marine Safety Initiative will fund lifeguard/EMTs and paramedics who patrol Garden City Beach during our peak tourism season with medically equipped specialized beach response units that also tow a rescue Jet Ski. Rescue boat patrol is funded as well, rescuing tourists and intercepting charters with equipped paramedics.

The initiative will also fund the certification and recertification of more lifeguards for patrol and
tourist safety. Georgetown County had no staffed lifeguards on their beaches until the implementation of the Murrells Inlet Safety Initiative.

The initiative operates under the unwavering belief that our tourists should never lose a family
member while visiting our beaches. There were many drownings in Georgetown and Horry counties last year.

None of those occurred in the Murrells Inlet/Garden City area. This was due to the success of
this accommodations tax funded safety initiative. 

For the spring and fall motorcycle rallies, the grant will fund a dedicated ambulance with para-
medics and EMTs for the event. It will also fund the operation of a special events triage trailer for basic first aid. These paramedics and EMTs will be dedicated to providing emergency medical treatments to anyone who is attending these very large-scale events.

After the county accommodations tax committee recommended cutting grant funding to the fire district, Councilor Elliott took the lead in getting County Council to fully fund the grants.

Again, my thanks to Councilor Elliott for his support of the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District and its first responders.

Brad Bemis
Murrells Inlet

The writer is a captain/medic with Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire.

By Mike Woodel
GEORGETOWN TIMES
November 24, 2022

GEORGETOWN — Clint Elliott mostly credits state Rep. Lee Hewitt, his fellow Murrells Inlet Republican, for the decision to run for his first position in elected office.

"I had spoken to him a while back and he had … said that John Thomas was not going to run again, and they needed someone that had a good head on their shoulders," Elliott said with a laugh. "He said that he thought of me, and I told him, I said, 'Well, I appreciate that.'"

Elliott's coming term on the Georgetown County Council will be his first representing Murrells Inlet and southern Garden City in District 1. He will replace John Thomas in the seat about eight months after Thomas resigned, leaving the seat open through the following general election.

Today a scientist with Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority, Elliott grew up in Yauhannah as the son of a county school board member and county magistrate.

In his home district, Elliott said parking and lighting in the area of the popular Murrells Inlet MarshWalk and dredging of Murrells Inlet are pressing issues in his coming term. Elsewhere in the county, he favors a redo of the county tree ordinance to support stiffer enforcement.

As a representative of a Waccamaw Neck district, Elliott is also well aware of the questions the council faces regarding conflicts between its zoning ordinances and the county's comprehensive plan.

Parkersville residents filed suit against Georgetown County last month seeking to nullify the council's site plan approval of two townhome developments in their area and are seeking a declaratory judgment that the county has “a statutory mandate to bring residential zoning ordinances and land development regulations ... into conformity with the current Georgetown County Comprehensive Plan.”

Elliott said he trusts Georgetown County Attorney Jay Watson regarding the matter, seeing zoning as the law and the comprehensive plan as the guide. But Elliott said he does believe the two need to be brought in line with each other, a process he predicts will be "long and painful" and likely end up in court.

"I think once we get that done, then a lot of our other problems will solve themselves," Elliott said.

Hewitt told Georgetown Times that he has known Elliott socially for many years in Murrells Inlet, though it was Elliott's professional demeanor that made him think of Elliott as a potential successor for Thomas.

"For the council, we wanted somebody that knew Murrells Inlet," Hewitt said. "And that knew the inlet and loved the inlet. And certainly, Clint checks those (boxes)."

Hewitt said he was impressed when Elliott applied for a seat on the S.C. Public Service Commission in 2020. Though Elliott did not ultimately win the seat, his performance kept him in the back of Hewitt's mind.

"In that process in Columbia, as people vie for those seats, it's kind of a popularity contest," Hewitt said. "Who can get the most votes and the most commitments from the representatives and senators gets the position. So, people tend to be overly aggressive in trying to be the first one to try and get commitments and all that kind of stuff."

Hewitt said he found as he spoke with Elliott that Elliott was "firmly entrenched" in the rules governing the process of becoming a commissioner.

"He knew exactly what he was supposed to follow and all of that, and I just was so impressed with his integrity," Hewitt said.

Though he never served on County Council, Hewitt did spend eight years on the Georgetown County Planning Commission and another six on the Georgetown County Board of Zoning Appeals prior to his election to the S.C. House of Representatives in 2016. He said availability is one of the foremost traits required of officials on county boards.

"The biggest thing is that you've got to be available and you've got to be able to have conversations with people, good and bad," Hewitt said. "And just be able to sit down with them and listen to their concerns and help rationalize through that with them so that you can try and come up with ... a good decision that's the best for the community."

Click here for the article.