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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Folly Beach City Council on Tuesday will discuss making changes to an ordinance that restricts parking on Center Street. Some residents are speaking out against these restrictions and plan on attending the meeting to speak in front of the Council.
The current ordinance makes Center Street a timed parking area, meaning during the day there is a two-hour limit on parking, except for Folly Beach residents who are exempt from this restriction.
This exemption has outraged some non-residents, who feel everybody in the state should have equal opportunity to park and access the beach.
It is not only Folly Beach that is under fire by some residents for parking restrictions. A petition with almost 11,000 signatures calls for Charleston County to defund Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island and Folly beach until they “enter into an agreement to cease taking actions to restrict public access to these islands and beaches.”
The author of the petition, Michael Barnett, said he feels Folly Beach is taking state-owned property and using it for their exclusive use.
“They are attempting to steal those islands, it doesn’t matter what they say, they have a plethora of excuses that are invalid and don’t make any sense at all,” Barnett said.
Folly Beach said it prides itself on its accessibility, and that beachgoers who plan to park longer than two hours have approximately 2,840 non-timed parking spaces to choose from. This is around 800 more public parking spaces than the total number of residents counted in the most recent Census, according to the city.
The meeting will be held in person July 11 at 7 p.m. For the address and agenda, click here.
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