Sullivan’s Island

YORK COUNTY, S.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — People plagued by foul smells from a nearby plant mill got to make their voices heard Wednesday night.

But they were still left with several questions about what’s going to be done to fix the stench.

“Now that we know everything that’s happening, how come they’re allowed to continue to operate, how come you guys don’t go after DHEC or the EPA and make New Indy shut down until they actually…fines don’t mean anything to people like this but i mean if they’re poisoning us..?” one woman in the audience asked the legal team.

That was just one of the questions raised during the Town Hall meeting in Rock Hill that discussed the legal, health and environmental effects of the smell coming from New Indy containerboard plant.

“Somehow people are concentrating on the smell when it’s actually the chemicals that they were talking about,” Betty Rankin said. “The hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs and it’s not a pleasant smell but it’s not what burns the nostrils, goes into the respiratory system, and impacts everything in your body. It’s more of the chemicals that are in that smell.”

Rankin has to wear two masks – but she’s fully vaccinated and she says she wears them because of New Indy.

For her this week alone, the smell has attacked her body, her home, and her dog.

“This past week has been one of the worst weeks of my life and I don’t say that frivolously because New Indy attacked, and it is an attack,” Rankin said. “It’s like living in a warzone and you don’t know when the attack is coming you just know it’s coming.”

When the smell hit on this week, it took her hours to recover from it.

“I have a gas mask, I just forgot to take it up to the barn. So it’s carried with me – that’s why the bag that you’re holding is so heavy,” Rankin said.

A few people wondered how long the lawsuit could take before they received relief.

The lawyers said they plan to file a motion for injunctive relief where a judge can tell the facility to stop production immediately. The legal team is waiting on the plant to do a few things on their end before setting their plan in motion.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A Sullivan’s Island conservation group says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be monitoring, but not regulating, the upcoming clearing of the island’s maritime forest.

After the Sullivan’s Island Town Council approved a settlement for the reduction of the island’s maritime forest, a conservation group called Sullivan’s Island for All said they were interested in preserving the woodlands as they stand.

That first vote took place in early October 2020, but the same town council amended their original plan in March 2021.

The Sullivan’s Island Town Council voted 4-2 to amend their original ruling and specified that the maritime forest could only be cleared if crews didn’t use heavy machinery like bulldozers to remove trees.

Sullivan’s Island for All says the Army Corps determined that the cutting plan would subsequently fall outside of their regulatory authority. The conservation group says the Army Corps provided no opinion on how ecologically destructive the plan is, only that the proposed work method is not considered to be a regulated activity.

The Army Corps’ regulatory oversight is limited to the discharge of dredged or fill material into jurisdictional waters, such as wetlands, Sullivan’s Island for All says.

According to the conservation group, the amended plan dropped the use of heavy machinery like bulldozers because it would have discharged fill into the wetlands and left the plan vulnerable to the Army Corps’ regulatory abilities. Instead, Sullivan’s Island for All says the amended ruling has led those who want to cut the forest to use chainsaws and poisonous herbicides.

While the amended ruling would have discouraged the Army Corps’ involvement, Sullivan’s Island for All says a recent ruling from the Corps signaled they would be closely watching to ensure Sullivan’s Island complies with all environmental regulations.

“Regardless of whether or not this plan uses chainsaws and poison instead of bulldozers to remove and cut thousands of trees and shrubs, the result is the same: this plan puts the public’s safety at risk by removing our storm surge protection,” Sullivan’s Island for All President Karen Byko said. “This is a dangerous plan that impacts our island’s resiliency and destroys a critically important wildlife habitat.”

Byko said the area is home to a wide variety of species including turtles, migratory birds, egrets, foxes, and dragonflies. She says poisoning the trees has some worried that the herbicide will do damage to the area’s water systems.

“We have concerns about this herbicide, that will literally be painted on tree stumps. There are no guarantees these toxic chemicals won’t be absorbed into the soil, contaminating wetlands or groundwater. Many are also concerned about runoff into storm water to the marsh, impacting the entire food chain,” Byko said.

Sullivan’s Island for All says they remain optimistic after a new pro-conservation Town Council was sworn in on June 15th.

Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Baker Bishop, a businessman from Sullivan’s Island, finished third in the 47th annual Don Hawley Invitational Fly Fishing Tarpon Tournament held in the Florida Keys.

Weather was a challenge for this year’s event and only 85 fish were caught on fly during the five-day tournament.

Julian Robertson of Vero Beach, Fla., with guide Rob Fordyce, won the tournament with 15 releases. It was the second time Robertson has won the tournament and seventh time Fordyce has guided the top angler. They had five releases the final day.

Evan Carruthers of Maple Plain, Minn., with guide Greg Dini, was second with 10 releases. Baker and his guide, Alonzo Sotillo, were close behind with nine releases and had the most releases on the second day and fourth day with three releases each.

“Alonzo and I just started fishing together last year so we’re a pretty good team. He’s awesome, hungry, a great guide,” Bishop said.

The Hawley is one of the “Big Three” tarpon fly tournaments in the Keys, along with the Golden Fly and the Gold Cup. All are invitationals and Bishop, 47, has been fishing all three for about 20 years.

The Hawley was the first tarpon tournament to stop killing fish in 1987. Anglers receive 1,000 points for each fish measuring four feet or more caught and released on 12-pound tippet, in accordance with International Game Fish Association rules. The grand champion title is awarded to the angler and guide with the most fish caught and released during the five day competition. In addition to other awards, grand champion names will be added to the perpetual trophy showcasing the names of all past champion anglers and guides. The perpetual trophy resides at Florida Keys Outfitters in Islamorada, Florida.

Bishop said anglers “hook the fish, get him through the jump, run him down and pop him off. It’s very conservation-minded.”

Bishop owns a logistics and freight installation company while his wife Cortney Bishop is a well-known designer. He grew up in Knoxville, went to school in Montana and fly fished for trout, winning plenty of tournaments with fish much smaller than tarpon. They lived in Bozeman, Montana, until tiring of the cold. Following a brief relocation to Knoxville, they moved to Sullivan’s Island in 2004.

“My mother was a world-class angler and in about 2000 she traveled to the Keys to visit some friends. She called me afterwards and said you have to come down here and check this place out,” Bishop said.

“The first day I went out I caught a 60-pound tarpon and I was ruined. It took three or four years of really practicing my butt off in the yard and coming down here before I could actually compete with these guys. It’s such a higher level than trout fishing. It’s like going from college to the NFL overnight and I had a lot of catching up to do.”

Proceeds from the tournament benefit the Guides Trust Foundation, which assists Florida Keys guides in times of hardship and provides scholarships to Florida Keys students interested in the marine sciences. Next year’s tournament will take place June 6-10. For more information or to apply for the tournament’s waiting list, go to guidestrustfoundation.org.

New flounder regulations

New flounder catch and size limits go into effect July 1 in an effort to help rebuild the stock that has fallen to historically low levels because of overfishing. The new regulations include a catch limit of five fish per person per day with a 10-fish boat limit. The minimum size limit for flounder will be 16 inches. The previous catch and size limits were 10 fish per person and 20 per boat with a 15-inch minimum size limit.

America’s Boating Club Charleston will hold boating safety classes July 10 and July 31 at 1376 Orange Grove Road, Charleston. The classes begin at 9 a.m. and end around 4 p.m. Successful participants earn the S.C. Department of Natural Resources Boater Education Card. The cost is $25 for adults and youth 12-18 are free. Call 843-312-2876 or email lynest@tds.net.

The Hooked on Miracles King Mackerel Tournament will be held July 17 out of Ripley Light Yacht Club. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the MUSC Children’s Hospital. The captain’s meeting for the tournament will be held from 5-9 p.m. July 15, with an MUSC children’s outing aboard the Billistic on July 16. Fishing hours on July 17 are from 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. with check-in from 2-5 p.m. First prize, based on 125 paid entrants, is $25,000. The entry fee is $400 per boat.

Charleston’s innovative-driven real estate firm, The Cassina Group, finished the first half of 2021 as the #1 boutique firm in all of Charleston. The company has over $406 million* in closed and pending sales so far this year, which outpaces their total sales volume for the previous year.

“Throughout the years, The Cassina Group continues to set the tone for attainable luxury, focusing on our clients wants and needs and the unique properties that complement their lifestyles,” said Owen Tyler, Partner and Managing Broker of the company. “We are so grateful to have REALTORS® that are invested in the client experience, and wonderful customers and clients who return year after year.”

In a market where inventory is at historic lows, The Cassina Group has managed to achieve these results by leveraging their impressive network. Nearly 20% of their transactions this year have been handled in-house, with no other brokerages involved.

The boutique firm, with only 39 REALTORS®, has participated in the sale of 82 properties over a million dollars throughout the Lowcountry so far this year. Cassina currently ranks as the number one company by sales volume on Sullivan’s Island. Significant sales on the island include 2411 Atlantic Avenue ($6,850,000; Robertson Allen representing both the buyers and sellers), 1750 Ion Avenue ($4,000,000; Jimmy Dye representing the buyers), 2525 Atlantic Avenue ($3,500,000; Robertson Allen representing the buyers) and 3021 Middle Street ($3,305,001; Robertson Allen representing the buyers).

Other notable transactions handled by Cassina include:
106 Charleston Boulevard, Isle of Palms: 8 beds, 11 full & 2 half baths, 7,164 sq. ft., $4,350,000 (Meghan Webster represented the seller)
7 Dunecrest Lane, Isle of Palms: 7 beds, 8 full & 2 half baths, 4,991 sq. ft., $3,890,000 (Robertson Allen represented the seller & Meghan Webster represented the buyer)
2200 Palm Boulevard, Isle of Palms: 6 beds, 4 baths, 3,000 sq. ft., $3,000,000 (Chris Eller represented the buyers)
121 Live Oak Drive, Old Village: 5 beds, 3.5 baths, 3,369 sq. ft., $3,050,000 (Will Prendergast represented the sellers)
34 New Street, South of Broad: 5 beds, 5.5 baths, 4,280 sq. ft., $3,839,560 (Charles Baarcke represented the sellers)
6 New Town Lane, The Crescent: 5 beds, 5.5 baths, 4,200 sq. ft., $3,695,000 (Robertson Allen represented both the buyers and sellers)

The firm forecasts the second half of the year to be equally strong for Charleston real estate as more and more people relocate to the area, taking advantage of remote work options and the advantageous lifestyle afforded by the Lowcountry.

The innovation-driven real estate firm has a proven reputation for delivering stronger results through leading-edge technology and building lasting relationships. They recently launched a new website, CassinaGroup.com, to showcase their beautiful Lowcountry listings. The company has two offices in Charleston, including downtown Charleston and Mount Pleasant.

For more information on The Cassina Group, please visit their website at CassinaGroup.com.

*Statistics pulled on 7.12.2021

About The Cassina Group
The Cassina Group is a boutique real estate brokerage with offices in Mount Pleasant, SC and Charleston, SC. The firm is managed by Owen Tyler, partner and managing broker, and founding partners Jimmy Dye and Robertson Allen. Recent awards include top honors from Charleston Magazine, Inc. 5000, T3 Sixty and SC Biz News. For more information, visit http://www.CassinaGroup.com or call 843-628-0008.

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Soaring home prices and a surge in real estate sales that began in 2020 should create an unusual rise in property taxes for many South Carolina towns and cities.

That’s because in South Carolina many homes are taxed on far less than they are worth — until the ownership changes. A sale triggers a reassessment, so that the property is taxed on its full value, which can mean a large jump in the tax bill.

For local governments, homes that were already receiving public services can suddenly start contributing more tax money because of an ownership change. And in 2020, there were far more of those than usual.

In a typical year, that piece of the property tax puzzle is not a big deal for municipal budgets. For example, in the greater Charleston area from 2016 through 2019, the number of homes sold from one year to the next didn’t change by more than 4 percent, and the average home price didn’t rise by more than $20,000.

Last year, homes sales in the Charleston area increased by 17.2 percent, and the average price rose by $46,913, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. In the first five months of 2021, the average home sale price increased by another $66,265.

“Cities are going to see an increase in their property tax revenues simply as a function of prices being reset at the sale prices,” said Scott Slatton, director of advocacy and communications for the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

“That’s what Act 388 does,” he said, referring to the statewide changes in property tax laws that took effect in 2007.

Act 388 gave sweeping tax relief to homeowners, partly by capping how much their taxable property values could rise during countywide reassessments as long as the ownership didn’t change.

For example, there’s a house on James Island that Charleston County had calculated was worth $634,014 during the latest countywide reassessment. But due to Act 388 it was taxed as if it were worth $421,216. That house was sold in late 2020 for $625,000, and that sale should reset the taxable value to approximately the sale price, adding more than $200,000 to the city of Charleston’s tax base.

Changes like that account for a small percentage of municipal revenue, but in 2021 it will be a larger amount than usual. For now, Charleston County’s budget assumes that reassessments due to home sales will raise the tax base just 2 percent, and towns and cities don’t appear to be anticipating an unusual rise in revenue.

“You don’t want to budget an unknown,” Charleston’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Wharton said. “It would be kind of hard for us to predict.”

In Charleston County, local governments won’t know the value of all the property they can tax until September, when the county auditor’s office provides the data. By then, most will have already approved new yearly budgets, many of which begin on July 1.

“I don’t think you’re going to have a bunch of folks going out and buying firetrucks because the real estate market is hot,” county Auditor Peter Tecklenburg said.

He thinks town and city officials will wait to see hard numbers, which he believes will show larger than usual increases.

“We’ve had a lot more homes sold,” Tecklenburg said. “A lot of that is going to show in specific places, like Mount Pleasant.”

That would be great, said the town’s Chief Financial Officer Marcy Cotov.

“I’m looking forward to September to find out how well I did with budgeting,” she said. “I don’t try to estimate home sales.”

Cotov said if foreclosures increase as mortgage forbearance programs end, that could offset some gains in the property tax base.

The blazing hot real estate market has been particularly evident in more costly areas, including Mount Pleasant and the barrier islands near Charleston.

On Sullivan’s Island, for example, one house the county valued for tax purposes at $6 million in 2020 was sold in November for $8.2 million. That single sale would add $2.2 million to the town’s property tax base.

For most taxpayers, the question will be what their town, city or county does with any unexpected boost in revenue. More money could ease pressure to raise taxes, for example, or fund more services.

Mount Pleasant and Charleston both increased their property tax last year and cut expenses as other revenue sources such a hospitality-related taxes and business license taxes declined during the pandemic.

“Let’s just say September is like ‘wow,’ ” said Cotov. “Town Council always has three choices (with property tax rates): up, the same, or down.”