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ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — There are less than 25 days until a big decision is made on the Isle of Palms.

Should short-term rental licenses be capped at 1,600?

"We moved here deliberately," said Billy Lempesis, a resident of IOP, "understanding that it was a beach community. I have family here. It's always been a wonderful place. It's hard to understand the necessity of restricting short-term rentals."

Isle of Palms residents to decide on capping short-term rental licenses in upcoming vote (WCIV)

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Many people say they're still unsure how they will vote.

"There's a lot more information that people need to find out if they're not clear because there's a gray area," said Debbie Strable, a resident of IOP for 22 years. "It is not what black and white, it's not quite clear to a lot of people. And it certainly isn't maybe 100% to me."

News 4 spoke with Mayor Phillip Pounds on Friday.

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He said the city already has a little over 1,600 licenses issued.

News 4 asked him if this passes, would it impact property value and property taxes.

To that, he said he didn't think there would be an immediate effect on either one.

he also made a comparison to other Lowcountry beaches.

"If you look at what's going on at Folly Beach, who put a cap in earlier this year, you know, their, their property values have gone down, you know, pretty significantly in just a few months," said Pounds.

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Mayor Pounds said it's most important to know exactly what it is you're voting for.

"I would just encourage our residents to get educated, you know, from whatever source they use, to get their facts," Pounds said. "You know, whether it's the city's website or their couple of neighborhoods sites that have popped up. Uh, you just make sure you're educated on what your choice is."

A petition was created to get this referendum on the ballot.

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Right now, IOP is the only Lowcountry beach community without a short-term rental cap.

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCIV) — Currently, Isle of Palms has no limits on the amount of short-term rental licenses on the Island, which is something neighbors have been concerned about for years.

“We’re the only community in South Carolina coastal communities without limitations, and that includes all of the surrounding communities," Randy Bell, a former IOP councilmember, said. "You have 40 short-term rentals on Sullivan's island, 400 in mount pleasant, and maybe 100 in Charleston, but you have 1,800 here."

Isle of Palms residents rally for cap on short-term rentals: Referendum to hit upcoming ballot (WCIV)

Earlier in the month, Isle of Palms neighbors formed a grassroots petition to cap the number of short rentals at 1,600. The petition was signed by more than 1,100 residents. This led to the county verifying the petition forcing the city council to put a referendum on the ballot.

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"The residents put forth a petition, and that’s how democracy works, and we'll put that on the ballot," Mayor Phillip Pounds of Isle of Palms said. "So it’s to cap what they call investment short-term rentals. So non-full-time rental properties to cap that at 1,600, and that will be the simple question on the ballot: a simple yes or no."

With the decision now up to voters, former Councilman Randy Bell hopes the council learns to listen to their constituents moving forward.

“We’re the dry sponge in the middle of a puddle, and we don’t want to be the dry sponge anymore. We would like to have reasonable limitations well thought out by council. It should have avoided a referendum, but here we are," Bell continued. “I was on council, and I don’t care what every councilperson’s opinion is, but you’re there to represent the people that put you in office."

For the next upcoming election, there are four council seats open.

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ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) – The ribbon was cut early Tuesday morning on the newly renovated Isle of Palms Marina market, The Outpost.

Michael Shuler, whose company took over the lease for the Isle of Palms Marina store months ago, said the new shop will offer a “little bit of everything” whether you are a local or visitor.

“It’s got exactly what you need at a marina. It’s part convenience store, part boutique, part kitchen- and it’s convenient, it’s quick, it’s easy whether you come by boat or by vehicle, it’s a little something for everyone,” he said following Tuesday’s opening celebration.

Isle of Palms city leaders and residents gathered for the ribbon cutting. Shuler promised that although the business is open, it will remain a work in progress. “We’re not stopping now. We’re listening, we’re going to keep getting this right,” he said.

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Shuler said he’s been coming to the Isle of Palms Marina since he was a child and understands its significance to the community.

“This place is very important to me. I think what we’ve done here is going to give us another forty years of fun times at the Isle of Palms Marina and we welcome everyone to come enjoy it with us,” he added.

After obtaining the lease earlier this year, Shuler’s team went to work renovating the space and reconfiguring the parking lot to make it more efficient. Inside, you’ll find the ship store, a deli, and plenty of opportunities to pick up a souvenir.

“We dove right in,” said Shuler. “We knew that we had a renovation on our hands so we tried our best to get it done and make sure we could open and serve the public this summer.”

The Outpost is open seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.

“We’ve got to be here to meet the needs of people first thing in the morning when they are out fishing with the sunrise and we’ve got to meet the needs of people when they are coming back off the boat in the evenings,” said Shuler.

A total of 1,173 people on the Isle of Palms signed a grassroots petition to cap the number of investment short-term rentals on the island at 1,600.

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCSC) - A total of 1,173 people on the Isle of Palms signed a grassroots petition to cap the number of investment short-term rentals on the island at 1,600.

Petition creators, Catherine Malloy and Brian Duffy say it all started as a way to preserve the balance of people enjoying the town.

“We are absolutely in favor of short-term rentals. But we want to balance to maintain the equilibrium that we’ve had through the years. So it seemed like a good time to get involved with this,” Malloy says.

For former council member Duffy, it’s about being proactive, and he fears it’s already getting close to waiting too long to take action and be reactive.

“We’re just really asking the city to manage short-term rental licenses because you don’t know. Currently, there is no management of short-term rental licenses, there are no limits. So we could turn from the 1600 that we proposed in this ordinance to 3000 and no controls,” Duffy explains. “So that’s all that we were ever asking for. It is a little bit of management, a little bit of foresight, a little bit of planning.”

Under South Carolina Law, a petition signed by 15% of the voting population and verified by the county has to be considered by city council. The signatures on Preserve IOP’s petition represent about 27% of the island population, according to 2020 census numbers. City Council can approve the ordinance in the petition, or make amendments and put it to a city-wide citizen vote.

“The next steps really are in the hands of counsel. We as the group, Preserve IOP, have submitted this we are pretty much standing down, it’s their choice,” Duffy says.

Over the course of their work to gather signatures, Malloy and Duffy say they and the many volunteers who went door to door learned a lot about their island and their neighbors.

“They were so interesting the stories they told way before Hurricane Hugo before the connector bridge, and before even Wild Dunes when it was feature racquet club and that was all developed,” Malloy says. “So we’ve kind of really enjoyed it if you want to know the truth. Usually it’s not, it’s kind of labor. But it was a labor of love because these people were so fun, and so interesting.”

On July 11 at the Isle of Palms Recreation Center, the city council will hold a special meeting to address the petition.

On the agenda there will be public comment followed by discussion of the petition, consideration of sending petition to the Charleston County Board of Voter Registration & Elections for certification of signatures and consideration of first reading of the ordinance in the petition.

“It’s up or down vote, really it’s simple. It’s up or down. This is our wonderful gift to them because this is what residents want. And they all say when they got when they ran for office, we are for the residents. Well, the residents want this overwhelmingly so,” Malloy says.

Once the signatures are verified, council must accept the ordinance or put it to a island-wide vote. They have between 30 days and one year to schedule a public vote from the date city council takes any action on the verified ordinance.

You can read more about the roots of the petition and prior city council members’ reactions to the start of the campaign here.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Grab your bestie and let the games begin.

James Brian “Huddy” Hudson did just that when he saw an ad on Twitter advertising a trip of a lifetime to an adult summer camp with your best friends. The Isle of Palms resident didn’t know it was for a new CBS show hosted by “Transformers” actor Josh Duhamel.

Hudson and his three best friends from Oklahoma will be among the first six teams to take on the taxing mental and physical challenges in Duhamel’s “Buddy Games.” The first episode of the new game show airs at 9 p.m. on Sept. 14 on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.

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Viewers will watch as Hudson and Team OK will compete against five other teams for a cash prize of a yet-to-be-announced amount, a trophy and bragging rights. Hudson’s team includes Justin Palmer, Stephen Craig and Yue Pun Szeto from Edmond, Okla. Hudson grew up in Oklahoma and has lived in the Charleston area for about a decade. Other team names include Derby Squad, Chicago’s Finest, Team Pride, Pageant Queens and Philly Forever.

The four Oklahomans sport cowboy attire in promotional material for the show filmed in Bogota, Colombia.

“We grew up in Oklahoma so we got a little cowboy in us,” he said.

The new series on CBS adapts Duhamel’s own real life feats of strength he grew up doing every year with his friends into a reality TV game show. The “Las Vegas” actor later turned the experience into the 2019 gross out comedy film of the same name starring himself, Olivia Munn and Dax Shepard. A sequel, “Buddy Games: Spring Awakening,” was released earlier this year. Both were rated R, but the new show on CBS scales back from raunchier bits in the films for network television.

The series has ties to “The Real World” and “The Challenge” through Bunim Murray. Murray, who was a producer on both shows, helped create this show for CBS.

Hudson said a highlight of the trip last November was spending time with Duhamel, who had a habit of getting in trouble for “distracting” the cast offscreen.

Poetry and community go hand-in-hand. Sometimes lacking a defined form but always full of heart, they create a space for discussing, relating, exploring, expressing, healing.

This year’s Free Verse Poetry Festival, returning for its seventh year from Oct. 18-22, is doing just that.

Events at this year’s rendition of Charleston’s poetry festival include readings from locals on Ohm Radio 96.3 FM, two writing workshops, a film night, and a combination yoga and live music event focused on relaxation, said festival founder Marcus Amaker. All events are free.

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A key theme in curating this year’s festival has been conveying how poetry shouldn’t be a passive experience, said Amaker, former poet laureate of the city. Free Verse, outside of its October festival, looks to use poetry as public art and make participation accessible with regular open mic nights across venues in the Charleston area.

Programming outside of October has been key to the festival’s success so far, with open mic nights gaining a steady following, he said. The artist collective strives to put poetry front and center in daily life, showcasing and exploring its ability to process the big issues of today’s world.

Poetry isn’t limited to the page, but words have been strewn across Lowcountry sidewalks and billboards. Teaching and sharing at libraries and schools has also been a focus.

“This year’s poetry community has grown immensely from last year,” said Amaker.

What has made it successful, even through the tumultuous years of the pandemic, is its focus on staying grounded to supporting and providing a platform for the people and poets of Charleston, steering away from the book-talk model of many conferences and festivals. Amaker looks for regular new voices — those often overlooked by conferences, academia and public forums. Then, he amplifies them.

The city of Charleston helps Free Verse secure funding and support through grants and other national programs. Scott Watson, director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, said Amaker’s practice of making spaces of “radical inclusion” keep Free Verse focused on the people who call Charleston home.