City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good morning everyone. It was 83 yesterday and 51 today. So, so much for the first day of spring. This is the workshop portion of the meeting for Tuesday, March 24th. Good morning. Thank you all for being here. First on the agenda for discussion is the 48th Avenue North speed limit. the city from the DOT has acquired the right of way for 48th Avenue North manager.

Yes, Janice's coming up to kind of present this as she's walking up about setup. As you described, this is the portion that the city took in earlier this year, I believe, from Gryom to Little River Road. Um, and we did some analysis on the speed on setting speed limit. Jenna's gonna walk us through. Sure. Good morning.

Good morning. Morning. So, I I'll preface this by saying um I always encourage um council to consider um I think Councilman Mcclur, you said it best to have a good solid data before we we make any adjustments to to speed limits. So, um, right after we accepted that section of roadway into our road system, we deployed our portable speed trailers out there within that section of roadway to gather that data so we know how the existing free flow of traffic is moving. Um so with that um the speed distribution actually tells us that um most drivers are already traveling around the current posted speed limit of 35 miles an hour. um a majority of the speeds, 85% of the 75,266 vehicles that were traveling eastbound since March 1st uh were at or below 38 mph, while 85% of the 93,762 vehicles traveling westbound were at or below 37 miles Um the average vehicle counts per day associated with just this short duration of time since March 1st was 3,273 vehicles per day average traveling eastbound and 4,77 vehicles per day traveling uh westbound. Um so we also looked at the 50th percentile. So I shared with you the 85th because like we've shared before in previous presentations

the operating speed or the posted speed limit um it's a engineering practice and a um national guidance from the Federal Highway Administration to set the posted speed limit within 5 miles an hour of the 85th percentile. So the 50th percentile is often used to measure how the throughput of traffic is flowing on that road, you know, because our roads are are to help us move the vehicles. So the 50th percentile um was 34 miles an hour for eastbound traffic and 33 miles an hour for westbound traffic. So based upon all this information and and I think Fox you shared an earlier um email with council of the the speed study as we were starting to gather data um earlier on with these uh feedback sign with the feedback signs and the speed trailers um staff's recommendation was to to maintain um the current 35 mph speed limit based on the data that we have right now. Um, another consideration for you is that currently at Little River Road, um, there is a four-way stop. So, there is a, um, an existing, um, location where the traffic is slowing down for that stop and continuing on. And again, this is that section from Robert Gryom Parkway to Kings Highway that we are talking about. I'm open to have more more discussion, but just sharing the data that we have so far.

I've got a couple of questions, but council go ahead.

First of all, thank you. I you know, I do uh try to rely on data as much as I can. U but what I do want to point out, and I understand what you say, okay, but let's talk about where this is and what we're talking about is residential neighborhoods. And if you rely anything on the US Department of Transportation information, it will tell you that the average speed, posted speed in residential neighborhoods throughout the United States is 25 miles an hour. And there's a reason for that because it is residential because there are children playing. And I I understand that we have a posted speed limit now of 35 miles an hour. Uh I believe and uh Mr. Simons, please correct me if I'm wrong, uh uh that our city manager uh in one communication said, "Well, we could drop it to 30 miles an hour if that would help." Uh or at least that's the way I I I remember it.

Is that correct? So, if we can drop it to 30, we can drop it to 25. We're talking about residential neighborhoods, and that's what I would uh that's what I would like to see. I'd actually like to see it 25 miles an hour in all of our residential neighborhoods. Uh but for this particular area now, I think that's the way to go. And I, you know, at the end of the day, it's going to be uh uh council's direction to you and we will live with whatever council wants to do.

Anybody else? Um, you know, generally in most neighborhoods, especially a neighborhood like mine where there's no real straight through from say Bob Griome to Little River Road, things like that. Uh generally speaking, you come up in my like my street, there's a stop sign, but on but along side of my house from Pine Island to it, that street ends, there's probably at least three stop signs. And so the posted speed limit there, I don't even know if there is a posted speed or not, but generally throughout the city speed limit in neighborhoods is 30 mph.

Correct. Now, the diff what I see a difference in as far as 48th Avenue is people are using that street to go from Bob Griome over to Highway 17. And obviously there's a whole lot more traffic on 48th Avenue in a neighborhood than there is on where I live. So my thought on all of this is a couple of things. One thing that I do notice about and let me say this here, those those speed limit things that shows how fast you're going, they are really good to have. There's no question question because the key to it and here is here's where the rubber meets the road with me. Once people start seeing that, what did they start doing?

Hit the brakes. Slow down. Right? So, how can you have accurate data on speed? Once people start seeing those flashing, you're now traveling past 35 mph because it goes to flashing and people slow down. So, what happened? What we don't have is the data before that. And I understand that, but it's just real and and we won't have data after that.

The second thing would be about that is the location of where that particular unit was placed at on 48th Avenue could have some significance as whether how fast folks were going one way or the other. Just I'm just throwing those things out there. Uh me personally, I'm concerned about that particular area is because of the fact the amount of traffic that goes through there versus like a a I'll call a normal neighborhood because that's a little bit different because of how that street goes. Okay. Um personally, I would like to see it 25 mph. Uh because in my world 30 mph in any neighborhood is too fast. 35 mph in any neighborhood is too fast. And I can tell you on on my street when they're traveling 30 mph and we got kids playing all over the place, it concerns me even if they possibly and I doubt they are driving 30 m an hour. So my point to that is it would not hurt my feelings one bit and I would actually I could support that in all neighborhoods in the city of Myrtle Beach the speed limit be 25 mph. That's just Mike. Thank you.

Anybody else? Okay. I've got a couple of quick questions. Sure. U the 85th percentile was 38 going one way, 37 going the other way. What was the percentage of cars actually driving the speed limit? Do you know? I don't know that um because it's at that speed or below. So I don't know that difference in the the percentages. Well, the 38 is obviously above the 35 that's posted currently. What was the what was the highest speed recorded either direction?

I don't have that information with me, but I can get that to you. Um,

and again, we're not saying that they're not speeding is not occurring from a just statistic standpoint. 85% of the vehicles are traveling at that speed or below. There are other neighborhoods that have requested lower speed limits and they may not have even made it to this level of discussion yet. I Forest Dunes has talked about lowering its speed limit. I don't know whether that's an indepth of feeling within the Forest Dunes community, but that subject has come up for them as well. Um, and you use the the visible digital signs as opposed to the little baseball plates. Correct.

Okay. Um, I mean to Mike's point, yes. If you see the speed limit flashing as you're driving by, you're inclined to to slow to slow down a little bit. Do you remember where that sign was? Because I remember seeing I drive that street often. Right past where the park is, entrance to the park. Thank you. Yep. So, I remember seeing it west of Pine Lakes. I'm west of Little River Road. Correct. Correct. In that that new section. In the section that you're talking about, what is the is it the entire section from Kings Highway to Gryom? Is that what we're talking about?

That that was my understanding of the initial um discussion from council is to drop that section of roadway to 25 miles an hour. And please correct me if I misunderstood previous discussions. Is that correct? Yes. I support 25. Yeah. I mean, I have no problem with the 25 either, but I will say this that when you go to 67th Avenues, what is the speed limit there? 35. Yes. Um, so we're going to probably have other areas because th that really is a feeder,

right? So is I'm glad glad you brought that up because a lot of our avenues are from the Federal Highway Administration um classified as collector roadways. Collective roadways essentially their their function is to gather traffic and funnel them to the arterials which in this case a majority like almost all of our avenues connect with an arterial whether it's the bypass Robert Gryom Parkway um Kings Highway. So these are natural um uh roads that are going to carry that high amount of traffic. Um, in fact, with um the the DO's roadway information system, if you haven't gone online and and use that, um, it's a great resource to be able to to click and identify, number one, I think Brian said, to keep track of how many state roads are in our jurisdiction, but it also gives you that information about the um annual average um, daily traffic volumes. So, you get an idea of of how many cars are actually on this roadway. and it's 8,500 for um 48th Avenue as compared to a local road like like Jasmine or 47th North that you know you're you're less than 200.

I'm glad that you brought that up um because I think one of the other things that that that should go with this for consideration is that um and I understand about arterial uh roads, right? They feed to other areas and where you want to kind of have traffic coming. Uh I think though and I did look at those as a matter of fact, but the last time they updated it was well over a decade ago and if you look at the amount of traffic that has increased in the city of Myrtle Beach just by people moving into the city uh much less our visitors and and other business traffic that comes in. I think one of the other things that I would also suggest besides 25 miles an hour is that we uh we work with those systems uh like Google maps and ways etc uh to look at trying to uh divert people from using 48th Avenue uh as as a as a cut through because as you mentioned when you think about it um if you've driven up from Kings Highway going towards the bypass. 3,000 4,000 cars a day through those residential neighborhoods. That is massive. That is absolutely massive. So we we need to also use technology to see what we can do to avert some of that traffic and and put it in areas where it would not be jumping through residential neighborhoods. That might be a herculean task that we can't achieve, but I believe that we should look at it. So I would appreciate that as well,

assuming council agrees. Understood. and and also to respond to your um your statement about the the the data on that website. Um Councilman Chestnut, you may be aware, but the the study team for GASATS is actually um gathering data and and updating those road classifications throughout the entire um Grand Strand area. So um that that process is is ongoing, just so you know. Yeah. And but I could only go what was available on the federal side. So, but it's it's getting updated for sure.

I think as Bill pointed out, 48th is almost purely residential. There's some commercial on either end, but it's literally just a lot basically on either end. 8,500 cars a day divided by 24 hours would be 354 cars an hour, assuming that the traffic was equal throughout the day. If you divided it by 12 instead, that's 700 cars an hour. That's a lot of cars through a little neighborhood. You're going to have a tough time diverting traffic from 38th, 48th, 62nd, 67th because I can tell you from past experience and present experience. Those 65 and older gravitate toward those lights. They will go out of their way to go to the lights or to make a right-hand turn.

What is the answer? I just two questions tactically. Sure. Well, let me go straight to enforcement. If you have a 25 mph uh speed limit, does force enforcement become an issue when in some parts of town it appears enforcement is an issue now at 35 visa v the main road through market common which some of us want to go to 25 Mr. louder and I particularly those two questions. Can we enforce that lower limit in a reasonable amount of time? Um and again to deflect traffic from those traffic lights is a herculean task. It ain't happening.

So in in response to the to the first question um significantly lowering the speed limit to 25 miles an hour will more than likely create an enforcement a targeted enforcement effort by our police department. And I don't want to speak for them, but you will have to have that that that change in behavior is not going to happen overnight because everyone's used to driving that 35 miles an hour. So, there will have to be a public information campaign um stressing the importance of safety within this residential area. um and you know installing driver feedback signs along that corridor also to the permanent ones like we've done on um 79th and and 76th that might be a a next step. Um so there there's going to have to be a transition time because it is it is a significant change in that operating speed and there is a variance between the operating speed and the the 25 right so the operating speed is at 85th percentile. So switching to that there's going to be uh likely some inconsistencies in speeds um for a period of time

that would be a good candidate for one of the digital driver signs. Agreed. Yes, I'm hearing reasonable consensus here on this. Is there anybody from 48th Avenue North in the audience that would like to say a word or two? Oh, wait. Um, that's a lot of you. Um, elect among yourselves a few folks to come come forward. Gentlemen, Janet, while while he comes up, is there any way do you think this would help at all if if you're coming off 48th approaching the neighborhood, do you think any type of signage that would say you are now entering a residential neighborhood, reduce speed? I mean, would that help any, you think, or

it could? Um, I've seen um that in some areas. Um, we don't have any presently, but not say we can't. Um, I've also seen as you have some transition areas, um, you know, speed limit, um, actually on the pavement markings. I've seen that before, but from a maintenance standpoint, that's a that's a lot of upkeep there, but so you see that when you're going into like Charlotte and places like that, going in from Matthews to Charlotte, they do have signs up like that u putting you on alert that you're getting ready to go into a residential. Thanks.

Give us your name, please. And are you a resident on 48th?

I'm a resident on 48th. My name is Tommy Moore. Um, I've lived there for a little over three years now. Um, had a lot more I was going to say, but I'm going to try to hit points because it sounds like y'all have kind of hit some points for me. Um, yeah, moving there, I I kind of I already knew about the street. Been from here. Yeah, I know that's high traffic, but you know, it's it's been great being there, meeting the neighbors like Miss Cece Shaw, which she says to tell Mr. Louder and Mr. Render, hey, can't be here. Um, but um yeah, so it's crazy living there. It's the the amount of traffic, the noise, just the constant keeping my kids out the front yard because you never know who's going to swerve off the road. I mean, just the end of last year, I had to replace my mailbox if someone hit it. and then a week later someone hit the next mailbox up. Um I'm two houses off of that four-way speed four-way stop. Um really the point of this like lowering the speed limit I think people that live here and have gone down that road for their whole life. I don't think they're going to change their ways. It's I think it's more the people that are using GPS once you update ways and Google and all that. I think it'll reroute them somewhere else. don't know where because it'll it'll no longer be the fastest route in and out because on Sundays checkout days it's it's just it's like a line at the DMV just trying to get up the road. Um but to the point of the um the study 8,000 cars a day. Um last year there was a study done where 154,000 cars over 22 days that that 85th percentile was 37. So 7,000 cars a day. That's a thousand cars a day going over 37. A thousand. That's that's ridiculous. And you know, city doesn't consider it unless it's the 85th percentile is 10

miles per hour over. So we're just think I was just kind of doing some math. That was so let's say it was just 5% of the cars were doing 45. Um that's still 352 cars a day that is doing 10 over. That's That's ridiculous. Like it's unsafe to walk down the sidewalks. It's unsafe just to really be out in your yard back out backing out of your driveway. Um but as for the other streets, Broadway Street is 25. That's purely purely commercial. Commercial.

Um you know, Pharaoh was dropped to 30. That's four lanes. This has a raised median. Um, but I understand there's a lot of pedestrian traffic there. 44th is 30, 62nd is 30, 76 and 79th are also 30, but there's no driveways that actually go onto those roads. So, for us that have to pull out on the 48th instead of the end of our driveways for what seems like 5 to 10 minutes, you know, it kind of becomes a hassle just to get in and out of your own um driveway. Wild Iris that runs from 38th all the way up to Grand Dunes. That's 25 in some spots and 35 in others. It's 35 where there's medians. Um North Ocean Boulevard is 25. So it's just that's a residential area, too. So what it's just trying to get something where we can feel safe, you just be out in our own front yard.

Understood. Thank you, Tommy. Yeah. Thank you. Somebody back here. You are you sir come forward. Morning. Good morning council. Good morning mayor. My name is Amir Tal. I live on 48th right next to Tommy.

Second time I'm speaking here in front of you. Um so you touch pretty much all the points. The only thing I want to talk about is enforcement like councilman Render spoke about. And currently I I've been living there only for admit a year, but I've I've never seen a a police officer on the street um catching people speeding. I saw them on the intersection on 48 where there's a four stop. Sometimes they catch their people that run through the stop sign. My point is that when you drop it to 25, most likely you're going to have more people speeding. We all know that. But technically it's um not so enforced right now. So, what will be the difference later? For us, pulling out of my driveway at 25, knowing that I got a vehicle coming at 25 or most vehicles at 25 or even if they come in at 35, they're in the wrong. They're going too fast. They're not they're they're doing something that is illegal. It's different than me coming out and 35 is the standard. Cuz if it's 35, they'll go 35. And by the way, when you live right next to intersection, when you can go 35 and they rev up from zero to 35, it's much more of a push, I would say, from 0 to 25. Now, this street will always stay busy. And we're not trying to deter traffic and put the the the traffic on somebody else's problem. It's going to be our problem. We know we bought houses there. Some people lived there for ages and it wasn't a problem back then. But driving 10 miles below won't kill the tourists, won't kill the the residents. It wouldn't do harm really to anybody. It will make all of us very very happy. Now, if any other streets with residential owners are pushing this agenda to lower their speed as well, maybe they could have should have been listened to as well. But if nobody's pushing on other streets, maybe it's not really a problem for other streets, whether 62nd, 67, 76, doesn't matter.

For for us on 48, it's really is a it's um it's an anxiety and a stressful thing to pull out in your driveway. We have no crosswalks to cross the road. You literally I need to run with my stroller and my newborn. And if my wife goes out with my with the car, I need to guide her and stop traffic. So once again, I think all of you or most of you are are pretty much on board on this, but I I again want to say what I said on the first meeting. This little change that you are approving makes our life so much better. So much better. And I don't think it's hurting really anybody. And if the city or the police wants to increase some fines, they can. It's going to be a cash cow to sit there on the intersection. Everybody drive. Yeah. It will be a cash cow for the police and the city. So um I really appreciate all of you. Thank you very much for taking this matter that you know takes a lot of time on your end. Um but we it's it's a big deal for us. So thank you very much.

Thank you very much. May I respond to two things? Sure. Go for it. Sir, number one, maybe part of the reason you haven't seen enforcement on 48th Avenue where you live because we just come a part of the city of Myrtle Beach. Prior to that it was in the county. Okay. Our section is second thing. Oh, your section. Yeah, we went from Kings to L. My bad. I thought you were on the other side. Second thing is when you when you think about the police department writing speeding tickets that that's a cash cow for the city. No, it's not. It's a cash cow for the criminal justice academy, but it's not a cash cow for the city of Myrtle Beach at all. Okay. Well, I don't really know how it works. It was just

I just wanted to be clarified. Again, to be honest, even if it's not in force, just having that sign 25 with a little blinker, hey, it's 25 now, agree, will make 70% difference. The 30% that are are in avoiding the speed limit regardless. They do it in every road in the in the city. They'll get caught at some point, but we can't catch them all. I'm I'm all in for the 25. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Amir. You talked about the sidewalk, too, the last time, if I'm not mistaken.

I have a great memory. Yes, I did. But um I don't think it's uh possible to have sidewalks on both sides. Uh but crosswalks will be great cuz there is I see a lot of of people walking on 48 and it will be nice to be able to cross 48 because right now there's no point to cross otherwise you're like you're crossing

the middle of the road. If it's possible to have a curb on the road, that would be phenomenal. Like in the edge of the road because it feels like some people think, "Yeah, I can speed because worst case if somebody stops suddenly, I can just break into this guy's driveway." So, and they saw those in some places in the city, they do those and it's much less costly. And I think it can also help after 25 to like say, "Okay, this is a narrow road. You can clearly see there's two curbing and we'll beautify an avenue that, you know, so many people uh drive-thru. Thank you. Curving usually involves storm water management. So I would say that that's that's not likely. And then we also need to fix the roller coaster coming off Kings Highway, please. So thank you.

Thank you. Maybe you guys want to add gladly take it. Thank you, sir. Tommy, you're here. Do you have anything to add to this or not? You don't have to speak, by the way. No, I I'm here to support the residents. I think Tommy had some excellent data that he presented to council. Uh speaking on behalf of the bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic advisory committee. Uh I think it would be a safe statement to say that I could rouse enough votes to do an official recommendation to council if that's what council would ask. I think we're good

and but from the uh consensus as you said before looks like we're headed in the right direction. Uh I I am gratified to see this consensus not just on 48th but possibly in other parts of the community as well. I think I pointed out the last time I was here that Marina Parkway has three different speed limits from a Rundle to the Y. So that's that's not a great situation either, but we can talk about that at another time. Thank you. Thank you, council. Anytime. That sufficient talks. Thank you very much, Janet.

Up next is the Ocean Forest Monument Review. I don't know that Ruben is in town today. Is he? I was told. Oh, he's not in town. I was told he was on his way back to town, but um but I I will I will give you a quick update or quick debrief. That said, I will give you one more quick update to go backwards. We are designing a a force main project along 48th. We've added to that design process sidewalks or a sidewalk on the north side. So, um good job air. Thank you.

And we need to put a clock on air next time. Um just to give you a quick uh debrief or or um recap. Uh we've had this ocean forest monument conversation for a while. I will just sort of go back to the beginning. Uh Mr. Heyman approached us year and a half ago. Maybe it may even be more than that.

Um it may be even more than that. Approached us about the idea of the monument. He had already engaged Derek Misingo at that time to do a rough concept. Uh he presented to you all. you all gave him um sort of a nudge to continue down that path. He did. Um Mr. Misingo and and Ruben continue the design process. Came back to you again uh with a conceptual design of an Ocean Forest Hotel monument in the roundabout uh at the original location uh of the hotel. We continued down that path. Um, we eventually also engaged Mr. Misingo. We compensated him for the work he had done to date. As staff began to get involved in the conversation, we identified several different issues. Um, issues being safety, ownership, cost, those three concerns still exist. um just the notion of of putting that monument intended to draw pedestrian activity in the middle of a roundabout. There's a safety concern there and we've got to figure out how to address that safety concern. Um outside of signalizing or creating some some traffic stopping measures some somewhere in there. Um there is a safety issue there that we need to figure out that we don't currently have a solution for. Uh ownership um it is a DOT owned road DOT owned culdeac. Um I know the appetite on us taking over state roads is is transitioning. So that that may be a possibility now. Uh and then the cost component uh of that particular monument. You know, there was an originally an estimate of $250,000, but that was a very was a very loose cost estimate on on the monument. Um, and the

the last presentation made to you all, you referred it to the cultural resources committee. Cultural resources committee met on it a couple of times. They presented back in July and I'm honestly just I'm just going to run through these slides real quick um from from that presentation that Mr. Crutch made back in July. Excuse me. this pollen is getting to me. Um, so there's sort sort of the summaries of um, CRC's findings. I think this body and staff all recognize the significance of ocean forest and and do all believe I think collectively there is a consensus on figuring out how to honor uh, the impact and the contributions made by the ocean forest. Um, CRC shares that same that same view. CRC recognizes um the pedestrian issues, the safety issues um and that they proposed an alternative location along Ocean Boulevard in that cabana section. Um and and there are some pros and cons to that one. Uh, and then they also rec they also recommended capping the city's participation in the monument at $50,000 based in part on the idea that we will likely get additional requests and we need to set some kind of precedent for what the city's involvement will be in in future suggestions, recommendations. Um, and so that those were their findings uh again back in July. Their suggested location would be right there in the middle of the cabana section. Uh we would have to work through that if we if we chose to go that direction. There's still some parking issues and parking concerns in that cabana section that we haven't completely solved for. By the same token, there's not designated parking around the roundabout either. Uh there's some street parking on some of the side streets that could be parked.

Um but again some of those some of those um roads coming into the culde-sac are stateown roads so we'd have to address that. I think after the CRC presentation and recommendations um hasn't been a lot of conversation. I don't think Mr. Heyman is at all interested in looking at the Ocean Boulevard location. He is um passionate about the idea that it it be located in that original roundabout and and conversations from what I gather have not really advanced beyond the July presentation. So I'll leave it at that and and take direction from council. First step regardless would be to acquire the rightway for the roundabout. What would what road is that actually? Sir,

what what is that? Portraiture. Portchure. Okay. Portraiture. Can we can we do that as a first measure? We can do that. I again staff's staff's opinion. I don't know that that's the first option. Uh if if we if we believe we want to take portraiture just because we want to take and control portraiture, then yes. If we're taking portraiture because we want to put the put something there at some point, then yes. Uh, I would figure out I'd figure out what we want to put there before we take ownership of the road. If it's predicated on the idea of us putting a monument there, if we just want to own it for the sake of owning it, then yes, we can start that process.

And I would argue that there's benefit in owning it just to own it in in as much as it's one of our key neighborhoods just off Boulevard. If if that is the desire council to take in portraiture that's remember how long it took us to get 48th Avenue North that was a process but also there's I think Janet some work that needs to be done on porcher I don't know what condition it's in and there's that bill in the Columbia right now with SCOT that I would might want to delay a little bit until we see what happens with the stat of that bill because there could be some funding that comes along with with it could be some onetime money yeah if we ask for it now they will give it to us with no money even until the bill passes Maybe they at least give us some money.

I know I'm I may be in the minority here, but the roundabout that was the gateway into the Ocean Forest Resort actually where it's proposed that on the boulevard. Well, I'm not even sure the boulevard was there at that time when when it was first built, but my point is that this is where you went in. This was the gateway. This is where the main entrance to the Ocean Forest Hotel existed. It in in my simple mind, that makes the best location for this monument to be. Now, does it need to be a $250,000 monument? I don't think so. I think we could have something there that's very nice and it would be at a much lower cost that people would still want to go and do a photo op, so to speak. Now, uh, along the Ocean Boulevard there, uh, I think it with the amount of traffic that goes up and down Ocean Boulevard that it may create more of a problem depending on what it looks like. Now, if it's like some of the other little plaques along Ocean Boulevard that you see, people will pass right and never knew it was there. Going back to the circle, thinking about traffic, thinking about safety, thinking about people crossing at the roundabout. Well, in a lot of places that I've been where you have a roundabout, they have a stop sign on on where these roads come into the roundabout. That would help with with traffic safety to some some to

some extent. And of course, I know the nature of people. Half the people will cross at a crosswalk and the other half will cross wherever they decide. I get that. But I'm I'm my support will remain for it to be at the roundabout and but that's just my thought. I know others have different concerns about that. I would if you don't mind, mayor. Okay. Um, my concern is a parking plan. So, where would people park? And then you're parking

on a residential street. Probably Calhoun is the widest street and it's a really large street, but um I'm sure some concerns from residents about putting public parking along Calhoun. We we briefly looked at that. Calhoun is an extraordinarily wide rightway for a neighborhood. There there is ample there there's ample rightway there to to generate some some parking spots for sure. We we can with direction from you all we can think through what that what that could possibly look like. Um so I mean that that again it is it is a residential neighborhood. I want to talk to the residents too.

I'd like to uh just add on real quick to Dr. Connor's uh comment u a year ago I guess uh I got calls from people not only on Calhoun but point set uh that were concerned about uh parking on the street what kind of traffic that would create um and I think we need to take that into consideration as well. And while parking on Porsche and Calhoun is problematic, it's still easier than trying to park on Ocean Boulevard in the command section by a long shot.

I'll agree with you on that one.

Let me just make one final comment on this. I think before we go down the road a whole lot further, it may be that we need to have a meeting somewhere up in that area, whether it be like where possibly at the church there at 63rd Avenue between 60 61st and or 62nd 63rd maybe because I know they at one point in time they were having neighborhood the Forest Dooms neighborhood was meeting there and it may an idea that we just have a have a meeting to allow folks to come and uh express concerns or express the fact that they'd like to see it. That's just just one that we've done this in a number of other times, other locations where we involved a neighborhood on how they may feel about what it may be or be may not be.

And Brian, it's Rubin's names have been mentioned several times here.

Yes, sir. And of course, he probably is at the tip of the spear, but this is just not a Mr. Heyman effort in general. It's an over overall effort to continue to preserve some history within our within our borders. And perhaps it means more to some that grew up in the neighborhood than, you know, than than other folks. But but again, it's a chance to uh commemorate what was done in the past and try to live up to the standards they set for us. and agreed and and M Mr. Heyman is absolutely the tip of the spear on on this particular subject, but but you all have heard we've heard at staff level, we've heard from other folks that also and and again we fully recognize the significance of the ocean forest and would like to figure it out. I think um

well the charge of council is to provide you folks senior staff with direction. Uh, if there four votes to go this way, so be it. If not, then let's go in another direction. I would ask we need to arrive at some count at some consensus. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I would ask for one more piece of feedback and and I think Councilman Louder, Mayor, I'm not sure which one of you said this, but uh the $250,000 estimate, you I think you may have said that might that might be a little too rich. I mean, any any feedback from you all on on what you think the appropriate budget should be? We we can begin we can begin working through some iterations and some ideas based on our proposed budget from you all if if you give some guidance.

You do you have a picture of the proposed memorial here? Not here.

As I recall it was a large glass see-through with an etching of the ocean forest on it. It it was and in in further conversations with the architect, there was uh there was less than back of the ma back of the napkin math on the $250,000 estimate. I think once you really started talking to Derek, I think the budget was probably going to exceed that pretty significantly based on his design. Um so again, that's that's where I just I lean on you all to tell us and point us in a direction of what you feel like is an appropriate budget. we can begin the process either with the neighborhood with CRC and and obviously with Mr. Heman's input on what an alternative could be.

As I recall at one point there was in in terms of the budget in the cost there was talk of private investment kind of a private public uh where does that stand or does it just not stand?

To my knowledge it doesn't stand. I think some of the some of the early conversations were I think Mr. felt like he could get some considerable private contributions. I think he probably I don't want to speak for him, but I think he is still fairly confident that he could do that. Um, and if you all wanted to make a recommendation of some type of a public private match where the city puts in 50,000 or 100,000 and and they then try to figure out how to match that. I think that would be an interesting approach. Cost is attached to the fact that it's a glass and see-through with etching thing on it. That would be my guess. Okay. I mean, this

I mean, for for 10 or $20,000, you could do a spectacular bronze recreation of of the ocean forest there. We will follow your lead. That's what I I go back to. I mean, I I know they want to Taj Mahal here, but it doesn't necessarily have to mean it has to be this to represent this. It could be this and still have the same landmark documentation and it be a very nice project at the same time. Does the city own Calhoun? I don't know if we do or not. I don't think so. Yeah. I don't I don't

Okay. So, let's look at let's look at both of those to acquire from the DOT. Understanding that general assembly may make that easier or harder for us at the end of the day. I want to say the state owns Calhoun. The state owns one of the diagonal roads that come into the culdeac. Because of the rightway, I would assume that would be Calhoun, but I can't I can't swear to that. We can find out.

Yeah. M multi levels. And if Reuben's not available today, maybe we can have a conversation with Ruben about altering the the design. I I get the sense that the culde-sac, the circle, the traffic circle is the preferred location for us. And I know when we talked about it before, what was the estimate? It wasn't taking all of portraiture, but a portion, and that was how much? I thought that was a pretty It's a big amount. You would essentially be taking all of portraiture that you see on the screen. They they were asking us to take um maybe Porcher all the way down to Haskell and then and then up. Um it was a it was a significant portion of Porcher. Don't say that too many times.

Do you remember the amount Okay, thank you. And and yet that's one of our key neighborhoods, one of our oldest neighborhoods. The state is looking to devest itself of those roads. And I can see some benefit to the city owning the roads within the neighborhoods. I would like to request that whatever is put there that they do put some type of fencing up, decorative fencing where so if you are going to have a crosswalk at any of these points, that would be where the entrance is to this area, but also to keep children from running out into the street.

We we will have to come up with a a pretty significant safety plan. We've got some smaller pocket parks in that neck of the woods, too, that that are effectively in a culdeac or in a a traffic circle, if you will. They're not a real a traffic circle, but Okay. All right. Well, let's we'll we'll talk with Ruben design work. How's that, Mayor? I still think we need to I I I'm feeling that we need to stick with the recommendation from the um CRC committee, $50,000. If we don't, we're going to set a real precedent.

Well, I I understand that. Um we we've set a precedent at Warbert Park already, though. I agree. You got to I look at that as comparing apples and I'll be honest with you. Okay. Well, I I think altering the design I think we can bring something that costs less money and still looks very nice. So, we'll talk to Ruben about that. Um, up next, the annexation of it's listed as the parks. Is it the parks or the park? Parks.

Okay, that's what I thought. And there are a couple of neighborhoods near there that are already in and have a similar name. This is the the loan outlier. This item's on your agenda for consideration on the regular agenda today for first reading. So you can talk about it now or we can wait until the item comes up. Okay. Couple of minutes.

All right. I'll I'll blitz through the slides real fast here. Uh property you see on the right hand side of 48th is what's in question here within that orange boundary. It is 34 pieces of property. 30 of which excuse me 30 of which are residential houses four are commonly owned under the POA as just open space area. Um part of this annexation request the uh typically an annexation request is either a single owner or multi-owners representing 100% of the property 100% of the assessed value requesting annexation to the city. This is a deviation from that. The state requirement allows for a 75% annexation or a 25% annexation. uh the community here met the threshold for the 75% annexation, but as part of that 75% there's additional requirements that the city must do in terms of like an analysis uh to warrant the annexation being done properly. So part of this is a tax assessment as well as the calculation of services. Skipping ahead, excuse me. Um, so completing that financial analysis found that the uh annexation of all this property within the park at 48th would result in a $16,000 yearly loss for the city under the assumption of services, things like road maintenance, fire, water, sewer, those sorts of things. Um, planning commission did recommend approval for this item 61. Uh, planning staff's recommendation was to recommend denial on this due to the financial burden that it would cost on the city. I just kind of leave it here. I'll go through the slides more in depth at the meeting

and the financial burden being $16,000 a year. Yeah. Uh when uh I was making the recommendation in the staff report, $16,000 for one time doesn't seem great and that's where planning commission landed on all of this. I looked at it as the the tyranny of cost over time. Um $16,000 a year over periods of time would impact services to the city. Um, when you look at it over a 10-year span,

I would argue, and I wrote that I'm supportive of this annexation, I would argue that filling this donut hole has benefit to the city beyond the the mere cost of that. Providing service to who people who would be residents, but for the state's annexation laws has benefits to it as well. They don't have to call the county police department. They can rely on the Myrtle Beach Police Department and our fire department and get the benefit of living inside the city. um get the benefit of our planning and zoning laws, our parks and recreation facilities and amenities, um benefit of the the 4% homeownership uh arrangement that we have currently and then be voting members of the city of Myrtle Beach. They are requesting that privilege and for, you know, if we're going to talk about $16,000 a year, that seems like a minor factor at the end of the day for me. That's my opinion. Council

is Go ahead, Link. Is this annex request is this both sides of 48th Avenue? The lefthand side is already part of the city that was done under a PUD many many years ago. This was the only portion that was left out of this. So it' be closing that donut hole. I didn't know that that part would actually I didn't know that that part on the on the north side I'll call it. This is the north side. The south side is already the north side's not. That answered my question. Thank you. I did not realize that candidly. This was the hardest recommendation that I've written because planning 101 we should annex this piece of property. So you'll get no disagreement from me on that one. It was just looking at the financial burden of it. Anybody else?

So with this annexation we would know that their roads are up to code, their water sewer is up to code, all of those things to take them into the city. We will. Um the one one thing just in defense of staff, um one of the major things that that we have considered over the past several years is is not just that $16,000 loss, it's also the dilution of the TDF credit. So the more permanent residents we add add exacerbates the TDF credit situation. I think as as you all begin the the the conversation about revisiting the TDF and um and and what what impacts that have, I think it makes this a little bit of a different conversation, but that was the lens that staff was looking through with that recommendation

and and I understand that as well. And yet we built out Dell web, we're continuing to build out Grand Dunes and there are 4% homeowners in that. Delell Web has a thousand homes in it. Some of a large percentage of which are going to be 4enters. These are folks that literally are within the city limits of Myrtle Beach and have requested to be annexed to the city. I

I just wanted to clarify one statement. You asked that the roads would be brought up to standard before we're coming in. No, this um estimate includes about $98,000 of road work with that will be required. I've advertised that over the first five years, not to show that one big hit in the first year because probably in five years from now, we're going to have to go out and do some more work. But there this estimate or this this demonstration of the cost of this includes bringing those roads up. Generally speaking, what condition are the roads in? Uh fairly well conditioned. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And this uh estimate really is closer to $17,000 than $16,000.

Yes. And you you looked at it over a period of time and I'm glad that you did that. Uh, did you use any anticipated inflation factor for that? Because it's it's not going to be static. It's not going to be $17,000. I I'll never pretend to be a financial analyst on this one, so it would be hard for me to model that. Um, but I I take the point in stride that yes, inflation would cost significantly more. We have a financial analyst. Yeah. And I rely on her data.

Yeah. Have you se as you've seen with this budget um we've got recommended increases in solid waste and in water and sewer and I know water and sewer do not go in the general fund but the residents of the city pay like half of what outside city residents pay. So, of course, that disparity would grow and if we have any increases in millillage or changes in the TDF credit, all of those things are going to impact the numbers. That's just the 16 or $17,000 is net of any tax that these new residents would pay to the city of Myrtle Beach. Correct. Yes.

Okay. Somebody asked me to explain something and I I need to think about how to do that. So go ahead. Anybody else? To put in context, as I recall when we explored taking in uh the Myrtlewood area uh around 38 on back. Yeah. On the other side. That would have cost in 2006 four to six mills. So this is a fairly minor expense we would be incurring.

The explanation that someone asked for was why doesn't the residential annexation pay for itself? Part of that is due to the 4% home ownership discount that they're getting from the credit. Part of it is the fact that the water and sewer rates go down. So commercial typically does pay for itself and result in net revenues back to the city of Myrtle Beach if you annex in commercial properties. residential properties are a wash or as in this case a slight cost to the city compared to commercial properties. That was the explanation somebody asked for.

And and part of the discussion at planning commission was looking at those factors including things like missing out on the building permit revenue that comes in from these sorts of things because they were established as part of the county. So we miss out on some of those fees that would help offset that cost. So and yet this is a donnut hole. It's completely surrounded by the city of Myrtle Beach. It it makes sense at the end of the day to annex when people genuinely want to be part of the city of Myrtle Beach. I think Thank you. A minute and a half. You want to take a minute and a half break? Thank you. We'll start at 10.

I'll do it next time. Okay,

call me the chamber guy wanted to meet this afternoon. Any idea what that's about?

Question is Phil. The question is how much is their total marketing budget with all revenues? Good morning. About 70 something million. We'll get started in about 30 seconds. They get a match from the state.

Thank you. Alex something.

Welcome. Thank you for being here today. This is the March 24th Myrtle Beach City Council meeting. Let us begin by calling to order

and then please for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. Councilman Chestnut's going to provide the invocation if you'll rise if you're able. If you wish, you may join city council in standing for a moment of silentification. Almighty God and creator and sustainer all that is or wherever be. Accept our profound gratitude for this day and all its blessings of life and freedom. We remember those who make our freedom possible and recognize it is because of their s shared because of their sacrifice that our community can practice our shared and enduring values of fair expressions of faith and civic duty with respect for all. We gather today to ren our public service in a proper manner form our civic duty in good order. Therefore, we solemnly invoke divine wisdom and guidance in this day's meeting. Amen.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. The approval of the agenda today. Are there any changes or amendments to the agenda today? Uh Mr. Mayor, I'd like to uh request one change. Okay. Uh and I'll try to explain why.

Pull your mic. requesting that uh motion 2026 46 be postponed and moved to our first meeting in April. Uh the reason that I'm asking this is that this is unlike uh appointments that we do for other boards and commissions. Uh this is an important appointment that we have three candidates. Uh I have had the opportunity to review each of their resumes. I'm not sure that everybody else has and I think it's important uh because this is a really seriously uh it's one of the few that we get. It's an appointment that we get to make as council. And so I would like to have uh all three present to us either at our workshop first workshop in April or the workshop before the meeting so that we get a chance to understand them and know them. Uh I think it's important that we pick the most qualified candidate and so I would request that we move that into the first meeting in April.

Mike L seconded. Any comment from city council? coming from the public. All the buddy name is Buddy Styers and I'm the director of the Airbase Redevelopment Authority for 31 years. The authority has had uh eight members for since about uh 2010 and it's been a strong working group paying attention to the business of the redevelopment authority in cooperation with the city. Right now um we have two vacancies. One of them is the vacancy that Mr. Mccclure is speaking of the other vacancy is a a legislative delegation appointee that we're waiting on. So instead of having eight members, we have six. There is business that we need to be taken care of. We're trying to wait. You thankfully appointed Rick Hussy about a month ago, two months ago, excuse me, which which made a big difference in what we're doing. But the redevelopment authority for all of the people we've been asked to comment on the people one of the people who has applied for this position I've known since the meeting him on the military appreciation committee. He is has been a an active and cooperative member of that group and I believe that he will be the perfect

person to fill this position and help us continue on. Some of you know about things that are in the legislature right now that uh will impact us. And I strongly recommend that you approve Paul Hickeyi for this position so that we can continue to to work together with you and to get the kind of improvements and reuse of the air base as there can be. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. We've had a motion to continue 2026- 20 46 to the next council meeting. Mr. Mr. Mayor, um I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Come in. Yeah. Okay. The only thing I would say is um if we go and start interviewing I I realize that this is an important committee, but I look at all of them are important because all of them take out of their time and and and give back to the city by being a part of everybody takes out of their time being part of these committees and stuff. So, I guess my question is, are we going to go back to um are we going to go back and set a precedent by interviewing these candidates and not interviewing other candidates? That's I mean, we used to do that. I I think that's a legitimate question. We tried that 20 years ago.

I know we did

for a little while and it didn't last very long. and and I would expect the information for this motion as well as the rest of our meeting information was provided to us in ample time. I would suspect that all council members would review their um material prior to the meeting. So, I don't expect that council members have not reviewed all of the three um applications. I guess what I'm saying with that being said, I'm not in favor of continuing. I'm in favor of uh making a motion to to vote and support the um the recommendation of the chairman of the um redevelopment authority.

Dr. Did we not already have a second to my motion? Yes, we did. Okay, we're in discussion right now. I know. Just want to be sure. Just wanted to be sure. Yeah, we did. And again, mayor, I don't u um pretend to know whether all of us reviewed our packages. Uh I do not agree with I agree with Mr. Chestnut that I don't think we need to interview every candidate, but we do need to review those resumeumés. Therefore, if if folks aren't quite comfortable voting today, I have no problem continuing.

That would be my position, too. I'm not sure that we need to interview the candidates at this stage, but I have no objection to continuing it until the next meeting. I would I would agree with that. I don't I don't I was involved years ago when when that process started with interviewing candidates for uh committees uh when I became a part of the board of zoning appeals and uh it it lasted I think for about two meetings. Yeah, it didn't last very long and uh and but I I do support uh Councilman U Mccclure's motion to continue.

All right. So, we have a motion and a second to continue 2026-46 until the next meeting. I would ask if you would consider amending that to remove the the interview piece of that. Yes, we can. And uh we can amend it. You'll amend your second as Councilman Lauder suggested. Amend the second. So we have a a motion to amend the agenda to continue 2026-46. All those in favor? Time out, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir.

You have a motion and a second. Then you have an amended version of the motion. So we have to vote on the amendment of the motion and then vote on the motion as amended. Can I ask if you'll withdraw and remake your motion to remove the confusion to to remove the interview requirement?

I'll I'll withdraw my second. I uh withdraw my original motion and ask that we uh move this item to the first meeting in April uh so that we have ample time to review the resumeumés and discuss amongst ourselves who we feel might be the best candidate for this position. Second. All right. So, a motion and a second. I think that's clear. All those in favor of the motion and the second on the floor to amend the agenda to continue 2026-46 until the April meeting, please say I. I. I.

Raise hands, please. Raise hands, please. Four. Any opposed? Please say nay. Raise hands. Nay. Okay. All right. So, that motion was approved. It was carried and we have amended the agenda to continue that item until the first meeting in April. All right. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So move. Second.

Jackie seconded. Um any discussion? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the amended agenda, please say I. I. I All right. Thank you. Uh the approval of the minutes from the March 10th city council meeting. Is there a motion to approve those? Motion to approve. Second. Uh any discussion? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the agenda, I'm sorry, of the minutes as presented, please say I. I.

Any opposed? Thank you. All right. Public requests, presentations, awards, and memorials. Um, I gathered uh retiring planning commission member Joyce Citus is not going to be here today, so we'll pass over that one. We have a proclamation declaring the week of April 6th through 11th as children's museum week. And I believe Andy and Jessica, is that right? Are in the audience today. Andy, Jessica, and Vicki will be accepting this proclamation on behalf of Adventure Children's Museum, which I've taken my son to, and he loves it. All right. Thank you all for being here today. And I believe this might be the first time that we're recognizing Children's Museum Week. All right. A proclamation for Children's Museum Week, April 6th through 11th, 2026. Whereas Myrtle Beach was home to the South Carolina Children's Museum, the state's first children's museum established in 1994 to provide a place for children and families to explore, play, and learn. And whereas children's museums offer safe, welcoming, and engaging environments that support learning, creativity, and discovery for children, families, and the broader community. And whereas these institutions play a vital role in early childhood development by fostering curiosity, critical thinking, and hands-on learning while supporting literacy, science exploration, and social emotional growth. And whereas children's museums contribute to the vitality of the community and tourism economy by offering meaningful familyfriendly experiences. And whereas children's museums help inspire future leaders, innovators, and workforce readiness through interactive and immersive educational opportunities. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Myrtle Beach City Council proclaims April 6th through 11th, 2026 as Children's Museum Week in Myrtle Beach and encourages residents and visitors to support and experience the learning and discovery found in children's museums.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of March. Thank you very much, Andy, Jessica, someone would like to say a few words.

Uh, good morning. Thank you, um, Mr. Mayor and, uh, council. Uh, my name is Andy Markwart. I'm the CEO of Adventure. And it's quite appropriate that the proclamation for children's museum week, which is a statewide celebration of children's museums, uh, was read here in Myrtle Beach, because 32 years ago today, or 32 years ago, um, not today. That would be really interesting, wouldn't it? But 32 years ago, um, the first children's museum was began here in in Myrtle Beach. So, uh, very appropriate. We are extremely thankful to the community and our partnership and continued work with the the city of Myrtle Beach. Um I do want uh to let our uh team here um Jessica Gregory who's been with the museum for 16 years uh to say a couple words for y'all. She's a great leader and holds down the fort and runs a tight ship here in Myrtle Beach with um with our museum. And then I want to also thank Vicky Duzo who uh leads all of our educational programs here uh as well. So, uh, Jessica,

thank you, uh, mayor and council for this, uh, proclamation. Um, like you said, I've been with the museum 16 years, uh, as a resident in Myrtle Beach with two young children. I also an employee there. Uh, realize the importance uh, of the Children's Museum as a whole. We provide a safe, engaging, inclusive um, experience for children and families, both local and uh, tourists that come and visit the community. And as he mentioned, um, Miss Vicki does all of our educational programs, our pop-up programming, all of our field trips, all of our outreach and community events. Um, she is just a great asset to the museum. She has been with us four years. Um, and we are just proud to be here, proud to be part of the community. Um, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you this week to give you a tour of the museum and the space that we are in. So, thank you for your continued support of the Children's Museum.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I briefly would say that it started as the South Carolina Children's Museum. It was incorporated into the adventure group that serves the state as a whole. Uh we were across the street here or down the street. I guess at one point you've moved to the Market Common and in talking with Andy yesterday, you're seeing 50 or 60,000 people a year at the current location at the Market Common. And then we've for several years now we've had a larger hope dream for the children's museum to be part of the redevelopment effort that's underway in the central part of the city as well. So thank you very much for being here today. Thank you.

Real quick, Jessica, I've got an appointment to see you on Thursday with my wife. Yes. Okay. Right, Meredith. A proclamation declaring Wednesday, March 25th as Greek Independence Day. Yes. Come on down. Sam Sto is here. And I know that you guys have done this for many years in a row now here in Myrtle Beach. And he also has members of the church, the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church here in Myrtle Beach who are here today to accept the proclamation. Are are we doing a flag raising this year? Are we doing a flag raising this year? No, sir.

No, we're not. Okay. They they always did a nice little ceremony with that. So,

yes, I was part of that as well. All right. Celebrating Greek Independence Day in Myrtle Beach, March 25th, 2026. Whereas Myrtle Beach's Greek community at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Greek Independence Day on March 25th, 2026, which is tomorrow. And this year, the church's 50th anniversary as a cornerstone of the local Greek community in 2026. And whereas Greece began its war of independence on March 25th, 1821, ending four centuries of rule under the Ottoman Empire. And whereas during the period of Ottoman occupation, Greeks faced persecution with countless individuals suffering or losing their lives for preserving their faith, culture, language, and heritage. And whereas ancient Greece laid the foundation for Western civilization and democracy, influencing the founding principles of the United States. And whereas the Greek community in Myrtle Beach has played a vital role in the city's economic development and cultural enrichment, contributing meaningfully to its diverse and vibrant character. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the city of Myrtle Beach hereby declares March 25th, 2026 as Greek Independence Day in support of our local Greek community and in recognition of all that Greece has contributed to the world through its art, culture, and politics. Signed this 24th day of March, 2026.

Excellent. Thank you very much and glad glad you're here, Sam. Nice to see you, too. Z,

thank you all. Um I you know sometimes in communities we are volunte but I'm very proud to be voluntetoled to be here representing the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church as well as the Greek community of Myrtle Beach. Um I've said this before but it it merits repeating that our community has been part of Myrtle Beach for probably since the inception of the city and maybe before that. Um our church was organized in 1976. So this year is a big deal for us. It's a 50th anniversary, but this March 25th date is also important. It's it's not just a date on the calendar. It's part of our cultural heritage. It's part of our history of our families. Uh that that uh war of independence granted us freedoms that allowed our families to immigrate to the United States in pursuit of the American dream and led many of us to Myrtle Beach. Um, if you've been around Myrtle Beach for a while, you've probably run into one of our community members, more likely than anywhere else, in a breakfast restaurant, right? A pancake house or something along the lines of of the in the food and beverage industry. Um, those those restaurants uh were the foundation of of our community, frankly, and um grandchildren uh children continued on to those businesses. Many of us have chosen careers outside of that sector, but uh it's a bond, right? And and the city of Myrtle Beach, no matter where we go, this community is remains strong and and you um can't uh just uh nip that tether, right? Uh so in closing, I want to thank you again for the recognition. I also want to put on your calendars, we will send out something more formally, but we will celebrate our 50th anniversary later this fall. Um, that is uh a a some folks will say we've been here longer, but that's just a what the Secretary of State of the State of South Carolina shows is our incorporation date. So, thank you again very much on behalf of the Greek community.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Why don't we go down there so they don't have to walk? We can do that. They're good. You're gonna walk. It's good to see you.

Thank you so much. I enjoy Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Good to see you again. Good to see you. Thank you so much. Yes, sir.

Thank you for being here, young man. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right, I'll take two eggs over easy. Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. OPA.

All right, it's time for our communications and creative services, please. Hey, city council. Chass City Pendergrass here with your communications update. Myrtle Beach's spring break track and field meets have begun. The Myrtle Beach Collegia Challenge and the Allen Connie Shamrock Invitational took place at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium over the last two weekends. The Beach Run Invitational is the last track meet. It's April 2nd through the 4th. The Mloud Park Splash Pad is almost ready to go. Construction is finishing up. We're looking at an early summer opening. Monteth Construction has installed the concrete in the areas where the seats will go in the new theater. Over the next few weeks, you'll start to see work on the front of the building. The project is scheduled to finish around the end of this year. The 37th annual Run to the Sun Car and Truck Show returned to the old Myrtle Square Mall site last week. The next phase of work on the 48 in waterline project is underway. Contractors are working from 33rd Avenue North to the tunnel on Marina Parkway near the YMCA.

Nights at Nance returned last Thursday for the spring season with Chocolate Chipping Company. The next concert is April 2nd at 6 PM with the band Heartburn. Looking ahead, Springfest is back April 4th at the Colonel Thomas Buddy Styers Athletic Complex. Bring the kids out to find Easter eggs, enjoy vendors, face painting, and more. The Myrtle Beach Food Truck Festival returns April 10th through the 12th at the Myrtle Square Mall site. And Art in the Park will return to Valor Memorial Garden April 18th and 19th. That's it for now. I hope you have a great rest of your week. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir.

Before we go further, just follow with respect to the track event that took place at at the stadium this past weekend, we have a local star. Oh, JJ Brown. Oh, yeah. 16-year-old Myrtle Beach High School track. He, if my information correct, he actually holds the state record in high jump. Wow. and he competed against 48 different collegiate high jump participants this weekend. He won the event and I believe he won the event with uh I hope this is right Mr. Gray. You gave me this this morning 7 foot 2 and 1/2 in.

Wow, that's great. Congratulations JJ Brown of Myrtle Beach High School student. Myrtle Beach High School. Um there was a a track meeting at Doug Shaw. I stopped by for about 30 minutes and saw the the 3000 the women's 3000 meter Yeah. early Saturday morning. So, but that's great. Maybe we need to bring Mr. Brown to a meeting. Good idea. So, happy to do that. And we'll put him up against Mr. Ladder in the high jump. I'll I'll pass. All right. Non-aggenda items from the public. Madame clerk, who do we have?

Alex Fogle. Um, I'd like to start. I got a postcard for each of you.

Beautiful Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. I can't hear you. Just be advised. Thank you. Thanks.

As you can see, that's a nice picture of Ocean Boulevard with a continuing problem that we're facing. Um, it's nothing new, but it seems like the um parking in the center lane of Ocean Boulevard is being abused considerably. Now, I understand that there's need for parking for delivery, semi-trucks, box trucks, and so on where resorts and so on were built with no room for loading and unloading, but for service vehicles, Uber drivers, Door Dash, tax preparers, or anybody who wants to just simply park in the middle of the lane to be able to do so without any repercussions, said it's just being abused, and I don't know, you know, how we can control it. is almost an expected practice nowadays, but I seriously recommend that we, you know, put some thought into how we can mitigate some of the abuse that's taking place. It's um it's the one you see right there in that picture. You know, the driveway is blocked. Nobody can get out of the driveway to turn left onto Ocean Boulevard at that particular location. And that's a common practice all up and down the boulevard. So, bring it to your attention, make you aware of it, and um encourage some thought behind it. And I don't think it has to be some draconian solution that prohibits it alto together because there is a need for it sometimes especially for deliveries but it is being abused especially by service providers like anybody who wants to do it just does it. It's easy. It's free. It's convenient but it's it's not safe.

How did tax preparers get into that list? I'm saying anybody can do it. Okay. There's no repercussions. Thank you, Alex. I I believe they do allow delivery vehicles to park in the center lane until 3 typically. Um

and I understand that on the north end we've recently added a hashed space in that middle lane to allow access to driveways where driveways were blocked. So maybe we can take a look at other areas next to the median islands where adjacent driveways might be blocked and see if we can't put a 10 or 15 foot hashed space in there at some point along the way. So thank you very much. Anybody else? Carolyn Mates. Carolyn Mates. Hey Carolyn.

Good morning.

Hope you're doing well. I want to first of all Oh, can you hear me better? Yes. Thank you, Bill. Council, um I'm so happy to be here and I'm really happy to see that the Ocean Forest Monument is back in the forefront of discussions and I'm here to support that 100%. I've been thinking about how much the hotel means to all of us. Um, I grew up not too far from there. It was where I went to the beach. And the ocean forest, when you think about the history, was actually here and built before the pavilion. So it was a magnet for people from the north and the south. And I like to think of it, if you think of the gilded age back in those days, it was very opulent. It was beautiful. It the beautiful people of all walks of life, artists, actors, all would come and converge there. It was quiet, off the beaten path, so to speak. And I do believe in my heart that the ocean forest made Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach did not make the Ocean Forest. I don't know how many of you were able to walk through those halls or have a dance recital there or watch fashion shows there or have a drink in the green room or watch your parents go get all dalled up and go to the marine patio to

listen and dance to big bands. I firmly believe the only place that makes sense for this monument and tribute to the ocean forest is in the circle. There's just no other place for it to be. So, whatever we need to do, I'm sure my friend Ruben and the rest of us will do whatever it takes to get this done. And I again I just want to thank you for the opportunity to speak and support this cause that I love dearly means so much to us. Thank you Carol.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And between you and Ruben, it will stay at the forefront of our our thoughts. I I suspect that Bo Brian a little bit here.

In the absence of Ruben Hyman, I'd like clarify for you a little bit about the genesis of this idea. It started on a pair of bar stools at Flamingo Grill. Ruben and I sitting there. Uh Ruben doesn't drink. I was having a cocktail. And uh Ruben says out of the blue, he says, "We need to remember the Ocean Forest Hotel." And I said, 'Well, who doesn't remember it, Reuben? And he says, 'Well, you know what I mean? He said, "Let's let's get a one of those plaques, one of those, you know, historical markers and sit there." And I kind of went and said, "Oh, no. I'm not going to get involved in anything that small, you know, because it it didn't do justice to the memory of the hotel if you uh regardless of the sentimentality involved and regardless of the fact that we have not uh had the opportunity to save many buildings. Haven't been a whole lot of buildings worth saving. I mean, they were built as disposable items, places to do business. And uh the Ocean Forest came along. The vision of uh still not clear whose vision it was, but uh I thought, you know, if you're going to memorialize the ocean forest, build a miniature model of it. Mayor just a minute ago said, "Well, you can do it in bronze for 20,000." I begged to differ. We checked into to to doing a scale model of it and it would cost about a million dollars in bronze. Uh the point of putting a a memorial there, putting a monument there is that the Ocean Forest Hotel, uh I don't know of another instance like

this, but that the building of that hotel in South Carolina in 1926, I think construction was begun. Uh inaugurated the tourist industry in South Carolina. It wasn't just a hotel that was built up here on a on a sand dune. It didn't it wasn't planned to be that, but it turned out to be that the ocean forest publicized Myrtle put Myrtle Beach actually on the map. The the first paved roads in this town were the 100 foot highways leading to the ocean forest. There was no electricity here before the Woodside brothers bought it. There was not a generator in town. There was not even a telephone. The only telephone in town was on my granddaddy's desk at the company store until the Woodside brothers came here. And those guys, I mean, you got to hand it to them. They went broke, but they kept signing those checks and they signed them and signed them and signed them. And at the height of the worst economic disaster in the history of this country, if you could crawl to Myrtle Beach and get to the site of that building, they would feed you. They'd put you in a tent and they'd pay you a living wage to help finish that building. What I'm driving at here is that a memorial for that building deserves a worthy memorial. Uh the the the memorial needs to be worthy of the idea that put it there. And this thing that Derek Mazingo has

designed is not a piece of glass, mayor. It's a It's a 8 inch thick laminated bulletproof glass upon which is carved a bar relief which is you we've all seen it the the the antiquities of all you know they they would carve a flat piece of rock to make it look three-dimensional and that's what this piece of glass is. This is a potential public relations gold mine we're looking at here to replicate that building and uh I mean we've been around the around the flank so to speak and been to Colombia and talked to some key people up there. They love the idea. There are people in Colombia who were saying, "Hey, let's just let's build it. You know, we'll give you the money." They didn't say that to me, but they said that to uh a mutual friend of ours. I can't name names. I got 12 seconds here. So, I'm going to wrap it up. What I would hope and encourage this body to do is solve the problems. Dream a dream. As big as we are, we're not little anymore. Thank you. Thanks, Bo. Need to leave that name B too in Colia. You need to leave that name with somebody from in Colombia who wants to help. That's a tough act to follow. Gotta love B. Um, hi, I'm Kate. I, um, I live in the county, but I am the executive

director of Fresh Brew Coffee House. So, um, about a month ago, I came to voice my concerns regarding the expansion um, of our current shelter system. And when I addressed the council last time, councilwoman Hatley um asked a clarifying question about um domestic violence sheltering. And so that got me thinking. Um, I um I appreciate that you all cannot know everything and um but I think that this topic of homelessness is so vital especially in light of our city's um attempts and I do mean plural attempts at redevelopment of especially our downtown area and I know that homelessness and housing insecurity um really do affect the safety of our entire community, including people that are experiencing homelessness. So, um I emailed um everybody in city council and city management, and I heard from one person because I just really think it's important to continue this conversation, and I think that education on the types of shelters is vital. Um so I heard from one person so I thought well I'll come back. Um there are two types of shelter. Um basically emergency shelter and transitional or program beds. And emergency shelter addresses the immediate where am I going to sleep tonight? And it also addresses people who are chronically homeless. maybe folks that are experiencing uh severe mental health issues and um that end up chronically homeless. There's then transitional or program beds and um

those typically are longer term stays and require um participation in services and the hope is that then they're trans people are transitioned into long-term housing. Last year, um, part of Myrtle Beach City management came to me and asked me for my help based on my expertise of homelessness, which I kind of laughed at at the time because I didn't really think of myself in that way. But the county has said that, you know, we need to address homelessness as well. We need to build a shelter. We don't know what kind. get everybody get your experts together and let's figure this out. So, um I actually went with part of city management and we visited two shelters in Colombia. We got to see what they were doing there. And um you know, right now in our area, we have 22 emergency overnight beds for men and that number has fluctuated off and on. emergency shelter is the base of getting somebody out of homelessness. And right now, it is if all of our services, I kind of look at it like this, like we have a bunch of branches to a tree and we don't have the base. We have all these great service providers in our area doing work, helping people get hopefully to a better life, but all these branches have no base connection. We need a true emergency shelter. It is not easy to come up in front of y'all or in public because it feels like we're being

critical of what we have now, which is transitional program beds. I'm not saying that people aren't getting help at New Directions. I'm just saying that we are missing the base which is now leading to people losing hope immediately and being chronically homeless and it's extending their time just loss of life and time and um I really feel like if we don't take stock in our human infrastructure on in the grand strand we're not plugging into our workforce. of course we're we're just wasting people's time and lives and we could be thriving I think on a different level. So my hope for our community is that we actually embrace that and um you know the work that we do at the coffee house I do it for free because I see people rebuilding their lives. So that's all I have to say. Thanks.

Thank you Kate. Thanks.

We Just generally speaking, generally speaking, we need a larger conversation about all of these issues. Um the county has proposed, I believe, $750,000 towards this sort of shelter. Um that conversation got sidetracked at some point along the way. So, we need to reinitiate that maybe with the county. um that but there was also a community meeting last night about that proposed shelter over at Mary Canty that we attended. Um there's also a meeting with senior staff and the county on the larger facility on the Zoom meeting on Friday. So the conversations are continuing albeit they are not moving as fast as anybody would like.

This is a very passionate issue on both sides and it's very delicate. And just briefly to Kate's point, um it would be possible to make the situation worse rather than better if we don't provide the the tree that she's talking about. So anyway, Jennifer, um Stephanie South, I can't make out the second half of your name. Worth. Okay, thank you. So, I didn't Hi. Would you pull the microphone down in front of you? Thank you. Is that good? Yes.

So, I didn't realize I would be speaking right after Kate, but more of the same. My name is Stephanie Southworth. I'm a um associate professor of sociology at CCU and I have been studying homelessness in Myrtle Beach for 10 years. Two years ago, I came and talked to the city council And I was told I was dismissed, yelled at, more or less told that we're having meetings and we're going to do something. That was two years ago. What I've seen in the community is that not only is homelessness getting worse, that we have more numbers, but they're getting less help. They're getting more help from people like Kate, but there are fewer resources overall. When I think about people who are homeless, I do not think of strangers. I do not think of those people. I think of my brother, my sister, my mother, my father. Any of us. I could, if I lost my job tomorrow, a month, I'd be outside. I don't have anybody to depend on. Any of us can be homeless. When I heard of this plan for the new shel shelter, which is really transitional housing with 22 program beds, I knew I needed to try again because these are human beings we're talking about. Sober facility, sober living facilities are needed, but we need other things for those who become homeless, for those on the who are on the verge of becoming homeless. I have all these things I was going to say, but I'm just going to tell a story because it's this is, as Kate said, very difficult to stand here and and talk about, but our humans in our community deserve it. So, there's an old fable,

and parts of it you've probably heard, but I I made up other parts because it fits. There are these these fishermen and they're standing on the side of this river and they're fishing and there's this man and his son and they see a baby in the river and they run in and they grab the baby and they take it out and they put it on the bank and then they look back and they see two more babies and they run in and they grab those babies and all these fishermen are laughing. They're like, "Why are you grabbing those babies out of the river? Why aren't they trying harder?" And then the dad starts walking up the river and the son's like, "I can't do this by myself. These people won't help me. How can I get all these babies out of the river?" That's Kate. The guy that's up at the top of the river is trying to figure out how the people are getting thrown in the babies are getting thrown in the river. We need to start there. What's going on that makes us have this problem? We can start with the lack of affordable housing. I've seen I've talked to over a hundred people that became unhoused due to the shutting down of all those motel that they were just living in when they had enough money to cobble together enough to get a roof over their head. Now they're outside at night in unsafe condition conditions walking all night afraid of getting arrested while the people on the side of the river are laughing at them and people like Kate are trying to pull them out. It's an unsustainable system and more meetings, more talking isn't going to help. We need to do something or two years later I'll be back here and I don't like being here. Thank you.

Thank you, Stephen.

One more. Uh, Daniel Buchanan, Mayor, esteemed members of council, my name is Daniel Buchanan. I've been at this meeting before as someone sitting in the audience speaking to reporters afterward, but today is my first time standing at this podium. And I'm here not as an outsider, but as someone who has depended on new directions to stay alive in this city. I'm back because despite recent attention, the pattern hasn't improved. In some ways, it has gotten worse. This isn't about embarrassing new directions. It's about embarrassing injustice until it changes. Over the past year, I have raised concerns publicly about three core issues at New Directions. food safety, arbitrary decisions about who gets in and who stays in the resident program, and inconsistent discretionary use of code blue and emergency overnight shelter policy that leaves people to fend for themselves outside. In response, the shelter's leadership and staff have not only denied these concerns, they have worked to isolate me, discredit me, and now frame me as the problem in front of the very people whose lives depend on that facility. Let me begin with food safety and transparency. In the early morning hours of September 8th, 2025, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital after eating a batch of beef stroenoff served for dinner at New Directions on the evening of September 7th. I remained hospitalized through September 10th. My hospital records, more than 100 pages worth, show diagnosis of sepsis from colitis and entritis with an elevated

white blood cell count. Sepsis is a life-threatening bloodstream infection. Without timely treatment, a significant portion of patients do not survive. To be clear, I could have died from this and left my beloved young son to go the rest of his life without his father. One plate of food almost cost me my life. The real scandal would be pretending that plate was never served. Sepsis isn't a rumor. It's in my medical records and it could be in the next man's bloodstream if nothing changes. I have provided those records to TV stations and can provide them to the city. Yet, in a March 11th story, New Direction CEO told one station that had that there had been no reports of food poisoning from their kitchen in 13 years of operation and that she found it odd that there would be one complaint out of up to 250 meals a day. At the time, the station said they had not seen any proof linking my illness to the shelter. They have that documentation now. When leadership dismisses a sepsis hospitalization as odd and effectively a non-event, that's not just minimizing my experience. It tells everyone else who got sick that speaking up won't matter. At the same time, people who have relied on New Directions for meals have told me they got sick from food there and described an unclean kitchen and dining room, including pests. I personally observed visible mold growth and water leak damage in the dining room area ceiling directly beneath the upstairs showers left unadressed for months. If you wouldn't feed it to your own child or sleep your own father there, don't tell us it's good enough for the homeless. Yet leadership insists to the public that professionals have tested from the vents to the baseboards and that everything is clean and that Low

Country Food Bank has cleared them in an internal investigation. the public is not allowed to see. The South Carolina Department of Educ has also said they do not regulate this facility as a retail food establishment, leaving a major gap in oversight. So, we have a shelter kitchen effectively shielded from SDA inspection, a food bank inspection the public cannot review, an visible mold and damage in the dining room, multiple illness complaints, and a CEO telling the cameras that there has never been a single food poisoning issue in 13 years. Uh I'm running short on time, so uh I'm just going to get to the solutions that I propose and I would be more than happy to continue this conversation with you uh following up with uh the council with uh any documentation, timelines, etc. that uh you might be interested in seeing. But um I want to be very clear. I'm not asking you to shut new directions down. I'm asking you to bring it into alignment with the values the city says it holds. Right now, we have a kitchen shielded from South Carolina Department of Agriculture inspection by an exemption, an internal food bake inspection the public can't see, and visual evidence of damage in the dining areas. A record of illness, including my own hospitalization for sepsis, dismissed on camera as odd and unproven, even after medical documentation has been provided. a pattern of favoritism and arbitrary entry and exit decisions with no transparent appeals process and no independent oversight. Code blue and overnight policies had expand or contract based on not need alone but seemingly in response to media coverage and criticism.

Thank you. We received we received emails from you. You mentioned solutions. You didn't get to the solutions part of that. Will you put that in an email and send your proposed solutions to us, please? I absolutely will, mayor. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time and God bless you for uh each of you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Thank you. That's it.

All right. Thank you all very much. The consent agenda. There are a few items on the consent agenda. Agenda, Mr. Manager. Good morning, mayor and councel. For your consent agenda this morning, you have three items for consideration. The first is second reading of ordinance 2026-22 granting a boardwalk vendor franchise agreement to Charmati Abald Carter. Sorry about that. Doing business as Myrtle Breeze for 4th Avenue North portion of the public boardwalk of the city of Myrtle Beach for a period of up to one year beginning March 24th, 2026. Uh, next item is second reading of ordinance 202623 granting a boardwalk vendor franchise agreement to Haley Ricardi doing business as Ricardi's Italian Ice for the Fifth Avenue North portion of the public boardwalk of the city of Myrtle Beach for a period of up to one year beginning March 24th, 2026. And the third and final item for this morning is motion 202643 authorizing the city to apply for an LSTA uh summer reading and learning programs grant through the South Carolina State Library in the amount of $2,000 to support and enhance Chape Memorial's summer reading program that will be matched by a thousand roughly a little more than $1,000 uh in kind contribution from staff time.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Second. First and second. Who's first? Um, Mike, Mr. Lauder. Uh, any discussion from council? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the consent agenda items as presented, please say I. I. Any opposed? And the consent agenda is approved. On the regular agenda, uh, this is second reading of an ordinance to amend chapter 7. Jennifer,

second reading of ordinance 2026-3 to amend chapter 7, elections section 7-6, the Myrtle Beach code of ordinances to change when newly elected officers take office from January to December. This is second reading. We've had first reading to this. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to approve.

Is there a second at this point? Um, I'll make a second for discussion purposes. How's that? Um,

anybody from council? I mean, I'll I'll ramble here for a minute, but go ahead. Yeah, my concerns hearken back to 26 years ago that uh we had an election that uh was contested and it it it resulted in one of the finest council members we have ever elected being held out for a year. And I just contend that sometimes when you and I may be echoing Councilman Chestnut's earlier concern that sometimes there jumbles in the system that need a little extra time to to work themselves out. So that's that's my hesitancy after thinking on this. I I uh you know instinctively said yes, let's move forward with this. But on reflection, I said, you know, sometimes you need time to to digest what's going on. Anybody else?

I'm willing to withdraw my second and let it be continued if if that works.

Or it dies without the second All right. Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. Please restate. I I sure. Is there a motion to continue or what is the motion? There's a motion to approve and a second. There's a motion to approve. And you did not withdraw your second. I did not withdraw my second. Okay. So all those in favor of the second reading as presented, please say I.

I. All those opposed, please say I. I. I. Madame clerk. Um, first reading 2026-24. First reading of ordinance 2026-24 to annex 8.7 acres off of 48th Avenue North and to reszone from Ory County GR to Myrtle Beach R5 single family detached residential district.

Good morning again. No changes since workshop on this one. Are you sure? Uh there's been a lot of developments, but none I'm willing to share. Um as I stated earlier in the workshop, the the parcels in question are bounded in that orange box. This is the north side of 48th Avenue. The south side of 48th Avenue across from that, the parks on the south side uh came into the city as part of a PUD in the '9s. Um this is a donut hole that is completely bounded by the city that would be closing. Motion to approve. Second. Mike Chestnut was the second. Uh, any discussion from city council? Does anyone know what precipitated this application? I'm I'm curious. I don't

Yeah. So, when you asked earlier for people from the uh 48th Avenue for the speed, those are actually my 48th people for the park. So, they're here who can represent themselves on that one. They do a very eloquent job with that. Um, I would like to bring up one quick thing. When we originally put this uh together, we had zoned it to come into the city as R5. That would be every uh property within this boundary being in conformity. Although R5 does allow for manufactured homes. So after discussion with Ken and Charlie, um we would be willing to make the recommendation to council that you'd look at R seven for these pieces of property. That would make 2/ird of the lot conforming, but would also prevent manufactured homes from going in that area because a manufactured home uh is not allowed in the R seven zoning classification. So that's the only other additional piece that I have for you all today. Remind us again uh lot size from R5 to R seven.

Uh 5,000 for R5 and 7,000. 7500. Uh the R seven is 7,000. Thought it was 7500. I assume I believe it's 7,000 talking about I might be wrong on that. I could be wrong. Yeah. All right. Would it be more convenient if we made an amendment to this first reading motion to change it to R seven instead of R5? I believe it would be in the best interest of the city. Yes. Okay. Mayor, I'd like to move that we amend the first reading of ordinance 2026-24 um to replace R5 with R seven. Second. Second. Second.

Second. All any discussion from council on the amendment to the motion? Any discussion from the public on the amendment to the motion? All those in favor of amending the motion to read R7 instead of R5 for this annexed area, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay. We have the motion on the floor. As amended, we're doing this pretty close. As amended to approve the annexation of the park at 48th. Any other discussion from council? One question. Bill, talk to your microphone if you would please.

Sorry. One question. the um the other park that you you talked about is in a PUD. This particular track is not in a PUD. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. And do you know the history of why it was developed and not annexed into the city initially? I spent way too long trying to find that answer and everyone who was around at that time is no longer with us. To the best of my understanding, this was part of the Burrows and Chapen um uh tap fee certificates that they had. So, they were able to do this out in the county and still get city water and sewer service without having to annex. The other side didn't have that option. Okay. Super. Thank you. Any comments from the public?

Don't mess it up. No. All right. All those in favor of annexing 8.7 acres off 48th Avenue North, the park on 48th Avenue North and reszoning it from Ory County GR to Myrtle Beach R7 as the motion was amended. As amended. As amended. Please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great morning.

Madame clerk. Motion 26-44. Motion 2026-44 to authorize the city manager to take the appropriate steps to convey or sell city-owned parcel pin number 44315020041 to the Ory County Community Land Trust. If sold, all sales sale proceeds will be conveyed to the Ory County Community Land Trust for the purpose of advancing the city's workforce housing opportunities in Ory County. Additional city council actions will be required to finalize the dis disposition of the property. Jen, I'm very sorry for that long title.

That was pretty long.

Yeah, sorry. Um, just couple of couple of things. Number one, you can consider the motion as sort of a declaration of intent. Um, whatever happens next to formally transfer the property to the land trust, we'll come back to you uh for for some formal action. uh really wanted to get the motion out there and the intent out there so that um the the community housing land trust can begin making some some plans and taking some positions uh on this project plus some other projects. Um just if you recall, I'll just point that this is the property in question. This property was conveyed to the city uh through an estate uh last year um maybe the year before last. I didn't look this morning. I think it was last year where we officially accepted it. Um it was given to the city uh from the Fowler estate and it was given to us with the intent of furthering workforce housing uh in the city. Uh we we would propose to still be doing that. Uh we had the property appraised. It actually appraised for $390,000. um but it is such a small parcel it's hard to develop any units there that would meaningfully move the needle um to to help us further it. So the idea with the land trust was we would consider either selling the property to the land trust or donating the property to the land trust or selling the property and donating the proceeds to the land trust. We don't recommend right now doing either of those two things until the land trust has a specific plan for what the funds would be used for. But we would like to at least get on the record that that you all are are conceptually okay with with that transaction. Um, in full disclosure, I'm on the land trust board and have been since its inception. So, we continue to have conversations. There are a couple of

other parcels and projects that are in fairly prox fairly proximate location to this. So, we would still be able to achieve the workforce housing goals, but we we may be able to do it on a property that is two or three times the size of this one. Um, and again, just for reference point, this aerial, this is a street view. So, on the right side of the screen there is Kings Highway and this is simply just a vacant lot that has been undeveloped throughout forever. I'll pause there and take any questions or if I haven't touched on something that you have a question about, happy to address it. Just to be clear, this was specifically given to the city of Myrtle Beach with the intent of using it for workforce housing. At the end of the day,

it was uh it was not deed restricted. I think they wanted to give us some flexibility on exactly how we used it for workforce housing and that was a conversation that uh that we had during that process. So, they did not deed restrict it so that we could we could do some other things with it if if need be. Council, do we have a motion? Is there a motion first? Second. Um, any discussion from council? If we if we donate it or give it away, what would they do with the property since it's not large enough to really do anything with, would they then sell it? They would then sell it

or we sell it and give them the proceeds. We at this point, I would assume they would sell it. Uh, I think we've done some we've done some rough conceptual site plans. You can you can get a duplex on the property. You may be able to rent three tight units on the property. We feel like for the appraised value of $390,000, we could we could take those funds and leverage it somewhere else close by uh and probably get 10 or 12 units instead of the two or three units. And would we if we donate it, would there be a stipulation that they do sell it and then use those funds as you just described?

Yeah. So what I imagine the action that would come back to you, what we would come back to you with would be a very specific um action that says we either sell or donate the pro this property for this particular purpose in this particular price that would generate this particular units. I I don't feel comfortable at this point just open making an open-ended transfer. I'd like to have for you all to have a little bit more information about the ultimate use of the property. Thank you. Anybody else? So, with this vote, you will come back to us with the final result. Yes, ma'am. Proposal? Yes. Any comments from the public? All those in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I.

Any opposed? And that motion passes. Mr. Mayor, who made the first? Yeah, this is the first and the second. Mike Louder. Mike, I made second. Thank you. Yes, sir. Motion 2026-45 is authorizing the city manager or his design to accept a donation in the amount of $13,495 from Jeff and Kathy Hampshire in memory of PFC Jacob Hampshire for Myrtle Beach Police Department to establish the K9 support program as part of our victim's advocate K9 support program. This motion is to record the appropriation of such funds in the amount approved and no match is required.

Motion to approve. Second. Thank you. I believe Jeff and Kathy are in the room today or in the house today. Morning, council. Good morning, mayor. Um, yeah, if we had just a few minutes for the opportunity for uh Mr. Jeff Hanser and Kathy Hanser to say a few words. So, you haven't started the fivem minutee clock. So, I'm just keep start. We won't worry about that very good after that.

You know, uh thank you for letting us come today and talk for a few minutes on why we are partnering with the Myrtle Beach Police Department and why this dog means so much to us. When uh Jake was killed in 2020, our family was devastated. Uh what what happened to Jake that night could happen to any officer at any time and it does. Um, we became active with the cops organization that stands for concerns of police survivors and became friends with parents all all throughout the country. You know, they were all, you know, having to deal with the same loss. You know, no one gets what we're dealing with better than fellow parents. At our first parents weekend, we met a family from Dallas, Texas, Tim and Kathy Pentton. their uh son Mitchell was uh killed by a drunk driver on February 13, 2021. Um he was a police officer in Dallas, Texas. The Pence donated a horse to the Dallas Police Department and we thought that was a great idea. Since the city here isn't a horse department, we we have uh thought about a dog. Uh back in uh 2023, we approached Chief Pck uh to talk about this and the idea took shape. She was already working on a victim's advocacy program with the department and a comfort dog would fit in nicely with this mission. Jake had a big heart and cared deeply for his family, friends, fellow officers, and community. A patrol dog would not fit Jake's personality, but a comfort dog would. We had one stipulation though, and that being we get to name the dog. After much thought, and it probably was a year of us debating names, we've decided on the name of Oreo. Jake's favorite snack growing up was Oreo cookies. And he even perfected the most efficient way to dunk them in milk without getting his hands dirty, which was cool.

We may need to know what that was. Okay, so that's that's the next council meeting we can talk about. Um, a lot has changed since the first discussion back in 2023. We have a new mayor. Congratulations. You were searching for a new police chief soon. Um, I hope part of that discussion is on survivors because nothing is more hurtful than when survivors get forgotten. Um, at this point, we're only 5 years past when Jake was killed. And as time continues on, less and less officers will have personally known him. Um, and it's important to remember survivors. Thanks for letting us come today. Thank you.

Thank you for your donation. I speaking for all of council, we cannot imagine the the grief and the heartache that you've experienced. We thank you for turning it into a positive activity for the city of Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Police Department. So, thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from the city council? Any comments from the public? All those in favor of accepting this donation for a K9 support program from the Hampshire family, please say I.

I. Any opposed? Thank you. We've continued item number 26-46, Jennifer 26-47. Motion 2026-47 to appoint one member to the human rights committee.

We have one resume before us. There will be another vacancy to fill on this committee at the next meeting. Is there a motion from council? Motion to appoint uh Ann Marie Connell. Great. Second. Second. Bill second. Any discussion from council? Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of appointing Anmarie Connell, who is city resident, to the human rights committee, please say I. I.

Any opposed? Thank you, Jennifer. Motion 2026-48 to appoint reappoint reappoint reappoint two members to the cultural resources committee. The terms of Thomas Davis and Chris Mauder expired about a week ago or two weeks ago. The chairman recommends that both be reappointed to the cultural resources committee. So move that we appoint Thomas Davis and Chris Mauder. Second. I think I think Mike Chestnut beat you to the second. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Said it before. Any discussion from council?

Any discussion from the public? All those in favor of the appointment of Thomas Davis and Chris Mower to the cultural resources committee, please say I. I.

Any opposed? Thank you. Communications. Well, non-aggenda items from the public. We we we have that on the agenda. It's been on the agenda for a decade probably to come back and revisit that. We don't put a a signup sheet out there. We rarely I don't know that we've ever said, "Gee, it's on the agenda again." If in the the course of our conversations this morning, we've prompted you to want to tell us something. Now's your chance. Communications from city boards and committee members. Anything? communications from city council and the city manager. Coast RTA,

we have an appointment to fill on Coast RTA. Um council, anything y'all would like to talk about this morning? Mayor, I just like to um um just chime in just for a minute to talk about um last night I went over to um Mary Kanty to the neighborhood meeting and um it was a um a good u meeting. Um a lot of residents were concerned. Um, I think Kathy did a good job coming to um share with the community their um vision of the um the women's shelter there on Mr. Joe White. But I can tell you that um the community is concerned that um it's going to bring more traffic through the community. Um, it's going to, um, everybody cares about, trust me, everybody cares that there's a homeless population and there's women that need sheltering and there's people that need help. One of the questions that someone and it it stung me and I went home last night and couldn't hardly sleep, but the question that this lady asked was um if it was in your neighborhood, would you want it in your neighborhood? Um, and that I guess what people are saying, they're just feeling like um the neighborhood is is is um taking on the the brunt of um all these services that are helping the homeless and the less fortunate. And I think they saying we want everybody

else to share the love. um you know and which we tend to say or some people tend to say not in my backyard. Um, and maybe it's because of the um census demographics and you feel like we can get more funding being located in a low to moderate income neighborhood or but there's some real heartbreak in the community about this center going on, Mr. Joe White. Um, so I I just want council to know that. Um um um I take I take away from that and say that I still feel like we as a council need to set the tone and start back really having some serious conversation with county council on the bigger issue. I hear that these meetings are happening, but I think they're happening in with staff and and um and with other committees and stuff, but I think that they need to be happening on a council level and a county council level to say that, you know, and and and a resident asked me last night, "Well, Mike, why is the county willing to give $750,000 towards this facility. I was just straight up with them. It's probably because they don't want it in their backyard. I mean, can anybody tell me that that's not so? I guarantee you that's what it is. They don't want it in their backyard. Yeah, they got the land, they own the land, doesn't mean that

that's the right place for it to be. Um, another resident said last night, you know, we have four and I and I think they're wrong. It's actually about five of the centers that deal with homeless and and helping people within walking distance or a mile of the neighborhood. I mean, there's the family center, the the street ree, the community kitchen, the helping hand, and the the center off of Ocala and off of Campbell Street, all within between the BTW, Carme Johnson, Nance neighborhood. People are just feeling like um they're being dumped upon to um to just have I mean I mean we we had a lady said last night she can't even go to Fruit Trail Park and enjoy the park or just walk home from Mary Kanty leaving work. She doesn't feel safe, you know. I mean it's I mean I know this might sound cold and but I'm just telling you what people are saying. We missed the chance last night to hear that. Um, you know, I I was didn't get politics involved and all that stuff. And I told them last night, I came to listen and hear what people had to say. And I got a earful last night what people had to say. They're really concerned about this. So, I just want to tell everybody, we need to think long and hard. Um, what is the right answer? I don't know. All I just know is what the people said last night and they're feel like they're, you know, they're asking, they're being

asked to take on another challenge in the community. They want to see the rest of the city, the rest of the county share the love and feel some of the issues that they're dealing with in the community. So, their ask is to help us out and listen to us. Well, they Yeah, they're asking you to help us out. Listen to us, but I I think they're asking I mean I think they're asking us not to build this facility.

Yeah, I mean I wanted to get I wanted to get to that center. I mean I I understand they own the property. They can do it and I was told does it has to come back to city council? I don't think we got a vote in that. But I just want to let you know when it comes to the funded side, I am going to be hardpressed to support that based on the concerns I heard from the community. I'm not going to and I no and I understand that, you know, and I think what it gets down to is just because you can doesn't mean you have to or you should. I agree. I agree. And I think, you know, there is a bigger discussion here. Uh Kater already told us that already this morning.

I heard her. Uh but how do we advance that discussion? Well, because we've got so many people trying to do the same thing. It just seems so fragmented.

And we did this about a dozen years ago with the discussion that resulted in new directions. And we've sort of morphed a little bit from our original goal with new directions. That's Mark saying that, not the world saying that. Um so I think it's time to revisit that and have have that conversation. I I don't know the mechanism to do that, but as we've heard this morning, we absolutely need to have that conversation. Meetings are part of the process, unfortunately. Um, but I'd be willing to say, let's figure out how to have that conversation and and do that. Don't disagree. We had Mr. Chess alluded to meetings with county. they were going on and then there were some situations at the county that derailed those.

Yes. Um and they haven't even we haven't had a chance to revisit those. There's a reintroductory meeting if you will on Friday, but that's not to the level that Mr. Chesn is talking about. Um earlier meetings, Mr. Chestnut asked about the small groups that we had with the county and the city. I have got a proposed date with the county administrator that we're trying to nail down. So that will be a good opportunity to to do that. You need to extend an invitation to the legislative delegation also. I mean this is a three- tiered issue.

Um and we certainly have said through the years that we need to protect neighborhoods and this is a neighborhood asking for some protection. So we need to pay attention to that sooner rather than later. The only thing I'll say is editorial comment is the community is right. This is a this is a community problem, not a city problem. But we do have the five shelters in the city and there aren't any anywhere else except for one.

To council chestnut's question, implied question, there would be some economies of scale in locating those facilities within a reasonable distance of each other. And yet for the neighborhoods, for the the business community that exist within that scope, within whatever that circle may be, there would be um potentially um negative effects that may result. So we we certainly understand that too. So let's figure out how to have that conversation. um which may involve revisiting the new directions concept at the end of the day. I think I think one thing is that number one that is the whole purpose I think was in possibly my it may have been feel it maybe in my second term that we did that we actually we determined that what we had all these different agencies doing the same thing

and we were funding all these different agencies out of the same pot and so what we did was basically do an umbrella. Correct me if I'm wrong.

We did the umbrella as and using New Direction as the head of of this whole organization, if you will. And you know, and and what happens is like your fault, my fault, nobody's fault. This is what's happened. We've gone away from the umbrella and we've expanded out again with all the different folks trying to do this. And it is a It is something that we definitely need to do to bring that back to that umbrella. And number two, the thing we need to do is go back to has been discussed just now. We were actually starting to make a little progress. We've been trying to to build the bridge, so to speak, with the county and other other municipalities in the area. And and so we were having some great meetings. We really were. One meeting was just hey let's just get to know each other and other than talking about political issues let's talk about our interest our how we are what we do and let's get to know each other and then the second thing was we were having some meetings with and we were following the guidelines there was not enough on either side to to have a quorum so those were perfectly fine and we were having some really good discussion on those and and it just fell off the map. So, I think we need to go back with that and I also agree with Mr. Render that these, you know, we always talk about funding. We always talk about funding. Well, who's who's got the deeper pocket than we do and that's the state. So that's why we need to involve our local delegation to be in this discussion with us because we can talk about it all we want to talk about but where we need some help also is from the state and I'm not so sure that maybe our

congressional body should be involved in this to some extent but for if there any possible federal fundings out there that we can look at. So, uh, that's that's just my comments, my thoughts. Mayor, to to start the ball, why don't you and the chairman and the senior state senator get together for a lunch meeting and just just roll up your sleeves and give us an action plan from all three perspectives. We can do that. Don't leave the room without a semi plan.

We can do that. Historically, the city's position since the creation at part of the creation of New Directions was that we did not want to participate in sustaining people in a homeless condition. We wanted to be proactive enough, not a big fan of the word, but proactive enough to help move people from a homeless condition to a a stable condition rather than sustaining them in that homeless environment. and and I I I get the sense that we've drifted a little bit from that that goal at the end of the day. So discussing how quickly and Stephanie Southworth um who was here earlier today is Stephanie still here? No, here earlier her students at CCU have sampled more than 500 people and have come back with some I think some fairly common sense recommendations that we can't afford to ignore at the end of the day. But I think we need to make sure that whatever we're supporting doesn't encourage people to remain in that homeless condition, but helps them um advance to a a much more stable environment. And that's the conversation that we may need to have again, just as as with almost everything, checking in on it on a regular basis annually, we can make sure that things stay on track. And I don't know that we've been good about that, but I can easily start with um the chairman and our legislative leaders and we'll come up with a an approach, but it's going to involve a conversation. It may involve something approaching what we did to create new directions a dozen years ago. Other comments?

Motion to adjourn. Just one other thing before we adjourn. Yeah, Deb Debbie's got one thing, too. Oh, he's got one, too. Go ahead, Bill. Sorry, Mike. No worries. We're We're a little ahead of schedule. I'll try I'll try to be brief uh in our uh impossible

in our budget talks uh this past week, uh one of the things that we brought up, uh was planning and zoning, and there was a request that we separate planning and zoning. Um, I've had a chance to think about what staff told us. I want to revisit that uh and I'd like to revisit it uh first meeting in April, maybe the workshop before the first meeting uh in April uh and discuss that uh just a little bit more. Um I've heard the efficiency argument. Um I've looked at that. I'm not quite sure about the efficiency argument. So, I want to hear more from staff on that as well. Uh, but I would like to bring that up.

Agreed, Debbie. So, I know that um our city manager made a comment coast RTA appointment. Why don't we recommend that the bike ped transportation committee have a member of their committee serve as our representative on Coast RTA? seems like that would be a good conduit for some communication there and um I think it feeds into our expectation on what that committee does. So perhaps that we mayor you might reach out to Tom Bit and ask him for a recommendation from his committee to serve in that role. I like it.

It's a great idea. Good idea. Just briefly, I did the Sea Haven walk Saturday morning at Broadway at the Beach. Walked all the way around Broadway at the Beach, which wasn't on my radar, but I did it anyway. Um went to the track meet for about 30 minutes. Did not run track. um did the car show and walked all over the 50 acres of the former mall site and presented a couple of awards at the car show with Councilman Mccclure and then attended the dedication of the Philip James Fox stage at Nance Plaza which was a lively day. I was not able to stay for the entire day but they had musicians and performers throughout the day.

Yeah. at Nance Plaza. And in discussing with the group, we've asked if we can put like a a street sign, make it a street sign essentially, and just attach it to the front of the stage to to officially name the stage. And the group seemed okay with that as well. That's a good idea. So, we're going to try to do that, too. Anything else? Thank you all. I second motion. Second, second. Second, third and fourth. We'rejourned. All those in favor, please say