The City of Isle of Palms, in collaboration with Explore Charleston, the College of Charleston, and The McNair Group, is pursuing the development of a Community Enrichment Plan (CEP) using residents’ voices as the main driver of the process. The travel and hospitality industries are vital to the island's identity and economy.
Improving quality of life for residents is one of the main priorities anchoring the city’s Strategic Plan. Residents’ quality of life also plays a significant role in tourism’s success, and it is critical to the community's overall well-being. The city aims to maintain an equilibrium of these key elements for the longevity and prosperity of Isle of Palms.
With the guidance of The McNair Group and city staff, the Community Enrichment Plan will be constructed by the Community Enrichment Task Force. The Task Force, nominated by City Council, include various community members, including residents, business owners and tourism experts. The committee is responsible for developing recommendations to address livability and tourism management and facilitate community enrichment that will benefit the city continuously.
Substantial community input and data will be collected to guide the city on how to productively deal with the complexities and challenges of regional population growth while ensuring Isle of Palms thrives as the most sustainable, family-friendly beach community in South Carolina. Data will be collected through surveys, focus groups and large listening sessions.
All collected data and insight will be used to outline recommendations for an ongoing plan that will create improvements that foster livability, sustainability and responsible economic development.
Community Listening Sessions
Date: May 29, 2024
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Recreation Center (Magnolia Room)
Date: June 5, 2024
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Recreation Center (Magnolia Room)
Questions about the Listening Sessions? Text "Hello" to (877) 607-6467 to get connected to a city staff member, or call (843) 886-6428.
You can also the City Calendar for upcoming Community Listening Sessions and Focus Groups.
CEP Task Force Members:
| Joe Ready | |
| Beverly Miller | |
| Alex Stone | astone@islandrealty.com |
| Bill Skeens | |
| Paige Grimball | |
| Linda Tucker | |
| Susan Hill Smith | |
| Maryanne Chalmers | |
| Rod Turnage | |
| Hugh Swingle | |
| Patsy Hindman | |
| Sarah Vega | |
| Ben Marks | webmarks@gmail.com |
Updates
December 10 Update
The Task Force conducted a thorough review of the Safety section of the plan.
December 3 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
The Task Force conducted a thorough review of the Environmental section of the plan.
November 19 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
The bulk of the meeting was a group review of the Quality of Life section of the plan. Group discussion focused on wordsmithing and reprioritization of the goals.
November 14 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Task Force members shared their opinions on the completeness of the work and the proposed formatting as seen in the Seasonal Parking/Traffic draft. Mr. McNair will work with the team to transfer the paper documents to an online web-based version. He believes the only unknown is how long it will take to format the online version of the document.
October 24 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Task Force members provided feedback to Mr. McNair on the draft of the deliverable being prepared for City Council. After a lengthy discussion, an Executive Summary highlighting the goals, priorities, and recommendations (or similar descriptors) of each section of the plan will be compiled, followed by tabs ahead of each section where lengthier descriptions and background information will be housed.
October 10 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
The Task Force's drafts of the CEP will be compiled by city staff. McNair plans for this document to be sent to the Task Force members a few days ahead of the October 24 meeting. McNair will update City Council at their October 22 meeting on the work of the Task Force and prepare them for a final deliverable in early 2025.
October 2 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Mr. McNair thanked Task Force members for their continued efforts. Between all the parts of the plan, the draft includes 24 goals, 51 objectives, and 172 recommendations. He said that while it speaks well to the depth of their work, there will be a need to communicate their work without overwhelming Council or the public.
September 12 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Safety and Environmental Focus Teams presented drafts of their portion of the Community Enrichment Plan. The group provided feedback on the drafts.
Mr. McNair asked Task Force members to consider more “digestible” ways to share and prioritize the components of each committee’s work so that it becomes more actionable to Council and the public.
September 5 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Discussion about quality of life continued. Task Force members engaged with Administrator Fragoso for details about the statistics surrounding short-term rentals and the City’s software used to track the rentals. While the statistics may currently indicate a larger percentage of short-term rentals, Mr. Skeen pointed out that when the less active rentals are removed from the calculations, the numbers show more of a balance between residential and rentals. Task Force members discussed the development of a “Good Neighbor” initiative that would inform neighbors of contact information for a short-term rental but also require short-term rental license holders to attend a class about what it means to be a “good neighbor.”
Each Focus Team will continue to work on their drafts and will present them during the next meeting.
August 22 Update
Community Enrichment Task Force Meeting
Each Focus Team provided an update on their work. McNair directed the Task Force to discuss the Quality of Life recommendations developed earlier in the year. The conversation centered on the enforcement around and communication with short-term rentals. Mr. Turnage (from the Traffic & Parking Focus Team) shared information about the work of a subgroup of the IOP Chamber of Commerce, Family Vacation Rental Group, made up of island property managers who oversee 96% of the island’s vacation rentals. Mr. Swingle noted that recent data shows more complaints to the Police Department about residents than renters.
Each Focus Team will submit the draft of their work to the larger group in early September.