Artificial turf in Murrells Inlet, SC, planned around the marsh and protected trees.

Murrells Inlet backs onto tidal creek and salt marsh the state regulates.

Murrells Inlet grew up as a fishing village on the creek, in northeastern Georgetown County, and the Marshwalk boardwalk overlooking the salt marsh is still the place's landmark today. A lot that backs onto the creek or the marsh behind it sits against water South Carolina treats differently from an ordinary backyard.

State law defines tidelands as areas at or below mean high tide and the coastal wetlands connected to them, marshes and mudflats included, and counts tidelands among the state's critical areas alongside coastal waters and beaches (SC Code §48-39-10). No one may fill, remove, dredge, drain or in any way alter a critical area without a permit from the state's Bureau of Coastal Management, the successor office to OCRM inside the Department of Environmental Services since July 2024.

That reaches ordinary yard work: grading the ground for a turf base, or running fill or base stone toward the marsh edge, is the kind of alteration the permit rule was written for. Anyone may also ask the department to review a project and say within forty-five days whether it is exempt.

At the free visit, we measure the yard, note where the ground turns to marsh, and draw the layout to stop clear of that edge. If the line is close, we tell you to get it confirmed with the state before the base goes in.

Inland, a 10-inch tree is protected under the county's Waccamaw Neck overlay.

Georgetown County's tree overlay covers the whole Waccamaw Neck, the land between the Horry County line, the Waccamaw River and the ocean, and Murrells Inlet sits inside it (Georgetown County Zoning Ordinance, Article XIII, as amended by Ord. 23-24). A tree at least 10 inches across, measured 4.5 feet up the trunk, is protected unless it's a palmetto, Bradford pear, pecan, sweet gum, crepe myrtle, wax myrtle or a pine other than longleaf. A longleaf pine is protected only once it reaches 15 inches, and only on land that isn't a single-family lot.

An occupied single-family lot doesn't have to replace a tree it removes, but it still needs the county's permit before removing or damaging a protected one. The ordinance counts digging and grading as damage, not just cutting the trunk down, so a turf base dug under the canopy is the kind of work the permit rule was written to catch.

Each protected tree's no-dig zone runs out from the trunk one foot for every inch of diameter, or to the canopy's edge if that reaches farther. A 12-inch live oak carries at least a 12-foot zone. At the visit, we pace out each tree's zone on your lot and draw the turf edge to sit outside it, or flag the ones close enough that the county should see the plan first.

A close call goes to the county's Zoning Administrator before the dig.

Tree removal permits come from the Zoning Administrator's office. For a yard that's easy to see from the street, county staff may visit and mark the trees in person instead of reviewing a drawn plan. Either way, no removal permit is issued until that review is finished, and a conditional approval or a refusal comes back with the reasons in writing.

Skipping the permit is expensive: a person who removes or damages a protected tree without one faces a fine of up to $12,000 for that tree, and the county can hold back other permits on the property for up to three years. An appeal of the county's decision goes to the Zoning Board of Appeals within thirty days.

None of this applies to a healthy yard clear of both lines. Most turf jobs here never touch a permit desk; the point of the free visit is finding out early which lots do.

Prince Creek and International Club are golf communities built from many separately named neighborhoods.

Prince Creek, the golf community around TPC Myrtle Beach, isn't one HOA with one landscaping rulebook. Real-estate coverage of the community describes it as several distinct neighborhoods, some gated and built out on their own (privatecommunities.com), and the Greater Burgess Community Association's own neighborhood directory lists each one as its own member community rather than as a unit of a single shared association (Greater Burgess Community Association). Bellwood Landing, Collins Creek Landing, Creek Harbor, Creekhaven, Highwood, Hunters Grove, Laurel Bay, Linksbrook, Marcliff West, Seasons, Shallow Creek Bay, Stonegate, The Bays, Waverly Bay and Willow Bay are all part of Prince Creek this way. Highwood keeps its own governing documents and rules section on its HOA site; ask Highwood's HOA for its current landscaping rules before you plan a layout there. For a lot in any of these neighborhoods, get your own HOA's current design-review or landscaping guidelines before you plan a turf layout, and check them against the marsh and tree rules above if the lot borders tidal water.

International Club, off International Club Boulevard, works the same way. Cambridge, Enclave, Grand Vistas, The Glens and The Villas are each listed as their own neighborhood in the same civic directory. Ask your neighborhood's HOA for its current landscaping guidelines before you plan turf on one of these lots, and the marsh and tree rules above still apply if the lot borders tidal water.

A single-family home in Georgetown County pays a flat yearly fee, turf or not.

Georgetown County charges every property with 400 square feet or more of impervious area a stormwater fee on the tax bill. A single-family home pays for one Equivalent Runoff Unit, set at $52 a year, no matter its exact roof and driveway area; other property is billed on its measured impervious area, rounded up to the next unit.

County guidance lists grass as pervious and doesn't name artificial turf either way (Georgetown County stormwater fee FAQ, checked September 2026). A new residential lawn won't move a homeowner's flat fee, so this isn't a reason to install or skip turf at a house. On other property types where the fee is measured, ask county stormwater staff how they'd count a draining turf system before you budget for it; our guide to whether turf counts as impervious has the questions to bring.