Planning Comission
City Meetings
By Lauren Dean
Planning Commission – June 7
Vacation Rental Management Strategy
The Planning Commission is getting ready to tackle an issue many people say is long overdue – a revamp of trash and noise issues related to vacation rentals at Folly Beach.
When the Planning Commission met on June 7, Chairman LaJuan Kennedy “introduced” the subject of nuisance behavior at rentals to get commissioners “thinking about” the problem before it comes up for serious discussion at the July 5 meeting. Kennedy wants to use business license applications as the vehicle to shift responsibility for ordinance compliance to property owners or their rental agencies.
She said it makes sense to link the two because, although Charleston County is tasked with collecting fees and issuing business licenses, Marlene Estridge at City Hall still collects about 2/3 of the Folly Beach business license revenues.
In addition to posting the ordinances in the rental houses, Kennedy wants to require owners to designate a representative who could be on the scene within 30 minutes to handle nuisance calls. She pointed out that police officers are not permitted to enter a residence without probable cause unless the owner or his agent is present.
“Yeah,” quipped Kirk Grant. “He’s using you as a shield.”
Millard Smith suggested designating an alternate to act as point man when the designated representative was out of town. Mary Cunningham said if neighbors are having problems with activity at rental houses, they can call 588-7003 between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
“That’s about when the trouble starts,” Carl Hally said.
Grant thought the representative should be a resident of the City, but Hally said the more important criteria was having someone who could physically respond to calls within an agreed upon time, answer the complaints, and help resolve the issues.
Business licenses are renewed each December and Kennedy said Council should have a plan in place by that time so trash and noise issues related to rental properties can be addressed when owners come to City Hall to renew their applications.
Kennedy said the Isle of Palms enforces occupancy rules, setting the limit as two people per bedroom plus two additional people per night. “You can have as many as 25 or 30 people in one house overnight, provided they are related to one another,” she said, “but 30 kids with alcohol is not a family.”
Kennedy was on a roll. “Let’s not overlook the business license fees and accommodations taxes the City loses when people advertise their vacation rentals on the internet,” she said. “If you put a ‘For Rent’ sign in your yard Eric (Lutz, the building inspector) will get you,” she said, adding that no one at City Hall has time to roll through VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) to catch the sneaky little tax cheats.
Grant agreed that time was of the essence and wondered if City staffers could prepare some proposals for the Planning Commission to consider at their next meeting so they could get a quick recommendation to City Council.
Sam Robinson said he would like to see the most important rules posted in a concise form close to the front door so renters can’t say they didn’t see them. “It’s an education thing,” he said. “There won’t be any excuse for them not knowing.”
Grant suggested that owners of rental properties be given a list of the rules when they apply for a business license. Robinson said make the rules look official by calling them “The City of Folly Beach Ordinances.”
“Do you think people really know what an ordinance is?” Grant asked, suggesting it be labeled “Folly Beach Laws” instead.
“Yeah,” Kennedy said, “We’re not playing little games here, these are the laws.”
Ha! Ha! Ha!
“Yeah, and have it signed by the Mayor and every member of City Council,” Grant said.
“And include their phone numbers,” Hally said.
“You will discourage anyone from running for public office,” retorted Kennedy.
More laughter.
All fun aside, the Planning Commission will debate the issue at its next meeting on July 5. Whether absentee landlords or residents matter most is at the very heart of where we go from here as a community, and may well be our next battleground. Those affected by the noise and litter created by rental houses – and who isn’t? – are encouraged to attend the meeting to voice their concerns and offer suggestions.
Official Zoning Map & Comprehensive Plan
In other business, the Official Zoning Map of Folly Beach was sent to City Council for final approval. The Comprehensive Plan, which Planning had worked on for more than a year, was fine-tuned again when Mike Richard discovered in the teensy weensy print provisions for building a fine arts center, an idea vigorously voted down in a 2007 referendum. Kennedy struck that reference from the plan, which was sent to City Council for final reading.
Vagrancy ordinance?
Hally brought up the people camping on the beach, not out-of-towners but what he described as “permanent campers who were former residents of the FBI who do not have the best interests of the other residents at heart. I feel sorry for them, but . . . ”
It’s a “sad situation,” someone else said. Folly Beach at present has no vagrancy ordinance and the lingering feeling that Folly accepts people warts and all may be on the line since the Front Beach Inn shut down and released a group of jobless panhandlers to prey on residents and visitors.
City Council Special Meeting – June 8
Vagrancy ordinance
The City Council meeting the next evening took up where the Planning Commission left off when Folly Beach resident Jamie McDonell asked City Council to consider a vagrancy ordinance to address the increasing problem of jobless, homeless people who he said are creating problems in the community.
Eddie Ellis said “I’m glad you’re coming here and saying this,” but reminded McDonell that when he had pointed out the problem several years ago, he was met with skepticism and derision. Ellis pointed out that it was not a matter of being hard-hearted. “When you help them, you are enabling them,” he said.
10-11 Budget
The budget for the up-coming year was passed 5-1, with Ellis casting the dissenting vote. Pennell Clamp led the discussion on a budget he described as “well prepared and workable” and only three percent higher than last year. “We need to be proactive rather than reactive though,” he cautioned. “Council needs monthly reports from each department head regarding their demands on the budget.”
He said Council needs to build a reserve fund and there are three ways to do it – reduce services, raise the millage rate, or do a better job of controlling and managing the City’s assets – and nobody wants the first two. “We were hired by the City of Folly Beach to manage their money. Let’s make them proud of us,” he said.
“We’re in an odd situation,” Clamp continued. “The Council that was here before approved doing a number of things we didn’t have the money for . . . like using a credit card. We will pay as we go.”
City Hall Expansion
Clamp had concerns about staying within the budgeted $30,000 for the temporary relocation of the fire department. Mayor Tim Goodwin said, “We’ll work it every day not to exceed that amount.” Goodwin said he had appointed City Building Inspector Eric Lutz to oversee all aspects of the job and Comptroller Charlie McManus told him Lutz was doing “an absolutely fantastic job. He nails them to the wall on everything.”
New Bridges
Council revisited the proposal made at the last meeting to budget $10,000 to hire an engineering consultant to act as a go-between with the SC Department of Education.
Sam Robinson, representing the Planning Commission bridge committee, said none of them were engineers and the Planning Commission needed someone with expertise to explain and negotiate issues between them and SCDOT. He said they were not getting appropriate responses to their questions.
Mayor Goodwin said larger cities have engineers on their staff and Clamp thought the $10,000 was “a small price to play for satisfaction.” Paul Hume was not so sure. “Is it normal for us to have to hire people to protect us? I thought this was our bridge,” he said. “We’ll get an engineer, then we’ll need attorneys . . . Are you sure this is the direction we want to go?”
“Why are we getting pushed?” Ellis asked. “Why aren’t we doing the pushing?”
In the end, the resolution to hire an engineer to represent Folly Beach vs. SCDOT passed unanimously. As Mayor Goodwin said, “This bridge is something we’ll have to live with for the next 40-50 years. We need to get the bridge we want.”
