Requiring a Special Exception for Hotels on Folly Road

Zoning in the Town's commercial core has always allowed for hotels and motels.  Because the Town limits the height of buildings on Folly Road to 35 feet (approximately 2 stories) there has been little interest in building one in areas under Town jurisdiction.  There has not been a hotel or motel on James Island for many years.

The Town's Planning Commission has recommended adding a further restriction--that hotels and motels only be allowed in the Town's commercial core with with a special exception from the Town's Board of Zoning Appeals.    If the specific location proposed for a hotel or motel were inappropriate, the Board could deny the request.  More importantly, the Board would be able to impose conditions needed to protect  neighboring residences or the natural environment.  While hotels and motels are already been a prohibited use in other areas on Folly Road under Town jurisdiction because the underlying zoning--mostly office residential--does not allow them, the Planning Commission proposal expressly prohibits hotels and motels in all areas areas of the Folly Road Overlay other than the commercial core..

The Town's commercial core is centered at the intersection of Camp and Folly and runs between Ellis Creek and Prescott Street (next to the new JIPSD fire station)  It is already commercially developed with only one very small vacant lot, so all that is possible is redevelopment. (The more open areas on Folly Road south of Grimball and Fort Johnson on to Folly Beach are not in the Town.)  

Nearly all of the Town's commercial core is made up of old strip malls, gas stations, and car washes. These were constructed long before there were any drainage requirements aimed at protecting our Island waters from pollution from stormwater runoff.   Similarly, sidewalks, trees, and other plantings were not required when these properties were developed decades ago.  All of these improvements will be required with redevelopment.  That is a key goal of the Rethink Folly Road plan--to promote redevelopment of the commercial core on James Island to make it a place of which all James Islanders can be proud.  

I believe that the right hotel would be help spur desirable redevelopment in the Town's commercial core.  Further, accommodation tax money can be raised to provide further improvements to infrastructure and beautification of Folly Road. There is currently little meeting space for local organizations on James Island and James Islanders would finally have a place for extended family members to stay nearby.   

The Planning Commission's proposed requirement that hotels and motels obtain a special exception is a a reasonable way to control hotels and motels on redeveloped  property in the Town.  It will allow us to limit the number and size of hotels and motels.  In my opinion, a ban on all hotels and motels on Folly Road is a rash and drastic approach that is not consistent with the well being of our community.