IOP to hold special city council workshop Tuesday after busy travel season

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C (WCBD) – Isle of Palms leaders on Tuesday will hold a special city council workshop to discuss new community-focused tourism plans as the busy summer season wraps up.

The workshop is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. and will include a special presentation on tourism management and community enrichment.

This workshop comes after a busy tourism season. Many agenda items planned for the meeting are around community improvement and safety for the beach community. The council will also report on short-term rentals.

To help with the explosive tourism the Isle of Palms is experiencing, the city has already established a new ordinance to regulate large groups, requiring a permit for groups larger than 50 people.

IOP police officers say safety steps like these are a big topic for the city after a beach shooting injured several people earlier this year.

“The events of April 7th were a big play this year people were focused on that and we were as well,” said Isle of Palms Police Sargent, Matt Storen. “So with that in mind, we had extra patrols, we had extra officers out on the beach, and that’s all about our zero-tolerance approach to safety. We want people to feel very safe on this beach- again, it’s a family-friendly environment and it’s all about safety and we have zero tolerance for any criminal behavior.”

News 2 reached out to The Isle of Palms for updated travel numbers following the busy season, they say they are finishing up their final reports.