Volunteer helps shape policy on Myrtle Beach's aesthetics

It all started more than a decade ago when Don Shanks noticed land near his Northwoods house in Myrtle Beach had been clear-cut to make way for a new restaurant.

Outraged, the retired teacher and school administrator from New Jersey went to City Hall aiming to keep the clear-cutting from happening again.

"I'm proactive when I see something that may be affecting people," Shanks said, sitting in the Northwoods house he's called home for 22 years. "I get involved."

He ended up on a committee that worked for more than three years to come up with tree protection regulations in Myrtle Beach, which sparked a two-decade "second career" of serving on Myrtle Beach boards that reached a pinnacle recently when he won a statewide planning award.

Shanks, who always wears shorts even if it's 20 degrees, was the first Myrtle Beach resident to bring home the South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association's Planning Advocate Award, given annually to one S.C. non-professional planner who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of quality planning.

"You just do what you have to do," said Shanks, who is chairman of Myrtle Beach's Planning Commission. "You don't give any second thought about any kind of honors or anything else."

Since getting involved with city committees in the mid-1990s, Shanks' volunteer work has helped shape policies for tree protection and landscaping, long-term planning, burying of overhead utility lines along 12 major roads, improving beach accesses and protecting neighborhoods - the interest that led him to City Hall all those years ago.

For seven years, he served on the city's Board of Zoning Appeals, which rules on appeals of administrative decisions about variances and special exceptions to city building rules. In the early 1990s, he served on an Horry County committee that developed a master plan to build parks and preserve open space.

Residents can credit Shanks with pushing for smaller signs along major roads such as Kings Highway to give them a neater appearance, preserving natural resources and improving quality of life, said Jack Walker, Myrtle Beach's planning director. Tourists can thank him for pushing for more greenery around hotels while accommodating the needs of an urban resort, he said.

"He's an advocate for a beautiful resort," Walker said.

Cities rely on volunteers to serve on planning commissions and give input on planning subjects, but it's hard to find residents such as Shanks who are dedicated to those tasks, Skip Grkovic, an official with the South Carolina planning association, said in prepared remarks when presenting Shanks the award.

"We all know how difficult it is to develop and maintain the active involvement and quality input of volunteers," Grkovic said then. "Myrtle Beach is fortunate."

Shanks stumbled into what he calls his "second career" of serving on Myrtle Beach boards after retiring here two decades ago, though this job comes with no paycheck but requires lots of reading and reviewing documents before the commission's monthly meetings. He's quick to credit city staff and fellow commission members with accomplishing the goals and admits it's a give and take to come up with the best solution.

"It's really not 'I', it's 'we,'" he said.

Shanks spends at least five or six hours a week on Planning Commission work, and that can swell to as many as 30 hours a week during busy times, Walker said. He has a diverse background that helps him rule on a variety of planning requests and issues, he said.

"He represents the epitome of what we'd like to see from our citizens," Walker said.

But Shanks also thinks about his Planning Commission role as he's driving around town, noticing that there's a lot of vacant commercial buildings along Kings Highway and making a mental note to brainstorm ways to lure action to those spots. That idea is being incorporated into updates to the city's comprehensive plan.

"I know he thinks about it all the time," Walker said.

Shanks turned to public service after working as a teacher, principal and superintendent, most of the years in New Jersey. He still hears from former students, whether because he has run into them in traffic in New Jersey or pulls a Christmas card from them out of the mailbox each year - small gestures that bring big smiles to Shanks' face.

Shanks' term as chairman of the city's Planning Commission expires in 2012. He hasn't decided whether he'll continue to serve, switch to another city committee or return to his real passion of teaching kids to read. He's worked nearly as hard on the city boards as he did as an educator.

"Retirement to me was a change in career," Shanks said.

He and his wife of 50 years, Susan, wanted to retire in different spots: He wanted to make Cape Cod home, she preferred Florida.

"So this was a compromise," he said, adding that the couple was happy with the choice. "It's not the golf. It's not the beach. It's not the shopping. It's the people."

But there's one statement the pair made when moving here that neither has lived up to.

"We said we are not going to get involved," Shanks said, "but we got involved."

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Myrtle Beach's solar site big stride for S.C.

Solar energy is expanding in South Carolina, and Myrtle Beach is now at the center of the growth with a Santee Cooper project - the Grand Strand Solar Station - that is the state's largest solar power installation.

The 1,300 solar panels will be installed on top of buildings and on the ground next to the Myrtle Beach Service Center, Warehouse and Technical Services Office off Mr. Joe White Avenue, and will produce about 311 kilowatts per hour in optimal conditions. The Grand Strand Solar Station should generate enough electricity for about 30 typical homes a year and will increase the amount of solar power generated in the state by 50 percent, according to Santee Cooper.

Supporters of solar energy and experts said the project is a good step for South Carolina, but several said the state still lags behind others in the region.

All of the power generated by the solar panels will go into the electrical grid and will be generally available to all customers, said Mollie Gore, a spokeswoman for Santee Cooper.

"It's a good opportunity for us to demonstrate on a fairly large scale the opportunities and some of the limitations of solar energy," she said.

One of the key concerns with solar power is the cost, Gore said.

A $475,000 grant from the South Carolina Energy Office and about $500,000 from Santee Cooper's Green Power revenues made the $1.3 million project possible, she said. Santee Cooper general funds were used for the rest of the costs. Santee Cooper's Green Power program lets customers buy renewable energy at an added cost on their monthly bill, and all of the money goes directly into green energy generation, like the solar project, or demonstration projects.

The project also will serve to educate the public, and there will be landscaping, a walking path and informational signs around the solar panels installed on the ground.

"It's good to be able to bring this project to reality while we wait and see what develops in the world of solar power," she said.

Santee Cooper chose Myrtle Beach for the project because the space was large enough and the north-south facing buildings provided a good spot for the solar panels.

For Sunstore Solar Energy Solutions, which is installing the solar panels, it is the biggest project on one site that the business has completed, and both owner Bruce Wood and his son Michael Wood, the project superintendent, said it was exciting to participate as solar energy professionals.

"It's paving the way for the future," Bruce Wood said. "The industry is beginning to apply mass production techniques. It's driving the cost down, and that's going to make it more competitive financially."

The South Carolina Energy Office, which awarded a grant for the project, has been working to advance solar energy for the past decade, said Erika Myers, the agency's manager of renewable energy programs.

"We thought this would be an excellent way to showcase solar in South Carolina and provide education, especially to children, with the solar park," she said.

This solar station is a symbol of the growth in solar energy generation that is starting in the state, Myers said. The solar station is three times larger than any other solar project in the state but is small in comparison to projects in other states in the region that are generating many megawatts of solar power.

"We haven't really gotten to that level yet," she said.

Myers said one of the barriers to larger projects has been the lack of a state tax credit to provide an incentive.

The price of solar energy has dropped about 50 percent in the past two years, she said, and advances in the next five to 10 years should make it increasingly price competitive. She said the solar power will cost about five to six times as much as conventional sources.

"What we're hoping to see is, as early adopters do these types of projects, it will bring down the cost for everyone," Myers said.

Michael Koman, the director of the Office of Sustainability at the University of South Carolina, said that cost is the most significant factor limiting the growth of solar energy. Other forms of renewable energy, like geothermal energy or wind energy, are much more affordable.

"It's probably still too cost prohibitive to see a large or rapid growth any time soon," he said. "Until some significant legislation, probably federal, we won't see a large rapid growth."

But, Koman adds, there is plenty of desire to put up solar panels, but residents and businesses need some help to do it.

"The biggest impact is just the fact that [the project is] opening doors and hopefully setting new precedents, not only for utility customers, but for the state of South Carolina," he said.

Stephen Smith, the executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit organization that works to develop clean energy solutions in the Southeast, said the organization is happy to see Santee Cooper expand solar power.

"This is an exciting opportunity for South Carolina to display solar, and we certainly applaud it, but we would also argue that the utility, the state legislature ... have the key to unlock solar power in the state of South Carolina," he said.

In some parts of the country, solar power has dropped in price and is now almost comparable to other forms of generating power, but in South Carolina, and the Southeast, utility rates are lower, so that gap between solar and traditional power is wider.

"We believe over the coming years that gap will continue to narrow," he said. "South Carolina should be really aggressively pursuing to grow solar [energy]."

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North Myrtle Beach's hotel lawsuit cut totals $200,000

CHARLESTON -- Hotel booking websites recently agreed to pay $900,000 to three S.C. municipal governments, including North Myrtle Beach, to settle a lawsuit in which the municipalities sought additional tax money from them.

Ronnie Bonds, an attorney representing the consolidated cases for Charleston, Mount Pleasant and North Myrtle Beach, said the agreement means about $193,000 for North Myrtle Beach, $657,000 for Charleston and $50,000 for Mount Pleasant. Bonds said the settlement, which comes in hundreds of thousands of dollars above what the municipalities claimed to have lost in tax revenue, accounts for two future years.

The dispute lies in how much money Internet brokers, such as hotels.com, Hotwire, Priceline and Expedia, should pay in taxes to the places where their customers stay. Many municipalities collect a certain percentage of the gross proceeds from every hotel room night sold.

Online booking companies pay based on the amount they agree to forward to the hotel, not the total they charge customers, which can include service fees and taxes.

Charleston began imposing a 2 percent hotel tax in 1996 to offset expenses incurred "as a direct result of the demands placed on the City by the tourism industry," its lawsuit said.

It goes on to allege that the online companies failed to pay that tax.

The lawsuit also said the companies charged marked-up room rates but paid taxes only on the lower prices they negotiated with hotels, which in turn pay the city.

Mount Pleasant's lawsuit, with a 1 percent tax rate at stake, made the same argument.

In each case, the local ordinances specifically say taxes apply to the gross rate paid for the rooms.

In South Carolina the tax money collected goes toward projects directly related to supporting the tourism industry.

The municipalities went through mediation with the online companies in federal court.

"It's a compromise," Bonds said. "Given the costs of going forward to try the case and the risk involved in a trial, I'd say the city is satisfied."

He pointed out that the money paid only settles the claim and that the websites deny owing money.

Attorneys for the sites could not be reached for comment Friday.

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Myrtle Beach's Golson will join Notre Dame, not North Carolina

MYRTLE BEACH -- The NCAA investigation into the University of North Carolina football program may not be the reason Everett Golson rescinded his commitment to the school, but it led him to explore other options.

In doing so, Golson discovered something he found more enchanting in South Bend, Ind.

Myrtle Beach High's heavily recruited senior quarterback rescinded the verbal commitment he gave the Tar Heels in February and in turn verbally committed Thursday to play at Notre Dame.

"The NCAA investigation kind of helped me look at other schools," said Golson, who is leading the Seahawks (13-1) into Saturday's Class AAA state championship game against South Pointe. "It kind of branched me out to really want to experience another school and university.

"... Right now I'm in the stage where I'm kind of realizing the best opportunity for me, and I feel Notre Dame gives me that opportunity."

The NCAA investigation into UNC is delving into possible impermissible player involvement with agents and possible academic misconduct. Findings of the investigation and fallout from it, including any sanctions against the program, may not to be known for several months, and that could come after Golson enrolls in college.

He expects to complete his academic requirements for graduation in early January and intends to enroll in classes at Notre Dame by mid-January.

"[The NCAA investigation] really didn't have a major part to do with [the decision], but it had a small factor in it, and I think it's only right that it should have a small factor in it," Golson said. "North Carolina was my childhood favorite. I kind of grew up always wanting to go to North Carolina. After I matured I had to go for what was best for me and my future and my family."

Golson has maintained since his commitment to UNC that he wants to play college basketball besides football. Though he said he likely would have committed to Notre Dame had basketball not been an option, it appears to be a possibility.

He said he has spoken to Irish men's basketball coach Mike Brey, whose team is 8-0 and ranked in the top 25, and believes Brey and Irish football coach Brian Kelly have spoken about him playing both sports. "Definitely they sound like they're interested in me playing basketball, also," Golson said.

Golson said that unbeknownst to him, until recently, Notre Dame basketball coaches were monitoring him during summer AAU tournaments, and Irish coaches have been regularly calling Myrtle Beach boys basketball coach Craig Martin.

Golson was swayed toward Notre Dame after a visit to the school the weekend of Nov. 13-14, when the Irish (7-5) defeated then once-beaten Utah.

"I loved the campus when I first went up there," Golson said. "When I was on campus I wanted to commit right then. I guess the mature side of me realized you have to take some time to make this decision. You can't fully go off emotion. So I talked it over with my family and my coaches and set a two-week deadline just to see if I felt the same way I did. I prayed about it a lot and asked for direction, and that's where He led me to."

Golson said he was impressed by the school's campus, architecture, history, fans and academics, and his relationship with both the Irish players and coaches. His formal verbal commitment came after Notre Dame wide receivers coach Tony Alford visited Golson in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday.

Kelly is in his first year with the Irish after coaching Grand Valley State from 1991-2003, Central Michigan from 2004-06 and Cincinnati from 2007-09. The Bearcats had an undefeated regular season last season before losing their bowl game following Kelly's departure.

Charley Molnar is Notre Dame's offensive coordinator, and he runs an offense that mirrors that of Myrtle Beach, with the quarterback in shotgun formation, one running back and three wide receivers in many sets. UNC has a more pro-style offense that balances the run and pass.

"They have a great offense and kind of run something similar to what we run," Golson said. "They throw the ball almost 60 to 70 times a game, so they're going to air it out."

Golson suffered hand and foot injuries in the second game of the season and missed eight games, but he returned for the playoffs. In six games this year he has completed 90 of 133 passes for 1,590 yards with 22 touchdowns and one interception. For his career, Golson is 749 of 1,189 for a completion percentage of 63 percent, with 11,454 yards passing, 148 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.

Golson said one of the most difficult things he has ever done was make the call to Tar Heels offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who primarily recruited him, to rescind his verbal commitment.

"I won't lie to you, it hurt me," Golson said. "Because I felt that's where it kind of ended my childhood and I kind of realize where I'm going for the best opportunity. ... I called them and I can't say it's the happiest talk I've ever had, but I guess we got through it."

At UNC, friends and family from the Grand Strand could have easily driven to watch Golson play home games and many away games. At Notre Dame, they'll have to make travel plans and more of an effort.

"There are no worries with that," Golson said. "Notre Dame is on TV week in and week out, so somebody is going to see me whether it's on TV or in person."

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Myrtle Beach's Head Start shelved

An Early Head Start program in the works in Myrtle Beach for more than a year isn't going to happen after all.

Timing of the two grants needed to launch the program in the city's Canal-Nance neighborhood didn't line up, so the city plans to build three affordable housing units there instead, disappointing some neighborhood residents who say the kids really need the Early Head Start program.

"We need a child development center," said Rose Deason, who has lived on Dennison Avenue her entire life. "There isn't any option for the younger kids. Kids need somewhere to go. A Head Start would have been a good thing for those kids."

The plan fell apart after the two partners in the project, the city and the Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Council, had grant money to spend - just not at the same time. The city received $200,000 from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program administered through the state, but couldn't get the paperwork approved in time to meet a deadline the Waccamaw EOC faced. The EOC had to move ahead and funded a Head Start program in another area, Assistant City Manager John Pedersen said. Officials at the Waccamaw EOC, which operates the Head Start centers in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, could not be reached this week.

Now, the city, facing its own deadline, can't wait on another potential EOC grant to come through, Pedersen said.

The city was going to use its Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant to build the building for the Early Head Start program, Pedersen said, and the EOC was going to run it.

"We were all disappointed," he said. "We were at that point where we were in a use it or lose it situation. We really can't bank on a grant that might not even materialize."

So on to Plan B - the three affordable housing units. The city plans to use the $200,000, paired with about $50,000 in Community Development Block Grants, to build two 1,100-square-foot houses off Canal Street near Dennison Avenue and renovate an existing structure into a house, Pedersen said.

The city plans to rent the houses - criteria for who could rent them hasn't been set yet - with the revenue going into a new Community Land Trust, which would bank the money to buy more land in the neighborhood for more affordable housing, Pedersen said.

The S.C. State Housing Finance and Development Authority, which gave the Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant to the city, must sign off on the new housing plan before the city can move forward. The city plans to submit the revised paperwork by Wednesday and has already alerted the state agency of the proposed change, Pedersen. If approved, the city aims to start construction in January.

It's unusual for recipients to change how they plan to use grant money, S.C. Housing agency spokesman Clayton Ingram said, adding that he couldn't say this week whether the shift is likely to be approved.

"We really won't know until we get the final plan," he said. "This would be one of the first ones I know of that would be shifted in this way. Hopefully it is something we can accommodate."

Building affordable housing was one of the main goals in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Ingram said. Along the Grand Strand, average prices for houses and condominiums have plummeted in the past three years as the real estate market collapsed, but that hasn't erased the need for even more less-expensive houses, Ingram said.

The median price for a single-family home along the Grand Strand was $171,750 in October, according to the Multiple Listing Service. That's still too high for many workers in hospitality, transportation, the service industry and even nurses, Ingram said.

"Even though housing prices have fallen, they are still relatively high for a lot of people," he said. "There is always a need for this."

But some residents and members of the Canal-Nance Steering Committee aren't as excited about the housing as they were the Head Start center.

"Things don't always work out the way you want them to," said Frank Burgess, a committee member. "So you move on."

Though the Early Head Start program is off the table, Myrtle Beach officials still want to make it happen in Canal-Nance eventually. Myrtle Beach doesn't have an Early Head Start center, Pedersen said.

"We are still hopeful that it will still open down the road," he said. "The need is still there."

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Myrtle Beach's Everett Golson entering college after this semester, according to coach

MYRTLE BEACH Everett Golson, one of the most accomplished athletes in Myrtle Beach High School history, is leaving the school after the fall semester, according to Seahawks football coach Mickey Wilson.

Wilson said Golson will complete the requirements for graduation this semester and will forego the final semester of his senior year, instead choosing to become an early college enrollee in January.

Wilson said Golson didn’t want to discuss the decision with the media until after he plays Friday night’s first round Class AAA playoff football game against Brookland-Cayce at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.

08-13-10/Friday---Myrtle Beach quarterback Everett Golson looks for a break in the Loris defense Friday at the 2010 CNB Kick Off Classic.Photo By Randall Hillrhill@thesunnews.com

The NCAA-approved early college enrollment program will allow Golson to participate in spring practices and get a jump on his college academics without affecting his remaining four years of academic eligibility.

Where Golson will enroll in January has yet to be concretely determined. He verbally committed to North Carolina in February but has yet to sign a letter of intent, and the Tar Heels football program is the subject of an NCAA investigation into possible impermissible player involvement with agents and possible academic misconduct.

Thirteen players missed the team’s season-opener on Sept. 4 against LSU because of the investigation, nine are still ineligible, and coach Butch Davis appears to be on the hot seat.

“He’s still firmly committed to North Carolina but we are looking at other options now just because of the investigation at North Carolina,” Wilson said. “We want to make sure everything is good to go there. So we feel we need to explore some other options and make sure we’re headed in the right direction.”

According to Notre Dame fan website BlueandGold.com, Golson is also considering Notre Dame, Clemson and Tennessee, and has a visit to the Irish’s South Bend, Ind., campus scheduled on Nov. 13.

“The next month we’ll definitely come to a firm decision where we’re going, but right now it’s North Carolina,” Wilson said. Golson, a football quarterback and basketball point guard, was planning to play both sports at UNC.

Wilson said the basketball team’s ban from the postseason and invitational tournaments, including the Beach Ball Classic, because of illegal offseason practices did not factor into Golson’s decision to leave the school.

“He had already made up his mind he was going to leave,” Wilson said.

Last basketball season, Golson averaged 19.6 points, 5 assists and 4.7 rebounds and was named to the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association all-state team, and as a freshman starting point guard he helped the Seahawks win the 2007-08 Class AAA state championship.

Golson will play in a football game Friday for the first time since he suffered hand and foot injuries during the first half of the Seahawks’ only loss this season to nationally ranked Byrnes.

The injuries caused him to miss eight games and kept Golson from chasing some national high school quarterback records. Golson has started since his freshman year and entered the 2010 season with 659 completions in 1,056 attempts, 9,864 yards passing, 126 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions.

He was just seven TD passes from Tim Couch at No. 10 all-time nationally and 59 from Chris Leak’s national record of 185, and he was headed into the top-10 all-time in completions and passing yards, as well.

At the time of his injury, Golson was 28 of 43 for 429 yards and four touchdowns on the season.

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