Winter pools may live on for Myrtle Beach hotels

Myrtle Beach area hotels may be allowed to keep seasonal pool enclosures if the U.S. Senate passes a bill that the U.S. House of Representatives approved last week.

The bill addresses a variety of issues related to the National Flood Insurance Program and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including a regulation that is being used to prohibit pool enclosures.

Local hoteliers and politicians gathered Monday at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the passage of the bill, the effort that went into adding a provision that would allow the enclosures and the impact of the legislation.

Hotels put up the temporary structures that cover pools in the winter so guests who want to swim can stay warm inside. According to FEMA, the walls of the enclosures are not allowed under the flood insurance regulations because they can break away in storms, become projectiles and cause damage to buildings in the area. The Grand Strand had been using the temporary structures for more than 30 years before FEMA stepped in during 2007, raising the safety concerns. Hoteliers say the pool enclosures are an essential tool for offseason tourism, which the area has worked to build.

FEMA does not allow pool enclosures in floodplains under the current regulations and has given the city of Myrtle Beach until November to come into compliance with the rule or be dropped from FEMA's flood insurance coverage. If the city is dropped from the national flood insurance program, some residents would not be able to get flood insurance. About 20 temporary pool enclosures are put up each year, according to the city.

Frans Mustert, the president and chief executive of Oceana Resorts, said that for 25 years there wasn't a problem with pool enclosures. "If this would stand [and the pool enclosures aren't allowed], all of our efforts for the past 25 years would go away," he said.

The Grand Strand has been working for years to improve tourism in the off-season, and the pool enclosures are an important part of that effort, Mustert said. Doing away with them would result in reduced occupancy and layoffs, he said.

"This is a very important issue for us here in Myrtle Beach ...pool enclosures are an asset that we use as an amenity that we use to bring people here in the off-season," said Steve Chapman, the managing partner of the Island Vista Resort.

Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said that he wants the legislation to pass because the pool enclosures help the city and he doesn't want to have to make hotels remove them.

"When you're handcuffed what do you do? You only have one direction," he said.

The city had a permitting system so it could track the enclosures, and if the legislation passes could go back to a similar way of monitoring the temporary structures.

As required by the existing regulation, the city has notified property owners, surveyed many properties and discussed compliance with the floodplain regulations, Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath said. All property owners must comply by September so the city has time to check and report to FEMA that it is in compliance. If the legislation passes, most of that monitoring would no longer be needed.

Leath said the city does not have concerns about the safety of pool enclosures. The pool enclosures are not up during hurricane season, and the area rarely gets storms strong enough to tear them apart, Leath said.

"Those structures really did not increase the risk to the FEMA insurance program," he said.

Rep. Henry Brown has worked to include language in the flood insurance bill that would allow temporary pool enclosures, said Tom Keegan, Brown's aide.

"[Brown] recognizes that tourism is the lifeblood of the economy of this area ...[and] how important it is to the economy and the future of this state and this country that burdensome regulations be overturned," Keegan said.

Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said he was hesitant to predict when the Senate might take up the bill and whether it would consider the House version or draft a new version.

Dean said that there doesn't seem to be much opposition to the rule allowing pool enclosures, but that the provision is part of a much larger bill that may lead to more debate. Dean said that seeking a legislative fix was a last resort after discussions to try to change the regulation in any other way failed.

"The clock is ticking. We'd like to see this passed in the Senate as soon as possible," he said.