Councilmember Scott Pierce is one of eight candidates running in this year’s Isle of Palms City Council election. Pierce, one of four incumbents in the Nov. 7 race, will be competing against the following lineup for public votes: Tim Ahmuty, Elizabeth Campsen, Ashley Carroll, Brian J. Duffy, Rusty Streetman, Kevin M. Popson and Jimmy Ward. The following is a recent interview the Moultrie News had with Pierce 1. Can you tell us about your background and why it makes you qualified to serve or continuing serving on the IOP City Council? I’ve been actively involved with the IOP community for over a decade and I’m currently a member of Council. My responsibility is to reflect the voice of residents in my votes and proactively address opportunities, concerns and pressures facing us today, while preparing for future generations. I served on the IOP Planning Commission addressing island issues including drainage projects, water & sewer infrastructure, IOP’s Comprehensive Plan, parking solutions and Livability impacts of short-term rentals. Other community participation includes Exchange Club, founding sponsor of IOP’s Law Enforcement Neighborhood Support (LENS) program, VFW auxiliary member, sponsor/participant of IOP charity runs, and Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew. Qualifications include 28 years as an executive with Verizon and as a career Fiduciary. I’m a CPA, CFP® and retired Registered Investment Advisor. Since retiring in 2011, I’ve owned a management consulting firm, delivering Fortune 25 enterprise systems. 2. How would you rank the following concerns relative to your community: crime, STRs, parking/traffic, beach erosion? How do you plan on handling what you believe are the major issues? STRs – IOP experienced a 28 percent growth in STRs in one year, reaching nearly 40 percent of all dwelling units. There’s been a targeted “balance” of one-third residents, one-third second homes and one-third rentals, but that balance tipped and is widening. IOP is now the only open STR investment market in the area. STR licenses already exceed last year’s count. A resident ballot petition garnered 31 percent of the voters (double what’s needed for referendum) who seek to limit only non-resident STRs where they are today, with no impact to city revenue, taxes or existing license holders. It excludes resident STRs and allows passing STRs on to eligible heirs. It’s a guardrail that will help preserve our full and part time residential population from further declines. I support limiting non-resident STRs where they are now. Public Beach Erosion - Protecting the dunes and beach for public use is clearly a council responsibility and I intend to support public beach renourishment as the need arises. Events requiring protection of the public beach from erosion are expected to become a more frequent/severe occurrence in the coming years. IOP has a growing $8 million fund to support renourishment, which sounds like a lot of money, however given the increasing costs of major projects, it’s not. We’ll need more assistance from the State and other funds (i.e., FEMA) to adequately plan and fund long-term projects to mitigate the impacts of a shifting beachfront from more frequent/severe storms. Traffic – IOP has about 10 million annual crossings on the Connector and Breach Inlet and volume is only going to increase. We can leverage more traffic cams to alert on/off island traffic, light timing with Mt. Pleasant and evaluate parking lot pricing to incentivize beachgoers to come at different times. Also, introducing two lanes exiting the Connector, with a bike and pedestrian lane and meeting first responder requirements, offers several benefits including: Bourbon Fest Unlike Any the Lowcountry has seen! SPONSORED CONTENT Bourbon Fest Unlike Any the Lowcountry has seen! By Post.Holy City Brewing • Doubles capacity to exit. • Improved Public Safety for the 700 annual health related responses. • Reduced Congestion/Improved Neighborhood Safety. • Reduced Sullivan’s Island/Breach Inlet Cross Island Traffic. • Improved parking for visitors. • Possible long-term solutions involve reconfiguration of Palm Blvd, the IOP Connector entrance and exit way, and/or evaluating another access/egress point. We should consider all options and work closely with Mt. Pleasant and SCDOT for assistance and funding. Parking - Since 2017, IOP increased public spots by 11 percent and offers 1,737 public parking spaces. Random hunting for a parking spot increases neighborhood flows, presents more traffic risk and is an unpleasant challenge for our neighbors to come to the public beach. I’m a proponent of technology and with a little investment, current solutions can identify vacant spots, notify visitors before/while they come, consider traffic volume and direct them to specific spaces/areas. Crime – We’re fortunate to have a strong law enforcement and response team on IOP that has implemented cooperative agreements with surrounding communities and State agencies. With the continued increase in visitors and a shrinking “shoulder season,” it’s Council’s job to listen to our Public Safety leadership and ensure they have all the current tools, staffing, equipment and other resources to respond to events and the growing numbers of occurrences. 3. Why are you in public office? What led you — and continues driving you — to be a public servant? The residents. This is our home. We’re facing tremendous pressures that are not uncommon for a world class destination. If I can help preserve what we have, I’m more than willing to serve and do whatever I can to reflect residents’ voices from our Council to Columbia. We need leadership, a strong resident friendly voice and action. I’ll deliver on behalf of our residents. 4. What makes IOP a special place and why should people be confident in its future? Our Community. We’ve lived all over the U.S. and there’s no place that offers such a sense of community and commitment to an exceptional quality of life and the protection of the environment that we cherish. Isle of Palms is fortunate to have such engaged and capable residents. Our future is very bright. Our responsibility and challenge are to preserve it for future generations. I ask for your vote on Nov. 7 and please visit pierceforiop.com to contact me or for more on these and other topics. I believe that my job is to represent you so that your voice is clearly heard and reflected through sound public policy. As your representative, my commitment and goals remain straightforward: 1) protect our quality of life 2) provide proactive, respectful, objective, and accountable leadership for effective governance 3) be transparent & responsive 4) keep our community and environment safe. Our community continues to face challenges and opportunities from accelerating regional growth and pressures that require a strong and balanced approach to public policy to retain the residential nature of the Isle of Palms, while offering visitors a world class experience. We can achieve this through collaboration with resident initiatives, local businesses, other municipalities, and representatives/agencies at the County, State and Federal levels to manage the growth impacts and obtain funding. I have represented IOP residents at State committee hearings, developed relationships from the local, State and Federal level and will continue to represent the residents to the best of my ability to further build these relationships.