Sunset Beach repeals metal shovel ban

SUNSET BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Nearly a year after implementing a ban on metal shovels at Sunset Beach, the town council has unanimously repealed the ban.

The town’s fire department first suggested a ban following the 2023 beach season, due to a high number of holes dug in the sand.

That season, the fire department had to fill in nearly 500 holes that had been made and left unfilled by beachgoers.

Police chief Ken Klamar said the department found the ban didn’t stop people from finding other ways to dig holes, whether by using plastic shovels, buckets, or even their hands.

Klamar said the department isn’t looking at what is used to make the holes, but rather the holes themselves.

“We want to focus more on the hole itself causes that’s where the danger lies if those aren’t filled in, somebody could fall in those and injure themselves, not so much the device that creates the hole, it’s the hole that we’re focused on,” Klamar said.

Klamar added that officers patrolling the beach will ask people found digging holes to fill them in, and if it’s not done before they leave for the day, they could receive a fine.