health insurance agent in Kiawah Island

For years, we have called for the conservation of the fragile, ever-shifting southern tip of Kiawah Island, a slice of land many know as Capt. Sam’s Spit. We reiterate that call for a deal — and encourage leaders in our state government and conservation community to focus anew on it — particularly as the property remains in between controversial efforts to develop homes there.

As The Post and Courier’s Toby Cox reported, the property is tied up in a complicated legal dispute over a 2013 Amended and Restated Development Agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and developer Kiawah Resort Associates that expired last month. At issue is whether the developer met contractual obligations to transfer ownership of some of the property’s highlands to the community association and to protect the remaining highlands with deed restrictions. These actions would protect the spit from development efforts, but the developer says these obligations were contingent on development, which did not occur.

Since 2008, developers have sought state permits to build 50 homes on the land, but the complexity of running a road and utility lines to the property has resulted in years-long court battles and appeals that stopped the plans. But those hoping for the property’s conservation should not count on permitting battles and environmental lawsuits alone; the land has some value, and its owners deserve to be compensated to some degree for a conservation agreement that would preclude development. Of course, there may be a wide disagreement over the dollars involved, given the property’s proximity to the high-valued real estate of Kiawah Island as well as the folly of building on land so subject to erosion and flooding.

Town officials sent the developer a letter this month asking it to fulfill the two obligations, and it’s certainly possible this could lead to yet another legal battle. That turn would be regrettable. It would be much better for both sides to focus on a conservation deal that would settle this matter once and for all.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a precedent-setting ruling in 1992 in a case only five islands north of Kiawah (Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council), saying if government restricts all potential use of a piece of private property, that is considered a “taking” — and the property owner is owed compensation. We agree with what Amy Armstrong, executive director and general counsel at the S.C. Environmental Law Project, told Ms. Cox: “As long as the developer owns the property, there’s a threat.”

The property is valuable for conservation not only because it provides habitat for wildlife but also because it adjoins Charleston County’s Kiawah Beachwalker Park, which is so popular most summer weekends that there is a waiting list for its limited parking spaces. And that’s not surprising: Beachwalker offers access to more than a mile’s worth of beach and creekfront, around which bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles and seabirds are common visitors. In short, it’s one of South Carolina’s most pristine sections of beach publicly accessible by car.

Both South Carolina and Charleston County leaders should engage on ways to strike a conservation deal here for many reasons, including the prevention of unwise attempts to harden the land for development and the preservation of wildlife habitat and high-quality public access. The time to strike that deal is now, before more dollars are wasted on legal battles or ill-considered development plans.

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There will be a Special Town Council Election on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., at the Sandcastle (1 Shipwatch Road, Kiawah Island, SC 29455) for the following two Town Council seats:

Candidacy filing for Mayor closed today at noon and below are the candidates for Mayor.

Candidacy Filing for Second Open Council Member Seat

Candidacy filing for the second open Council Member seat, to serve the remainder of Council Member Brad Belt's term, will open on Friday, Feb. 9 at noon and close on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at noon, due to the Board of Election's and Town of Kiawah Island's office closures on Monday, Feb. 19, for President’s Day.

Candidacy documents and details here

Election Details for April 23 Election

Any person wishing to vote in the April 23 election must register no later than Sunday, March 24, 2024. Voter registration by mail forms will be accepted if postmarked by Monday, March 25, 2024.

Visit the Charleston County Board of Elections' website here to register online to vote. You must have a SC driver's license to vote online.

You can also register by email, mail, or fax by completing the voter registration form and sending it to the Charleston County Board of Voter Registration at the mailing address below or visiting the physical location.

Visit In Person for Voter Registration:

4340 Corporate Road

Charleston, SC 29405

Mail Voter Registration Form To:

Post Office Box 71419

North Charleston, SC 29415

Additional Contact Information:

Email: voterregistration@charlestoncounty.org

Phone: (843) 744-8683

Fax: (843) 974-6419

More election details including early voting, absentee voting, and more, click here

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — A controversial development on Kiawah Island is treading water.

Developers of Island Park Place Medical Village said the project will be a mixed-use facility, including medical, health and wellness, that will save people from making long trips to the doctor.

Residents and town officials are working to change the proposal or stop it. Meanwhile, supporters believe it would be a one-stop shop for those not wanting to leave the area for medical care. Still, opponents continue to believe the project is too big and commercial.

"It will destroy wetlands," Louise Bennet said. "It will destroy trees."

Read more: "James Island's Dills Bluff development plan meets resistance: From woodland to townhomes?"

These are only a few of the reasons Bennett is against the project planned just across the way from her business on Betsy Kerrison Parkway.

"It also destroys what's left of Johns Island that is peaceful and rural," Bennett said.

While developers tout the project as a one-stop medical shop, some think the 160,000-square-foot building falls short of that goal. Others said the medical care isn't needed as MUSC and Trident are planning for their projects nearby.

"Only about 60,000 square feet, 40 percent or so, is intended to be devoted to medical-related uses," said Bradley Belt, a member of Kiawah's town council. "The rest is residential, other retail restaurants... There's no requirement that it is actually devoted to medical-related facilities."

Opposition rises against controversial Kiawah Island Park Medical Village (WCIV).

Read more: "Daniel Island townhome development defers second time due to grand oak tree concerns."

Bennett claims there are more viable areas to have a complex, including the central part of the island, where Trident Hospital will be.

An attempt by developers to rezone the area from low-density residential was denied by the Charleston County Planning Commission. That has developers looking to possibly scale back the project.

Meanwhile, an ad in support of the project has appeared on Facebook, seeming to suggest Charleston County Councilman Joe Boykin is in favor of the development. Boykin said he is adamantly opposed to it.

"I am aware that social media ads that utilized my image and words from a past speech were posted on Facebook in an apparent attempt to portray my support for a proposed Medical Health and Wellness Village on lower Betsy Kerrison Boulevard," Boykin said. "It is apparent to me that this was additionally an attempt to influence my constituents to ask me to 'keep my word,' as if I supported this project when the developer knew full well I was adamantly opposed to it.

"Angry constituents contacted me because they believed I supported this project only to learn just the opposite was true. I completely concur with the recommendation of the Charleston County Zoning and Planning staff, the decision of The Charleston County Planning Commission, and the opinions of the majority of the Charleston County voters who shared their views that this Planned Development should be denied."

Read more: "Could more development be coming to Johns Island after the New Year?"

Belt is holding a town hall on Thursday, Jan. 11, to discuss "key issues" impacting Johns Island and the Sea Islands community.

To the news, the development group provided the following statement to News 4.

“Our team has agreed to defer the PWC and first reading until we conduct an additional meeting with members of the community before the next scheduled PWC at Charleston County.”

The letters concerning the development can be read below.

Despite more than 15 years of conservation efforts to preserve Captain Sams Spit and five rulings from the S.C. Supreme Court that confirmed the spit’s importance as both a natural and public resource, the sandy piece of land still isn’t safe from development.

This time, it’s a potential loophole in a decadelong agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and the developer that brings Sams Spit once again under legal scrutiny.

The 2013 Amended and Restated Development Agreement between the town of Kiawah Island and developer Kiawah Resort Associates expired on Dec. 4, 2023. According to the town, the developer did not fulfill two obligations outlined in the contract. The developer disagrees.

The town, Kiawah Island Community Association, the Coastal Conservation League and the S.C. Environmental Law Project say the agreement requires the developer to:

These actions would protect the spit from development efforts.

Kiawah Resort Associates maintains that all requirements have been met and that these two obligations were contingent on development, which did not occur.

“When all the terms of this section are considered together ... the conclusion is inescapable that the entire provision contemplated that the development was to occur before the limited transfer to (the community association), yet that development was made impossible by the courts,” developer representative Jordan Phillips wrote in a letter to the community association.

The town of Kiawah Island issued a demand letter to the developer on Jan. 8, requesting the two obligations in question be fulfilled and reminding the developer that the town can prevent the sale of the spit to a third party. Town officials asked for a response from the developer by Jan. 15. None had been provided by press time, according to Erin Pomrenke, spokesperson for the town of Kiawah Island.

Amy Armstrong, executive director and general counsel at the S.C. Environmental Law Project, has been involved in cases involving Captain Sams Spit since 2008, representing the Conservation League. She said that while the developer isn’t legally required to respond to the demand letter, it would be in their best interest to do so.

“The developer needs to respond because the town is basically threatening a lawsuit against the developer for breach of (the) development agreement,” she said.

Representatives from the town and community association declined to comment at this time. The developer did not respond to requests for comment.

Rising Waters

Conservation v. money

It’s not unusual for conservation efforts like preserving Captain Sams Spit to take decades, Armstrong said. And the reason isn’t a mystery.

“It’s about money,” she said.

Captain Sams Spit is a teardrop-shaped piece of land on the southern tip of Kiawah Island located between the Kiawah River and Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of only three undeveloped, publicly accessible barrier island beaches in the state, and one of the last wild places on the South Carolina coast.

And it’s valuable.

“When there’s a development project like Captain Sams Spit, it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to developers,” Armstrong said. “They’re not going to go away easily when they’ve got so much hanging out on the line.”

Armstrong added there’s a lot on the line for the public, too.

“Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” she said.

Coastal Conservation League program director Riley Egger emphasized the point.

“Captain Sams Spit is extremely valuable for the people of South Carolina and conservation,” Egger said. “We need to see it permanently protected and permanently conserved.”

From 2008 to 2022, developers attempted to secure permits needed to build 50 luxury homes on Captain Sams Spit and infrastructure such as roads, utility lines and walls to protect the area from flooding and erosion — the spit is constantly transformed by wind and tides and is vulnerable to storms.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Residents on Kiawah Island are keeping a close eye on presented plans to fix an issue they say they had to point out in the first place. The issue is not enough parking for a development currently being built called “The Cape.”

The developers recently submitted a site development revision for “Cape Point parking and emergency access,” but it’s intended to address only part of the parking deficiency, as they have yet to submit revised plans for the rest of the parking issues. This follows the town and planning director telling them they must do so, only after residents discovered the original plans were approved with a significant lack of parking.

Residents fear the lack of transparency of the plans will continue.

“We’re worried as a community that the planning director will overlook once again, so the community has gotten involved, and we are watching very closely,” Kiawah property owner and land development lawyer Tim Hazel said.

The community feels like they aren’t involved enough in what gets approved and says decisions are made behind closed doors by the planning director alone, and not with the commission as a whole.

Town of Kiawah Planning Director John Taylor Jr. explained the approval process is straightforward.

“Developers will submit plans to the town, we will review those plans and issue comments and work back and forth until the developer addresses the comments and once that is addressed, we will be able to issue approval,” Taylor said.

Hazel said he’s never experienced the doors being open for developers but closed to the community.

“There’s a general sense that the mayor and council want nothing to do with discussions as to community input, the developer isn’t doing a very good job of including the community’s input on these plans so it’s very frustrating,” Hazel said.

Taylor said they have heard from the community throughout this process and have received “tons of emails.”

“The town has responded and listened in,” he said. “We’ve brought in a third-party engineer to review Beachwalker projects which I thought was a positive and a request by the planning staff to do that just to give the community comfortability in our review standards and processes.”

It was told that the town council may be considering changes to the development review process at their next meeting.

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