New Golden Mile parking rules go in effect July 1

New parking rules banning most tourists and county residents from parking along Myrtle Beach’s Golden Mile will go into effect three days before Independence Day.

But City Manager John Pedersen said that the first two weeks after the July 1st rollout will be used to warn the public of the changes with real enforcement beginning in mid-July.

Residents outside the city limits and part-time residents will soon be able to buy a parking pass at $100 each to grant them free and unlimited access to spaces in the city’s Buchanan lot at Second Avenue North and at a lot at 16th Avenue North. But the hang-tags will not grant visitors access to the Golden Mile where beachgoers have parked for free for decades.

Residents in the area complained about the amount of beachgoers and cars that swarmed their neighborhoods each summer, creating a nightmare for traffic and pedestrian safety. After months of meetings with neighbors in the area and hours of debate, Myrtle Beach City Council passed new regulations May 10 to curb the influx of cars.

Under the new rules, only city residents with parking decals will be allowed to park along the east side of Ocean Boulevard and along most of the side streets between Kings Highway and Ocean Boulevard from 31st Avenue North to 82nd Avenue North. On-street parking will no longer be allowed on the west side of Ocean Boulevard and eastside parking will be limited to 57 marked spaces pushed back 30 feet from curb-cuts.

Right-of-way parking along 82nd Avenue North will also be off-limits.

Spaces in beach accesses will require non-city residents to pay-by-phone or online through the Parkmobile service. Unless Myrtle Beach City Council votes to change the rates, the parking fees in beach access lots north of 31st Avenue North will cost $4 an hour or $20 a day.

Council members recently discussed lowering the parking rate, which is currently set at double the rate of other city spaces. But the council has yet to vote on the parking fee changes.

“Let’s not think we’re going to resolve the issue by the amount of money we charge to park,” Mayor pro-tem Mike Lowder said at a May 24 council workshop. Lowder asked for the rates to be uniform with other city parking fees. Mayor John Rhodes agreed.

City leaders have said the double rates were not added to the parking plan to raise more revenue, but to encourage visitors to use other, cheaper lots.

“These are high-demand spaces and council appears to have picked a rate that reflects that demand,” city spokesman Mark Kruea said in an email last month. “It’s premium parking, but again, it’s not about the money. Since over-parking in the neighborhoods is the problem, the solution is to encourage those cars to park in other parts of the city which are less residential in nature.”

Any revenue raised from paid parking will be used for new projects in the city’s entertainment area and the provision of additional parking, Kruea said.

To pay by phone, people will need to register with a credit card through a Parkmobile app, online at http://us.parkmobile.com/ or by calling Parkmobile at 877-727-5714.

Signing up is free, but users will be charged an extra 35 cents per parking session.

“When you pull up to park, you call Parkmobile’s number or use the app and begin your parking session,” Kruea said. “When you are ready to leave, you end your parking session.”

The service charges a registered credit card for the time the spot was used. The paid parking will be enforced through the city’s contract with Lanier Parking.

“The Parkmobile app is easy for the public to use and easy for Lanier to check to see who’s paid and who hasn’t,” Kruea said.

Lanier ambassadors will be able to see who has paid by checking a car’s license plate number and the parking lot’s location through the Parkmobile system on a mobile device.

Like other city lots, paid parking will be required in spaces from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week from March 1 through Oct. 31.

Only city residents, who have cars registered in the city limits of Myrtle Beach and pay city property taxes on those vehicles, are eligible for city decals, which allow residents to park at any paid space for free. Decals are not available to part-time residents who have cars registered in other areas.

“The decals are tied to where the car ‘lives,’” Kruea said. “The idea is that parking involves vehicles and vehicles which are registered inside the city limits are paying property taxes which would be considered their contribution to the city’s cost of providing and maintain(ing) parking. Vehicles registered outside the city limits do not pay city property taxes and therefore make their financial contribution to the cost of parking at the parking meters.”

Pedersen told the council at a workshop May 24 that the city would need to add close to 400 signs to the area to inform the public of the new parking rules; 149 “no parking” signs and 36 “resident decal parking” signs would need to be added just to Ocean Boulevard. But he told city council that the city could substantially reduce the number of signs along Ocean Boulevard by painting the curbs yellow in lieu of signage. The council seemed to be on board with the suggestion.

Parking violators will incur tickets with fines starting at $30 each. Vehicles that garner more than $100 in unpaid parking tickets may be booted and vehicles left unclaimed could be towed.

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "New Golden Mile parking rules go in effect July 1."