City advisors don’t want wind-powered shades in summer. Will Myrtle Beach try them anyway?

More than a decade after Myrtle Beach introduced its current ordinance banning wind-activated shading devices during the busy tourist season, the city is considering a trial run allowing popular Shibumi Shades and similar products in residential areas during the summer.

While Myrtle Beach City Council could approve a pilot program, the move has garnered opposition from city advisors and safety officials who maintain the same concerns and complaints they’ve held for years about lifeguard visibility, congestion, enforcement, hazards and more.

After City Council sent the matter to the Beach Advisory Committee for consideration, the committee unanimously voted against recommending a trial run at a Wednesday meeting.

“I don’t know what metric we would use to determine whether it was a successful trial period or whether it was unsuccessful,” committee member Steve Taylor said. “I don’t believe that people would go out and purchase wind driven devices if they knew there was a chance they couldn’t use them three months down the road, so the real end result of a trial period, if it passed, wouldn’t be in the trial period, it would be the years after the trial period, and then we would have potentially more congestion.”

Echoing prior comments against a possible change, both the Myrtle Beach Fire Department and the Myrtle Beach Police Department spoke out at the meeting, where an officer said they “were still strongly opposed to changing the ordinance or a trial run in any way, shape or form.”

One Myrtle Beach resident also came out to voice her objections to a potential pilot program, citing concerns of noise, visibility, trip hazards, wayward sand and the possibility of other, unwieldier products being allowed.

“It’s nothing against the actual wind-driven device. It’s nice, a lot of people like them,” resident Nan Trout said. “It is the opening up of the can of worms ... My thing is, is that if you go to a beach with them, if you’re behind them, they’re super loud. They’re super big.”

What’s next for Shibumi Shades in Myrtle Beach?

For his part, Shibumi Shades co-founder Dane Barnes estimated that more than 1,000 or 2,000 local residents already own the product and would be interested in using them in Myrtle Beach. He vouched for allowing both the mini and classic shades – which are 75 square feet and 150 square feet, respectively – but recommended against noisier attachments that help the shades remain in the air on calmer days.

“At the end of the day, we would love just the opportunity to have a trial however you guys see fit and would certainly love to see both Shibumi sizes to be allowed, just because of all of the Myrtle Beach and Horry County families who already own a Shibumi shade, I would say roughly 80% of them own the larger family size shade,” Barnes said.

But the committee didn’t support a trial run, shooting the recommendation down unanimously. Even with the considerable opposition, a potential pilot program isn’t dead in the water. The matter will return to City Council, and if four members vote in its favor, Myrtle Beach could see a trial run for wind-powered shades in residential areas during the summer season.

“Council will have to talk about it and see,” said Mayor Mark Kruea. “We were thinking of simply a one-year trial. The ordinance prohibiting those shading devices – tents, canopies – predates the existence of the Shibumis, so they were not the reason why the ordinance was enacted. We’ll have a conversation at City Council and see where it goes from there.”