Horry County officials weigh changes after camping allowed at parks and boat landings

Horry County staff told the county council that an existing ordinance allows people to camp for up to three days within a 90-day period on many county-owned properties, including 28 boat landings and 31 parks, and urged rewrite or other action to address enforcement and safety problems.

The Parks and Recreation presenter said the county’s signage and park rules—stating parks are open dawn to dusk—conflict with the camping ordinance, and noted parks are not equipped with campground infrastructure such as running water, dump stations, electricity or restrooms. “We don’t have the running water, we don’t have dump station, we don’t have electric, and many of them don’t have bathrooms or even a porta john,” the presenter said.

Deputy Chief Wyatt, describing enforcement challenges from a policing standpoint, said officers cannot reliably determine how long someone has been at a site and often cannot verify overnight activity in the middle of the night. “It is very difficult to enforce the 3 day rule,” he said, adding that abandoned vehicles and transient movement between landings can delay investigations and complicate responses.

Council members raised public-safety concerns, citing proximity to playgrounds, trash, human waste, vandalism, fires and even the fact that the ordinance currently allows the use of firearms at landings “if it’s in a safe manner,” which several members said they found alarming. One council member said many residents would be surprised camping is permitted at several county properties and urged quick action to change the rules.

Staff outlined a set of options for council direction: ban camping entirely on county properties; leave the ordinance unchanged; amend it to allow camping only at certain boat landings and not parks; create a permit and fee process to track and enforce stays; or designate a small number of sites for camping. Council members discussed technological and procedural alternatives, including limited use of cameras, a tag/registration system for overnight vehicles and targeted enforcement for derelict or stolen vehicles.

After discussion, council members agreed to direct staff to work with public safety and return with proposed ordinance language or a resolution for council consideration, rather than implementing an immediate ban. The council did not adopt emergency restrictions during the meeting.

Next steps: staff will draft proposed changes and bring them back to the council for review; timing and a formal hearing schedule were not specified at the meeting.