City of Myrtle Beach - State of the City Address

My, how things have changed in one short year! When we met last March for the first State of the City address, no one could have predicted the economic challenges our region, our state and our nation now face. City Council starts its annual Budget Retreat tomorrow evening, and we know already that it’s going to be an extremely tight year for us.

My goal for the city is to continue providing the same high level of service that you’ve come to expect, while holding the line on new expenses for the moment. Fortunately, we have been very conservative. As a result, Myrtle Beach is in a better position than most local governments. City Manager Tom Leath and his budget team are a cautious bunch, and Myrtle Beach’s fairly optimistic outlook is due to their sound financial management skills.

Myrtle Beach also is in the midst of the 10-year update to the Comprehensive Plan. Our Planning Department, the Planning Commission and a host of community groups have taken a hard look at where we are, what we are and what we want to be. Volunteers have invested more than 1,400 hours toward the project. The result will be an updated roadmap for the city's future, known as the Comprehensive Plan.

Looking both backwards and forwards this evening, it is my pleasure to report to you on the State of the City and present the Comprehensive Plan Annual Report. I am happy to say that Myrtle Beach is holding its own and is ready for recovery, when it finally comes. Despite the economic rollercoaster of recent months, we accomplished a great deal in the past year. As you know, the Comprehensive Plan looks at population, economic development, natural resources, cultural resources, community facilities, land use, housing, neighborhoods and tourism. Tonight, we’ll touch on success stories in all of those areas.

Last April, The Market Common opened to rave reviews, helping to complete the transformation of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. The city’s vision in the mid-1990s of what the base could be, has become reality. The huge private investment in dining, retail, entertainment and housing would not have been possible without the public investment for new roads, new water and sewer lines, new parks and new parking garages. The Market Common is a team effort, and I hope you’ll be there to cheer on your team.

Speaking of teamwork, the renovation of Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium was a team effort between the city and the school district. It took a while to work out the details, but the $3 million project speaks for itself. Doug Shaw Stadium is one of the finest recreation facilities in the state. Not only is it home to the state champion Myrtle Beach Seahawks, but it also provides a venue for a variety of sports-related tourism events. This past week, it was host to the Shamrock Invitational Track Meet, with nearly 40 college teams, and the site for the first annual Fastest Kid in Horry County competition. Doug Shaw Stadium is getting more use today than ever before, thanks to the city’s leadership.

We also expanded and renovated Crabtree Memorial Gymnasium, with spectacular results. That was a $6 million project, paid for partly by the Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority and pledges by the private sector. Crabtree now hosts basketball, aerobics, spinning, weight lifting, racquetball, exercise classes and more. It’s a focal point for more good things to come at Grand Park, as we’ll discuss in a moment.

Our largest park, the beach, also received a facelift this year. After some stops and starts, beach renourishment was completed this winter, resulting in a wider beach for all to enjoy. Of course, that beach is our first line of protection in the event of storms. The federal government paid the largest portion of the renourishment cost, but the city’s piece isn’t exactly pocket change. Our share is $2.3 million, but it’s worth it. The beach is our number one natural resource.

The city has worked closely with the Grand Strand YMCA on its new building, on 62^nd Avenue North, across the Bypass. The new Y is on city-owned land and will include a passive recreation park and a new dog park for the north end. We also have extended water and sewer lines to serve the building and are extending 62^nd Avenue North. City residents will receive a discount from the Y.

Another project underway is a complete zoning review. It's been 20 years since we rewrote the zones and the Zoning Code. City Council will approve changes to these regulations that will reflect where we are today and, in the process, simplify the number of zones, while still providing protection for our residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.

Last year at this time, we were launching our blue bin recycling program. I want to applaud you for making the switch. It’s hard to change old habits, but as many of us have discovered, the new system is much easier, since you don’t have to sort your recycling. As a result, our recycling collections are up 20 percent from the previous year. That’s pretty impressive. So far, we’ve given out 4,400 of the free blue bins and sold 720 of the green recycling carts at a reduced price of just $30, thanks to a state grant.

Here are a few other facts and figures about your city….

The Myrtle Beach Police Department just completed its 17^th Citizens Police Academy session – we’re in the ninth year now – and will host its third Student Police Academy session this summer. We implemented the Police Cadet program this year, hiring young people between 18 and 21 to work as Community Service Officers until they can become certified police officers. Of course, the department stayed quite busy, answering 119,000 calls for service last year.

The police also have an automated license plate reader – those black boxes you’ve seen on the trunk of one of the police cars – and they’ve made the transition to new-generation semi-automatic handguns. They’re testing smaller patrol vehicles to reduce costs and save gas. They’ve established a regulatory unit to address nuisances, pawn shops, towing and special events. And the 15^th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit, of which we are a large part, made 231 arrests last year, seized $258,916 in cash and confiscated $4.2 million worth of drugs.

It may surprise you, but the Myrtle Beach Fire Department answers more calls for EMS service than for fires. Out of 10,786 calls for service last year, 7,126 were for EMS and 1,843 were fire calls. The city’s two ambulances answered 4,404 calls last year. Firefighters also conducted 4,479 fire inspections, resulting in 4,511 violations being corrected.

The Cultural and Leisure Services Department replaced or improved playgrounds at Pinner Place and Mcleod Park and are in the process of replacing playgrounds at Pepper Geddings Recreation Center and Gardens by the Sea. They replaced the fitness trail along the Cabana Section and added a fitness trail to the 1.1 mile walking path around Grand Park Lake. Our recreation facilities hosted 79 sports tournaments with 1,489 teams. In addition, the Recreation staff organized 3,057 participants in 15 adult sports leagues and 5,136 participants in our youth sports leagues and clinics. Our litter crews picked up trash along 100 miles of city streets each week, and Myrtle’s Market had more than a thousand visitors per week. By the way, Myrtle’s Market re-opens for the season on Friday, April 17.

The staff at Chapin Memorial Library welcomed users from 38 countries. Circulation was up last year, with 209,845 items checked out. The library also issued 5,472 new library cards during the year, for a total of 29,213 active cardholders.

The Construction Services Department issued 3,499 permits of all types and performed 1,511 building plan reviews and more than 3,000 plumbing, electrical and HVAC plan reviews. Our Code Enforcement staff made 11,300 inspections, issued 323 certificates-of-occupancy, mailed 135 weed violation notices and cited 69 property owners for unsafe buildings.

Looking ahead, we are working on several projects and are ready to proceed with others as soon as the economy rebounds. The Haskell Circle stormwater project is starting. This million dollar effort will provide improved drainage and eliminate street flooding on Haskell Circle and portions of Sunset Trail, Porcher Drive and Kings Highway. Fortunately, we’ve received a $500,000 federal grant from FEMA to help pay for this project.

City Council is preparing for the “Tourist of the Future,” and that includes sports tourism. We must have the facilities that visitors require in order to meet their needs and capture their business. Doug Shaw Stadium is one example. Thanks to $6 million in funding from the Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, we have money in hand for Phase One of a multi-field recreation complex at Grand Park. This includes construction of three new sports fields near Crabtree Gym, and site work is under way. The current Meyers Avenue becomes the new entry road for these recreational projects, and a brand new Meyers Avenue is ready to open. Working with the private sector, we relocated Meyers Avenue to give us more room for Grand Park.

City Council and the Downtown Redevelopment Corporation are funding activities on Ocean Boulevard again this year. Working with the Oceanfront Merchants Association, we’ll have regular concerts and entertainment at Plyler Park throughout the summer. Visitors and residents alike enjoy these events – called “Hot Summer Nights” this year. And you’ll see fireworks from the Second Avenue Pier each Wednesday evening. It’s one of the best shows in town.

The downtown area is poised for even more progress. We’re ready to go, but the economy isn’t. City Council has approved construction of a mile long boardwalk and promenade from the 14^th Avenue Pier to the Second Avenue Pier. Unfortunately, the economic downturn has put a hold on this $16 million project. The municipal bond market is not favorable right now, but we are ready to proceed as soon as the market settles.

Likewise, the unsettled bond market also has delayed construction of the Performing Arts Auditorium at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. That project is in this year’s budget. The city will invest $6 million to create a 500-to-700 seat auditorium and a black-box theatre, and the local arts community is raising $1 million to fully equip it. Not only will it provide a performance venue for artists, but it will add a new dimension to the Convention Center’s offerings. The Rivoli Corporation is having the designs completed so that we’ll be ready to go when the market cooperates.

Here are a few other projects….

We extended Oak Forest Lane, between Seaboard Street and Grissom Parkway.

Working with the regional Council of Governments, we provided grants to repair six homes and bring them up to code in the first year of our housing rehabilitation program.

We installed 150 historic markers as a walking trail of the former Air Force Base, and we’re working on three Air Force Base museums – one each at Whispering Pines Golf Course, Crabtree Gym and the Base Recreation Center.

We made a concerted effort to properly identify homes and businesses with street names and numbers, so that our emergency services can find the right address easily and quickly.

And 1,400 are taking part in this year’s Choose to Lose program in our recreation centers. If you are one of those, then you know the Choose to Lose Grand Finalé is Saturday, April 4.

I’m pleased to say that we’ve created Military Appreciation Days, a three-day event to be held this year on the weekend after Memorial Day. In future years, we’d like for it to be on the Memorial Day weekend. So far, a dozen military bases have agreed to participate in a variety of competitions, including golf, marksmanship, basketball and softball, and the public is invited to take part in a 5K race. Saturday, May 30, will be a family day at Grand Park and The Market Common. We’ll have military vehicles – an Abrams M1 tank, a Humvee – a picnic, a concert, fireworks and more. This will be a great event for the whole family and the community.

Speaking of parks, Myrtle Beach is greener than ever before. Last year, the city planted dozens of new trees and bushes, thanks in part to contributions from GreenKeepers, a local grassroots organization. We continue to expand the East Coast Greenway, with a new leg along South Kings Highway. The Parks Division completed the final phase of the beautification project at Grissom Parkway and US 17, planting another 225 trees in the right-of-way. And we rake the beach daily, picking up seven tons of debris a week.

Here are some of the city’s other “green” accomplishments….

Myrtle Beach was the first Green Power city in the state, purchasing “green power” from Santee Cooper.

City buildings recycle office paper, aluminum and cardboard.

Crabtree Gym has state-of-the-art motion-activated lighting.

City Hall and Chapin Library were retrofitted with energy efficient windows.

We use alternative police vehicles, including bicycles, GEM cars and T3s, in urban areas.

We conducted an energy audit with Santee Cooper and are implementing the recommendations, which include CFL light bulbs, programmable thermostats and other energy-saving measures.

And, of course, Myrtle Beach has been a Tree City USA for 12 years now.

Let’s talk for a moment about “sustainability.” It’s one of those buzz words you hear, but what does it mean? For us, sustainability means “development and growth that meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of the future.” In layman’s terms, what we do today should not hurt what we want to do tomorrow. Good planning leads to a sustainable community. Protecting the environment leads to a sustainable community. A strong and diverse economy leads to a sustainable community. Achieving the balance that we talked about last year between residents and tourists, between neighborhood and commercial, leads to a sustainable community.

Who better to define that balance than you, the residents and the businesspeople who are Myrtle Beach? City Council heard you loud and clear when you said last summer that you did not want May to be “motorcycle month” anymore. Those huge back-to-back bike rallies threw Myrtle Beach out of balance. Such large, single-focus events detract from who and what we really are. Myrtle Beach is not Daytona, and we don’t want to be Daytona.

We are not anti-biker, but we are anti-rally. These rallies occupied three straight weeks of our lives, and that was too much. We tried to work with the organizers and attendees, but they were unable or unwilling to change their events. The rallies were too long, too big, too loud and too boisterous. And they kept other visitors away. So no one should be surprised that Myrtle Beach finally said, “no, thanks,” to the motorcycle rallies. The rallies were feast or famine for the business community. Some did well, but many did not. Money isn’t everything, and the residents of Myrtle Beach weren’t willing to sell the month of May at any price.

But I do want to say “thank you” to a number of groups tonight. On behalf of the city, I extend our thanks to the Horry County Council, the Town of Surfside Beach, the City of North Myrtle Beach, the Harley-Davidson Dealers Association, and even the business owners group called BOOST, for taking steps to support Myrtle Beach's position on the rallies.

Special thanks go to the Horry County Council for approving a reduction in the number and length of vendor permits available for the rallies. The county also is spreading the vendors west of the Intracoastal Waterway, so that they are less concentrated in a few areas. The county has approved a special events ordinance that will address large, unpermitted outdoor events and their effects on the community, and is considering an end to temporary adult entertainment permits. The county's foresight will result in some much-needed advance planning by event organizers.

We also thank the Town of Surfside Beach for halting vendor permits for two years in support of Myrtle Beach's position on the back-to-back bike rallies. Thanks, also, to the City of North Myrtle Beach for reviewing its ordinances in response to our request. North Myrtle Beach has said that it believes its ordinances are adequate for the task at hand and that its noise ordinance is actually stricter than ours.

We thank the Harley-Davidson Dealers Association for its cooperation through the years and for moving its 69-year-old rally to another location beginning this year. The Dealers' four-day event was the real Harley spring rally, but that fact has been lost amid other promotions and rallies. We wish the Dealers' group well at its new location in North Carolina. The Harley rally that remains is only about 10 years old.

Finally, our thanks go out to BOOST – Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism – for acknowledging that the giant rallies have negative effects on the community. During a presentation to County Council, a BOOST representative admitted that the rallies "present unique problems of noise, congestion (and) behavior." BOOST also offered to "develop, fund and implement marketing, PR and communications programs to discourage activities that contribute to congestion, noise and unacceptable behavior."

For the first time, BOOST has suggested changing the rally dates to "lessen the intensity and/or duration of the events," as well as either moving the events apart or merging them. BOOST also offered to work with the county to "mitigate the effects of the rallies on the residents, minimize congestion, minimize noise (and) minimize behavioral problems." We applaud this honest assessment and willingness to help.

Again, Myrtle Beach thanks these governments and organizations for their actions to rein in and lessen the negative effects of these huge motorcycle-related events. It is a strong statement that these unpermitted and unauthorized rallies really were too large, too loud, too long and too much for our communities.

Let me say a few words about the one-cent sales tax for tourism marketing. This is my idea and I support it. It gives the tourism industry a way to make up the shortfall in state matching funds for promotion. And it’s fair… Everyone benefits from increased tourism business, so everyone should contribute a little bit to help generate additional business. Right now, we are being outspent. Our competition spends much more than Myrtle Beach does on advertising and promotion. You’ve got to spend a little money to make more, and the state simply doesn’t have the money to give. If this bill passes, I will strongly recommend that City Council act to implement it.

I want to close tonight by issuing a challenge to my fellow politicians at all levels – town, city, county and state – to work with us, not against us, to make the future better. Our legislators in Columbia need to listen to us, not to the special interest groups. Here are three things I ask the General Assembly to do.

First, take a comprehensive approach to tax reform. Three years ago, our lawmakers took a fairly good tax system and broke it, badly. If you continue this piecemeal approach, if you continue to limit what local governments can do for themselves, then our economic situation is going to get worse, not better. Go back to the drawing board on tax reform. Revisit the things that actually work and take the handcuffs off cities, counties and schools.

Second, let towns and cities annex the doughnut holes. Myrtle Beach has 39 areas of unincorporated Horry County that are completely surrounded by the city limits. Those islands exist in cities across South Carolina. Lawmakers: let the towns and cities annex the doughnut holes and provide service to them. That’s the only logical solution, and it’s also the best one.

Third, listen to your constituents. Let Home Rule work. Don’t try to do everything from Columbia. That’s why we have towns and cities and counties and school districts, so that local people may control their own destiny. Give them the opportunity to govern. We are not the problem, but we are part of the solution to the problem.

Finally, tonight, let me close by calling on you and all of our residents and businesses to do what our city staff does so well. Be “First in Service.” Make excellent service your goal, as it is for us. Myrtle Beach is a wonderful, much-loved destination, and we want to keep it that way.

Thank you for being here.

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P.O. Drawer 2468

Myrtle Beach, SC 29578

Phone: (843) 918-1000

Fax: (843) 918-1028

e-mail: info@cityofmyrtlebeach.com