North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
The North Myrtle Beach Recreation 14U team was recently recognized at the North Myrtle Beach City Council meeting held on Monday, January 5. Pictured are players Jayln Holmes, Kaya Long, Kylee Jo Ford, Leilani Dew, Milie Lowrimore, Peyton Parker, Riley Wagner, Samantha R Burke, Sophia Reilly-Brown and Sydney S. White.
By James Pease II
The North Myrtle Beach City Council met Monday night to discuss murals, Parkway Group PDD, McDowell Corporate Center, nuisance parties and beach cabanas.
Before the meeting was started, the North Myrtle Beach Recreation 14U all stars soccer team and the 14U all stars volleyball team were recognized by the city for their state championship wins.
Mayor J Baldwin also discussed a recent trip the council had gone on to meet with state representatives in Washington, D.C., having talks with Tim Scott, Lindsey Graham and Russell Fry. “It was a good productive trip ” said Baldwin. “They have been really instrumental in getting our beach funding, storm water outfall and several other items accomplished.”
The last item that was discussed before moving into the consent agenda was smoking on the beach and the city council’s possible push against it. “Something we’ve been batting around on for a while that I’d like to see us start a discussion on would be smoking on the beach. Not necessarily this evening, but at some point through the year,” said councilman Fred Coyne.
The council then moved into executive session, first discussing the CTC Grant application in the amount of $1,550,134.75 from the Horry County Transportation Committee and to authorize the city manager or designee to sign the document on behalf of the city. “Just to clarify this is for paving of roads and we’re just asking for grant money ,” said Mayor Baldwin. If the application is accepted by the Horry County Transportation Committee, it will help repave 49,000 linear feet of existing roadways. Project activities will be anticipated to begin and be completed in the fall of 2026. This was approved by council.
Next a motion to appoint five appointments to the Public Arts Commission was approved. “Just so the general public knows, businesses and entities can put murals on any mural that they have,” said councilman Hank Thomas. “The change is that some businesses would like to be able to add in their name in the mural and currently that’s prohibited. Now we’re going to allow them to put it in there. But it is restricted to the amount of space otherwise it will be considered advertising.” Thomas continues, “It would be limited to 10 percent of that mural space not to exceed.”
Amendment to the Parkway Group Planned Development District (PDD), revising Parcel Three of the McDowell Corporate Center was also approved by council. Mayor Baldwin commented that “On the first reading we had asked for this to be approved but we didn’t have final drawings of the building. Now we have the final renderings to see what the buildings will look like to get more input and it was passed during the last city council meeting.” Baldwin continues, “The renderings look great and very professional.”
The council also approved a change to the First Amendment of the Amended and Restated Development Agreement for Bahama Island Phase II. The Development Agreement has been amended to revise the maximum allowable building height for the lots located on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway within the Bahama Island PDD. The maximum height is increased from thirty-five feet to fifty-two feet.
Amendments to Chapter 23, Zoning, adding beach cabanas to non-conforming uses allowing repair was approved by council. “So this amendment, as I understand it, ensures that any existing cabana can be replaced or rebuilt. Even if it’s deteriorated or damaged, exceeds 75 percent of replacement costs,” said Mayor Baldwin.
Amendments to Chapter 23, Zoning, revising subdivision signs were approved by council. This allows a subdivision with ten or more lots to exceed the current entrance sign regulations by going to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Amendments to Chapter 12, Health and Sanitation, adding nuisance parties and impeding public passage were approved. Councilman Hank Thomas commented that “After reading this very carefully, I think it’s great that the staff brought this forward. It allows our public safety to be able to have more teeth in when we have house parties and disturbances that they can monitor and deal with those issues in a more prompt manner.”
“We can get control of things a lot quicker and we’re not dissecting ordinances to get there,“ said councilman Fred Coyne.
Mayor Baldwin commented that “I believe it’s one of the first steps of many that we’ll be following to protect our residents’ quality of life when we have short-term rentals, which is typically most when this happens.”
Councilman Bubba Collins stated that “It’s a public safety issue if you can’t get to an emergency because of cars on the roads so this is a great step to get this done.”
Additional motions that were approved include the 36th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival and Parade on March 14, 2026, and the Jeep Crawl for Special Olympics on March 21, 2026.
The city council also approved the rezone request for 8.32 acres on Ye Olde Kings Highway.
The Development Agreement for the Lauret Associates Tract and the First Amendment to the Lauret Associates Tract the Development Agreement was postponed by city council.
