Volume 3 Issue 15

November 30, 2007

Lettitor
By Heather Holbrook

The shoal survivor: IOP hears long-range plan to battle erosion
By Ali Akhyari

      Approximately 100 people crammed into the Isle of Palms Town Hall on November 13 to hear the long awaited Long-Term Beach Management Report from Chistopher Jones. Among them was State Representative Ben Hagood and State Senator Chip Campsen, who spoke at the beginning of the meeting.
      Jones made sure the attendees were aware that the plan was meant to deal with future erosion over the next 50 years and not with the current erosion emergency, although he did suggest the City should begin pursuing the proper permits for offshore dredging which could take up to a year to get.
      From April until September of this year, Jones worked with a 12 member “informal advisory group” made up of a cross-section of interested parties including residents (inside and outside of Wild Dunes), business representatives, Bill Eiser of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) and others.
      This was phase one of the process where Jones gathered information and opinions on how to deal with erosion in the area. Phase two went from September through November when Jones conducted supplemental research that resulted in additional information before putting together the report which he presented that night.
      Jones and the advisory group considered 29 beach management alternatives which were placed into five categories: erosion control, emergency protection, retreat, funding, and implementation.
      In order to consider an option agreed upon, Jones said that no more than two people within the advisory group could be against the idea. With that being said, Jones presented his findings.

Suggestions
      In the realm of erosion control, Jones says that the City should work with a myriad of parties for workable solutions including residents, state agencies, its Beach Advisory Committee, Wild Dunes Community Association and others. He says that the City should not oppose the borrowing of sand from Dewees or Breach inlet ebb tidal deltas or from wider sections of beach. He also says that the use of trucks to haul sand on the beach should not be used except in emergency situations. He added that current regulations prohibiting the construction of groins should be followed.
      Emergency protection has largely consisted of sandbag placement. Jones says that standards need to be developed for sandbags and their placement with the help of regulatory agencies. He believes that sandbag maximum size needs to be changed from 5-gallons to one cubic yard and that sand from healthier sections of beach should be considered as fill material. He also says that OCRM should allow emergency protection for golf courses.
      Retreat has been mentioned as policy in some cases. Jones says that it may be more costly, in the end, to follow the retreat policy and that a comparative cost study of retreat versus nourishment needs to be conducted. In the case of retreat, the City should help property owners obtain outside funds, according to Jones. He also says that regulations should be revised so that further subdivision and development seaward of the OCRM 40-year setback line is prevented.
      As mentioned above, Jones says the City needs to consult with many different parties when implementing plans. In addition, he says that regulatory agencies need to enforce permit conditions attached to beach management permits. For example, the Links golf course was criticized for using sandbags approximately five times larger than allowed on the permit. The “oversight” was not discovered until later and the City responded by passing a law that allowed 250 gallon sandbags so that the golf course would not have to pick up the bags.
      Jones also listed scenarios in which the City should be the permit applicant for nourishment projects. Perhaps the biggest suggestion, and most contested, was that Wild Dunes and the City need to “intensify their efforts to secure public access to the Wild Dunes shoreline”.

The problem
      “As is usually the case with coastal communities undergoing erosion,” Jones says in his handout, “the divisive issues center on emergency protective measures, apportioning the costs of beach nourishment, providing public beach access, and whether or not development should retreat from the beach.”
     This statement sums up the Isle of Palms hurdles beautifully.
      Apart from “emergency protective measures” (i.e. sandbags) whose debate focuses on environmental impacts, the rest is tied up in money issues. Who should pay for beach nourishment?
      There are no quick, inexpensive solutions, Jones says. Beach nourishment is a costly endeavor. Jones says that the City could spend $10 million in one year by implementing an offshore dredging project.
      Because Wild Dunes is a private community with gates that keep the general public out, IOP residents outside the gates do not have a great desire to help pay for the beach with their tax money. Furthermore, state and federal funding is not really an option because public beach access is required.
      Although anyone can walk the beach, only residents and guests can physically drive through the gates for easy access to the beach. When Brian Duffy suggested Wild Dunes provide public beach access in order to get funding during the City Council election campaign, Wild Dunes residents scoffed.
      For Wild Dunes residents, it appears to be a quandry of having cake while simultaneously eating it. Like climbing Mount Everest, it is a challenge that has caused the downfall of many who have attempted it.
      But, in order to help solve that seemingly impossible cliche’, it has also been suggested that state and federal laws be changed so that private communities like Wild Dunes, that have a large impact on the local economy through tourist dollars, can get public money for beach nourishment.
      Councilmember John Marino addressed Senator Campsen and Representative Hagood at the end of the meeting saying that they “should have plenty of ammunition” to suggest changes in law after hearing Jones’ findings. However, Campsen and Hagood noted that they are out of session until January and the process could not begin until then.
      It should be noted that the public beach access requirement for pubic funding is part of a larger requirement for a beach management plan. The City submitted a plan in April and Bill Eiser of OCRM is scheduled to make his report in December. While the length of time it has taken for OCRM to approve the plan has been criticized, it should be noted that original deadline for having a beach management plan was 1991.
      “We need to step up to the plate,” Mayor Mike Sottile said. The City, he says, has to “show OCRM we’re committed to our plan.”
      In the end, the City Council unanimously passed a motion to pursue a permit for offshore dredging.
      Chris Jones’ PowerPoint presentation as well as his handout is available on-line at the City’s website: www.iop.net
      The City Council will meet on November 27 at 7:00pm at City Hall. They will hold a special meeting (get details) on December 3 at 6:00pm at City Hall.

Stuck in a rut
Staff report

      On November 14, the Isle of Palms Planning Commission held the first in a series of three meetings to discuss the future of the island’s commercial district. Each meeting will focus on a particular group with interest in the commercial district. The merchant community was the focus of the first meeting.
      Before the Commission could get down to business, Mike Loftus announced that he was stepping down as chairman due to his recent election to the Isle of Palms City Council. Vice Chair Ron Denton moved into Loftus’ position and Pat Campbell was unanimously elected as the new Vice Chair. Loftus will finish out his time on the Planning Commission.
       Zoning Administrator Douglas Kerr stated that the purpose of the special commercial district meetings is to figure out how to grow the commercial district, an area he described as a “stagnant district”.
      “We have a situation where codes are keeping people from building things and economics are further complicating that problem,” Kerr said.
      According to Kerr, approximately two years ago, City Council enacted a series of changes that would affect how the commercial district was used. He said that an ordinance took away the economic ability to develop new hotels. Then multi-family dwellings were outlawed in the commercial district, followed by the outlawing of single-family dwellings in the same area with the exception of the GC-3 district.
      Except for one small block, Kerr said, “We’re left with a district where the only thing that can be done, from a code standpoint, is commercial development.”
      However real estate prices, combined with a slow “off-season”, have been discouraging to many entrepreneurs.
      “It’s created a stalemate,” Kerr said. “The property values are so high that the cost of getting in to start a business would also be high.” Furthermore, “The expected return on a very short commercial season is relatively low.”
      It’s feast or famine for many business owners on Isle of Palms.
      The question that the Planning Commission is asking is: How do we fix it?
      With that in mind, business owners and other attendees provided some bones for the Planning Commission to chew on.
      In times of feast, a.k.a. summer, the biggest problem is parking and traffic. Those in attendance seemed to agree that the traffic flow at the Front Beach loop is horrendous. The streets, they said, are very narrow, leaving little room for people to walk between parked cars and traffic. Furthermore, because of the design, parked cars trying to back out tend to hold up traffic. The problem, they said, is exacerbated by officers who are more interested in giving tickets than keeping the traffic moving. A police officer handling traffic, they said, would help things.
      Leola Hanbury, present at the meeting as an attendee, noted that the surface parking lot was a wasted space. While it is used a lot during the summer, it becomes an unsightly concrete slab in the winter. She suggested a parking deck with apartments or retail space incorporated in it like some of the new parking decks in downtown Charleston.
      Sharon Johnson, along with a few others, noted that while parking attendants and personnel had been helpful in past years, this year there were comments that they had been “rude and ugly” to people. This, combined with the traffic and parking frustrations, keeps visitors from possibly coming back during the lean winter months. It was said that people need to know that the Isle of Palms is friendly in order to come back.
      Of course you have to ask, why come to Isle of Palms when it’s cold?
      This is the problem during the off-season; the theory is that when people are trying to figure out where to go for an evening, a variety of things to do is essential. Furthermore, it was said that there is nothing for kids to do on the Isle of Palms apart from play on the beach.
     Currently, the only draw for people is the beach. When the temperatures fall, so does the number of patrons. Because there is not a plethora of restaurants and retail stores to entice people to come and shop, people don’t come to see the few places that are open.
      Although an increase in businesses would create competition for current businesses, it was said that it would increase the number of people that would visit in the off-season, which would be helpful.
      “Commercial activity breeds commercial activity,” Denton said.
      Kerr said that invitations were sent to every business license holder in the commercial district (except residential license holders) and there were a total of 74. 10 of those were restaurants.
      It was also noted that large, monthly events like “Movie on the Beach” encourages people to visit the area during the slow months.
      While suggestions for improvement centered on fixing parking and somehow encouraging more businesses to invest in Front Beach, Susan Holmes, the Beach Company manager, suggested that the City could allow horses on a portion of the beach during the off season.
      “During the winter, there’s nothing better than beach riding,” she said. As one with equine ties, she said that local horse enthusiasts would love the opportunity to ride on the beach. Furthermore, she said that they would prefer it during the winter when the beaches are relatively empty. The empty, unsightly parking lot could hold the trailers and it would bring more people into the area during the winter.
      A local lawyer suggested a mixed-commercial area for small, low impact businesses like dentists’ or lawyers’ offices for those who are burdened by the high commercial district cost but left without much of an option.
      The next meeting, focusing on Commercial Property Owners, will be held on December 12 at 5:30 pm at the Recreation Center. The third meeting, for residents and everyone else, will be held on January 9.

Burglars are on the prowl: Isle of Palms in midst of crime spree
By Ali Akhyari

     Our beautiful barrier islands draw people from all over the world. Some people even call it a paradise. Neighbors know each other; the people are as friendly as an afternoon breeze. “Mayberry by the sea” is a common moniker for at least one of them and living up to that name, residents are less careful about locking their homes and vehicles. However, we must face the fact that this is not Mayberry. Forgetting this fact could cost you; literally. Recent crime statistics prove it.
      Assistant Isle of Palms Police Chief Raymond Wright says that there has been a rash of break-ins during the past two weeks. Between November 4 and November 19, there have been 15 residential burglaries while the City usually only sees about 35-40 per year. That is a 10 fold rate increase for the island in less than a month.
     Wright says that the perpetrators are almost exclusively stealing flat screen televisions. At least one flat screen television has been taken from each of the victimized homes and in some cases, two or three. The thieves are driving up to the residence, possibly in a van or pick-up truck, and backing into the garage area. Then they wrap the televisions up in bedspreads in order to conceal them before driving away. The burglaries are occurring during daylight hours.
     Wright encourages the public to engage in neighborhood watch activities that may help to curb this trend.
     “We are urging neighbors to look for an accumulation of newspapers in front of a residence, garage doors left open or strange vehicles at the residence when you know your neighbor is not at home,” Wright says. He adds that anyone witnessing anything abnormal or suspicious should contact the police immediately. Be helpful by being nosey and paying attention to your neighbor’s house when they are not home.
     The Isle of Palms police have made two arrests so far and have a warrant for a third suspect. However, seven of the 15 burglaries have occurred since these arrests.
     If you have any information that may be helpful, contact Detective Sgt. Dawn Caldwell or Detective Diane Tarr of the Isle of Palms Police Department at 886-6522.