Home Care In Isle of Palms, SC

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD)- Parking on the Isle of Palms continues to be a contentious topic.

Some saying that a parking plan approved by the South Carolina Department of Transportation in 2015 which established resident-only parking zones needs to be revoked.

The parking plan that was approved in 2015 eliminated a significant number of free parking.

The approval was unpopular among the Charleston Beach Foundation, a group that advocates for more public access to the beaches, when it was first approved.

Now, this plan is now receiving renewed pushback.

“For Isle of Palms to eliminate parking in those right of ways is wrong to begin with and probably unconstitutional,” Parking advocate, Michael Barnett said.

Barnett, who started a petition over beach restrictions in the Lowcountry, says this parking issue has come up again after Isle of Palms voted to deny the short-term rental cap.

Barnett said, “The Isle of Palms is allowing short term rentals throughout the island, essentially making the residential only districts, commercial districts.”

Monday morning, Myra Jones with the Charleston Beach Foundation sent the City of Isle of Palms a letter, asking for the plan to be revoked, arguing IOP no longer has legitimate “residential” areas since the resolution to cap short-term rentals on the island failed.

“So, the SCDOT needs to now go back, review the 2015 parking plan, request that the Isle of Palms redo the parking plan, and they need to give back all residential only parking, they need to give back all 3,000 parking spaces that they took in 2015,” Barnett said.

Isle of Palms city council members are fighting back.

Councilman Blair Hahn providing a statement reading, “In response to Myra Jones’ letter to City council dated November 27^th, 2023, full council has not had an opportunity to discuss. However, Ms. Jones’ continued attempts to characterize the Isle of Palms as not resident friendly, not tourism friendly, not visitor friendly is nonsensical. Isle of Palms provides 8 times more public beach parking than is required by the SC Beach Front Management Act and more public parking per mile of beach than any other community in South Carolina.

Ms. Jones has previously taken her grievances to the South Carolina Courts and has lost. In my opinion, this is nothing more than another attempt of Ms. Jones to ignore the laws of the State and attempt to force her will on Charleston beach communities.

IOP city council members say they plan to discuss this more in future council meetings.

ISLE OF PALMS — On this barrier island known as a vacation destination, full-time residents voted against a proposal to limit short-term rental licenses.

The hotly contested referendum was prompted by a petition signed by more than 30 percent of the city’s registered voters. It called for adoption of an ordinance with a 1,600-license cap on short-term rentals for homes taxed as commercial properties.

Full-time residents, who can legally rent out their homes for up to 72 days each year, would have no limit on short-term rental licenses.

With all votes counted, the referendum was opposed by 54.5 percent. Results are unofficial until certified.

Isle of Palms has traditionally had a mix of full-time residents, second homes and rental properties, each accounting for about one-third of the residential properties. The island adjacent to Sullivan’s Island and across the marsh from Mount Pleasant has about 4,400 residents and 3,740 registered voters.

Proponents of the referendum argued that with no limits, short-term rental properties could come to dominate the island.

For opponents, a key issue was that if there were a cap on licenses, anyone buying a property could not be certain it could be used for short-term rentals, and that could depress prices. If the number of licenses hit the proposed cap — as they did in the summer of 2023 — investment property buyers interested in short-term renting would have to wait until the number came down.

With quality of life and real estate prices in question, both sides pushed hard. Websites were created by pro-referendum Preserve Isle of Palms Now and by anti-referendum Isle of Palms United. Campaign signs supporting or opposing the referendum lined island streets.

NORTH CHARLESTON — To continue efforts to become the Coast Guard’s “operational center of gravity” on the East Coast, officials broke ground Jan. 26 on its new $160 million campus.

This 64-acre site along the Cooper River — just south of the former naval base that closed in 1996 — will house an administration building and redesigned 1,100-foot concrete pier.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and be completed in 2026.

“This Charleston campus will have improved infrastructure that translates into more productive personnel and more efficient operations,” said Capt. Neal Armstrong, the commanding officer of facilities design and construction.

The 51,500-square-foot administration building will provide training and conference room space, and additional rooms dedicated to cutter ship support.

Sustainability is a priority, so the new facility will achieve net-zero energy usage and a net-zero carbon footprint, Armstrong said.

The current Pier November will be replaced with a pier more than three feet taller to enhance durability during coastal storms. It will provide utilities to support five national security cutters and a 90-ton crane, which is critical for dockside maintenance, Armstrong said.

During the design and construction phases nearly 60 subcontractors will support the two main contractors on the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and RQ Construction LLC, providing work for nearly 900 people.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, said every Coast Guard mission begins and ends at a shore facility. When the ships are not at sea, they need a base that can provide necessary maintenance, she added.

The missions conducted at Base Charleston are vital to protecting national security and economic prosperity, Fagan said, adding that the new campus will aid in “lifesaving work,” including patrolling the waters for smuggled narcotics.

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — The Lowcountry saw its fourth highest tide on record Sunday after a Nor'easter hit the South Carolina coast.

Neighborhoods on the beach, like Isle of Palms (IOP), were hit hard by coastal flooding and beach erosion. Most spent Monday trying to recover.

IOP residents cleaning up after Sunday's storm hit harder than expected. Dec. 2023. (WCIV)

People living on IOP are in clean-up mode; they’re filling bags with debris and trash found all over their property. They say they weren't expecting Sunday's storm to hit them so hard, including those who remember dealing with much worse.

"We went through Hurricane Hugo here at the same location," said Mike Sottile, who has resided on the same IOP street for 46 years. "This was not as bad as Hurricane Hugo, obviously, but it was a lot of cleanup. It's probably the most cleanup we've had since Hurricane Hugo."

Read more: Nearly 100 residents in McClellanville trapped after road collapses during Nor'easter

The clean-up took an entire day. Sottile says he started cleaning at 5 a.m. and the pile of 10 of bags spilling over at the end of his driveway wasn't full until 3 p.m. And the debris scattered around his property wasn't all the storm left behind.

"I had water in my garage that was probably two feet deep," Sottile said. "My backyard was in knee deep water and it was just a combination of storm surge and seven inches of rain."

Those two feet of water filled his garage while destroying the family's washer and dryer. The family says they're now in a hurry to replace those appliances during the busy holiday season, with Christmas festivities quickly approaching for them.

Read more: Edisto Beach feels impact of Sunday Nor'easter

According to Sottile, people living on IOP are used to flooding every year, but the recovery from this storm is taking longer.

"We normally don't have this kind of cleanup," he said. "When I say we've had storms in the past, usually it's just what you see in the street and it drains off as soon as the tide goes back out."

Most of the flood waters have receded from the streets. Still, Sottile said his work is far from done. His cable television service is out, but the heat is working. He feels lucky the damage wasn't worse, like the kind he's experienced in the past.

Read more: Flooding continues after Nor'easter causes record rainfall, 4th-highest tide level in Charleston

Neighbors say they're now waiting for the city to come and collect the trash before they can get back to normal life.

"I put in a call to the public works, let them know it was here," Sottile said. "I'm sure they're inundated by a lot of people on the island, so hopefully it'll get picked up before Christmas."

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — There are less than 25 days until a big decision is made on the Isle of Palms.

Should short-term rental licenses be capped at 1,600?

"We moved here deliberately," said Billy Lempesis, a resident of IOP, "understanding that it was a beach community. I have family here. It's always been a wonderful place. It's hard to understand the necessity of restricting short-term rentals."

Isle of Palms residents to decide on capping short-term rental licenses in upcoming vote (WCIV)

Read more: SCDC uses new technology as a solution to stop inmates using contraband cellphones.

Many people say they're still unsure how they will vote.

"There's a lot more information that people need to find out if they're not clear because there's a gray area," said Debbie Strable, a resident of IOP for 22 years. "It is not what black and white, it's not quite clear to a lot of people. And it certainly isn't maybe 100% to me."

News 4 spoke with Mayor Phillip Pounds on Friday.

Read more: Gov. McMaster joins 18 other governors in urging Biden for stronger stance on Israel-Hamas conflict.

He said the city already has a little over 1,600 licenses issued.

News 4 asked him if this passes, would it impact property value and property taxes.

To that, he said he didn't think there would be an immediate effect on either one.

he also made a comparison to other Lowcountry beaches.

"If you look at what's going on at Folly Beach, who put a cap in earlier this year, you know, their, their property values have gone down, you know, pretty significantly in just a few months," said Pounds.

Read more: Dental clinics provide free care to patients in sixth annual Smiles From the Heart event.

Mayor Pounds said it's most important to know exactly what it is you're voting for.

"I would just encourage our residents to get educated from whatever source they use, to get their facts," Pounds said. "You know, whether it's the city's website or their couple of neighborhoods sites that have popped up. You just make sure you're educated on what your choice is."

A petition was created to get this referendum on the ballot.

Right now, IOP is the only Lowcountry beach community without a short-term rental cap.

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD)- Erosion on the Isle of Palms continues to be a big concern for IOP city leaders and property owners.

Council members, the mayor and coastal engineering experts met Tuesday afternoon to discuss short term solutions.

The issue is so urgent that city leaders took action, approving more than a million dollars to fund short-term solutions for the erosion.

Beach erosion has long been a problem on the Isle of Palms

“There’s a lot of concern,” City councilmember Rusty Streetman said.

However, the city says it’s starting to get worse.

“Some of our residents down there have hit the critical line of 20 feet, water within 20 feet of their structure,” Mayor Phillip Pounds said.

The city has no control over one of the major causes of the erosion, king tides.

“Tides were supposed to be 6 and a half feet and with the winds and waves, it was about 8 and half, so pretty significant difference than what we were expecting,” Pounds said.

However, what leaders say they can control, is their response to the issue.

Pounds said, “We need some immediate relief and some immediate guidance to our residents down there on what they can and can’t do.”

“Beach erosion will always be here, it’s a fact of life. We live with it so we just have to try and plan as well as we can to handle that,” Streetman said.

The city approved about one and a half million dollars to continue digging sand from the shoreline for dune renourishment.

It’s a project that has been ongoing since tropical storm Idalia hit in August.

They also say they’ll use that money to bring in more sand if needed and provide sandbags for residents who need them.

Streetman said, “We also have a beach renourishment fund that is taxed onto the accommodations tax, that is targeted just for beach renourishment.”

In January, a long-term renourishment project in partnership with the Army Corp of Engineers will begin.

They’re going to rebuild some of the beach in hopes of mitigating erosion for years to come.