Cherry Grove landowners question North Myrtle Beach leaders about dredging’s price tag

One by one, North Strand property owners sounded off Saturday about a plan to dredge Cherry Grove’s canals and stick them with the bill for the work.

North Myrtle Beach officials want to dredge the finger channels and larger channels in Cherry Grove along House Creek from 42nd Avenue North to about 62nd Avenue North. The waterways were man made in the late 1940s and early 1950s and are no longer navigable at low tide.

The project is expected to cost more than $16 million and city officials have recommended charging the more than 700 landowners along the canals for the digging. Under the proposal, owners of single family unit parcels could pay as much as $24,000 apiece ($2,400 annually for up to 10 years). Owners of multi-family unit parcels could pay up to $1,656 annually.

North Myrtle Beach City Council will vote on the proposal March 16, but on Saturday morning leaders listened to residents for nearly an hour in front of an audience of about 220 people at city hall.

More than a dozen of those folks spoke and some agreed that the dredging is needed. But most questioned the price tag of the project and who should pay for it.

“Please, spread the love,” said Tim Ammons, who owns property near 59th Avenue North. “Don’t put it all on our backs. That’s ridiculous.”

North Myrtle Beach officials contend the cost of the dredging should not be spread among all city taxpayers because the greatest beneficiaries of the project will be those who live along the canals. They also say people who don’t live in those areas oppose paying for the digging.

“We’re here in the community and believe me they stop me all the time,” said City Manager Mike Mahaney, who added that he’s heard from many people about this subject. “Taxpayers that are not located on the canals have clearly indicated that they do not want to pay for this project.”

But Sheila Pope, who lives in the Raleigh, N.C., area and owns a home near 60th Avenue North, argued that the entire area will benefit from the dredging, not just the nearby homeowners.

“This truly is a community asset,” she said. “I can’t tell you the number of times I go down to the boat ramp here in Cherry Grove and it is packed to the gills with vehicles. People other than the lot owners and the people who are residing down in Cherry Grove come there.”

Gerald Graf, who owns a home on 55th Avenue North, said the dredging is no different than any other city infrastructure project.

“Everyone should expect them to require maintenance,” he said. “Just like roads, water lines, sewer lines, storm drains. The city takes those others on as their own and maintains them and pays for them with our taxes. I don’t see any reason the channels shouldn’t be treated the same.”

Graf, a retired engineer, also questioned the city’s estimates for the work. He said he researched other dredging projects and found the prices were lower.

“With the high estimates going in, you’ll wind up with a very expensive project,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be that expensive.”

Another problem some homeowners have with the project is that the dredging won’t be wide enough to give them canal access, meaning they would have to spend extra money for further digging.

“There’s no access to the dredged area period,” said Will Mann, who lives along 60th Avenue North. “It’s a 24-feet wide cut, which I totally support and understand. Now consider a channel that’s 100 feet wide sea wall to sea wall. That leaves 38 feet on either side that’s going to remain just like it is at low tide. … You cannot get to the dredged area.”

City officials have said the main cut of the dredging will be 24 feet wide but as the sides settle it will work out to be nearly 30 feet, which is all the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will allow without purchasing private property.

“We can’t spend money that we borrowed on private property,” Mahaney said. “The bond people have been very clear on that. So it doesn’t matter how wide the canal is from your bulkhead to the bulkhead across the canal.”

Mann estimates it will cost homeowners $10,000 to $15,000 — on top of the city’s $2,400 annual bill — to gain access to the channels.

“It’s not worth that to me,” he said.

As for the high cost, city officials have said the $2,400 per year is the most residents would have to pay. If bids for the dredging come in lower, the landowners’ bill would also decrease. However, if the bids are higher than anticipated, city officials say they will have to find another source to pay for the project.

“The risk is on us,” Mahaney said. “If this thing comes in over [budget], we will probably try to find the money to proceed rather than coming back and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to charge you more.’”

So far, the city has already spent $1.25 million on litigation and research related to the project. North Myrtle Beach officials also plan to spend $800,000 on the initial dredging and another $800,000 if a follow-up dredge is needed in a few years.

If the work receives final approval from council, the initial dredging would begin in November and likely be finished by the following March. The dredged material would be removed from the Tidewater Basin over a two-year period. If needed, a maintenance dredge would take place from 2021-2022.

This story was originally published February 21, 2015 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Cherry Grove landowners question North Myrtle Beach leaders about dredging’s price tag ."