During
the August 17 North Myrtle Beach City Council meeting, six City
employees were provided with Longevity Service Awards in recognition of
their excellent service to North Myrtle Beach residents and visitors.
Award recipients were Finance Director Randy Wright (30 years), Fleet
Maintenance Mechanic Kevin Harrell (15), North Myrtle Beach Aquatic
& Fitness Center Activities Assistant Director Diane Bartlett (l0),
Construction Maintenance Crew Leader I Robby Herring (10), Assistant
Building Official John Hill (10), and North Myrtle Beach Aquatic &
Fitness Center Activities Director Heather Smith (10).
Mayor Pro Tempore Terry White presented a Proclamation
declaring the week of September 11-23 to be Constitution Week in North
Myrtle Beach, joining with the Theodosia Burr Chapter of the National
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in encouraging
“all residents to appreciate and understand the importance of the U.S.
Constitution to our way of life, our freedom, and the rights and duties
each of us has as a citizen of South Carolina and the United States of
America.”
City Council passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and exploration along the Coast of
South
Carolina. In its resolution, City Council noted that in 2014 Horry
County received $3.8 billion in domestic travel expenditures to lead
South Carolina's 46 counties, accounting for 31.3% of the state total.
These expenditures supported $682.6 million in payroll income and 39,000
jobs within the county. Tourism generated $370 million in state and
local tax revenue.
The
resolution also states that North Myrtle Beach works hard to maintain
and expand its positive standing as a premier family-friendly tourism
and residency destination in Horry
County
and along the South Carolina coast, and must assess very carefully any
and all proposed offshore and onshore activities that may hold the
potential to threaten the livelihoods and investments of its citizens.
The
resolution emphasizes that Council must continue to protect the
continued good health of the city’s unique natural environment, noting
that just one spill could forever sully the North Myrtle Beach
environment and that of all of the Grand Strand, and threaten the
long-term viability of our economy and environment.
The
resolution also notes that the slight and speculative benefit of oil
and gas exploration and drilling off our coast that would likely accrue
to the global energy market is not worth the risk of even a single
incident that would cripple the local and statewide economy.
City Council passed a resolution
in support of the City's Occupational Health and Safety Policy Program.
The City participates in the Municipal Association Insurance and Risk
Financing Fund (SCMIRF). As part of the participation requirements, the
City annually performs a Risk Self-Assessment, which requires an
adoption by resolution of a Risk Management Statement. The statement
affirms the City's commitment to the prevention and control of
accidental loss. The adopted resolution will be issued in memo form to
all employees with an explanation of how to report incidents and/or
accidents.
Council passed second reading of an ordinance
allowing for the annexation and zoning of two lots adjacent to the
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and S.C. Highway 31 (Carolina Bays
Parkway). At its August 3 meeting, Council voted to table second reading
of the ordinance, which at that time included three lots, because it
was concerned over the need for adequate buffering between the boundary
of the Pelican Bay Neighborhood (located in Horry County’s jurisdiction)
and the land proposed for annexation. Prior to second reading, the
applicant chose to remove one of the three tracts from the annexation
proposal (Waterway-Rust, LLC (TMS #143-00-01-016/PIN #357-00-00-0004) in
order to be annexed and zoned R-4. The option created a buffer to
protect existing quality of life within the Pelican Bay development.
Council passed first reading of an ordinance
to rezone two properties totaling about .61 acres off Little River Neck
Road near the City’s water tower from HC (Highway Commercial) to R-3
(Mobile Manufactured Home Residential). City staff requested the change
to the zoning district in order to clarify the location of the HC zoning
district as originally designated when the city was first incorporated
in 1968. The rezoning would lessen the area of HC zoning by establishing
the new HC zoning district approximately 300 feet into the parcel from
the edge of the Sea Mountain Highway right-of-way.
Among
additional allowable residential uses, the R-3 zoning district would
permit the construction of single-family detached uses on minimum 10,000
square foot lots as a right, without having to request a special
exception to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), as is the case now. The
affected property owner is aware of the proposal and supports the
rezoning. Meanwhile, the affected property owner has simultaneously
pursued a special exception within the subject area to allow a
single-family detached use within the HC zoning district with the Board
of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
Council passed first reading of an ordinance
to amend the Zoning Ordinance text to change the development standards
for mixed use within the Highway commercial zoning district. City
Council approved an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance text to limit the
amount of multifamily allowed by-right within the HC zoning district in
May 2015. Approving this revision would clearly allow a single
residential unit to be constructed above a commercial use within the HC
zoning district, which was staff’s intention all along.
Proposed Changes:
Understanding a need to preserve a portion of a commercial district to
be at least partially used for commercial purposes, staff inadvertently
left out the allowance for permitting just one residential unit atop a
commercial use in a single structure in the HC zoning district. To
clarify this, the proposed ordinance would remove a small amount of
language placed within the HC zoning district as part of the recent
zoning text amendment. Without this language, the definition of
"mixed-use" as defined in the ordinance would apply. The current
definition of a mixed-use building is "a building that contains
residential dwelling unit or units and commercial uses."
Council passed first reading of an ordinance
to lease a portion of the lake located at the North Myrtle Beach Park
& Sports Complex to Apex Wake Parks, LLC for the operation of a
cable wake park amenity. The cable system will pull persons on water
skis, wake boards, etc., over the leased portion of the lake. The term
of the lease would be for a period of 10 years with an option by the
lessee to extend the lease for two additional renewal terms of 10 years
each.
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| Mayor Pro Tem Terry White, DAR Chapter Regent Jane Harvey, and Members of the Theodosia Burr Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution |
