Big Crowd Expected For July 11 Meeting On IOP Short-Term Rentals
Isle of Palms voters might have the opportunity in November to decide whether the city limits the number of investor-owned short-term rentals on the island.
A special Council meeting has been scheduled for July 11, where the Council will take action – or not – on an ordinance proposed by Preserve IOP Now, a local organization that collected the signatures of 1,173 supporters – all of them residents of the Isle of Palms, according to Christine Donavan, who spoke in favor of the ordinance and turned the petition over to the city at the Council’s June 27 meeting.
Apparently in anticipation of a large crowd, the 5 p.m. meeting July 11 will be held at the IOP Recreation Center rather than at City Hall. The Council’s monthly workshop is scheduled for 3 p.m., with a special meeting set for 4:30 p.m. so the Council can go into executive session and receive legal advice concerning its short-term rental options.
The suggested ordinance would cap at 1,600 the number of licenses issued for “investment” short-term rentals – those that are not the legal residence of the owner. There would be no limit on licenses issued for STRS that are the legal residence of the homeowner.
On Feb. 28, the Council voted by a 5-4 margin against restrictions on short-term rental licenses.
Under state law, voters may propose an ordinance that doesn’t appropriate money or authorize the levy of taxes by presenting a petition with the number of signatures equal to at least 15% of the registered voters in the city’s most recent regular election. In November 2021, IOP had 4,553 registered voters, so the Preserve IOP Now petition requires only 683 signatures, according to Isaac Cramer, executive director of the Charleston County Board of Elections.
If the Council fails to pass the ordinance or passes it in a form “substantially different from that set forth in the petition,” the voters will decide. A referendum must be held between 30 days and a year after the Council takes its final vote on the issue. The Council has the option to call a special election if no regular election is scheduled.
Cramer said at the Council’s request, the Board of Elections will verify that signers are IOP registered voters and that signatures match.
“It’s all up to the Council what they do next,” Cramer said. “Our hands are completely out of it. Once we certify, it’s in their court what the next steps are. I don’t hold an election until I get a directive from the Council to do that. But if they want it on the ballot in November, we need to know by Sept. 8.”
He added that the certification process could take three to four weeks.
“I’m sure we will accept the petition and send it to the county for certification,” said IOP Mayor Phillip Pounds, adding that the Council could pass the proposed ordinance, craft a compromise or vote to schedule a referendum.
“If the Council rejects the ordinance or fails to act, that’s what triggers a referendum,” City Administrator Desiree Fragoso explained.
In addition to limiting investment short-term rental licenses, the proposed ordinance would permit a license to be transferred to a family member, including a spouse, parent, step-parent, sibling, step-sibling, sibling-in-law, child, step-child, grandparent or step-grandparent. The license would not transfer if the dwelling were to be sold. Brian Duffy, president of Preserve IOP Now and a former Council member, said the license for a property taxed at the 6% rate would be able to be transferred to a family member only if it was titled in a person’s name, rather than as a corporation.
At the Council’s June 27 meeting, Donavan stressed that most of the people who signed the Preserve IOP Now petition “are not against short-term rentals.”
“We only want to maintain a balanced community,” she said. “The ordinance proposed would limit investment short-term rental licenses to 1,600, which amounts to 35% of our dwellings, and does not restrict full-time residents like myself from renting their homes up to 72 days per year.”
“If it’s true, as some argue, that we have no current or future problems, then this limit will never be a concern,” she said. “However, many of us believe that inaction in the face of the changing landscape of our state and nearby communities risks rapid commercialization of our island.”
“If you are unwilling to adopt this ordinance quickly, we request that you take all steps necessary to have this placed on the November ballot,” she concluded.
