SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Town Council found out at Tuesday night’s meeting, the new Surfside Beach pier is certified for occupancy.

Collins Engineering inspected the pier Monday and gave the town the certificate.

A representative was not at the meeting, but Town Administrator Gerald Vincent presented the certificate to council.

It allows tenants like Drippy’s Ice Cream to begin its plans and eventually submit it to council.

The pier first broke ground in late 2020 and the first expected completion date is Spring 2023.

Council also voted to appoint two new members and one previous serving member to the reinstated pier committee.

The committee was reinstated at council’s last meeting, two weeks ago, and will be used for commercial type operations like games and amusement and merchandise sold at the pier.

Council also voted five to two to remove the plaque that was put on the pier in September of last year.

Councilwoman Shawn Fallon said it should be dedicated to residents instead of former council members.

Mayor Rob Krouse said there is no opening date yet for the pier, but he’s excited it’s moving in the right direction.

“It doesn’t mean we’re ready to open it up yet, but it does mean that they are substantially complete,” Krouse said. “We can start to allow the leased tenants to come in and complete their buildings and we can start looking to when we can open it. And we will be doing that very soon.”

Council also heard from Police Chief Kenneth Hofmann on a report that shows the department initiated nearly 70% more traffic stops in January of this year compared to January 2023.

There were 456 stops in 2023 and 769 in January 2024.

Hofmann told News13 there have not been any recent department directives about traffic stops.

He said the increase is due to officers being more proactive in looking for more serious traffic violations. Hofmann also said in January there was about a 50-50 split in terms of warnings versus tickets issued.

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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.

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