MYRTLE BEACH--Dozens of Grand Strand hotels keep their pools open throughout the year by using glass enclosures. However that could soon change.
Under a 25-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency regulation, glass enclosed pools are prohibited from costal flooding zones.
Although the rule has not been strictly enforced it could have a big impact for hotels and costal business across the Carolina coast.
With this in mind, S.C. Representatives Jim Clyburn, Henry Brown, and Gresham Barrett co-wrote a bill passed by Congress to overturn the regulation.
FEMA rejected a building proposal in North Myrtle Beach two-and-a-half years ago which included a glass enclosed pool.
South Carolina officials have contested the regulations ever since.
Though the policy has rarely been enforced, Myrtle Beach city leaders and hoteliers say they have made 42 trips to Washington, D.C. to lobby against the regulation. They met at the city’s chamber of commerce today to applaud the U.S. House for passing the legislation.
“It's like if we were to close the beach for five months in the winter time just in case that maybe a hurricane, even though there's never been a hurricane in the winter time. They basically said that we can't build anything in a flood zone even though it has no negative consequences whatsoever,” said Franz Mustert, Oceana Resorts President and C.E.O.
The enclosures are only needed during the winter and Mustert says people have no reason to worry about their safety in an enclosed pool.
He says it takes only four hours to deconstruct the enclosure.
Though the House passed the bill allowing pool enclosures in coastal flooding zones, it's still up to the Senate to decide and if they don't make a decision by this winter it could cause problems for hotels along Ocean Boulevard.
“If it ever would happen where we can't have pool enclosures that would be disastrous to Myrtle Beach. It has taken us a long time to build this business up and it would only take one year of not having indoor pools to damage everything that would go away,” said Mustert.
Uncertainties around the bill also make marketing the city a difficult task.
Essentially, the chamber can't promise people will be able to swim during the winter if they stay along the coast.
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