Sullivan’s Island residents breathed a huge sigh of relief in November of 2013 when Town Council voted against multi-family rezoning. Many, many thanks to the islanders who got a petition together and alerted other islanders that multi-family rezoning was on the table!
Opposition to multi-family rezoning is truly island-wide. A group of islanders in the historic neighborhood directly affected started a petition opposing the zoning change, eventually garnering 392 signatures from neighborhoods all across the island.
In addition, islanders wrote letters and attended Town Council and Planning Commission meetings for months, voicing opposition to multi-family rezoning. At the October 9 Planning Commission meeting, many islanders spoke eloquently and passionately about the importance of maintaining the single-family residential nature of Sullivan’s Island.
The message to Town Council is loud and clear: SI residents want the island to remain the single family, low density community it has been for two centuries. That is the vision affirmed in the 1998 Comprehensive Plan and in every Comprehensive Plan since then, including the 2013 Comprehensive Plan. Not one council member ran on changing that vision. And as the controversy over multi-family rezoning demonstrates, there is simply no support among residents for increasing density on the island.
Again, many thanks to all who worked so hard to preserve and protect our unique island community!
