21 people will help decide future of Hilton Head growth. Here’s who they are
The future of land use on Hilton Head Island is at stake after the formation of a task force that will tackle how the town manages growth.
Town officials are working on revising Hilton Head’s 12-year-old land management ordinance, its key tool for overseeing growth and protecting the island’s character.
The ordinance, which has been amended several times in the past 18 months, sets limits on the size, structure, aesthetics and use of development. It’s the document that prevents developers from building a hotel in your neighborhood, but it could also get you in trouble with the town if your fence is too tall.
Town officials say a rewrite is needed to respond to changing development patterns and community needs. After Bradley Circle was rezoned to allow resort-style development more than a decade ago, residents say the subsequent influx of development in the area strained existing infrastructure, leading to low water pressure, traffic congestion and flooding.
The new land management task force, comprised of council members, committee chairs, industry representatives, community managers and residents will weigh in and make suggestions on the revised ordinance.
Members of the new task force were selected behind closed doors at a Dec. 9 meeting. Four members are licensed real estate agents, despite the task force reserving only one seat for a representative from the real estate industry. One seat is also reserved for a representative from the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, but a second board appointee is also associated with the chamber.
The new task force will meet for the first time Tuesday at 5 p.m. The agenda for the meeting reveals very little about what will be discussed. It only states that the members will conduct a “Review of Land Management Ordinance Task Force and Land Management Ordinance Update Process.”
Here’s who will serve as voting members on the new task force.
Three council members
Ward 3 Council Member Steve DeSimone, Ward 4 Council Member Tamara Becker and Ward 2 Council Member Patsy Brison will have voting powers on the board.
Four chairs of other committees
The chairs of four other Town of Hilton Head Island boards and committees will serve as voting members on the task force.
Design Review Board Chair: Judd Carstens, a principal at Bluffton-based landscape architecture firm Witmer Jones Keefer.
Planning Commission Chair: Thomas Henz, vice president of public policy and small business for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.
Gullah Geechee Land & Cultural Preservation Task Force Chair: Lavon Stevens, a local musician and real estate agent. The task force has worked towards making it easier for Gullah landowners to develop their properties and pushed for incorporating Gullah culture into Hilton Head’s tourism marketing.
Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation Chair: Rev. Louis Johnson, the Pastor of Central Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
6 industry reps
Six seats on the task force have been reserved for representatives of different Hilton Head sectors.
Chamber of Commerce rep: Ray Warco, a retired accountant and a March 2025 recipient of the Hilton Head Island Mayor’s Honor Islander Award for volunteerism. Warco was honored his service on several boards, including as chair of the Greater Island Council of Hilton Head Island & Bluffton and as a board member for the Sea Pines Community Services Associates.
Realtor rep: James Wedgeworth, founder of Charter One Realty and Hilton Head real estate agent since 1981.
STR rep: Mike Alsko, president and broker-in-charge of Coastal Home and Villa, a Hilton Head vacation rental company. He is also a former chairman of the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee.
Homebuilders Rep: Eric Brehem, director of business development and Esposito Commercial Construction.
Hospitality Rep: Cliff McMackin, director of resort development at The Sea Pines Resort.
Workforce Housing Rep: Barbara Banaszynski, senior vice president of program operations for Volunteers of America.
Three gated community GMs
Three seats on the new task force have been reserved for general managers representing planned developments and resorts on Hilton Head.
They are Bill Dix, general manager of Palmetto Dunes as of December 2024; Courtney Struna, association manager at Palmetto Hall; and Peter Kristian, general manager of Hilton Head Plantation.
Five residents to serve on task force
Five voting seats on the task force are reserved for residents of Hilton Head.
Two of the residents selected for the committee, local musician Gregg Russell and Brian Kinard, are also local real estate agents.
Kinard works for Dunes Real Estate, while Russell, who known for his concerts under the Liberty Oak in Harbour Town, is also an associate at the Sea Pines Real Estate the Beach Club.
Lola Campbell, a Gullah-Geechee native and business owner, has also been selected for one of the resident seats. The Campbell family is one of the largest Gullah-Geechee familes on Hilton Head.
A resident named Ciaran Storan has also been selected for the task force. Public records indicate that Storan owns a home in the Folly Field neighborhood, and that he may be retired.
A Facebook profile for Edwina Dunlap, the fifth resident voice on the task force, describes her as a former Sales Engineer at Avaya. Public records indicate that Dunlap owns a home in Hilton Head Plantation.
Why updates are needed
The land management ordinance is a critical policy for those that want to protect Hilton Head’s natural beauty and unique charm.
In 2014, the town rewrote the policy to reduce building restrictions and encourage development. Officials said at the time the rewrite was aimed at reducing “overly bureaucratic” restrictions that suffocated growth.
Although some residents advocated for the changes, the outcomes of the rewrite have been met with harsh criticism from residents.
Bradley Circle is one example, but other communities have been impacted as well. In the Jonesville area, developers clear-cut 29 acres of trees for a 147-home subdivision. Residents have complained that the proposed subdivision of three-story “cookie cutter” homes with very few trees don’t fit in with the character of the island.
A controversial 166-unit timeshare resort in Folly Field is also underway. When the project was permitted in 2021, the then-chairman of the Design Review Board raised concerns that the board has “no true authority to limit the overall height or the scale of the structures.”
In the past 18 months, the town council has passed several new regulations in response to issues identified as a priority issues, such as protecting trees and preserving functional open spaces.
In a Dec. 4 interview with WHHI-TV, Mayor Alan Perry said the changes made in 2014 that allowed extra development “actually helps property values.”
“How do we manipulate that so that we don’t have clear-cutting everywhere, so that we don’t have monstrosities, we don’t have additional big timeshares where they may not need to be?” Perry said.
Perry said the town hopes to have the new land management ordinance finalized by July 1.
“We’re not going to satisfy everybody, but it’s going to give us an opportunity to correct some of those wrongs and really create a stronger future,” Perry said.
