More than 25% of residents affected are opposed to North Myrtle Beach Dredging

Wednesday was the last day for North Myrtle Beach residents to object to the city’s dredging plan and more than 25% of the people affected had issues.

700 hundred people live along the canals and would be affected by the city’s dredging plans.

Cecil Little is one of them.

‘We had grand babies sleeping in closets so we had to find something bigger so we built here. We were blessed to find a location like this along the channel,” said Little.

Little says he has lived in his home along 63^rd Avenue North since 1995.

He says as beautiful as it is during high tide, it is not quite as nice during low tide.

He says sandbars are exposed and he has seen boats tip over and run-aground.

He is not opposed to dredging, just the $24,000 tax assessment he and the other residents would pay.

All North Myrtle Beach residents and tourists are free to use the canal

Little says the cost should be divvied up more evenly among everyone who uses it.

“Assume that everybody used the boat dock, but they’re not going to have to pay like we are,” he said.

North Myrtle Beach City Spokesperson Pat Dowling says 186 people either wrote to the city about their issues with dredging or spoke in person at city hall.

However, Little was not one of them.

‘We live in Greensboro and we’re not here often enough to back up what we send into them so we assumed that we just be silent but we don’t really want to be,” he said.

The houses along the canals are not permanent homes for many people.

That could mean the number of people against the dredging plan is a lot higher than the 186 who spoke up.

The canal dredging project has already been postponed.

Dowling says that will give the city enough time to look at each complaint.

However, if the city finds anyone who has a valid complaint and says they no longer have to pay the maximum $24,000 tax assessment, the funding for the project is affected.

Dowling tells me the city will not go higher than the $24,000 it already promised to residents, but he also says at this point there are no other plans to fund the project.