North Myrtle Beach holds workshop over biking on beach during summer

By RUBEN LOWMAN

North Myrtle Beach officials met last week to discuss regulations the city will potentially place on activities that take place on the beach during the summer months.

As the city has steadily grown over the last several years, the beach has become more and more crowded during the peak season. NMB City Council held a workshop last Wednesday, Jan. 18, to discuss possible restrictions and alterations they could make in order to address some of the issues that have arisen because of area’s growth. At the center of the discussions is potentially outlawing all bicycles, both manual and electric, from use on the beach between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from May 15 through Labor Day.

“Now has come the time that we do it,” said Mayor Marilyn Hatley.

Councilmembers present for the workshop included Bubba Collins, Fred Coyne, J.O. Baldwin and Hank Thomas. All were in agreement with Hatley that an ordinance needs to be passed in order to restrict the use of bicycles on the beach, especially given the rise of electric bikes, or “e-bikes”, that has taken place particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

City attorney Chris Noury said that last summer a resident was struck by an e-bike on the beach, and their increasing prevalence is creating a safety issue during the busiest months. He further explained that in order to avoid a potential lawsuit from individuals with disabilities for discrimination, city officials will have to include manual bicycles in the ordinance, as well.

Baldwin said city officials have tried many times to separate the two, saying he doesn’t see a problem with manual bikes, but they just don’t have a choice.

Hatley agreed with Baldwin, highlighting that this been an issue for the city of Myrtle Beach for a long time, but it has not been a problem for NMB until now. With the current growth of the city, the area’s nine miles of beach are beginning to experience some of the problems with congestion that Myrtle Beach has encountered for some time. Myrtle Beach has had a ban on bicycles during the summer for years as a result.

“It is a shame we’re kind of a victim of our own success as the beach gets more crowded and the area gets more crowded,” Coyne said. “It’s just one of these things that we have to do.”

Hatley opened the floor up for discussion and proposed the possibility of enacting a speed limit that e-bikes would have to adhere to, with some of the vehicles being able to reach a maximum speed of 27 miles per hour. Noury said that, as has been discussed in the past, enforcement is always an issue were a speed limit passed.

Kelly Williams, CEO of NMB and MB Electric Bikes, said that the vast majority of the vehicles only have a top speed of around 14 miles per hour, which is reduced further when driving through sand.

Officer May Lauzon with the Beach Patrol Division of NMB Department of Public Safety, agreed that the majority of bikers are traveling at lower speeds than the vehicles are capable of, and during high tide it is near impossible to use the bikes on the beach. She said the issue with enacting a speed limit, from a public safety perspective, would be with the enforcement, mentioning that on a given day during the summer, there are only two officers actively patrolling the beach.

“There’s nine miles. Somebody calls in sick, there were plenty of times this past summer when it was only myself working on the beach,” Lauzon said. “So, we would have to re-examine if we were to have a speed limit.”

There needs to be some kind of balance as a result, Coyne said.

“If we do decide to pass this, we could see what happens in the summer and then we could revisit that,” said Collins.

Baldwin said he thinks city leaders need to get the proposed ordinance to a council meeting as soon as possible so they can discuss the different factors at play within the measure.

“I think we’re on the right track,” Hatley said.

City resident John Griffiths, however, took issue with the proposed hours the ban would be in place, asking officials if there were other alternatives that could be put in place before restricting all bikes on the beach during the daytime. He also said he felt it was safer to ride on the beach than on the streets in the city.

“Do a study, really see if this is a problem or not before we make a rule that is going to impact a lot of people who enjoy bicycling or use it as a form of transportation,” he said.

The proposed ordinance was already altered from when it was first discussed and tabled at a Dec. 5 City Council meeting, which would have seen the ban take place during the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m and include two more weeks during the summer. The next council meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday, Feb. 20, with the ordinance expected to be on the agenda.