Were hundreds of parking tickets issued by Surfside Beach police during free event Monday?
Hundreds of people turned out Monday evening for Surfside Beach’s first hula and fire show, creating parking issues for the small town.
A Facebook post on Monday evening about people receiving parking tickets while visiting the free show received hundreds of responses from people.
The post indicated that hundreds of people had received parking tickets, and comments became testy when discussing the town’s available parking.
“The good news is that it was very successful,” Town Administrator Gerry Vincent said about the event. “The bad news was there were 12 tickets issued last night.”
Most of the tickets were for parking against the flow of traffic, which is one of the town’s parking ordinances.
“It’s a hot topic,” Police Chief Kenneth Hofmann said Tuesday about town parking.
“I’m sure there were plenty more that could have been written,” Hofmann said.
Hofmann said officers try to stay in the event area to guide people where to park. The key things to remember when parking, Hofmann said, is that drivers can’t park 10 feet from a driveway, 30 feet from an intersection and wheels can’t be on the roadway.
He said residents do get angry if drivers park along the right-of-way.
“You have to have a place to put people,” Hofmann said. “Many residents don’t want a car parked in the right-of-way in front of their property.”
The hula show begins at 7 p.m., when the town’s parking service, Pivot Parking, stops enforcing parking.
After that, Surfside Beach police can write tickets if they see an issue. Only two tickets were written by police after 8 p.m. and those were written in a different part of town, Hofmann said.
Twelve tickets were written by Pivot Parking after 5 p.m. Those tickets were for vehicles parking against the flow of traffic and wheels being on the roadway.
The town’s parking ordinances have been posted on the town’s website, Facebook page and flyers have been distributed. People are not required to pay for parking after 7 p.m.
Vincent said he had talked with Mayor Bob Hellyer Tuesday morning about possible alternatives for event parking going forward. One of the possible options is providing extra parking at the fire station and offering a shuttle, Vincent said.
But ultimately, Vincent said drivers should plan for several options for potential parking.
“When you go to an event like that, plan where you’re going to park,” he said. “Parking is at a premium here.”
This story was originally published June 6, 2023 at 2:46 PM.
