Beachgoers now have more options to park at Cherry Grove. Here are the details
Residents and visitors in North Myrtle Beach now have more parking opportunities due to the construction of five new surface lots.
The lots, which are in the Cherry Grove neighborhood, have been joined together to provide two parking areas with 60 spots. The city purchased the lots from the South Carolina Future Farmers of America Foundation for $3 million, said Patrick Dowling, the city’s spokesman. He added the city has been working on improving them for about a month.
“There’s been a huge outcry in need for public parking in that area because a lot of people like to go to Cherry Grove, to the beach there and to the point,” he said.
The funding for the lots came from the accommodation tax, which Dowling said the city had access to after Myrtle Beach and Horry County reached a settlement in the hospitality tax lawsuit. The dispute started when Myrtle Beach sued Horry County in 2019 over its collection of a 1.5% hospitality fee, which the city said was done illegally after 2017.
The money does not come from the settlement but already belonged to the city, Dowling said, noting that North Myrtle Beach and other cities named in the lawsuit agreed to escrow their tax collections in case the county won and the municipalities had to pay them a portion of the tax money. The city had a little under $6 million.
Dowling said the city wanted to “use that money to improve public parking opportunities along Ocean Boulevard because land is hard to find, but we’ve got to do it because we have more people wanting to park than we have spaces.”
The lots, which are called “The Point at Cherry Grove,” opened on Friday. They are located on either side of Ocean Boulevard.
Drivers can pay to park using the kiosk at the lots or through the Passport Parking app on their phones. Without a city-issued decal, drivers must pay $2 every hour to park. Parking is free before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. everyday.
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 6:58 AM.