Best Moving Company in Folly Beach

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Some Folly Beach residents are noticing a new face to the island’s central business district.

With Snapper Jacks up for sale, St. James Gate turning into Coconut Joes and a new Revelry Brewing location opening this week, the makeup of Center Street is changing.

Toni Catoe, who’s resided on the island for more than 46 years, says throughout all this change, she has one ask for Center Street businesses.

“We would like to see more community involvement,” she says.

Community involvement is an element Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin says is an essential component for the success of businesses on Folly.

“If you want to stay in business for a long time, you need to think about the people that live here. Because in the winter, most of those tourists aren’t here,” Goodwin says.

And an element Coconut Joe’s General Manager, Chirs Galloway, says they plan to invest in.

“If you tie yourself into the community, the community will do well for you,” Galloway says.

It’s not only community involvement Goodwin says is essential to Center Street’s success.

He says with the cost of business going up, businesses that fare the best tend to have some sort of corporate backing.

“I’ve heard as much as $20,000 for rent. If you have to pay that much for rent and you haven’t bought the water, the alcohol, the lights,” Goodwin says.

He says Center Street has always been changing and evolving.

“When people come to me and say, ‘I want Folly Beach to be like it was.’ I look at them and say, ‘What do you remember Folly Beach being?’” he says.

Moving forward, he wants to maintain a strong central business district on Center Street, while balancing the needs of residents and tourists.

Most importantly, he says he wants to maintain a close-knit community.

“It’s a wonderful community, people look out for each other, neighbors step in to help each other without even being asked,” Catoe says.

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A citizen’s petition successfully limited the number of short-term rentals on Folly Beach. Now, City Council has three months to make the ordinance function smoothly before the renewal period for rental licenses opens in March.

Short-term renting is a lucrative business, especially for a barrier island like Folly Beach. Vacation rentals on the “Edge of America” generated millions of dollars in gross revenue in 2022, though some people felt the number of rentals on the island had gotten out of hand.

Save Folly’s Future, a group spearheaded by Folly Beach property owner and West Ashley resident John McFarland, took it upon themselves to do something about it.

“Save Folly’s Future considers the alarming increase in investment STRs on Folly an existential threat to the community. Whatever your opinion, positive or negative, it’s a community-wide issue and should be decided by a community-wide vote,” McFarland wrote in an August 2022 Save Folly’s Future newsletter.

The organization penned a petition that garnered over 400 signatures, more than 15 percent of the city’s registered voters — the minimum amount required by South Carolina state law to send the issue to Folly Beach voters, triggering a referendum that would adopt the ordinance as written, if passed.

The bare-bones ordinance was adopted last February by a slim margin of less than 80 votes. It restricted the number of investment short-term rental licenses, for rentals that are not owner-occupied, to 800. And it makes licenses nontransferable with few exceptions.

“We’ve been managing the ordinance since February. It was drafted, you know, by a layperson. It didn’t anticipate a lot of things that have come up since then,” Folly Beach City Administrator Aaron Pope said.

According to the latest data the city council received in November, there are 955 investment STR licenses in good standing on the island. Licenses issued before the cap was instituted are able to renew, but with the number of active licenses exceeding the 800-license cap, the wait list is shaping up to be a long one.

NORTH CHARLESTON — To continue efforts to become the Coast Guard’s “operational center of gravity” on the East Coast, officials broke ground Jan. 26 on its new $160 million campus.

This 64-acre site along the Cooper River — just south of the former naval base that closed in 1996 — will house an administration building and redesigned 1,100-foot concrete pier.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and be completed in 2026.

“This Charleston campus will have improved infrastructure that translates into more productive personnel and more efficient operations,” said Capt. Neal Armstrong, the commanding officer of facilities design and construction.

The 51,500-square-foot administration building will provide training and conference room space, and additional rooms dedicated to cutter ship support.

Sustainability is a priority, so the new facility will achieve net-zero energy usage and a net-zero carbon footprint, Armstrong said.

The current Pier November will be replaced with a pier more than three feet taller to enhance durability during coastal storms. It will provide utilities to support five national security cutters and a 90-ton crane, which is critical for dockside maintenance, Armstrong said.

During the design and construction phases nearly 60 subcontractors will support the two main contractors on the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and RQ Construction LLC, providing work for nearly 900 people.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, said every Coast Guard mission begins and ends at a shore facility. When the ships are not at sea, they need a base that can provide necessary maintenance, she added.

The missions conducted at Base Charleston are vital to protecting national security and economic prosperity, Fagan said, adding that the new campus will aid in “lifesaving work,” including patrolling the waters for smuggled narcotics.

FOLLY BEACH — Driving down a darkened Ashley Avenue, there is a sudden, bright and funky oasis near 6th Street East that pops out. Welcome to Christmas at Folly Beach, courtesy of resident Kevin Hodges.

His eclectic yard art and lights, with a tall grass hut near the front door of his rambling shack, and signs everywhere declaring the High Life, are well known around town.

“It’s really amazing how many people know this house,” Hodges said, standing under the illuminated tree. “If I walk into a place, they won’t know who I am. If I say, ‘I live in the High Life house,’ they know exactly who I am. The house is famous.”

It caught the eye of producers for the “Outer Banks” television series that has been filmed in Charleston the last few years. The house and yard served as the backdrop for part of an episode in the third season.

“They fell in love with the house,” Hodges said. “The whole crew piled in here.”

He thinks it was portrayed as an artist’s house at the beach, and in a way it is.

“I do pest control for a living,” Hodges said, but his passion is woodworking.

“Everything in here, I’ve made,” he said, gesturing around the shack. “Except for the couch.”

A lot of it is surfboard-themed or surfboard-shaped, like a cabinet in the living room. Outside, a wooden surfer peeks out from behind a tree wearing a Santa hat and clutching a bright yellow surfboard. Another blue surfer sits out front on a blue board, but a visitor doesn’t recognize him.

“That’s Jack Frost,” Hodges said, and he is, apparently, hanging ten.

It all started with the big palm tree out front about 15 years ago, and Hodges said that is still the first thing people notice, with its rings of lights and oversized ornaments. One is a plaque that reads, “Have a Jolly Folly Christmas,” while others are glittery balls.

“You really don’t see too many people hang ornaments from them,” Hodges said. In fact, all of his Christmas trees are in the yard.

“We tried to put a Christmas tree in here,” he said, gesturing around the shack, “but it’s too small.”

He isn’t the only artist on display — an ex-girlfriend painted a striking mural of Santa in his sleigh with the reindeer flying high over a stand of palm trees.

It takes about three days to get it set up, and Hodges thinks there are probably 200 strings of lights spread throughout the yard. Every year, he adds something to it.

Hodges walks out of the front door holding a surprisingly heavy shark carved out of teak that he has been working on and adds it atop a bench. Things get destroyed by the elements, so they need to be replaced. The grass hut used to be held up only by large bamboo poles before a buddy ran his truck into it, so now all of the poles are reinforced with two-by-fours inside. The hut’s roof gets refreshed with new palm fronds Hodges just throws up there, and somehow they stay, even in high winds.

Charleston Scene

In the house, in the yard, are things he created.

“I definitely like making stuff a lot more than buying it,” Hodges said.

And it all has a theme.

“It’s Folly Christmas,” Hodges said. “Just a laid-back Christmas. It’s old-style Folly.”

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South Carolina has a variety of terrains.

The Blue Ridge Mountains stretch through the Upstate, and the beaches of the Lowcountry keep the city airport and its record-setting traffic level busy. The rolling hills of the Midlands and Pee Dee make way for the farms amid ever-growing industrial expansion.

Each area has character, and with it, its own brand of flora.

Clemson’s Natural Heritage Garden has a microcosm of the state’s plant life that can be visited throughout the year. You can always start a garden, though, made up of some gems from across the unique regions of the state if you’d rather enjoy them in your own backyard.

Think about adding some of these flowers to an already existing garden, or try to create a garden entirely made up of state staples as a fun project.

The Lowcountry: Black-Eyed Susans

These perennials are good for beginners, since rather than die off during the winter, they close up and retain the natural leaves that grow on their stems.

“You might know the terms, you might know this is gonna come back or that’s gonna die,” shared Dave Manger, owner of Roots and Shoots Nursery in West Ashley. “But when you’re visually looking at your garden and you’re new to it, you want visual proof that your plant is still alive.”

The Susans, characterized by their bright yellow and sometimes golden petals and black seed center, grow best in moist, well-drained soil and full sun but can take a bit of shade. They’ll usually bloom beginning during the upcoming early summer months.

The flowers can be seen all over the Charleston area in people’s yards and public parks, Manger said. The plants are the most popular ones he sells, with a couple of hundred varieties for sale at Roots and Shoots.

They’re perfect for beginners, Manger said, since you can put them anywhere and they’ll be happy.

The Pee Dee: Camellias

Camellias can be seen throughout Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville, which itself is seeing a battle between invasive and native plant species playing within it.

The camellias are one of the plants of Miss May’s Folly, the term given to one woman’s dream to turn a once-neglected piece of land into what can be seen today. These flowers like well-drained soil with consistent protection from the afternoon sun.

A quick heads-up, though: Start planting these now, especially if you’re in the Pee Dee area. Lisa King, who runs garden consulting business Leaf and Garden, said planting during the winter means less watering and deeper development of the plant’s roots into the ground.

Camellias can bloom in early spring, late fall and winter, depending on the type, and they bloom in colors ranging from white to pink to red. The Japanese camellias, which usually bloom in colder weather, prefer some light shade when being planted.

The first camellias were brought to South Carolina by Frenchman André Michaux, who was the botanist to King Louis XVI, in 1786. He shared his camellias with Henry Middleton, who started a garden at Middleton Place in 1741. Visitors can see one of the original plants today — a double red camellia known as Reine des Fleurs, or the Queen of Flowers, which reigns over the more than 4,000 camellias on the estate.

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Upstate: Smooth Penstemon

Christina Bruner owns Carolina Wild Native Wildflower Nursery in Anderson, just over an hour away from the mountains. She calls the perennial Smooth Penstemon, with its elongated white bulbs that dangle from the stem, a “workhorse plant.”

“You can put it in almost any setting in the area and it’s going to do well for you as long as you’ve got enough sun,” Bruner said.

The native plant usually blooms in late spring or early summer and can be found on the way to the mountains and prefers full sun to light shade. Bruner warned against babying the plant and watering it too much and echoed King’s sentiment of fewer, but longer, watering sessions that promote deeper root growth.

“The biggest thing is to give them good drainage,” Bruner said.

Midlands: Raulston Hardy

This bush-like plant and its flowers are perfect for going alongside a home’s foundation, said Lori Watson, who owns Mill Creek Greenhouses in Columbia.

Getting the plant from Mill Creek may be a challenge, though. Watson said these native plants have been flying off the shelf for the past 2½ years.

“People are buying them all the time,” Watson said.

Watson said she has a few of the drought-tolerant plants in front of her house and rarely touches them. White flowers will bloom in April but will also flower until fall and sometimes into the spring. It can retain its leaves through a mild winter, though.

The plant can tolerate a range of temperatures and soil conditions, but remember to plant it in full sun or partial shade.

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FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — The City of Folly Beach is trying to figure out who deserves a short-term rental license.

City leaders are working on logistics to put a cap in place. There are currently 955 investment short-term rental licenses, but the city has to get that number to 800 after a vote in February.

For people wanting a license in the future, Mayor Tim Goodwin said there are a few different options.

Read more: "Isle of Palms residents to decide on capping short-term rental licenses in upcoming vote."

First is the option for an investment short-term rental license random lottery system. Second would be a first come, first serve system. Third is a preferential system -- taking into account certain criteria.

Goodwin said he prefers a hybrid of random and first come, first served.

"I thought everybody who wants to sign up, sign up," Goodwin said. "You do a lottery for the first however many names that is. What your position is on that lottery, and then after that, it's just whoever signs up next in line, you go down the list."

Read more: "New ordinances could affect number of short-term rentals on Folly Beach."

Other city council members said it is dependent on what ordinances are passed first. They believe, in some cases, it's fair to the taxpayers to use preferential considering things like account residency status, residency length, and family relationships.

Short-term rental license owners wanting to pass down their license to an heir or beneficiary are asking the city if it is still possible with the cap.

It's still up for debate, but the mayor proposed an idea.

Read more: "Isle of Palms residents rally for cap on short-term rentals: Referendum to hit upcoming ballot."

"You would get one, but that couldn't go any further," Goodwin said. "That was just one time to your heirs as listed in the control group of family members."

Right now, there are two license options: an owner short-term rental or an investment short-term rental.

The city is considering replacing owner licenses with something called limited short-term rental licenses.

Read more: "Short-term rental regulations in Mount Pleasant could become stricter."

"The people in the community keep saying where's the waitlist? Well, we have to know what you're gonna wait on before we create a waitlist," Goodwin said.

This new category would base a license on the number of nights the property would be rented.

In this new category, properties would be limited to 72 rental nights per year.

Read more: "Folly Beach residents argue whether or not to limit short term rentals."

If they do this, they’d have to go back and look at investment short-term rental licenses to balance things out.

"The references to lowering the cap number is to offset another potential of limited license that would be added, so that is kind of where we are," Goodwin said. "The 800 would go to some other number for unlimited licenses and to accommodate the limited licenses."

Leaders said this new license would be a compromise.

Read more: "Task Force Tackling Short-Term Rentals in Downtown Charleston."

However, many council members saw more cons than pros.

The city council will discuss the waitlist and other ordinances in a special workshop on Jan. 9.

Their goal is to vote before the next business license cycle at the beginning of March.

FOLLY BEACH — Folly Beach will be renourished with around 130,000 dump trucks worth of sand this year. The renourishment process will begin in late February or early March 2024 and should end ahead of peak hurricane season, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.

Folly Beach Director of Public Works Eric Lutz said the renourishment is well-timed, due to severe erosion caused by storms such as Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the nor’easter in December 2023.

“The timing couldn’t be better, and we’re really hoping we don’t get too many more storms before they get started,” he said.

The National Weather Service forecasts a wet winter for Charleston, with above-average rainfall and potential for unseasonably strong storms such as the nor’easter that caught the region by surprise last month. That storm pushed Folly Beach’s sand dunes back as much as 20 feet.

During severe weather events, beaches and dunes provide communities a buffer from the wind and ocean. Lutz said they’re meant to be “sacrificial.”

“We know (the beach) is going to get eroded over time, but it’s either that or we lose buildings, houses or half of our economy,” Lutz said.

Lutz estimated that for every dollar spent on renourishing Folly Beach, or any of the state’s beaches, $30 is earned in revenue from tourism.

“The beaches generate tons of revenue for tourism,” he said. “(The beach) is a huge economic engine.”

Folly Beach has received five renourishments in the last three decades, costing $77 million, which came from federal tax dollars and local funds, The Post and Courier previously reported. The upcoming renourishment will cost $18 million and will be funded entirely by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Despite more than 15 years of conservation efforts to preserve Captain Sams Spit and five rulings from the S.C. Supreme Court that confirmed the spit’s importance as both a natural and public resource, the sandy piece of land still isn’t safe from development.

This time, it’s a potential loophole in a decadelong agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and the developer that brings Sams Spit once again under legal scrutiny.

The 2013 Amended and Restated Development Agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and developer Kiawah Resort Associates expired on Dec. 4, 2023. According to the town, the developer did not fulfill two obligations outlined in the contract. The developer disagrees.

The town, Kiawah Island Community Association, the Coastal Conservation League and the S.C. Environmental Law Project say the agreement requires the developer to:

These actions would protect the spit from development efforts.

Kiawah Resort Associates maintains that all requirements have been met and that these two obligations were contingent on development, which did not occur.

“When all the terms of this section are considered together ... the conclusion is inescapable that the entire provision contemplated that the development was to occur before the limited transfer to (the community association), yet that development was made impossible by the courts,” developer representative Jordan Phillips wrote in a letter to the community association.

The town of Kiawah Island issued a demand letter to the developer on Jan. 8, requesting the two obligations in question be fulfilled and reminding the developer that the town can prevent the sale of the spit to a third party. Town officials asked for a response from the developer by Jan. 15. None had been provided by press time, according to Erin Pomrenke, spokesperson for the town of Kiawah Island.

Amy Armstrong, executive director and general counsel at the S.C. Environmental Law Project, has been involved in cases involving Captain Sams Spit since 2008, representing the Conservation League. She said that while the developer isn’t legally required to respond to the demand letter, it would be in their best interest to do so.

“The developer needs to respond because the town is basically threatening a lawsuit against the developer for breach of (the) development agreement,” she said.

Representatives from the town and community association declined to comment at this time. The developer did not respond to requests for comment.

Rising Waters

Conservation v. money

It’s not unusual for conservation efforts like preserving Captain Sams Spit to take decades, Armstrong said. And the reason isn’t a mystery.

“It’s about money,” she said.

Captain Sams Spit is a teardrop-shaped piece of land on the southern tip of Kiawah Island located between the Kiawah River and Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of only three undeveloped, publicly accessible barrier island beaches in the state, and one of the last wild places on the South Carolina coast.

And it’s valuable.

“When there’s a development project like Captain Sams Spit, it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to developers,” Armstrong said. “They’re not going to go away easily when they’ve got so much hanging out on the line.”

Armstrong added there’s a lot on the line for the public, too.

“Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” she said.

Coastal Conservation League program director Riley Egger emphasized the point.

“Captain Sams Spit is extremely valuable for the people of South Carolina and conservation,” Egger said. “We need to see it permanently protected and permanently conserved.”

From 2008 to 2022, developers attempted to secure permits needed to build 50 luxury homes on Captain Sams Spit and infrastructure such as roads, utility lines and walls to protect the area from flooding and erosion — the spit is constantly transformed by wind and tides and is vulnerable to storms.