OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Horry County I&R Sub-Committee on Rural Civic Center Meeting - June 10, 2026

County Council — Wednesday, June 10, 2026
BodyHorry County, South Carolina
SessionCounty Council
DateWednesday, June 10, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:29:58

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

Welcome to our rural civic center meeting.

0:09

It's been a while and so but I appreciate everybody coming.

0:13

We're expecting some exciting news and some very good conversation over this.

0:18

And as always, to start a meeting, we will open up with the invocation and our pledge of allegiance.

0:25

If you could all please stand.

0:30

Let us pray.

0:32

Heavenly Father, we're so thankful to have this opportunity once again together here.

0:37

Uplift us and encourage our hearts and help us so that we would continuously hunger and thirst after your righteousness.

0:45

Touch each and every home and family represented here today, meet the needs thereof, use us, help us so that we might be able to help others.

0:56

Let all things be done.

0:58

To praise and honor your name for we ask it upon our Savior's name, Christ Jesus.

1:03

Amen.

1:04

Attention to the flag, a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

1:10

And to the Republic for which you stay one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:19

Thank you very much.

1:21

Be seated.

1:22

As we said, this has been a long time coming and a work in progress.

1:26

We're hoping to be able to see a lot, a lot of big steps here today, and we appreciate everybody being here, the committee, the staff, Charlie and his crew, and so we appreciate all that.

1:41

And um do we have any public input?

1:46

Reproval, approval of the agenda contents, and so if we need a motion from somebody, please move.

1:53

Second, all in favor.

1:55

An approval of the meet of the minutes from the last meeting that we had.

2:00

Motion and second.

2:04

All in favor, aye.

2:06

Moving on to the discussion items.

2:11

Approval of a meeting.

2:13

You're gonna have another.

2:14

Oh, excuse me, it's uh had a heavy lunch.

2:18

Okay, work with me now.

2:20

Discussion items, introduction, Mr.

2:22

Brandon Wagner, and so if he's been on this thing, and we appreciate it, Brandon.

2:27

Good afternoon, Chairman, committee members.

2:30

Uh it's an exciting day for the Rural Civic Center.

2:33

We've uh crossed an important milestone with completion of the schematic design phase.

2:38

Uh that's often referred to as the 15% complete of the design phase plans.

2:44

Uh don't have them in front of you, but there's a whole stack of a hundred-page set of engineering drawings.

2:50

Uh it's important because once you get to this phase, you can really start ironing down and narrowing in on your cost estimate and some other important information.

2:59

Uh with that, we have the consulting team here to go over the schematic design and have Charlie Johnson with Johnson Consulting, overall program implementation and planning for the project, and then also we have Margaret Butler with MHM, and she is the architect.

3:15

And with that, I will turn the presentation over to them.

3:17

Thank you, Brandon.

3:19

Hi again, my name's Charlie Johnson, the president of Johnson Consulting.

3:23

Honored to be here today.

3:25

As Brandon indicated, this is a pretty big step because it's starting to cost numbers are starting to come in, and all those types of things are starting to really look like a building and an event.

3:38

And I want to remind everybody that we're starting today to build an institution that's gonna some of them are 200 years old.

3:47

And so as we set the stage for this facility that Margaret's gonna go through, um, you'll see the vision, but you also have to focus, you have to start somewhere, and this is where we start.

3:58

We've equipped ourselves today with some technical support.

4:02

So if questions come up, we've got um engineering.

4:06

Would you like to step up real quick, John?

4:07

Hey, I'm John Richard with Thomas and Hudson Engineering.

4:10

And we have our design team.

4:12

Would you guys like to say hi real quick?

4:14

Hi, I'm Amy Mitchell from W L Landscape Architecture.

4:17

I'm I'm gonna from Winterland.

4:20

And I saw a Mike come in from our cost estimating team.

4:23

Mike Wortzelbacher with Cumming Group for cost management.

4:26

All right, and then Margaret, I'm gonna turn it over to you.

4:33

Thank you, Charlie.

4:34

Um, and I just want to echo uh our team is uh extremely excited to be here uh with you today.

4:41

We've been working uh very hard and over the last um month or so working really hard with coming to get the project um ready to present to you today.

4:54

Uh we're excited to be at this milestone, and so we'll just kind of uh walk you through what what um uh has transpired over the last several months.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Economic Development█████████████████████████████████████████41%
Procedural████4%
Engineering And Infrastructure████4%
Fiscal Sustainability████4%
Public Safety███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Horry County I&R Sub-Committee on Rural Civic Center Meeting - June 10, 2026

The Infrastructure & Regulation Sub-Committee on Rural Civic Center met on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Multipurpose Room B/C of the Horry County Government & Justice Center. The committee received a detailed schematic design presentation and financial update for the proposed Rural Civic Center, with a total project cost estimated at approximately $116 million. After discussion, the committee voted unanimously to accept the schematic design and move forward with full design development.

Consent Calendar

  • The agenda and minutes from the September 9, 2025 meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public input was received.

Discussion Items

  • Introduction: Brandon Wagner, county staff, introduced the milestone of completing the schematic design phase (15% design), which allows for refined cost estimates.
  • Schematic Design Presentation: Charlie Johnson (Johnson Consulting), Margaret Butler (MHM Architects), and landscape architects Amy Mitchell and Ian Dillon presented the design. Key features include:
    • A 7,000+ seat arena with flexible seating configurations (bowl seating in the round, terraced seating with movable furniture, and traditional seating).
    • A 200-stall barn with covered warm-up area, designed for equestrian events and adaptable for other uses.
    • A 12.8-acre midway/grand lawn for outdoor events, festivals, and parking.
    • Conference/breakout spaces under the bowl seating, catering kitchen, VIP mezzanine, and outdoor performance deck.
    • Site plan emphasizing preservation of existing wetlands and canopy, with native landscaping, stormwater ponds, and clear vehicular/pedestrian circulation.
    • Cost estimate: site construction ~$14.5M, arena ~$80M, stall barn ~$4M, storage ~$2M, plus soft costs, totaling ~$116M (including inflation factors).
  • Financial/Funding Update: Barry Spivey, County Administrator, presented funding sources: currently committed $41.374M from Rural Development Act funds (via Horry Electric), ARPA proceeds, property sale on Highway 9, hospitality cash, and two fee-in-lieu-of-tax programs (solar farm on Hwy 701 and 26 parcels around the site). The 2027 budget includes an additional $69.7M in projected funding (cash, RDA funds, debt, and a $5M grant to be secured). Total project cost including land ($4.7M) is ~$115M.
  • Operational Considerations: Discussion on operating model—professional management will be hired, not county parks/rec. Projected economic impact: $25M annually and 400 jobs. Revenue from fee-in-lieu taxes and hospitality taxes intended to cover operations and lifecycle maintenance. Questions raised about potential cost overruns, startup losses, and need for dedicated revenue streams. Spivey stated decisions points will occur, and contingencies and flexible revenues (fee-in-lieu) are built in.
  • Emergency Preparedness: Committee member emphasized the facility's value as a disaster response staging area for hurricanes. Horry Electric representatives confirmed interest in using the site for utility stand-down operations; currently only have capacity for ~300 people on their property. The site could support National Guard and large-scale emergency response.
  • Timeline: Design to take about one year, bidding in April 2027, construction roughly two years—anticipated groundbreaking spring/summer 2027, with ribbon cutting in spring/summer 2029. Road improvements on Hardwick Road (Ride 4) will be coordinated concurrently.
  • Additional Uses Discussed: Potential for barrel racing, PBR events, monster trucks, go-karts, car auctions, state farmers market, and more. Flexibility of arena floor (concrete, can accommodate dirt for equestrian events or exhibits).
  • Committee Member Comments: Bill asked tough questions about capital costs and operating risk; praised the plan but urged fiscal caution. Committee expressed appreciation for the design and staff work. Suggested adding more show rings (space available), planning for restroom facilities near midway, and considering access to Highway 22 via a spur road.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee voted unanimously to accept the current schematic design and recommended moving forward with full design development (motion by Danny Hardee, seconded).
  • Staff will proceed with detailed design, permitting, and coordination with road improvements. Future presentations will provide refined plans and schedules.
  • The sub-committee will also explore discussions with the state delegation regarding state agriculture department participation.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome to our rural civic center meeting. It's been a while and so but I appreciate everybody coming. We're expecting some exciting news and some very good conversation over this. And as always, to start a meeting, we will open up with the invocation and our pledge of allegiance. If you could all please stand. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful to have this opportunity once again together here. Uplift us and encourage our hearts and help us so that we would continuously hunger and thirst after your righteousness. Touch each and every home and family represented here today, meet the needs thereof, use us, help us so that we might be able to help others. Let all things be done. To praise and honor your name for we ask it upon our Savior's name, Christ Jesus. Amen. Attention to the flag, a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which you stay one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Be seated. As we said, this has been a long time coming and a work in progress. We're hoping to be able to see a lot, a lot of big steps here today, and we appreciate everybody being here, the committee, the staff, Charlie and his crew, and so we appreciate all that. And um do we have any public input? Reproval, approval of the agenda contents, and so if we need a motion from somebody, please move. Second, all in favor. An approval of the meet of the minutes from the last meeting that we had. Motion and second. All in favor, aye. Moving on to the discussion items. Approval of a meeting. You're gonna have another. Oh, excuse me, it's uh had a heavy lunch. Okay, work with me now. Discussion items, introduction, Mr. Brandon Wagner, and so if he's been on this thing, and we appreciate it, Brandon. Good afternoon, Chairman, committee members. Uh it's an exciting day for the Rural Civic Center. We've uh crossed an important milestone with completion of the schematic design phase. Uh that's often referred to as the 15% complete of the design phase plans. Uh don't have them in front of you, but there's a whole stack of a hundred-page set of engineering drawings. Uh it's important because once you get to this phase, you can really start ironing down and narrowing in on your cost estimate and some other important information. Uh with that, we have the consulting team here to go over the schematic design and have Charlie Johnson with Johnson Consulting, overall program implementation and planning for the project, and then also we have Margaret Butler with MHM, and she is the architect. And with that, I will turn the presentation over to them. Thank you, Brandon. Hi again, my name's Charlie Johnson, the president of Johnson Consulting. Honored to be here today. As Brandon indicated, this is a pretty big step because it's starting to cost numbers are starting to come in, and all those types of things are starting to really look like a building and an event. And I want to remind everybody that we're starting today to build an institution that's gonna some of them are 200 years old. And so as we set the stage for this facility that Margaret's gonna go through, um, you'll see the vision, but you also have to focus, you have to start somewhere, and this is where we start. We've equipped ourselves today with some technical support. So if questions come up, we've got um engineering. Would you like to step up real quick, John? Hey, I'm John Richard with Thomas and Hudson Engineering. And we have our design team.

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