Surfside Beach leaders seek resident feedback on businesses for new pier

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Town leaders want your opinion on the long-awaited Surfside Beach Pier.

They say resident input will help them understand what type of businesses locals and tourists feel would be the best fit for the new pier.

The former pier was a staple in the Grand Strand community until it was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

As the town inches closer to restoring the pier, they want to ensure they’ll have the best businesses on the site for years to come.

During a Monday night meeting, the town’s pier committee discussed the next steps towards reaching that goal.

Currently, the committee is receiving ‘Request For Proposals’ (RFPs) from businesses interested in setting up shop at the pier. The deadline for those proposals is at noon on Friday, April 8.

The committee says the RFPs will give them more of an idea of what type of businesses are interested in being on the pier.

In the meantime, leaders want input from the community about their vision for the pier.

Some people feel the new pier needs to have the same businesses that were on the site before. Others feel different.

One person suggested that future businesses be fishing or water sports-related companies.

Others say they don’t necessarily care about the type of shops that move in, as long as they fit the family image of the beach.

The committee says they’re excited to receive this feedback and it’s motivated them to work on creating a survey so they can hear from more residents across the board on this issue.

But some folks say they want more focus on brought to what’s on the outside of the pier-parking spaces.

During the meeting, concerns were raised about whether there will be enough parking space for future workers and guests visiting their businesses.

“It should actually be one of the survey questions,” a Surfside resident told committee members during the Monday meeting.” How far are you willing to walk? How much are you willing to pay? Because that’s going to be the success or failure of [what you grow on the pier] because we have a parking situation [now], we’re there already.”

The pier committee tells WMBF News that parking is a big concern, stating the next step is determining which committee, parking or pier, will be responsible for creating a possible parking design for town leaders to consider in the future.

Families are asked to provide feedback to the committee via email at piercommittee@surfsidebeach.org.

Engineers previously said the pier should be fully operational by March 2023.

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