Longer hours sought for Memorial Waterfront Park?

MOUNT PLEASANT -- The pier at Memorial Waterfront Park should remain open until 11 p.m. year-round, a Town Council committee voted Monday.

The pier now closes at 5 p.m. in the winter and at 10 p.m. in the summer.

"It's a wonderful place," said Town Councilman Chris Nickels, who proposed the change at a meeting of the Public Services Committee.

Nickels said he has heard from some who wanted to watch the sunset from the pier, only to encounter locked gates that kept them away.

He said there is no downside to longer pier hours and no cost to the town.

The committee -- including Chairman Nickels, Mayor Pro Tem Thomasena Stokes-Marshall and Councilman John Burn -- voted unanimously in favor of longer hours. The panel requested that Mayor Billy Swails write a letter to the county Park and Recreation Commission seeking the change. The town has a contract with the commission to manage the pier.

"The one key factor would always be security," Stokes-Marshall said.

The town has a police substation next to the pier, so that would not be a problem, Town Administrator Eric DeMoura said.

The pier is the area's longest at 1,200 feet.

The area's other pier, at Folly Beach, closes at 5 p.m. in the winter and is open until 11 p.m. during the summer. It is a Park and Recreation Commission facility.