Paid parking season for residents of Longs, Carolina Forest, Forestbrook and other Horry Count residents begins Wednesday, March 1st.
Every Horry County resident is required by law to pay for oceanfront beach re-nourishment. Beach nourishment, or beach filling, is the practice of adding large quantities of sand or sediment to beaches to combat erosion and increase beach width.
In 2022, Hurricane Ian washed away much of the oceanfront on the Grand Strand.
As MyrtleBeachSC News previously reported: Restoring South Carolina’s beaches has cost more than $250 million since 2003, according to a database kept by Western Carolina University.
County (state) residents are required to pay 17.5% of these tax dollars in matching funds. S.C. state/county residents have paid $43,750,000 prior to Ian for beach re-nourishment. Yet they are not allowed to park free in Surfside Beach, Myrtle Beach, and North Myrtle Beach.
The S.C. General Assembly passed a law stating that coastal cities must provide free parking to all residents if those cities take re-nourishment dollars. As we reported, that law appears to be non-enforceable. It is a law in name only. We explain why the State refuses to enforce this law in the blue link above.
In 2022, the cost of beach parking was $3.00 per hour, or $15.00 to park all day, on all street ends in most coastal cities.