Sullivan's Island Property

Residents attending the Isle of Palms Town Council meeting held of Tuesday, January 23, 2007, spoke out about the growth of the Island as well as the issue of short-term rentals not to mention the upcoming vote for final approval of a change to the SR-2 zoning district. This rezoning change would require a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet and would affect approx. 750 lots stretching from Wild Dunes to Breach Inlet. The article by Prentiss Findlay with The Post and Courier sums up the meeting:

“ISLE OF PALMS – It was standing-room-only Tuesday night as dozens of residents, some wearing “Save Isle of Palms” buttons, called on Town Council to put the brakes on island development.

Kurt Walter said he wanted to avoid the “Myrtle Beach syndrome” of rapid, wall-to-wall growth. Like many of the speakers, Brian Duffy called for a halt to new building permits, a move that Folly Beach made recently so it can re-evaluate the direction of its building.

“I think it’s time to be proactive. Let’s plan,” Duffy said.

Many of the speakers echoed Duffy’s call for a moratorium on island building as well as a fresh look at the issue of short-term rentals. Some residents complained that short-term rentals have become a long-term headache because vacationers in town for a few days raise a ruckus while partying into the wee hours of the morning.

Sullivan’s Island banned short-term rentals, and Isle of Palms could take a page from Sullivan’s playbook, the residents said, just like it could learn from the Folly Beach building moratorium.

More than 800 people signed a petition circulating on the island that calls for the Town Council to address their concerns about growth. They painted the issue as the interests of residents versus those of wealthy developers.

Those who spoke during the citizen’s comment portion of the council meeting took the floor for more than a hour to air a laundry list of grievances, all of which dealt with the issue of development that they feel is out of control. Mayor Mike Sottile limited speakers to two minutes, but many of them kept talking well past then, some up to six minutes as they read detailed prepared statements that elaborated their concerns for the island’s future.

The issues that the island residents complained about were not on the council agenda as action items. But many of the residents felt it was time to speak out.

Real estate agent Chris Donavan said discontent has been brewing on the island through a grapevine of e-mails and word-of-mouth conversations. Some residents have signs in their yards expressing their discontent with how the island is managing growth, she said. “It feels like a freight train coming,” Donavan said of unchecked growth. “Let’s look at our island as whole, and decide what we want as residents.”

In a public hearing prior to the Council meeting, residents expressed their concerns about an upcoming vote for final approval of a change to the SR-2 zoning district that would require a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet. The change affects 750 lots stretching from Wild Dunes to Breach Inlet.

Resident Moose Morris complained that he bought two adjacent lots, both more than 12,000 square feet, with the intent to subdivide them into three lots. But under the new rule he can’t subdivide them as he planned. He said the change left him feeling blindsided. “We feel like this is an undue invasion of property rights when we purchased this property,” he said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.