The city of Isle of Palms is not going to spend almost $20,000 to determine the feasibility of spending what could be as much as $750,000 to install an elevator in a restaurant at the IOP Marina.
At its March 28 meeting, the City Council voted by a 6-3 margin not to hire Coast Architects to look into the possibility of installing an elevator at the Islander 71. Voting against the proposal were Council members John Bogosian, Blair Hahn, Katie Miars, Jimmy Ward and Scott Pierce and Mayor Phillip Pounds. Council members Rusty Streetman, Kevin Popson and Jan Anderson supported the measure.
Streetman’s original motion was to pay Coast Architects $60,000 to $90,000 to also complete the construction documents for the project. He eventually withdrew that motion, and the Council voted on whether to spend $19,270 for Coast to determine if the elevator was a possibility in the city owned building.
Estimates provided last October by Trident Construction put the cost of installing the elevator between $300,000 and $400,000, and Pierce pointed out that on top of that expenditure, the city would be responsible for additional costs as well.
“Who’s going to pick up the 20 years of maintenance and service that goes along with it?” he asked. “That is not an insignificant number. I think we’re looking at a cost that could be three quarters of a million dollars.”
Streetman pointed out that in the past, the City Council has committed to exceeding the standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act so people with disabilities “feel welcome in our community.” He noted that the Islander 71 is not required to be fully ADA-compliant because the work done on the building by the company that leases it was a renovation project rather than a complete rebuild. He added, however, that “anyone in a wheelchair would not be able to get to the second level. Basically, they would have to be carried up the stairs.”
Streetman added that the Council previously agreed to consider the feasibility of installing an elevator in the building and possibly pay for the project with accommodations tax funds.
“To my knowledge, we have done no research at this point to even see if we could get ATAX funds to cover the cost of the elevator,” he said.
City Administrator Desiree Fragoso said the city has not received a legal opinion on whether it can spend ATAX money on a restaurant elevator.
Miars, who pointed out that there are no ADA-compliant bathrooms on the restaurant’s upper floor, disagreed with Streetman’s plan to find out if an elevator would be a feasible option.
“It’s not like ATAX money is going out and getting money off the money tree in the back. It’s still part of our budget. It’s not free money. I don’t know why we would keep going down this road,” Miars said. “There’s nothing different from the first floor and the second floor, other than a 10-foot-higher view.”
“You’re basically going to encourage someone who is wheelchair bound to go up an elevator to a floor of a restaurant that does not have bathrooms that can accommodate them,” she added.
In other action March 28, the Council voted 6-3 to direct city staff to prepare an ordinance that would add a $200 application fee to the cost of a short-term rental license. Voting in favor of the measure were Pounds, Pierce, Bogosion, Miars, Anderson and Hahn. Opposing the motion were Ward, Popson and Streetman.
