Beaufort considering trial to allow extra horse carriage tours during peak seasons
One of Beaufort's two horse-carriage tour companies is asking City Council permission to put extra tours on the streets when buses and ships of tourists come to town.
Peter and Rose White of Southurn Rose Buggy Tours are asking for a change in the rules so they and Sea Island Carriage Co., owned by Walter Gay, can run tours in excess of the four allowed per hour.
The Whites want the city to allow one extra tour every hour during April and October; companies would request permission from the city on a first-come, first-served basis.
"The idea is to be able to bring these (tour) buses in and get them done so they can go eat and shop here and, at the same time, take care of the (walk-up) people here," Peter White said.
Buses, which typically have 45 people on them, will book carriage tours six months to a year in advance. The tour companies rotate sending carriages out every 15 minutes.
Tours are expected to be back within an hour, meaning there are three tours on the road when everyone is on schedule.
Limits were set several years ago when there were problems with too many carriages going out at once and causing traffic problems.
The Tourism Management Advisory Committee, which oversees all tour operations in the city, mistakenly granted approval for the additional tours in a meeting late last year. Rose White said she then submitted requests for between 35 and 40 additional tours.
Subsequently, city staff determined that TMAC did not have the power to grant those "special event" permits, and they were revoked.
"Now I have buses booked, and I don't have room for them," she said.
Council members, with the Whites and TMAC chairman Charlie Williams, discussed crafting an ordinance that would allow a test period during which tour companies could request and run additional tours.
Instead of having the tours be "special events" and modifying the ordinance to allow those permits, a separate ordinance likely will be written to address peak-season overflow exceptions.
Any changes to existing ordinances or the creation of new ordinances need to be voted on twice, and a special meeting may be scheduled for one of those votes because of the time-sensitive nature of the issue.
"I'm afraid if we change the language of special events, then we're opening up a can of worms down the road," Councilman Phil Cromer said, referring to the hotly disputed noise ordinance and downtown nighttime events that have raised concerns in recent weeks.
Follow reporter Erin Moody at twitter.com/IPBG_Erin.
Related content:
- Carriage operators skeptical of proposed tour changes , Sept. 11, 2011
- Carriage tour company reins in protest over city's temporary eviction , May 22, 2009
- Reports of falling carriage-tour horse prompt Beaufort officials' questions , June 8, 2014
This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Beaufort considering trial to allow extra horse carriage tours during peak seasons."