Town highlights 24/7 STR hotline and stepped enforcement as staff works to tighten LMO and data

At the task force meeting staff explained how the town enforces short‑term rental behavior and what evidence it will use to craft LMO changes.

Staff noted the municipal code currently addresses operations (permits, business licences, noise, inspections) while the LMO addresses location and form. The town has added dedicated STR enforcement capacity and a rapid‑response hotline routed to the dispatch center that operates around the clock, and staff described coordination with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office for after‑hours disturbances. "The town also maintains a 24 7 short term rental rapid response hotline that's fielded by the town's dispatch center," the presenter said.

Bob Bromage, who leads the enforcement team, described a proactive daytime presence in neighborhoods and summarized the department's staffing: he said the code/enforcement group currently includes a dozen officers plus seasonal parking attendants and that substantiated complaints trigger administrative follow‑up and progressively stronger penalties, up to license suspension for repeat violations. Because the transcript contains imprecise transcriptions of penalty dollar amounts, staff and the article avoid repeating inconsistent figures; the consistent point in the meeting was that the town is using a multi‑strike administrative process with escalating fines and possible license suspension.

Staff also acknowledged limits in long‑term occupancy tracking: formal permit records are a recent institutional practice and the town does not have comprehensive pre‑COVID tracking. Staff told the task force that an informal estimate showed a pre‑COVID count of roughly 3,000 short‑term units and that current active permits are about 7,300; staff said they are resetting the annual permit cycle and will provide refined trend data as part of the draft code package.

What this means: Residents and the task force will see a combination of (a) operational enforcement (hotline, staff response, strikes) and (b) proposed LMO changes to address where and how STRs are allowed. Staff committed to improving data presentation and returning with clarified, drillable figures when it brings draft LMO language back to the task force.