ATLANTIC BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Atlantic Beach town council voted Friday to extend its emergency order until May 31, meaning public beach accesses and vacation rentals will remain closed. The town’s emergency order was set to expire May 18.
“Being a very small community, (council) did not want to expose residents to potential outside exposure of individuals with the coronavirus,” town manager, Benjamin Quattlebaum said.
Quattlebaum says despite postponing the town’s annual Memorial Day Weekend bike rally, Atlantic Beach has received many calls from bikers saying they still plan on coming. Due to the emergency order extension, they will now have to find another place to stay.
“Even though people have indicated they still plan to attend, the town council was unanimous that they wanted to keep the town’s beaches closed,” Quattlebaum said.
Quattlebaum says reopening Atlantic Beach would have stretched the town’s limited resources too thin.
“We only have four (police) officers, and the demand for monitoring and policing the beach will be difficult at best to accomplish based on the requirements of the executive order by the governor,” Quattlebaum said.
In April, town council voted to reschedule the Memorial Day weekend bike rally for Labor Day weekend.
