Hilton Head mayor: Santomauro looks to combat ‘over-development, over-marketing’ of island

Michael Santomauro is one of two returning candidates for mayor on Hilton Head.

The 59-year-old New York City native received just under 2% of the vote in 2018. He has lived on Hilton Head since 2015.

Santomauro describes himself as a “Holocaust revisionist” and free-spech advocate, and has worked as editorial director for the U.S. Operations for the Theses and Dissertations Press, a group that publishes books debating the Holocuast.

His stance landed Santomauro in several controversies in New York. Users of the “Roommate Finders” service he founded expressed their dismay after receiving emails disputing historical accounts of the Holocaust, the New York Times reported in 2003.

In 2011, members of a New York-based parent-teachers association received an email from Santomauro recommending the book “Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides.” Santomauro issued an apology and said the email was sent to the PTA members in error.

Santomauro previously told The Island Packet these beliefs would not affect his outlook on local issues. He has identified “over-development and over-marketing” of Hilton Head as his priorities, along with finding solutions to the affordable housing shortage.

The Island Packet send questionnaires to candidates in contested races and limited their answers to 150 words each.

Here are Santomauro’s responses:

Which campaign issue is most urgent to you? Why do you feel that issue should be the top priority?

1. Stop our over-development of our island and aim for replacement growth.

2. Strive for [more] workforce housing, also called corporate housing or roommate housing.

3. Stop the over-marketing of our Island by renegotiating our contract with the Chamber of Commerce.

What is your position on the recently approved U.S. 278 plan?

Build the bridge. It is structurally deficient. It’s dangerous not to have a new bridge. We could lose $120 million in funding if we don’t meet the deadline. So, I agree with the one-bridge proposal, not that we have much of a choice, since the Beaufort County Council overrides our input.

The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) is just meaningless, it is a way for the Beaufort County government to pacify us before the upcoming election. State government in SC is stronger than local government and county government is stronger than local.

At the time of this writing, the Beaufort County government overruled any input the current mayor or future mayor can have on this issue.

What steps would you take to address the shortage of affordable housing on Hilton Head?

Workforce housing is a no-brainer. Workforce housing does not involve the town government to be involved in corporate welfare for wealthy developers as it would with so-called “affordable rentals” or housing — same thing.

There is no such thing as private-public affordable rentals (or housing) because S.C. state law preempts any lease that has controls on rent, so any candidate that claims otherwise is being dishonest.

Before we can talk about affordable rentals we have to change the state law. Workforce (read roommate) or corporate housing is the only path we can take.

The Chamber of Commerce receives significant public funding each year, but is not subject to the same transparency laws as Town Council. What steps would you take, if any, to secure greater transparency from the chamber on where public funds are being used?

To maintain the 70% repeat tourist rate. The island from 2000-2015 had an average of 2 million visitors per year. The last seven years we have averaged 2.7 million before the pandemic and 2.5 million visitors during the two-year period during the pandemic. We are projected to have 3.3 million visitors in the next coming years.

It’s important to maintain an equilibrium of only 2 million visitors a year so we can maintain a better quality of life. The 2 million are the same visitors or the 70% repeat rate due mostly to our time-share industry.

Another agenda: I will stop any new time-share developments.

Friction between development and maintaining Hilton Head’s character has been highlighted recently. How do you think the town should balance the two? At this time, is it more important to develop for the future or preserve the past?

We need to stop Hilton Head Island from becoming the next Manhattan without the high rises.