Dominion Energy, data centers, and short-term rentals OH MY!

Town of Kiawah Island · Infrastructure & Public Works Committee Workshop
📋 Ordinance passed October 2025 eliminates stealth requirement, sets 120-ft baseline and 150-ft maximum
The planning commission eliminated the longstanding stealth-tower requirement and established new height limits of 120 ft by right and 150 ft with justification, with first reading in July 2025 and second reading in October 2025. The change was driven by findings that stealth structures cannot accommodate modern 5G equipment, are difficult to maintain, and have been preventing carrier investment on the island. Additional maintenance provisions still need to be incorporated into the ordinance.

Charleston County · Planning Commission
📋 Commission adopts digital notification approach for subdivision applications, rejects title search mandate
Facing county council directives to strengthen restrictive covenant oversight, the Planning Commission voted 8-1 to implement only a digital IP-list email notification for all minor and major subdivision applications, declining to require physical posted signs or mandatory title searches. Staff presented four directives from the September 14, 2026 meeting with detailed cost and operational analyses, including an estimate that sign-posting would require two additional staff members at $84,000–$91,000 each annually and 384 trips per year countywide. Commissioners broadly agreed that restrictive covenant enforcement is a civil matter best resolved in court, not by county staff, and that the existing notarization requirement already enacted September 30, 2026 addresses directive three. Two land surveying professionals testified urging caution about added burdens on property owners and applicants.

Charleston County · Charleston County Council
🏠 Short-term rental parking and bedroom permit rules pass final reading 9-0
Council unanimously approved on third and final reading an amendment to Charleston County Zoning and Land Development Regulations Ordinance No. 1202, clarifying short-term rental (STR) permit application requirements related to bedrooms and designated sleeping areas, and establishing corresponding STR parking requirements. The changes affect Chapter 6 (Use Regulations) and Chapter 9 (Development Standards) of county code. The 9-0 vote indicates broad council consensus on tightening STR standards.

City of Charleston · Committee on Ways and Means
🏗️ Real estate report adopted; Long Savannah road trigger shifted to certificates of occupancy
The committee adopted the Real Estate Committee's September 21 report covering five annexations, a Daniel Island parcel correction, a Hope Center lease extension, EV charging station approval at College Park near Grove Street, and a unanimous executive-session vote to advance terms of a Morrison Drive agreement with Charleston County. A development agreement amendment for Long Savannah shifts the infrastructure trigger for completing Long Savannah Parkway from building permits to certificates of occupancy, ensuring no residents can move in before the road is complete. The MUSC Foundation's potential sale of its West Edge interest to the city was deferred for continued negotiation.

Town of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina · Town Council
📋 Data center moratorium extended to two years on final reading
The council approved the final reading of an ordinance establishing a moratorium on primary-use hyperscale data centers (those exceeding 1 megawatt and operating as a primary use), amending the duration from 120 days to two years following a motion by Council Member Rambo. Staff are already preparing zoning code amendments to present to the Planning Commission, and the council can lift the moratorium early once the zoning framework is in place. Speakers from the Coastal Conservation League cited environmental, energy cost, and public health concerns as justification for the pause.

Town of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina · Town Council
🏙️ Controversial high-density townhome proposal deferred back to planning committee
Middle Street Partners proposed amending the Oakland Plantation Planned Development to allow 87 rental townhomes at 16 units per acre (nearly double the town's 9-unit standard) at Portters Bluff Road and South Morgan Point Road, replacing previously permitted commercial uses including a hotel. After extensive debate over density, traffic impacts, loss of commercial land, and rental vs. ownership character, a motion to deny first reading failed and the council voted to defer the item back to the planning committee for further review and potential revision.

City of Folly Beach · City Council Work Session
📋 Council reaches consensus to award STR study contract to Smart City Policy Group
Folly Beach City Council convened a work session to review bids for a short-term rental impact study, receiving five bids of which one (Granicus) was disqualified as non-responsive. Smart City Policy Group emerged as the clear frontrunner with six of ten first-place votes and 26 weighted points, far ahead of BAE Urban Economics (17 points), RRC Associates (11 points), and USC/Sudd (5 points). Council agreed in principle to award the contract to Smart City while stipulating that references be verified before contract execution, and members stressed the study must evaluate the full range of STR cap scenarios without predetermined benchmarks.

Charleston City Council gave first reading approval on Tuesday, October 13, to a proposed franchise agreement with Dominion Energy South Carolina (DESC), according to the city. The proposal would replace electric and gas agreements that have been in place since 1996.

First reading is not final adoption. Further council action remains, and the details below are drawn from the city's October 13 announcement and from news coverage, not from the full proposed contract, which was not available in the agenda files reviewed.

The city says DESC would pay an annual franchise fee for non-exclusive use of city rights-of-way. The Post and Courier describes the arrangement as allowing electric and gas service, and the necessary work in public rights-of-way, in return for a city fee.

The agreement covers the City of Charleston, not all of Charleston County. Berkeley Electric Cooperative, which serves a smaller part of the city, also received first reading approval on October 13 for its own companion agreement. Its terms have not been confirmed to match Dominion's.

The city's summary lists an initial term of 20 years with one 10-year renewal. That makes a possible 30 years, not a fixed 30-year initial term. The summary does not say whether renewal would be automatic, mutual, or conditional.

The Post and Courier reports the agreement would take effect July 1, 2027, if passed.

The city says the fee is allocated from revenue already collected from customers within city limits, and that the new agreements will not negatively affect current rates.

The Post and Courier reports DESC has paid 5% of the prior year's gross revenue from city customers since 2009, and that this percentage would stay the same. The paper also reports that city attorney Julia Copeland estimated the arrangement would bring the city $11 million to $14 million in annual revenue. That figure is an annual estimate, not a 20-year total or a guaranteed payment.

The city says DESC and the city would each set aside 0.5% of DESC's electric sales within Charleston every year for undergrounding power lines. The base is electric sales, not combined electric and gas sales. The city lists the 2026 amount as $1,286,770 from DESC and $1,286,770 from the city, which totals $2,573,540.

The city also says it would match every dollar DESC spends on a project. The sources reviewed do not explain how that match is counted alongside the annual set-asides.

Undergrounding funding is not entirely new. The Post and Courier reports the existing arrangement already puts half a percent into an undergrounding fund with a city match, and that each side contributed about $5.7 million over five years. Those figures come from the paper's review of public records. The paper describes the half percent as a share of the revenue Dominion collects from Charleston customers, while the city describes the new set-asides as a share of electric sales, so the base is worded differently in the two accounts. City council minutes from July 14, 2026 show negotiations over the Non-Standard Service Fund were already underway, and that a 60-day extension of the electrical franchise's termination date was proposed to continue them.

The city describes the current problem this way: underground work could not begin until every affected property owner agreed, and stalled approvals could hold a place on the list for years.

Under the proposal, council would approve the project list, with reliability and safety projects receiving priority. A project would have six months to secure easements after receiving DESC's draft easements. The clock does not start at first reading, at application, or when a neighborhood first asks.

The Post and Courier describes the same deadline as one for securing rights-of-way and does not mention the draft-easement trigger. The description here follows the city's.

If a project misses the deadline, the city says it comes off the list, the next project moves up, and the removed project must reapply to council. Removal means losing its place in the queue under the described process. It does not mean a permanent ban, and reapplication does not guarantee reacceptance.

The city also says that as one project begins construction, planning and design could begin on the next. Subject to budget, there would be no cap on how many projects move into construction.

For larger projects affecting more than 25 customers, the city says it could form an underground utility district and use a referendum or petition to decide whether a project advances. Property owners in the district could be charged a temporary fee for up to 10 years.

The city says that fee plus the franchise fee could not exceed 7% of a customer's electric bill. This is a combined ceiling for the district mechanism. The sources reviewed do not describe it as a citywide rate increase, and they do not give the billing language or district terms needed to calculate a household amount.

The city says projects lasting up to 14 days would require 10 business days' notice to the city. The notice goes to the city, not to individual residents. For major projects, the city and DESC would jointly plan traffic control, construction schedules, and public communications.

The Post and Courier reports that emergency work could happen first with notice afterward. That exception is reported by the paper and has not been checked against contract wording.

The city says tree trimming is governed by a separate Dominion agreement, so the franchise proposal does not itself address pruning standards.

Lisa Jones, advocacy director at Historic Charleston Foundation, spoke during public comment at the October 13 meeting. She said she was pleased to see steps toward a more efficient undergrounding process, and that the Foundation was disappointed an agreement of this significance had not involved residents or ratepayers. She asked that the meeting with Dominion be open to the public. July council minutes record earlier Foundation requests for stronger tree protections, incorporation of the tree agreement, more undergrounding funding, and a shorter franchise term. Those were requests made in a prior meeting, not terms adopted in October.

At the October 13 meeting, Councilmember Mike Seekings requested a sit-down discussion with Dominion so council could learn more about the terms before the agreement is finalized. Separately, the Post and Courier reports the city told the paper on October 14 that the meeting with Dominion would be open to the public, with an exact date still being finalized. As of October 16, no workshop date and no second or third reading date had been found in the sources reviewed.

Sources: City of Charleston news release (October 13, 2026); City Council and Ways and Means agendas (October 13, 2026); City Council minutes (July 14, 2026); Kailey Cota, Post and Courier (October 15, 2026); WCIV, WCSC, and WCBD coverage (October 13 to 15, 2026).

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Until next week,
Bill Olson
Father • Husband • Realtor® • Civic Storyteller