Hilton Head businesses, residents concerned with proposed regulations on short-term rentals

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Hilton Head Island officials are now looking at stricter regulations for short-term rentals.

This comes after they discussed the possibility of putting a moratorium in place, or a temporary pause, on the properties.

For local businesses like The Ice Cream Cone on Hilton Head Island, the business they get from people visiting the island is crucial, and with additional regulations proposed by the town on short-term rentals, some worry that it could put a strain on local businesses.

“It’s hard enough running your own business, so with all the restrictions that are coming in, I think it’ll take a sizable chunk out of the number of people that can come in,” Owner of The Ice Cream Cone, Peter Savarese said.

The proposed regulations were developed during a meeting on Tuesday, following input from several community members.

“Penalizing the people who do bring the economy up is wrong. We need to continue having short-term rentals,” one resident at the meeting said.

“There has to be a happy medium somewhere, and I hope we can work together to find that,” another resident at the meeting said.

Under those proposed regulation changes:

• Short-term rentals would require no insurance
• Fees enacted would be $500 on units with 0-4 bedrooms and $1000 on 4 plus bedrooms
• Fire code would be based on home size,
• There would be a limit of six parking places per site
• There would be a 2 and 2 documentation for occupancy, which means you would need two forms of ID and two forms of residency

Stephanie Cauller was at the meetings when the ordinances on short-term rentals were first created and says she doesn’t understand why they are adding new regulations when there has been a problem enforcing the old ones.

“We have plenty of rules that just need better enforcement,” Cauller said. “If we could manage that piece of it, none of this would have to be happening.”

The town says they are continuing to get better when it comes to enforcement and will look at adding additional staff depending on the volume of violations they see.

The new regulations now go to the town council. They will meet next Monday.