Hilton Head Town Council to discuss lockouts in August

The controversial issue of whether “lockout” units should be allowed was accidentally left off of Hilton Head Island’s Town Council agenda last week, upsetting some residents.

Steve Riley, town manager, said he wasn’t aware of a committee’s recommendation that town staff work to resolve the lockout issue because he was out of town, interviewing for a job in Iowa.

The recommendation will be discussed at council’s next meeting on Aug. 16, Riley said.

Proponents and opponents of the lockouts have expressed frustration in recent weeks as a town decision on whether to allow them drags on. Lockout units are created when a condo owner divides one unit into two or three by locking or caulking a door. The units are in both the Oceanwalk Villas and Xanadu Villas in the South Forest Beach area.

Bruce Bartow, an Oceanwalk resident who opposed lockout units, said town has and will continue to drag its feet on this issue.

“It is one delay after another,” Bartow said. “The town is playing games and we are running out of patience.”

Bartow said the next step will be for him to contact insurance companies that cover the units, alerting them to the fire hazards the units pose because renters are unable to access power boxes in case of emergencies. Town officials have previously said this is not the case.

A letter to the Xanadu board of directors in March of 2015 by BB&T Insurance has spurred debate over whether insurance companies should allow the units. BB&T gave a notice of cancellation for one of the units, according to the letter, because it was unknown if the units were allowed under the fire code at the time. The letter was presented to the town as an exhibit in an appeal to the town’s decision last year to allow lockout units in Xanadu.

Proponents of the units say the insurance threats are just another tactic being used by a group of condo owners who can’t take no for an answer.

Mark St. Laurent, an owner of a lockout unit in Oceanwalk, said his renters have access to utility boxes at all times. Yet Bartow and other lockout opponents won’t let the issue go, he added.

“They are looking at catastrophic ends to get their way,” St. Laurent said. “As a taxpayer, I worry this is going to open the town’s door to straw-man methods used by residents to get things done.”

Jim Paris, a realtor with Remax Island Realty who has been selling condos in Oceanwalk for years, said Bartow’s claim about insurance coverage is not necessarily true. While it’s possible that an insurance company could cancel policies after being hounded by lockout opponents, another company would likely step in and insure them.

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Hilton Head Town Council to discuss lockouts in August."