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FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCBD)- The City of Folly Beach says they’re preparing now for a one-foot rise in sea levels by 2050.

For people who have been around the island for a while, they’ve watched the sea level rise slowly.

“I’ve been on folly about 10 years. I know we will be impacted by it, some properties more than others,” Folly Beach Relator, Kain Slowikowski said.

However, the speed at which it’s predicted to rise years down the road is a concern.

“Where does that extra water go if we have a storm surge, that sort of thing is something the city needs to look at,” Slowikowski said.

Reports from NASA and NOA, led Folly officials to predict a foot by 2050.

Those reports suggest there are several factors, like climate change and melting glaciers across the globe, adding to the ocean’s volume.

“The rates of sea level rise that we had been planning may be accelerating at a rate faster than we had been anticipating,” President of Coastal Consulting Inc., Dr. Nicole Elko said.

However, the City of Folly is jumping on the issue now, since high sea levels affect the drainage system, marsh areas, roads, and degree of storm damage.

“When we think about all of the impacts we see today with hurricanes and king tides, you can just imagine what that would be like if it was occurring with water levels a foot higher than they are today,” Dr. Elko said.

The city is now revising their sea level plan.

The plan focuses on things like water infrastructure, land management, building codes, and roadways.

The consulting director for plan, Dr. Elko, says its vital they take action on this now.

“While 2050 is a long way away, it’s an actionable time period and it’s something that residents and visitors and officials can all sort of wrap their heads around,” she said.

Residents say they’re relieved that Folly leaders are looking to the future.

“I’m not a scientist, I don’t have the solutions, but the conversation being started is definitely the right thing to be doing right now,” Slowikowski said.

Folly has released a survey where residents and business owners on the island can talk about how the sea level rising could impact them. The survey is closed right now but will reopen in several days.

Dozens of Short-term rental property owners met Monday night on Folly Beach to discuss how to maintain both their property’s value their licenses.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Dozens of short-term rental property owners met Monday night on Folly Beach to discuss how to maintain both their property’s value and short-term rental license.

This comes after the months-long short-term rental discussion came to a close last month, officially capping the number of short-term rentals on Folly Beach at 800.

The owner of Folly Beach property management company “Folly’s Best Rentals,” and host of Monday’s meeting, Greg Hart, said the short-term rental cap will drive down property value and make Short-term rental licenses more valuable.

“My advice for those who have a license is to be sure to take care of it, because it’s worth its weight in gold,” Hart said.

Right now, the short-term rental cap is set at 800, and there are currently around 1,200 on the island. Hart said he believes the city will try to lower the number of short-term rental licenses.

He said he encourages property owners to pay attention to strikes on their property, and the short-term rental license renewal date itself. Other suggestions included contacting Folly Beach Officials, and supporting a state-wide bill that would make imposing short-term rental bans illegal.

One short-term rental owner, Randy Holton, said he’s going to keep a close eye on his own short-term rental license.

Holton said when he and his family bought the house thirty years ago, renting it was always part of their retirement plan.

“Now we are reaching retirement age, so we are very threatened by laws that come along and say, ‘no we can’t do that,’” Holton said.

A majority of people at Monday night’s discussion were short-term rental property owners who are against the short-term rental cap.

Live 5 News reached out to The Folly Beach Resident Association, a group that is openly in favor of the short-term rental cap, for a statement.

We at the Folly Beach Residents Association (FRA) were pleased to see the highest voter turnout of any election on the Island vote to retain our sense of community and quality of life by passing the Referendum to CAP Investment Short Term Rental licenses at 800. The City leadership team is now beginning the implementation process of updating ordinances and capturing this decision into implementable city rules and regulations and the FRA is partnering with the City however they need us to through this process. We’ve already heard of one positive shift so far... the City confirmed to us that there are more Long Term Rental licenses being requested.

The City of Folly Beach said they did not want to comment on Monday’s discussion at this time.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

FOLLY BEACH — In a referendum locals viewed as a battle for the future of this barrier island, Folly Beach residents narrowly voted to limit the number of short-term rentals that can operate on one of Charleston’s most popular beach communities.

The vote for tighter restrictions is expected to slowly shrink the number of short-term rentals that can operate here.

“It looks like the citizens want to have a year-round community, not just a weekly community,” Mayor Tim Goodwin said after the results were in.

A narrow majority of voters, 53 percent, said “yes” to the only question posed by the Feb. 7 referendum. The results will be certified on Feb. 9.

Island residents were asked to decide whether short-term rental licenses on Folly Beach should be capped at 800.

According to unofficial returns from the Charleston County Board of Elections, just 77 votes separated the results.

Some 655 of the island’s registered voters agreed with the restrictions, compared to 578 who did not want to see the limit imposed.

At the heart of the one-question issue was a central concern shared by many Charleston-area beach communities: How do communities balance all that comes with being a tourist destination while still preserving what makes a place special?

Tuesday’s vote adds a fresh layer of local oversight but the impact of the decision could take years to materialize. Goodwin and city staff estimate it could take about three years for Folly Beach to drop down to that 800-mark.

Property owners have had to apply for short-term rental licenses since 2018. Currently, there are more than 1,100 active licenses on the barrier island, which accounts for some 40 percent of the island’s properties.

Under the proposed ordinance, owners with short-term rental licenses may continue to operate and keep their licenses until there’s a transfer to a new owner or family member. No new short-term licenses would be granted until the number of active permits falls below 800 — a figure based on the number of pre-pandemic licenses in 2020.

A waiting list would be established for future permits, but there are a lot of unanswered questions about further specifics or effects the limit would have.

Katherine Meader, who is one of those owners, voted “no” to the cap. As a mother of five, she said her vote was about protecting the future of her five children.

“They’re the ones who are going to carry it on. I just want them to be able to do the same thing that their mom has done without having to get in line behind someone who may have moved here a year ago,” she said. “I don’t want my kids to have to get back in line to apply for a license that might already be at its cap.”

Others saw short-term rentals and the flow of transient guests staying in them as a threat to the established community and its longtime residents who don’t want new neighbors every week.

Two advocate groups were especially vocal about the vote: Save Folly’s Future, which was pushing for the cap; and Folly United, which opposed the cap proposal.

Neither leader of the rival vote efforts could cast a ballot because they do not live on Folly Beach, but pro-cap John McFarland sat outside the polling place from 11 a.m. until polls closed at 7 p.m.

For Colleen Lamar, the vote “yes” was about preserving a place she loves.

“This will be my home until they carry me out in a box,” she said.

The referendum, at times, pitted neighbor against neighbor, with dueling yard signs along residential streets.

Folly is the latest beach community to make a decision about how to handle short-term rentals. Sullivan’s Island banned short-term rentals more than two decades ago. Isle of Palms could be next. On Feb. 6, the eve of the Folly Beach vote, a roomful of people attended a special workshop hosted by Isle of Palms City Council on short-term rentals.

A months-long discussion came to an end Tuesday night as voters decided on the fate of short-term rentals on Folly Beach.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - A months-long discussion came to an end Tuesday night as voters decided on the fate of short-term rentals on Folly Beach.

Just 78 votes ended up separating the debate of the number of short-term rental licenses allowed on Folly Beach. The final vote rang Tuesday night after lines at the polls began at 7 a.m. officially capping the number of rentals, like condos and Airbnbs, to 800 across the island.

There were more than 1,200 people that voted, which is about half of the number of registered voters on the island.

“This is probably the most people I’ve ever seen vote, even in a presidential election, that I can remember,” Goodwin said.

This special citizen vote tallies 655 voters for the cap on short-term rentals and 577 against it.

This issue stems back to October when a citizen petition to cap the number of short-term rentals came to city council, which was then put up to a citizen vote.

Ann Peets, who supports the cap, says she doesn’t want the permanent residents leaving because of disruptive renters.

“It’s a very tight-knit community and we feel like if people keep leaving that’s going to be lost,” Peets said.

Those against the cap on rentals, like Elton Culpepper, says he doesn’t want his kids to not have a rental option on inherited property.

“I feel like the property value will go down and they should be able to short term rental it,” Culpepper said.

Bill Murschel says he’s been renting on the island for over 25 years. Although he could not vote, he says he worries how this would affect his vacations.

“I don’t want to be priced out of the market,” Murschel said. “I want to have plenty of choices when I contact a local real estate office and pick my place.”

Mayor Goodwin says he signed the original petition and voted for the STR cap.

“We know they bring in tax dollars,” Goodwin said. “We never want to see short term rentals go away totally. It’s just where do you want your city to be in reference to a community versus businesses.”

He was asked if he thinks this will have any effect on people investing on Folly Beach in the future.

“I don’t think so,” Goodwin said. “You know, before this got started, like I said, the number was 800. That didn’t stop people from buying and selling out here... Nobody’s going to be totally happy with the vote. So, now it’s just a matter of the community coming back together and healing and let’s get on with the rest of the world.”

Goodwin says it will take several years for the number of current STRs to dwindle down to 800 from either people selling their property or no longer renewing their licenses. He says there’s currently around 1,200 on the island.

The vote will be certified on Thursday and will immediately take effect.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Few local referendums have stirred as much passion, especially on a per-voter basis, as has Folly Beach’s upcoming vote in which city residents will decide whether short-term rental licenses should be capped at 800. We urge them to vote “yes,” because we believe every community should seek a responsible balance in its neighborhoods between full-time residents and commercial use.

While visitors from near and far have always made up a large part of Folly’s identity, many residents fear the balance is tipping permanently away from those wanting to live there full time. The island has about 2,600 properties, of which more than 1,000 — or about 40% — are now licensed and registered short-term rentals. More ominously, the city’s population has dropped sharply, from 2,617 in 2010 to only 2,071 a decade later, a 20% decline during a decade when our region saw a surge of new people moving in.

Folly residents took their concerns to City Council last summer, specifically asking it to consider this cap, and they were shut down within minutes. They then turned to a little-known and even less-used state law allowing them to put a proposed ordinance up for a binding public vote, provided they collect enough voters’ signatures. They did, and election day is Feb. 7.

Folly is far from the only municipality that has been seeking a proper balance between the economic vitality of short-term rentals and the relative stability and quietude of neighborhoods with mostly full-time, year-round residents. We have consistently urged local leaders to heed residents’ reasonable concerns about commercial encroachments along their residential streets and the problems with noise, parking and litter that some rentals bring.

Most cities allow short-term rentals, but with restrictions. Some have capped such rentals at a far lower number than Folly, while others have allowed homeowners to rent out only a room or two, provided they continue to live in their home. It’s an ongoing balancing act. Meanwhile, Folly has seen an increase in whole-house rentals that are altering the feel of its residential neighborhoods and creating mini-hotels in what once were single-family homes. If the trend continues unchecked, it’s reasonable to wonder if Folly will become so popular a place to go for a week that no one will want to live there year-round.

It’s important to note what this ordinance will and will not do. Those with short-term rental licenses may continue to operate, but it could be difficult or impossible to pass their license on to a new owner unless the city’s overall number of rentals dips below 800, which may take years. It’s unclear what effect it might have on homes currently under construction with the anticipation of getting such a license. In essence, investor-owned short-term rentals will remain a huge chunk of Folly’s housing stock in the years to come; the question voters will answer is whether those rentals gradually decline or continue to climb toward 50%, 60% or 70%.

But Folly voters should understand the Feb. 7 vote is by no means the final say. Even if voters put the ordinance on the books, Folly Beach City Council could amend it or repeal it down the road. And there certainly will be legal challenges.

While very few South Carolina municipalities have used this state law to set a binding vote on a proposed ordinance, the Folly Island Residents’ Association petitioned in 1984 for referendums on setting a height limitation of 40 feet in the commercial district and on rezoning a 57-acre tract for single-family homes, although no public vote was held until the balance of power on City Council shifted a year later.

Commercial interests and some individuals who own a beach house they rent out part time to help pay its expenses are urging residents to vote “no” on Feb. 7, arguing that a new cap of 800 short-term rentals could limit how fast Folly’s home prices climb. Voters ultimately must decide what they value most: their potential financial gain or their desire to ensure that most Folly homes remain places where people live for more than 30 days at a time.

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