Judge dismisses lawsuit against City of North Myrtle Beach over parking concerns

Almost two months after North Myrtle Beach residents filed a lawsuit against the city for parking along North Ocean Boulevard, a judge dismissed the suit.

"We appreciate the Court having upheld the City's position in this matter," public information officer Pat Dowling said in an email.

The suit was filed in April by 24 residents, citing dangerous and unlawful parking in the median along North Ocean Boulevard between 3rd Avenue North and Shorehaven Drive, according to the lawsuit.

The median is a grassy area separating the north and southbound lanes.

The city started allowing parking in the median in spring 2015, which led to complaints from residents, the suit states.

In late April, the city responded to the suit, saying that residents have "not suffered any direct injuries."

At the time, Dowling told The Sun News the reason the city chose to provide parking on the median was due to a lack of parking in the city and county.

"At the end of the day, we still lack sufficient public parking to accommodate the growing number of visitors we host during the peak tourism months, and we will continue to work toward short-term and long-term solutions," Dowling said in the email.

Councilwoman Nikki Fontana said officials have been working to come up with solutions to solve the parking problem, such as leasing empty lots or buying land for parking, but that many have the options have fallen through.

"We've tried to cross everything and we just haven't found the right answer yet," Fontana said. "It's like a puzzle and you've gotta make sure all these pieces fit together and right now, they're not fitting together."

Moving forward, visitors will be allowed to park in the medians along North Ocean Boulevard, as well as along right-of-ways on side streets.

"They file down these streets in residential homes, in front of everything," Fontana said. "And it's not fair for you to not allow that in once section and it's already been done ever since you could remember, people doing it in all the other sections."

This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Judge dismisses lawsuit against City of North Myrtle Beach over parking concerns."