A zoning change meant to help Acme Lowcountry Kitchen rebuild on Isle of Palms may not be enough to get the project built, the restaurant’s owner says.

Bobby Simons wants to replace the seafood restaurant at 31 J.C. Long Blvd. with a two-story building that would seat about 200 people, add an upstairs event space and include parking on site, The Post and Courier reported Nov. 11. Closing for a year or more to rebuild would cost roughly 70 jobs, Simons told the paper, so he asked the city for zoning relief that would let the current restaurant stay open during construction.

On Oct. 27, Isle of Palms City Council voted 7-2 to adopt Ordinance 2026-10, which changes rules for the GC-3 commercial district, according to draft minutes in the council’s Nov. 10 meeting packet. As amended, the ordinance cuts the usual 25-foot setback to zero on J.C. Long Boulevard, 10 feet on Pavilion Drive and 15 feet on Carolina Boulevard, the minutes show. It also reduces required parking for restaurants in the district by 25%, according to the ordinance text in the council’s Oct. 27 packet.

Before the final vote, council rejected 3-6 an amendment to keep the 25-foot setback on J.C. Long Boulevard, the minutes show. Simons had pushed for a zero-foot setback, telling council “we are 100% behind a zero foot setback.”

Simons told The Post and Courier he worries the concessions won’t be enough because he needs the full property, especially the 15 feet on the Carolina Boulevard side. “I’m not asking for 15 feet that the city owns; I’m asking for 15 feet that I own,” he told the paper.

The city also said Acme customers could use municipal parking lots during renovations and that the restaurant could use a trash compactor set aside for Front Beach businesses, the paper reported.

Mayor Phillip Pounds told The Post and Courier he believes the exceptions are fair. “If you run into an issue, come back to us and let’s have another conversation,” he said.

Simons plans to have an architect draw designs under the approved rules but is not sure they will work, according to the paper. If the expansion fails, he said, “we operate in this old building until we can’t anymore,” and would then move elsewhere.