Why 1,100 signed petition to reject this ‘direct assault’ on quality of life in Sea Pines

More than 1,100 people have signed a petition aimed at amending the Sea Pines gate-fee agreement approved earlier this month.

The agreement, approved the first week of July, will increase the daily visitor pass from $6 to $8 beginning Aug. 1.

But some residents say the agreement was made in secret and benefits commercial entities more than property owners.

“I’m asking you to sign my petition to stop CSA (Community Services Associates) from their direct assault on our quality of life here on Sea Pines Plantation,” Richard Matthews, the petition’s creator, said in a video. “Under the guise of revenue raising, this agreement was made in secrecy with no input from residential property owners. Terms of the deal were not announced nor were they released to the public.”

Matthews, an Association of Sea Pines Plantation Property Owners board member, said the agreement violates the community covenants “by eliminating our private gated community and making Sea Pines nothing more than a commons area with access via a toll booth.”

The Association of Sea Pines Plantation Property Owners is a voluntary organization that represents some property owners. CSA oversees administration, security and maintenance in Sea Pines.

Matthews also said the agreement will likely increase traffic and property owner assessments, decrease property owner values and cause a “loss of control” of the community.

Matthews declined to comment further Tuesday.

In the video, Matthews said he wants a public hearing to discuss and amend the terms of the agreement. But last week, in an update to the petition, Matthews said CSA has denied his request for a meeting.

CSA President Bret Martin said previously the gate-fee increase will bring in additional revenue that will fund “improvements to increase efficiencies at our existing gate entrances and other vital community improvements.” According to a gate-fee history document on CSA’s website, an $8 gate fee is expected to generate about $556,000 in additional revenue.

Martin said in an email newsletter sent to Sea Pines residents on Friday that a draft of the gate-agreement has been “inappropriately disclosed to the public” and it is not the final agreement.

When asked for a copy of the final agreement, or for CSA to specify the terms of the final agreement, the public relations firm Lou Hammond Group said CSA would not release details, per CSA policy.

“The board passed this agreement with the best interest of the entire community in mind,” Martin said in the letter addressed to property owners. “The agreement may not be perfect, nor does it solely represent the interests of any single member, it was a compromise after long and diligent work by all the parties.”

The parties involved in increasing the gate fee are CSA, the Sea Pines Resort and the shops at Sea Pines Center.

In his petition, Matthews says the gate-fee increase includes several concessions, such as 250 free passes per commercial entity each year and the possibility of the gate fee being reverted to $6 if it’s challenged.

In Martin’s letter to property owners, a document is attached that responds to each point the petition makes. To read the complete list of petition statements and CSA rebuttals, click here.

Alliance for Sea Pines Future, a group made up of Sea Pines property owners that formed last year, took a stance on the gate-fee agreement on July 12, calling it “inadequate” and “alarming.”

“The parties that negotiated this agreement will claim it accomplishes what most RPOs (residential property owners) say they wanted,” Alliance said in an email newsletter. “They are wrong. The small increase in net revenue and the modest increase in gate fee will not solve the budget disaster or visitor congestion problems.”

Greg Morris, the founder of Alliance, said the group is “attempting to engage and talk through the issues,” but declined to say with whom.

Alliance is calling for resistance to the agreement “by all means available,” including negotiations, legal action and by electing new CSA board members.

This story has been revised to link to the full CSA response to the petition, rather than summarizing it.

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 2:40 PM.