Articles

Volume 3 Issue 23

March 21, 2008

IOP buries beach nourishment hurdle ‘in principle’
By Ali Akhyari

 ISLE OF PALMS, SC-  It appears that the money is coming together for the $9.9 million Wild Dunes beach nourishment project meaning residents and visitors could start seeing new sand on the critical erosion area on Isle of Palms before summer.
     Most recently, the Wild Dunes Community Association (WDCA) overwhelmingly voted in favor of a referendum to financially assist the property owners affected by the extreme erosion within the private community’s gates. The WDCA will contribute $2.5 million to the nourishment project. The referendum called for $3 million dollars, with the extra half million to be used as a reserve in case there is a shortfall in raising the entire amount. Isle of Palms City Administrator Linda Tucker says that bills have been sent out to Wild Dunes property owners to pay the assessment by April 7.
Wild Dunes Resort representative Jeff Minton says that the company will match the WDCA contribution “in principle”. He adds that they expect the State to contribute to the project. The City has requested it participate to the tune of $1 million. Charleston County has agreed to give $900,000. The State’s office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) settled with property owners and regimes for sandbag violations. Those mentioned in the settlement are required to come together to contribute an additional $1 million to the project.
But that money isn’t coming without some advice. Charleston County voted to approve the money but encouraged the Wild Dunes community to provide public parking and access to the beaches there. IOP Mayor Mike Sottile has also said that the City has informally urged Wild Dunes to do the same. However, residents of Wild Dunes have been historically opposed to “opening the gates”. Newly elected City Council member Ralph Piening was rewarded with a chorus of “boos” when he echoed Ronald Reagan’s speech and said “tear down these gates” at a candidate forum at the Sweetgrass Pavilion.
     Minton says that the public parking issue is a concern of the WDCA and not the resort. The receptionist who recently answered the phone at the Wild Dunes Community Association office said that providing public parking spaces is currently a matter of discussion. However, she was unable to provide any particulars on the matter. A phone message left for WDCA General Manager Dave Kynoski was not returned by The Island Eye News deadline.
Wild Dunes has been considered ineligible for state and federal funds based on laws that prohibit using public money on private land for beach nourishment. A beach must have a certain amount of public parking spaces and be within a certain distance of beach accesses to qualify for funds. For this reason, the entire Charleston community has had to reach into their pockets to financially support this project.
     “Most of the State laws regarding beach management were established in 1988,” Minton says. “As with any law they need to be reviewed from time to time to see if improvements or changes would be beneficial.” He did not suggest what sort of changes could be made in beach management laws. Several bills have been introduced into the State legislature that would help areas like Wild Dunes access public funds for beach nourishment projects while remaining private. So far, none have yet to become law although a couple are alive and moving.
Combined with the City’s $1.9 million pledge, the estimated total of funds is $9.8 million. That’s assuming the State gives $1 million. However, the $9.9 million cost of the project is only an estimate at this time. Bids could come in higher or lower.
Tucker says the City is still in the process of having the beach nourishment permit approved and is working to issue the $1.7 million revenue bond. OCRM still has to approve the City’s Beach Management Plan which is necessary to receive State funds. That plan was originally due in 1991.

Wild Dunes security guard faces 40 years
By Ali Akhyari

WILD DUNES, SC-   It is hard enough to catch criminals in the real world. Police have to track down and analyze physical evidence, find witnesses and get confessions. It may be even harder to catch one in an intangible universe like the internet, but it’s not impossible. A security employee at Wild Dunes discovered that fact the hard way.
            On February 26, Isle of Palms police arrested Joseph Daniel Bair, a 23 year old Mount Pleasant resident on four counts of Criminal Solicitation of a Minor over the internet. Bair was working at Wild Dunes for Allied-Barton Security Services, a company who has been contracted by the Wild Dunes Community Association to guard the gates and patrol the area.
            According to arrest warrants, Bair began soliciting sex on the internet from an individual that he believed to be a 12 year old girl. However, he was actually communicating with undercover Sumter County Sheriff’s Deputies who are part of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
            According to the IOP Police report, Bair had used his computer while working at a Wild Dunes security gate to commit the crime. Sumter County Sheriff’s Deputies, along with IOP Police, checked Bair’s computer at his gate station for further illegal activity.
            Bair’s four counts of Criminal Solicitation of a Minor are felony offenses, each one punishable by 10 years in prison. Greg Toson, Site Manager for Allied-Barton, refused to comment except to say that Bair is no longer employed with the company. Allan Stein, an Allied-Barton representative, noted that all employees are submitted to a drug screening and background check. When he was hired, Bair had no previous criminal activity on his record. Stein added that Bair was “immediately” terminated when Allied-Barton learned of the arrest.

Final suspect charged in IOP crime spree
Staff Report

ISLE OF PALMS, SC-  A female who originally helped police catch three individuals responsible for a January-February crime spree was arrested on February 28 for being a participant in that very same spree.
            According to Isle of Palms Police Lieutenant Raymond Wright, Betty J. Dryden, a 39 year old Summerville resident, was apprehended when she visited her sister Mary Walker at the Charleston County Detention Center on Leeds Avenue in North Charleston. Police left Dryden’s name with employees of the detention center in case she should come to visit. Dryden is being charged with Burglary 1st degree, Grand Larceny, and Breach of Trust. Walker is Dryden’s sister and was one of the three individuals originally arrested in the crime spree. Walker was also paid to clean the house they were caught burglarizing by the owners.
            Dryden originally ran into IOP Police on February 11 when she was stopped on the Connector for speeding. She was taken into custody when it was discovered she was wanted by Summerville Police and the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. She provided the break police needed to stop the crime spree that had been occurring since mid-January. At that time, Dryden told police that three people were breaking into a home on Ocean Boulevard and waiting to be picked up. Additionally, another car was stopped with three other individuals inside who, along with the Dryden, had also spent time at the empty house during the day.
            The crime spree was truly a family affair. All seven were either acquaintances or family members. The three who were stopped were later released. The other three waiting to be picked up, which included Walker, William Hardin, and a juvenile, were charged with the burglary of the home where they were originally located and later charged with burglarizing eight other homes. Furthermore, Walker is the mother of the juvenile that was involved.
            Between Dryden and the other three, 34 warrants were served and 28 homes burglarized. Lieutenant Wright says they do not expect to make any more arrests in this case and that the four individuals arrested are responsible for all 28 burglaries. The crime circle (minus Dryden) is also being charged with three burglaries on Sullivan’s Island.

Live and let live

Residents argue livability laws let violators fall through cracks
By Ali Akhyari

ISLE OF PALMS, SC- The Isle of Palms Livability Court has been in action for about a year now, enough time for various public officials to look back and analyze its effectiveness. IOP Police Chief Thomas Buckhannon recently spoke at an IOP Business Council meeting where he stated that the livability problems which residents claimed were so apparent, such as noise and partying, are not the main problems the court is seeing. Livability Judge Michael Malony made the same statement two months earlier stating that business license violations were the majority of cases he saw in court instead of noisy rental property complaints.
Does that mean that all the complaints about renters were exaggerated?
Some residents claim it is a breakdown in the system that allows violators to fly under the livability radar, creating a false sense of neighborhood peace in court. Rene Mueller feels that her many complaints on a nearby rental property are being lost in the system. For residents like Mueller, a different group of island visitors inhabit the rental home next door from week to week. This translates to a brand new group for police to give warnings to when they violate livability laws. Sometimes, tickets are not issued until the third time police are called to return. Furthermore, by the time the situation gets bad enough that Mueller feels the need to contact police in the first place, she is fully awake and another night of sleep is ruined. The process starts over when the next loud group arrives and to her the cycle may seem never ending.
While the livability court was created to help deal with these issues, Mueller says it appears to be a failure in this regard. Verbal warnings to vacationers only solve the problem for a night. For Mueller and other residents in agreement, no consequence for constant noise seems forthcoming. Without a process that tracks complaints and informs and punishes property owners/managers, the problem simply persists. There seems to be no awareness on the proper level of authority that a property consistently violates livability laws.
Until a few months ago, key components that would allow the City to not only handle these livability issues, but know the extent of their existence was missing. Homes that received complaints about noise and partying were not being identified as rental properties. Because warnings and citations were being given to the inhabitants only, violations were not being tracked by the livability system and property owners/managers were not being notified. It put a rod in the gears, essentially keeping the Livability court from working properly.
Chief Buckhannon admits the system is not perfect.
“This is a fairly new venture for us and the city,” Buckhannon says. “You’re going to have growing pains.”
In order for a rental property owner or manager to be held accountable for keeping noisy homes, they must first be made aware of the problem, Buckhannon says. Until recently, this was not being done. However, he says the Police Department has instituted a couple of changes that should help the City handle these Livability issues more efficiently.
The Police Department worked with the Building Department to get a list of properties that are listed as rental homes. Now when an officer writes a report, a flag is created if the property is a rental property. This allows Livability Officer William O’Donnell to write a letter of notification to the rental owner/manager. Buckhannon says property owners and managers will receive a notice after the first complaint. Furthermore, police have been able to create a database on livability issues based on reports. This was only done within the last four months. Records go back six months and will continue to accrue as more reports are written.
Because of these new implementations, additional measures can be taken on “problem properties” that accumulate complaints. It allows the Livability Officer to bridge the gap that separates owners and managers of these properties from consequences  and allows him to have a more accurate view of the livability problems on the island. For example, data shows that homeowners, part-time owners, and long-term renters contribute to livability issues as well, according to Chief Buckhannon. Only time will tell if these measures will actually translate into action and changes in residential neighborhoods.
“We’re still learning and tweaking [the system],” Chief Bukchannon says. “We’ll adapt and keep hitting this issue head on and work to make the residents happy.”