City Council - Regular Meeting

Collins here. Councilman Coin here. Councilwoman McCumby here. Councilman Skidmore here. Councilman Thomas here. Mayor, you have a quorum.

Okay. I need a motion to move into executive session to discuss item A is a discussion regarding an evaluation of the city attorney. Item B is a legal briefing regarding chapter 23 zoning of the code of ordinances for the city of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina sign regulations. Item C is a legal briefing regarding White Cap Beach House LLC versus the city of North Myrtle Beach case number 2025-CP-26-09560. Item D is a discussion regarding potential property acquisitions. Do I have a motion? So moved.

Second. All in favor say I. So we will move into executive session.

ability Thank you.

Just waiting on a few council members And we will get started. So council met in executive session and no votes were taken. We will ask our chaplain Jay Ortiz, Pastor Jortez to uh give the invocation.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council, um Ryan Fabry, our city manager. my police chief Dana Crawl, my fire chief Billy Floyd, you beautiful people of North Myrtle Beach. Let's go forward, Lord, in prayer, shall we? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the day for your many blessings, Lord God. Father, I thank you for this great city, Lord. It's only great because we recognize you as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Father, we ask that you would be here with us tonight, Lord God. Your where it says where two of them are gathered in my name, that you'd be in the midst also, Lord God. So, we thank you for your presence here. Um Lord, I pray that you would continue to bless this city. Uh continue to bless the leadership. Father, give them wisdom, knowledge, understanding, discernment, and favor that they need um to make the decisions that they need to make. Father, bless this community, Lord Jesus. Protect us and keep us, Lord Jesus. Everyone that works for this great city, Lord, I pray that you would continue to give them wisdom as well, Lord. Father, we need you. Uh Lord, we recognize those here tonight, Lord God, that have done uh extraordinary things, Lord. And I pray uh that you would bless them. I pray that this would be uh a moment in their lives that they wouldn't forget. Father, we thank you for that. We believe you for it. It's in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. And all God's people say, "Amen."

Amen. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Ice flag of the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. The next item on our agenda are the minutes from our uh December 1st, 2025 meeting. Do I have a motion to approve? Move. Do I have a second? Second.

All in favor say I. I. We'll move into item three um communications. Item A is organization of council nomination election of Mayor Pro Tim Port. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second.

I'd like to nominate uh Councilman Hank Thomas as Mayor Pro Tim. So to make this, you know, clear, what typically has been done in the past and what we've followed for as long as I've been on council, which has been a long time, is that it's based on longevity and um who becomes the mayor pro Tim or vice mayor. Um I like to call it vice mayor, but um I've talked to Hank and and and it's if that person is willing to take on that responsibility, you know, that that's the first question. And I've talked to Hank, Councilman Thomas about this. I've talked to every other council member, so I think we're all on the same page. So, uh, Councilman Collins has made a motion. Do I have a second?

Second. Uh, I guess is there any comments from the public? Not sure if we need to go into that, but just in case. No. Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Eyes have it. So we'll move into item B, organization of council, nomination, election of vice mayor, pro 10point. So moved. I'd like to We have a have a motion. Okay. We need a motion to bring this up on the table. Okay. Um you you made the motion. I approve. Uh no, I just read the item on the agenda. I'd like to nominate.

Well, we need a motion to bring it up. I'll make you make a motion. We have a second. Second. Okay. Okay. Is there any comment by council? I'll do it that way this time. I'd like to Yeah. And I'd like to nominate Councilman Fred Coin as vice mayor pro tip. And again, that would fall under longevity as well. So, second. Okay. All in favor say I. I.

Okay. We'll move into item C. uh recognition parks and recreation 14 and under co-ed soccer allstars SCRPA. Thank you, mayor. Uh good evening, everybody. Good evening, council. It's always a great night when we can uh bring some of the youth uh from our community and recognize them from some some of their outstanding achievements. Uh tonight's no different. We've got two awesome teams here that we're really proud of. So, I'm actually gonna ask Amanda Player Wford, our athletic and sports tourism manager, to come up and introduce the the coaches. Uh, and mayor, if you don't mind joining us down here as well.

Uh, thank you, city council, mayor, uh, city manager for having us again. Um, seems like we've been here a lot lately, but we're proud of that. Uh, so the first team that we're recognizing tonight is our 15 and under co-ed, uh, soccer team. So they started their journey at districts in Sumpter, South Carolina. Uh they went there undefeated. Uh never even trailed in a match there and then they got to uh go to Florence, South Carolina for the state tournament where uh in the first game, I believe it was uh was the only time that we trailed. Got down one- nothing but came back and won that one 3-2 and then turn around and um beat Synica twice. Um once to make it to the championship and then beat them in the championship 10. So, we were crowned the um 2025 SCPA SCAP state champions for our 15U co-ed soccer. So, we're going to ask Coach Rob Jacobs to come up and he's going to call out the players to come up.

All right, this was the best group of kids I ever got the opportunity to coach. Um, so I'm gonna start with Gabe. Next up is Cam. Next up is Xavier. Next up, Sawyer. We got Micah.

We got Kai. We got Beth. We got Finn. J D our goalie Jeter and the two captains of our team. First captain is Daniel. He played the whole state tournament with a broken foot. and our other captain, AJ. [applause]

[applause]

So, we're also very excited because we had two teams this fall um that we get to recognize. So our other team is our 14U volleyball team. This team started their journey uh when they went to Johnsonville to play in the district tournament. They faced Florence there where they had to take a two out of three. Uh they actually kind of took that with ease and then they traveled um across the state to pick in South Carolina which um many don't know but that is volleyball country when it comes to uh recreation volleyball. So they had to go there and face some tough teams. They faced Westminster and and then they face or they faced Pickkins and they had to face Westminster and right back to Pickkins and everything was going to three sets. We have to win two out of three and they were going to three sets. Uh we were the undefeated team unfortunately got beat in the championship game so they had to come back and beat us again and we took it down to the wire but um our volleyball team was not going to let them walk away with that championship again. So uh for the second year in a row our 14U volleyball team was crowned state champions. So, we're gonna ask coach Danielle Lmore to come up. [applause]

So, Bethany Honeyut and I um really enjoyed coaching the girls. These girls, they brought a lot of energy to every practice. If you've never been around a lot of 13, 14, and 15 year old girls, I am going to use my cheat sheet for last name. So, as I call your name, uh, walk up and behind me, Jaylen Holmes, Kyle Long, Kylie Ford, Ava, Doo, Miley, Larore, Riley Wagner, Sophia Brown, Sydney White. Celebrating her birthday today, Samantha Burke.

[applause]

Thank you. Okay, we will move into item F. Uh, department monthly reports for November 2025 are available online and we'll move into announcements by mayor and counsel. Are there any announcements by anybody have any announcements? Yeah, I want to um just take a minute to um thank uh Cheryl and Leslie um for their help in organizing and kind of sk doing scheduling with this re recent trip uh city manager and assistant city manager Trey and myself. We we went to um to DC to talk with our our Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham and then also uh Russell Fry and then several others at a a legislative reception that was up there and just Leslie did a exceptional job of of getting us in touch with the right people and setting things up and uh it was it was a good productive trip. uh our federal elected officials were were always kind of pleased to see the the home team show up. So, uh we were there to do our part and they've been real interest in instrumental in getting, you know, with our beach funding and storm water outfall and several other items like that. But, uh I just want to say thank you on that. Um, and I had one other thing I want to want to bring up that that we've been batting around for a while and I'd like to see us maybe

start on a discussion on would be uh smoking on the beach. Like talk about that. Not necessarily this evening, but you know, at some point through the year, I'd like to see that too. Fred, are there any other comments by council? I I would like to say thank you to Matt Gibbons and Parks and Recreation for all their hard work on not only the Christmas parade, but the Christmas tree lighting and all that. I mean, and our public safety department. It rained, it was cold, but the Christmas parade went on and uh the Christmas light show has been incredible. I know the traffic was um flow worked so much better this year with the addition to the sports complex. So, that helped a lot of the residents. uh out in that area as well. Thank you so much. We will move into consent agenda and if council's okay, we will take items A, B, C, D, E together. Is that okay? Is everybody okay with that?

I'll read them by title, but if you want to separate anything, we can. I I am okay with that, but I would like to make one comment on a

Okay. Yeah. Well, we'll do that. So, I'll read them by title. Um item A is a resolution CTC grant application in amount of 1,550,134.75 from Ory County Transportation Committee and to authorize a city manager or designate to sign on behalf of the city. Item B is a motion to appoint five appointments to the public arts commission. Item C is a motion to approve the 36th annual St. Patrick's Day Festival on March 14, 2026. Item D is a motion to approve the 36th annual St. Patrick's Day parade on March 14, 2026. And item E is a motion to approve the jeep crawl for the Special Olympics on March 21st, 2026. Do I have a motion?

So moved. Do I have second? Second. Okay. Is there any comment by council? Yes. On item A, nothing major, but I did notice that there is a priority list that is attached to that agenda item. I just as one camp member would like to see some discussion on that priority list because we too hear from the public on just their concerns and I'd just like to be able to be a part of that discussion and really currently what we are currently budgeted to. Let's see what that priority list is as well.

Yeah, I agree. Is anybody any other comments by council? The only thing I will say just to clarify this is for paving of roads and we're just asking for grant money. Um is there any comments by the public on any of these items on the consent agenda? Yes sir. Please come forward. Give your name and address and we have a threem minute time limit. Uh Damen Trielair 902 Parin Drive. I just had a question. So the total we could receive is 1.55 million. That's what we're asking for. Wow. That's huge. What is our total budget for the whole city for one year? Just preference

for paving. No, for the whole budget. Is it 200 million or it it is right at the roughly 211 million. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh that's that's it. And they have the money already. Uh the Ory County Transportation Committee has the money. We we believe so. Yes. Great. Thanks for the clarification. That's our understanding. Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Are there any other comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I.

All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into unfinished business. Item A is an ordinance on the second reading, amendments to chapter 23, zoning of the code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, revising murals. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Have a second. Second. Is there any discussion by councel?

I know we've discussed this at a at an earlier meeting and I think we hashed it out and just so the um the general public knows that uh folk businesses and entities can put murals on the any building they have. What's the the change here is that some some business would like to be able to add into maybe like I'm this I shouldn't name any business like business A may want to put their name in the mural and currently that's prohibited. Now, we're going to allow them to put if they do a mural and they want to put Thomas Beach vacations or something like that, they can put it in there, but it is restricted to the amount of space that can go on for and that might be considered advertising. So it would be limited to 10% of that um that mural space not to exceed a complicated not to exceed 100% of total advertising signage. So let's say you had a a 400 square foot mural and 10% of that would be 40 square feet that you could put in that advertising arena and you had a um you already and you had 300 square feet of signage already and I said the maximum that you could do is 10 is 300 feet then at at uh that would be 140 square feet you would be restricted to 100 square feet that's I probably just made it complicated that's what it's out. So, it is I think it's a good move and uh I think it would be good. Are there any other comments by council? Hearing none are any comments by the public? Hearing none. We will take our vote. All in favor say I. I.

All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into item B, ordinance, second reading, amendment to the Parkway Group Plan Development District, PDD, revising partial three of the McDow Corporate Center. Have a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second.

Any comment by councel? I will say basically that uh this uh on the first reading we had asked for uh this had been approved but we didn't have final drawings of the building out at the industrial park. So we asked for the final renderings to see what the buildings look like to get more input and it was passed on the last uh city council meeting on first reading. Um the the renderings look great. They're very professional. The buildings look good. It's going to be a great addition to the industrial center. Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into item C, ordinance second reading, first amendment to the amended and restated development agreement for Bahama Island phase 2 and to authorize the city manager to sign the document on behalf of the city. They have a motion to approve.

So moved. Second. Any comment by council? This is not density. It's just allowing them to go up. It's actually not allowing them anything. It's we already approved this, but the verbiage failed to go into the developer agreement and so it's housekeep housekeeping. We're trying to clean up. Are there any other question comments by council? Are there any question comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I.

I. All against. Eyes have it. We'll move into new business. Item A is an ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 23 zoning of the co code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina adding beach cabanas to nonconforming uses allowing repair. Is there a motion to approve? Second. Second.

Is there any comments by council? trying to get to my page. So this amendment as I understand it um basically ensures that any existing cabana can be replaced or rebuilt even if it's deteriorated or damage even it's if if its deterioration or damage exceeds 75% of replacement cost and otherwise it wouldn't be able to be rebuilt. Is that correct? Any other comments by council? Any comments by the public? Okay, hearing none. All those in favor say I.

I. All against. Eyes have it. We will move into item B. Ordinance reading to chapter 23, zoning of the code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, revising subdivision signs. Is there a motion to approve? So move sec. Is there a second? Second.

Any comments by council. We'll say that basically this allows a subdivision with 10 or more lots to exceed the current entrance sign regulations by going to the board of zoning of appeals and uh I'm getting nods that that is correct. Just want to make sure everybody understands that. Are there any other comments by council did workshop this as well? We did correct. Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I.

All against. Eyes have it. We will move into item uh C ordinance first reading amendments to chapter 12, health and sanitation of the code of ordinances of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, adding nuisance parties and impeding public passage. Have a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Are there any comments by council?

Mr. Mayor, I would would say that uh after reading this very clear carefully the uh I think it's great that the staff brought this forward. It allows them to our public safety to be able to have more teeth in when we have like house parties disturbances that um they can monitor and and deal with those issues in a more prompt manner. Yes. Gives you some teeth. Yeah, absolutely.

Really nice job of being a been able to connect all the dots between all the different ordinances that we have that because we seemed like we kept running into situations. Well, it's kind of this, but it's kind of not that, but it's another another thing. But I think that'll uh kind of finally get us to the point where we can get control of things a lot a lot quicker and we're not dissecting ordinances to to get there. So, it's a great good job on a I guess a catchall for lack of a better term.

Yeah, absolutely. I believe it's one of the first steps of many that we'll be following to protect our residents quality of life. Uh when we have short-term rental, which is typically most when this happens, we have these parties that get out of control. And this gives our police the authority to go in and and not only uh remove the people, but uh remove also where they clog roads and stop people from being able to get home. We've had that happen in the past. we can have those vehicles removed. Um it it it gives them the support that they need to protect us and our livelihoods.

It's basically a public safety issue if you can't get to an emergency because of cars on the roads or whatever. So, this is a great step um to get this done. Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All against eyes have it. We will move into item D is an ordinance first reading reszone request for 8.2 acres on Y old Kings Highway. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. There a second. Second. Any discussion by council? [clears throat]

Yeah. Yeah. Suzanne if you would please. you can just explain this.

Okay. Um I just wanted to make sure everybody understood what we what was being proposed. This appears to be an increase in density, but in actuality it's not. The parcel in question is shown here in yellow on the screen. It's in between cottages on the marsh which was reszoned to R1B in 2018. And it uh the other side is Case Point which was annexed and zoned to R1B in 2022. But that parcel that's included in this resoning is shown here in red was created in a plat in 1968. Um there are 31 lots with a 2 and a half acre remainder lot on that parcel. Um the average lot size that was created in that historic flat was 6,179 square feet and the smallest lot there is 4,000 square feet. So there's um there's the lots there today are very close to what they are requesting. Um as you can see they're platted. They're shown back there. They match the existing lots of the Grove, the R1B, the 6,000 square feet. R1 has a 10,000 square foot minimum and that's just not what is adjacent to the property or across the street. So that's what the proposal is. And I understand the lots reduced and we're still waiting on a tree survey.

Yes. So when this goes the next steps once this is reszoned, it would go through the sketch plan process which city council started last year. Um so the developer would show all the trees with their proposed lot layout and um they may it it's going to change things at that point. They'll have to bring the roads up to the current standards. These rights of way are 30 feet. I show the part here, Yield Kings in red. That connection through to Sea Chase Point, I believe, is going to be made this week to Charleston Landing. So then that will be a connection down to Sea Mountain Highway and to the beach for um golf cart traffic here. Um but they will have to improve that road to 50 of 50 foot rideway instead of 30 feet. Um, so it will bring everything up to today's standards through the platting process or first the sketch plan, then preliminary plat.

And we would still have the rightway for the pump station. Yes, they will have to create um a parcel for the pump station and an access easement as well. It's located about right here. I'd also like to say I walked the property today and there's a lot of na nicesiz hardwoods on this property and I would hope that the developer will work with staff in the BZA to meander through this. with their roadways and their lots to save all these nice hardwoods that have been there for years. Are there any other comments by council? Are there any comments by the public?

Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. I'm sorry. I just wanted to say something.

Okay. About this issue. Damen Triier 902 Parent Drive just wanted to ask uh I've talked with planning before that often in developments that if they can have some not not public park but some communal space I'm wondering if there's any communal space natural space in this property not with this resoning. Okay. Is it possible to ask for that or is it too far in the process? the next

Okay. So, we could still ask for some shared natural land or um I no because I think all we're doing here is reszoning. Okay. And they're not asking like if by PUD where we can negotiate something. So, we don't have the right to ask for that. We do. They can submit their plan is okay. Great. Thanks. But if they wanted to donate a parcel, that would be nice. Yes. What? If [laughter] they were to donate a parcel, we most likely would accept it and we'll Yeah, I I guess we could if we could um encourage them or suggest it or appreciate if they did it. Never know. They may have a leftover piece. What's that?

They may have a leftover piece after they divide it up for their lives. That would be awesome. Even a small little area, natural area for the people who live there even would be great. Are there any other comments by the public? Hearing none, we'll take our vote. All in favor say I. I. All against. Eyes have it. We will move into item E which is second reading regarding the first amendment to the development agreement for the Laurette track staff request to postpone. Is there a motion to postpone? So moved. There a second. Second.

All in favor say I. I. Item F is an ordinance first reading to the Laurette track development agreement to authorize the city manager to sign the document on behalf of the city. Staff request to postpone. Is there a motion? Move. There's all in favor say I. I. Okay. That is the last item on our agenda. So we will open it up to public comment. Anybody from the public would like to come up and address council, please give your name and address. And we have a threem minute time limit.

Damian Trielair 902 Parin Drive. Um you guys probably are I'm I'm not a broken record. Just want to keep this going this good momentum because um sorry little emot emotional because we started this six 2016 to try to save the Ingram Dunes and and we spent three years of our lives doing that and we did it working with Jay and Tre other to Hank Thomas many good folks doing this. Now we have a we had just had an election. We have a city council that is generally has worked hard to preserve land and I hope and I know we will keep going with even more momentum. We have a great planning department, great our whole I have to say this this city is extremely well-run and it also is a very good-hearted city which I'm I think we all feel lucky that we live in such a place where we listen to each other, we work together to make it better and better. And I I just want to put in that we'll all continue to work together for preserving large places, natural areas, medium-sized places, and even little pocket parks. And I just I thank you all for the work you've already done and that we've had a good new election where you all spoke to that. So, thank you all.

Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other comments for the public? Hearing none, I need a motion to adjurnn. So move second. First and second. All in favor say I. All against. Eyes have it. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.