Results - October 15 North Myrtle Beach City Council Meeting

North Myrtle Beach, SC – October 15, 2018 – During the October 15 meeting of the North Myrtle Beach City Council, four employees received Longevity Awards. Receiving the awards were Public Safety Training Officer Justin Baker (5 years of service), Public Safety Officer Gordon Best (5 years) Public Safety Officer Scott St. Clair (5 years), and Public Safety Officer Stephen Murphy (5 years).

Longevity Awards are given in five-year increments to those employees who demonstrate continued customer service excellence.

L-R  Stephen Murphy - Gordon Best - Justin Baker - City Manager Mike Mahaney

City Council approved a special event permit for the Little River Inlet Saltwater Fishing Club’s October 19-21 Rumble in the Jungle king mackerel fishing tournament. For registration, rules and other information about the tournament, please visit http://www.rumblekmt.com.

City Council passed second (final) reading of an ordinance reallocating $264,000 in accommodations tax (A-Tax) funds to the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. After 30 percent of A-Tax funding is set aside for use in out-of-area tourism marketing, remaining A-Tax funds are available for the City to use to address a wide variety of local tourism-related needs. In the past, the City has provided significant funding for various tourism-related activities, such as the Chamber’s Visitor Center. Council did not select an amount for use by the Chamber during its FY 2019 budget retreat held in February. An ordinance amending the FY 2019 budget was necessary in order to provide the Chamber with accommodations tax funding within the current fiscal year. 

City Council passed second reading of an ordinance amending the Zoning Code and adding definitions for “short-term rentals” and “sleeping area.”

During a July 24 Council workshop, staff presented information on short-term rentals, followed by a discussion of proposed strategies to manage them. Council asked staff to prepare definitions of "short term rental" and "sleeping area” in order to insert them into the Zoning Ordinance as placeholders for the more detailed management proposal that will follow.

The amended Zoning Ordinance includes these definitions for short-term rental and sleeping area:

• Short-Term Rental: Any residential unit offered for lease for a period of 90 days or less.

• Sleeping Area: a sleeping area is any room (including bedrooms) that is not a kitchen, a hallway not exceeding seven feet in width, a mechanical room designed primarily for containing HVAC equipment or hot water heaters or electrical panels or similar, a bathroom, a closet not exceeding 70 square feet in size, or an elevator or stairwell.

City Council tabled second reading of an ordinance to amend the Town Centre area in the Barefoot Resort Planned Development District. As explained when Council passed first reading of the proposed amendment at its October 1 meeting, a workshop will be scheduled before second reading. The workshop will occur in November but a specific date has not yet been set.

The applicant and authorized agent for Barefoot Village Investments, Inc., Sands Winchester and Joe Morrison, have submitted a proposal to revise the portion of the Town Centre area of the Barefoot Resort Planned Development District on vacant land alongside the Intracoastal Waterway and marina. Known as Barefoot Cottage Village, this area is identified as Future Residential Development on the approved master site plan.

According to the information submitted, Barefoot Cottage Village is a residential neighborhood reminiscent of the simple life of small town America. The project includes 5.9 acres of wetlands and buffer, 19 designated common open green spaces covering 1.5 acres, a 2.5-acre pond, and 4,500 square feet of neighborhood amenity center and administrative office space.

274 in-common cottage units are proposed. All lots are commonly owned with no fee simple lot ownership. Cottages would range in size from 510 square feet to 1,292 square feet. Proposed minimum building separations would be 10 feet from wall to wall, with eaves protruding no further than 12 inches. These separations are less than the 15 feet currently required, but more than the 8 feet allowed for single-family elsewhere in Barefoot Resort.

The master site plan illustrates residents having at least two parking spaces per unit, with 377 surface and on-street parking spaces and 174 parking spaces available below the raised cottages.

According to the developer, the intention is to create housing that is affordable to "essential workers" in a community, i.e. police officers, firemen and women, teachers, nurses, medical personnel, and others, as well as those seeking smaller homes for year-round or second home use.

City Council passed second reading of an ordinance annexing and zoning two lots on Riverside Drive. The property owner petitioned the City to annex 1.92 acres of property located on Riverside Drive identified by TMS Numbers 131-11-01-006 and 131-17-01-012 and PIN 311-16-04-0009 and 311-16-04-0010. The lots are zoned R-1 (Single-Family Residential Low-Density).

City Council passed second reading of an ordinance amending Section 9-2 of the Code of Ordinances entitled, Day of General Election. The Horry County Election Commission asked the City to amend its ordinance regarding election day, so that the City's election day coincides with other County-wide municipal elections as follows: "The time for general elections shall be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd number years. All newly elected City Council members or newly elected Mayor shall be inducted into office at the next regular City Council meeting following their election."