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Jones has been tapped by state officials to serve as chairman of a committee that will recommend how to reform South Carolina's coastal management regulations.
The Blue Ribbon Committee on Shoreline Management meets for the first time at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the state Department of Natural Resources in Columbia.
Explosive population growth, development and significant shoreline movement have dramatically impacted the coast, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials.
"These changes are putting a strain on our resources, increasing our vulnerability to natural hazards and compromising our shared coastal legacy," said DHEC commissioner Earl Hunter in a news release.
The DHEC board has asked the Blue Ribbon Committee to consider findings of the Shoreline Change Advisory Committee and develop recommendations to improve the management of coastal resources and planning.
Also on the committee are former Hilton Head Mayor Tom Peeples; state Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton; state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland; and Elizabeth Hagood, interim executive director of the Lowcountry Open Land Trust.
"This is something I feel strongly about -- that the state's coast be developed in a logical and user-friendly way," Jones said Friday. "The coast is so dynamic it's hard to pass black and white statutes, rules and regulations that are applicable to every area of the coast."
Some S.C. residents with oceanside homes are fighting state regulators' desire to push development away from the coast, calling for some leniency.
The Town of Hilton Head, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Greenwood Communities, and homeowners in Sea Pines and Palmetto Dunes are challenging DHEC's 2009 setback lines. Those lines have brought parts of beachfront lots under state development controls and in some cases restrict second-row properties, said Curtis Coltrane, a town attorney.
State regulators say the new setback lines offer better erosion protection.
Town officials and island property owners contend they are too restrictive on development and are based on bogus data.
"It's going to be not arduous, but interesting and challenging," Jones said of the work ahead. "There should be some regulations addressed. How severe those regulations should be is the real issue. There's no simple answer to it.
"Private property rights are near and dear to many people's hearts and pocketbooks. At the same time, there's a public need to make sure that we pass down to subsequent generations the same quality of environment, or as close to it as we can."
