Buy a new home in Myrtle Beach area? Your address may not be on file. Here’s how to check
Since Ann Schaefer moved into her new home in Little River in mid-December, establishing her residency has been a nightmare.
The North Carolina transplant first noticed issues when she realized she had stopped receiving mail, despite putting in a forwarding request with the United States Postal Service. She also has not been able to register to vote or update her credit card addresses.
Schaefer discovered that she does not have a “legal deliverable address” and her home was not in the 911 system. The issue is not entirely fixed, but Schaefer got her first piece of mail on Feb. 2.
Schaefer lives in the newly-developed Heather Glen community, adding that she and her husband were one of the first people to move into the area.
It is one of many new housing developments in Horry County. With the large number of people continuing to move into the county, such new construction is also growing.
And although there is a process to making sure new addresses are placed in the system properly, sometimes problems arise, officials said.
Horry County Zoning and Planning can assign an address after a developer or construction company pulls a building permit, said Horry County spokesperson Mikayla Moskov. A house number is created based on a range number system and the side of the street the structure is located. Planning and Zoning keeps in mind future growth when assigning numbers, Moskov said.
Once an address is created, it will be sent out to USPS, Santee Cooper and other service providers, she said.
What about Myrtle Beach?
The process works similarly in Myrtle Beach. One difference is before applying for a building permit, developers need to have addresses picked out and approved by the city, said the city’s Senior Planner Kelly Mezzapelle. This means before a house or apartment is built, the plot of land has an address.
In order to get an address, the developer will work with the city to determine the street name of a subdivision or apartment. Once approved, it will go to GIS department, which creates the address numbers, Mezzapelle said.
After an address is designated, the GIS department sends the new addresses to about 60 contacts, including the U.S. Postal Service and Santee Cooper. The department also sends the information to Horry County, which then sends it to the state.
The city does not add addresses to online maps like Google Maps or Apple Maps, said GIS technician Kelly Maynard. He believes the websites access the information while it’s being sent along to different government levels.
How to fix your address
Schaefer opened a case with the USPS to address the issue. The couple were going to the Little River post office regularly to pick up their mail since it could not be delivered.
The post office blamed the builder for not processing the address correctly, the builder blamed the post office, Schaefer said.
Schaefer was told that this is not a “rare instance.”
Most issues most often arise with condos or apartment buildings, officials said.
Problems can arise with online maps, such as an address being listed incorrectly or not being listed at all. If that happens, a homeowner can go to google.com/maps, click on the sidebar on the top left and then click “Add a missing place.” This will allow you to put in your address and its location. This is a feature open to anyone anywhere in the world.
If you have problems with your new address, contact the Horry County Planning and Zoning department or the Myrtle Beach GIS department, which can help.
