Volume 1 Issue 15

November 16, 2007

Updating the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan
By Kristin Hackler

     Charleston County held its first of three public workshops in order to update its 1999 Comprehensive Plan. Workshops were held in West Ashley and John’s Island on October 29 and in Mount Pleasant and Edisto on October 30. Together, the workshops were designed to gather information from the community on how and where the growth of the county should go, as well as identify what potential changes may or may not be appropriate.
      The John’s Island meeting, which was held at St. John’s High School on Main Road, was attended by John’s Island, Kiawah, Seabrook and Wadmalaw residents, including Kiawah Island Mayor Bill Wert, Kiawah Island Councilmen Al Burnaford and Charles Lipuma, Andy Capelli of the Kiawah Planning Commission, Diane Lehder, President the Kiawah Island Property Owners Group, Greg VanDerwerker from the Kiawah Island Community Association Strategic Planning Committee, Jerry Cummin, President of the Seabrook Island External Affairs Commission and Richard and Banner Hughes of the Seabrook Island Property Owners Group.
     The workshop opened with speaker Dan Pennick from the Charleston County Planning Commission. Mr. Pennick began by briefly describing the current Comprehensive Plan and how it works as a basic guideline for how Charleston County should be developed over a ten year time frame. Since the original plan was approved on April 20, 1999, the County has begun the process of gathering information for the new plan’s debut in 2009.
     “This is about you tonight,” Mr. Pennick pointed out. “The information you provide will help to give us a conceptual plan of what Charleston County residents want in their communities.”
     After thanking everyone in attendance, Mr. Pennick handed to floor over to Mr. Jamie Greene of ACP Visioning and Planning, a company out of New York that helps communities envision and plan for future growth. Mr. Greene thanked Mr. Pennick and reiterated to the audience the importance of having a Comprehensive plan for their community. “Even if you’re on the right track, you can still get run over if you don’t keep moving,” said Mr. Greene, quoting famous author and actor Will Rogers. “This plan deals with a broad range of topics, including population, economic development, national resources, cultural resources, community facilities, housing, environment, land use and more. This workshop is an excellent opportunity for public involvement and allows us to gain a solid technical analysis of the area. Through coordinating with the public, other agencies, organizations and jurisdictions, we will have a much more responsive policy development.” He also noted that they hoped to have a draft of the Comprehensive Plan ready by next year, taking all that their company learned at the county workshops and entering the gathered ideas and concerns into one master database.
     “Each group who participates in today’s workshop will be able to see the results of their work listed on the Charleston county website at www.charlestoncounty.org,” Mr. Greene noted. He then briefly outlined how the audience would be split into groups for a mapping exercise, but before he dismissed everyone, he asked the crowd to stop and close their eyes. “I want you to pause for a minute and imagine Charleston County 10 to 15 years from now. This is your home. What cherished ideas and dreams have been realized? In your mind, walk down the street. Who do you meet? If you have children or grandchildren, where is their school? What do they do when they aren’t in school? What about your wellbeing? What do you do in your free time? What do you do to relax or have fun? Where do you go with your friends? What about the nature around you? What events do you go to and where? What about shopping, places to go for dinner? Where do you buy goods and services? How do you travel and what do you see while you’re traveling? Where do you work? How far do you travel to get to work? What makes your community prosper?”
     After giving everyone a few minutes to write down what came to their minds as they considered the questions, the audience was divided into eight groups for their mapping exercise. With the help of a Charleston County facilitator, the groups were asked to go through the ideas they came up with earlier and answer the question, “What can we do to make Charleston County the best it can be in the coming years?” Each participant gave a total of three suggestions, all of which were written down on a large tear sheet that had been tacked on the wall. The facilitator also left one extra sheet up for “last chance” ideas if anyone came up with a suggestion before the discussion ended. Ideas from several of the groups included better traffic planning and improvement of the road system without altering the historic roads, more preserved farm land, keeping the islands from looking like Myrtle Beach or Atlanta, Georgia, control and restriction of growth, a better balance of growth with aesthetics, keep housing affordable, protect the natural environment, including the preservation of more green space, reliable public transportation, better management of existing permitted projects and developments and above all, keep John’s Island rural.
     After listing the group’s suggestions, the facilitator then asked them to look at a map of John’s, Wadmalaw, Kiawah and Seabrook Islands and choose the top three “weak” areas, meaning dangerous areas, eyesores and areas that reflect poorly on the community and the top three “strong” areas, meaning areas that are desirable to visit and whose character reflects well on the community. The group was then asked to place green dots on a large map of the area on the places that were “stong” and red dots on the places that were “weak”. Among the “strong” areas were places like the John’s Island Library, Angel Oak, Rockville, the Freshfield’s roundabout and Our Lady of Mercy Outreach Center. Under “weak” included several high traffic zones, including most of the intersections on John’s Island, the Freshfield’s roundabout, both of the main bridges and the fork on Wadmalaw where Bear’s Bluff Road diverges from Maybank.
     Finally, the groups were asked to list why they felt these places were either “strong” or “weak”. Overwhelmingly, the weak places seemed to reflect high traffic across the board, as well as areas that are under development and poor road conditions. Among the “strong” points were the natural and preserved areas of the island, historical places, marshland and rivers, farmland, maritime forests and areas of great biodiversity.
     In all, the workshop took a little over an hour and a half and though the facilitators seemed a little lost at times due to their unfamiliarity with the ACP written scripts, the overall result was a clear view of how the current residents of these islands would like to see their communities improved. Above all, the need for road improvement and the communities’ driving desire to keep John’s Island rural was strikingly evident.
     To find out the results of the workshop and to learn more about the Comprehensive Plan Update workshops for the future, please visit www.charlestoncounty.org, click on “departments” and chose “planning” from the drop down list.

Kiawah Town Council – November 6, 2007*

Charleston Collegiate School
Mr. Hacker Burr, admission director and head of the Charleston Collegiate School middle school and Ms. Anne Cleveland, associate head of the school for advancement at Charleston Collegiate, made a presentation to Town Council requesting volunteer speakers and mentors for their kindergarten – grade 12 school located on Academy Drive on John’s Island. Mr. Burr first addressed the Council by noting some of the more impressive achievements of the school. “When Charleston Collegiate began, we aimed to teach both the haves and the have nots. Today, Charleston Collegiate School consists of 25 % minorities and we have more students on financial aid than any other private school in town. We have a wonderful faculty ratio of one teacher to seven students. We have a lot of community involvement at the school and we are looking to be more involved.”
      Mr. Burr then introduced Ms. Cleveland, who walked the Council through the school’s guest speaker and thesis programs. “We are proud of what we have at our school and look forward to building greater bonds with our local communities. Recently, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League spoke at our school about smart growth and urban sprawl on John’s Island. We also had another speaker from the Heritage Foundation downtown who is also a professor of African American studies at the College of Charleston. Apart from our speakers, however, we also have a unique curriculum called an Exhibition of Mastery. In order to gratudate, students must present a written and oral presentation on a topic they’ve studies throughout the year. One young woman decided to learn to quilt and is currently learning from a woman on Kiawah. Another student wanted to learn how to work with wrought iron. We have many in depth research papers and lots of opportunities. Ideally, we would like to reach in to Kiawah and find mentors for our students and speakers. So far, the residents of the Islands have been incredibly generous. There was a great outpouring of support at our fundraiser in October and on May 6, Cassique on Kiawah will help us host a golf tournament fundraiser for the school. We want to thank the residents of Kiawah for their help and support and for this time.”
      One councilmember asked what percentage of students at the school came from Johns Island and Mr. Burr replied that roughly 40% of the students come from John’s Island, 45% from West Ashley and James island, 25% from Downtown Charleston and the last 10% from all over, including Edisto, Walterboro, Orangeburg and others, some of them driving an hour plus to attend. “Also, 98% of our students go on to college. Last year, in fact, every one of them went on to college,” said Mr. Burr. “The best thing we can do for this school is get people in the community involved and spread the word about our school. No one seemed to know about Charleston Collegiate, so we’re speaking to all of the local Town Councils about our programs and our need for mentors and speakers. Also, anyone who would like to come out and look around at the school is more than invited.”
      “It’s pretty impressive that Charleston Collegiate is 24% minorities and that 98% of your students go into college.” Said Mayor Wert. “Your speaker series should be more promoted. If a speaker is visiting for a day or two, we would love to have them speak at our community association. I’d just like to suggest it if it’s possible.”
      Mr. Lipuma also noted that the Arts council publishes local performances free of charge and would love to run information about their programs. Mr. Burr thanked Mr. Lipuma and pointed out that their stage area is quite small at the moment, but the school is hoping to build an auditorium for the school and community use within the next three or four years.

Old business
The Ways and Means reported that they had approved two expenditures. The first one is an expenditure of 5$,000 for new audio-visual equipement for the 2 nd floor conference room. The cost was approved after several bids were given and Ways and Means received this best and final bid. The second expenditure is for the amout of $6,750 for a security camera system in Town Hall. Both expenditures were approved unanimously

New business
Walter kendig, on behalf of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), presented two awards to the Town of Kiawah for excellence in financial reporting and for their efforts to make the island’s annual financial report more easily accessible to laymen. The first award, the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, was given for substantially conforming to the Certificate of Achievement program whose purpose is to encourage and assist governments to prepare financial reports of the highest quality for the benefits of citizens and other parties with a vital interest in a Government’s finances. This presentation marked the third consecutive year that Kiawah Island has received this award. “Such a record reflects the professionalism and commitment of numerous individuals as well as many hours of hard work,” Mr. Kendig notes. “it also reflects a high degree of dedications and leadership on the part of the Town Council.”
      The second award was given for the GFOA’s Popular Annual Financial Reporting Awards Program. The award recognizes a state or local government’s efforts to make their annual finaincial reports more readily accessible and easily understandable to the general public and other interested parties that do not have a background in public finance.

Town attorney
Due to personal reasons, Kiawah Town attorney Dennis Rhoad will be unable to perform his position’s duties for the next 90 days. A practicing attorney in South Carolina will fill in for next 120 until he can return to duty.

Visitor’s Guides
The Ways and Means committee approved the expenditure of $20,000 for new Visitor’s Guides that are currently handed out at the main gate and made by the Kiawah Island Community Association. The Visitor’s Guides were previously funded through the Accommodations Tax funds, but as the requests for funding have become more demanding and the criteria increasingly selective, the guides have most recently been funded by the General fund. The Ways and Means committee has requested that the Kiawah Island town seal be added to this year’s guide. The expenditure was approved unanimously.

Extention of island beach service agreement
he Ways and Means committee has recommended the extention of the Island Beach Service (IBS, Inc.) Franchise agreement for another year of service. IBS, Inc. provides chairs, umbrellas and the availability of soft drinks and candy to visitors and residents on the beach. Council noted that they have not had any bad comments during this past year about the company and to the best of their knowledge, the service has been great and well received. The extention of the agreement was approved unanimously and extended to October 31, 2008.

Charleston Chamber of Commerce
The Charleston Chamber of Commerce has asked that the Town of Kiawah become one of their members. The Chamber membership currently includes the city of Charleston, Mt. Pleasant and North Charleston at the $5,000 membership level, Goose Creek and Ravenel at the $500 membership level and Folly Beach and Sullivan’s island at the $500 - $1000 membership level. Kiawah Golf Resort and Kiawah Island Real Estate are both members at the $4,000. The Mayor made a motion that Kiawah join the Chamber of Commerce at the $500 level. The primary goal of the Chamber is to help grow local business communities. “Growing business communities helps everyone and we should all be in favor of supporting them,” Mayor Wert noted.

A letter to the Presidential candidates
Mayor Wert stated that he had received a request to sign an open letter from the mayors of South Carolina addressing the current Presidential candidates, asking them the address subject of climate change when they visit our state. The open letter has been signed by over 90 mayors representing 975,000 South Carolinians. The Mayor agreed that the letter is a great idea, but would like to consider the possibility of writing an original letter from Kiawah Island before signing the general Open Letter.

Bobcat GPS study
A motion was made for the Town to extend $15,000 for a deposit to purchase additional equipment in the ongoing Bobcat GPS study. The Kiawah Conservancy has approved in their budget the expenditure of $30,000 toward the equipment, but the funds will not be accessible until January. They have requested a number of new GPS collars from a maker in Sweden, but the company requires a deposit of $15,000 before they begin construction. The funds will be repaid to the Town by the Conservancy in January. The loan was approved unanimously.

Community Rating System recertification
Tumiko Rucker, Town Administrator, reported that the Town of Kiawah has completed all the requirements to be recertified in the 2007 Community Rating System. The Town has been and remains in good standing in the CRS for the next year.

Environmental Report
Council Lipuma reported that this past month had experienced a lot of rough surf from higher winds. Some dune scarping has occurred near the Beach Club and up to the Ocean Course club house. Some of the worst scarping occurred near the KICA walkway and more scarping occurred toward both the east and west near the Sanctuary. “However,” said Mr. Lipuma, “We’re in good shape and luckily we’re out of hurricane season.”
      Wildlife has been quiet, which it normal this time of year. The Conservancy and Environmental committee are preparing for the second GPS study of bobcats. “No one in the world has done a study like this and we are receiving national attention for our research’” Said Mr. Lipuma. “Really, no one has attempted anything close to this before. Research people are looking at our from all over the country, and a lot of them are calling us weekly.” Also planned is another painted bunting study for next year and two new transmitters will be purchased for research. The Piping plover counting continues. The Island is still averaging about 12, most of which are still nesting around the island.
      Also, Mt. Zion recently visited the nature center with about 50-60 kids and spoke to Jim Jordan and Eric Rice, Kiawah Town biologist and wildlife assistant respectively, about our local habitats.
      Mr. Lipuma also pointed out that everyone should read the cover page of the Town Notes, which describes the jewels in the crown of Kiawah Island as being the local maritime forests. The article asks that everyone do what they can to help preserve these beautiful habitats and noted that the article also gives good guidelines for landscaping your property to help preserve these habitats.

Arts Council
Councilman Lipuma thanked everyone who turned out for the Charleston Symphony Orchestra performance to benefit Our Lady of Mercy. Between 800-900 people attended the event. He also reminded Council of the upcoming Kiawah Island Holiday Dinner which will be held at the River Course. Tickets will be $60 a person. “Keep your eyes open for further events on the Town Notes calendar,” Mr. Lipuma reminded Council.

 “You should be proud you are so successful,” Said Mayor Wert to Councilman Lipuma. “We’re now getting copycats for our Arts program. Seabrook is considering holding a music series and the Church of the Holy Spirit is thinking about starting a series. We as a town council should feel great about this and we should talk to the Seabrook people soon about coordinating future art events with them.Thank you for all of your hard work.”

Town Hall landscaping and Parkway update
Landscaping and irrigation have been done around the Town Hall. As far as maintenance on the Parkway, Council still needs to speak with the Corp of Engineers about the need for mitigated land. Because of some recent work with the SC Nature Conservancy on Edisto Island, the Town is considering purchasing about 15 acres of land in Edisto to be preserved and to use as the conserved land for mitigation. If this works for the Corp of Engineers, the Town will be able to purchase the land and turn it into a conserved area. “If they don’t accept it, we’ll have to go some other way, but hopefully that will work,” said Mayor Wert. “We should know if they’ll accept it by November 16.”

New “No Biking” signs
The Public Safety committee has placed two new “No Biking” signs on the inbound and outbound lanes of the Kiawah Island Parkway. Speeding also seems to be down or at least there have been less complaints from residents. Very low crime issues this holiday so far, so that’s good news

CERT meeting
The Town Council of Seabrook Island met with the Kiawah Town Council to discuss the creation of their Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Seabrook noted that the creation and training of their CERT team cost about $25,000 to establish. They stated they would be able to help Kiawah if there was an emergency on the islands such as a major hurricane or earthquake. A councilmember stated that he didn’t see the need for a CERT team on Kiawah.” I didn’t get the sense that they get called on a lot,” he said. “It didn’t seem like it was worth the expenditure and effort.” The CERT on Seabrook is sponsored by the Seabrook Island community association. “There are a lot of advantages, but I didn’t see the need for that operation here. It certainly can’t take the place of our police or EMS.”

Communications Committee
The Communications Committee noted that it has been taken down and will no longer be an active committee. It’s purpose had been to increase the awareness of the Town Notes, a goal that they have reached successfully. The committee also noted that there have been two community meetings at John’s Island high school, both of which have received great turn out. The meetings were for the update on the new Charleston County Comprehensive Plan and a chance for residents to voice their opinion on upcoming RoadWise projects. Many of Kiawah’s council members were at both meetings.

Barrier Island Free Medical Clinic
Tumiko Rucker announced that the Barrier Island Medical Clinic is doing very well, hope to have a new facility on maybank within a couple months

Mayors report
Mayor Wert congratulated both Town accountant Kenneth Gunnells on his appointment to the SC Municipal Court Board of Directors and Tumiko Rucker for being selection to be a SC municipal financial clerk in September. “Al [Burnaford] mentioned the Comprehensive planning meeting,” said the Mayor. “one of the things about these sessions, they gave us stickers to put on the map for what you thought was good and bad respectively. One of the sticker comments I saw was a red sticker on Seabrook, Kiawah and the roundabout. There were six of us [Kiawah council members at the meeting], so at least at those tables, the green stickers were on Seabrook, Kiawah and the roundabout. It’s important for all of us to be at these planning meetings. These are for the future of Charleston county and we need to have a voice, we need to help plan. It’s important to have our voice heard.”
      The Mayor also noted that one of Kiawah Island’s property owners saw some activity in the marsh recently and found that he was looking at a dolphin that got stuck in the fast-retreating tide. He called the Town Hall and the wildlife team was able to help it back in to the ocean. The resident said that some of the dolphin’s friends were leaping in the air trying to help their friend.

Citizen’s comments
Wendy Kulick thanked the workers at the nature center for the time they spent with the Mt. Zion children. “The speakers were fascinating,” she said. “The children learned so much.”

Council members’ comments
One of the Council members reported that two weeks ago, he saw a large quantity of real estate signs on the Parkway and was wondering if they had been approved. He said that he had pulled down the signs and delivered it to the mayor, noting that the Town needed to do something about the Parkway being littered with signs. “We need to pull signs, though I assume they had some kind of approval at some point,” he said. “But we need to not allow these. Nonprofit signs are okay, but business signs are just littering the environment.”