Residents and Gullah community urge targeted protections as task force weighs STR rules

Public comment at the May 21 task force meeting emphasized neighborhood character, enforcement and cultural preservation. Speakers from North and South Forest Beach described recurring noise and parking disturbances and urged tools to limit mass‑scale redevelopment.

Deborah Arado, a 52‑year Forest Beach resident, told the panel she bought her home because of the single‑family designation and cited late‑night noise as her primary concern. She proposed treating STRs as businesses and using licensing, bed‑based fees and a cap or lottery to limit licenses in Forest Beach: "Forest Beach is filled with oversized mini hotels," she said, and urged limits and fee‑based incentives for long‑term occupancy.

Several speakers criticized the staff heat map as a presentation tool that can overstate problems. Craig Cunningham, a nearby homeowner, warned: "Heat maps are a scary thing to use, especially when you have a small amount of events over a large area." Advocates for neighborhood‑level fixes urged tactical steps (signage, targeted parking controls) alongside any LMO changes.

Speakers representing cultural and historical interests urged caution in broadly applying RM‑4 changes across the island. Yolanda Coyne McKinney, a sixth‑generation native islander, asked the task force to recognize that some native families use STR income to preserve ancestral property and Gullah heritage. Daniel Anthony, president of the Jonesville Preservation Society, said he had urged the town to restrict STRs in Jonesville and argued the community is not appropriate for tourism rentals: "Jonesville is not a place for short term rentals," he said.

Other speakers — including STR owners and industry representatives — urged the task force to focus on mass and scale and enforcement rather than outright bans. Beth Petro, an STR owner and long‑time resident, said she supports stronger mass/scale rules for the landward side of Forest Beach but opposed blanket moratoria that would remove property rights.

The public record at the meeting shows substantial neighborhood concern about noise, parking and redevelopment scale, a strong request that staff produce clear, drillable data rather than aggregated heat maps, and calls to use LMO tools (overlay rules, FAR/exemption adjustments, parking requirements) to preserve single‑family character where appropriate. The task force asked staff to return with draft code and an executive summary in about 60 days.