ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) — Isle of Palms leaders will meet Tuesday night to discuss safety measures that need to be implemented in the wake of the April 7 senior skip-day beach shooting that injured five people.
During the meeting, the city’s public safety committee will present an ordinance to the city council.
The shooting rattled the town and has even impacted business on the island.
“We have a hotel person that emailed us just today, and they lost guests because of what happened, “City Councilmen Blair Hahn said.
City leaders have been reevaluating safety measures when it comes to big gatherings.
“Isle of Palms is not open to people who want to come here and break the law,” Hahn said.
The ordinance would require beach gatherings of 25 people or more to apply for a permit before coming together.
“That would prohibit any large crowds from gathering unlawfully on the beach, Councilman Rusty Streetman said.
Hahn said it would allow law enforcement to be more proactive.
“That allows the police to then approach any large group and ask them what’s going on,” Hahn said. “Why are you here? And we couldn’t do that if we didn’t have that issued for a permit.”
City council members said the permit wouldn’t be a hassle to get and likely would be free. All approvals would go through the police department.
“It is not to keep anyone from coming out here and enjoying the beach, obeying our law,” Streetman said. “But if we do have a situation where there’s a large gathering, they would have to have permission from the police chief to do that.”
As far as the consequences for breaking the rule, city council members said that hasn’t been decided.
“I think tomorrow night we will have a lot of discussion about what the consequences would be,” Streetman said.
The ordinance will have a second reading next week, and officials have said they expect it to pass.
