Myrtle Beach could see more golf carts but less mopeds cruising Ocean Boulevard this summer.
City council voted to approve franchise agreements for 12 golf cart and moped rental businesses during the meeting Tuesday. The approval upheld the city鈥檚 moratorium keeping the total of both golf carts and mopeds at 871.
Each rental company has to purchase a $10 decal from the city. Those decals are attached to the carts and mopeds based on the number of each the rental company was approved to rent.
The cap began in 2017 following a summer that Myrtle Beach City Manager Fox Simons said was 鈥渙ut of control.鈥
Some of the companies kept their total decal allotments as last year, but swapped out 69 decals for mopeds to use on golf carts.
This year, council approved rental businesses for 675 golf cart decals, up from 606 in 2021. The city鈥檚 golf cart rental decals were lower in 2020 at 477.
Ben Robinson has owned Rent Me Superstore, a golf cart and moped rental business, for over a decade. He said there are several reasons why there has been a rise in golf cart rentals compared to mopeds such as trendiness and the value of renting a golf cart versus a moped.
鈥淭he value of renting a golf cart with four people on it is a better value to entertain four people than it would be to rent four mopeds for four people,鈥 Robinson said.
Myrtle Beach City Council is planning on keeping the number of golf cart and moped rentals at 871, the same as its been in previous years. Council rejected the potential addition of 50 more rentals, citing concerns of public safety. Photo by Ian Livingston Brooking.
While a dozen rental companies, including Robinson鈥檚 three Rent Me Superstores, had their requests approved, there were two businesses that were denied based on recommendation from city staff.
Myrtle Beach Golf Carts was looking to add 40 golf cart rentals decals, going from 165 last year to 205, while South Carolina Electric Fleet was requesting 10 total conveyances, including four golf carts and six mopeds.
Myrtle Beach Golf Carts was the only returning applicant looking to increase their total number of conveyances from the year. South Carolina Electric Fleet was a new applicant.
Together, both businesses would push the cap to 921 decal total, something that Simons and other city staff aren鈥檛 looking to do this year or in the immediate future.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to keep the number at 871,鈥 Simons said. 鈥淚f you increase it for him, you let him in, where do we stop?鈥
Myrtle Beach City Council is planning on keeping the number of golf cart and moped rentals at 871, the same as its been in previous years. Council rejected the potential addition of 50 more rentals, citing concerns of public safety. Photo by Ian Livingston Brooking.
Jerry Stovall, owner of South Carolina Electric Fleet, wanted to expand his business. He currently operates as a car rental service but he wanted to add mopeds and golf carts to his fleet.
Stovall said getting denied makes it look like the city is not open to any new businesses, which contradicts the recent push from the city wanting to be 鈥渂usiness friendly.鈥
鈥淚 feel like they should be open to new businesses that want to bring something good for families here,鈥 Stovall said.
City councilman Gregg Smith said Myrtle Beach is 鈥渁bsolutely business friendly.鈥 However, Smith added public safety has been the top priority for city council.
鈥淲hen staff and police department make recommendations to not increase something, we take it very seriously,鈥 Smith said.
Mayor Brenda Bethune echoed Smith, adding as the city grows, precautions have to be taken into consideration for both the public and those on the golf carts and mopeds.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this is not being business friendly. I think it鈥檚 about looking at what is good for the overall community and putting the overall community first,鈥 Bethune said.
The cap for the number of golf cart and moped rentals has been at 871 for the past three to four years, according to Simons.
鈥淲e had to get our arms around it,鈥 Simons said. 鈥淲ith a growing city and all the issues that we have to manage, typically during the summer, we felt that the best course of action was to limit the number of conveyances.鈥
Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock recalled incidents with crowds of mopeds in bike lanes and mopeds that were overtaking vehicles on Ocean Boulevard. Prock said she consulted with the police department鈥檚 traffic division and the city manager鈥檚 office while examining the increase of visitors to ensure they were making the best recommendation to city council.
鈥淲e just want to make sure that we鈥檙e making the best recommendation for our community overall because we have to evaluate all the areas within the city,鈥 Prock said.
City councilman John Krajc said one of the reasons why the police prefer golf carts over mopeds is because golf carts are bound by state law limiting what roads they can go on. Golf carts cannot be driven on highways and interstates in the state of South Carolina, while mopeds can but must not exceed 25 miles per hour.
Due to these issues, Rent Me Superstore鈥檚 Robinson said city staff would rather have rental businesses ask for more golf carts rather than more mopeds.
鈥淚f you were to have a company come in and ask city council to convert 100 golf carts in moped tags, the answer would be, 鈥楬ell, no,鈥欌 Robinson said.
Robinson added if businesses exchange moped decals for golf cart decals, those businesses risk never getting moped decals in the future.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e never going to allow you to convert golf cart tags into moped tags. It鈥檚 not going to happen,鈥 Robinson said.
Myrtle Beach City Council is planning on keeping the number of golf cart and moped rentals at 871, the same as its been in previous years. Council rejected the potential addition of 50 more rentals, citing concerns of public safety. Photo by Ian Livingston Brooking.
Smith said he believes the numbers for moped requests will continue to go down over time.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we have issues with, time and time again, is mopeds,鈥 Smith said. 鈥淏y that nature, you may see the number of golf carts go up.鈥
During the city鈥檚 budget retreat in Pinopolis last month, it was discussed the addition of 50 new police department staff members be hired, including 39 uniformed officers. While the extra officers will alleviate the workload, city council members don鈥檛 see the cap being raised or removed in the immediate future.
鈥淚 think more golf carts creates more congestion (that) creates more opportunities for people to act inappropriately on golf carts,鈥 Krajc said.
The ordinances now move to a second reading that will be addressed at a future city council meeting.
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