Volume 1 Issue 7

July 27, 2007

The aquatic concierge
By Kristin Hackler

It’s almost impossible to live in or visit the Lowcounty without having access to a boat. Given, it‘s not required for residents to have water vehicles, but if you don’t, you’re missing out on a full half of the experience of living in this beautiful subtropical environment.

Since I’m one of the few land-stranded Southerners, I know I drive my motor boat-owning friends crazy most weekends through the spring and summer, bribing them by bringing bottles of wine and coolers of beer in exchange for a trip down the Intracoastal. I hoped that one day I would find a boat rental company that didn’t charge an arm and a leg for a one day rental, but for years I was repeatedly disappointed; that is, until I walked into Freedom Boat Club in the Bohicket Marina.

Freedom Boat Club works in a way that makes so much sense, I was surprised I hadn’t seen a company like it before. Instead of the normal restrictions from most boat rental companies of single day rental restrictions, deposits, insurance and magnifying glass return inspections, Freedom Boat Club wants all of their members to know that each of them owns every boat at the Club. As a member, your boat is ready the moment you arrive. Reservations can be made up to six months in advance if you want to guarantee that your boat will be available, but many members choose to simply show up the day of and take off in the boat of their choice.

On the day we arrived, the sky had just cleared of some ominous looking gray clouds and the wind coming off the water was refreshingly cool. Jennifer and Pat Haugen, the owners of Freedom Boat Club, had already prepared the boats for our two hour sunset cruise of the harbor. Since there were eight of us, they had packed two full coolers, complete with both imported and domestic beer, red and white wine, broiled and chilled local shrimp with Old Bay seasoning, cocktail sauce, chips, pretzels, fresh turkey and provolone subs and a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

“Well, not really homemade,” said Jennifer as we gobbled down a handful of cookies each. “The cookies are from Newton Farms. We try to cater to all the needs of our members. If anyone calls and says they want us to pick up lunch for them at the grocery store, put together a picnic, call ahead to their destination and make dinner reservations, or even go out and get them ski equipment, we’re on top of it.”

Since our crew is the adventuring and racing type, we opted to take the Club’s center console bay fisher and 23 foot center console rig for offshore fishing instead of the single ten person hurricane deck boat out for a round trip to Botany Island, a thickly forested isle just across the water from the tip of Seabrook. If we had been Club members, Jennifer and Pat would have tossed us the keys and said “see you when you get back”, but since none of us had taken their three hour training course and movie-format DNR safety course, both requirements before you take out your first boat, we let the two of them do the driving. It was a good thing, too, because both owners were full of interesting facts and nature tidbits which they shared with us as we raced down the Intracoastal. At one point they even dropped both boats into neutral and pointed to a copse of trees, watching our eyes widen as we caught sight of a massive bald eagle’s nest.

During our return, with the setting sun tinting the marsh and glassy water around us a deep, rosy orange, our captains cracked open the wine bottles and tied our boats together so that we could enjoy simply floating amongst the pristine estuaries.

It was sad to leave the boats, though we had only spent two hours aboard. Both captains reminded us that if we were members, we’d be able to take the boats out for up to three days at a time and, with 57 other locations across the United States, we could use boats at other Clubs up to four times a year. Most Club members choose to spend the day weaving their way up or down the Intracoastal to Beaufort, two and a half hours to the south, or to downtown Charleston, an hour and a half to the north. “It’s their club,” says Jennifer as she explained the details of Club membership. “They (members) can do what they want. We want them to be comfortable here. Our office is open not only for rentals, but hanging out with the kids or even just sitting down with a beer and chatting.”

The Freedom Boat Club is located at 1894 Andell Bluff Blvd. in the Bohicket Marina just off of Seabrook Island. For more information, please call the office at 243-0107, Jennifer Haugen’s cell phone at 200-9675 or visit their website at www.freedomboatclub.com

Kiawah Town Council – July 10, 2007*

Approval of June 12, 2007 Council minutes
One correction: that 80% of Kiawah property owners are signed up for the CODE RED system, which alerts residents when dangerous weather is imminent and what action to undertake, and the town still needs the other 20% to sign up for the system by calling Kiawah Town Hall at 768-9166.

CARTA presentation
Mr. Howard Chapman, executive director of the Charleston Area Regional Transport Authority (CARTA), presented a draft of CARTA’s fiscal year 2008 budget for Kiawah Island Council’s review. As per CARTA’s agreement, a copy of the budget must be shown to and approved by all regions that CARTA services. Even though Kiawah and Seabrook are in a “grey” area, Council was pleased that the budget was brought to them as well for approval.

Mr. Chapman began by thanking Town Administrator Tumiko Rucker for her assistance in putting together this year’s budget. “In past years, I remember this being a two sided sheet of paper,” Mr. Chapman joked as he handed out the new 25 page tome. Most of this year’s budget goes toward maintaining the rise of ridership that the company has recently experienced. “We’ve finally brought ridership back to the level it was at in 2002 and 2003,” said Mr. Chapman. “ In June, we had over 15,000 riders just on our express route.” And on James Island, they have between 40 - 50 cars parked in their new park and ride spots every day.

A big help in getting the new system back on track was the purchase of fifteen shorter buses (40 feet long) from the Gold Gate Transportation and Highway district in San Francisco, California for neighborhood routes, bought with the new half cent sales tax. In the past year, CARTA has also installed 22 new bus shelters, received bids for new park and ride lots and are in the process of working on a Commuter Rail program.

CARTA has also applied to the Federal Transit Administration for funds to allow the construction of the North Charleston Intermodal Center Terminal and plan to enhance marketing efforts for the Downtown Area Shuttle or DASH service.

After his presentation, Mayor Wert thanked Mr. Chapman and the budget for CARTA’s 2008 fiscal year was approved by council unanimously.

For more information on CARTA and for printable route maps, please visit www.ridecarta.com.

Two new ordinances
Two ordinances were given their last reading at the meeting. Both ordinance 2007-5, the revised setback ordinance, and ordinance 2007-6, the emergency general obligation fund ordinance, were approved into the Town Code.

The revised setback ordinance, which took recommendations from the Kiawah Island Planning Commission to revise current setback standards for R-1 and R-2 districts, as well as the current waterfront development standards, can be requested in full at Kiawah Town Hall.

The emergency general obligation fund ordinance, which allows the Town to borrow up to $3 million for the Kiawah Island Parkway Project (a matter of insurance since Council was 99% certain that they would never use it), is also available in full at Kiawah Town Hall.

Counting cars
Kiawah Town Council requested that the company, the LPA Group, do a road and traffic study for the island to determine what will be required from the Kiawah Resort as part of their development contract.

The LPA Group will look at three major points in their study: density, traffic and the preservation of green space.

“Another councilman thinks that the Resort should pay for this project,” the Mayor stated. “However, I respectfully disagree. This is part of our due diligence. Often, the data gathered from these companies is slanted toward whose paying for it. I want us to be upfront and do this study ourselves.”

Councilman Orban disagreed, saying that “There may come a time after we have more details when the Resort wants to do their own study and at that time, we would want to do our own. But to do a traffic study, we have to understand what we want to build. I think it’s preliminary to do this now. I won’t vote for it today.”

Councilman Lipuma, however, agreed with the Mayor. “There’s no sense in doing this in February. Besides a traffic count, this will give us a more comprehensive view of traffic generated by both residents and by the Resort. It behooves us to get this information in pocket in advance.”

The decision to hire the LPA Group for the traffic study was passed and approved 3-1.

Environmental report
Flushing channel doing well
According to Jim Jordan, the Kiawah Island biologist, the The East End Beach Restoration Project, which was begun on June 8, 2006, and ended July 23 of the same year, has held up very well over the last year and has suffered very little erosion.  A few months after the project was completed, a new inlet or “flushing channel” formed naturally nearby. Mr. Jordan stated that “The formation of the new inlet was not a huge surprise.  Water will seek the quickest, most efficient way of exiting a lagoon and that certainly can change very quickly.  This new inlet will likely shift and move around quite a bit as it stabilizes over the next few months.”

Mr. Jordan also pointed out that “One of the biggest issues with the project was the protection and preservation of the piping plover, a federally listed species.  Plover numbers in the saltwater lagoon and sand flats within the project area were actually higher after the project than they were before.  This was a big accomplishment and something that we were very proud of.”

The objective of the project, which was designed by the Town along with Coastal Science and Engineering was two fold: to renourish areas adjacent to the Ocean Course Golf Course that had experienced severe erosion over the last 5 years and to facilitate the reestablishment of the natural sand transport cycle by closing the existing beachfront creek and opening a new channel to the east.

Today, Councilman Lipuma stated that parts of the beach near the Ocean Course had gained new sand since last year because of the project. A few eight foot tides had caused some dune erosion along the beach front, but more beach accretion is expected over the rest of the summer. The man-made flushing channel seems to be narrowing, but the new parallel channel that formed naturally seems to be doing just fine. Councilman Lipuma also noted that a report on the project would be available at the end of the month.

New bobcat tracking website will soon be up and running
The Town, in cooperation with the KINHC, will be launching a brand new interactive bobcat tracking website by the end of July.  This site allows visitors to view all of the location data for the four bobcats fitted with GPS collars this past winter.  Visitors can zoom in and out and even check to see if and when a bobcat has been in a certain lot or neighborhood.  Links to this site will be available on the Town website by the end of July.

Kitten not as dangerous as suspected
Over the past month, wildlife calls included a collared bobcat being injured by a passing car, though the hurt animal was not able to be located, and an alligator had to be removed from a neighborhood pond.

During one emergency house call, it was found that a resident who called in a report of an injured bobcat kitten roaming around their house was actually a neighbor’s domestic cat.

Arts Council proud of stellar past year
Councilman Lipuma reported that the Arts Council completed a successful season, with sixteen events ranging from $500 - $1,750 in cost each. $72,000 was spent out of a budget of $75,000. The Arts Council is working on an annual report which will be available in a month or two.

Local traffic
Councilman Orban reported that on June 21, the Town received almost a full refund from the SC Department of Transportation for the roundabout project. They sent a bill for $220,000 to the Department and received a payment of $219,000.

Councilman Orban also reported that there had been complaints of speeding on the Ocean Course drive and suggestions that there were not enough bicycle signs on the I’on parkway. This issue, plus further suggestions for beach safety this summer, will be discussed at the next Council meeting.

As for the bike path, Councilmembers will be meeting with the SC Department of Transportation and are also waiting to hear back from the LPA Group to discuss the next step in the construction process.

Communications report
Councilman Burnaford reported that the last independent Town Notes would go out at the end of July. From now on, the Digest will be mailed with the Town Notes in order to reach a wider audience.

There was nothing to report from John’s Island council since they did not meet in July and Charleston County Council did not meet until July 24.

Town Administrator notes
Tumiko Rucker stated that the Town’s previous budget was successfully closed. The Town completed its Disaster Recovery Project successfully and the Town is completing the final touches on its new telephone service. Ms. Rucker also announced the Town’s receipt of three national awards for excellence in financial reporting (see story below).

Mayor’s Report
The Mayor thanked everyone who has been working on the Town Notes, he felt that this this past issue was the best its been in nine years. Also, the Disaster Awareness meeting went well with a nice turnout. Another point for anyone interested in attending next month’s council meeting, this August Town Council meeting will be minimal since most councilmembers will be out of town on vacation.

“ I would also like to thank All Kiawah residents who attended the Charleston Fallen Firefighter fundraiser at Charleston Place,” the Mayor said. “ The contributions of our residents along with the $9,000 donated by the Town made a huge difference. We will never forget the public service that firefighters, policemen and teachers provide. Every time you see one of these people, say ‘thank you’. They perform a service that none of us could do without.”

Citizen’s comments
Wendy Kulick asked that the Kiawah community be supportive of Mt. Zion Elementary by donating supplies and uniforms for this year’s students. Donations are needed before August 15 (More information on supply list and drop-off points on page ___ ).

“Remember that August 3 - 5 is the tax free holiday,” Ms. Kulick pointed out. “That would be the best time to go out and buy these supplies.”

Councilman Burnaford noted that anyone who wanted to make further donations to the Charleston Fallen Firefighter’s fund could do so at any Bank of America location.

Councilman Orban asked that Kiawah Island consider doing a Disaster Awareness meeting next year in conjunction with Seabrook Island, since it seemed like a lot of the same speakers had to come out to the islands twice. The Mayor said that he would look into it.

Before closing the meeting, Mayor Wert stated that the Town would again sponsor the graduation ceremony for Mt. Zion Elementary at Heron Park this school year. The Resort will be donating food and the Town will donate the location and necessary transportation.

*Please note that these are not the approved minutes of the Kiawah Island Town Council meeting. The approved minutes from this meeting will be available at the next Kiawah Island Council.