Volume 3 Issue 20

February 8, 2008

Lettitor
By Heather Holbrook

Isle of Palms City Council - January 22

Isle of Palms City Council round-up
The Isle of Palms City Council met on January 22 at 7:00pm. The meeting was preceded by a public hearing at 6:30pm regarding Ordinance 2007-22, which adds definitions for “Recreational Vehicle” and “Violation” and adds standards for recreational vehicles. The ordinance basically requires mobile homes to always be ready for mobilization. The lack of public comment ended the hearing at approximately 6:35pm.

New Appointments
Carol Rice was nominated and unanimously selected as the Mayor Protem. “You now have more reason than ever to wear your helmet,” she said to Mayor Mike Sottile before expressing her appreciation and honor.
Ben Hull was sworn in as a new employee for the Recreation Department. Hull comes from Belmont, NC where he worked for the Belmont Recreation Department. He was hired to fill in the void that was left when seven year veteran Laura Togami left last month.
Standing Committee Appointments: The Public Safety Committee elected Marty Bettelli as their Chairperson. Bettelli was also elected as the Chairperson for the Public Works Committee, while Dick Cronin was elected as the Vice-Chair. Rice was elected as Chairperson for the Recreation Committee and Ryan Buckhannon was elected as Vice-Chair. Ralph Piening was elected Chairperson for the Personnel Committee and Dee Taylor was chosen as Vice-Chair.
Guy Taylor was elected as Chairperson for the Board of Zoning Appeals and Arnold Karig was selected as Vice-Chair. Ron Denton was elected as Chairperson for the Planning Commission and Pat Campbell was chosen as Vice-Chair. Carol Rice was selected as Chairperson of the Real Property Advisory Committee and Dick Cronin was chosen as the Vice-Chair. Julia Tucker was chosen as the Chairperson of the Accommodations Tax Committee and Rick Linville was selected as Vice-Chair.

Light it up
Mayor Sottile announced the winners of the 2007 Light It Up Contest. Winners in the Commercial Properties category received plaques, while residential winners received a certificate marking their achievement and a gift certificate to a local restaurant.
The ACME Cantina received first place in the Commercial Property category. The Windjammer took second place.
The residential area of the island was divided into three pieces. Mary Johnson and family received first place honors for their home at 816 Palm Blvd. in the “Breach Inlet to IOP Connector” category. The Robertson family got second place for their home at 516 Carolina Blvd. In the “IOP Connector to 41st Avenue” category, Catherine Leopold took the first place honor for her home at 4 24th Avenue. Ann and Jeff Evans got second place for their decorations at 3301 Hartnett Blvd.
Pat McArthur and Debbie White received first place for the work they did on their home at 12 48th Avenue in the “41st Avenue to Wild Dunes” category. Roger Basha and family got second place for their efforts on their house at 26 Sand Dollar Drive.
Mayor Sottile praised the annual contest and the island-wide participation. “It just sets the tone for the holiday season,” he said.

Curds and Ways and Means
City Council unanimously voted to approve all recommendations from the Ways and Means Committee. Included in the vote was $2,000 for the annual Easter Egg Hunt which will be held on March 22; $2,500 for the Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Competition; $7,000 for Piccolo Spoleto Goes to the Beach and $5,500 for the IOP Beach Run.
Council also unanimously approved recommendations from the Real Property Advisory Committee. The City will spend a total of $10,000 for the continued monitoring of the marina bulkhead by the Zande-Jon Guerry and Taylor Company. They also agreed to split the cost of upgrading the Marina Market, now under new management, with the new owners. That endeavor will cost $40,000.

Curfew anyone?
At a Personnel Committee meeting, IOP Officer Schwenk suggested imposing a curfew of 10:00pm during school nights and midnight on other nights for children under 16 years old. However, the Personnel Committee stated that this was a Public Safety issue and suggested that Officer Schwenk present the idea at the next Public Safety meeting. That meeting is scheduled to take place on February 12 at 5:00pm at City Hall.
Marty Bettelli spoke on behalf of the Public Safety Committee. The intersection of 41st and Palm is becoming an increasing concern as “The Village” in Wild Dunes is scheduled to be completed in the spring, adding a significant amount of traffic. A round-a-bout appears to be the ideal solution, but a $500,000 price tag and a two to three year completion time makes it less than agreeable at this point in time. The Committee will consider alternatives to the round-a-bout as suggested by Councilmember Mike Loftus that include moving the intersection, making Cameron a right turn-only street and closing Cameron, among other things. The alternatives are expected to speed up traffic and be much more affordable.
In addition, the speed limit has been reduced to 25 mph on Cameron Boulevard. The Department of Transportation reduced the speed because of the width of the road, not the speeds recorded on it.

20 grand, wider strand
The City has received a $20,000 grant to widen the 21st Avenue beach access for elderly and handicap visitors. A Request for Proposals was scheduled to go out in early February in order to have bid results for the next Public Works and Ways and Means Committees. Demolition and construction is expected to take place before April 15. The project is expected to cost $120,000.
Also, a cardboard recycling bin has been placed at Front Beach. However, Assistant to the Administrator Emily Dziuban noted that the bin is only for thick cardboard and not things like cereal boxes.
Livability Officer William O’Donnell is scheduled to address the Public Safety Committee at their next meeting on February 11 at 6:30pm at City Hall.

It’s alive!
The Personnel Committee voted to keep the Beach Advisory Committee (BAC). The BAC had not met in several months and had expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of relevance they seemed to have and the lack of goals from the City. Beverly Ballow spoke on behalf of the BAC and stated several reasons for the problems, including a lack of communication, an absence of interest in the form of attendance from any City Council members, inadequate reporting of their meetings and slack BAC members. She also stated that BAC members should be people who frequently visit the beach.
Councilmember Bettelli suggested the BAC be kept in place and given some direction. He had also suggested that the City Clerk contact Sandy Pusey, the BAC Chair, in order to let her know that the Personnel Committee was expecting the BAC to continue meeting and to give them copies of the Charter and Rules and Regulations.

The passing of ordinances
Second reading was unanimously passed of Ordinances 2007-20 (regarding business license suspension, revocation, and appeals) and 2007-22 (regarding Flood damage prevention and definitions for “Recreational Vehicle” and “Violation”).
The City Council also passed a resolution to enter into an inter-governmental agreement regarding the Consolidated Dispatch with Charleston County.

Local smoking bans in danger
By Ali Akhyari

     A bill has been making its way through the South Carolina State Legislature that could override local smoking bans.S. 103, as it is called has made its way through the state Senate and is now being worked on in the House. It is currently being sent between the Judiciary Committee and the Criminal Laws Subcommittee for tweaking.
     The bill is an amendment to laws relating to the Clean Indoor Air Act. Current law prohibits smoking in public schools where kindergarten, elementary and secondary education classes are held. However, there is an exception for private offices that are not adjacent to classrooms. Smoking is also prohibited at “all other indoor facilities providing children’s services”, health care facilities (with exceptions), government buildings, elevators, public transport vehicles (except taxis), and arenas and public performance centers (with exceptions).
     The purpose of the amendment is to remove provisions that allow smoking in private offices in schools and requires violators to attend a smoking cessation service. Notice that restaurants and bars are not included in the law. However, there is no mention of pre-emption which means the state law does not necessarily prohibit municipalities like Sullivan’s Island from passing stricter smoking bans in their jurisdictions. This is why Sullivan’s Island and the City of Charleston have legally been able to maintain their smoking bans.
     Senator Darrell Jackson, District 21 representative, originally introduced the bill on January 9, 2007. He also introduced S. 186, along with Senators Chauncey Gregory, John Knotts, and Joel Lourie, which the Criminal Laws Subcommittee has attached to S.103. This attachment is what specifically attacks local smoking ordinances.
According to S.186, “This chapter preempts all local ordinances and regulations governing the prohibition of smoking in public places. Political subdivisions of the State must not enact ordinances or regulations more restrictive than those contained in this chapter, except for ordinances or regulations pertaining to local government buildings.”
      The bill also deletes a small section that would have protected local smoking laws which read, “Smoking ordinances in effect before the effective date of this act are exempt from the requirements...” Furthermore, arenas, auditoriums, and other public performing art centers (except for theaters) are deleted from the list of places where smoking is prohibited.
Section 44-95-20 of the state code reads “It is unlawful for a person to smoke or possess lighted smoking material in any form in the following public indoor areas...” and then lists several areas where smoking is prohibited. An interesting amendment that S. 186 introduces at the front of this sentence is the phrase, “In order to protect the public from the detrimental effects of secondhand smoke”. What is interesting is that the scientific battle over the effects of second hand smoke is a matter of controversy. Some would argue that the controversy is mostly instigated by researchers funded by large tobacco companies. This wish-wash language could, hypothetically, give tobacco lobbyists and lawyers fuel to attack the Clean Indoor Air Act so that smoking could not be prohibited anywhere because the law would specifically state that its purpose is to prevent health damage from second smoke.
     Ironically, where S.103 did not include bars and restaurants among places that smoking is restricted in that section, S.186 does although there are exceptions. It is a strange addition considering the overall softening of restrictions and legal loopholes that have been introduced in the remainder of the bill. One hypothesis is that there can be no verb without a subject. The attached bill provides an option by which restaurants and bars can be granted a smoking bar license. Basically, it prohibits bars and restaurants from allowing cigarette smoke and then provides a means by which they can. Without creating the prohibition, it can not create the exception and failing to address it would leave loose ends.
     The bills will have to go back to the Judiciary Committee to be discussed and voted on before going to the House. For more information visit www.scsenate.org.

Police make arrest in IOP crime spree
Staff Report

     Three people have been charged in an Isle of Palms crime spree that began on October 25 and resulted in the theft of at least 30 flat-screen televisions ranging in size from 15-52 inches.
Trennia White, Willie Brown Jr. and Brandy Simmons have all been charged with various crimes related to the incident. Thefts were almost exclusively limited to flat screen televisions from unoccupied rental homes. So far, none have been recovered, although police suspect they were sold in the St. Stephens and Moncks Corner areas before January.
     White, an employee of American Maid Specialties (AMS), had keys to the rental homes as part of the job. Brown, who is White’s brother, is accused of coming back after hours to steal the merchandise. Wright says that Simmons went with White on at least one occasion. IOP Police Lieutenant Raymond Wright says that the maid service allows employees to take friends along to help clean homes.
According to Wright, White left the homes unlocked for Brown, who returned later to take the televisions. Wright says that they suspected the maid service in November. Ironically, it was the effort the criminals made to turn attention away from the maid service that alerted police. Wright says that the criminals used a tool to give the appearance that the doors had been pried open. However, physical evidence suggested to police that the prying had been done from the inside of the home as opposed to the outside.
    White has been charged with breach of trust. An employee who answered the phone on January 29 stated that White is no longer with the company. A message left for the manager has not been returned by our publication date. Brown, who has collected the most charges, is facing four counts of first degree burglary as the actual thief. “We expect to possibly make more arrests and charges,” Wright says.

Will Wild Dunes help themselves?
By Ali Akhyari

     On January 26, the Wild Dunes Community Association (WDCA) met at the Sweetgrass Pavilion to discuss the possibility of their financial participation in the beach nourishment project. According to the WDCA, the approximate cost for the entire beach nourishment will run around $9.9 million. The City of Isle of Palms has pledged $2 million, however, another $1.9 million still has to be found. The City has requested $900,000 from a Charleston County beach nourishment fund that is still in the process of being created by the county. IOP Mayor Mike Sottile says that the Charleston County Finance Committee will be meeting on February 14 to discuss the $900,000 request from the hypothetical beach nourishment fund. “I’ve been about everywhere I can go to get this money,” Mayor Sottile said. “We’re doing the right thing and moving in the right direction.” Another request for $1 million dollars has been made to OCRM which has a pool of approximately $5 million, according to Mayor Sottile, for such situations. He has campaigned on both of these fronts for the funds, but no decisions have been made to date.
     The WDCA Board of Directors suggested the collection of three million dollars from Wild Dunes property owners. If the measure is successful, single family dwellings will be assessed $1,500 each and residential lots will be assessed $750. Undeveloped tracts will be assessed $624. The few public/community units, which are the developer’s contribution, will be assessed $144,366. “Thank God for the plan you all have come up with,” resident Vicki Hollingsworth said. “We are a community and we have to pull together.”
     However, assuming these public funds materialize, it leaves a hole of about $5 million that the WDCA is proposing to split with Destination Wild Dunes. The simple math is $2.5 million each. However, if the County and OCRM money do not materialize, the $3 million number provides an extra $500,000 cushion that can be utilized to help bear the burden.
A referendum will be mailed out the first week in February to all property owners and must be returned by the end of the month. Sixty percent participation (2,866 votes) is required for the vote to count and 2/3 of those voters must approve the measure for it to pass. If either criteria is not met, the referendum dies and the WDCA will not contribute to the project. Single family dwellings get two votes per household.
     Gary Lauderdale, member of the Board of Directors, said that the beach nourishment project may not be financially possible without help from the WDCA. He gave several reasons for their participation in the project, including the fact that the WDCA owns property in the affected area. He also stated that property values would increase, the golf course could be repaired, turtle nesting may be restored, and that the beach is a community asset. Furthermore, Lauderdale said that participation “demonstrates to the ‘outside’ that the Wild Dunes Community Association can work together to resolve tough issues”.
     Lauderdale said that the lack of a beach erosion response plan is to blame for “how we got in this mess”.  In addition, annual beach surveys that were conducted by public agencies stopped when the WDCA took over in the 1990s. If those studies had continued, the information gathered may have diagnosed the problem well before it got to the current state of crisis. Those studies will probably be re-instituted in the future.
Lauderdale stated that other courses of action have been curtailed and tied up in court because of legal challenges from “someone who doesn’t live out here”. Of course, the inability to receive public funding because of the nonexistence of public beach accesses exacerbates the current dilemma. State regulations require public beach accesses within an area that will be nourished with public funds. Mayor Sottile says that best solution would be for Wild Dunes to allow some public beach access in order to secure public funds and that they have been informally told that’s the best solution.
In his speech, Lauderdale noted how Florida receives a great amount of state and federal money to pay for similar projects while Wild Dunes has not been given much help. “Thank God for Mississippi,” Lauderdale claimed. “If not for Mississippi, we’d be on the bottom of every list.”
     After the prerequisite niceties, Lauderdale got down to business. The current beach crisis, he says, has negatively impacted property values and there have been very few property sales. Tourist spending and revenue has declined. Current market trends are partly to blame, but he warns that WDCA inaction may result in the project not getting underway at all. The result, he says, would be a Wild Dunes that is still perceived as a risky investment when the market eventually rebounds.
But the WDCA did not decide to present this course of action unanimously. Tom Geraghty, also a member of the Board of Directors, was the lone “nay” in the original vote to present this plan and he explained why after the presentation.
     “It sets a bad precedent,” Geraghty says.  He noted that the properties affected are sixty percent rentals and that the WDCA should not pay to support a business. He added that previous property owners paid for beach nourishment themselves when they were affected and he sees no reason why that should change now.
     “This is not a precedent,” Fellow Board member, John Petzold said. “It’s done because of an emergency.” Petzold also stated that Wild Dunes had taken a beating from the media during this crisis. The image of an unfriendly resort community, he says, that prefers a schism with the rest of the island is not accurate.
     “If there is ill feeling,” he says, “It is on their side of the ledger.” Petzold added that the WDCA could send a message to everyone with an approval of the plan: “When crunch time comes, we will take care of ourselves.”
     According to Dr. Tim Kana of Coastal Science and Engineering, who has been hired to oversee the project, the beach nourishment is designed to cover 2.2 miles of beach. While there is only 4,400 feet of erosion affected area, creating uniformity along the beach is the reason for the extension.  If the plan is approved and the project begins, he estimates that 200-400 feet of beach can be nourished per day while 500-800 feet of beach will be restricted at any given time. Once an area of beach has been nourished, it is immediately available of use once again. Noise from the dredge will be 2-3 miles offshore.
     “You won’t hear anything. Any noise will be confined to the dozers,” he says. The bulldozers will be used to grade the sand on the beach. Daily turtle patrols will be conducted to aid sea turtles who may attempt to nest in the area as a large nourishment pipe will prevent them from reaching the dunes.
Kana says that the quality of the sand that will pumped from offshore is an 8 or 9 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best). He estimates the nourishment to last approximately 10 years, although he admitted that the could not be 100% certain on that. The beach monitoring that stopped in the 1990s is what has been lacking in the last decade. He says that continued monitoring will allow problems to be diagnosed and dealt with more efficiently and affordably in the future.
     Mayor Sottile stated that the Charleston County Finance Committee would be meeting on February 14 to discuss the possible $900,000 contribution from the hypothetical beach nourishment fund.