Myrtle Beach city staff have drafted a zoning text amendment that would create a new overlay zone limiting future bars, nightclubs, and other drinking establishments along Ocean Boulevard to a 150-person occupancy, part of the proposed Myrtle Beach Ocean Boulevard nightclub cap. The Planning Commission is scheduled to take up the proposal at its 1:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday, May 19, at the City Services Building on 921 N. Oak Street.
Existing licensed bars and nightclubs would be grandfathered as legal non-conforming uses. The cap would apply only to new establishments seeking to open inside the overlay’s boundary. That boundary has not yet been disclosed in published reporting and is not yet posted on the city’s public agenda page.
The proposal sits at the earliest possible stage of the city’s zoning process. The Planning Commission is an advisory body and would need to hold a public hearing and forward a recommendation to City Council. Council would then have to pass the amendment on two separate readings before it becomes law. No vote of any kind has yet occurred.
Understanding the Myrtle Beach Ocean Boulevard nightclub cap
## What the city is proposing
The draft text would create an overlay zone “limiting land use of nightclubs, bars and other drinking places with occupancy exceeding 150 persons” along Ocean Boulevard, in accordance with the Myrtle Beach Ocean Boulevard nightclub cap. Any future establishment in that category would be barred from opening within the overlay if its rated capacity crossed the 150-person threshold.
Smaller venues — restaurants, taverns, and bars rated under the cap — would remain permitted uses. The published reporting does not indicate whether the 150-person figure refers to the building-code occupancy load set by the fire marshal or to some other measure, though the existing zoning code language uses similar phrasing tied to rated capacity.
The city has not yet published the agenda packet for the May 19 meeting. The proposal’s exact geographic boundary, the formal sponsor of the amendment, and the supporting staff memo all remain to be released. The Planning Commission’s role Tuesday is to begin the review — not to enact the change.
## Why the 150-person number matters
The 150-person figure is not arbitrary. It mirrors the existing definition of “nightclub” in the Myrtle Beach Zoning Code. Appendix A of the code defines a nightclub as “a place of social gathering and entertainment activities emphasizing live or recorded amplified music in a largely unstructured dance club atmosphere in an interior or outside deck space that is rated for greater than 150 person capacity.”
The practical effect of the proposed cap is therefore narrower than the headline suggests, and broader. Narrower, because the city already regulates this category by name. Broader, because the proposal extends the same threshold to all “bars and other drinking places” — not only to venues that meet the nightclub definition. Any future drinking establishment rated above 150 persons would be excluded from the overlay regardless of how its operators chose to brand it.
A future operator seeking to open a venue larger than 150 persons would have to classify it as something other than a bar or nightclub — a live music venue, a restaurant with entertainment, or a similar designation — and would have to satisfy the use and licensing rules that apply to those categories. The existing zoning code’s definitional structure is the load-bearing element that makes the cap legally workable.
## The legal path
Myrtle Beach has used the overlay-zoning tool on Ocean Boulevard before, and the courts have backed the city when it did. In April 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the existing Ocean Boulevard Entertainment Overlay District in *Ani Creation, Inc. v. City of Myrtle Beach Board of Zoning Appeals*. The court rejected a “reverse spot zoning” challenge to the city’s ban on CBD, sexually oriented products, and non-incidental tobacco sales inside the overlay.
Justice John W. Kittredge, writing for the court, found that the overlay “did not impermissibly spot zone the city’s historic downtown area” and represented a “valid exercise of the city’s police powers.” The opinion held that “it is ‘fairly debatable’ that city council enacted the ordinance to promote the public welfare” — a deferential standard that gives municipalities wide latitude to restrict specific land uses within an overlay for legitimate public-welfare reasons.
The existing Ocean Boulevard Entertainment Overlay District runs from 6th Avenue South to 16th Avenue South. That is the south end of downtown. Whether the new capacity overlay would track the same boundary, extend it northward, or define a different zone entirely has not yet been disclosed. The distinction matters: most of the publicly cited 2025 safety incidents occurred on North Ocean Boulevard, outside the existing OBEOD footprint.
The 2023 precedent does not foreclose every legal challenge. Procedural attacks — insufficient public notice, inconsistency with the comprehensive plan — remain available. A substantive constitutional challenge of the kind raised in *Ani Creation* would face a steep climb after Justice Kittredge’s opinion.
## The downtown safety backdrop
The proposal arrives against a 12-month period that put downtown safety at the top of the city’s political agenda. Just before midnight on Saturday, April 26, 2025, an 18-year-old gunman from Bennettsville opened fire into a crowd on the sidewalk near Mr. Fries restaurant in the 900 block of North Ocean Boulevard. Eleven people were wounded. A Myrtle Beach Police officer fired and killed the shooter; the State Law Enforcement Division later cleared the officer.
The incident was the largest mass shooting in Myrtle Beach in more than a decade and was repeatedly described in regional coverage as reigniting the “Murder Beach” reputation. A string of additional incidents followed: multiple armed robberies in May 2025 along North Ocean Boulevard and adjacent corridors, a temporary juvenile-curfew order from the city manager in July 2025, and the return of Ocean Boulevard “flushing” — police-driven crowd dispersal — in the same period.
According to city-reported figures, “Part One” violent crime incidents on Ocean Boulevard fell to zero in 2023 and rose to two in 2025. WMBF News and ABC News 4 both reported those figures in April, attributing them to the city. The numbers have not been independently audited in the reporting reviewed for this article.
MyrtleBeachSC News reported that overall Myrtle Beach tourism was down 3 percent in 2025. City leadership has consistently framed Ocean Boulevard safety as a tourism-economy issue, tying public-safety policy to the city’s family-friendly brand.
## Mayor Kruea’s safety agenda
Mark Kruea was sworn in as mayor on January 13, 2026 after winning the November 2025 election. A 26-year veteran of the city as its public information director before his April 2024 retirement, Kruea ran on a downtown safety platform centered on visible policing and a “whole city” focus that would scale back attention on the Arts and Innovation District.
In a January interview with WMBF News, Kruea said Ocean Boulevard “does not need to be an armed police state, but the police officers need to be highly visible.” He told the same outlet that “citywide safety enhancements” sit at the top of his priority list. On his first day in office, he ended the prior administration’s Ocean Boulevard lane-closure plan and pulled back a $105,000 city rebranding contract.
The published reporting on the capacity cap does not identify Kruea as the formal sponsor of the proposal. WBTW reports only that the city is “considering” the rule change. The amendment is consistent with the mayor’s stated direction, and with the broader posture of an administration that also lost its police chief — Amy Prock retired April 2 after 30 years of service — and is conducting a national search to replace her. Assistant Chief Chris Smith is serving as interim chief.
## What this means for Horry County
For homeowners along the Withers Swash, 9th Avenue North, and Arts and Innovation District corridors, the cap signals the direction of downtown land-use policy for the next decade. Restaurant and small-business openings in those zones have driven recent revitalization. A limit on future large drinking establishments narrows the kinds of late-night venues that can locate near those neighborhoods.
For existing nightlife operators, the operative word is grandfathering. Any business with a current Myrtle Beach business license and a state Alcohol Beverage Licensing permit would continue under its existing rights. New entrants would not, and the scarcity of grandfathered licenses could raise the market value of the establishments that already hold them.
For the broader downtown revitalization push, the proposal interacts with separately advancing plans. The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance has been advancing a 10-year Ocean Boulevard plan since June 2025; its first short-term project, a $500,000 bistro-lighting installation between 9th Avenue North and Joe White Avenue, won contingent City Council approval in December 2025. A potential large music venue at the former Pavilion site has been floated in Post and Courier reporting. How a 150-person cap interacts with that project depends on how the overlay defines a “drinking place” and where its boundary is drawn.
Neither the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association nor the Downtown Alliance has commented publicly on the cap as of May 17. Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting is the first opportunity for those organizations, individual operators, and Ocean Boulevard property owners to register reaction on the record. The agenda packet from the city is expected to fill in the boundary, sponsor, and procedural questions the published reporting has not yet answered.
## Further Reading
– Adam Benson, “Myrtle Beach may limit future Ocean Boulevard bar, nightclub capacity,” WBTW News13 / FOX8 WGHP, May 16, 2026 — https://myfox8.com/news/south-carolina/myrtle-beach-may-limit-future-ocean-boulevard-bar-nightclub-capacity/
– City of Myrtle Beach Meeting Schedule and Agendas — https://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/government/meeting_schedule.php
– City of Myrtle Beach Zoning Code (Appendix A) — https://cms6.revize.com/revize/myrtlebeachsc/Myrtle%20Beach%20Zoning%20Code.pdf
– *Ani Creation, Inc. v. City of Myrtle Beach Board of Zoning Appeals*, SC Supreme Court Opinion 28151, April 19, 2023 — https://www.sccourts.org/media/opinions/HTMLFiles/SC/28151.pdf
– SC Lawyers Weekly case summary of *Ani Creation*, July 5, 2023 — https://sclawyersweekly.com/news/2023/07/05/zoning-overlay-district-downtown-revitalization-prohibited-retail-uses-first-impression-reverse-spot-zoning/
– “Myrtle Beach mayor-elect lays out top priorities for the new year,” WMBF News, January 6, 2026 — https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/01/06/myrtle-beach-mayor-elect-lays-out-top-priorities-new-year/
– “City of Myrtle Beach swears in new mayor and council members,” Spectrum News 1 SC, January 13, 2026 — https://spectrumlocalnews.com/sc/south-carolina/news/2026/01/13/south-carolina-news-myrtle-beach-swearing-in
– “For Myrtle Beach’s new mayor, Day 1 means ending a controversial traffic plan and a $105K rebranding,” Post and Courier — https://www.postandcourier.com/myrtle-beach/news/myrtle-beach-new-council-mayor-policy-changes-traffic-plan-rebranding/article_2772b5b8-3322-4421-bdd7-7b15a12f283c.html
– “Downtown Myrtle Beach revitalization linked to decrease in violent crime,” WMBF News, April 16, 2026 — https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/04/16/downtown-myrtle-beach-revitalization-linked-decrease-violent-crime/
– “‘Area keeps you safe’: Myrtle Beach reports violent crime down since revitalization effort,” ABC News 4, April 16, 2026 — https://abcnews4.com/news/state/area-keeps-you-safe-myrtle-beach-reports-violent-crime-down-amid-revitalization-efforts-incidents-04162026-city-government-ocean-boulevard-shooting-superblock-area
– “11 injured, 1 dead in shooting in tourist town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,” Live 5 News, April 27, 2025 — https://www.live5news.com/2025/04/27/11-injured-1-dead-shooting-tourist-town-myrtle-beach-south-carolina/
– “Myrtle Beach mass shooting hits one-year anniversary,” WBTW News13 — https://www.wbtw.com/news/grand-strand/myrtle-beach/myrtle-beach-mass-shooting-hits-one-year-anniversary/
– “SLED reveals new details as Ocean Blvd. shooting reignites ‘Murder Beach’ debate,” WPDE ABC15 — https://wpde.com/news/local/sled-reveals-new-details-as-myrtle-beach-shooting-reignites-murder-beach-debate-ninth-avenue-north-11-injured-1-dead-homicide-statistics-police-department-councilman-south-carolina-law-enforcement-division
– “Myrtle Beach tourism down 3% in 2025, local businesses hope for better 2026,” WMBF News, February 5, 2026 — https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/02/05/myrtle-beach-tourism-down-3-2025-local-businesses-hope-better-2026/
– “Myrtle Beach hires firm to find next police chief,” WMBF News, February 27, 2026 — https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/02/27/myrtle-beach-hires-firm-find-next-police-chief/
– “Myrtle Beach Chief of Police announces retirement after 30 years of service,” MyHorryNews — https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/myrtle-beach-chief-of-police-announces-retirement-after-30-years-of-service/article_db732c91-e9a0-407e-a5e1-816b067f1aeb.html
– “$500,000 lighting project for downtown Myrtle Beach,” MyHorryNews — https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/city-council-in-favor-of-500-000-lighting-design-for-downtown-myrtle-beach/article_0f890ec2-8fca-44d2-88ac-5670f1a69046.html
