Purpose
To provide the safest possible environment in which residents, visitors and workers can live, work and play. Promote collaborative efforts, education and proactive safety initiatives. Fully provide fire and police services for the city’s needs to enforce laws that prioritize safety for all.
View Summary: priorities and goals
Priority: General Safety
Ensure safety for all residents, businesses and visitors.
Goal 1: Communication Channels and Key Partnerships
Utilize new and existing communication channels, as well as partnerships with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and island businesses, to further enhance safety for residents, visitors, and employees on Isle of Palms.
- Explore creating an electronic means (text or web-based form) of contacting police and generating incident reports for non-emergency issues, which includes acknowledgement of receipt and notification of next steps.
- Identify and promote an electronic process for residents, property owners, and businesses to proactively provide background information about their property and special needs of individuals living there to assist Public Safety personnel when they respond to an emergency.
- Monitor safety conditions and rule compliance at the public dock daily, confirming the presence of a life-saving ring, and evaluating the condition of dock surfaces and railings.
- Frequently incorporate safety-related information in messages from multiple city communication channels; place particular emphasis on increasing use of Sunnie for real-time communication. Suggested topics include but are not limited to, paramedics on the island, importance of reporting non-emergency situations, emergency preparedness, Coffee with a Cop, emergency/incident notification (e.g. Connector closed due to accident, avoid an area due to fire, etc.), and personal property safety (locking doors, etc.).
Goal 2: Education and Enforcement
Increase education efforts & enforcement of golf cart/low speed vehicle ("LSV") operating rules.
- Work with golf cart rental companies to develop a communication piece for distribution to each renter, a placard/sticker to be posted in each cart, and/or a pledge to be signed by all renters that emphasizes state and local laws.
- Consider passing an ordinance adding a requirement for golf cart and LSV owners/users to read and agree to a golf cart/LSV safety pledge emphasizing state and local laws.
Goal 3: Speed Limit Signage and Monitoring
Identify areas on the island to improve or reinstall speed limit signage and add speed monitoring to improve overall safety for residents and visitors.
- Advocating to appropriate state agencies, ex. South Carolina Department of Transportation (“SCDOT”), to reinstall speed limit signs removed from Waterway Boulevard, Palm Boulevard, and any other interior streets that experience frequent speed limit violations.
- Request permission from SCDOT to install permanent speed monitoring/reporting mechanism near Waterway Boulevard & 29th Avenue to collect real-time data, informing the need for more frequent traffic enforcement.
- Identify locations on the island with the most repetitive parking violations that impact safety and evaluate the need for signage.
Goal 4: Coyote Management
Improve coyote management efforts.
- Given the increased activity, assess the costs, risks, impacts to public beach access, and benefits of taking more aggressive measures, such as depredation on public property; seek appropriate state agency, ex. Department of Natural Resources ("DNR") and state support, if it is determined to be necessary to protect the public’s safety.
- Adapt existing Coyote Management Plan to add color-coded threat levels defining triggers for moving between levels AND actions that the city will take at each level.
- Establish a notification process that would communicate: 1) color-coded threat levels and 2) den locations or reported sighting/incidents so appropriate precautionary measures may be taken. Notify property owners of their right to set traps and depredate coyotes on their private property, per DNR guidelines.
- Notifications should occur via multiple communication channels to include text.
- Consistently add temporary warning signs to beach paths where coyotes are active.
Priority: Beach Safety
Provide a safe beach for all to enjoy and enforce ordinances.
Goal 1: Police Staffing and Presence
Increase police staffing and presence during the beach season.
- Explore ways to increase police officer and beach safety officer staffing during peak summer hours.
- Recruit from areas that have high demand in winter months.
- Recruit semi-retired officers.
- Create a beach safety lane, where necessary, by maintaining a corridor from the dune for emergency access.
Goal 2: Public Awareness
Increase public awareness of beach safety issues.
- Restore, update and improve signage for dune protection, coyotes and beach rules.
- Increase public media messages regarding all safety matters.
Goal 3: E-Bikes and Electric Skateboards
Increase safety on the beach with regards to E-Bikes and Electric Skateboards.
- Restrict e-bike usage with speed limitations on beach accesses.
- Extend restriction of e-bikes to April 1st through September 14th
Goal 4: Firearms
Ban firearms from the beach.
- Collaborate with other beach communities to request state officials to ban firearms from the beach.
- Get community/resident support to change state laws to designate the beach as a no firearms zone.
Goal 5: Overnight Items
Better control over items which are allowed to be left on the beach overnight.
- Require registration of any Hobie Cat and volleyball nets that might be left on the beach (similar to Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head).
Priority: Pedestrian Safety
Enhance pedestrian safety with improved infrastructure, education, and enforcement.
Goal 1: Prioritize in Key Areas
Prioritize pedestrian safety throughout the island with emphasis in key areas such as Palm Boulevard, Waterway Boulevard and commercial areas surrounding the connector.
- Explore installing “in-pavement lighting” on existing crosswalks on Palm Boulevard for increased visibility to advancing cars with brighter paint to designate pedestrian space.
- Maintain 4’ off pavement chalk line on Palm Boulevard more than just weekends.
- Request new, more accurate renderings of Palm Boulevard including existing driveways, beach paths, mailboxes and drainage ditches prioritizing safety of residents and beachgoers. Engage the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) to study and supply technical data to improve pedestrian safety.
- Increase the width of the existing sidewalk on Palm Boulevard landside between 21st and 40th and trim all overgrown vegetation. Consider marking cross streets to indicate pedestrian crossing.
- Increase enforcement of speed limit along Palm Boulevard 21st-41st in the off season.
- Consider adding more crosswalks and sidewalks island wide based off data from walkability study with emphasis on 27th, 28th, 29th streets surrounding the recreation center. Possible funding may come from the infrastructure funds.
- Program intersection at IOP connector and Palm Boulevard that emphasizes the pedestrian right of way with use of lead pedestrian intervals (all-way stop) and raised materials that designate pedestrian space.
- Request updated traffic study to help direct makeover of Palm Boulevard that focuses on pedestrian safety along with traffic and seasonal adjustments.
- Revisit wayfinding signage plan and improve throughout the island.
Priority: Bike Safety
Ensure bicyclists are safe as they navigate on the island.
Goal 1: Bike Lanes
Improve bike safety by encouraging bikers to areas of the island with less traffic and parking by leveraging the existing bike lane and improving it.
- Clean, better mark, maintain, increase signage and possibly enlarge existing bike lanes on Palm Boulevard from 14th Avenue to Breach Inlet.
- Create a clear path off the connector to bike to Front Beach/County park incorporating the existing path from 14th to Breach inlet.
- Encourage bikers in the direction of the existing bike lane from 14th Avenue to Breach Inlet with improved signage and education of local bike groups to avoid the areas of Palm 21-41st Avenues where there is more parking and traffic.
- Determine feasibility for a bike route off the main roadways and sidewalks through neighborhoods or other lower traffic areas. i.e. Waterway Boulevard on the east bound side.
- Install bike repair/air station at the public safety building and recreation center.
Priority: Public Safety
Ensure Isle of Palms can attract and retain public safety talent.
Goal 1: Continuous Improvement and Workforce
Support public safety departments by ensuring best practices through a robust Continuous Improvement Program while offering public safety positions designed to attract and retain employees.
- Consider hiring independent consultants to assess performance and departmental needs periodically.
- Combat attrition by performing an annual review of compensation packages and adjusting to make and keep IOP public safety positions competitive.. Match or exceed those of comparable roles..
- Consider post-retirement health care options for public safety personnel, possibly with the assistance of state/county organizations.
- Provide training budgets that meet the ever-changing needs of the Police and Fire Departments.
- Modify the court schedule to have less impact on work shift schedules. Investigate virtual options.
- Explore ways to compensate for the lack of affordable local housing. Look at cost of living increases, housing allowances, and/or incentives for IOP property owners to rent to public safety personnel. Explore using city-owned property to provide housing alternatives for city employees. Assess/survey if this would be desirable to city staff to determine if the market for this exists.
Priority: Supplementation and Growth
Ensure island safety at all times of year, including when there are seasonal peaks.
Goal 1: Emergency Personnel and Equipment
Evaluate our emergency personnel and equipment based on the seasonal peak demands to ensure adequate response times due to regional population growth.
- Evaluate partnerships with Wild Dunes Resort and Wild Dunes Community Association to establish a staffed and equipped public safety building inside of Wild Dunes reducing response times, providing much-needed training space, and providing respite for police officers following traumatic experiences or waiting between court appearances and the start of their shift.
- Hire seasonal, part-time police officers, recruiting retired police officers when possible; one such position to serve as a transport officer.
- Require local businesses hosting events to pay for additional police support to avoid having to pull scheduled patrol officers away from patrolling the rest of the island.
Priority: Tools and Equipment
Ensure the island has the tools and equipment to provide a safe environment.
Goal 1: Worst Case Scenario Planning
Provide needed equipment to maintain safe conditions on the island during worst case scenarios.
- Conduct annual review of equipment needs to include considerations for things like a high-water vehicle for the Fire Department and more diverse patrolling options for the Police Department (bicycles, motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles, etc.). Explore resource sharing.
- Consider how to best acquire an accelerant and explosive detection canine for large events, which may include a mutual aid agreement and/or shared use with other jurisdictions.
- Ask the Police Department to present a plan for a formalized drone program utilizing licensed volunteers to supplement the police force. Ensure the plan clearly defines public spaces where drone use can help monitor activity and identify when this type of surveillance is needed (i.e., proactive vs. reactive monitoring, special events, seasonal, emergencies only, etc.).