Month: April 2012

Another Twist in the Bike Rally Saga

The Horry County Planning and Zoning Commission added the latest twist to the continuing Bike Rally saga last night when it recommended modifications to the proposed county ordinance regarding temporary vendor and special permit modifications to the county zoning ordinance.

The Planning Commission is required by state and local law to review and make a recommendation to county council with respect to any ordinance on zoning or zoning change. The proposed ordinance affecting vendor permits would make changes to Appendix B of the county’s zoning ordinance.

Third reading of the ordinance was on the agenda for the regular meeting of county council this past Tuesday night when it was “discovered” at the eleventh hour that the ordinance had never been referred to the commission for review and recommendation.

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COAST Board Member Blasts Council

Mickey James, President of the Myrtle Beach Chapter of the NAACP and member of the COAST RTA board of directors, blasted Horry County Council Tuesday night for its stinginess toward the transit authority’s funding needs.

“No other agency receives the type of challenge and scrutiny (for funding) from this council,” during a presentation to council Tuesday night. “The bar for COAST is always higher.”

The question of funding from Horry County was supposedly decided in November 2010 when Horry County voters passed an advisory referendum, by an over 60 percent margin, to provide approximately $1 million in county funds to COAST on an annual basis. The referendum question was non-binding, but it was decisive.

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Bike Rally Issue Still Undecided

An eleventh hour discovery that the ordinance amending the vendor and special events permits needed to go to the Planning Commission for a recommendation prior to final consideration from council keeps an issue potentially affecting the May bike rallies undecided.

Third reading of the ordinance was scheduled for county council last night. If the ordinance had been approved in its present form, vendor permits would be allowed for seven days at reduced fees from prior years. Both would be positive results for the bike rallies.

Instead, council chairman Tom Rice announced county attorney Arrigo Carotti had contacted him earlier in the day stating the ordinance must be reviewed and a recommendation received from the Planning Commission prior to final consideration from council.

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Bikes, Guns and County Council

Bikes rallies and gun control, two of the most controversial issues to come before Horry County Council in some time, should be put to rest at tonight’s regular meeting barring any last minute surprises.

Council agenda lists a resolution directing a “more aggressive approach to be taken by the Horry County Police Department in the enforcement of existing laws” with respect to the discharge of firearms in close proximity to residences.

This resolution comes to council instead of an ordinance that would have severely restricted gun use in the county. A presentation by Public Safety Division head Paul Whitten and Horry County Police Chief Saundra Rhodes to the county Public Safety Committee made the case that current state and local law were sufficient to deal with any problems of weapons discharges in the sub-divisions. Both Whitten and Rhodes said there was no need for a new ordinance to address the issue.

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