North Myrtle Beach, SC (PRESS RELEASE) – During their July 6 meeting, the members of the North Myrtle Beach City Council passed motions to approve special event permits for the 9/11 Candlelight Memorial Vigil and the Irish Italian International Festival.
The North Myrtle Beach Lions Club will hold the 9-11Candlelight Memorial Vigil on September 11, 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., on Main Street. The public is invited to participate in the event.
The Irish Italian International Festival will be held on September 26, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., on Main Street between Cedar Avenue and Hillside Drive. The annual festival is sponsored by the North Myrtle Beach Parks & Recreation Department and offers live music, arts and crafts and food booths, and more.
Council passed second (final) reading of an ordinance to amend the Zoning Ordinance Text, Section 23-5 8, to address headlight spillage from parking lots onto adjacent residential properties.
In May Council passed an ordinance regulating light and glare emitted from parking lot light fixtures by requiring internal shielding on the side of the light fixture adjacent to residential property. During their review of that issue, Council members expressed a desire for additional reductions in lighting intrusion on to adjoining residential properties by addressing automobile headlight spillage. At that time, staff suggested that goal could be accomplished by employing greater landscaping buffering in areas where headlight spillage is likely.
With final passage of the amended ordinance, Section 23-58 of the Zoning Ordinance now also includes this language:
“When designing landscape buffers, special consideration shall be given to on-site traffic circulation patterns and the potential for headlight spillage onto adjoining residential properties. The Zoning Administrator may require supplemental plantings or buffering in cases where it is determined that headlight spillage may negatively impact adjoining residents. “
An application to amend the Parkway Group Planned Development District (PDD) was withdrawn at the request of the developer. The developer intends to take a different approach to their project and will submit a new application when they are prepared to do so.
Council passed second reading of an ordinance to lease office space and a portion of the pool at the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic & Fitness Center to McLeod Seacoast Hospital for physical therapy purposes.
The Aquatic & Fitness Center has partnered with McLeod Seacoast Hospital for several years for the purpose of growing a “wellness” component at the Center. A Premises & Space Use Agreement was prepared to formalize the arrangement between the City and hospital.
The term of the agreement is for one year, which renews automatically for five additional one year terms, unless terminated as authorized in the agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, the hospital will rent two offices, one containing about 124 square feet and another about 107 square feet, for $20 per square foot or an annual rental rate of $4,620.
The hospital also is authorized to use a portion of the warm water pool for physical therapy/rehabilitative purposes, but the hospital is not allowed to exceed more than eight participants, including hospital patients and staff, in the warm water pool during a single therapy session. The hospital must also use lane markers or similar barriers to identify the area of the pool in use for its therapy/rehabilitative sessions.
The hospital may use the fitness room and the basketball courts for patient rehabilitation but must coordinate with Aquatic & Fitness Center staff at least one month in advance to schedule use of the basketball courts.
The hospital will pay the City $6.00 per patient for the use of these areas of the Center.
At the developer’s request, Council tabled until its August 3 meeting a request to amend the North Beach Plantation Planned Development District Phase III Tower (Oceanfront Villas) within the Oceanfront Towers Neighborhood.
Council passed a Resolution to join the cities of Columbia, Charleston, North Charleston, Myrtle Beach and the Town of Hilton Head in a lawsuit against the online travel companies to recover unpaid business license fees.
The City of North Myrtle Beach previously joined litigation with other cities in South Carolina regarding a lawsuit against the online travel companies (OTCs) for failing to pay accommodations taxes. The City and the other municipalities were successful in that suit and recovered a portion of unpaid accommodations taxes from the online travel companies in addition to requiring that the OTCs thereafter remit accommodations taxes to the City as required in its ordinance.
The Resolution is in reference to a similar suit against the OTCs regarding the OTCs failing to pay either all or a portion of the business license fees due to the City under the City’s business license ordinance.
The suit is being prosecuted by the same attorney, W. Ronald Bonds, who represented the City and the other municipalities in the previous litigation.
