Tuesday night, Surfside Beach Town Council met for a special committee of the whole to workshop what they might do for the future of the much talked about pier the town owns.
The future of vacant restaurant space on the pier has been up in the air since December. Up until two weeks ago, it seemed they had lined up someone to take it over, but that fell through. At a May 10th meeting, town council voted to rescind their previous acceptance of a lease, saying they rushed into the deal.
Tuesday's meeting included for the first time - plans for more renovations to the entire pier. Ideas included adding decks to the north side and replacing the piles that have been weathered over time.
Several ideas were thrown on the table for how to fill the vacant south side space that used to house Nibil's restaurant. Council members suggested an array of things to fill that space including an arcade, a visitors center, and a T-shirt or souvenir shop.
Curtis Kremer runs Pier Outfitters, a tackle and souvenir store across from the abandoned space.
"I just don't see it the age group of people that have the money to spend they don't want an arcade, if we put another gift shop in all it will do is dilute our business," he says. "Then you got two businesses that aren't going to make it. So I don't see anything else really going to work there besides a restaurant."
The restaurant space has been vacant since December, when town council didn't award a new contract to Nibil's restaurant. Because the town owns the pier, it's required by law to put the restaurant up for bid.
At the conclusion of the workshop, town council suggested staff get the building inspected.
Councilman Bob Childs suggested the 45 year old structure has a leaky roof and needs many improvements including electrical, A/C, and plumbing work that's out of date.
"It's some of the shoddiest work I've ever seen," he said during the meeting.
There's also a new state law recently passed that requires the entire pier to become ADA compliant for things like wheelchair access by March 2012.
Town Council members agreed to discuss the pier once a month in a similar workshop setting before their regularly scheduled town council meetings. The next Surfside Beach meeting is Tuesday, June 7th.
