A divided Isle of Palms City Council has decided to jettison plans to establish a moratorium on issuing short-term rental licenses. After hearing from local residents both for and against the proposal at their Dec. 6 meeting, Council members voted 5-4 to kill a motion that would have kept owners of homes that are not full-time residences from obtaining a rental license until after March 31, 2023. Council Members Blair Hahn, Rusty Streetman, Kevin Popson and Jimmy Ward joined Mayor Phillip Pounds in opposing the measure, while Council Members Katie Miars, John Bogosian, Scott Pierce and Jan Anderson supported it. “What I heard overwhelmingly was we don’t need caps – we need greater enforcement,” said Streetman, referring to three “listening sessions” held by the Council in September. “The pause is confusing for residents. I don’t see a reason for a pause.”
Bogosian disagreed, pointing out that the issue has been discussed by previous Councils as far back as 2007. He said he would like the Council to develop a comprehensive plan for IOP’s short-term rental industry, pointing out that of 211 licenses issued since July of this year, 163 went to people or companies that are based off the island. “This is not residents running to City Hall in fear of a cap being implemented. Big real estate investment companies are acquiring island properties for rental investment. Many of the 211 licenses were to the same owner and registered as limited liability companies,” he said.
“We need a pause on licenses for at least three months.” Anderson added that the Isle of Palms is “close to the tipping point when the number of short-term rentals may exceed permanent residents.”
“We don’t want to kill the rental market. We just want to manage it,” she said. We are now the only beach community in the Charleston area with an unlimited short-term rental policy. That means that any investor that wants to buy beach property for vacation rentals will be pushed to the Isle of Palms. They will be absentee landlords who are only interested in the financial return on their investment.”
She suggested the possibility of establishing a system that would give residents priority over nonresidents in obtaining a license and possibly limit the number of units an entity could own. “Here we go again messing with property rights,” said Popson, who recently was the only Council member to oppose zoning changes that restrict additional development in Wild Dunes. The ill-fated ordinance, which the Council directed staff to create at its Nov. 15 meeting, would not have affected license renewals; licenses transferred with the sale of a property; new licenses for which applications had already been submitted; and licenses for residential units where a building permit for new construction had already been issued. Council members heard from supporters and detractors of the proposed moratorium during the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, including Terri Haack, representing Lowe and Dart Interests, the owners of Wild Dunes Resort. “We strongly support property rights, homeowners and professionally-managed short-term rentals. Because of this, I’m here to oppose the moratorium on short-term rental licenses,” she said.
“Wild Dunes Resort was strongly against the five ordinances passed last month, which changed the underlying zoning and stripped away property rights. Our concern was those changes created a dangerous precedent for the removal of property rights for all homeowners.” She added that some people are “motivated by fear” that their property values will fall – and that the moratorium would have “unintended consequences.” Local resident Sarah Vega said she was “astounded by the paternalism exhibited by some members of this Council.”
“The voices of your constituents are supposed to be respected and honored through the policies that you enact,” she commented. “The problem with the moratorium is that it just further erodes trust. Enacting the moratorium tells people that if you can’t afford to live here right now, you’re not welcome here.” She suggested that Council members turn their attention to other issues, such as flooding, traffic, resilience, retaining police and fire staff, noise and getting the rules changed for accommodations tax money. Christine Donavan took the other side of the issue, pointing out that she was “really in favor of the moratorium.”
“Please turn down the volume of the loudest voices,” she said. “Those are the voices that stand to earn a lot of money if we become a huge rental community.”
